*Guest Blog! About Training!*

Life is far too crazy and hectic and busy to be writing anything just now- so instead, hear from Kelsey who is today's GUEST BLOG as she's telling you pretty much what I'm getting up to this week.

Note that the following was written entirely by Kelsey and is representative of her experiences onboard the Disney Magic - our sister ship! Not written by me!


Enjoy!

KELSEY: TRAINING ON AND OFF THE SHIP

"...But, well, here I am again. I'm working in Youth Activities on the Disney Magic for Disney Cruise Line. I'm sitting in a Starbucks in Cozumel. It's been about a week and a half of cruising, I'm still not out of training, and it feels like it's already been months. It's raining here, so wish me luck on my tromp back to the ship. I hope my bag is waterproof! I miss everyone back home, and I probably spend too much time on the ship's internet-- which costs .10/minute. Which you wouldn't think is too bad, but IT ADDS UP BELIEVE ME.

I guess, here's the summary. We got to Orlando on September 21st, and I went through Traditions again-- which is basically where Disney tries to pixie dust you, make you the ultimate Disney fangirl/boy. Which isn't hard in my case. Yes, I cried during the emotional parts. I have no shame. I knew more than most going into this, since I'd done it before, so I got the three collectible figurines within the first 15 minutes, then I sat back and let everyone else answer the questions. It was a good time. I met some people that I wish, wish, wish we'd be on the same boat. About 2/3 were going to the Dream, and me and the other 1/3 were off to the Magic.

We checked out the parks, I got to Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, said hello to some old friends, and then got up at 5am on September 24th to board the ship. We all trooped on, received our staterooms... which are smaller than you can possibly imagine. They're about as big as a walk in closet, with two people living in there. My roommate is named Zelia, she's from South Africa, and she's just a little bit crazy, but she's been doing the cruise line thing for 3 years, so what do you expect.

The first week of training was alternately horrible and wonderful. I battled sea sickness, cramped spaces, long hours, and endless safety training. But I also bonded with my traditions group, of which I am one of only two Americans. It seriously is an international ship. I didn't learn much about my job just yet, only about what not to do while onboard, a few interesting tidbits about the ship:

1.) At our safety presentation (one of many) the security officer was listing off items that could not be brought onboard. Behind him was a powerpoint depiction of pictures of many of these objects. There was a gun, a chainsaw, pickaxe, knives, explosives, hard liquor… and a tricycle. A tricycle with little streamers coming out of the handlebars. Nobody thought it was as funny as I did.

2.) Again, at our safety presentation, there was a video of a guy pulling guns out of every possible concealment place in his clothing. It was to show “why we screen” when people come onto the ship. He had 20 guns on the table by the end of it, including a rifle.

3.) We get a little red ribbon that says “earning my ears” that we stick underneath our nametag so everyone knows that we’re New Hires. They all look out for us and herd us out of areas that we’re not supposed to be in or direct us to the nearest staircase to get us where we’re going (yeah, I navigate by staircase number (vertical) and fore, aft, port, and starboard (horizontal) now. Half the time I’m not sure where I am or which direction I’m facing, but when you do, you need to know your coordinates like on a graph!). Anyway, there’s a yellow line on the ground in the fore of the ship’s crew quarters that leads to the HR Training room which is where we do all of our safety training. I’m sure the line’s there because they got tired of telling New Hires how to get there… so we all follow the Yellow Line to get where we’re supposed to be. Pretty funny in my mind. Ugh, plus, the fore of the ship is the WORST for the rocking motion, which is constant.

4.) Interesting fact: The officers wear epaulettes and white uniforms. You know how high of a rank they are by how many stripes are on their epaulettes. The highest is four, and there’s only seven crew members who have that many. They’re part of the Steering Committee. Apparently it’s very rare to have a Human Resources Manager and a Cruise Director on the Steering Committee, but since Disney is committed to Entertainment (cruise director’s job) and it’s Cast Members, that’s why they’ve got such a high rank. Kinda cool, huh?

5.) I can’t have any milk in my room or anything that needs cutlery to be eaten. Buh. Rules.

6.) People can smoke in their rooms! If it sets off the fire alarm, the bridge will call their room and ask if it’s an emergency and the Crew Member just says, “nope, just taking a smoke” and they leave it be. OMG. Thank goodness my roommate doesn’t smoke

7.)

8.) I had the difficult decision of whether to throw my cap into the Oceaneer’s Club or the Oceaneer’s Lab. The Club is for kids 3-7 and the Lab is for kids 7-10. The Club is much more interactive, high energy, busy, and imaginative but it’s also loud and takes a lot of patience and constant surveillance. The Lab is much more technological, critical thinking, calmer, and the kids can really forge a bond with you, since they understand sarcasm now, but it’s a lot slower and has less interaction. I’m really torn. I wish we could switch off. My initial reaction was, I neeeeed to be put in the Lab, but my secondary reaction was I neeeeeeed to get into the Club. After vacillating for a while, I decided on the Lab, and I'm loving it so far!

9.) We're doing Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises. One goes to St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and around there. The other goes to Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Key West. Both end up at Disney's private island, Castaway Cay, where there is an incredible play area for children. It's absolutely what you'd want from Disney for a beach paradise for kids!

10.) We had an environmentalism training session which pretty much said, turn off the lights, don’t use too much water, don’t flush stupid things down the toilet. But, they felt it was necessary to pass around FULL COLOR IMAGES of the shit people flush down the toilet. It was as awful as you are imagining. There was a picture of tighty whities… and I just stopped looking at them after that. Plus, later, they showed us VIDEOS of the difference between types of bleeding and burns with gushing blood and blistering skin… I was already feeling a little sea sick, so that helped a whoooooooole lot, haha.

11.) I can only have approved cleaners on the ship! Otherwise they’ll kill the bacteria in the pipes that helps purify the water.

12.) I'm in lifeboat number 1! So don’t worry. If we were told to abandon ship, I’d be the first off the boat! We do have to do a lot with the Youth Activities area first before we’re cleared to report to our lifeboat duties.

13.) Mess food is actually quite decent and my uniform is nice! The awful yellow is quite breathable and falls nicely. The pants, I drown in, but I wasn’t expecting anything form fitting, and I am loving my old lady shoes. The support is incredible.

14.) But speaking of the Mess, I’m so conscious of my health. After all of these training seminars, you realize how much of a hazard it is to have so many people in such a small space. You have to maneuver to get outside enough, and I’ve noticed that practically all the options the Mess serves is some kind of carbohydrate. Lots of potatoes, pastas, rice, and bread. They obviously think we need a lot of quickly processed energy. I’m trying to make sure I eat 2 servings of veggies, 2 of starches, 1 fruit, and 1 meat at every meal, plus getting a dairy in here and there (my stomach doesn’t like the idea of milk just yet, and there’s not a lot of yogurt or cheese to be had)… is that healthy? I’m thinking of switching it around and making it 2 of meat and 1 of carbs… or two of both? I’m trying to remember my food pyramid from elementary school, lol. But it’s all really nicely prepared! I’m sure I’ll get bored with it, but right now, I’m very impressed!

15.) Speaking of HEALTH now, I realize how much I touch my mouth. I think I have a facial fixation. They’re always telling us to limit that, and I just cannot seem to stop. That’s Freudian, isn’t it, lol. I’ve taken back my idea of being on a cruise ship during a zombie attack. NO thank you. Infection spreads way too quickly.

16.) They made us watch a documentary on Oceanos. Look it up. It was horrifying.

17.) There are codes for emergencies so as not to alert guests to what’s going on quite yet. They're very clever!

So, that was tidbits with Kelsey! I hope to upload some pictures sometime soon, but I hope that tides you guys over until then! Miss you all. Let me know if I missed anything you'd like to know more about. After I'm done training, I'll let you guys know more about what my job is like, at the moment, I'm still learning the ropes!!

-Kelsey"

*ANOTHER GUEST BLOG*!

Hey hey kiddos,

Thanks to the sudden influx of readers for making me feel special - even if most of you were redirected here via a porn site. (I'm not kidding, according to my site stats, about 10 of you were there before looking at this)

TSK TSK. You naughty, naughty folk!

I'm in the middle of writing about my harrowing 2nd trial of the GAUNTLET, so that won't be published til tomorrow. Instead, enjoy another Guest blog courtesy of Kim! Here, Kim laments how hard it is to be an American on board.

Here's a charming excerpt: "Yet, for all of the nods towards other country's culinary tastes, there was rarely a supply of "American" food...The lack of edible food in the cafeteria was a situation affecting everyone."

Boo hoo, Kim - the rest of the world is playing a teeny tiny sad violin and snickering behind their Disney grins. Now I'm not anti-American by any means, I've lived there quite a bit and adore many Americans. But, let's just hope I won't be hearing a lot of commentary like this over the course of my contract. It gets that wee multicultural Canadian nerve going and hits it square on the head.

Now just like before, the following entry isn't written by me  - it's all Kim's. And I'm sure she loved her job working with DCL! Read on, and enjoy!

Kim: Being an American on Board

"As I mentioned before, I was one of only a handful of Americans to be working onboard the Disney Wonder. My immediate boss was also an American and had worked at the Walt Disney World Resort, too, so we had a great deal in common and I had someone that I could easily talk to. Everyone else, though, was from a myriad of different nationalities. When you're living and working with other people in a very close environment, cultural differences tend to become much more pronounced.
Though everyone on my team came from an English-speaking country, our phrases and vocabulary definitely weren't the same. There were many, many times that our conversations seemed to need an interpreter, even though we were all speaking English. I know I wasn't the only one feeling this way, because many guests would come up to me and say "Oh, you're an American! I can actually understand what you're saying!"

Of course, language was just one of our cultural differences. Throughout the ship, everyone had a different style of dress when they weren't wearing their cruise line uniforms, different political views, different work habits and ethics, different ways of dealing with the opposite sex... everything seemed to be different. It was as if I was living in a foreign country and dealing with culture shock, yet twice a week I would sail back to port in my home country and yet not feel like I was home at all.

One of the biggest cultural differences of all was the food. In the crew mess below decks, the cafeteria is a display of multicultural tastes. Never in my life had I seen broths served with every meal, yet apparently this is common in many countries, so there was always a large vat of some type of broth liquid available. Rice is also a mainstay, and there was plenty of it. There were more hot teas to choose from than I had ever been used to before. Yet, for all of the nods towards other country's culinary tastes, there was rarely a supply of "American" food, such as sandwiches, hamburgers, pastas, etc.

This might sound like a blessing in disguise, since American diets are traditionally too heavy with too many calories. Yet, when you're working for 18 hours a day on your feet doing very physical activities, you need some substance to get you through the day and we were definitely NOT getting it. The food situation became so bad that my boss, knowing my journalism background, asked me to write a letter to DCL management to increase the foods available and their quality. The lack of edible food in the cafeteria was a situation affecting everyone.

Though there are plenty of places onboard the ship for guests to get a quick snack whenever they want, it was not like that for the crew. The crew mess was essentially your one-stop dining destination, and if you weren't eating food there (especially when they were closed periodically throughout the day), then you had to rely on food you bought in port. The problem with that, though, is that you actually needed time to get off the ship, get transportation to a store to buy food (which has to be prepackaged and not fresh fruits, vegetables, etc. because of Customs rules) and get back to the ship. With our work schedules, that didn't happen too often. And if you remember my description of our crew rooms in a previous article, there was no room to store food even if you were able to purchase it.

Perhaps during a cruise you might have seen some crew members dressed in work clothes eating in guest areas. As officers, you are allowed to do that, and as a member of the Cruise Staff, I was a very low ranking officer and had that privilege. However, my boss didn't think it would look appropriate, so we weren't even allowed to go to the snack bars, even though it should have been one of the perks of my job.

With the lack of food that I was willing to eat and the heavy amount of physical activity every day, I was soon losing weight at a rapid pace. By the end of my time with the DCL, I was stick thin and my clothes just hung on me. I was already wearing the smallest size costume that was available, and even those quickly became too big, even the bathing suit. It was a serious medical problem that guests would find hard to believe with the extravagance of food in the guest areas, yet the lack of food for the crew was a problem nonetheless.

When I was able to get off the ship, my only concern was finding a place to eat. To this day, I still consider a Subway sandwich that I bought in Nassau to be one of the top ten food highlights of my life. Before you start questioning my taste, I also consider Artist Point and Victoria and Albert's at Walt Disney World to be among the tops, too, but I had been so hungry for so long and just wanted something "American" that every single bite of that sandwich tasted like a little bit of heaven to me."

VI *GUEST BLOG!*

Hey gang, here's a Guest Blog for ya, from a fellow Canadian Disney Cast/Crew Member named Jody (who is a guy). It gives a bit more insight from someone who's already been working on the ship for some time; I'll be putting in my two cents after I've officially started my huge contract and training's over.


So remember - the following is most definitely not by me, it's all Jody's.
And as usual - everything found on this blog is not the property nor associated with the property of Disney Cruise Line, the Disney Corporation or its affiliates.

Enjoy, folks!

The Deal. The Skinny. The Straight Dope.

Alright, here it is. I’ve set aside a few minutes and a few dollars to get online and tell you landlubbers what’s going on. Pour yourself a refreshing beverage, get your scrolling finger ready, and read on at your leisure.

The Job.

My official title is Youth Activities Counselor, and I spend my day working with a team that takes care of groups of children on the cruise ship The Disney Wonder. The shifts are about ten hours in duration, and are usually broken up into two chunks of about five hours apiece. There is a slow rotation of start/end times, such that someone who starts at 8am wold be off by 8pm, and someone who starts at 2pm would be off by 2am. It’s not that straigtforward, but it’s not that interesting either.
There are a number of different jobs that get done by a YAC during the day, ranging from sitting at the check-in desk, to performing as a pirate in an interactive program for the kids. I was a pirate today. We put on a show for the kids that made them believe that Captain Hook had taken over the cruise ship and the kids had to solve the mystery. Some kids were so scared of Hook - and so convinced of our performance - that they actually cried and had to leave. It was aaarrrrrghhhhhhsome!
There are many of these interactive programs that the kids get to participate in. They make cookies, they make Flubber, they solve mysteries, they dig for whale bones on the tropical island that we dock at. It’s fun. Even more fun is when I get to spray them with hoses on said tropical island! Very nice.
We also take them for meals, let them play videogames (Mario Kart and Guitar Hero!!!!!!!), introduce them to some of the characters, and even take them to the onboard movie theater. If I have to watch Bridge To Terabithia one more time however, I will throw someone overboard.

The Food

The ship’s mess is open 24-hours for my dining convenience, although after midnight there isn’t really much in there besides toast and Ramen noodles. I do love Ramen though. Mmm. At scheduled mealtimes there is usually a good variety of food to choose from, and it’s actually much better than most “cafeteria food” I’ve previously been subjected to. It’s not even near the quality of the meals the guests get in the ships restaurants, but they do switch up the menu daily to give the different ethnic groups onboard a little taste of home. Since being here I’ve had various curries, asian soups, fish dishes, salads, and even some of the extra I haven’t seen poutine or back-bacon on the menu yet though, so it isn’t really that diverse.
On a lot of the days I work, we do take the kids to lunch and dinner. That being so, we do eat the same food as they do while we’re in there. It’s the exact same stuff every day for the kids; chicken fingers, french fries, pizza, etc. That can get a little tiresome. I enjoy healthy meals on a regular basis with that sort of thing being reserved more for the occasional treat. Even the vegetables they put out for the kids are so covered in butter that I am probably better off eating the chicken fingers and pizza.

The Accomodations

My room is small. If you have an average size bathroom somewhere in your house, you can probably picture the size of my complete cabin… that I share with a Belgian guy. Yeah.
It’s actually not all that bad, considering I only ever go into the room to change, shower, or sleep. The bed is comfy enough (top bunk!), and they have a TV an DVD player in there too. The major downfall is the shower, which is entirely too small. It’s a right-angle triangle shape with the length of the two shorter sides being about 24 inches each. I’ll leave it up to you to figure out the length of the hypotenuse.

The Time Off

I do get a decent amount of time away from “The Lab,” as my workspace is called. When in Port Canaveral on Thursdays and Sundays, there is usually time to get off the boat ship and over to the mall or Walmart to pick up some stuff or just get away for a while. Once I get the hang of predicting my schedule (we only find out the day before), I’ll probably be able to work it so that I can meet up with local friends for lunch or a movie or something while we’re docked.

While in Nassau, we also get time away from work and are free to explore the island. The port area itself is kind of blah/touristy, but there are a lot of opportunities for excursions and activities if you know where to go. I haven’t really done much there yet, but I do plan to start doing more once I’ve been here a bit longer. On weeks that we get above-target scores on our performance evaluations, the Captain allows the ship to stay docked later in Nassau, so that the crew (me!) can get in a little night-life time. Last night was one of those such nights, so we all went out to a little tiki-style bar called Bamboo (I know, very creative) and had some drinks and dancing. Good times all around.
On the days that we dock into Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay (which, incidentally, used to be called “Gorda Cay” and was used by drug smugglers as a hideout), we spend most of the day looking after the kids and playing games with them in the sand. This is where I get to spray them with the water hose, so it’s always a  highlight for me! When not working with the kids on the island, we’re usually free to go to the private crew beach for some BBQ and R&R. There’s a volleyball court and soccer field, and a beautiful cove for swimming and sunbathing.

I made it over there for a couple of hours today, and went for a swim. Having previously studied marine biology in college, I was fascinated by the sea-life that I came across while in the water, and spent most of my time nerding it up with the Enchinoderm phylum. I ‘caught’ no less than 10 starfish (the biggest was about 15 inches across, and had SIX legs!), plus a sea cucumber and a purple sea fan. I also stepped on a sea-urchin and have about six of the spines still stuck in my foot (the Doc said to leave them in).

The Benefits

In addition to my regular compensation, Disney has given me free access to all Disney parks worldwide (with the exception of Tokyo, for some reason). I get additional passes to bring friends in with me from time to time, and even more passes on occasion to use or give away as I see fit. My position affords me many additional ship priveleges that not all crew members get, such as the ability to go into guest areas when I’m not working so that I may use the ship’s many services (jacuzzis, movie theaters, etc). I am also able to get friends and family discounts for cruise vacations, although I haven’t actually checked into the specifics of what the discount entails. Anyone interested, let me know and I’ll find out. Heck, I’ll even watch your kids for you while you’re off having fun on the vacation… it’s my job!
That’s about all I can think of at the moment. If you’d like a postcard, email me your mailing address and I’ll send one off to you when I get some time and stamps. Even better, if you’d like to send me stuff (subliminal message: send me stuff!), let me know and I’ll get you my mailing address on the high seas. Photos, letters, and snacks are always appreciated!

The Bottom Line

I enjoy it so far. The people I work with are all really great, and the company is a pleasure to work for. Most of the guests are there to have a good time, so there isn’t much complaining going on. Plus, you can’t beat the location! Even on the bad days, I just look out the window and I am instantly put back into a good mood. I mean, the worst thing that happened to me all week was getting stuck in the foot by a sea-urchin while strolling through a tropical lagoon. I can live with that.