Day 1 on the ship:
Well it was an EARLY morning to say the least! Wake up time was about 3:30am and we had to be checked out of our hotel and be on a bus at 5:00am!!!! We arrived at port Cavaveral before sunrise and were greeted by beautiful dolphins swimming about. I first saw this big amazing ship that was lit up with these bright blue lights, directly next to it was the Disney Magic!! ha. Once we boarded the ship we went through 2 hours of BORING training before we finally got to go find our cabins. My cabin is very small but I am finding it to be very comfy and it has become my hideout when I need some alone time. All the people on the ship are very friendly (all 1000 crew members) and my department (youth activities) is the BEST!! They left a sign on my cabin door that said welcome home and it was such a nice surprise! This first week is pretty much set for training in a classroom about safety, safety, and more safety. Everything was VERY overwhelming today and it didn’t help that I can not find my way around the ship without getting lost for about 30 minutes on my way to anywhere! The worst thing was that we hit hard water with 10-12 ft waves and it made for a rough night. I went to bed fairly early because I was incapable of doing anything else! I do not get nauseous but I do get headaches and become very dizzy. I am making lots of friends and attempting to adjust to the ship life.
Day 2:
We had our first port day at Disney’s private Island Castaway Cay (pronounced KEY). We were very lucky and got to go on a tour of the Island and eat lunch on the beach! It was a really great and easy day but I am so ready to get to work and not have so much free time!! (please remind me of this in the next couple of weeks). Life on the ship is great except that every event that is for cast members begins around midnight to accommodate everyone’s work schedule. At this rate I will NEVER make it to a crew event!!! We have nonstop Disney movies on our TVs and I am pretty positive that Disney owns the world!!!!! Oh yeah, internet costs 10 cents per minute on the ship so I will almost never get on during sea days but I will try my best on days we port!!! I am trying to get used to not having my cell phone but it really isn’t that bad on the ship considering its like living in the dorms and everyone is a short walk away.
Day 3 (SEA DAY):
Well all my attempts to avoid movies about ships sinking has failed me because todays training was all about ships that have sunk and how to safely get our guests to safety! We have extensive drills that we go over everyday and run about once a week so NO WORRIES, in case of an emergency, I am super safe! Our ship has 50% more safety rafts than needed! Today was not all boring training...NO NO NO I got to see an AMAZING SHOW tonight and I got PAID FOR IT!!!!!!!!! I saw Twice Charmed which is a spinoff of Cinderella and I fell in love with Prince Charming!!!!!! I still get giddy with excitement when I see characters walking about the ship and have to contain my excitement in front of the guests! Disney is truly as MAGICAL to work for as it is to experience as guests at a theme park. Everyone talks about magic and pixie dust all the times and how their dreams are coming true!
Day 4:
Today was short and saweeeeeet! I ventured out into the Cayman Islands to use the internet and it was awesome! The Cayman Islands are really cool because they really care about preserving their coral reef so we can’t dock onto the island and have to take little boats called tenders to the Island. I wasn’t there for long but the tourist part of the Island is really Americanized. I did have to work today but since my job is to have fun and play with kids it went by pretty quickly! My trainer sent me on a scavenger hunt to find and take pictures of random places on the ship. It was fun and exhausting!!! I also got to attend another show today called Villains tonight! It was really funny and had lots of really awesome dance numbers! I think I am gaining weight from all the food that I am eating in the crew mess hall. I forgot to tell you that the first day I went in to eat lunch they were serving FISH HEADS!!!!!!!! I thought for sure I would starve but I have found something to eat every meal and although its not cruise food it is really nice to not have to worry about cooking.
Day 5:
MOST AMAZING DAY EVERRRRR! I began my morning with a run on the deck of our ship at sunrise. It is still unbelievable that I am living and working on a ship that is surrounded by vast amounts of water most of the time. It was defiantly a pinch me moment!!! We ported in Cozumel and rented scooters to travel around the island for the day with my trainer, manager and my work bff. We were all really nervous because none of us had ever driven scooters before and the Mexican drivers were crazy!!! It was AMAZING to travel so freely around the island during what technically was my “lunch break”. We even saw baby green sea turtles that were just hatched (they are almost extinct). It was such a cool day until dun dun duhhhhh....... my manager Ryan, crashed his scooter into a giant curb!!! He had to pay 350 American dollars and was kinda scratched up but it was REALLY funny to hear my trainer tell the story to everyone on the ship!!! I had to work from 5-11 but my job consisted of hanging out with teenagers playing uno, attending a pirate themed dance party on the deck of the ship and watching fireworks! This week I am spoiled with free time and freedom but next week I will begin a more strict schedule with more work and less play. My job is really awesome because I get a lot of guest privileges such as hanging out in the guest pools/hot tubs and seeing shows and eating in some of the restaurants.
