Sorry I haven’t posted anything recently. Life has been so
busy and I have literally had no free time. Training week started out with just
a couple hours in a room and then the rest of the day to explore Disney
World!!! The first day we went to the Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.
Everyone had a blast and we ended up eating at this dinosaur restaurant that is
like Rainforest Café, but dinosaur themed. Before that, we were able to see the
fireworks and light show called Fantasmic. It was amazing! The next day was our
Disney Traditions class. This was basically an all day class about how Disney
got started and the ideas and concepts that make Disney and Disney Cruise Lines
the company that it is today. After that we still had the night off so we went
to Epcot and wandered around there for a while. Epcot has a whole area devoted
to themed sections of different parts of the world. We ate “in Germany” and had
some snitzel and beer :) Fireworks started again right as we finished dinner. Then we went back to out
hotel because we had to be up the next morning at 5 am in order to get on the
bus that would take us to the ship. Our first day was full of a lot of classes and information. We got a tour of
the ship as well and ate at the crew mess. The food is basically the same as
anything you might get at the dinning commons on a college campus. After that
it was more meetings and taking a picture with Mickey and Minnie Mouse. We met
with our managers next and saw the spaces we would be working in. The whole
rest of the week was more meetings about on board safety, security, and
activities.
During the first week we docked at Grand Cayman, Costa
Maya, and Cozumel. Unfortunelty due to weather we were not able to stop at
Grand Cayman, but that meant that we got a longer period of time at Costa Maya.
We were able to get off the ship then and had lunch right on the beach. Later
that night we also went out to this place called Senor Frogs. It’s really
popular with the staff and I’ve seen it at almost every port we have been to so
far.
The Disney Fantasy stops at Castaway Cay (Disney’s private
island) every Friday during the week. While here we had a tour of the island,
ate at the crew bbq, and also toured the kids spaces with our manager.
During this whole week we were also able to work some in the
Oceaneer Lab and Oceaneer Club. These are the children’s spaces on board the
ship. These spaces are for children ages 3-12. The Lab is geared more for older
children and the Club is geared more for younger children. There are tons of
activities in both spaces. Maybe I’ll try and go further into detail on them in
another post. Some things I don’t think I can put up on the internet though.
For training I got placed in the Oceaneer Club. The nice thing about the Club
is that you generally work later, get off earlier, and have shorter breaks. The
Labbies on the other hand, generally work earlier, get off later and have
really random long breaks.
This week we had an Eastern Carribean cruise where last week
was a Western Carribean. The ports for this cruise were St. Thomas and San
Juan. At St. Thomas there is this small pizza shop right off the dock that the
crew like to go to because there is free wifi and the pizza is amazing. You can
get one slice but it is gigantic. They fill it with all kinds of toppings and
you basically have to eat it with a fork and knife. My favorite stop so far
though has been San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was so pretty and full of
personality. Plus there was a Starbucks which just makes everything better :) Also, at both of these
ports I get cell service! They are United Stated ports so AT&T supports
cell phones here. I’ll be trying to get off at these ports as much as possible.
Sometimes our schedules though do not really allow us to get off though. Even
though we may have a one hour break, that is not enough time to get off the
ship, go out and explore, and then get back on the ship in time for work.
Today I worked the snorkel area on the island. This
basically means that I just made sure that everyone was wearing their life
jackets and had their snorkel gear when they went into that section of the
water. I also did lunch for the kids which went by pretty quick and then went
for a run. It is so beautiful there and it was so nice to be able to be out in
the sun. I had a four hour break and now it’s back to work on the ship until
midnight. I’ll update again as soon as I can, hopefully with more details about
the Oceaneer Club and Lab. I miss you all!
