About 3 weeks ago I got my tag off that says “Earning My
Ears.” Basically it was my safety card if I did anything wrong. I could just
say that I’m new and didn't’ know any better. Now that I don’t have it I actually
have to know my stuff. It’s been good though. I like not having to shadow
somebody and just follow them around the whole time. I’m getting to know where
everything is now without having to ask someone too. I still don’t know if I
want to do another contract or not yet. There are a lot of ups and downs. It is
really cool though being able to be on a cruise line and seeing the different
innovations and products aboard the ship.
One of the things that I find super cool within the Oceaneer
Club and Lab is the hand washing machines. Yes the hand washing machines.
Basically they are these boxes and you stick your hands into these two little
blue holes. Water stars to spray out in like a spiral motion around your hands.
There is soap in it too so you basically just stand there for a minute or two
and then dry your hands off.
Here are some more interesting random things about the ship.
1.) There
is what’s called the I-95 for crew members aboard. It is basically this long
hallway that stretches the entire length of the ship. It’s how we get to any
guest area without actually walking in the guest areas. You can get to anywhere
from it. the majority of the crew cabins also branch off from here. Other
things along the I-95 are the crew laundry, waste room, crew mess, exit
gangways, crew lounge, costume and wardrobe, and crew office.
2.) I
live on stairwell 19. The stairwells go from 19 to 2 all the way through the
ship. The numbers go backwards from the front of the ship to the back. This
means that I am at the very front of the ship or Forward. One of the things
about living at the front is that it is very rocky. The ship moves the most at
the front because that is where it hits the water first when it moves. I get to
hear a lot of loud crashing noises when the ship goes up and down. Yay.
Honestly though it is not that bad. At the beginning I suppose living Forward
helped me get over seasickness very quickly, and it is nice when you are taking
a nap or going to bed because the ship kind of rocks you to sleep J What
was worst for me in the beginning was that my room in particular is right next
to the anchor. So every time the anchor comes down or up (roughly every other
day) I hear this terribly loud grinding noise accompanied by the shaking of our
entire cabin. After 4 weeks though I seem to have acquired a superpower that
allows me to sleep through the noise. I’m glad it happened because otherwise I
would probably be dead on my feet.
3.)
Everyone aboard a ship is terrified of what is call GI or AGE. It is a virus
common on ships where you are basically on the toilet or throwing up all the
time. Because of this, we take extreme precaution in all areas as far as
cleanliness goes. In the Youth Activities department in particular we have to 3
bucket almost every single toy in the facility. 3 bucketing means that we wash
the toys in soap, then water, and then bleach. The toys are cleaned every single
night. Yes this means they are clean, and yes it also means a lot of work. Not
only are all the toys 3 bucketed every night, but also the whole entire space
we use. Every room in the Oceaneer Lab and Club gets cleaned. Basically we are
always clean and ready for a new group of people to come every night. The only
procedure that is different when we get a new group of cruisers is that the
dress-up clothing gets taken out to be washed and we rotate in a new set from
backstage.
4.) Other
precautions as far as GI goes is that every time we go into the crew mess we
have to wash our hands, and every time we leave the crew mess we wash our
hands. They even have cameras set up to make sure people do. I’m not sure how
often they actually use but they are still there. If you do happen to catch GI
you are put on isolation in the Medical Center and only allowed to eat certain
types of foods. If you neglect to tell the medical center that you have had
symptoms of GI and they find out you could get fired, even if nothing happened.
An outbreak of GI across the whole ship could cost the company and us way too
much to not be handled with care. Even guests are subject to stern GI policies.
If a child throws up or has diarrhea they are not allowed back into our space
at all until they give us a slip that says they have been cleared by the
medical center.
5.) Along
the same lines as cleaning, we have inspection in our cabins every Thursday
morning from 9:30 until 10:30. At this time we have to be dressed with beds
made and assigned life jackets sitting on top of our beds. If your room is not
clean they will either make a note for you to fix or clean it, or they can
write you up. You can be in your room but if you are they can ask to look in
your cabinets. Usually people will just get breakfast around this time and come
back later if they don’t have to work right away.
6.) I am an
officer! Well technically I am a petty officer on board the ship. There are
like three levels of rank on the ship. Officers, petty officers, and… other
people. I’m not sure what they are called. Maybe seamen. Youth activities and
many sections in the Entertainment department are petty officers mainly because
we have a lot of guest interaction. Basically we get more privileges like
housekeeping and being able to use some of the guest sections of the ship while
we are not working. Petty officers are half a stripe and officers are ranked
depending on how many stripes they wear on their uniforms.
I’ll post more later but I
wanted to get a little bit up first.
