Clap clap clap

Well, I got up at 6.45am and walked half asleep to medical this morning to just be asked "are you feeling better?" And then "okay, you can go back to work then". No signature on the form or anything! Nevertheless, I ran into the merch team going to breakfast before doing stock so I went to the mess with them and then exchanged my welcome line jacket (another costume!) for a smaller size which was still too big before heading back to bed for about an hour. Then I got up and straightened my hair (I know, effort!) and then popped in to give my form to Dave and said hi to Claire from my traditions group (she's the cruise directors assistant) before joining the other welcome line people in the atrium. Basically, there's between 6-12 of us at any one time and we stand in two lines along where people enter the ship, their family name is announced and we clap before taking in turns to personally welcome one family at a time, tell them when their stateroom will be ready and give them the opportunity to ask any questions. You really have to know the ship so I was pleased I wasn't caught out on any questions.

I got a 30 minute lunch break and met some nice guests. Reaffirmed my ability to spot British people a mile off too. Afterwards, Iris and I arranged to go and see Monsters University as we had done welcome line together it meant we both had the evening off. It was nice to get to know someone else I didn't know. We saw MU which was good although I kept falling asleep because I was tired, the ship was rocking and I've seen it before! It's still a good movie tho! Afterwards, we got food at Flo's on Deck 11 before walking around the ship a bit and giving me an opportunity to take some photos. Then she went off to meet some Croatian friends of hers so I walked around the shops a bit before going to see Villains Tonight. Normally on the first night of the cruise it is the Golden Mickeys but because the new entertainment cast is coming in it meant the shows order has changed due to dress rehearsals in the daytime. So it was an opportunity I wouldn't normally have to see that show.... Welllll... It was ok. It had a couple of good musical numbers in it but also a lot of bad jokes (that weren't even funny) and it just didn't flow as well as the Golden Mickeys or Believe which are the other two shows we have. My favourite is definitely Believe, I watched that on TV last night as well as having seen the crew showing a couple of weeks ago. 

Afterwards, I bought a photo album which was reduced in mickeys mainsail to $14.99 which is awesome and a birthday present for New Nick as its his birthday next Sunday. I went back to my cabin and wrapped it up and since have spent time chilling with Sara until my merchie friends get off work and we're going to crew bingo tonight... Back to work and counts tomorrow ugh!!

A spoonful of sugar...

The rest of sea day was alright. For the first time, I heard all the Dream's horns in person which was cool! The captain dropped by Whozits and so I told him that he made my day by playing them to which he laughed. Seeing the Captain around the ship is a bit like meeting a celebrity. Thursday was a reasonably non eventful day... Clare and I went to the Mall after work and I bought 3 pairs of shoes... Oops! 

On Friday the catamaran was awesome! There was a whole bunch of merchandise people plus several from Remy and a few other departments. Probably about 30 in all plus the Crew Activities Manager Kristy who is great. We spent about 30 minutes sailing out to the snorkel site and then had an hour to go in the water or sunbathe or whatever. I did snorkel for about 20 minutes and saw some fish! The salty water was stinging my eyes a bit so I got out and lay around the deck with people for the rest of the time. It was nice and sunny and hot. Then we sailed back to Nassau and got back about 3pm so I had a couple of hours to go back to my cabin and get ready for work. 

Now the only downside to the last couple of days was the sore throat I was developing. After the catamaran, it got worse (I think it was the seawater) and I shone a light into my mouth to discover white blotches all over my tonsils. As the medical centre has the worse opening hours ever (ie. 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon... For crew) I had to wait til this morning to go see a doctor. I had to get a form from my manager for permission to go but then it was reasonably simple. He took one look and said it was "textbook tonsillitis" so that was that. I got antibiotics, painkillers, lozenges, mouthwash (?!) and 24 hours off work. So that means I spent the rest of the day sleeping and watching Disney movies, yay. The antibiotics are working magic and the ibroprofen is really helping the swelling and pain so hopefully I will be all good to do welcome line tomorrow. I am to report back to medical at 7am tomorrow so fingers crossed!!!

Flip Reverse It

I need to start noting things down to blog about because it takes me longer to get round to it on the ship rather than at Disney World! Anyway this week has been a bit crazy because just as I was settling down into life here, it all got turned a bit upside down. Firstly, my roommate Cheyenne finished her contact as she was transferred here from the Wonder so she was always only in my cabin for a month. So she left on Sunday morning and I seized the opportunity to get the bottom bunk. No more leg bruises!! There's also slightly more headroom so it's nicer. It's an unspoken rule that the first person in the cabin gets the bottom bunk and you can move once they leave :-) So, I went to do stock and said goodbye to her and by the time I came back afterwards I had a new roommate called Sara who is in entertainment costuming. She is also here temporarily but she is really nice and she's from Connecticut. 

Also during stock on Sunday, I got informed that I was being moved to "the tower"... AKA the store on Deck 11 called Whozits & Whatzits. This is a small store that has Aquaduck merchandise as well as pool essentials. It also has started hosting "Glitter & Go" and "Skulls & Scurry" which is the Disney Dream's version of the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique and Pirates League. They're quick versions of the make over experiences offered in the parks and on the Fantasy. The up side to this is that I am not alone in the tower which previously was the biggest negative of being up there. Other positive things about the tower is that it's my own location that I'm in charge of which is good for my CV. I have to ensure it looks show ready and is fully stocked - things like that. We use the mobile MICROS system which are handheld computers for processing payments and they're a nightmare! So far today it seems to be working but it's very temperamental. I think I'm only going to be up there for a month and then we will rotate and I will go back to a store on Deck 3. On sea day (like today) I get to wear another new costume which is a purple and blue shirt with fish on it! Pictures of all my costumes coming soon... I currently have 4! 

So change of roommate, change of job... That's big changes when you're here! Other than that, we went to see the Lone Ranger during Nassau day and it was the longest movie ever. It was actually quite good but excessively long... Johnny Depp was good in it though! During the other Nassau day I got a subway with Nick and then we walked around and my shoe broke :-( I did manage to buy a tacky Nassau hoodie though because I'm always cold in my cabin. We got ice cream with Amy and Clare as well. On PC day I actually didn't go anywhere because I'm trying to save money before payday tomorrow... I just chilled out and then went outside to get Internet. CC was fun yesterday because I was morning with Nick, Gemma and Manager Dave at the smaller store called By The Seashore so we basically spent the 4 hours playing A-Z games and singing Disney songs to the guests. It was super fun.

Hopefully on Friday we are going to be going on a catamaran trip in Nassau! Tomorrow at PC I think we have yet more Pirates training.... Other than that there's not many plans except doing Welcome Line on Sunday which will be fun!! 

Good Stuff

Well, the good news is that Nick returned from Nassau's hospital at 4pm that afternoon complete with his appendix. They did a million scans and decided it was a weird tissue related problem that was caused by manual handling (probably when we did stock in the morning) and he got dosed up with ibroprofen. That was a few days ago and he feels fine now so that's all good.

I'm pleasantly surprised by the facilities provided to the crew onboard. The medical centre seem to always at least give you some painkillers or medicine if they don't sign you off work for an appropriate amount of time. They were very efficient with nick and the other people I know who got sick to take them to the medical facilities in port and check what's wrong. Other things I've been surprised about is the quality of activities and facilities for crew - we have an awesome crew activities manager called Kristy who organises events and outings as well as being a great person just to chat to. We have two different chill out rooms with computers, games consoles, board games etc. The laundry room is huge so you rarely have to wait for a washing machine or dryer. The Internet is much faster than I thought it would be (although its not really good enough for streaming, I've managed to Skype a couple of times through it, and obviously it costs 10 cents a minute which really adds up!) and the living area is much better than I thought. You get used to the size of the cabin and bathroom very quickly. The shower is always boiling hot and strong enough to wash your hair decently. 

In merchandise we get a good chance to get off the ship a few times per week but I can go into detail about my role in another post :-) 

Anyway, I got sidetracked there. Hmmm what cool things have I done this week? I saw the premiEAR of "Planes" eventually at the crew showing and it was good. It's essentially Cars 2 but with planes. I have to admit I've sacrificed a couple of free afternoons for sleep because I've been tired this week. Lets just say that Pro Plus was a very worthwhile investment before boarding the ship!

Catching up with the outside world

Well, almost at the end of the evil 4 days. This is what they should be known as... I forget if I explained before but Monday to Thursday always seem the longest days of the week. Monday we have to do counts at 8am until whenever we are done which this week wasn't until 1.30pm then a few hours off before work at 6pm. Tuesday is Castaway which is tiring because its so hot and you either work 8am-12 or 12-5pm and then the evening 6-11.30pm as usual. Then Wednesday is the sea day which is usually a 12-14 hour shift. Then finally to Thursday which is today and Port Canaveral so starting at 7.30am until hopefully 11am unless it takes us longer. SO you can imagine how awesome tomorrow will be for the fact we don't work all day until 6pm!!!

Anyway, we managed to get done with stock by 11.30am today so I got changed and after some confusion of how to drive to the terminal, I met Florida Nick for lunch. We got Chilis and I had chicken fajitas. Somehow, I have managed to become even more of a vegetarian than I was before because I just don't end up eating meat unless I'm off the ship at the moment. So... Having chicken fajitas was pretty yummy. Then he drove me to Walmart so I could grab some snacks before getting back to the ship in good time. 

*******

Okay so I wrote that part above on Thursday afternoon once I was back on the ship after guest drill when I was just hanging out with Nick in the corridor. Now it is Friday afternoon and everything went a bit crazy last night...

Okay so, we got ready for work and went for the pre-shift meeting which was fine. I went off to Mickey's Mainsail and he went to Art Gallery (as we work in different locations). Later on in the evening, my manager told us we could go to the guest PremEAR of 'Planes' the new Disney film. So, all excited, I went up to the gallery on my 15 minute break to tell him we could go see it after work... And he wasn't there. Apparently he'd gone to medical which was a bit weird because he was perfectly fine earlier. I checked there but it was locked (if you get escorted with a manager for emergencies you can see them but its locked to everyone else) and then knocked on his cabin door (we live next door to each other) but no reply. So Nick was AWOL. I finished my break and went back to work. I then transpired that he'd been signed off work for the rest of the night and after doing some digging I found out that he'd been told he had suspected appendicitis, given an IV drip of antibiotics and a medical debark notice to go to an ultrasound today in Nassau.

Thus, bang went my nice lie in this morning because I wanted to be up at 8.30am to see what was going on with him :-( I saw him after work last night and he was fine but I strongly suspect the drugs had something to do with that. I gave the Planes showing a miss (we have a crew showing on Sunday anyway) and got to bed by 1am. Woke up this morning and he was in pain again so we walked to the other end of the ship so he could call his mom and then he debarked at 9.30am. Due to the lack of communication with the outside world, I won't find out what happened. Either he comes back at 3pm and he's ok... Or he doesn't and he'll be sent for surgery and then flown home to California. I have no idea how long he'll be off the ship... 

This might seem like an overreaction on my part from an outsiders point of view but what you have to understand is the intensity of the environment here. If you've known someone a week, it feels like a month... The people here are your family whether you like it or not. I really care for him and I genuinely was worried last night when I didn't know what had happened. Anyway, once I'd said goodbye to him this morning I got ready and decided to go out to Nassau while it was quiet instead of going back to bed. I went to McDonalds for some wifi and then got a chocolate milkshake while I walked around the town a bit. I got a bit bored and annoyed with all the touristness everywhere so I went back to the ship and laid out on guest sun deck 13 for a while before going to my cabin where I am now. I think I will watch a movie on my iPad until either Nick returns or I get food from the mess before work. 

P.S. the ship Internet is down right now so this will be uploaded when I can....

Into week 3...

Oh wow, it's been a week since I wrote! Oops! This is what DCL life is like... Crazy.

The pin event went well. I was lucky to have Nick help me for the whole time because I hadn't done it before. It got a bit chaotic and there was loads of pin traders and kids there so I think everyone had fun. A random selection of officers come down to trade too and apparently the captain on occasion although I have yet to see that.

So, as its been a week I will just touch on some highlights rather than go through day by day... The days all blur into one here anyway! 

I have taken on more responsibility now that I also did the pin event again but on my own as well as holding the fort at glow last night. It was pirates night so I was supposed to be on the glow table but there are now two new people (yay, I'm not the newbie anymore!) and they were training so I went on "quacks" instead which is a pop up shop on deck 11. It's right next to where we have just started doing a mini Pirates League (I'll write about it in another post at some point) so that was a lot of fun interacting with Gemma and Nick as they were the pirate masters. After that was done, we had to pack up and then get clocked out ASAP because they put on a private showing of 'Believe' just for the crew... AMAZING!!! I loved it. Great music, story and talent on the stage. Disney at it's best! 

I have managed to get to grip with the guest areas of the ship a lot better now. We've found ourselves taking walks around the Deck 4 loop (it's the open deck) late at night because its a good way of feeling like you're not trapped inside on a ship full of people. The guests all go to bed so its usually almost empty. Last week we went up there particularly late and after a while we realised that the ship had stopped. We were standing mid ship and suddenly, these bright floodlights came on under the water casting amazing bright beams across the sea surrounding the ship... Then we saw dolphins jumping in the water, fish all around and also a couple of shooting stars as it was a very clear night and we were in the middle of the Bahamas with no light pollution. Amazing! A security guard eventually walked around and asked us if we were okay and if we had any bad intentions...I.e. were we planning to jump off. Ummm... That was our cue to go to bed! 

Then a couple of days ago a load of us went to the crew bar (thus known as the crew library) and there was some crazy lightning going on outside so we got into our Disney look clothes and went to check it out... So cool! There was loads of lightning all around even tho it was quite far away and then we actually saw the line of torrential rain approach us and go over us which was a cool experience too. Basically, Deck 4 at night is awesome.

I've done three Castaway shifts now. One in the small store I wrote about before and two in the big shop. I love the island but I don't think I'm so keen on working there... It's so hot, it's a stamina challenge. Plus the guests are hot and this makes them somewhat grumpier than on the ship so it's more challenging. I did a morning shift there yesterday for the first time and that was good because it was vaguely cooler to begin with.

Off the ship I haven't been up to much... Last week we went to Hard Rock Cafe in Nassau and I also saw the Merritt Island Walmart in PC for the first time after going to TGI Fridays. We played glow in the dark mini golf at PC too. Last Nassau I didn't get off because I wanted to sleep. Hopefully tomorrow at PC I will be meeting Other Nick for some food and a catch up... Lets hope stock doesn't take too long! Now, to get through the rest of this sea day...