Can I see your pins??

Well I passed cabin inspection! After all my efforts they spent all of 10 seconds looking so that was lucky. I have another new roommate.... Sadly, Sara had to move to an entertainment cabin which is her department and was only supposed to be my roommate for 2 weeks but ended up being in here for 6 weeks! Now I have Sabrina who is Mexican and in merchandise. I vaguely remember her leaving after my first week. I don't know how long I will share with her though because I think she's putting in a request to move in with one of her friends. The rest of last week was pretty normal, I met some nice guests and it was pretty busy.

Yesterday was the beginning of our DVC cruise. This is a cruise that is ONLY Disney vacation club members so they mostly super Disney fans and a lot of them are gold (6 cruises) or platinum (10 cruises or more) but its been great so far because they're really chatty and friendly. It's a chartered cruise so we can't use any guest areas on this cruise but it doesn't really matter for 4 days... And we went to castaway today rather than Nassau... So we have canaveral, castaway, sea day, castaway and then back. Also, a big plus is that there is only 300 children on this cruise!!! I love kids but its nice to have peace and tidiness for a cruise hahaha! But my goodness have I pin traded a lot already. I ended up actually taking off my lanyard and just lying it down next to my till because I was sick of taking it on and off constantly. Some super hard core pin traders around on this cruise! 

Also we got an end of year appreciation dinner last night after work just for merchandise which was really nice. We had food from the royal palace menu which was a nice change. Our managers gave us a copy of the group photo we had taken a couple of weeks ago and a frame to put it in as well as candy and a Swarovski pen which was so nice and kind of them! I really do feel appreciated in merchandise on DCL I have to say. You feel much less of a number than at Walt Disney World (even though that was the most amazing days of my life obviously...). 

Change is a-foot again soon but I can't reveal what yet.... In other news though I have been here over two months now and only have a couple of weeks before my half way point! Crazy!

Late night Nassau!

Well, the Golden Mickeys was awesome... I've decided it is my favourite show on the dream. Afterwards, I wondered around the stores for a bit but I didn't buy the Vera Bradley bag I was going to get because they didn't have the colour I wanted anymore. It was kinda busy so I just went back to my cabin and chilled out until Nick got off work and then we watched a movie. 

I didn't make it to the masquerade ball :-( it was my own decision not to go though. I was just too tired and seen as we don't get off work until gone 11.30pm I ended up drinking strongbow with Tyler and nick in my cabin for a while before crashing out. In the daytime of Friday I went to Atlantis for the first time though which was great. It is very beautiful there but expensive. The taxi was only $4 each way for each of us which was surprisingly cheap. We went into the casino for a bit and wondered around the shops. I got a Pandora bracelet and three charms for $115 due to a special deal and it being tax-free! Yay! I already had a bracelet but it was getting rather full so now I have two. 

The weekend was pretty standard with Castaway on Saturday and Canaveral on Sunday. I ended up going to Chilis on Sunday with Nick but apart from that it was uneventful.

This brings us to yesterday which was the long-awaited late night day. We still had to go into work for the morning because we couldn't just have the whole day off unfortunately. We usually would have done counts on a Monday morning which is basically an audit and stocktake we do every week. However, it's the last week of the financial year for Disney so we didn't have counts. I changed over the display on the front table and did some cleaning. We had no crew drill so we got done at about 11.30am. A last minute decision lead to going back to Atlantis again... Tyler, nick and I got pizza for lunch, I won $50 playing card games and we got Starbucks. An awesome day! Tyler headed back early to have a nap (he's still getting over his first week exhaustion!) and therefore Nick and I left at about 5pm. We got back and went via costuming before getting ready for Palo!!! 

All I wanted since I found out I was on the Dream was to go for dinner at Palo so I was super excited that it worked out. It was soooo good. It started with a bread service and some antipasti, the prosciutto and Parmesan with balsamic vinegar were my favourite. Then for appetiser I had calamari which were lightly breaded with a tomato and pesto sauce, nick had a portobello mushroom and polenta dish which he loved. For entree I had lobster pasta as well as a side order of the scallops which were amazing. I loved that we could just choose to have two entrees or a side order of an entree and they actually encouraged it because you just pay a cover charge and you're not paying for each dish. Nick had the lobster pasta as well plus a leg of lamb which he said was great. In between the app and entree we had a palate cleanser which was a new experience for me. Sadly we were not allowed wine because we were crew and we can't drink alcohol on stage so that was the only downside for me. For dessert of course we had the infamous chocolate soufflé. It was nice but I was so full by that point that I kinda had to force myself to eat it! I'd happily go back right now and eat one haha. Also, by sheer coincidence, our server was Simone who I was in traditions with so that was really awesome! 

We finished dinner and walked around the outside of the ship a bit, admiring a night view. Remember that we are always working or at sea when it's dark so it was a weird feeling to actually be on land in the night time! I took the opportunity to get off the ship and take a couple of photos of the dream at night time before heading back to my cabin to change out of my dress. Originally we were going to then head out into Nassau to find other people in the bars or go to crew bar but to be honest, I was so tired and full that we ended up watching American football on TV (or in my case falling asleep) and I actually ended up with 8 hours sleep. 

The other reason I wasn't out late was because they scheduled us safety training at 9am today for fire zones 0 and 1 which is what I'm in for traffic controlling. So I went to that which was held in the crew bar (always strange going there in daytime) and then I got breakfast. Now I'm just typing this up whilst I wait for cabin inspection which will be in 10 minutes. They are very strict on cabin inspection here... It makes the Commons housing inspections look like nothing. You have to have everything tidy and bed made with lifejacket on top... Bathroom clean, lights off, no dust, clean the vents, the door, the mirror, the carpet, the fridge... I am pretty sure we are going to fail on carpet this week. But there's no vacuum cleaner to my disposal right this second so it will have to do. Wish me luck!

My day off!

...Well, as near as I can get to one! Today has been an awesome day. I was welcome line which was pretty uneventful, just a lot of clapping and Spanglish really. When I first got to the atrium, there was loads of people around and I realised they were filming a DCL commercial so that was fun to watch for a while. It meant the guests were a little bit later than normal so it was full flow when they let them on and constant clapping! Once we got done, I went to guest drill which was sweaty. Didn't get interrogated by an officer this time (I don't remember if I mentioned it, but I got the Spanish inquisiton last time and hardly knew any answers) so that was good. Had a shower then went to costuming to return my welcome line stuff before FINALLY posting some postcards to my family at crew office. I have a few more people I need to send one to so I will get around to it at some point. 

Then I went to the gangway and managed to get TWO parcels! One was from mum and it was a packet of haribo tangfastics which was good... It was a tester package before my birthday one. Then I also got a gift from a good friend back home called Dan who I was at Disney with, he now works at Harrods so I got a Harrods box with two bears in it - a beefeater and a policeman! I love them and they have definitely British-ified my cabin!

So after changing, nick knocks on my door and he gives me a giant box with a Union Jack on it full of birthday presents?! My birthday is in a month today so yup... One for each day! Yay! :-) so far I got an aero orange and a packet of stickers because I'm always using them for magical moment certificates. I'm lucky :-) 

After a bit of a rush to find out if we had permission, myself and Lorraine who I was on welcome line with got to Animator's Palate for dinner and it was YUMMY. The inside of the restaurant is so cool and there are giant screens where the Nemo characters pop up from time to time. Crush the turtle came and spoke to me!!! They can see and hear you so they interact with you. I had butternut squash soup and this super good garlic focaccia bread. Then I had a chicken meal which was good to have some protein in my life but next time I will probably have the pasta. For dessert I had a white chocolate brownie cheesecake which was good too. One of the highlights of the meal for me was having proper butter!! 

After dinner on my way back I ran into Kristy the CAM (crew activities manager) and she was making masks for the masquerade ball that is tomorrow night so I sat with her and made a mask which hopefully will dry by tomorrow! I hope I make it to the ball and everyone goes because it should be fun. I'm chilling in my cabin now until I go and see the golden mickeys in about half an hour.

On another note, the ship has been crazy rocky last night and tonight. I wear my sea bands but everyone looked drunk last night because we couldn't walk in a straight line and I kept losing my balance. It's very disorienting! I don't know if it's because of the usual gulf currents we feel on our way to and from Florida or whether its coming from the hurricane in the mid atlantic maybe? Either way, it's a strange feeling to be sitting on your bed and slowly swaying hahaha!

Late night!

Well after posting last time about the possibilities of a night off being so low, we had it announced yesterday that we are getting a "late night Nassau" next week for the first time in months. It means instead of leaving at 6pm, we leave at 2am. Well of course the shops can't be open while we are in port so... Guess who doesn't have to work! I've already put in the request for Palo so fingers crossed. We don't find out until the first night of that cruise (which starts Sunday) if we have a reservation. I don't care what I do that night but I really want to go eat there. Everyone knows nassau isn't the safest place ever (which is why I'm surprised they are doing a late night) so we have already had the first couple of many lectures about staying together in groups, being aware of alcohol and knowing there will be breathalysers on the gangway, not having valuables etc. I might just make the most of using the ship in the evening in all honesty. So that's next Monday.

This week has been pretty standard. It poured with rain from 1.30pm at castaway today so a lot of guests headed back and I clocked out at 4.30pm which was good going. Sea day tomorrow ugh! Last night I went and hung out with Claire who was in my traditions group. She has a huge (in comparison to mine) cabin as she is an officer! She has a sofa! No window though and she still has to share. We had drinks and cheese all very civilised. I meant to stay until about 1.30am... But I ended up getting to bed at 4.30am! Oops. 

Thursday will be my second welcome line which is exciting. I will be with Lorraine, a lady from Jamaica who works in sea treasures. We put in a dining request for animators palate so we shall see what happens, again, fingers crossed! I am probably going to go and see the golden mickeys too. 

Generally my mood has improved from the last couple of posts on here. You go through major ups and downs here because there's no escape from the bubble. I'm hoping that Orlando nick will be able to come and visit soon because that would be nice. He just changed job at WDW so I'm not sure when his days off will line up with one of my canaveral days. New nick and I hope to go to Atlantis at some point, maybe on Friday as we haven't been there yet and it's somewhere new. 

Oohhhh the other big thing that happened this week is I finally got my safety duty. Pretty much everyone in merchandise has to have a part in the twice weekly guest drill and I've escaped it for 8 weeks but as Gemma left, I picked up her duty. It's not a good one!! Well, it's a good work out I suppose... So when the emergency alarm goes, I have to leave my location and go to my cabin on deck 1 aft (the back of the ship) to get my lifejacket and traffic control vest and hat (super sexy fluorescent orange, photos soon!) then go up 4 decks of stairs to check in at skyline bar. Then go up a further 6 decks of stairs to deck 10 aft for my station to traffic control... Basically directing people to the stairs and deck 4 to their muster/assembly stations. Then when the abandon ship alarm goes off, we have to go down 7 decks of stairs and to the Walt Disney theatre on deck 3 forward... So basically as far from my station as possible! Then for crew drill we proceed to our life raft which is up another 3 decks of stairs. When we are dismissed I have to return my lifejacket to deck 1 aft, again the opposite end of the ship before returning to my location which, if its crew drill, is back at mickeys mainsail on deck 3 forward! Phew! I was well sweaty after that.

On that lovely note, it's time to get ready for work again!

This and that

Well it's another sea day so time for another blog post. My hour long breaks on the sea day are one of the rare occasions I get to have time to myself without being (totally) exhausted. That's one of the hardest things about working here... Being constantly tired. No matter how much sleep you get, it never feels like enough. What's worrying is I have only been here 7 weeks and I feel like that, God knows what it will be like when I have been here 5 months! Plus lack of sleep makes you misjudge things, get paranoid and generally can make you very grumpy. My dentist will not be pleased to know I have started glugging Diet Coke again (after giving it up for more than 6 months) because I need the caffeine! 

Ship life is same old same old. It rained for most of Castaway Cay yesterday which was sucky for the guests but good for me because it meant I was busy all day and it wasn't roasting hot. We have a new manager who is really nice and she's making a few changes to get the team more efficient. This is mostly a good thing although I feel like my chance to have the same night off with Nick one day so we can go to Palo is rapidly diminishing. Only because of practicalities to do with staffing and stuff, it's not a personal thing. Still, this is a prime example of something that seems very trivial and stupid but when you're tired and living here it makes you more upset than necessary. Still, fingers crossed, maybe it will work out one day.

I'm moving back to Mickeys Mainsail on Sunday as the new rotation is coming in where we move to a different zone of the store every 2 weeks and the tower is included in that. On the up side it means I will be able to do officer pin trading again which I really enjoyed. I should explain that on the Dream there are 4 major merchandise locations; Mickeys Mainsail, Sea Treasures, White Caps and Whozits & Whatzits. You mostly stay in one location for your contract but sometimes they move you around hence my ending up in W&W (the tower). We have the glow table and Quacks which are pop up locations on Deck 11 during pirate night and sea day as well but they just pull someone out of a store for it. Plus the fairy godmother in training or the pirate masters for our makeovers as well. 

Tyler arrives in a few days! It will be really nice to see a familiar face from "the outside"!

Feeling hot hot hot

Wow, it's taken me ages to get round to writing again because I seem to never have enough time to sit down and write. Since I last wrote, it's been pretty much same old same old. The food in the mess seems to have got slightly better as we had jacket potatoes the other day as well as shepherds pie (not that I am a fan) and sometimes we get a smoothie bar! Sara is still my roommate even though she was supposed to move last Sunday, they decided to keep her here for another week or whatever until she moves to an entertainment cabin. We are housed by department so all the merchandise people live in the same corridor etc. We aren't supposed to have other people sharing our cabins but obviously they need the space so people end up with temporary roommates from other departments. 

Anyway, crew bingo was super fun although it was speedy and rather stressful! There were several jackpots but the biggest one was $5000!!! One guy from the dining room won it but I was only three numbers away and so it was nervewracking! Counts went well last week and we were out at 11.30am but then went badly this week and we escaped coming in tomorrow morning to do recounts by the skin of our teeth. 

I've been in the tower for all my shifts and moving into mickeys mainsail if there's time left after I have closed the store and done restock. I'm accompanied by a fairy godmother in training at the moment or pirate masters on pirate night but soon the fairy godmother will be moving back to princess room so I will be alone. Having said that, I've been in the tower almost 3 weeks now and it's supposed to be a rotation so we shall see. The tower is really not that bad actually... Pros are that you get decent time to actually chat to the guests and you can get repeat guests really easily (more on that later) plus its reasonably easy work and I spend half my time being an information desk on where things are and at what time. Also I have window so I can watch out of that and see the weather all day. Cons include it being lonely when there are no guests like during the dinner times and show times plus finding time to restock because I have to be let in by a manager every time I leave and want to go back in later. Plus you feel the ship move a lot more when it's rocky up on deck 11. I invested in some sea bands which are AMAZING and completely stop sea sickness for me as well as the disorientation feeling. I only wear them on the first night of the cruise and sometimes the last night. 

Hmmm what else... I saw a friend from the rose and crown on the last cruise and that was awesome to chat and get the gossip. I meet loads of people who work at WDW so that's cool to chat about and we often have mutual friends (the 7 steps of Disney...). Tyler arrives in just over a week so I am super excited about that!!!

Last weekend was Nick's birthday and so we went to TGI Fridays with Clare and Gemma which was fun. I gave him his presents and he really liked them :-) its hard to know what to buy someone you haven't known that long and also whilst living on a ship so you have to be imaginative or they'd just end up with Disney merchandise! 

Other than that, off the ship time has been pretty standard. Saw Florida Nick last week as well and we went to Olive Garden with Eric his roommate which was a lot of fun... I miss them both. Hopefully I will see them again soon and I am hoping to spend a few days with them at the end of my contract. 

The weather has been extreme recently. The last 3 Nassau days have had rain (some very torrential) and the last Castaway Cay day was so ridiculously hot I hated every second of it. I am hoping it will start to cool off a bit soon now we are into September. 

Well that's all I can think of right now! I will promise to blog again soon!