It's been a long time since I posted... in that time, I've completed 7 contracts on Disney Cruise Line and I never dreamed I would stay that long! They say that cruise life is addictive and I can see why... One contract blends into the next with the phrase "just one more contract" being said more and more frequently! I have moved through the Guest Services department with some amazing experiences to my current position as a GSM - guest services manager... the position I dreamed of having when I applied for this job over 4 years ago.
I have been very lucky to have achevied as much as I have in a short time and some of that has been purely being in the right place at the right time and being the right person! I've been a GSM for almost 2 years now and I have had the fortune to experience the last 2 contracts as wedding coordinator and groups manager on-board which has been a whirlwind of cake, pouffy dresses and canapes!
I also had the opportunity to go to our sister ship, the Disney Wonder prior to it's recent dry dock and I experience 4 weeks of Alaskan itinerary as well as a repositioning cruise down the coast and then a 2 week cruise through the Panama Canal seeing Mexico and Columbia along the way!
All this being said.. the taste of travelling to new places has made me decide to put this blog to peaceful rest and start on something new where I can share my experiences of my travels to different places alongside my work. So, please read my blogs and enjoy... here's to the new one!
Wednesday 22 March 2017
Sunday 3 May 2015
Officer Life!
A brief post to explain the differences between being an officer, a petty officer and a crew member as I realize that I refer to these terms a lot but with no explanations!
So, the ship is very hierarchical. The "lowest" level, as such, is a crew member. Whilst we all refer to each other as "crew", not all roles are theoretically crew members. These roles are mostly the ones which are not seen below deck - engine wipers, maintenance, deck hands for example - but also housekeeping host/esses, food & beverage host/esses including servers and custodials which are in guest areas - for example, pool hosts. All crew members in these roles share a cabin with either 1 or 2 other people and most of them do not have "guest privileges" which means they have to stick to using the crew areas when they are not working and cannot use the guest areas unless they are at work.
Next up is the "petty officers" - this is pretty much everyone in Youth Activities, Merchandise, Cruise Staff & Entertainment and Guest Services. It's pretty much the same as being a crew member except you get certain "privileges" meaning that you can use some of the guest areas such as seeing a movie in the Buena Vista Theatre or the evening show as long as the guests go first and there is available space - and of course you're dressed in appropriate Disney Look clothing. It does not mean you can eat the guest food or use their restaurants or restrooms. You also cannot use the main pools or the Aquaduck.
Finally there are "officer" positions. This starts at 1-stripe (on each shoulder!) and goes to 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4 (steering committee) and 4.5 (captain!). The main differences between petty officers and officers is that the officers mostly wear the white uniform that people are accustomed to seeing sailors wearing! Also, they get to eat in a different 'mess' which serves (slightly) more Western/rich food as it feeds less people than the crew mess. So, instead of getting pitta bread and hummus in a big bowl... you get stuffed pittas with a choice of chicken or beef ;) You also get a different type of cabin depending on how high up you are - one stripe officers get the same as petty officers but once you get 1.5 stripes you get a bigger room and then certain positions at 2 stripes and all 2.5+ officers get their own rooms, sometimes with a shared bathroom. Once you get to the 2.5+ level you might even get a window in your cabin!
Ultimately though, we all live under the same roof and everyone is very respectful of each other. You can all go to dinner in Cabanas - you just have to have the right form signed and sometimes be accompanied by a manager that's all! That's one of the things I love about where I work - everyone gets to enjoy themselves, even if it's just crew volleyball at the crew beach or an all-crew event in Cabanas. If you put the hard work in, you'll get fun out of it!
So, the ship is very hierarchical. The "lowest" level, as such, is a crew member. Whilst we all refer to each other as "crew", not all roles are theoretically crew members. These roles are mostly the ones which are not seen below deck - engine wipers, maintenance, deck hands for example - but also housekeeping host/esses, food & beverage host/esses including servers and custodials which are in guest areas - for example, pool hosts. All crew members in these roles share a cabin with either 1 or 2 other people and most of them do not have "guest privileges" which means they have to stick to using the crew areas when they are not working and cannot use the guest areas unless they are at work.
Next up is the "petty officers" - this is pretty much everyone in Youth Activities, Merchandise, Cruise Staff & Entertainment and Guest Services. It's pretty much the same as being a crew member except you get certain "privileges" meaning that you can use some of the guest areas such as seeing a movie in the Buena Vista Theatre or the evening show as long as the guests go first and there is available space - and of course you're dressed in appropriate Disney Look clothing. It does not mean you can eat the guest food or use their restaurants or restrooms. You also cannot use the main pools or the Aquaduck.
Finally there are "officer" positions. This starts at 1-stripe (on each shoulder!) and goes to 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4 (steering committee) and 4.5 (captain!). The main differences between petty officers and officers is that the officers mostly wear the white uniform that people are accustomed to seeing sailors wearing! Also, they get to eat in a different 'mess' which serves (slightly) more Western/rich food as it feeds less people than the crew mess. So, instead of getting pitta bread and hummus in a big bowl... you get stuffed pittas with a choice of chicken or beef ;) You also get a different type of cabin depending on how high up you are - one stripe officers get the same as petty officers but once you get 1.5 stripes you get a bigger room and then certain positions at 2 stripes and all 2.5+ officers get their own rooms, sometimes with a shared bathroom. Once you get to the 2.5+ level you might even get a window in your cabin!
Ultimately though, we all live under the same roof and everyone is very respectful of each other. You can all go to dinner in Cabanas - you just have to have the right form signed and sometimes be accompanied by a manager that's all! That's one of the things I love about where I work - everyone gets to enjoy themselves, even if it's just crew volleyball at the crew beach or an all-crew event in Cabanas. If you put the hard work in, you'll get fun out of it!
Who knows where a Dream might lead?
So, following on from my last post - one day I got called into the office to be faced with the Manager of Guest Services, the new Manager of Guest Services who was taking over imminently and the Assistant Manager of Guest Services.
With all three management people in a tiny office with me, my mind was racing - what did I do?!
Then the words "The role of Clearance Officer has become available and we think you'd be great in the job.... if you want to accept the role you will start in.... one minute's time."
I was pretty gobsmacked. I understand that this won't have much effect on anyone who hasn't been in a Guest Services department on a Disney ship but basically, it was my FIRST contract in GS, I was only 3.5 months in, and this was the biggest responsibility role without actually being a proper manager. I had to sign documents for the CAPTAIN!
I should explain what the Clearance Officer does... basically, you're in charge of the knowledge of who is coming, who is going, what cargo is coming onboard and leaving, anything being offloaded and any special circumstances surrounding docking and ports of call. You have to do the paperwork that will enable the ship to dock successfully and pass Customs. If you mess up the paperwork you could render the ship susceptible to fines and you'll definitely be in big trouble. This was a BIG challenge!
My first thought when I was offered the job was would I be capable of doing it? But with my managers support behind me, I took a deep breath and accepted! It was the best decision I made in my whole contract! I did the Clearance Officer position for the rest of the time onboard - approximately 8 or 9 weeks I think. During that time I had to deal with guests passing away, midnight docking at Castaway, NO docking at Castaway (too windy!), isolated crew and guests (I had to fill in medical forms every Bahamian dock), lots and lots of paperwork and finally, training my replacement when I'd only been in the job 6 weeks myself! All of that, along with the usual guest challenges, answering the phone and assisting in the Cabanas on Castaway Cay and with a couple of weddings in there too. What a fantastically busy way to end my contract!
This role did involve getting up early every single day - on Port Canaveral it was a 4.30am alarm clock, Nassau was 6.30am and Castaway was 6am. Sea Day I got a lie-in and got to wake up at 7.30am ;) To be honest, once I got used to the early mornings it was fine.
Passing on the role to my successor was actually quite sad. I felt I hadn't done it for long enough. Of course, I'm about to embark on my 4th contract on the Dream and 2nd in Guest Services which means there is opportunity to take on Clearance again - I'd happily do it. I enjoyed being in the terminal building on Port Canaveral days and getting to meet the Cast Members that meet our guests before they come onboard. Hopefully I will get to say hi again to all of them when I get back to the ship.
One of the best things which happened during the remainder of my 3rd contract was that my parents got to come and visit! They arrived in late February, stayed for a week, doing a back-to-back cruise. Because I was Clearance at the time, I couldn't see them in the mornings because I was working - but I got to see them every afternoon and even went to Serenity Bay with them on Castaway Cay. I was lucky enough to be approved to have Palo brunch AND Palo dinner with them which I was very appreciative for, as well as eating in the main dining rotation for the first cruise (3 night) as I finished at 8.15pm each night. That was an awesome advantage I was lucky to have, made easier by being an officer! Really, the only day I didn't see them much was the sea day as I had to work most of it.
Overall, I was very blessed with my 3rd contract - I appreciated all the opportunity I got given and moving to Guest Services was the best decision I made whilst being on DCL. I will embark the ship again on 14th May for my next contract in the department and whilst I will be starting again as a Host working on the phones and the desk, I hope some more opportunity to step up will show itself and we we will see "where a Dream might lead".
With all three management people in a tiny office with me, my mind was racing - what did I do?!
Then the words "The role of Clearance Officer has become available and we think you'd be great in the job.... if you want to accept the role you will start in.... one minute's time."
I was pretty gobsmacked. I understand that this won't have much effect on anyone who hasn't been in a Guest Services department on a Disney ship but basically, it was my FIRST contract in GS, I was only 3.5 months in, and this was the biggest responsibility role without actually being a proper manager. I had to sign documents for the CAPTAIN!
I should explain what the Clearance Officer does... basically, you're in charge of the knowledge of who is coming, who is going, what cargo is coming onboard and leaving, anything being offloaded and any special circumstances surrounding docking and ports of call. You have to do the paperwork that will enable the ship to dock successfully and pass Customs. If you mess up the paperwork you could render the ship susceptible to fines and you'll definitely be in big trouble. This was a BIG challenge!
My first thought when I was offered the job was would I be capable of doing it? But with my managers support behind me, I took a deep breath and accepted! It was the best decision I made in my whole contract! I did the Clearance Officer position for the rest of the time onboard - approximately 8 or 9 weeks I think. During that time I had to deal with guests passing away, midnight docking at Castaway, NO docking at Castaway (too windy!), isolated crew and guests (I had to fill in medical forms every Bahamian dock), lots and lots of paperwork and finally, training my replacement when I'd only been in the job 6 weeks myself! All of that, along with the usual guest challenges, answering the phone and assisting in the Cabanas on Castaway Cay and with a couple of weddings in there too. What a fantastically busy way to end my contract!
This role did involve getting up early every single day - on Port Canaveral it was a 4.30am alarm clock, Nassau was 6.30am and Castaway was 6am. Sea Day I got a lie-in and got to wake up at 7.30am ;) To be honest, once I got used to the early mornings it was fine.
Passing on the role to my successor was actually quite sad. I felt I hadn't done it for long enough. Of course, I'm about to embark on my 4th contract on the Dream and 2nd in Guest Services which means there is opportunity to take on Clearance again - I'd happily do it. I enjoyed being in the terminal building on Port Canaveral days and getting to meet the Cast Members that meet our guests before they come onboard. Hopefully I will get to say hi again to all of them when I get back to the ship.
One of the best things which happened during the remainder of my 3rd contract was that my parents got to come and visit! They arrived in late February, stayed for a week, doing a back-to-back cruise. Because I was Clearance at the time, I couldn't see them in the mornings because I was working - but I got to see them every afternoon and even went to Serenity Bay with them on Castaway Cay. I was lucky enough to be approved to have Palo brunch AND Palo dinner with them which I was very appreciative for, as well as eating in the main dining rotation for the first cruise (3 night) as I finished at 8.15pm each night. That was an awesome advantage I was lucky to have, made easier by being an officer! Really, the only day I didn't see them much was the sea day as I had to work most of it.
Overall, I was very blessed with my 3rd contract - I appreciated all the opportunity I got given and moving to Guest Services was the best decision I made whilst being on DCL. I will embark the ship again on 14th May for my next contract in the department and whilst I will be starting again as a Host working on the phones and the desk, I hope some more opportunity to step up will show itself and we we will see "where a Dream might lead".
I'm still here!
I know the blog posts have become few and far between but it gets hard to find the time to sit down and write. I really should make more effort to contribute to my blog because not only is it nice to read back in years to come (as I have done with my Florida blogs in 2008 and 2010) but it's also nice for other people to read. I do occasionally get emails from people that have read my blogs about my time working for Disney or if they are going to embark on something similar, it's good to have a reference.
So, as a mid-year resolution I will try to blog more. This will make my friend Hayley happy who always stalks my blog and gets disappointed there is no new posts... ;)
So, I went back to the ship and within a couple of weeks a great opportunity came along and I got promoted to being the Guest Service Systems Coordinator. This job required me to check guests into the Onboard Check-In Program which is something we offer for guests travelling on certain airlines (Delta, US, JetBlue, American, United) and means that their boarding passes can be printed the day before leaving the ship and their luggage can be sent ahead of them - the last time they see it is outside the stateroom on the last night of the cruise until they get to the home airport and pick it up at the carousel. I also was in charge of the Deck 11 arcade - filling the machines, ordering stock and keeping it all in working order as well as tackling any guest challenges.
I LOVED doing the arcade... on a Port Canaveral morning once all the guests had disembarked it was like an oasis of peace up there on Deck 11, just mindlessly threading hooks onto the little toys and making sure everything looked pretty before the next 4000 guests came on board. The walk from Deck 3 forward to Deck 11 aft wasn't so fun - especially at 8.15pm on Pirate Night! Sometimes you had to run up there when the toys got stuck or if an arcade card wasn't working - haste can make the difference between a happy guest and a not-so-happy guest! It was also a great opportunity to make some magic, like the time I got challenged to a game of air hockey with a 8 year old (I let him win...) or giving out the free 10-minute game cards so they could play for a while longer without affecting Dad's wallet!
The Onboard Check In Program was also a fun challenge. It uses an automatic system which links to the airport bag handling company so random errors sometimes got thrown up and you'd have to try and fight the computer to make it work but if it did, it was a great relief. If you couldn't, and it unfortunately happened sometimes, you just had to use your best Guest Service skills to try and fix the situation... so, it provided some good challenges for me!!
So, I was really getting into the swing of this role when.... I got changed to Clearance Officer!
My next post will cover this role and the rest of my contract number 3!
So, as a mid-year resolution I will try to blog more. This will make my friend Hayley happy who always stalks my blog and gets disappointed there is no new posts... ;)
So, I went back to the ship and within a couple of weeks a great opportunity came along and I got promoted to being the Guest Service Systems Coordinator. This job required me to check guests into the Onboard Check-In Program which is something we offer for guests travelling on certain airlines (Delta, US, JetBlue, American, United) and means that their boarding passes can be printed the day before leaving the ship and their luggage can be sent ahead of them - the last time they see it is outside the stateroom on the last night of the cruise until they get to the home airport and pick it up at the carousel. I also was in charge of the Deck 11 arcade - filling the machines, ordering stock and keeping it all in working order as well as tackling any guest challenges.
I LOVED doing the arcade... on a Port Canaveral morning once all the guests had disembarked it was like an oasis of peace up there on Deck 11, just mindlessly threading hooks onto the little toys and making sure everything looked pretty before the next 4000 guests came on board. The walk from Deck 3 forward to Deck 11 aft wasn't so fun - especially at 8.15pm on Pirate Night! Sometimes you had to run up there when the toys got stuck or if an arcade card wasn't working - haste can make the difference between a happy guest and a not-so-happy guest! It was also a great opportunity to make some magic, like the time I got challenged to a game of air hockey with a 8 year old (I let him win...) or giving out the free 10-minute game cards so they could play for a while longer without affecting Dad's wallet!
The Onboard Check In Program was also a fun challenge. It uses an automatic system which links to the airport bag handling company so random errors sometimes got thrown up and you'd have to try and fight the computer to make it work but if it did, it was a great relief. If you couldn't, and it unfortunately happened sometimes, you just had to use your best Guest Service skills to try and fix the situation... so, it provided some good challenges for me!!
So, I was really getting into the swing of this role when.... I got changed to Clearance Officer!
My next post will cover this role and the rest of my contract number 3!
Thursday 18 December 2014
A pause
Well, exactly 2 months to the day I got on the ship - I got off it. Luckily it was only temporarily - for one week. Sadly it was a berevement leave as my grandmother passed away and I felt like I needed to go home and attend the funeral because I didn't want to feel so guilty and heartless by staying on a Disney ship smiling and laughing while my family were going through that at home. So I made the decision to go home for a week and support them and my grandfather. I am very glad I made that decision... I'm writing this post from my friend's house where I stayed last night before going to the airport marriott tonight before rejoining the ship tomorrow.
I left last Friday and had to go through all the normal procedures for debarking crew which was really weird because a) I feel like I only just arrived and b) I've only ever left on an ESTA not as a crew member so that was odd. Anyway, it was simple enough (except having to pack up all my stuff and move out of my room which was a giant pain... although it's looking like I might be able to move back into that room tomorrow fingers crossed) and I got the bus to the airport with everyone else. It being the week before Christmas and the black-out starting it meant that it took ages because there were loads of people leaving. When I got to the airport I wasn't going to sit around for 6 hours so I rented a car... after standing in a line for 30 minutes to get the keys and then driving all the way to Downtown Disney to discover it's a nightmare on earth with all the building work and stuff they are doing to the car parks I decided to go to the Florida Mall instead. So I went there and wondered around for a while, grabbed some food... I was super tired because I'd only had 3 hours sleep the night before.
The previous 4 day cruise before I got off the ship was a bit of a stressful one - the weather conditions were not suitable for us to dock at Castaway Cay so after several attempts the captain decided we would have a day at sea instead. Obviously this didn't go down well and it upset a lot of people especially because the Wonder was there the following day so we couldn't just rock up a day late unfortunately. This lead to the cruise being a long and tiring one - I left 45 minutes late on Thursday night and didn't clock out until 1.15am thus meaning I had to be up for immigration at 5am... and therefore getting 3 hours sleep.
So, back to my debarkation day - I was hungry and tired and generally ready to get home. After I returned the car, it was very smooth through immigration and getting onto the plane... I had an empty seat next to me and a 20 year old guy on the end seat plus there were no children around and everyone just really went to sleep. Including me... before the food had even been served. I woke up to eat then promptly fell back to sleep again and slept the WHOLE FLIGHT. I have never ever slept the whole flight especially without some sort of sleeping aid. It was AWESOME.
When I got to London I had to get the national express bus back home which was fine... it took forever but whatever. Then I got to spend the rest of Saturday and the whole of Sunday just relaxing at home with my family all together which is unusual in itself. Apart from the Christmas tree being up, we didnt really celebrate an early Christmas or anything but my Mum did give me a few presents to take back in my luggage.
Monday was the funeral which was an understandably sad day. Finally Tuesday I went to the Mall to get a couple of things and meet up with Hayley for a coffee which was really nice. I did laundry and packed up my stuff before going to get the bus back to London. Checked into the Travelodge at Gatwick which was fine and then went to the airport the next day to get the plane.
The flight would have been fine except the horrible child sitting in front of me who couldn't keep still, screamed the place down every time he got served food and kept letting off bad smells every half an hour. I made friends with the other people in my row who were from Scotland and we were laughing through the whole flight about this kid in front of me. FINALLY after watching 3 movies (eventually gave me an opportunity to watch One Hundred Foot Journey, Let's Be Cops and a great movie about Britain's Got Talent winner Paul Potts I think it was called One Moment) we landed.
Stood in a giant line at customs to be told I was going to Secondary Inspection - first time in my 16 times into the USA this has happened!! The lady exclaimed "oh, you don't need to come in here it's fine!" and then promptly couldn't find me on the manifest for incoming crew members on the C1D visa... cue a 15 minute phone call to Disney who also couldn't find me as an incoming crew member. I have changed at this point from laughing and joking to slightly freaking out before the Disney person on the phone said she'd finally found me. I have a sneaking suspicion it involved a call to the ship because it took forever. So, she gave me the stamp and off I went to find my bag.
The final drama took place at the luggage carosel... I'm standing there with it going round and round and I can't see my bag anywhere. I eventually went over to the woman who was working there and told her that I couldn't see it anywhere. She checked her list and watched it go round for a couple of minutes with me before telling me she had no idea. I start to freak out! Then she goes "You did travel with British Airways didn't you?"
Errrrrr... I travelled with Virgin Atlantic.
FAIL! It was so embaressing!!! We laughed about it and I went to the other carosel to retrieve my lonely bag that had been put to the side. Finally after 1.5 hours since we landed I left the airport to meet my friend who picked me up and we grabbed food before I came back to his house and crashed on the sofa. Annnnnd now I'm here. I think a brief visit to WDW is on the cards to see the Christmas decorations and then it's off to the airport marriott to continue my 3rd contract!
I left last Friday and had to go through all the normal procedures for debarking crew which was really weird because a) I feel like I only just arrived and b) I've only ever left on an ESTA not as a crew member so that was odd. Anyway, it was simple enough (except having to pack up all my stuff and move out of my room which was a giant pain... although it's looking like I might be able to move back into that room tomorrow fingers crossed) and I got the bus to the airport with everyone else. It being the week before Christmas and the black-out starting it meant that it took ages because there were loads of people leaving. When I got to the airport I wasn't going to sit around for 6 hours so I rented a car... after standing in a line for 30 minutes to get the keys and then driving all the way to Downtown Disney to discover it's a nightmare on earth with all the building work and stuff they are doing to the car parks I decided to go to the Florida Mall instead. So I went there and wondered around for a while, grabbed some food... I was super tired because I'd only had 3 hours sleep the night before.
The previous 4 day cruise before I got off the ship was a bit of a stressful one - the weather conditions were not suitable for us to dock at Castaway Cay so after several attempts the captain decided we would have a day at sea instead. Obviously this didn't go down well and it upset a lot of people especially because the Wonder was there the following day so we couldn't just rock up a day late unfortunately. This lead to the cruise being a long and tiring one - I left 45 minutes late on Thursday night and didn't clock out until 1.15am thus meaning I had to be up for immigration at 5am... and therefore getting 3 hours sleep.
So, back to my debarkation day - I was hungry and tired and generally ready to get home. After I returned the car, it was very smooth through immigration and getting onto the plane... I had an empty seat next to me and a 20 year old guy on the end seat plus there were no children around and everyone just really went to sleep. Including me... before the food had even been served. I woke up to eat then promptly fell back to sleep again and slept the WHOLE FLIGHT. I have never ever slept the whole flight especially without some sort of sleeping aid. It was AWESOME.
When I got to London I had to get the national express bus back home which was fine... it took forever but whatever. Then I got to spend the rest of Saturday and the whole of Sunday just relaxing at home with my family all together which is unusual in itself. Apart from the Christmas tree being up, we didnt really celebrate an early Christmas or anything but my Mum did give me a few presents to take back in my luggage.
Monday was the funeral which was an understandably sad day. Finally Tuesday I went to the Mall to get a couple of things and meet up with Hayley for a coffee which was really nice. I did laundry and packed up my stuff before going to get the bus back to London. Checked into the Travelodge at Gatwick which was fine and then went to the airport the next day to get the plane.
The flight would have been fine except the horrible child sitting in front of me who couldn't keep still, screamed the place down every time he got served food and kept letting off bad smells every half an hour. I made friends with the other people in my row who were from Scotland and we were laughing through the whole flight about this kid in front of me. FINALLY after watching 3 movies (eventually gave me an opportunity to watch One Hundred Foot Journey, Let's Be Cops and a great movie about Britain's Got Talent winner Paul Potts I think it was called One Moment) we landed.
Stood in a giant line at customs to be told I was going to Secondary Inspection - first time in my 16 times into the USA this has happened!! The lady exclaimed "oh, you don't need to come in here it's fine!" and then promptly couldn't find me on the manifest for incoming crew members on the C1D visa... cue a 15 minute phone call to Disney who also couldn't find me as an incoming crew member. I have changed at this point from laughing and joking to slightly freaking out before the Disney person on the phone said she'd finally found me. I have a sneaking suspicion it involved a call to the ship because it took forever. So, she gave me the stamp and off I went to find my bag.
The final drama took place at the luggage carosel... I'm standing there with it going round and round and I can't see my bag anywhere. I eventually went over to the woman who was working there and told her that I couldn't see it anywhere. She checked her list and watched it go round for a couple of minutes with me before telling me she had no idea. I start to freak out! Then she goes "You did travel with British Airways didn't you?"
Errrrrr... I travelled with Virgin Atlantic.
FAIL! It was so embaressing!!! We laughed about it and I went to the other carosel to retrieve my lonely bag that had been put to the side. Finally after 1.5 hours since we landed I left the airport to meet my friend who picked me up and we grabbed food before I came back to his house and crashed on the sofa. Annnnnd now I'm here. I think a brief visit to WDW is on the cards to see the Christmas decorations and then it's off to the airport marriott to continue my 3rd contract!
Thursday 30 October 2014
I'm back again!
Well I’m back here on the Dream and almost three weeks into
contract number three… it’s going really well! I’m settled into my new department,
they were all very welcoming and with every day I’m there I ask less questions
so that’s good. It’s definitely very demanding… if merchandise was a country road
then guest services is a highway!
I definitely feel there’s an element of being a server in
this job in the sense that in both departments you have to constantly be
thinking about several things at once, chasing up jobs that need doing and
multi-tasking along with working out when you can fit things in. Even just
right now I’m on my break but I know when I go back at 5.30pm there will be at
least three things for me to do and several rooms to visit all around the ship to
drop things off.
But overall I’m loving it. The schedule is much different to
merchandise – you work either an early shift, mid shift or late shift… last
week I was on the early shift so I started at 6-7am and finished at 8-9pm… this
week I’m on the mid shift so I start at around 9am and finish anywhere from
10pm to midnight-ish. And then there is the late shift where you don’t start until
about midday but you finish at 1-1.30am in the morning. Of course we are open
24 hours a day so we have one crew member who works a night shift… maybe one
day I will be given the responsibility to do that. I hope so because it’s a
good opportunity to show you can cope alone and also you get the whole daytime
off!
Since I’ve been back we already had a character meet and
greet with Mickey & the gang dressed in their Halloween costumes which was
fun. I think we just have one more Halloween cruise which starts tomorrow and
then… CHRISTMAS! I’m very excited for the festive season this year! We also had
our crew Halloween party which was great fun – I went as a 90s kid but I saw
some great costumes… Russell from Up, a ghost of the titanic survivor, lots of
clowns, frozen Anna, Pocahontas, Rapunzel, Jasmine, lots of witches, the joker
from Batman, a box of Crayola crayons, the list goes on. Everyone makes a lot
of effort for the Halloween party and that’s no mean feat when you have limited
access to shops and creative sources like glue, glitter, make up and paper! We
have a recognition party on Saturday to reward us for some great results for
past voyages and we even have a dinner in Cabanas coming up… I will be starving
myself in preparation. We also just changed our schedule and now we are in Port
Canaveral on Mondays and Fridays… so nobody knows what day it is now, I have to
actually think about even where we are each day! I can’t get off the ship much
now I’m in GS… in 3 weeks I’ve only been off the ship twice – once in Nassau
and once in Port Canaveral.
The only thing that has been weird so far this contract is
the fact Nick isn’t here. He gets back in 3 weeks. It’s been good to be able to
adjust to my new job before he gets back but I will look forward to hanging out
with him once we are both back here together. My mum and dad have just booked
flights to come and sail on the Dream in February – super excited!
Thursday 9 October 2014
Here we go again... contract number 3!
Quick update before I go back to the craziness of the ship in 3 days time! As requested by my friend Hayley, I will try to update more often (easy to say, hard to do on the ship!) but I might move towards more specific blog posts because my life is very repetitive! It's also quite hard to keep within certain guidelines about posting... as you can imagine the world is a very open place with the internet and blogging at our fingertips and it's all too easy to get into trouble when you're posting about a company such as Disney. I love working for Disney so I am not negative about the company but remember, my opinions are just that - my opinions. They are not official word on behalf of the company and so I have to be careful :)
Anyway, what I can say is that I'm returning to the ship.... AS GUEST SERVICES!!!! This is the role I've always wanted to do whilst working at Disney, preferably in the parks of course but that won't happen right now so the ships are the next best thing! Also, they didn't change my start date (this saturday, 12th Oct) and they only shortened the contract by two weeks so I finish on the 20th March 2015 (prospectively of course!). Nick finishes his contract on March 7th I believe so we will overlap 6 weeks on vacation which is pretty awesome.
If things go well in this new department I'd like to work the contract system to be able to get off for Christmas 2015 - that would be amazing! It's all about planning ahead and swapping end dates usually. This year I'm missing my 4th Christmas in the UK in a row which is a bit of a bummer... it's definitely the biggest sacrifice you make working on a cruise ship - not specifically Christmas but those important family events throughout the year; birthdays, weddings, days out, holidays etc. Celebrating Christmas aboard the ship is still fun and we come together as the Dream family but nothing beats getting up early, eating chocolate for breakfast, unwrapping the presents, having family Christmas lunch, watching the Queen on TV and rubbish Christmas movies all day - whilst it's cold and windy outside!
Anyway, so I get a new costume which is a white skirt with black (Hogwarts-esque) blazer and the same shirt underneath I wore in merchandise. Also with the new role comes varied shifts at last so not the same thing week in week out. It does mean I will not have as much time in port, will work a few more hours and probably will end up on night shifts at some point as guest services is a 24 hour a day role. I also get to NOT do cycle counts, deliveries or traffic controller duties running up 9 decks of stairs twice a week which is rather exciting!! I'm sure there are the equivalent things in GS that are less exciting but I'm ready to discover them.
I also get a cabin a bit further up the I95 and obviously a new roommate who I don't know probably so that's a nice air of mystery to be revealed on Sunday! Bring on the new chapter...
Anyway, what I can say is that I'm returning to the ship.... AS GUEST SERVICES!!!! This is the role I've always wanted to do whilst working at Disney, preferably in the parks of course but that won't happen right now so the ships are the next best thing! Also, they didn't change my start date (this saturday, 12th Oct) and they only shortened the contract by two weeks so I finish on the 20th March 2015 (prospectively of course!). Nick finishes his contract on March 7th I believe so we will overlap 6 weeks on vacation which is pretty awesome.
If things go well in this new department I'd like to work the contract system to be able to get off for Christmas 2015 - that would be amazing! It's all about planning ahead and swapping end dates usually. This year I'm missing my 4th Christmas in the UK in a row which is a bit of a bummer... it's definitely the biggest sacrifice you make working on a cruise ship - not specifically Christmas but those important family events throughout the year; birthdays, weddings, days out, holidays etc. Celebrating Christmas aboard the ship is still fun and we come together as the Dream family but nothing beats getting up early, eating chocolate for breakfast, unwrapping the presents, having family Christmas lunch, watching the Queen on TV and rubbish Christmas movies all day - whilst it's cold and windy outside!
Anyway, so I get a new costume which is a white skirt with black (Hogwarts-esque) blazer and the same shirt underneath I wore in merchandise. Also with the new role comes varied shifts at last so not the same thing week in week out. It does mean I will not have as much time in port, will work a few more hours and probably will end up on night shifts at some point as guest services is a 24 hour a day role. I also get to NOT do cycle counts, deliveries or traffic controller duties running up 9 decks of stairs twice a week which is rather exciting!! I'm sure there are the equivalent things in GS that are less exciting but I'm ready to discover them.
I also get a cabin a bit further up the I95 and obviously a new roommate who I don't know probably so that's a nice air of mystery to be revealed on Sunday! Bring on the new chapter...
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