#1 I'm working on the title
#2 No judgements on my terrible writing ability
#3 Enjoy!!
I can’t even pick a word to describe my first week with Carnival. So let me just take you to back to day one…
As I entered the Carnival Legend I was greeted by unfamiliar faces and I was told to immediately report to the CTC. When I asked where the CTC was they responded past the F&B. Right how silly of me past the F&B is always the most logical first place to look. I did finally make it to the CTC (or the crew training center if you are in the know) after going through a few wrong doors. Then I attended a 10 minute meeting where we were told how to keep the ship safe. I now know how to put out a fire on the ship, how to save a passenger who has decided to jump off the ship, and how to run the line up for the lifeboats drill at the start of every cruise. Approx two minutes later I got to put my skills to the test. I was given a handful of wrist bands and told to report to Deck C to direct traffic and place wrist bands on children ages 11 and under for the lifeboat safety drill. Only a few questions popped into my head at this moment like “um, does it matter that I don’t have a uniform” and “Where exactly is Deck C” apparently neither of these things really mattered. No time like the present I suppose and I was on my way. Luckily, because I wasn’t in uniform I could easily ask anyone for directions even passengers who looked well informed (shh don’t tell). After that things got even more overwhelming. I started my training with Laetitia who is from South Africa, basically, how training works is you shadow the person you will be replacing for one week and badda bing badda boom you are off. Laetitia is very nice and super helpful but two minutes after meeting her she tells me that she isn’t at the end of her six month contract but leaving early after only two months. Turns out she hates the work…….fantastic. At this point all I could think was I made a huge mistake; I have just made this massive mistake. I just kept thinking, how in the world am I going to make it through the next six months, but after a couple more hours with Laetitia we met the Camp Carnival kids who we would be working with throughout the week. Most of them were from Tennessee and Alabama and were on their fall break but they were all hilarious. We got them all registered and played a few get to know you games and by the time our welcome dance party rolled around I was having a blast. Everyday I work from 4-6ish and then from 8:30-1am and all I have to do is play camp games like ninja, facilitate scavenger hunts, and kick the kids butts in Wii Just Dance. I still can’t believe that I am being paid to do this. Not to mention the ice cream socials and make your own pizza parties (after the all you can eat pizza party I found out where the gym was pronto!). I don’t usually consider myself a night owl so staying up until 1am with the kids and then heading to the crew bar afterwards for a wine and cheese tasting or the “P” theme crew party (“P” theme is where you come to the party dressed as something that starts with P, all of the camp carnival people are going to be pregnant) is kind of hard but the nice thing is I get to sleep in as long as I want. So after a rough beginning I can honestly say I am so happy with my new job. Whenever we port I can go out and catch some rays while sitting pool side sipping a beer.
The people I work with are great, my roommate is nice, the room is small but fine, and the crew food is…..ok so the food isn’t great but honestly I can deal with that. Really the only real problem I have is karaoke. We have Karaoke twice a week and if the kids don’t want to sing then I have to for an hour. Ugh!, those poor kids. But, Alan our Karaoke man is always good for a laugh so its not all bad J
This being my first blog I don’t really know the direction it will take. I would like to answer any questions you have about sea life. Before I left Randy asked about water storage on the ship. So here is your answer Ran Man. The ship has two large storage units that hold water. Now if we were to run out of water at sea the solution is simple. The crew members lose water. First they shut down the laundry and if after that we are still running short they turn off our showers. So lets all keep our fingers crossed that it will never come to that. Oh and speaking of smelling bad. It turns out they don’t order your uniform until you get on the ship and it takes two weeks to come in. So Laetitia has given me one uniform set which includes track pants a blue polo and a XXXL track jacket. In short I look hot and dangerous.
I miss everyone back home so much. Feel free to comment ask questions ect… I would love to hear from you.
