Curious about staff/crew

[Narnia_girl]

We were very impressed with our interaction with the CMs onboard, particularly Chris our steward, JoJo our server and Izabella our asst. server. In talking with Izabella (from Macedonia) she said that they worked six months on, then two months off. When I asked her to tell me about her home country it made her a little homesick.

I was WONDERing though....
Does the staff work 7 days a week?
Do they have their own galley/dining room?
I know they have a pool, do they also have common or recreation areas?
Do they share cabins with someone else?
Is there a bank onboard for them? (All those tips coming in)

Just curious about their lives onboard...its such a beautiful place to visit but I imagine working there is totally different. They can't just run to Target or the library or McDonalds or a lot of the things we take for granted...

 

[Pennyb123]

We were very impressed with our interaction with the CMs onboard, particularly Chris our steward, JoJo our server and Izabella our asst. server. In talking with Izabella (from Macedonia) she said that they worked six months on, then two months off. When I asked her to tell me about her home country it made her a little homesick.

I was WONDERing though....
Does the staff work 7 days a week?
Do they have their own galley/dining room?
I know they have a pool, do they also have common or recreation areas?
Do they share cabins with someone else?
Is there a bank onboard for them? (All those tips coming in)

Just curious about their lives onboard...its such a beautiful place to visit but I imagine working there is totally different. They can't just run to Target or the library or McDonalds or a lot of the things we take for granted...

The staff does work 7 days a week with very little free time. An 80 hour week is not uncommon. They do have their own dining room with different types of food to help with all those nationalities that work onboard. They have their own weight room, their own computer lounge and rec room with pool tables. They also have their own bar onboard. Most staff have one or more roommates in a VERY TINY room. Let's face it... they aren't in there much... just sleeping. They have a payroll dept. onboard that handles paychecks. They do get shoretime. There is a thread somewhere where the Magic stayed in Cozumel until 1:30am recently and the crew got to have some extra shore time. Leaving the ship for crew is vastly different than for guests. They have a lot to go through and sometimes they line up and wait to leave and never get to leave. Officers have it a little better, as I have inquired about an officer's position onboard. Their contracts aren't as long and the hours are not as demanding. Next time you sail, ask them more questions about life onboard. Ask about marriages and divorces on the ship!! I met a couple who recently married. They did get to room together, but were in bunk beds!!!

 

[kcashner]

What you have printed is generally true. In the past most CMs had 6 months on/2 months off contracts. A few requested (and got) 4 on/2 off contracts. Now, as they are training more crew and preparing for the new ships most of the contracts are 4 on/2 off.

For at the end of their contract, the CMs are provided with transportation "all the way home" as one of our favorite servers said--not just to the main airport nearby, but whatever it takes to get them to their city/town/village or whatever. Provided they have signed a new contract, they are also provided with transportation back.

Their cabins house 2 or 3 CMs. Very rarely they are assigned a cabin alone (and consider this an incredible perk.) There are several marriages on the ships, and obviously those couples get to share a cabin.

How much down time they have depends on their position, but it isn't much for the servers/assistants/room stewards. There is a crew bus to take them to Wal-mart/Target when in port and free. Many times while we are in port they are doing safety drills, etc. We had one Castaway day when our server was unhappy--he had to be in the water and be "rescued" by the lifeboat crew.

 

[Morgey24]

Just curious about their lives onboard...its such a beautiful place to visit but I imagine working there is totally different. They can't just run to Target or the library or McDonalds or a lot of the things we take for granted...

Definitely talk to the crew and they will share as much as they feel comfortable with. The crew know when they have the next opportunity to go ashore and, believe me, they know ALL of the stores that are easy to get to in each port of call that are "Walmart" like. (There's a Kmart in St. Thomas, the CVS on Key West, a big Wal-mart like store steps away in Cozumel). They also have a small crew store of necessities but you'll frequently see them with bags of chips/cookies/candy etc and occassionally duty free liquors.

On a recent sailing I was told that at the crew bar, Heinikins are $1 and a BOTTLE of white zinfandel is $5. What they don't have is Cheap internet access so they know of all of the free wifi hot spots in every port (good to know if you bring your laptop and want to stay plugged in in a port.)

 

[Jessebuggy]

An interesting tidbit I learned on our last cruise is that the CMs are allowed 1 alcoholic drink a day. If they have any more than that, they could lose their jobs.

 

[mmouse37]

You can check out more of their life onboard by going to www.dcljobs.com or going to this link on the DCL website.

http://www.disneycruisenews.com/TopicContentPage.aspx?PageId=eaa9a158-9910-44c9-b1c7-3db1f53a45e3



MJ

 

[msmith07101]

I enjoyed talking to our servers and other crew members. Mostly to our servers...we seemed to have the most interaction with them. Learned where they were from, what family they have back home, how long they have been on the ship...renewing their contracts, or not...very interesting to get to know them a little. Yes, I do feel sorry for some of them with kids at home...that has to be tough!

 

[MomsOf2boys]

We had talked with a CM from Ireland and my son had told her about his trip there with school. They were chatting about the food and she commented that she missed baked beans over toast for breakfast. We had asked if she was getting off the ship in Cozumel and she said she was not as she had to work. We brought her back some with the snap off lids. She was very happy and she said she was going to share it with a couple of the friends she had on the ship from Ireland.

 

[LuvIt]

In case anyone is interested:
I noticed a book at my library this summer called "Cruise Ship Confidential" by a guy who actually worked on a cruise ship. I checked it out and it was a fun read and you get a sense of what life must be like for a non-officer on a cruise ship. Very long hours, cramped living conditions, having to deal with both nice guests and very arrogant/demanding guests, etc He did not work on a Disney ship.
I just downloaded a book to my Kindle called "Up the Gangway" about another new hire cruise ship (can't recall if it is fiction or written by an actual crew member) but have not started it yet. Also a non-Disney ship. If you have a Kindle, the book is currently free

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

MomsOf2boys,

That was a really lovely thing to do for her!
It would have been great to have baked beans from her home!
Little thing's like that mean the world to the crew!
Like in as a special planned event for them all eat and share with other's from other countries to taste and try their local foods!
The other island that has British made food's is Grand Caymen. There is a restaurant that a lot of the Brit's get off at to get a dose of their homeland food at!

Ex Techie

 

[MomsOf2boys]

MomsOf2boys,

That was a really lovely thing to do for her!
It would have been great to have baked beans from her home!
Little thing's like that mean the world to the crew!
Like in as a special planned event for them all eat and share with other's from other countries to taste and try their local foods!
The other island that has British made food's is Grand Caymen. There is a restaurant that a lot of the Brit's get off at to get a dose of their homeland food at!

Ex Techie

She said she was so touched that we listened to her and thought of her. We were thinking of hitting our international store and picking up "snacks" from different countries to leave with the CMs. My youngest son will be 16 so we are not going to know as many of them but I am glad to hear they party together.

Do the servers and the stateroom hosts have similar gatherings with their peers? We normally just tip above the recommended amounts for them as they can keep their tips. We even left oragami money tips for our host but she did not take it even with a note attached. We slid them into her envelope as we figured she was not allowed to take them from the room. It was our thank you for her towel creations!

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

She said she was so touched that we listened to her and thought of her. We were thinking of hitting our international store and picking up "snacks" from different countries to leave with the CMs. My youngest son will be 16 so we are not going to know as many of them but I am glad to hear they party together.

Do the servers and the stateroom hosts have similar gatherings with their peers? We normally just tip above the recommended amounts for them as they can keep their tips. We even left oragami money tips for our host but she did not take it even with a note attached. We slid them into her envelope as we figured she was not allowed to take them from the room. It was our thank you for her towel creations!

Everyone mixes within their department's and other departments.
Everyone in the Tech Dept. love Yum Yum's from Australia, so when ever an Aussie came back from vacation they would bring them!
I think if you were able to buy a Jamaican or Philippino treat (for example) for your STH or they would also share amongst other's from their country and their departmental group.
The baked bean's means they would obviously have to go to the mess to make the toast and use a microwave to heat it, so they could make an event out of it after work, not just hand some out like candy!

Whatever you do, a little slice of home can make your day 500% better and the rest of the cruise when you get such a thoughtful gift from a guest.

Ex Techie

 

[Camie627]

We were surprised to learn that there are staff that live on Castaway Cay also. The CM we spoke with said that they have to protect the island from pirates when there are not ships at port! My son's eyes were bugging out his head when he heard this!

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

The CM we spoke with said that they have to protect the island from pirates when there are not ships at port! My son's eyes were bugging out his head when he heard this!

It is the Caribbean after all!

I hope there was some salt handy to take a pinch of!

Ex Techie

 

[jordgubben]

If something as simply as bringing some candy or cookies would make a CM's day I would love to bring some to give our Stateroom Attendant and the CMs at the nursery on our upcoming cruise. Any suggestions?

 

[aberrydisneygirl]

I read a suggestion of bringing snacks such as packages of trail mix, candy, chips etc to give your CM's. I think that is a great idea and am going to think of some fun crafty/treat things to bring for our first cruise.

 

[lbgraves]

Ex Techie, just want to thank you for your unique perspective of DCL that most of us here do not experience as guests. Your attitude is always upbeat. I talked to a few CMs on the ship last month outside of our servers, while enjoying the beauty of Alaska. One has been with the ship for nearly 10 years and is thinking of leaving now that his wife is expecting their first child. He wants to be there for that; however, he also talked about how difficult it was going to be to adjust to life on land where he didn't get such great vacation time and get to go to so many wonderful places all the time. When talking with our server he spoke of how he has been with DCL since the beginning and he has worked himself up the ranks from a dishwasher to now being one of the people who trains the servers. You are right -- the people who are CMs on the ships are there because they signed the contract. They knew what the hours would be like and how long they would be away from home. I mentioned that living in a military area, I know a lot of families with a parent who has been deployed multiple times over the years. Looking at it that way, the CMs onboard don't have it as bad as some make it out to be. It's not easy, and it's not for everyone -- but there are worse places they could be.

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

We even left oragami money tips for our host but she did not take it even with a note attached. We slid them into her envelope as we figured she was not allowed to take them from the room. It was our thank you for her towel creations!

The rules and regulations are very strict. And even to the point that a CM can be afraid of taking something left for them in good intentions, but worrying that a guest may accuse them of taking something without actually being given it face to face.
I'm glad you didn't take offense and she got them anyway!

lbgraves,
Thank you for your comment.

Edit to add: No CM on any cruise line can complain about living conditions, food or pay when compared to our Servicemen and Women and what they have to go through to protect and serve us.
I watched Operation Restrepo again last night.

Everything else pales into insignificance afterwards.

Ex Techie

 

[Princess Dolly]

An interesting tidbit I learned on our last cruise is that the CMs are allowed 1 alcoholic drink a day. If they have any more than that, they could lose their jobs.

I don't think that is true. I believe the crew bar rakes in a lot of money.

One of the best things about a Disney cruise is interacting with the crew memebers. We have made at least one life long friend thanks to DCL. And we love when crew members remember us! That is a really special feeling. Amazing out of all the guests they deal with and they can recall when we last sailed with them.

 

[lbgraves]

If a CM shows up for their shift under the influence, they are sent packing. Unfortunately, when we asked about our favorite room host from three previous cruises we were told that had happened to him.