Current Youth Activities CM -- Ask me anything!

[SacCruiser]

Thanks for all the great information! We are sailing on the Fantasy on 12/14/13 and hope to see you there, of course I will not have any clue what you look like or your name so.... see you then.

 

[MomsOf2boys]

Have you had any experience with the young adult meet ups such as 18 through college?

 

[jennyjinx3]

Thanks for all the great information! We are sailing on the Fantasy on 12/14/13 and hope to see you there, of course I will not have any clue what you look like or your name so.... see you then.

 

[CMontheseas]

Have you had any experience with the young adult meet ups such as 18 through college?

Yes! I've observed them from a distance (we aren't actually allowed to partake in them, even if I was of the age when I first started working here!).
They're run by a member of the Cruise Staff, who facilitates ice breakers and so on. They're dry socials for the most part - due to the nature of strictly no underage drinking on board. (That's not to say that they tend to purchase drinks for each other in "unofficial" 18-21 meets!)

But I will say they change from cruise to cruise. Sometimes you have a whole bunch who just click together and hang out all week! Sometimes....not at all. It's a real toss-up!

 

[CMontheseas]

And I wish I could give you more details on myself, but as many other hidden CMs and managers on these boards have warned me, that would be a horrible idea! As soon as I step back on board, I must once again censor myself and give you the full Disney show!



Hehe...I just thought of a secret way you might be able to tell who I am (I'll never be allowed to confirm my identity to you while on board, I'm sure you understand).

But if you were to fist pump the air and say "Friendshipppp ROCKS!" and see who looks around with a knowing grin....

 

[twindaddy]

I have a question I just thought of...how come they dont use the walkway between the club and lab on the Disney Wonder to move kids back and forth? How come they walk out into the public areas?

 

[Ofinn]

I don't know if this has been asked before, but does the Edge have an open house everyday of the cruise? I read someone say the kids clubs have daily open houses. If this is true this means for that time frame the club is open too anyone. Is that right?

 

[wunkmom]

Thank you so much for starting this thread!!
I'm in the very, very, very early stages of planning a cruise on the Fantasy for my 25th anniversary and have been debating about whether to bring our son, who will be 17 when we plan to cruise. Seeing the comments about Vibe are helping to convince me that he won't be bored to death during the cruise. He's an only child and we homeschool, so we are a pretty tight little family unit. I hate leaving him home just because it's our anniversary, and I'd hate for him to miss out on such a fun opportunity to cruise for a week. Convincing him that he'll have fun even when he's not with us will be much easier when I show him pics of Vibe.

 

[CMontheseas]

I have a question I just thought of...how come they dont use the walkway between the club and lab on the Disney Wonder to move kids back and forth? How come they walk out into the public areas?

Excellent question. While I was on the Wonder I debated that myself, considering how silly it was that we weren't utilizing the space.

The answer lies in Disney's upholding of a wee precious thing called "Character Integrity". This is where character often wait before showing up in a program, or where hosts dress up in costume to become their character. Having children able to pass through these areas breaks the illusion and integrity of the show.

Also it's where we post up notes and announcements and sometimes these are things we don't want our older Club/Lab age kids reading. Officially though, managers are concerned about the fact there are exit doors in the middle and that because it's technically an "enclosed space" we need to maintain ratios even inside there.

Let's just say the Magic having this secret passage for use between the spaces is VERY welcomed by the Counselors and addresses a lot of silliness. (stupidity)

 

[CMontheseas]

I don't know if this has been asked before, but does the Edge have an open house everyday of the cruise? I read someone say the kids clubs have daily open houses. If this is true this means for that time frame the club is open too anyone. Is that right?

It often depends from cruise to cruise - I definitely HAVE seen cruises that have had a daily time slot for Open House in Edge. Other times I've seen Cruises with only about 2-3.

 

[lbgraves]

...The answer lies in Disney's upholding of a wee precious thing called "Character Integrity". ...[/COLOR])

So you aren't aware that initially that hallway was how the children passed from one area to the other when they were being led around the ship? Sometimes the 3-7 yos had a program in the lab area while the 8-12 yos were on the sport deck for example. That was also back when they use to take the kids to Topsider's for lunch & dinner. Characters entered the club from a door to the right of the screen/stage where they showed movies at night while the kids were on the mats.

 

[Ofinn]

It often depends from cruise to cruise - I definitely HAVE seen cruises that have had a daily time slot for Open House in Edge. Other times I've seen Cruises with only about 2-3.

Thanks so much. I didn't realize that there were open houses other than the first day. I will definitely check the navigator on the next cruise. This will make my 9 year old very happy if he can go to the Edge a couple of times with his brother.

 

[twindaddy]

Excellent question. While I was on the Wonder I debated that myself, considering how silly it was that we weren't utilizing the space.

The answer lies in Disney's upholding of a wee precious thing called "Character Integrity". This is where character often wait before showing up in a program, or where hosts dress up in costume to become their character. Having children able to pass through these areas breaks the illusion and integrity of the show.

Also it's where we post up notes and announcements and sometimes these are things we don't want our older Club/Lab age kids reading. Officially though, managers are concerned about the fact there are exit doors in the middle and that because it's technically an "enclosed space" we need to maintain ratios even inside there.

Let's just say the Magic having this secret passage for use between the spaces is VERY welcomed by the Counselors and addresses a lot of silliness. (stupidity)

Nice, I can only imagine some of the shenanigans that has gone on in there. Some of it maybe not Disney clean

I never was able to get a straight answer out of my girls during their last cruise, they moved back and forth a lot...what is the procedure for a kid going from club to lab during secure time?? My girls just said "I asked one of the counselors and they walked us over to the club/lab in a line". Do you wait for a certain number of kids or something?

Here comes more shenanigans...little Billy is being a, well, not great boy, bothering people in the club. Hey Billy, want to go the Lab? Lets go! Follow me! Like Marco Polo with kids...

I love stories of good shenanigans, like the best prank you ever seen done on board (filling someone cabin with fake (or real!) rats, Vaseline on the doorknob, saran wrap over someones toliet, ECT).... if you can share any. Here, whisper it in my ear

 

[CMontheseas]

So you aren't aware that initially that hallway was how the children passed from one area to the other when they were being led around the ship? Sometimes the 3-7 yos had a program in the lab area while the 8-12 yos were on the sport deck for example. That was also back when they use to take the kids to Topsider's for lunch & dinner. Characters entered the club from a door to the right of the screen/stage where they showed movies at night while the kids were on the mats.

Wow, that must've been just before my time! We still have the Mickey Bands reading on our system for locations the kids used to be transported through just like that!


Oh we still use it to move the kids - but only for scheduled, massive transitions (such as Friendship Rocks, or when one space goes into Open House.) Our gripe is that we don't use it more often to transfer kids back and forth beyond this time!

Also, until very recently characters used to be able to take an elevator up through the nursery to the waiting area behind the Club to enter for a program! Not any longer (too many guests complained that the babies and toddlers shouldn't be getting frightened by Mickey and Stitch and Chip and Dale. Can you imagine! On a Disney ship!).

So many utilize the secret passageway now!

 

[CMontheseas]

Nice, I can only imagine some of the shenanigans that has gone on in there. Some of it maybe not Disney clean

I never was able to get a straight answer out of my girls during their last cruise, they moved back and forth a lot...what is the procedure for a kid going from club to lab during secure time?? My girls just said "I asked one of the counselors and they walked us over to the club/lab in a line". Do you wait for a certain number of kids or something?

Here comes more shenanigans...little Billy is being a, well, not great boy, bothering people in the club. Hey Billy, want to go the Lab? Lets go! Follow me! Like Marco Polo with kids...

I love stories of good shenanigans, like the best prank you ever seen done on board (filling someone cabin with fake (or real!) rats, Vaseline on the doorknob, saran wrap over someones toliet, ECT).... if you can share any. Here, whisper it in my ear

Oh goodness. Every time we get a new member of management, they like to share their pranks with us to seem more like "Real" people and less like disciplinarians . But I'll get onto the pranks in a bit-


As for transitions - to use our official fancy word, when the kids needed to transfer back and forth between the Club and Lab on the classics (Well, not anymore on the Magic but before this month), they would have to ask a counselor. This wouldn't often be immediate because -as you can remember, though there are a number of counselors in the space, only a few may be permitted to leave the area they are standing at. In fact, when you look at the spaces on the classics and have say, 11 counselors on the floor - only about 2-3 of those Counselors are physically able to leave wherever they've been assigned and exit the space to transition kids over. In addition, the one Counselor acting as "Group Anchor" - i.e. the one who has free roaming capabilities in the space, isn't allowed to leave the area and must therefore swap with anyone in a stationary position!


Still with me?
This is further limited by the fact that 2 counselors are always required to escort the kids over to the other space. And that if either of those counselors is male, they will need to find one of us female counselors to go with. Because 2 males are never to be trusted in caring for children. Those horrible, vile, dangerous certified/background checked/experienced males .


Because of the amount of time it takes for this to get arranged, we tend to wait and see if any other kids want to join us and then walk together as a group for efficiency's sake. It does suck a bit sometimes when you see a kid walking around the room asking several counselors to go to the other space and having them say "Sorry, I can't leave this spot right now, please ask someone else near the front!" and then the CMs at the front desk say "Sorry, I'm not allowed to leave the front desk area right now, please ask someone walking around the middle of the room!"

lmao: And yes, it isn't unheard of that one space will send over a particularly challenging group of kids to the other side. Usually when the Club or Lab appears to be exceptionally busy compared to the other, someone will usually make an announcement about how fun and exciting the other space is and ask if any kids would like to go. E.g.: Ooooo who likes science and videogames! Ooooo who likes a big fun pirate ship slide! )

-------

As for pranks, everyone used to like prank calling each other pretending to be a Manager or Cruise Director observing them on camera saying they weren't supposed to be sitting down for that long, or not smiling enough.

One time, Counselors made some very convincing ...potty accidents out of moist playdough and left it lying in clumps after closing time.

My personal favorite prank was when I hid behind the bushes on Castaway Cay right after Scuttle's Cove was closed and pretended to be a crying child who'd been left behind. The fear on the other Counselors' faces was priceless!

 

[Ofinn]

Oh goodness. Every time we get a new member of management, they like to share their pranks with us to seem more like "Real" people and less like disciplinarians . But I'll get onto the pranks in a bit-


As for transitions - to use our official fancy word, when the kids needed to transfer back and forth between the Club and Lab on the classics (Well, not anymore on the Magic but before this month), they would have to ask a counselor. This wouldn't often be immediate because -as you can remember, though there are a number of counselors in the space, only a few may be permitted to leave the area they are standing at. In fact, when you look at the spaces on the classics and have say, 11 counselors on the floor - only about 2-3 of those Counselors are physically able to leave wherever they've been assigned and exit the space to transition kids over. In addition, the one Counselor acting as "Group Anchor" - i.e. the one who has free roaming capabilities in the space, isn't allowed to leave the area and must therefore swap with anyone in a stationary position!


Still with me?
This is further limited by the fact that 2 counselors are always required to escort the kids over to the other space. And that if either of those counselors is male, they will need to find one of us female counselors to go with. Because 2 males are never to be trusted in caring for children. Those horrible, vile, dangerous certified/background checked/experienced males .


Because of the amount of time it takes for this to get arranged, we tend to wait and see if any other kids want to join us and then walk together as a group for efficiency's sake. It does suck a bit sometimes when you see a kid walking around the room asking several counselors to go to the other space and having them say "Sorry, I can't leave this spot right now, please ask someone else near the front!" and then the CMs at the front desk say "Sorry, I'm not allowed to leave the front desk area right now, please ask someone walking around the middle of the room!"

lmao: And yes, it isn't unheard of that one space will send over a particularly challenging group of kids to the other side. Usually when the Club or Lab appears to be exceptionally busy compared to the other, someone will usually make an announcement about how fun and exciting the other space is and ask if any kids would like to go. E.g.: Ooooo who likes science and videogames! Ooooo who likes a big fun pirate ship slide! )

-------

As for pranks, everyone used to like prank calling each other pretending to be a Manager or Cruise Director observing them on camera saying they weren't supposed to be sitting down for that long, or not smiling enough.

One time, Counselors made some very convincing ...potty accidents out of moist playdough and left it lying in clumps after closing time.

My personal favorite prank was when I hid behind the bushes on Castaway Cay right after Scuttle's Cove was closed and pretended to be a crying child who'd been left behind. The fear on the other Counselors' faces was priceless!

At our church male volunteers in the kids clubs aren't allowed to escort children. I guess there is a lot of bias against males when it comes to children, but I get when you read the news everyday.

 

[twindaddy]

At our church male volunteers in the kids clubs aren't allowed to escort children. I guess there is a lot of bias against males when it comes to children, but I get when you read the news everyday.

alert

I don't, to be honest. I wonder why it is OK to stereotype men, but not any other group of people (pick any ethnicity, race, or other group characteristic).

I wonder what kind of thoughts people have about me, a big guy, who teaches students in first - third grade. I am sure many assume I am a molester.

Just makes me sad.

Let me put it another way. Ladies, just remember..... that darling son you are raising to be a kind, responsible young man....when he grows up, he will be assumed to be a child molester and treated as such. How does that make you feel?

Sorry to get worked up. I need a drink of the day pronto!

over

 

[Conservative Hippie]

alert

I don't, to be honest. I wonder why it is OK to stereotype men, but not any other group of people (pick any ethnicity, race, or other group characteristic).

I wonder what kind of thoughts people have about me, a big guy, who teaches students in first - third grade. I am sure many assume I am a molester.

Just makes me sad.

Let me put it another way. Ladies, just remember..... that darling son you are raising to be a kind, responsible young man....when he grows up, he will be assumed to be a child molester and treated as such. How does that make you feel?

Sorry to get worked up. I need a drink of the day pronto!

over

I hear you! I don't get the fear of the men's restroom either.

Sent from me.

 

[UK mum of 4]

I hear you! I don't get the fear of the men's restroom either.

Sent from me.

I completely agree, 2 CM yes but which gender is irrelevant in my view, there are some pretty nasty female child molesters in the world.
If you've been cleared for the job you've been cleared for the job, end of story in my opinion.

 

[jjje]

My guess is that the rule is in place for the protection of the male counselors. While I'm sure the overwhelming majority of passengers would feel totally fine with their young children being cared for or escorted from place to place by a male counselor it only takes one paranoid, misinformed parent to hear their child was left alone with an adult male to make an issue. I'm not saying it's fair, I'm just saying that I think in this case Disney is just trying to protect itself (and the counselors) from perceived wrongdoing.