Anchors away!

My adventure has begun! For those of you just checking in, I am about to start a new job this Sunday (September 9th) with Carnival Cruise Lines as the Club O2 Director on board the Carnival Pride. I went to Miami,FL (awesome city) in May for an interview and was told the next week I had a job!  I had to do all kinds of things to be approved for the job: background check, fingerprints, a very extensive physical  (including a drug test, which I passed, in case you were wondering). I got approved towards the middle of August and they gave me my assignment 2 weeks ago! 

It will be ~6 months and I will permanently live on board the ship in a teeny-tiny room (30 inch closet!!) that I will share with a roommate. I have no idea who my roommate will be, I only know that it will be another girl and I'm assuming a girl in the Youth Department or Entertainment Department. I think (I hope) they will try to room me with someone who has a similar schedule to mine.

The Pride is docked in Baltimore and it does two alternating week long cruises. I will be back in Baltimore every Sunday morning, send one group of guests off, and then welcome the next group on and we ship out around 4:30pm the same day, unless there are storms or hurricanes, in which case I don't know what will happen. My first week will be a 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise. We leave Sunday and the schedule is:

Monday and Tuesday: days at sea

Wednesday: Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos

Thursday: Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

Friday : Freeport, Bahamas 

Saturday: day at sea

The second week will be a 7 day Bahamas cruise:

Monday and Tuesday: days at sea

Wednesday: Port Canaveral, Florida

Thursday: Nassau, Bahamas 

Friday: Freeport, Bahamas

Saturday: day at sea

The days at sea will be my busiest, as the kids are stuck on the boat with no where to go! Camp Carnival offers kids camps for kids ages 2-5, 6-8, and 9-11. Then there is Circle C which is 12-14 year olds. I will be in charge of Club O2 which is the 15-17 year olds. My first week I will shadow a Youth Director and learn the ropes, but after that I'm on my own. There is a room on board where they can come hang out, listen to music, play video games, etc. and there are also scheduled activities such as scavenger hunts, pool parties, karaoke, and discos. The ship also had a running track, mini golf, a water slide and 4 pools! A lot of people have said things to me such as "Wow, you have to deal with the kids whose family stuck them in day camp all day, that will be fun". No worries! The older kids can sign themselves in and out, so if there is any activity they don't want to do, they can leave, which is great (for me; no whining!) and gives them their own freedom. However, part of my job is to make it appealing and fun so that they won't want to leave. They can also sign up for certain short excursions when we are in port, such as snorkeling, and I think I will get to go with them and supervise! I'm hoping one of the excursions they can sign up for in Port Canaveral will be Disney World so I can go since I've never been, thanks Mom and Dad!

I'm not sure what my schedule will be; I will get it the day I sign on. I know I will have some time off in ports so that I can go explore. My logic was that by requesting to work with the older kids, my hours would be a little better. I won't be starting work at 6:00am and I won't be partaking in the babysitting Carnival offers until 3:00am (woof)! I'm really looking forward to leading the teens. Some people think I'm crazy for requesting it (but it beats changing diapers all day!), but I think most of the teens I'll have will be excited to be there and want to have a good time. 

I really don't know what else to expect, which is one of the reasons I made this blog. I've gotten all kinds of questions about my job and life on the ship that I don't know the answer to, so I will use this to keep everyone updated and tell y'all about it! So please, if anyone has questions, leave me comments and I will get to them. I plan to take lots of pictures to put in my posts so they won't all be so wordy like this one (sorry)! 

I'll post soon about the first few days of my adventure. I've been in NYC, and I've taken plenty of pictures! 

Over and out! Xo