Current Youth Activities CM -- Ask me anything!

[tobikaye]

The open houses that take place while we're in Port tend to be nearly empty!

Perfect as I know my sister will be nervous if we are off the ship for too long. Her one true phobia is being left behind. I think she will be okay on Castaway Cay, but I know in Nassau, she only wants to get off for a short while. Basically, long enough to say she was there.

 

[cmcadoo66]

Haha, I've been a Vibe counselor too during my time. We can be moved around from one month to the next, depending on what they need you for!

Anyone over the age of 13 does not have a registration form to fill out. Instead, just come to us on embarkation day of the cruise and we'll take down your information, it's a bit more streamlined than the registration form for the Lab and Club (because of far less restrictions).

Which also means for any parents with a 12 year old who will be in Edge, if you ever want her/him to enter in the younger spaces for secure programming, you will have to fill out a registration.

Wow! I didn't know they moved counselors around like that. I guess a change of scenery might be nice at times.

Thank you for the information! I will definitely take them to y'all on embarkation day. They are really looking forward to the independence on this trip so much so that I've already had to reinforce that they will join us for the shows, dinner and excursions. I do want to see them for some of our cruise!!

 

[twindaddy]

Yay! Good to hear! I saw them post in Facebook about the Starbursts ^_^ they were thrilled! How'd you like the pumpkin tree?

Ok, CM, question.

What is a good time to bring food and guarantee (as much as possible) that the YA CM's get to eat it.

For example, say I was to show up with a plate of chicken strips, or a few mickey bars, what time of day would be good timing? Right at closing / opening? And should I be kinda sneaky about it, like casually hand it to a CM and tell them to go in back and open it.

Or maybe bring some muffins from the buffet to the morning staff?

Basically, I dont want whatever I bring to get thrown away. Last time I brought about six boxes of girl scout cookies, I am hoping they enjoyed them.

 

[Nannylisad]

CM. are you in contract now ? We are sailing May 2014 on the dream. We would love to meet you :0)

 

[CMontheseas]

Two more questions:

How many kids are in each club? I know when we sailed the Fantasy last summer I was surprised there were over 200 kids in the Vibe.

Also does the crew area have a library? Would they like a donation of paperback books?

Thanks for answering all of our questions.

Hi!

We technically don't have any set numbers or limits to the amount of kids in each space, when it gets really busy (over 200), they just schedule more staff in there to ensure we meet our supervision ratio!


As for a "library"... this is a bit of an inside joke with CMs. It's a secret place that I can't talk about, but see if any CMs on board will divulge!

No actual library to store books really beyond training manuals and self-enrichment things at Human Resources. Good idea, but they wouldn't accept books!

 

[CMontheseas]

Is there a maximum age for counselors?

Sent from me.

Good question, I don't think so though, I've seen some up to age 44 working with us (which is considered ancient by our department. Imagine working somewhere in your 40s where everyone else is a college-age kid spreading cooties )

Ok, CM, question.

What is a good time to bring food and guarantee (as much as possible) that the YA CM's get to eat it.

For example, say I was to show up with a plate of chicken strips, or a few mickey bars, what time of day would be good timing? Right at closing / opening? And should I be kinda sneaky about it, like casually hand it to a CM and tell them to go in back and open it.

Or maybe bring some muffins from the buffet to the morning staff?

Basically, I dont want whatever I bring to get thrown away. Last time I brought about six boxes of girl scout cookies, I am hoping they enjoyed them.

At opening time it will almost immediately be thrown in the rubbish bin! This is when managers lurk at their most! Closing time would be the best option, especially just after midnight.

What might work as well would be during Open House periods in a space, or while everyone is on the island at Castaway Cay there's usually 1-2 forlorn counselors stuck on board.

Sneaky works best - you can imagine we can never readily accept anything up front. And if you're very unlucky, you'll get one of the rule-stickler CMs who will gladly toss it in the rubbish bin and report anyone trying to retrieve it!

(By the way, you're my hero for putting so much thought into it! Every ship might be different, so if I was sailing as a guest I'd casually bring it up with a CM during Open House and see what they thought. )

CM. are you in contract now ? We are sailing May 2014 on the dream. We would love to meet you :0)

Oh May's a bit far off for any of us to know where we'll be, really! I'm in between contracts right now technically, on vacation!

 

[cgolf]

Good question, I don't think so though, I've seen some up to age 44 working with us (which is considered ancient by our department. Imagine working somewhere in your 40s where everyone else is a college-age kid spreading cooties ) At opening time it will almost immediately be thrown in the rubbish bin! This is when managers lurk at their most! Closing time would be the best option, especially just after midnight. What might work as well would be during Open House periods in a space, or while everyone is on the island at Castaway Cay there's usually 1-2 forlorn counselors stuck on board. Sneaky works best - you can imagine we can never readily accept anything up front. And if you're very unlucky, you'll get one of the rule-stickler CMs who will gladly toss it in the rubbish bin and report anyone trying to retrieve it! (By the way, you're my hero for putting so much thought into it! Every ship might be different, so if I was sailing as a guest I'd casually bring it up with a CM during Open House and see what they thought. ) Oh May's a bit far off for any of us to know where we'll be, really! I'm in between contracts right now technically, on vacation!

For dropping off magazines same deal and is around midnight the way to go for this too? Thanks for all the info.

Cgolf

 

[CMontheseas]

For dropping off magazines same deal and is around midnight the way to go for this too? Thanks for all the info.

Cgolf

Oh for non-food items we can generally take those anytime and keep them safe. Just make sure there's a note reminding those pesky CM kids to share!!

 

[jentea]

Thanks so much for this thread! I'm a former CP CM from many moons ago. These days I roll with a 3.5yo and a 4 mos old though! My question is this: my younger DS will be 5 months at time of cruise and DH's 40th is while we are cruising. DH would really like to go snorkeling while in port on his bday, but this would require us leaving baby DS in the nursery for about 5 hrs, and our wave phones obviously wouldn't work while on the excursion. Do people ever do this? I feel super nervous about it as I worry DS is still a wee bit young, but I also know the excursion is important to DH. I'm trying to manage everyone's expectations and wondered if you see guests leaving infants that young for up to 5 hrs while unavailable in port. Thank you again for your response and for this thread!

 

[CMontheseas]

Thanks so much for this thread! I'm a former CP CM from many moons ago. These days I roll with a 3.5yo and a 4 mos old though! My question is this: my younger DS will be 5 months at time of cruise and DH's 40th is while we are cruising. DH would really like to go snorkeling while in port on his bday, but this would require us leaving baby DS in the nursery for about 5 hrs, and our wave phones obviously wouldn't work while on the excursion. Do people ever do this? I feel super nervous about it as I worry DS is still a wee bit young, but I also know the excursion is important to DH. I'm trying to manage everyone's expectations and wondered if you see guests leaving infants that young for up to 5 hrs while unavailable in port. Thank you again for your response and for this thread!

Your son will be 5 months old? I've seen children left in the nursery while in port, but never quite that young! And even then, the most I've seen a 1 year old left wasn't more than 2-3 hours.

That said, it is ultimately up to you. I will say that it's uncommon, and for families leaving their youngest on board without a means of direct contact, the least they do is designate a friend or family on board for that duration. But there could be people here on disboards who've done this with no problems!

 

[jentea]

Thanks for the response! I feel it's too young but just needed a sanity check! I think DH might have to 'make do' with some spa time instead so we can be easily accessible. I don't think he'll find that too much of a sacrifice! ;-)

 

[JoeP26]

Funny thing on the fantasy over the summer you could play a CM in foes ball and if you won you'd get a DCL vibe Prize but if you lost you'd have to get food from flo's and bring it down to the CM's at the vibe.

 

[MomsOf2boys]

Funny thing on the fantasy over the summer you could play a CM in foes ball and if you won you'd get a DCL vibe Prize but if you lost you'd have to get food from flo's and bring it down to the CM's at the vibe.

Lolol I love that! Last October on the Dream, the teen counselor told the kids he loved fruit punch so all the kids brought him cup after cup of the stuff.

 

[castlegazer]

I can totally understand your wanting to go back to the Magic as opposed to the Dream. You are VERY personable and wonderful it seems and this translate well to the smaller atmosphere of those clubs.

My kids really love their counselors on the Magic but I have to say, it's really hard to get to know them on the Dream.

We ran into, unexpectedly, our favorite server from our Magic cruises on the Dream when we sailed one of the inaugural sailings - this was a huge honor for him and his requested post as he was now in the role of... well, lets just say he wasn't a server any more.

I was shocked he remembered us. He was so sweet!

One night, he took us aside and told us how much he longed to go back to the Magic after having sailed the dream just a few short months. He missed getting to know his passengers and the smaller size. We made him remember fondly how special his passengers were to him.

The Dream didn't allow for the same interaction and he sorely missed it.

I love that about Disney CMs!

To you all its more than a job! And you are the epitome of that mentality it seems!

Thank you so much. Good luck and I hope to see you on the Magic in February!

 

[SaphyBelle]

Your son will be 5 months old? I've seen children left in the nursery while in port, but never quite that young! And even then, the most I've seen a 1 year old left wasn't more than 2-3 hours.

That said, it is ultimately up to you. I will say that it's uncommon, and for families leaving their youngest on board without a means of direct contact, the least they do is designate a friend or family on board for that duration. But there could be people here on disboards who've done this with no problems!

Hi CM,

So I want to clarify that we can leave our kids in the clubs while at port? I have a 5 year old and an almost 8 year old and we'll cruise next year April around Spring Break Fantasy. One of the stops is Costa Maya. We plan to visit the ruins but I feel that my two will not enjoy it. I have other adults in my party and they want to check it out as well. Is this o.k. or should there be a designated adult on board/ or do the family excursion tour?

Thanks for everything,

 

[CMontheseas]

Hi CM,

So I want to clarify that we can leave our kids in the clubs while at port? I have a 5 year old and an almost 8 year old and we'll cruise next year April around Spring Break Fantasy. One of the stops is Costa Maya. We plan to visit the ruins but I feel that my two will not enjoy it. I have other adults in my party and they want to check it out as well. Is this o.k. or should there be a designated adult on board/ or do the family excursion tour?

Thanks for everything,

You definitely can leave your kids on board while in port. Keep in mind the length of the ruins tours in Costa Maya, because we will be unable to reach you for the duration of that time! It's up to you whether you've left your kids for this long with other people before without needing contact!

 

[CMontheseas]

I can totally understand your wanting to go back to the Magic as opposed to the Dream. You are VERY personable and wonderful it seems and this translate well to the smaller atmosphere of those clubs.

The Dream didn't allow for the same interaction and he sorely missed it.

I love that about Disney CMs!

To you all its more than a job! And you are the epitome of that mentality it seems!

Thank you so much. Good luck and I hope to see you on the Magic in February!

Why thank you!

This is where you'll see a lot of difference between CMs and even guests who come to cruise with us! While guest service is supreme for all of our jobs, we have a more "personal touch" mentality on the smaller ships, where on the Dream certain roles/positions do rapidly gain much more money in a shorter period of time (ex: photos).

So for those of us who've lived on the Classics, we really miss it when we don't get that same "feel" from our guests. It's a huge difference with the kids too - from my standpoint and based on the expectations of different ships, our role seems reduced to supervisory/security on the Dream as opposed to more genuine interaction on the Magic. And we obviously don't do it because we're getting paid handsomely. We love our job for the moments we have with the kids!

 

[gr8estg8r]

Quick question. I just read that are going to start testing magicbands on the ships. Specifically for the kids club bands. I.just saw.pdf of the magic upgrades with kids in the new kids club areas and the kids were wearing what looked to be like magicbands. Do you have any info on this or when this might be rolled out. might they be available on the fantasy on Dec. 7th? ThAnks for any info.

 

[CMontheseas]

Quick question. I just read that are going to start testing magicbands on the ships. Specifically for the kids club bands. I.just saw.pdf of the magic upgrades with kids in the new kids club areas and the kids were wearing what looked to be like magicbands. Do you have any info on this or when this might be rolled out. might they be available on the fantasy on Dec. 7th? ThAnks for any info.

This is news to us! Those of us in the know are probably not allowed to tell the rest of the department/fleet just yet, so we're waiting on it!


What I can comment on is that we've complained/suggested changes to the Mickey bands for a LONG time now, so the CMS would welcome something new if it addressed our issues!

 

[roxy84]

Quick question. I just read that are going to start testing magicbands on the ships. Specifically for the kids club bands. I.just saw.pdf of the magic upgrades with kids in the new kids club areas and the kids were wearing what looked to be like magicbands. Do you have any info on this or when this might be rolled out. might they be available on the fantasy on Dec. 7th? ThAnks for any info.

Scott at the unofficial DCL blog just posted on twitter that there are new bands for the kids club on the Magic today for their first cruise - look much more comfortable and apparently only $13 if lost (instead of the $50). Not sure when they will role out on the other ships but still promising info!

Also CM - looks like the magic YA CM's have new polo shirts! http://www.usatoday.com/story/cruiselog/2013/10/25/disney-magic-first-look/3186127/