Current Youth Activities CM -- Ask me anything!

[kmedina]

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!

I know this was a response to an old question, so the OP probably will not see this response. For anyone else who may be curious, I will respond. I've been reading this thread for days though (and I love it). It was nice of the CM to provide feedback while she did.

My son was five months old on his first cruise and exclusively breastfed. I barely left him anywhere for any considerable amount of time before the cruise, so I was nervous. He did not really accept a bottle of my milk from my husband or my MIL. I always joked that he liked his milk straight from the tap. We booked 5-6 hours in the nursery to go to Atlantis. I pumped the night before but I was only able to get enough for one bottle. I knew he started nursing every 90-120 minutes from when he last finished.

I nursed him right before I dropped him off and left them the bottle. We ended up leaving the excursion much earlier than we planned thanks to the low supply of backup milk, and because we missed him. I got back right around the 3 hour mark (although I am sure there are more details that were fresher when I wrote them in the report in my signature if you want to look it over). He was fine. Not only did they amazing staff get him to drink the entire bottle, but he seemed very content.

I nursed him in the nursery for his usual long period (part of the reason I had trouble pumping was because he nursed so slowly that I had a "slow stream." His nursing sessions typically lasted 45 minutes to an hour when he was younger (not that they ever got much shorter when he was older). He still had time left on his nursery session when I was done, so I met my husband and older son on the deck to go swimming with the rest of the time. Being in there to nurse also gave me a bird's eye view of how wonderful the staff is.

It was a fantastically awesome experience overall. I loved cruising with a five month old. It was a Dream. We did it again when he was 1 year, nine months and it was much harder. Granted, we took him on every excursion on that cruise, so we never left him on the ship without us that time. He will be almost 3 1/2 on our next cruise. Although, I want to leave the boys on ship for one port like we did the first time, my husband does not. Thus, we are taking them everywhere with us this time as well. As long as no one tells me zip lining is an amazing experience I cannot miss, I will not whine too much.

 

[Canspinner]

I sail on the Magic 22-29 March which is just before Easter. Will there be an egg hunt or anything Easter themed?
Thanks
Lillian

 

[CMontheseas]

My email's recently become flooded with messages and questions lately, sorry for the lateness of my replies!


There are many who've been asking the finer details about what the job is like and our living situation and this is an excellent resource:
Being a Youth Activities Counselor! Website


I also got a question about whether the food options/eating privileges have improved on board and sadly while occasionally some wonderful managers might escort select CMs to a meal of guest-food, this is what our youth activities CMs on the ships look forward to eating:
(I wish it were a joke, but unfortunately not.)

 

[jpeppers]

I'm not doubting what you are saying but if that photo is a true example of food choices on board why would anyone do it? I work in a prison and I have never seen prisoners served anything like that and I won't eat there food. I read a lot of the blog and it really makes me wonder why anyone would put themselves through something like that, especially someone from the US.

 

[CMontheseas]

I'm not doubting what you are saying but if that photo is a true example of food choices on board why would anyone do it? I work in a prison and I have never seen prisoners served anything like that and I won't eat there food. I read a lot of the blog and it really makes me wonder why anyone would put themselves through something like that, especially someone from the US.

For many of us, just being able to say we work for Disney is enough to get us through, and we end up supplementing our food by eating out in Port Canaveral when we can, because it's that bad sometimes. (if you ever wondered why you see crew members loading up on snacks and bags of potato chips at Walmart/Target, you know why!) We're unique to our counterparts in the parks on land who have choice in what to eat, we can't even make our own food in our cabins.


Others though simply don't know what it's really like til they get onboard, and deciding to quit while you're here is a hard process where one must personally pay for their way home! So most CMs stick it out and hope that someone in the company working on land is made aware of the food we have to eat.

(It's not surprising the day we suddenly get hamburgers and pizza are days when shoreside inspectors come on board)

 

[MissMet]

Do you know how many staff there are in the nursery (I would like to bring treats for the staff) & any tips/info you may have about using the nursery? Busiest times? How much walk-in availability there is in say mid-oct? (I'm sure it varies cruise to cruise) This will be our first cruise with a kiddo, he'll only be one and we're definitely planning on taking advantage of the nursery- it'll be our best money spent! We'll be on the Fantasy.

So nice of you to take your time to do this!!

 

[roxy84]

deleted

 

[MUN]

I'm not doubting what you are saying but if that photo is a true example of food choices on board why would anyone do it? I work in a prison and I have never seen prisoners served anything like that and I won't eat there food. I read a lot of the blog and it really makes me wonder why anyone would put themselves through something like that, especially someone from the US.

What's wrong with fish for dinner?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

What's wrong with fish for dinner?

I was thinking that, in some cultures, that might be a "normal" meal. Am I wrong? It's just unpleasant for those whose food options don't include it.

I've often read that crew meals are quite different than passenger meals due to the cruiselines trying to make some things a bit more "home-like" for those crew who spend months away from what they're used to.

 

[Dug720]

I was thinking that, in some cultures, that might be a "normal" meal. Am I wrong? It's just unpleasant for those whose food options don't include it.

I've often read that crew meals are quite different than passenger meals due to the cruiselines trying to make some things a bit more "home-like" for those crew who spend months away from what they're used to.

Agree 100%. Also, I'm pretty sure (from a crew member I am VERY close to) that there are choices available - even if it's "just" salad or a sandwich.

 

[Ladyshopper]

For many of us, just being able to say we work for Disney is enough to get us through, and we end up supplementing our food by eating out in Port Canaveral when we can, because it's that bad sometimes. (if you ever wondered why you see crew members loading up on snacks and bags of potato chips at Walmart/Target, you know why!) We're unique to our counterparts in the parks on land who have choice in what to eat, we can't even make our own food in our cabins.


Others though simply don't know what it's really like til they get onboard, and deciding to quit while you're here is a hard process where one must personally pay for their way home! So most CMs stick it out and hope that someone in the company working on land is made aware of the food we have to eat.

(It's not surprising the day we suddenly get hamburgers and pizza are days when shoreside inspectors come on board)

I really don't understand why there is such a huge difference between guest food and crew food. I mean, that fish thing looks utterly gross.

Thanks for the link to the blog though. My son wants to be a Youth Counselor, and is doing childcare at college with a view to working on Disney. Not even the picture of that fish has put him off!

 

[Ravenne]

For many of us, just being able to say we work for Disney is enough to get us through, and we end up supplementing our food by eating out in Port Canaveral when we can, because it's that bad sometimes. (if you ever wondered why you see crew members loading up on snacks and bags of potato chips at Walmart/Target, you know why!) We're unique to our counterparts in the parks on land who have choice in what to eat, we can't even make our own food in our cabins.


Others though simply don't know what it's really like til they get onboard, and deciding to quit while you're here is a hard process where one must personally pay for their way home! So most CMs stick it out and hope that someone in the company working on land is made aware of the food we have to eat.

(It's not surprising the day we suddenly get hamburgers and pizza are days when shoreside inspectors come on board)

First, I'm so happy you're still hanging out here and responding. It really is invaluable and I really appreciate it. I took a lot of your advice for our last cruise, and brought snacks and magazines with me for the youth club CMs. Early on in the cruise, I handed the CMs some magazines and they squealed with so much joy. It was absolutely heart warming. Later on in the cruise, I brought a couple of boxes of Thin Mints Girl Scout Cookies, and a large pack of beef jerky to them (snacks that we'd brought along with us and all of the packages were still pristine, unopened), and the CMs looked at me like I had 3 heads, wondering why I was giving them food. I felt pretty silly.

 

[tee11]

Oh come on! You need to travel a bit more.
Fish heads are a delicacy in several parts of the world.

This is likely offered and served, because you work with many other nationalities on board.


"Fish heads are a delicacy from India, through Singapore to the Philippines. And it's the Asian cookbook you'll need to drag out if you want to get some monstrously good fish head dishes together. A couple of salmon heads, an aubergine and some okra are about all you need to bash together Malaysian fish head curry. Head south to Kerala in India for another spicy take on fish heads. Mallika at the excellent Quick Indian Cooking has a great rendition. ... Further east, the ever popular Pinoy Cook, a blog by home cook Connie Veneracion, takes a salmon head and wrestles it into a Filipino feast."

 

[bumbershoot]

I was thinking that, in some cultures, that might be a "normal" meal. Am I wrong? It's just unpleasant for those whose food options don't include it.

Agreed. Wouldn't work for me (not even when I was an omnivore), but if my MIL were somehow working onboard she would LOVE it.

 

[hanscarlet]

only on page 9 but love this, bookmarking... thank CM

 

[C6PT7]

Agree 100%. Also, I'm pretty sure (from a crew member I am VERY close to) that there are choices available - even if it's "just" salad or a sandwich.

Isn't your sister, the CM you are very close to an officer?
You know the officers have a separate dining room from the rest of the crew who are not officers with better food than the general crew right?
Not sure after passing that fish head dish i would feel very hungry.... And just a salad or sandwich when working many hours a day burning many many calories walking around and performing so much may not be great?
Just my thoughts.

 

[Dug720]

Isn't your sister, the CM you are very close to an officer?
You know the officers have a separate dining room from the rest of the crew who are not officers with better food than the general crew right?
Not sure after passing that fish head dish i would feel very hungry.... And just a salad or sandwich when working many hours a day burning many many calories walking around and performing so much may not be great?
Just my thoughts.

She is an officer, but at least when she worked on the Dream she often ate in the crew mess because she was friends with crew - yes they had stuff to help those from other countries feel more at home, but there were ALWAYS options and things like fish heads were NOT an every day thing. If they were friends or not she would not have continued to eat in there.

 

[C6PT7]

Whilst I appreciate your comments about your sisters experience relayed thru you, I think it is a bit disrespectful to dismiss what CMontheseas posted from first hand experience don;t you?

 

[Dug720]

Whilst I appreciate your comments about your sisters experience relayed thru you, I think it is a bit disrespectful to dismiss what CMontheseas posted from first hand experience don;t you?

I'm not saying that ethnic dishes aren't served. But there ARE alternatives there. If the food was so horrible, people would not be renewing contracts. No one holds a gun to their heads.

 

[C6PT7]

Oh come on! You need to travel a bit more.
Fish heads are a delicacy in several parts of the world."

Whilst you may feel more traveled and comfortable with certain foods being served, others may not, and to suggest that just because they are a delicacy in some parts of the world, doesn't mean everyone has to enjoy looking at them or enjoy trying them.
Cat and dog are hung up in meat traders windows and served in some parts of the world.
Would I or you like to see that and try it?
You may, but personally I wouldn't and I wouldn't expose myself to that environment or tasting it and there is no need to tell another person they need to travel a bit more for them to accept seeing them in a canteen environment.