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Lunch in Key West

I had a steep learning curve on the first day of work on the cruise ship. In addition to learning the activities and information for the kids and parents, there were required safety, environmental, and health training sessions that I had to fit in. The kids and tweens (all kids ages 3-12) had open hours from 8-12pm, 1pm-4pm, and 7-10pm on sea days. Luckily on my second day of work (first full day of the cruise), the ship docked in Key West. I was able to get off the ship and have lunch with my coworkers. One person had to stay on the ship for port duty, which is basically a free babysitting service for parents that want to drop off their kids while they go into port. Since there were extra staff members to handle so many kids, I got to see all of the ports that we stopped at for at least an hour or two.

I was also glad that I didn’t get seasick at all on the first cruise. I felt a little bit queasy on my first night on the ship, but I went to sleep and felt fine after that. The second full day on board was a sea day so a lot of the kids came to the youth area for various activities. On the third full day the ship stopped in Belize City. We had to tender, which means the cruise ship docks off shore and smaller boats come to pick up passengers and bring them to shore. It was fun to take the smaller boat to shore and I took some pictures of the ship in the ocean.

I had heard Belize City was not very nice and was advised not to go out of the cruise terminal into the city itself. I found another youth staff that wanted to explore a little bit. We wandered outside of the cruise terminal and there were a bunch of people with stands selling various souvenirs. We walked the other direction into the city and stopped in some supermarkets to pick up sunscreen and shampoo. I didn’t feel threatened, but it may have been different if I was alone.

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Tendering to Belize City looking back at the cruise ships


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