First Day Working on a Cruise Ship

After meeting the ship, I only had time to drop off my bags in my room. Then my boss took the two of us that had just joined to get “elf costumes” since it was the Christmas cruise. We also received regular uniform pieces: one pair of pants, one pair of shorts, two polo shirts, a short sleeve sweater and a windbreaker jacket. I was hired as Youth Staff, so I also got a quick introduction to the young kids room for ages 3-7, the “tween” room for ages 8-12, and teen room for ages 13-17.

We had to put on our elf costumes and greet the passengers that were joining the cruise on the gangway. Even though it was Florida, it was still pretty cold in December and we were freezing in our costumes in the wind! We told any kids we saw to check out the kids rooms and sign up for our various activities. We had an orientation for parents and kids in the showroom and introduced ourselves. We also had an “open house” to tell everyone about our programs. Keep in mind, this was my first day and I didn’t know very many details about the programs or all the rules. I also didn’t know my way around the ship yet, but since I had a name tag on people did ask me for directions.

We had a Caribbean- themed welcome party the night the ship left Florida from 7-10pm for the kids and tweens. For this job, the training is all as you go. At the end of the activities at 10pm we had to sanitize the entire room, clean up any snacks we had, and put away any materials we used. I was exhausted at the end of the first day and went to bed as soon as I was finished with work. At least the rocking motion made it easy to fall asleep!