This is a transcript of Episode 3 of the Once Upon A Wander podcast.
Today Jacqueline interviews Marissa, who lived and worked aboard the Disney Magic cruise ship. The hours were long, rooms small, friends many.
Jacqueline: Today we’re here with Marissa. I met Marissa in Maine as I was just starting to meet new people and make friends so I’d been excited to learn that she’d also been a seasonal traveler. Marissa is currently navigating the Covid adventure by helping to figure out how to manage a gym, but she previously lived and worked aboard the cruise ship Disney Magic, and I really want to know what that’s like.
So Marissa, welcome to Once Upon a Wander.
Marissa: Oooh. Thank you for having me.
J: First I wanna know what circumstances led you to want to work on a cruise ship.
M: I just have always loved Disney. In the summer of 2016, we went on a cruise. And I remember, I was standing on one of the balconies, and it was during the pirate party and I’m just looking down, and I just started sobbing.
(laughs)
M: I just started sobbing. And I’m like, I want to do this. I want to be here. I want to give kids this magical experience and these magical memories. And I applied. I was a youth entertainment host, so I had to audition for my role. And then I got hired on and the process for them can take anywhere from three to six months, maybe a year, once you’ve been hired.
Mine was very fast. I don’t know- the beginning of December- they were like, we want you to leave January 4th. And I was like, okay. Let’s go.
(laughs)
J: That’s really cool.
M: It was just that idea of like, I really want to give magical memories to kids. I grew up having these memories and receiving all this love and family feel, and I’m like, I wanna do that.
J: That’s nice, that’s a really specific memory.
M: Yeah it was.
J: It’s not always that straightforward. Can you take me through the experience of boarding the ship for the first time and going up to your room? What were your feelings about it?
M: Um… I was excited. I was really excited to be boarding. So they bring you in two days before you board. The first day, they give you park tickets and they’re like, here you go, this is why you got up early, go spend the day at the parks. You have a lot of people, you know, from different countries that haven’t been to the parks before, they’re just coming to work on the ship. So it’s important to Disney that they know the product.
So, that was day one. And then day two, it’s like a briefing, I guess, of being onboard and kind of what to expect. They give you your first ears. And it’s like a Mickey hat- yeah it’s super cute. They give you just one of the classic black Mickey hats with the ears. So that was fun.
And then you board the next day. So we were in Orlando. We had to go to Miami, that’s where our main port was. It was in Miami. We’re on a bus, and I remember that morning I was excited. I was so excited. I was like, oh my god, this is happening!
(laughs)
I was just pumped. And then I slept. It was really early, it was like four in the morning. And so I slept. And as we’re pulling up to the ship I was just like a kid in a candy store. You know, they walk in and their eyes light up and it’s just magical. And I was like, there’s the ship. That’s my new home for the next four months.
So the first thing that you do: you get in line. All the new employees get on board, and you see the hallway that you’re walking down. And it’s funny because you said the feeling of going up to our rooms… our rooms are down.
(laughs)
J: Right. Right, right, down.
M: Yeah. We go down. But after we got on board, you have to go through security training, because of Titanic. What happened there changed the cruising industry forever. Not even just Titanic. There was another, I can’t remember the name…
J: Pirates of the Caribbean, I think you’re thinking of.
M: No no no no…
(laughs)
It’s a good ride though.
J: Gotcha.
M: It was a ship off the coast of, I wanna say it was in Italy. The ship crashed. And they show us the video. The guy came too close to the island and he hit it and so the ship started to lean.
J: That sounds familiar.
M: People died. People jumped off and had to swim to shore in freezing cold water in the middle of the night. Yeah. You watch this video back and you see people sitting there and the intercom’s going off. The captain wasn’t very clear, he was not really sure what’s going on. The employees were like, oh no everything’s fine. So the employees didn’t even have the training.
J: Oh no!
M: So your first two weeks on board you are strictly sitting in a classroom. You’re learning protocols. But it was fun. It was exciting. I got to meet a lot of people, make a lot of friends from different countries. And I just remember I was like, I’m gonna have the time of my life.
They actually show you in HR training, they show you a graph. And they’re like, this is what your emotional life is about to look like.
J: Ooh.
M: It starts up high, and then they’re like, at about a month in it’s just gonna drop.
(laughs)
J: That’s cool.
M: And then it’ll go back up about half way for the next month or two, and kinda level out. And then it’ll peak again, and then it’ll drop again, and then right before you leave it’ll peak. And that’s pretty accurate.
J: Wow, that really describes a lot of seasonal jobs too. There’s always a drop-off mid summer and then it kicks back up, and that’s a time where a lot of people quit. But maybe you can’t do that on a cruise ship as easily.
M: No. I mean you’re under contract. If you really hate it… One of the guys who got on board with us, he left after like- I don’t know if he even finished HR training. He was a little scary, I’m not really sure how he got hired to be quite honest with you.
J: Nepotism.
(laughs)
M: He just had these really violent thoughts.
J: So we’re starting to touch on the next question. I’m curious what your friend group was like and how you guys normally spent time together on board a cruise ship. Or off board.
M: Friends on a cruise ship is funny, man. You meet people from all over the world. And you create this bond with people, where friends I haven’t talked to since I left- I could reach out to them if I’m visiting their country and easily have a place to stay. Because people, they just understand.
J: Yeah.
M: It’s just the community that you have. But at the same time, a lot of those friendships fall on a very one-note friendship. Because you are friends with the people you work with and live where you work. So I lot of the people that I got to know, I got to know on a face level. And I love them to pieces, they’re frickin’ hilarious, but I wouldn’t call them like super, super good friends or anything.
It’s hard. And I think it’s hard to build those relationships because especially when you work with your friends, all you talk about is work. And when you work 12-hour days, all you wanna do is vent. And unfortunately, it’s like everybody just vents to each other.
So one of the biggest pieces of advice I was given by my trainer, he was like, make friends out of your department. And because you don’t have that commonality of your immediate workspace, you can get to know those people a little bit better.
The space you hang out is the crew bar. That’s like the big, main place. They do do crew events, so they have a crew activities coordinator on board. And crew members drink. A lot.
J: Yeah. I have heard that. So I don’t know if it’s for me but some of it sounds really interesting.
M: It’s cool to be in the crew bar, cuz it’s a great place to socialize. That’s where everybody goes after work. And you’re exhausted. I mean you work anywhere from nine to twelve hours. And they you gotta socialize somehow. So you jus stay up till one AM and you get up at six the next day and go to work.
J: Does the crew get to mingle with the passengers at all? It sounds like they really don’t.
M: It’s, uh, it’s tough. I would say there’s no department you work in where you could mingle with the guests in a sort of way, unless you’re cruise staff and you’re working with the young adults. I mean, you can’t touch anybody.
(laughs)
J: Yeah. What was the food like for staff and what were your living quarters like?
M: Hmm. Food was not great.
J: I kinda figured, but…
M: Yeah. They really put a low budget on employee food. Breakfast was always the best meal of the day because what they serve for breakfast is usually what they serve the guests. Lunch was always hit and miss. There’s always a pasta, there’s always some sort of Asian dish.
J: Is there salad and vegetables?
M: There’s a salad bar… I guess you could call it that.
(laughs)
J: That sounds generous.
M: There would be times I’d walk over there and there’s no lettuce. Or there’s no spinach, or there’s no greens, and I’m like, so what am I supposed to do with this?
So that was kinda like the dining center. Dinner was always more fun. Sometimes they’d do special dinners for the crew. They’ll come in, they’ll do like white tablecloths. And macaroni and cheese was always a delicacy.
(laughs)
J: Mmm…
M: Better pizza. Chicken fingers, um…
J: Ok, it sounds like a cafeteria.
M: Yeah, more food that’s bad for you, but tastes much better than the other stuff that we usually have.
J; Okay. I don’t know if I could survive this.
M: It’s pretty wild.
(laughs)
M: As far as living quarters, they’re small but you don’t spend a lot of time in them, so it doesn’t really matter. I think the hardest part is if you don’t like your roommate. I didn’t really have that problem. I liked all my roommates.
But yeah, the space is small, you have like one wardrobe, one drawer, there’s like a little desk. The bathroom is tiny. There was this really tall guy when I first started working there. And I actually asked him, I was like, Tiago, how do you take showers?
(laughs)
Cuz the showers are short. He’s like, I have to take the handle off and use it because I’m too tall, it doesn’t reach. And he’s so much longer than the beds.
And I actually read a post the other day in this group on Facebook and it’s called the Crew Bar, so it’s got a bunch of posts from people who have worked on cruise ships. And somebody said, did you ever have those loud, annoying neighbors? And I’m like, my first cabin.
There was like three men that lived next door to us and at like two in the morning they’re blasting music. And you can hear it right through the wall. Oh, I got in such a big fight with these guys. Everybody is entitled to, and has the right to sleep, is kinda the idea. So at all times of the day, the corridors should be quiet for crew.
The other thing that they do is cabin inspection. You have to make sure your bed is made. You have to make sure your life jacket is sitting on top of your bed. And this is how they expect you to leave your cabin all the time, although everybody knows that that doesn’t happen. And so, you’re not allowed to have dairy, is one of them- you’re not allowed to have any dairy in your fridge. You know, you just kinda hide everything.
(laughs)
You spend a lot of time in the mornings just, like throwing shit in closets so that they can’t go in there and see.
J: Nice. This question has to be asked. Did you get to spend time off the boat in the different ports?
M: Um, it’s tough. You definitely have time to get off the ship. At least in the department I was in. I mean, we did things like- I went to Rome. Just like an hour and a half bus trip from where we were docked, so I had time to do that one day. Getting taxis and going to the beach or going to bars farther away. So you do have time to get off and do stuff. Which is nice.
I don’t think all the departments have that flexibility. I mean, these people were amazing. I saw dish cleaners that would be up early, they’d get a few hours off the ship, they come back, work all day, and then you see them down in the crew areas cutting hair for more money. I don’t know when these people sleep.
J: So I assume one of the draws, then, is that if you’re not getting off the ship and you don’t have Amazon delivering to you, you can pretty much save all the money you’re making in these ridiculous hours.
M: Yes. Yeah. The reason a lot of these people are there to begin with is because the currency exchange rate is so vast. So I mean these people are just sending all their money back home. Sending it back to their families.
J: That’s all the questions I had. Is there anything else you’d like to add, or any recommendations or anything we missed?
M: I’m surprised you didn’t want any juicy, dirty details?
J: Do you have any?
(laughs)
J: I’ll take juicy dirty details.
M: Um, cruise lines are kinda shitty, man. They don’t treat employees that great, to be honest with you. The officers, a lot of the officers are skeezy. Super skeezy. Cuz they know. They’re like, I got my own cabin, and they will do what they can to hook up.
A lot of employees on cruise ships are married or they’re in relationships back home, but there’s this rule on cruise ships that once you’re on the cruise ship, you’re single. And it’s just like amazing, it’s astounding to me that people are like that.
And most cruise lines call it the I-95, the long white crew hallway to get you from one end of the ship to the other. It’s the most uncomfortable thing walking down that hallway. It’s like walking down a street with a bunch of men, just on the sides. But it’s a thin hallway. Yeah.
The other problem is, you know everybody. Everybody knows who you are.
HR departments on board, they’re very much, obviously on the side of the company. So if something bad happens to someone, they will do whatever they can to keep that quiet.
J: I can’t actually say that I’m surprised. That’s unfortunate to hear but in that sort of really crowded, always together, tons of work environment, I’m not really surprised, honestly.
M: Yeah.
J: Would you say that despite all the shortcomings, that experience was worth it for you?
M: Oh yeah. I think at the end of the day, if anybody’s gonna go work on a cruise line, you have to take it at face value. First of all, you know, research the company you’re applying for. Learn the good things and the bad things.
You have to take what you can and take the positives. Because there are so many times when you’re tired, you’re exhausted, you’re frustrated. And I think it’s really just being able to take that, set it aside and say this does not affect me, this does not hurt me, and then take the experiences that you can have that are positive. That is how you will get the most out of your cruise ship experience.
J: Well that was a fascinating conversation. I felt like I just watched a movie in my head. Thank you for taking me through the Disney cruise ship experience. Yeah. Thanks, Marissa. That was great.
M: You’re welcome. Thanks for having me.
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