Day 1

It was my first real job, and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I wanted a job that gave me the opportunity to travel and what better job than to work on a cruise ship?! I was signing on to a ship whose home port was Port Canaveral, Florida, and it went to Nassau and Freeport, Bahamas. 3 and 4 day cruises, which were just fine for a first contractor.

I walked on to what I thought was the biggest ship I had ever seen, since I had never been on a cruise before. I was going to be youth staff (for camp carnival), which was just running activities with the kids on board, which is not difficult since I had been working with kids since I was a teenager. My youth director, or YD, was a Filipino woman who had been working with the company for years. She met me as soon as I arrived and took me to my room, handing me my arrival papers and telling me she would be back to get me soon. 

My room was small; it had bunk beds, a desk with a small tv, and two closets. Luckily there was a bathroom in the room as well; later I would learn that crew rooms did not have bathrooms and I was lucky to be classified as staff. I waited anxiously for my YD to come back for me. Hours passed as I unpacked and wondered if I would get a roommate. Suddenly, an alarm sounded. Everyone in my hall came out of their cabins with their life jackets on and scurried up the stairs. I watched from my peephole, wondering if I was supposed to be doing this. We hadn't left port yet, so this couldn't have been a real emergency.

About an hour later my YD came to collect me for dinner. We ate with the rest of the camp team, and they were all Filipino. I tried my best to be outgoing and talk to them, but it's difficult to talk to people when they decide they will primarily speak in their own language. This was the first moment I wondered to myself what I had gotten myself into...

After dinner I started my shift at work, where I met more campies. There was a Canadian, two Zimbabweans, and another American! Everyone was nice and knew what they were doing, and I was just the new girl who needed to be trained. I made up my mind then that I needed to befriend the Canadian and American, but I didn't know how hard it was going to be.

My first night there was a crew party in the nightclub, or disco, on board. My YD picked me up, along with a few other Filipinos. I had no idea what to expect. The Filipinos stuck together, sticking out like sore thumbs. Most of them didn't drink, nonetheless dance. I felt weird being there with my new boss, so I didn't have too much to drink. I saw the Canadian and tried to sit with her, she was welcoming and introduced me to her friends from the art department. They were intimidating, and I decided to stand with my coworkers and schmooze up to the YD instead. 

I didn't get a roommate, and I was very depressed when I was alone in my room with no window. I was happy at work, there was lots of socializing but mostly with the kids. We got new kids every cruise though, which was every three or four days, so by the time I remembered their names, they were gone. I was having a hard time making friends. I had mostly been working with the Filipinos, and there were all in their mid 30s, and were not interested in a 22 year old. The American and Canadian seemed to have their own friend circle (plus they were roommates) and it was hard to get myself in with them. I was struggling not only with being lonely on the ship, but my grandfather who had basically been my father figure had passed away just days before I left for the ship. I spent almost every morning crying in the shower for about two weeks.