Cigarettes and Alcohol

Cigarettes and Alcohol

(During this post, feel free to listen to some music I've thoughtfully put here for you)

So no surprise, working for Disney on a ship is essentially has the same strict expectations and regulations for drug and alcohol use as you would expect in the Parks.
Except I don't think you'd ever get away with being buzzed walking through any other Disney property like you would heading through the ship back from a crew party.

DRUGS

As far as illegal drugs go, zero tolerance.
So just to get that out of the way, if they find any illegal drugs in your possession they will terminate you immediately and very possibly turn you over to the authorities. I've seen it happen!

Considering all of our ships port in the Caribbean and Jamaica you can imagine how "not difficult" it is to score drugs on land. Especially since there are guys on the street that can easily tell crew members apart from the Guests and will offer it right up to you then and there! In Vancouver, marijuana was everywhere. In Colombia, cocaine. In Spain, MDMA. In Miami, heroin.


Luckily though, every time you get on and off the ship in many of these ports a drug-sniffer dog will go through your bags to check if there's any contraband. Sometimes the officers are incredibly friendly, sometimes they're not the sort of pleasant people to joke with.

If you do somehow manage to smuggle it onboard, know that every Cast and Crew Member is subject to random drug testing. I'm not sure how often this actually happens though, since in my years of working for DCL I've only been tested twice.

1. For my pre-employment medical screening they took a blood and urine sample.
2. The day I joined the ship they took a saliva and urine sample.

People I knew in YA were tested far more often, and these were the kind you wouldn't be surprised if they had contact with a puff here and here so I'm not sure as to how "random" the drug tests really are.

That said, the testing itself is a pretty awkward situation. You're in the hospital wing on board along with ship's officers and whole bunch of other people from different departments who have been taken from work (they don't give you any advance warning). Then, they tell you to stick the saliva swab in your mouth or tell you to go pee in a cup in the adjacent bathroom. And it isn't the time for stage fright, everyone can fully hear you aiming for the cup as they're completely quiet either waiting their turn to muster up some urine or have a big white stick shoved in the side of their mouths.

And you know it's judgement hour since you can hear if anyone's forgotten to flush or wash their hands. Guaranteed everyone pees on themselves a little.

CIGARETTES

Much like the parks, smoking can only be done in designated smoking areas on board. There's been a big deal made about it ever since a guest once smoked on a balcony and instead of putting out their cigarette, it quickly ignited their balcony furniture and the result was....

  For the Crew, there are technically only two areas where we can light up. And that is: The crew-only deck, or the crew smoking area/lounge (depending on which ship you're assigned to). And again, if smoking anywhere outside you cannot be visible to guests. In terms of the cramped little smoking lounge, it's virtually like being hot boxed with tobacco smell clinging to your hair and clothes.

When I first started we were allowed to smoke within our cabins (in that teeny space! Imagine smoking in a walk-in closet! ) but only with the full consent of all persons sharing that room. That is, if you lived with a non-smoker you certainly were not allowed to smoke anywhere in the room, even in the bathroom. However recently rules became tighter across all cruise lines apparently and now you are no longer able to smoke there either!

ALCOHOL

Much is said about cruise ship workers partaking in swigs of alcohol and cheap beers and much merriment, and I'll admit I have definitely had more than enough to drink on many nights. It really brings you back to those 18-year old days being carefree and belligerently drunk and dancing up on randoms.

Especially with ports in Mexico and the Caribbean, tequila and rum pretty much get handed to you if you say you're a Crew Member anywhere you go, in the hopes that their restaurant or excursion will be mentioned to guests by the crew.

But when it comes to hard liquors, any bottles are immediately confiscated by security as soon as you board the ship and aren't granted to you until you leave your contract. If they find any in your crew cabin, you face heavy discipline or termination!

(You know you're a drunk Crew Member when they know you by name but you don't ever remember being here.)


However where some cruise companies might allow certain members of the crew to drink up on deck, Disney has a zero alcohol policy when in any guest areas. Which means that during work hours you must have a 0% BAC (blood alcohol content),  so if you happen to go out and have a nice boozy lunch in Nassau you better hope you don't work immediately afterwards.  (That said, I have known my share of YAs who all had several margaritas in Port and went back to work with the best poker faces I've ever seen in my college years).


The same goes for work the next morning, especially after big holidays like Christmas or New Years Eve or St Patrick's Day or Halloween, you're expected to be able to function 100% and smile and do the whole Disney show thing! ...Even though we're all dying inside with hangovers and Counselors are sprawled over stools or trying to catch sneaky naps in hidden places.


On some ships, they're very strict about enforcing rules in the crew bar limiting how much a crew member can actually purchase at a time; and if they're buying more than one drink they must be with the person whom they're buying for. Maybe cruise management really didn't know what to do with all those drunken sailors after all.

But even with all of the alcohol-infused shenanigans happening below decks, they will also often use a breathalyzer on suspicious crew members they suspect of being inebriated. On some ships they're lax about it, but on others.... let's just say that on the Disney Dream there's a famous case of 5 YA Counselors all terminated and told to pack their bags for the following morning after getting caught one night.



So the moral of the story is.... don't get caught!