Your Cozy Cabin
Do you sometimes ever get the urge to dwell in a small, enclosed space? When you apply to college or uni, do you prefer the smallest dorm rooms for that sleek, compact feel? Are you a gnome?
Then perhaps Crew Cabin life is PERFECT for you! Joking aside, this is a very real part of the life at sea and for the vast majority of us (except maybe 20 people out of a crew of 1000+) wouldn't call this a comfortable, ideal living set up. But like everything else on board, you learn to deal with it.
Let's start with the official look at our luxe livin', and then I'll comment on it in more detail:
Doesn't that just give us a pretty contrived upbeat picture of living at sea?
While a lot of what they said wasn't false, you bet that when the cameras aren't rolling there's a different story to tell. Here's the deal:
LOCATION:
Ever dream about living Under the Sea? Well now you can! Claustrophobic people beware, because the majority of the crew cabins are below deck = under the waterline. Especially so for Youth Activities who usually sleep just under the 1-95, or the main corridor through the interior of the ship.
It's a pretty chilling thought sometimes to know that there are fishies swimming not too far away! Because of our room location on board we feel like we're in Titanic's steerage, down to the white walls and white metal stairwells everywhere. Obviously because of where it is there are no windows looking out anywhere, so get used to sleeping in complete darkness and never seeing the world sailing outside unless at work upstairs!
With our proximity under the 1-95 with all of the foot and machinery traffic just above us, and the work going on below decks underneath us, you get used to all kinds of clanging and thunderous noises at any hours of the day. The worst are Embarkation days when you hear all of the watertight doors opening and all of the luggage being moved around, it's like railway cars are running into each other all around you and the metal walls just amplify the noise.
On the bright side, being so far down underneath the ship it's much less rocky and I will say the for the limited amount of sleep I got, it was MUCH easier to be rocked gently away!
CABIN SIZE
The images that they show you of the cabins vary from ship to ship, and those wide angles can be deceiving. I've added a layout of the cabins along with the basic sizes (because no one else has it online!) so you can plot it out at home and get a feel for how big this will be before you go:
This is the cabin without all of your things in there, so imagine how cramped it'll already be with that ladder in place and the chair in the middle of the room. The thing with the chair is that it pretty much stays fixed right in the middle of your living area. I thought you'd have room to fit it under your desk, but your mini-fridge and waste bin will be under there! This really barely gives you a foot (A foot!!) of space to move around the room while you're roomie's in there.
For extra room, people used to put their chairs in the shower when they were expecting people over. When you're trying to have a little party/get together in your room, it can usually comfortably fit about 4-6 people. I've seen a cabin party packed over 15+ though with people jammed up in the toilet and the bunks.
Generally speaking, the whole set up would feel just a bit larger than a suburban bathroom. And don't forget - no windows!
THE BEDS
The beds are single bunks. But can reasonably fit another person lying alongside you as long as your arms are around each other and your legs intertwined somewhat. (Don't ask how I know this. ;) But there are also privacy curtains around the side of the bed)
The mattress itself is firm, so don't expect a pillow top luxury memory foam mattress here. As in the videos above, they'll provide you with basic bedding, white sheets and a pillow that will be made for you from time to time. Always lift the mattress when you first move in to clean it out...I know I got a few nasty surprises (ahem. condoms. old underwear.) when I did. OR maybe you'd rather dare not look!
The blankets are ok, nothing to write home about. A lot of people buy nice fuzzy soft ones in port, but those personal ones don't get cleaned or changed out for free.
These are tiny bunks that are closer to a coffin than the bunk beds kids have with all of that head space. As far as clearance goes, I was never able to actually sit up fully in bed - you're always bending your neck, or shoulders, or arms to do it.
This really isn't so bad though, and is part of your privilege as a "Petty Officer" to have just one other roommates. If the ship is running short on beds or there was a mix-up in room assignment, you could be living on decks below with housekeepers or deck cleaners who are in rooms of 4- 6.
It's happened on occasion to a YA Counselor, but luckily they'll usually move you within a move as beds get available/people go home. If you can imagine how often new people switch in and out of rooms every few months, you can bed that HUNDRED of people have shared that same bed. When you think about all of the activities that might go on in bed... you hope to goodness that all of the previous occupants were so unattractive to not have had any sexual activity in your room!
THE BATHROOM
It's small. Big surprise. But if you're a bigger/rounder bout the middle or basically anything bigger than a 5-foot 2 tall girl, get used to the shower curtain sensually draping itself all wet and intimate against you every time. Of course you could always try to shower without the curtain, but then the floor floods. Big time.
Otherwise, no gigantic complaints. But don't drink the water!! The environmental officers stress that, especially since people tried to make tea or noodles and eat in their rooms with the bathroom water and presumably got sick and died. Maybe not died, but that scared me off of drinking any of it. We're expected to go to one of the water fountains above or to the crew mess, or buy bottled water and keep it in our fridge.
Oh if you're on the classic ships (Magic/Wonder)....expect the toilet to stop working or people to complain about floods once every two months. They're old ships.
STORAGE AND CLOSET SPACE
Not much. The little bit of space on top of the closets is usually taken up by work shoes and your big clunky life vest that you can't remove from your cabin.
The closets are about 1-2 feet wide with one closet rod in the middle to hang things up, and usually 3 wire-basket type drawers to store things. It's not a lot of room and oh- remember those 2 big suitcases you decided to bring with you? You either gotta jam them in your closet too or hope your roommate doesn't mind it taking up some floor space.
Usually under the bunks there's a storage drawer, but don't kid yourself - there's only really enough room for underwear or shoes. At the head or foot of the bed there might be a little room for storing things like stuffed animals and personal items, but this is only like a 4-5 inch ledge space.
The desk also has about 2 storage drawers, and two ledges above it where the TV takes up space.
Hopefully your or your roommate doesn't need a lot of storage or things will be really crammed. I knew some people who never fully unpacked their suitcases and just kept them on their beds and brought them down at night, they had no other storage room!
THE TV
Not too much to say about the TV, they have a built-in DVD player and on the newer ships they actually have movies on demand which is SO awesome. The channels we get are just about what the guests watch like news - CNN, NBC, BBC, FOX. A few channels dedicated just to Disney movies constantly looping all day, a Disney junior or Disney channel channel channel, a documentary channel, a music video channel and a rotation of movies alongside the usual port adventures and guest information channels..
One of the most useful channels is one showing a view outside of the bridge (where the captain/officers drive the ol' ship). If your roommate is keen they'll keep it on this channel so at least you'll know when it's night/day. Kind of like a little 'window' to the outside. There's also one showing our map, but what would've really helped is a big clock channel. Or maybe an aquarium. OR maybe a fireplace. How hard can that be to make it feel more homey?
MOVING DAY
The worst. Just to prepare you.... this is a pretty horribly stressful ordeal.
Note that as soon as you move in, someone will have just moved out of that room a few hours ago. You might even see them in the process, this is how it works.
When you first move into the ship each time, you're usually given about an hour or so to do it early in the morning and settle in.
At the exact same time, the person moving out is given that same amount of time to move out all of their things and vacate the room usually before 8 or 9 am. This usually leads to a bit of awkwardness with you and all of your stuff trying to get it in there from the hallway, while the former occupant awkwardly tries to move everything out into the hallway at the same time. If you've been paying attention so far, you'll know there really isn't enough room to accomplish this well.
Oh and the best part - because it's so early on home port day, usually this has to be accomplished without waking up the other person sleeping in their bunk or disturbing their things!
It's usually much more stressful on the person moving out, because not only do they have to move their things out of the room, it needs to wait for their manager to come and inspect it before they can go anywhere, they need to go down to the laundry area and get the sheets replaced and washed, they need to return all of their work clothes to Costuming, and finally get all of their documents approved at the Crew Office before being able to leave the ship. All while lugging their shit up and down various sets of stairs - WITHIN THE SPACE OF AN HOUR. Barely possible to do this calmly and efficiently unless you have next to no belongings; you'll know who's leaving the ship by the harried and stressed out expressions on their faces.This is where having really good friends on board comes into play, so try not to be unpleasant to people!
It's double stressful if you're not even leaving the ship, because that means you have to not only move out of your current room, but also move into your new one within that short allotted time. Horrible things, I tells ya. Especially if let's say...you're also scheduled to work right afterwards.
ROOMMATES
If you've ever been to a sleepaway camp, or in a shared dorm room, or in a hostel, this will not be anything too hard to get used to. This person will hear all of your sleeping noises, and you will hear theirs. You will get used to their smells and their bathroom habits. Yes, you will hear them pooping from your bed but politely ignore it.
They are going to be your life and your everything for the next little while, so hopefully you get along!
I'm lucky to have had AMAZING roommates who I've laughed with, cried with (so much crying. So much bonding!), and keep in touch with. You end up knowing so much more about their families and their loved ones and their lives when you share such a small space. You can have cozy nights in and cuddle, or paint each other's nails, or pre-drink while picking outfits for that special Crew party that night. Because you're in Youth Activities (thank god), you'll most likely be placed with very similar people who are friendly enough to love Disney and love kids, and be that same wide-eyed ingenue fresh out of college who just wants to have fun and sail the seas and is ok watching The Little Mermaid with you over and over again!
...
.But then sometimes you might not be so lucky. Sometimes maybe you're stuck with that Counselor who has been there for years and is incredibly surly and has given up on life altogether. Sometimes you'll have a roommate who you will never see because if they're working in another space (Edge or Vibe) and when they're home they close their bed curtains on you. OR they're sleeping in...another person's cabin. Sometimes you might luck out and have the department's resident YA Bitch who will smoke in you cabin against the rules, be a total slob and touch your things and use your soap and eat your snacks and say awful things to you. Or... you could just end up in a room with someone in a completely different department by chance with 30 years of an age gap and nothing in common, who smells so foul and walks around naked so it's like living with your aunt Olga who doesn't speak much English.
Like they said in the video above, they can move you! ...Sometimes. It takes a long process of talking to your managers and explaining your situation; often you will have to have perfect timing in a way that one of your friends on board will have a roommate leaving soon. Then both of you have to confirm that you would like to move in together and ....just pray that it happens soon enough. This can take a week, and it can take over a month. In the most extreme cases it's been done overnight with some very lucky shuffling and a lot of different people waking up early to pack their things.
If your roommate does end up being a total douche and there's no way your managers are going to move you for a while... rest assured it won't be forever!
In fact only in rare cases will you have the same roommate for the whole 4-5 months duration of your contract, it can change so often!
PRIVACY
Like I mentioned above there are curtains around the bed, but beyond that there barely is any privacy. You will almost never have any time to yourself on board, in your own room and you can't exactly ask your roommate to leave for a while- because that's their living space too. Where you see in the video a single room, this privilege is only reserved for the highest ranking managers, Captain, Cruise Director, and officers and the principal main stage cast (who will work much less hours than you do, I might add). Not even Mickey Mouse gets his own room, nor do the princesses. Your Youth Activities managers will often have to share as well except those at the very top!
So lack of privacy is very well felt on board.
Some people either 1) Find places to go and spend time outside of their cabin, like out on deck at night or 2) Not care about the lack of privacy and let it all hang out.
Part 2) is especially interesting when it comes to intimacy and having relations on board. First off, don't expect anyone not to know what's going on because even if your roommate doesn't say anything, they'll see it in the corridor if not hear you through the walls. The "scrunchie/tie handle" rule you pick up in college can be effective sometimes as a sign to your roommate to be careful when entering as you might be busy...getting busy. Sometimes a sticky note or magnet on the door helps - but on stricter ships officers go around removing things from doors and tossing them out.
Being honest and planning things out with your roommate works best. But don't be surprised if you walk in on each other naked or having sex at some point, it's bound to happen and happens often on board. Be pretty straightforward about your sleepover policy, and if it's mutually agreed upon, make sure you both have good headphones to block out the sounds going on above/below you!
Anything I missed? Anything you really want to know about? Leave me a question below!
