From the Eastern Caribbean this time!

Hey! How are things going? Great here as usual! The work hours are long, but worth it all the way! We are getting ready to start our 2nd sea day in a row for the Eastern Caribbean this week.. I HATE sea days.. Our number of kids in-care is always high. And there are always high volume programs that are so demanding.. But, I did have my mid-contract review late last week. It went really really well. I got all positive comments & scored higher than is expected of any first contract person! :oD I'm trying to do a snorkel excursion this week in St. Thomas.. Looks like it'll be the Catamaran tour & snorkel adventure hopefully! I'll let you know for sure! Well, I've gotta run.. I ran 4 programs today & I have 4 more on the schedule tomorrow! I would love to hear from you! ESPECIALLY if you  have a chance to send a letter.. Mail is always a big deal here on the ship especially because we are so limited in time off long enough to check our email regularly.. In case you don't have it, here is my mailing address:   Disney Magic Disney Cruise Line Attn.: Stefanie Cadell- Youth Activities Perner #: 00403533 Caller #9001 Cape Canaveral, FL 32920-9001   I miss you! Love you to pieces!   Love, Stefanie!

Hey! Just checking in from the high seas! Left St.Thomas yesterday. We'll be pulling into Castaway Cay tomorrow morning! The weather has been really ugly this week! Rained most of yesterday & the day before. Rained off and on all day today too. Two nights ago was our big pirate night. The captain went out to sea from St. Maarten & then headed back towards St. Maarten because he found a hole in the rain for us to shoot off our fireworks.. It's crazy how much they do for the guests.. I'm not even scratching the surface.. Anyhoo.. All is going well.. Food sucks but every once in a while we'll get guest food down in the mess which is a nice surprise.. Gotta run.. Have a great weekend! I miss you! Love you tons!   Love, Stef!

Hey!!

Hey! It's meeeeee! This time I'm writing from Key West. I'm watching it float by on our way to Grand Cayman Islands. I'm so sorry I haven't written in such a long time.. As you can imagine, I've been extremely busy. So here's the latest. I LOVE IT HERE!!!!! :oD I truly do! I love the people I'm meeting. I like living on a ship. I love our ports of call! Especially St. Maarten! The food is about the same, but that's good because I've already lost some pounds!! :oD I'm getting more responsibilities every week. I had my 30 day review a couple of weeks ago with nothing but positive feedback! The 3-4 year old team that I'm on benchmarked an all time high score in guest satisfaction with a 92%!! I hope it makes sense. The islands we visit are amazing. It's so pretty here I can hardly believe it's real! Last week I was working on snorkel beach on Castaway Cay (handing out life vests) & working on my tan. The week before that I was watching a dolphin swim by as I read a magazine in Mexico! It's tough work but with loads of fun people! The kids are so funny too. I've died my hair a dark brown again. And the trend here in my department is to wear headbands with bows on them. I have a couple of them. One of them is red with a red bow. I like wearing it the most because it never fails. One of my little girls will always ask if I'm Snow White with my dark hair & red bow! It's a hoot! I must be on my way now. I'll try to post some pictures soon! Please take care & know that I'm thinking & praying for you daily.   Much love from the Caribbean, Stef!

Hi from the Caribbean!!

Hola! It's Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm currently somewhere between Cozumel, Mexico & Castaway Cay right now. We have a day at sea today & then all day on the island tomorrow! It's great on the ship! I truly do love it! I had a severe sinus infection diagnosed on Saturday.. That sucked.. But I'm all better now!! :o) Whoever says "you can't feel the ship moving"is seriously mistaken!! I've felt every wave we've hit! My cabin is just above the water line! Also, 2 nights ago our stabilizers wouldn't extend so it was awful! No throwing up yet but plenty of medication!! :o) My roomate is the same girl I roomed with in Orlando, Helen. She's from Australia & is a total sweetheart. She works in the same department as me & we get along pretty well! She even rarely complains about my snoring!! :oD Also, she was disapointed that I'm not a loud, rude, stupid & often drunk American as apparently the rest of the world perseves us! The food is very good for us crew. I even went up to the adult area for the guests & soaked in the spa for a bit the other night. It was the night our stabalizered didn't work. I, being the crazy that I am, tried to swim laps in the pool that night too! Needless to say, I'm a tad sore from getting slammed into the pool walls because of all the rocking! It's alright though! It was so cool! As the ship would rock from side to side the water would slosh about. It got so bad that as the water would go from one side to the other, almost 3 inches of the pool wall was visible because all the water had sloshed to the other side. Training's almost done. I should know my age group today or tomorrow. I requested children 8 years old & up! Oh! I've seen 2 shows on board so far. Both made me cry a little in the end! Lol! I'm such a sap! I'll be seeing the 3rd show this afternoon! I'm so excited!! All of the crew members have been so nice! Really! I've even got a bit of an admirer already!! Lol! He's from Jamaica & calls my room all the time to chat & he's an officer! :o) I'm a petty officer, but he's much higher on the food chain than I am! Our working cosutmes are as awful as ever! Got my first sunburn in Cozumel yesterday. My trainer gave Helen & I 5 hours off to go explore. We did for a bit but then got a taxi that took us to a beach.. The water is so pretty & clear it's unbelievable. I got in to almost my knees. It was pretty cold & there were these little silver fish everywhere! I said forget it! Helen laughed & called me a wuss, she's right! Can't wait to see you all in July! I must get going now though! Hope all is well! Call me on Saturdays when we're in Cape Canaveral! I love you!   Love, Stef!

Test

Test post

All set & ready to go!

Good morning everyone! Happy Valentine's Day! Or as I currently call it: Single Awareness Day! Lol.. Anyway..

So.. Long story.. Ready? Cleared all my screenings! Yeah!! Had a little hiccup with my paper work for my medical, but it was fairly easy to fix. So then I was told the dreaded words: wait for me to call you.

UGH!!!!! So I waited like almost 2 weeks & nothing. During the weeks of silence from my recruiter, I heard some crazy rumors that really were worrying me.

For example: Part of our on-board safety training would include jumping from the 4th deck of the ship into the ocean! (wow, I love to swim & all but no. I'm not ready to do that) Also, some of our meals wouldn't be covered by Disney while we were staying at Disney World. And finally, I probably wouldn't get a departure date until April (more like mid-late April).

So I emailed Eric (my recruiter) telling him my worries. He said the 4th deck jump into the ocean & Disney not covering some meals were false. But that I may not be leaving for Florida till April was a good possibility.

I was sad. Really bummed. I found this all out on Monday. It took me till Thursday to realize that this is God's plan. Not mine. Clearly I'm not proving my faith in him by moping around & getting all sad. So I asked forgiveness & ended up really relishing in my growing walk with Him.

Friday (02/13/2009) I woke up around 9. Very lazily checked my email and there it is. From Eric asking me to call him ASAP. I'm set to fly from CA to FL on March 4th!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it! God is so funny isn't He?

So now I'm getting ready to go. Just have to get some odds & ends together before I leave. Other than that, I just have to make sure I get a chance to say goodbye to everyone..

Bye!!

P.S. That boy I mentioned in the previous blog is a slimey bugger that will never darken my doorstep again! :)

Getting Ready To Go!!

Hi! K! So I've got one more step to complete in the screening process. I've just been cleared from the drug screen & background check yesterday. Now, I've got to go in & take a medical screening.. Once that's cleared, I should just have to sign my contract & wait to get put on a boat.

This is all after: emailing my resume into dcljobs.com in about mid-December. Then I had an extensive phone interview with my recruiter. Then another interview with someone from Disney. After both interviews, all I was told was that I did great and to sit tight, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to start applying for a passport. They didn't tell me I was actually hired till the Monday before Christmas with a 6:30 a.m. call from my recruiter in Chicago who never remembers the time difference between there & the West Coast.

Needless to say how excited I am. Everyone else I know says they're excited too.. But most of them get this sad look in their eyes. This is of course with the exception of my parents (who are thrilled to see me starting a career doing what I absolutely love) and this boy I just started dating who doesn't want me to go period. He (who will rename nameless for awhile) would love me to stay home with him, but understands that I've already made a commitment to Disney & that this is a dream job for me.

Ok, I've got to jet. Going to see 'Thoroughly Modern Millie' at BIOLA today. Zak is playing the male lead! YEAH!! WTG Zak!!

More to follow later..