Captain's Pajamas

So I’m writing this update three days after I was supposed to be back in God’s Country, sleeping in my own bed. Yet here I am, still sailing in the Bahamas. Why, you may ask? Well, after a bunch of stuff went down on the Fantasy, they were in need of a new YA Ent Host. Nicole was sent over to the Fantasy, which then left her line wide open. I had asked to extend so viola! Now I’m here until October 28. But the good news to that is that I will be home for Christmas. They don’t approve vacation extensions until closer to time, but since I agreed to extend for so long, they are working to extend my vacation the extra two weeks to get me past the lockout dates. Technically I am supposed to come back on December 9th. The Lockout Dates (the dates in which no new crew members come on board and no current crew members leave) are December 16 - January 6. So I would be back on board January 6th (ish) and then my contract would go through the end of April / beginning of May. All the details are getting worked out as we speak.

In other news, we’ve restarted a program on board called Captain’s Corner. This is when the captain of the ship comes to one of the YA or Family spaces and has an open Q&A session with the audience. I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to mediate two of these sessions now, one in Edge and one today in the Oceaneer Lab. It’s a really cool moment for the kids to interact with the captain. Today they had loads of questions about driving the boat, who was the safest captain, how much sleep the captain gets, how to become a captain, and other really cool things. There was one kid, however, who told the captain random stories. Example: “My dad has special pants that he sleeps in and then he wears them and goes to sleep.” Captain Guus looked at me and I said the first thing that came to mind, “I think he wants to know if you have special Captain’s Pajamas.” Turns out, in case you were wondering, Captain Guus sleeps in Disney Cruise Line pjs and has a special DCL jogging suit.

I am now making a shameless plea... for mail. I LIKE MAIL. Postcards, letters, care packages stuffed with candy and silly things like playdoh & coloring books. MAIL. It makes me feel loved, just saying. Look to the side of this blog, there are two addresses... one for regular letters and one for packages. If you feel like visiting, send me an email at allyson.m.smith@gmail.com or contact me on Facebook. I also like visitors!!! And let’s be honest, you know you want a short jaunt to Cape Canaveral to check out a Disney Cruise ship and see me! :)

If you can’t make it to Florida, or have forgotten how actual mail works in this age of electronic overload, have no fear! I’ll be home in 80 days. Until then...

See Ya Real Soon!