Medical Debark

Medical Debark

4^th May 2012

Over the past couple of days there has been a question mark lingering over whether I’d definitely be leaving Disney Magic in Port Canaveral. It wasn’t until the afternoon before Port Canaveral, while the ship was docked in Castaway Cay, that I received my flight details to Montevideo, Uruguay. My original flight details, received the day before, were to London Gatwick. Someone at Image HQ in Miami hadn’t changed my address or home airport to Punta del Este, Uruguay, keeping it as London, England. The whole process has been frustrating to say the least. The second confirmation that I was leaving was shoved underneath my cabin door that night. My sign-off checklist.

The sign-off party last night had been a laugh, the characters had turned up and the photographers stayed for a while but most were on Morning Sale and left fairly early. Two of the Uruguayans turned up, a bit disappointing as I wanted to say bye to the others. Having said that, I understand people on ships come and go. The tough work schedules will still be in place the next day. Those who stay, have to carry on like usual. It's just another part of ship life.

Leaving at 03.00 I bumped into two friends from Bar, Angel and Jose. Giving each of them a bear hug and exchanging email addresses, I walked back to the cabin. While walking the I-95 I didn’t have the same sense of homeliness I had on board the Mariner of the Seas. In a way, I was grateful for that, as it made leaving the Mariner of the Seas harder. I did, however, still have some good friends so it would be sad leaving and not knowing when you’d see them again. Such is ship life, I guess.

Waking up at the ludicrous time of 05.30, I dragged on my comfy clothes; jogging bottoms, top and baggy hoody, brushed my teeth, messily tied my hair up and sleepily staggered to the Walt Disney Theatre to meet Carolee for Immigration. US Immigration at 05.45… why, oh why!?

Thankfully, I had Carolee signing off with me. We had our checklists to do so we marched around the ship getting things signed off and so on. It's amazing the amount of things you had to do before signing off a ship.
On Royal Caribbean ships, you did it all the night before. On Disney you’re expected to work like usual until you actually sign off! Last night I worked until 01.00. The poor dining room staff were still serving breakfast to the guests, in between running down to the crew office in the nick of time to get papers signed!

Paying off what we owed, we had to get a stamp from wardrobe, even though Disney don’t supply our uniforms. Next stop was to the lab to find Csaba to sign the box stating our cabins were clean, tidy, ready for the next person and nothing was missing.

Once everything was signed, we had about an hour to spare. With nothing else to do, we headed to the Crew Mess for breakfast. Knowing it’d be the last time (for a while) that I’d be eating the ship food, it made it more bearable.

Just as we were finishing our coffees, a group of new hires came in. Smiling, I couldn’t help but remember when that was me, three months ago to the day. I am signing off on my 3month anniversary! “Poor sods. They don’t know what they are letting themselves in for.” I commented to Carolee. Amused, she replied “they look happy”. For now anyway, we laughed.

Meeting in Sessions (the guests' Jazz bar), we filled out some paperwork for US Customs and I had to declare my new camera. If I didn’t and I was searched, I’d be charged tax and duty. Lovely. Totalling up how much my possessions were worth, I was shocked at how much I was carrying!!

Debarking, the moment you get off the ship, is like a huge weight being lifted off your shoulders. It’s hard to explain the excitement, the rush and relief you feel. No more hard work, false smiles, tiny cabins and a life "on show" or as Disney liked to call it “On Stage”. You’re heading to a place far from everything you’ve lived and worked for during your contract. Home for most. A comfy bed, no need for Mickey Mouse alarms, no more 30 minute power naps. A place where you can relax and chill out in the slow paced “real world”… before getting bored and willing your vacation to end so you could return to the fast paced way of ship life! 

Grabbing our suitcases, we struggled with them towards the Disney bus. How I managed to balance two suitcases on top of one another and pull it to the bus left handed, I’ll never know. Carolee helped me chuck my two suitcases into the belly of the bus before we slung hers in too. We were giggling about the amount of baggage we had but compared to some, we were travelling relatively light! There were people with four suitcases! Someone was dragging along something resembling a giant chiller crammed with stuff. I bet the airlines love us crewmembers!

After a quick cigarette, I was nestled into my seat next to Carolee. The bus pulled off and there was an almighty eruption of applause. This is it... We’re free and on our way home!

It wasn’t long until both Carolee and I had drifted off to sleep, occasionally awoken by the shouts of overexcitement from the Scouser (someone from Liverpool, England) sat directly behind us. Reaching the airport, Carolee looked like she was about to throttle the girl. “Oh my God! I can’t wait to have fish and chips when I’m home. Oh my God! And I big dessert. Oh, and a proper curry!” and so the high pitched, almost hysterical, voice whistled on. One look at Carolee’s face – “if only looks could kill”.

Pulling our luggage off the bus and to the sidewalk, Carolee went in search for a trolley. Neither of us could pull or carry our cases for very long. It was surprising how much of Orlando International Airport I remember. Carolee returned with the trolley costing an unbelievable, non-returnable $5. I’m still so used to trollies either being free or costing a returnable 1 euro or 1GBP.

Carolee was able to check in straight away. Luckily for her, she didn’t have a lengthy wait for her flight. It was probably around 11am by the time we arrived at the airport. We found where I’d finally be checking in, but, of course, with ten hours still to wait, my check-in was closed. Pushing the trolley around, we found somewhere to have something to eat.

Within a couple of hours it was time for Carolee to make her way to security before heading to her gate. Giving Carolee a hug, I’d miss her but she was right, she needed a vacation. Carolee was shattered. Her attempts at fake crying, to embarrass me infront of everyone failed miserably. Instead, it cracked me up. Her sense of humour and hilarious impressions of everyone would be missed but they are memories I won’t be forgetting anytime soon!

I’m overly grateful for the help Carolee gave me at the airport. Without her, I’d still be outside the terminal, struggling with my luggage and a bandaged up wrist!

On my own, I had a wonder around before finding out when my check-in desk would open. Although it didn’t bother me in the slightest, I wouldn’t have minded unloading my suitcases. The check-in would open four hours before my flight’s scheduled departure. Only another four hours to kill before checking in then!

Settling down, I remembered Kate telling me there was free wi-fi at Orlando International Airport. She was right! Finding somewhere to sit and plugging my laptop in, I surfed the net, checked my Facebook, left messages left, right and centre, and called the parents. In between, I sat watching the world pass by, or in some cases, people running in a panic to get to their gate.

After a couple of hours, I nipped into a bookstore to see if there was anything of interest for my Dad. English books in Uruguay are gold dust! I picked up a couple of magazines and a newspaper for my Mom before grabbing a coffee from Starbucks.

Settling down again, I surfed the net and watch people go to and fro. A few guests from the cruise ship past. Some looked at me oddly, recognising a crew member but questioning themselves as to whether it really was. Quickly putting my head down, I secretly hoped they wouldn't recognize or notice me.


Strangely enough, there was a Disney Store situated a couple of metres away from me. Sitting outside was a model of Snow White, perched upon a throne with a space for people to sit next to her. I was amazed that people who’d just been on the cruise and met the real Snow White, were insistent that their children sit next to the model to have their photo taken. I’d have thought they’d have been sick to the back teeth of Disney and completely pictured out. How wrong was I? Although, some kids seemed to agree with me, as they kicked and screamed while their parents plonked them down next to Snow White.

Sitting around hour after hour wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. In fact, it was the complete opposite. After three months of having my life run for me according to a schedule, it was so peaceful sitting around, doing very little, with nowhere to go in a hurry.

Time to check-in soon rolled around and already there was a queue of Brazilians. I was amazed by some of the luggage people were taking with them. I thought some of the crew members were travelling too heavy. They have nothing on the Brazilians! Porters with massive trollies were coming along wheeling large numbers of oversized suitcases for small families!

I laughed at myself for worrying about having two cases, only to find myself unconsciously counting how many baggage items others were bringing to the check-in desk. One family in particular made me laugh. Two adults pushing pushchairs with children aged maybe 5-7. How many suitcases did they have? 11 morbidly obese, bursting at the seams suitcases! In addition, the lady was carrying a handbag big enough to stuff her two children inside! Only the Brazilians…

After a couple more hours waiting, sitting around and calling the parents on Skpe, it was time to say goodbye to America and make my way through security. Soon I’d be up in the air and into the first leg of the long journey home.

Goodbye America. Uruguay, here I come!