Disney Kids Club job. 70hrs a week. No days off.

[cosmobrown]

DD is applying to work as a kids club worker on Disney Cruise lines.
She had an interview recently that confirmed she would be expected to work 7 days a week, 10hours per day. no days off for the whole 4 month contract
I was quite shocked to find out the hours they are expected to work. AIBU?
Is this even legal??

@cosmobrown

Yes, I do remember some young people being very excited at getting a job at EuroDisney when it opened (early 1990s,) and it was bloody awful. They were run ragged, and treated like shit.

They had to work around 55-57 hours a week at the time, and they would get 1 full day off. (Either a Tuesday or a Wednesday, never a weekend day.)

So the 55-57 hours would be over 6 days. (About 9-10 hours a day,) And it would be like 10am to 2.30pm, and then 4pm to 9.30pm or 10pm. (All on the same day.) Or 11am to 4.30pm, then 6.30pm to 10.30pm, SIX DAYS A WEEK, so there was very little reprieve or opportunity to do anything else. They got (in today's money) about £65 a week to themselves, everything was paid for but they got paid peanuts.

Sounds like it's even worse now!

Is it a High Season position or permanent ?
as if it's high season she will only be paid for the 4 months and not be paid for any annual leave when she leave.

This is the reality of Kids Clubs on cruises.

It will be 10 hours over the working day, which could be 8am - 11pm - this allows for a babies session in the morning and a teenagers club in the evening.

So one day she may work 8am until 6pm and have the evening off, another day she may not start until 1pm thus having the whole morning off.

She may find that if no teenagers turn up to the teenagers club within 15 mins of it's start time i.e. 9pm she doesn't need to work that session so essentially it becomes a 8 hour working day,
or if x amount of teenagers turn up she may not have to do the session as there will be too many members of staff for the quota of teenagers etc. yet again that becomes an 8 hour working day.

Why did she choose Disney cruises ? is it the ' prestige of the name Disney ?
or do they pay more than other cruise companies ?

Will she be ok sharing a cabin with 1 or 2 others, it's very possible it will be a cabin with bunk beds and no windows - not everyone can cope with the lack of windows.

Do Disney pay for the ENG1 certificate ( it's a seafarers medical ) or is she required to pay for it - £115 approx.

Even if she hates it, it is 4 months and it is an experience she can moan about forever.

I’ve known of a few people who have worked on cruises and they’ve all said it was the best experience.

I wish I had done it. Good luck to your daughter, it’s ‘only’ four months and she’ll earn enough to buy herself a car/go travelling/give herself a decent cushion before starting the normal 24/7 grind.

I've worked on cruise ships albeit in a different role, but yes this is fairly standard to be honest. I worked retail which allows for a bit more time off as shops close in port, but you'd still work in the evening when they sail so yes it can be months without a full day off.

Ask her to check what shift patterns look like, what facilities she's able to use and what crew facilities are provided. On the ship I worked on we were allowed to use customer buffet restaurants and bars, and speciality restaurants if there was space. We could use the pool and gym on the understanding that if guests were looking for space we'd move. There is a difference between what 'staff' and 'crew' can use - staff are generally given more options. This was a very small ship, bigger ships often have dedicated crew decks and a crew gym as well as a bar and library.

It's very hard work but I came home with lots of money saved, met some great friends and generally had a blast!

Hm I’m not sure I’d be happy putting my kids into that club if I knew about the staff working conditions

Very rude to assume that the OP’s daughter has ‘limited qualifications’

Goodness, it certainly sounds full on. Ultimately I guess it’s up to her but unless the pay was incredible, I wouldn’t be that interested, not least because of how claustrophobic I gather the staff areas are. So crammed in and all living on top of each other!

I’m not sure the nmw applies for cruises and how they operate. I couldn’t do it, but if a young person with no kids wants to get paid to travel the world then it could be worth it. I used to work for an airlines selling flights. I had free standby flights as a benefit and discounted hotel stays. It was minimum wage but always worked past my shift meaning I was earning well below the nmw if I factored it in. For me it was well worth it at the time. I left and went into travel technology earning more than 6x as much but honestly miss travelling on a shoestring budget, seeing places I can’t afford to travel to now !

I’d absolutely do that at least once - a great experience and some stories to tell, and it beats working in Tesco for the summer - added to which to get Disney to put on your CV. Tell her to go and make the most of it - it’s only 4 months if she decides she doesn’t like it.

I’m assuming she’ll earn tens of thousands of pounds over the 4 months working those hours, which is a lot for a very young person with limited qualifications. 18 year-old me might have done it.

The laws are different. My best friend works for them having worked for another Major Cruise Line. Working conditions and pay are much better!

This is standard practice on cruises.

usually paid in US dollars but it works out at around 2-2.5k pounds per month, but no accommodation or food costs etc so it would work out well I reckon

And it would be like 10am to 2.30pm, and then 4pm to 9.30pm or 10pm. (All on the same day.)

tbf I used to work these hours in a pub at home when I was 18/19, split shifts like that are the norm in hospitality where there's a lunch and then an evening opening.

I bet my house that when you worked in a pub, you didn't work 70 hours a week like the OP's DC. And you didn't work 6 days a week, with hardly any breaks.

Ahh tell me you’ve never worked in hospitality without telling me, 50/60 hour weeks were the absolute norm. Wedding season the place I worked would host weddings from Wednesday - Sunday. Usual shift would be 10am - midnight. You could work them all if you wanted.

I had so much more money then than I do now as an adult with grown up responsibilities, in your early 20s (20 years ago for me) jobs like that were just par for the course in my friend group for a year or 2. Not careers, none of us did them after 25.

There's a reason that people who work for "The Disney Corporation" referred to their offices as "Mouse-chwitz" or "Duck-au"...

Wrong. I have worked in hospitality, and I know people who do. And NO-ONE works 70 hour weeks. No-one I know.

Only reason for working that many hours would be if you needed the money.

I worked in retail and worked all the overtime I could get over the summer. I was 16-18, ambitious/wanted my own money, and wasn’t paying tax/NI as I was below the threshold over the year, so got to pocket it all. It was the only time in my working life that there was a clear effort to reward ratio. I definitely felt richer then than I do now as a high earning (‘on paper’) professional in my 30s!

You can save. A friend worked in Dubai marketing a hotel. Living in saved enough in a year to buy a terraced house in Yorkshire her mum found for her.

Someone else after three years put down a 40% deposit on their first house a three bed semi. Three years later bought a four bed doer upper.

The yachting crew for the super yachts work 16 hour days. The tips a week on one yacht were 10% 30k split among the crew. They get downtime between destinations.

Forgot to add. I found easy to save money despite the wage being low as you have no real outgoings. I did a couple of years and bought my first property with a 50% deposit.

Insane but I remember 20 years ago looking to do work America during the summer holidays at uni that Disney had the worst pay and the longest hours.

Dont know if BUNAC are still a thing but I worked at a lovely country club with 1.5 days off a week plus 2 weeks leave to take at any point in the 4 months out there and great pay with tips to come when you got home.

I would definitely go in that direction if I were her rather than be trapped on a cruise ship for 4 months in a kids club (unless she wants a career in teaching - I could see how it could be useful then!)

No day off is hard but depending on route they may dock at private island and run kids club on there so at least a chance to see land and a change of scenery.
It’s 4 months and potentially a great experience. Her decision.
They have kids clubs up to age 17. I know the staff running the 14-17 vibe section weren’t run off feet they just hung out with the teens, did snacks and ran icebreakers and a few games.
Mine did Camp America last year. They slept in bunks with the kids and got 1 day off a week and a few evenings off plus one free period a day. She had fantastic time and has signed up again. I think as long as know what agreeing to it’s up to them.
It’s a difficult graduate market and something like Disney cruise would be a good talking point on cv and employer would know they could survive without their phone and their mum and work hard.

If she looks on tik tok she’ll find girls who have done it who know the real set up and can ask about shifts, downtime etc.
Disney has set ages for kids clubs 3-12. 10-13, 14-17. They need to be toilet trained to go in club. There is a baby nursery too you pay extra for. Each club has different themed rooms and is usually very overstaffed.
The kids clubs do run long hours. Eg in evening they do watch a film in pjs type things.
Shore days most people get off ship so kids clubs will be quiet.

I know chefs and pub landlords that do. And it doesn’t end after a few months either.

This kid sounds like she’s getting a fantastic opportunity, you sound like you’d prefer her to do 36 hours stacking shelves at Lidl then go home for her mum to mop her weary brow. No wonder kids have no resilience