Posted by Amanda

My mom asked in the comment section what dock time is. This spurred me on to write a bit about ship life and my job onboard.

The days at sea are pretty routine. The students have class almost every day with either an A day or a B day. The day determines which set of classes they go to. A and B days don't mean much for me because a class day is a class day. I wake up and grab a quick breakfast. Generally, I'm not a breakfast person because I'd prefer to sleep, but I'm trying something new. Usually I have my breakfast out on the back deck which has been lovely and sunny.

After breakfast, I get ready for Global Studies. This is the course that all of us are required to take. It meets every day at sea from 9:20-10:30. The faculty rotate through to discuss their specialties related to the countries we're going to. The students have textbooks and tests, but faculty, staff, and lifelong learners just attend the class.

After class I tend to do some work for my floor or my collateral assignment of programming. Tonight we're having the Party Animal Dance where students are asked to dress up as their favorite animal. Before South Africa we'll have a movie night and a coffee house talent show. I'm also working on the Passport to LeaderSHIP which is launching today. Students get their passport filled out by attending programs on the ship.

I lunch with Noah, who is now alternating shifts in the campus store, and some other RDs or students.If we're lucky we get a table outside on the deck.

In the afternoon I have office hours from 4:30-5:30 in purser's square. As RDs, we are busiest in the evening. We often have club meetings and pub duty from 7-11pm.

Pub duty is probably the least fun job. The students are allowed to buy drinks at that time. The RDs have to guard the exits to make sure no one leaves with alcohol. Sometimes the pub is super busy other times there are more RDs on duty than people having drinks. We rotate through this so we aren't always stuck doing it.

We also have community colleges. These occur every night between 8-9 while at sea. Anyone can put one on. They are enrichment programs for the entire ship community.

Dock time can be earned by anyone though students are the most likely to get it. When we are in port, we have strict timelines. On the day the ship is supposed to leave port, students need to be on the ship 2 hours before we leave. For every 15 minutes they are late, they gain 3 hours of dock time. So for 10 minutes late they get 3 hours, for 25 minutes it is 6 hours, etc. This means that in the next port while everyone is off the ship having fun, those with dock time need to stay on the ship. It reminds me of elementary school when you'd have to watch the other kids play at recess because you'd gotten in trouble.

On field trips, students earn dock time if they are late to the bus. They do get the first 10 minutes as a warning on this part.

Tomorrow is Neptune Day. I'll report more on that after tomorrow.