Kid Friendly

It takes more than a welcoming smile to work with Disney’s favorite cruisers.

- Fran Golden

FOR 32-YEAR-OLD CANADIAN KATIE Simpson, shipboard life is sprinkled with a bit of pixie dust. She works as a youth activities counselor on Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Fantasy, a job Simpson says she probably was destined to have after seeing the 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid.

“I loved it so much I wanted to be called Ariel,” she says. “For a year I refused to go by any other name.”

Originally from Toronto, Simpson studied outdoor recreation, parks, and tourism in college in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Then she headed off to the remote Yukon where she worked as a hiking guide and later ran a bakery — until she had an epiphany.

“I spent about four years there in the beautiful minus-40-degree weather,” she says. “I was working long hours and I decided I needed a change. I wanted something that was fun and allowed me to travel. I sent my résumé out and Disney Cruise Line came back to me, and right away I was blown over by the idea.”

WARMTH AND CARING

On Disney Fantasy, kids ages 3 to 12 enjoy age-appropriate activities in two elaborately decked out youth centers: Oceaneer Club and Oceaneer Lab. Tweens get their own club, Edge. Teens hang out in the hip Vibe, with indoor and outdoor spaces. Simpson says she most enjoys working with the tweens, ages 11 to 14. “They are at that beautiful age where they are coming into their own,” she says. “They still want to do the fun Disney stuff and partake in trivia, but they can also tie their own shoes.”