CELEBRITY CRUISES PAY ONLY £1.50 AN HOUR TO THEIR WAITERS!

Whilst doing my nightly ‘browsing youtube for cruise videos’ routine I came across a short video explaining about the low pay for the waiters of Celebrity Cruises. So I took it upon myself to undertake an extensive investigation into how much they really earn, and my oh my what a result I found!

One reporter spent five weeks on board Celebrity Eclipse, the UK based Celebrity ship as a waiter covering both the main dining room and the buffet restaurant. First thing that really brings it home is the 13, 14 and even 15 hour days! The reporter was having between 4-6 hours sleep a night and was feeling the strain on his emotional and physical self, not to mention the strain on his pocket!

We all know our waiters work hard and provide us with exceptional service whilst cruising, some even going the extra mile to accommodate all your needs, but what does really go on behind closed doors?

Many waiters are from countries less developed which means for them, the amount they earn can support their families for a long time. But to us the figures really are shocking, here’s the facts behind the theory (using Celebrity Eclipse as an example).

Eclipse is American owned, but the law of the ship is based in Liberia, Africa, the ship is registered in Malta.

So to make things a bit clearer, the owners of the ship are American but they endorse the law of Liberia. The American owners then have the ship registered home port as Valletta in Malta.

– American law is out the window

– Liberian law means they can legally pay their staff a lower wage

– The ship is also known for ‘Flying a Flag of Convenience’ (Malta)

Here’s the definition: Flag of convenience is the business practice of registering a merchant ship in a sovereign state different from that of the ship’s owners, and flying that state’s civil ensign on the ship. Ships are registered under flags of convenience to reduce operating costs or avoid the regulations of the owner’s country.

Very sneaky I am sure you’ll agree, but the truth is that many cruise lines do it! When you’re next on a cruise have a look at the back of the ship, you will see a place name where the ship is registered, is it an English city or is it foreign?

So our reporter has finished his 5 weeks on ship and here are the final figures:

£60 in wages from Celebrity

£599.70 in tips

£175.99 from Celebrity to make up their ‘minimum earnings’ (£2.24 an hour)

Giving him a total of  £835.69.

That’s ok you may be thinking, but did you know he had to pay for the following?:

– His 4 different uniforms for the different restaurants he worked in

– A compulsory medical

– A Visa

Which equals to: £571.23.

Giving him total earnings of £264.46 for 5 weeks solid work.

Take a look at this video explaining the theory in more detail:

Find out more about Celebrity Cruises and what they have on offer here:

 http://goo.gl/k00Ug1

Will this make you re-think paying your tips? Let me know.

Happy Cruising

Ed x