What is the Crew area really like on a ship?

Having lived and worked on ships it is very strange that more customers don’t ask me what it’s really like in the Crew areas?  Just in case your curiosity is spiked by this, I can give you an insight as to what is in the Crew area on board a large international cruise ship.

Considering most large ships carry over 500 crew who have to be fed, watered and have a place to sleep.  Most customers would be surprised to find the areas below decks are spacious in many respects with the dining areas able to cater for all of the crew.  These are split into three general areas with the officers dining together in the officers mess, the staff dining together in the staff mess and the crew dining together in the crew mess. The quality of the food varies depending upon which mess you can eat in.  obviously with different nationalities been catered for in the various different dining rooms. As an officer there were times when pizza was offered in the staff mess and most of the officers could be found enjoying the staffs pizza. Why they never served pizza in the officers mess I will never know. It is truly food for the soul! Mmmmmm…

The crew also have recreational facilities including gym, crew bar, officers bar or ward room, computer room, library and also learning areas on the ship.  On many an occasion the bars being open only until 2am. This would mean that the after parties would continue in some of the crew cabins throughout the ship. Although this was frowned upon by security officers on the ship…

When the ship is on a longer sailing, there are storage areas below for provisions both frozen, refrigerated and dry goods. There is a ships recycling area where all of the waste is processed on board.  Various offices throughout the ship for engineers departments, hotel manager, bar manager, housekeeping manager, crew pursers office and of course working areas for example the laundry for the ship. This list is not completely exhausted as ships are floating hotels. Therefore you will find a flourist, carpenters, plumbers, printers, electricians photo processing etc etc.

Entertainment for crew varies from ship to ship. Some have live music being played in bars, movie nights, bingo nights, dressing up nights,  dressing down nights and silly paperhat nights. This all depends on the crew purser and the entertainment committee on board as to what can be laid on for Crew. Sometimes passengers would offer to donate money towards the crew entertainment fund and this went towards drinks for various parties on board.  I have seen bikes purchased with passenger donations for the use ashore. New pool tables have been purchased with this fund, as well as punch bags for the gym and various other equipment.

If you have any questions at all about what life is like working on a cruise ship feel free to give me a call on 0333 300 2480 Adrian.