Dream of a job aboard a cruise ship ?

Many dream of a job on a cruise ship, staff parties and exotic ports of call  paint a great career picture. As we are sunning or eating our way up to 9 meals a day onboard,there is an army of workers  with jobs as diverse as gardeners or joiners, to set designers and piano tuners working furiously behind the scenes to make your experience exciting and above all memorable on your cruise.Its debatable who works the hardest on board but here are a few facts :

Allure of the Seas is currently the ship with the largest number of crew at 2150, with the latest addition being a Content Director who monitors and creates content for Instagram and You Tube channels.According to crew members blog for Royal Caribbean , the most un recognised people on board are in order:

No .10.The Windjammer greeter  No. 9 The crew welcoming boarders

No .8 The Captain   No 7. The Loyalty Ambassador 

No .6 The main dining room staff  No .5 The drink waiters 

No. 4 The entertainers  No. 3 The Cruise director and staff  

No. 2 Guest Relations              and……………………………………………….

No.1 Your Room Attendant .

I am sure you will all agree that its well deserved,your room attendant may work up to 45 hours per week but with plenty of breaks.Normally the waiters,room attendants and other crew members will stay on Deck “B” which varies but is usually just below the water line and no, they cant see any fish ! They typically would stay in 2-4 berth cabins and nowadays they thankfully have their own bathroom which didnt happen on older ships. The staff crew usually are in the next deck up just above the waterline, again depending on rank or availability they may have their own room.All of the crew have access to their own crew mess, they even may have your own leftovers ! I dont mean your leftover food literally ,but if there is say 20 lemon tarts left from the Windjammer, they would go down to the crew restaurant.In most cases staff have to work every day, no days off ! The time off is important between shifts as it may mean they can go ashore for a few hours, but i have seen crew members in some ports queuing for several hours to get their chance at a phone box to call home !

Most of the crew can enjoy no cooking,no laundry bills, even free dry cleaning,Most have a room attendant like passengers, but crew normally tip them, i guess four in a room for a 9 month contract could make a lot of mess ! there is also normally a bar “allowance” but it gets expensive if you exceed that. You may also see some of the crew members in the Gym as many lines let the staff use it during quieter periods and land days  but really what is the main thing that crew members do -catch up on sleep.

I mention the piano tuner above because my cousin does that and travels around the world. Generally some of the most sought after positions on the cruise ships are the entertainers and musicians as they have the most time off and get time to spend on the passenger decks.

As far as general wages, it varies between cruise companies but entry level jobs such as youth counsellors, a junior purser, DJs,and hosts receive around £1100 per month, but your casino workers or room attendants can double the amount with tips. As the industry changes with drinks packages and extras thrown in, the waiters and bartenders now suffer through a lack of tips , so spare a thought and i will  cover gratuities in a further blog. One of the most sought after position is that of Cruise Director which can sometime eclipse even the Captains salary, and can command wages of up to £80,000 per annum !

One of the greatest perks is that after 1 years service most crew  members can enjoy fabulous discounts for their own family and friends to take a cruise for as little as £18 per day !

Even if  your dream is to work onboard ,its undeniable that the hardest part of cruise ship life is missing friends and family so spare a though next time you pass a crew member, a smile and hello may be enough to make their day !