I really want to work on a Cruise ship. Can someone help me?

Question

Do I have to spend money on info. to get a job working on a Cruise Ship? I was a server for three years...but it was about 3-4 years ago...does that experiance still count? How do I apply? or who do I have to call to get an interview?

Answer 1

I'd suggest you do a search on "cruise ship jobs" or somesuch.

The cruise lines have a link for "employment" on their websites.

I don't think you'll want to work on a cruise ship once you know the realities of it.  [I'm assuming here that you're American.]  The ships are not governed by US labor laws.  Wages are very low, hours can be very long, and quarters are very crowded.  Also, Americans are not generally very amenable to providing the kind of service expected by cruise ship passengers.  The Norwegian ship that uses American staff [in Hawaii] is roundly criticized for the low level of service and surly attitudes.

Answer 2

You do not have to and should not spend money to get cruise ship job information.  Here it is.

I have not worked on a cruise ship but I have been on about 20 cruises and have talked with the staff on ships about their jobs. There are several types of positions on ships and you need to know what you want to do before you can begin thinking about pay. You can get a lot of free information about cruise ship jobs from cruise line web sites. These will give you leads to when, where and how to apply for jobs.

Each ship has a crew that is responsible for all of the navigation and maintenance of the ship. Then there are positions in housekeeping and entertainment. And then positions that are responsible for the stores and shops on ships and the spa services like massages and nails and hair.

Some positions, like those in housekeeping, require you to sign a contract and you work 7 days a week for about 8 or 9 months straight and then you get 2 or 3 months off. Some positions, like the wait staff and bartenders, are paid a very low wage and then make the bulk of their money from tips/gratuities. Other positions, like entertainers and the top crew are salaried. Most positions require you to do more than just one job. All of the crew on ships has quarters, mostly sharing a room with another crew member or two or three, and they have their own places to eat and have recreation in their off hours. While room and board are included you do have to pay for extra like beer, cigarettes, etc.

You need to contact the cruise lines directly. On their web sites you will find a link to jobs, employment, human resources or some such link that will give you information about their positions. Some sites even have current vacancies they are recruiting for. Several cruise lines have new ships coming out soon so opportunities will be there. Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Disney and some others will have new ships launched in the next couple years.

Here are some links:

The luxury cruise lines are:

REGENT SEVEN SEAS:

http://www.rssc.com/

RADISSON:

http://www.cruisingluxury.com/Radisson.....

SILVER SEAS:

http://www.silversea.com/

CRYSTAL:

http://www.crystalcruises.com/home.asp.....

AZAMARA:

http://www.azamaracruises.com/07/azama.....

Other cruise lines that most people go on:

CUNARD:

http://www.cunard.com/

HOLLAND AMERICA

http://www.hollandamerica.com/

CELEBRITY:

http://www.celebritycruises.com/home .

ROYAL CARIBBEAN:

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/gohome.d.....

NORWEGIAN:

http://www.ncl.com/

PRINCESS:

http://www.princess.com/index.html

CARNIVAL:

http://www.carnivalcruiselines.com/

DISNEY:

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/dcl/.....

Then there are some that operate out of Europe:

P&O:

http://www.pocruises.com/pocruising/Ho.....

STAR:

http://www.starcruises.com/newweb/main.....

COSTA:

http://www.costacruise.com/B2C/USA/Def.....

MSC:

http://www.msccruisesusa.com/

I know that on Royal Caribbean's site if you go to the bottom of their home page and click on OUR COMPANY it will take you to a page where career opportunities are listed by category: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/ourCompany...

Then there are more links that will let you see and download job requirements. Celebrity Cruise line is a RC affiliate and so you should be able to get similar information from them the same way. here's a link to their jobs page: http://www.celebritycruises.com/aboutcel...

Here's Norwegian Cruise line: http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/cruiser/cmsPag...

Another thing to do is to contact the concession that run the shops on the ships like the souvenir, gift and clothing shops. Below are links for you.

http://www.steinerleisure.com/

and

http://www.hardingbros.co.uk/