I want to work on a cruise ship-advice?

Question

is the pay ok? is it worth traveling all over the world? are there many things to keep me entertained on the ship or is it boring after a while? what are some qualifycations you must have? does it get boring after a month or 2? was it easy to apply and get the job?

Answer 1

Honestly, I think it's a big change. Many Americans really don't work aboard ships... NCL has its American brand and with that they had to have mostly US Citizens working onboard ship and it's been a flop... First crew on the first sailings... most of them walked off. And the service I heard isn't as good on the ships. If you want to work in hospitality management, why don't you think of working at least a hotel. You have your own home to go to at night :)

Answer 2

There are many jobs you can apply for that require min qualifications, just a hs diploma...

Free room and food, and you get to travel..Loongg hrs though..as you are in the entertainment business... Checkout NCL.com

I went to Bermuda, and it seemed worth it!

Answer 3

Well! first learn to swim,lol,Then check with the foreign cruise-ship lines probably on-line companies can help with all the info you might need, There are no American cruise-ship lines due to strict Coast Guard Regulations which foreign ships are immune to U.S. regulations.

Answer 4

I have been working on ships for over 6 years now. In my opinion it is a life changing experience that has many positives and very few negatives.

You will have the opportunity to spend time with like minded people with adventurous spirits and a common love for travel. Depending on the cruiseline, you will have the chance to see many countries around the world.

The pay varies depending on your experience, the job you do and your length of service. The advantage is that you will not pay tax, have your accommodation, food, medical and return flights paid for. Due to this, you save 95% of what you earn. To give you an idea, when I started, I earned a measley US$1000 per month. Today, I earn about US$6000 per month and get paid vacations. Do you know anyone who can pay $5,500 a month off their mortgage? *If you are from the US, some cruiselines deduct Federal Taxes from your pay, others do not.

A brief idea of what you can earn...

Social Host - $1500-2000 per month

Waiter - $2000-5000 per month depending on tips

Casino - $2500 - 4000 per month

Purser - $1000 - 3000 per month

Cruise Director - $6000-10,000 per month

Captain - $12,000 per month

The negatives...

1) You will be away for your family for 4-6 months at a time

2) When you first start, you will share a cabin (a very small Cabin)

3) Long hours

4) Work 7 days a week

The cruise lines lately have worked out that happy staff that stay for a few years are more productive then staff that stay for 6-12 months. Therefore, there are retirement packages for long service, crew gym, crew bar, free tours in port, crew activities, crew parties (free beers etc), crew group tours. One thing you will never be is bored.

Cruise Lines don't just hire anyone that wants a job. You have to have several years experience in your field before you will be considered. Contrary to popular belief, there are not many Americans onboard (not because of the pay) but because not many Americans (with some exceptions) are willing to work the hours required.

The best idea is to see working for ships as a very fruitful and rewarding career rather than a good summer job. If you do this, you will become very comfortable financially, will see the world and will make friends from all corners of the globe. Good luck.

Answer 5

The pay is pretty good thats why if you have ever been on the cruise not alot of American people want to work because to them its not worth it but to foreigners its great pay and they send it to their families and everything back home where they may not have alot of money and the tips depending on what you do is good, like if your a waiter the cruise requires you to tip them a minimum of like $60 and then some people add extra because of how good a server they are and the assistant waiter gets a lil less and the housekeepers get good tips and the chief housekeeper, and then their are other people, you get free room and bored, and if you think about getting those kind of tips like if they had 3 tables of 8 and like they had two groups of 3 and a group of two then do the math and thast just per week, so they make good money you get to travel so you wouldnt be in the same place all the time but you dont get to go off the ship whenever you want to its like whne your days off and you usually use those to catch up on sleep and if you ever go on a cruise ask the waiters and stuff what its like theyll tell  you but they say its worth it and you meet new people and you have shows on bored and you travel to different places and you work like 8 months straight then get like 3 off then switch ships so you do a different place like meixco, europe, new england, caribbean all 3, southern, eastern, western, california, alaska, south america, asia, transalantic, and I cant think of any others, but their probably are, hawaii, but I dont know about the qualifications but I dont think that it would get boring new people and depending on what you want your job to be, I think it would kind of be fun but then again it could get boring. So its your choice good luck.

For the person above me thats technically not true NCL has an all american cruise ship that does hawaii the pride of hawaii and its all american workers since it only does hawaii. So they have to meet the US regulations.