Why not US?

Question

Why didn't I see ANY Americans working on the cruise ships?

Answer 1

I am an American and I worked onboard a ship for Royal Caribbean.  There were around 915 crew members, and about 22 of us were American.

American's generally seem to work in one of the following areas:  Singers and dancers, production/entertainment team, Cruise Staff, Youth Staff, Sports Staff and Spa/Salon.

NCL America has an all-american crew.  And truth be told, it's a disaster.

The working conditions aren't as bad as people say.  Yes, you do work everyday.  But somedays I would only work may 2-3 hours, other days it was 10+ hours.  It just depended on the day and what was going on.  The 10 hour days were pretty rare though.  On average, it was probably about 6 hours a day.

You might work 15 minutes here, have a two hour break, work, another 10-20 minutes, another hour off, work 1.5 hours, have more time off, then work 4 hours.  So the time was spread out throughout the day.

If you are in port, and not working, you can get off the ship.  Providing there is not some other reason you cannot leave the ship.

The room attendants, would work from about 8am-1pm, and again from about 6p-10p.

Answer 2

A lot has to do with United states laws about getting overtime after 40 hours of work, getting breaks, and minimum wage. Except for the entertainers on the ship, the other workers could work 15 hours with no overtime and often they will work 1 month or more with 1 day or just a few hours off. My room steward told me about not having any days off. Did you notice that it was your same room steward that made you bed in the morning and turned down you bed at night. That is around 14 hours of work in 1 day. So that is the reason.

Answer 3

Americans do work on the ships.  Just perhaps in areas the passengers are not around a lot.  Most ships are registered in a foriegn country so they recruit there. Also, Americans are used to the minimum wage requirements, but many make more than min. wage.  On the ships, the crew that most passengers see are not making a whole lot of money.

Answer 4

Because Americans won't work for the wages the cruise ships pay, nor put up with the hours and living conditions involved.  

The Norwegian ships in Hawaii have American crew and receive many, many complaints about the low levels of service on the cruise bulletin boards.

Answer 5

the cruise ships wants to have people other than Americans on the cruise ships for diversity.  They also can usually stay longer since they dont live in the u.s.  (lower wages as well)