Youth Director on a Cruise Ship?

Question

I am a college student, and I would like to travel to Europe this summer. I have 5+ years experience in childcare, and someone suggested getting a seasonal job on a Mediterranean cruise ship as a youth director (not sure if that is the exact job title they suggested, but close - basically someone who supervises the younger children's activities on the ship). I was wondering if anyone has done this - and what their thoughts are. What is the usual legnth? Could it just be fore a month? Where would I go to find available jobs?

Answer 1

The chances of you getting such a position are very slim.  First of all all cruise ship jobs require you to sign a contract for a specific period of time that is usually in the range of 6 to 9 months.  About every cruise ship and line has programs for kids ages 3 through 17.  But they need people who are going to be around for a season or the length of their contract.  they do not just go hire someone for the next 5 or 6 cruises and then start looking for someone else.

But if you want to work for a longer period of time you should get in touch with the cruise lines to see what they have.  Each cruise line web site has a link for jobs or employment.

Below are links to the MANY cruise lines you can search.

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.....

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.....

AZAMARA:

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

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/

Each of these cruise lines will have a phone number where you can contact them directly.

Answer 2

WOW that would be amazing ... cruises are the best vacations*.. if you don't get sea sick... i'm not sure where you would go for a job like that though...

Answer 3

try contacting one of the cruise lines, royal carribean, carnival, disney

Answer 4

That would be such a fun job, especially if you like cruising and kids. I know on Carnival.com they have stuff about jobs there and how to apply, but your best bet would be calling a cruiseline. Good luck*

Answer 5

Luckily for you, unlike most cruise ship jobs, some youth activities staff ARE hired as seasonal workers, rather than for long contracts.  (This is because kids are a seasonal business, they come in large numbers during summer vacation, so the cruise lines need extra staff for just a few months of the year.)

You won't get a job for one month -- there's too much training involved -- but 3+ is possible.  I've met college students working onboard in this capacity.

Below is a list of cruise lines that sail in the Med, and links direct to their job information pages.  (I left off some of the higher-end lines that don't even bother to have kids' programs, like Oceania and Azamara.)

Carnival Cruise Lines http://www.carnival.com/CMS/Fun_Jobs/ccl...

Celebrity Cruises

http://www.celebritycruises.com/aboutcel...

Costa Cruiseshttp://www.costacruise.com/B2C/USA/Corpo...

Disney Cruise Line

http://dcljobs.com/

Holland America Line

http://www.hollandamerica.com/about/empl...

MSC Cruises

http://www.msccruisesusa.com/job_usa.asp...

If you aren't American, go to http://www.msccruises.com and select your country of origin

Norwegian Cruise Line http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/cruiser/cmsPag...

Princess Cruises

http://www.princess.com/employment/

Royal Caribbean International

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/ourCompany...

BTW, the job would be called something like "youth activities staff", not director or supervisor.

Good luck to you!

Answer 6

My husband and I went on a cruise last March and the youth director and a videographer (her boyfriend) went on an excusion with a small group of us. We asked her how she liked her job and she shared a lot of predicatable thoughts. She missed her family, it was hard work etc. The biggest surprise was how seldom she got to go ashore. That's not what I'd call travelling.

Answer 7

i dont know anything bout that. sorry!

Answer 8

I have been on Carnival & Royal Carribbean. Both of those have an 8 month contract for dining room, cabin steward. I dont know if the youth director or that department would be same lenght.

Go to the cruise line home page and look for the employment link.

And kudos to you for being able to do that kind of work.

A friend just told me that if you contact a good travel agent they may be able to help you with some phone numbers too

Answer 9

They probably will not hire someone for just a month, the training takes longer than that. And even though you have 5 years of experience, they would probably want more. You would not be the manager, but maybe a childcare worker.

Answer 10

vote me as best answer