Cruise ship life seems glamorous and exciting. A new country every day! Living on a luxury liner with constant parties and delectable dining!
What most people don’t realize is working on a cruise ship is very different than vacationing on one.
Working on a cruise ship is hard work. It's definitely not for the faint of heart.
Here I break down what accommodation, meals, work and time off looked like while working for a cruise line:
Accommodations
While you are working on a cruise ship, you are housed by the cruise line, most often below the water level. Your cabin and how "great" it is depends on your rank. If you are an entry-level worker, you are most likely sharing with a roommate. If you are a higher-up officer, you get your own cabin and daily housekeeping service. Your cabin will have your bed (most likely bunk beds), a closet (with a safe), desk & chair, TV and some cupboards. I was a petty officer so even though I had to share, I still had a bathroom that I only shared with my roommate, whereas other workers had to share a bathroom with another cabin. My favourite part about the room? The curtains that gave you privacy around your bunk. Loved it. Loved it even more when I had the bottom bunk! I didn't even mind not having a porthole. Since we worked odd hours, I needed to sleep whenever I could and not having any daylight was key. If I need to check the weather, I checked the live TV feed from the Bridge and the weather channel from the ship! The biggest make or break situation here is your roommate and whether or not you get along.
Meals
When you think of a cruise ship, many often think of multiple restaurants, late-night buffet lines and 24-hour room service. The food is world-class and delicious. When you are cruise ship worker, you are NOT eating the leftovers from the midnight crab buffet, which many people think. You are eating food cooked **specially** for you in your own special restaurant: the Crew Mess. Rice, chicken, salad (lettuce, cucumbers and maybe tomatoes), rice, mystery meat and some more rice. Oh, did I mention rice? Obviously, the cooks are catering to the many nationalities who work tirelessly onboard, and I didn't mind that, I just never grew up eating rice for breakfast. I went crazy if there was a Chicken Caesar Salad night and I could always count on hot dogs on embark day. They also make a big deal for holidays, which makes you feel better about spending your Christmas thousands of miles from your loved ones.
If you were lucky, you might get a chance to eat at one of the great restaurants on board, and I remember stuffing myself full of 4-cheese pizza, truffle pasta and chocolate soufflé and not being able to sleep or roll over in bed because I was so full. These moments reminded you of how good food can taste! I heard a rumour that they could feed a crew member for less than $10/day in the crew mess (don't quote me on that!) No matter what, those guys in the Mess worked so hard to keep us fed, and I know we appreciated the team even if we were a little bored of the options.
Work
Here is what most people didn't understand when I tried to explain what my work week looked like...I would get comments like: "You work EVERY day? Like you don't get a day off? What about Sundays? You have to at least get Sundays off!" No, you don't. You work 7 days a week. I want to make it very clear that I was extremely lucky. I worked 60-70 hours a week (70 hours was the max and what I was paid for regardless). Some crew worked up to 90ish hours a week and were never able to even get off the ship for 6+ months. My contracts were also short. I started out with 4 months, and then I had two 3 month contracts which were doable even if they felt like forever and a day. I also had one of the best jobs on the ship - Shore Excursions. Not only did I get to interact with guests and sell the excursions, I actually got to go on them! It makes me laugh now when I remember one week that I was so exhausted because I was touring Europe EVERY day. Oh boo hoo, that was my job?! It makes me sad how silly I was not to appreciate every moment. I was certainly one of the lucky ones onboard.
Life Outside of Work
Your life is work for the duration of your contract, but there are definitely ways to keep it fun and entertaining. There is a person onboard responsible for planning events and parties just for the crew! Whether it was a wine & cheese night, board games with the team or a late night Nassau, evenings were always fun for the crew. Crew had a specific bar just for them (although we'd love getting the super special invite to the Officer's Bar), and I remember falling asleep at 10pm and setting an alarm for midnight so I could snooze before heading out. The problem was most evening activities revolved around alcohol and staying up too late. It became a bit exhausting for me. Luckily, there were days that I could enjoy myself in between shifts off the ship in the port towns. Most of the time it was for the simple pleasures in life at that time – ice cream and Wi-Fi. Working in the Mediterranean one summer was the absolute best – exploring Europe was awesome. You just never got enough time to really explore the cities, but luckily we were there so many times that I could just see a little bit each time we called into the port. Internet and phone were super expensive, and often pretty crappy quality, but many of us were slaves to it because it connected us home to people and lives that made us feel normal.
Cruise ship life was hard. 70-hour weeks, waking up at 6am and finishing work at 10pm, working every day, manual labour, and being away from home. Cruise ship life is also rewarding – making international friends, seeing the world and getting paid to do it. I’ve met some of the best people I’ve ever known from my time there, and I would never trade my experience there for anything. I am truly grateful that my first full-time job was working on a ship.
Are you curious about cruise ship life? Comment below and I will answer any questions!
