Cruise Ship Jobs Blog

Do cruise ship workers have a higher chance of getting injured or getting sick than their counterparts that work ashore? One may first assume, yes, but crew and officers of cruise ships disagree.

Firstly, many jobs on cruise ships have a similar work environment as jobs found ashore. Essentially you are working in a place that resembles a resort. From housekeeping to guest services and from restaurants and bars to entertainment, the duties and hazards of the job overlap on land and sea.

It’s easy to point out that one of the main differences is that a cruise ship is a moving and floating resort. So, now it’s quick to assume that since the ship is moving, more accidents will happen, right…wrong! The majority of the crew are accustomed to the ship’s movement and aren’t really affected like the passengers are. Furthermore, prevention through safety awareness keeps incidents to a minimum.

Add in the fact that each cruise ship has a person dedicated to overseeing safety (Safety Officer). This officer is on the lookout for fire hazards, safety hazards and safety violations in order to prevent potential incidents from occurring.

Unfortunately, it’s true that just as in land-based employment, accidents can happen, injuries may occur and crew members get sick. But, the cruise ship environment is actually stricter than most land based workplaces when it comes to safety. For example, if a crewmember gets sick they are quarantined in their cabin. You aren’t likely to see that in a shoreside job.

For more information about working on cruise ships, visit WorkOnCruiseShips.com.

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Not everyone is cut out to work on cruise ships. You may remember my blog from last month that discussed the types of people that actually do work on ships. Now, I’ll talk about people that would not be suitable for cruise jobs.

Are You Dependent on Your Cell Phone?

The cost of using a cell phone while at sea or abroad can be expensive. If you can’t live without phoning and texting, a job on a cruise ship may not be for you.

Are You Dependent on Social Media?

If you are addicted to sites like Facebook and Twitter, you may go into withdrawl if you work on a cruise ship. Staying connected at sea can cost about $0.10 per minute ($6.00 per hour) plus the connections are super slow. If you can’t live without this type of interaction, a job at sea may not be for you.

Can You Live With Less Clothes (and Shoes)?

Cabin space is limited. There just isn’t enough room for your shoe collection or a half a dozen pair of jeans. Plus, you’ll be in a uniform most of the time, so you won’t have the opportunity to wear everything you bring. Now consider suitcase space. It’s not likely that you will be able to handle more than two suitcases. What will actually fit?

What Do You Think of Room-mates?

You will most likely be sharing a cabin and bathroom with another person for at least six months. People that don’t like sharing space, will not be suitable for ship life.

What Do You Think of Other Cultures?

If you don’t embrace the fact that you will be working and sharing ship space with about 50 other nationalities, working on a cruise ship is not for you.

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Contemplating working at sea? Here’s a list of why some crewmembers work on cruise ships contract after contract.

1.  Crew members have the opportunity to travel to many new places that they might not have been able to see otherwise.

2.  It is more exciting to work at sea than to work on land.

3.  You will make friends with people from all over the world.

4.  Experience working on cruise ships looks great on a resume for future jobs that you apply for.

5.  A job on a cruise ship can lead to a unique and rewarding cruise ship career.

6. Working on a cruise ship is a great chance to start a brand new career path.

7.  For some nationalities, the salary a crewmember makes onboard exceeds the amount that can be made in their home country.

8.  Most crewmembers have the benefit of not having to cook meals, wash dishes, wash clothes and linen or make their own bed.

9.   There is the opportunity to save lots of money since you don’t have to pay for accommodation, food, or even a gym membership. (Of course, you need to be careful about spending in the shops onboard and ashore!)

10. Have fun. The environment onboard cruise ships can be fun. Although crew work hard, long hours, there is still time to go ashore and unwind with friends. And, just because the code of conduct on cruise ships is strict it doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy yourself.

For more information about getting a job on a cruise ship, visit WorkOnCruiseShips.com.

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On the evening of Friday, January 13th the Costa Concordia ran aground off the coast of Italy. As the details of the investigation are still unraveling, there are many unanswered questions and much speculation. In a BBC news report, both passengers and crew give their account of what happened.

There is a huge responsibility on behalf of all crewmembers to be well trained and prepared in case of any emergency onboard. Unfortunately, it takes incidents like this one to really remind crew and officers around the world that their job goes far beyond the duties of the actual position they are hired for.

Every time a crew member joins a ship, no matter how many contracts they have done, they must attend safety training. Additional training is then carried out every week to exercise the crew in their emergency duties and emergency procedures. Such training also includes practice in launching and operating lifeboats and liferafts.

It’s no doubt that this horrific accident will be an important reminder to all those who work onboard that safety at sea must be taken seriously. No matter what your job on a ship is, it is also your responsibility to fully understand your own emergency duty. For more information about safety training on cruise ships, members of WorkOnCruiseShips.com can read these articles.

Introduction to Safety Training

Cruise Ship Emergency

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One of the most common questions that we see on the Members Discussion Forum is “What cruise job am I best suited for?” The best way to answer this type of question is to really know your own skills and work experiences inside and out.

Many people have a resume ready to go and apply to a whole slew of jobs with the same resume, hoping that an employer will read it and think, “Yes this is the person I’m looking for!” The fact is that the recruiting process in the cruise industry just doesn’t work that way. The competition for jobs is stiff and only the most qualified get hired.

For starters, cruise job applicants must apply to a specific position with each resume that they send out. And, that resume must correlate how your own skills and experiences are perfectly matched to the job you are applying for.

To be able to do this, you must first intimately understand the position that you want to apply for. Second you must relook at how your resume is laid out and the words that you use. The key is to list your most relevant experience and skills at the beginning of your resume. Second, make sure you highlight the required skills that are detailed in a job description.

For more information about writing a resume for the cruise industry, check out the Getting Hired section of WorkOnCruiseShips.com.

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When many people think of working on cruise ships, they automatically think of jobs such as housekeeping, waiters, cooks, guest services, gift shop associates, and entertainers. Then there’s the people who have started their hunt for a cruise job and realize there are also jobs such as cruise staff, hair stylists, photographers, cruise sales managers, art auctioneers, and port and shopping guides.

Now let’s broaden the job field even more with some jobs that you wouldn’t expect to find onboard a ship. Not that these jobs would be considered unusual in the land-based world of employment, but the fact that you can find these types of jobs on cruise ships is good to know.

Here are some of those unique jobs:

Dive Instructor – A few cruise lines teach a PADI certified dive course and therefore employ dive instructors.

Recreation Staff – Royal Caribbean recruits staff to manage their outdoor facilities which include climbing walls and surfing simulators.

Lifeguards – Disney Cruise Line is one of the only cruise lines that has lifeguard positions.

Desktop Publisher – Most cruise ships put out a daily activities newspaper for their passengers as well as print other literature such as menus. For example, Crystal Cruises has a position called an Editor.

Party Planner & Event Managers – Consider that many cruise lines offer onboard weddings, meetings and parties for special event groups. Holland America Line hires party planners and Royal Caribbean recruits for Group Coordinators.

Personal Trainers – Part of the spa department, personal trainers are hired to teach fitness classes.

For more information about these jobs and other cruise job vacancies, visit WorkOnCruiseShips.com.

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Although the economy has slowed down, cruise lines continue to build ships for their fleet. New ships mean new cruise jobs and 2012 is expected to debut thousands of new opportunities.

Two mega ships are expected to launch in spring 2012. Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Fantasy will be the sister ship to the Disney Dream and will debut in March 2012. It will be 128,000 tons, have 2,500 berths and will require around 1,500 crewmembers.

Disney Fantasy Construction Process

In addition, Carnival Cruise Lines’ Carnival Breeze will be another Dream-class ship for the mega cruise line. Making her debut in June 2012, the ship will be 130,000 tons, carry close to 3,700 passengers. She will require around 1,367 crewmembers. Here’s a video featuring Cruise Director, John Heald talking about Carnival Breeze’s itineraries in Europe.

Carnival Breeze in Europe

Celebrity Cruises is launching yet another Soltice-class ship in 2012. The Celebrity Reflection will make her maiden voyage in October 2012, making it the fifth ship in this class. She will be around 126,000 tons, will carry 3,030 passengers and will need at least 1,500 new crewmembers.

Steel Cutting the Celebrity Reflection

Other cruise lines bringing new ships into the cruise market in 2012 will include Costa Cruises (Costa Fascinosa), Oceania Cruises (Riviera), and MSC Cruises (MSC Divina).  And, that’s just the ocean going cruise ships.  There are plenty of river cruise ships making their debut in 2012, too. For more info on getting hired in the cruise industry, check out the website, www.WorkOnCruiseShips.com.

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One of the best parts of working on cruise ships is the friends that you will make. Perhaps it’s the camaraderie that comes with sharing this unique lifestyle and work environment. From similar interests to an understanding of how difficult it is to land a cruise job, it’s inevitable that crewmembers will make friends that feel like family.

For many crewmembers, the passion to work on cruise ships as a venue to travel and experience adventure is a common thread. For others, working hard to cover the bills back at home while at the same time missing their wife/husband/kids is also a shared feeling. Add in the journey that it takes to actually get a cruise job (via WorkOnCruiseShips.com), and you can see why crewmembers share lots of circumstances.

Most crewmembers stay in contact with their at-home family through phone calls, emailing and social media (members can read, Staying Connected at Sea) . Unfortunately, this is only for a small portion of the day. You will soon understand that during your rest periods you will find yourself sharing meal times and going ashore with your colleagues. It’s these conversations over lunch or dinner or while spending a couple of hours ashore that build new friendships.

Although many of these friendships tend to only last until a contract ends, it is common that some friendships beat the odds. Emailing and adding friends to your Facebook or Google+ circles is a common way of keeping in touch. Plus, you never know when your paths may cross again and you end up on the same ship for another contract together.

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