Cruise Ship Jobs Blog

You’ve sent out your resumes to a handful of cruise lines and you can’t wait to get a call for an interview, let alone be offered work on a cruise ship. 

But, are you really ready to work onboard?

Some applicants think they’re ready, but then when the time comes and they’re offered a job they realize that they can’t start when the employer wants them to.

Get to know what life is like onboard such as long days, 7-day work weeks and coping homesickness.  Understand which documents are needed and expected from a cruise applicant.

Will you be able to pass the pre-employment medical?

Furthermore, are your finances in order? Do you have to renew a lease before you leave or do you have any outstanding personal commitments, such as a wedding you must attend?

Being prepared in an interview means you let the employer/hiring manager know that you understand about life onboard. Once you are offered a job, you want to be ready to start whenever they want you to. 

To learn more about cruise job preparedness, read Are You Ready to Work Onboard a Cruise Ship?

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When most applicants start their search for a cruise job, they limit themselves to applying with the big cruise lines like Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Lines.  It’s true that those two lines in particular have more than 20 cruise ships each making for attractive job opportunities.

What many applicants don’t realize is that they are limiting their chances of working at sea if they only apply to the major cruise lines, omitting the more obscure companies.

River cruise lines, expedition cruise lines and cruise lines with only one or two ships offer similar opportunities of travel and cruise industry experience.

These companies aren’t on every cruise applicant’s radar, making these types of cruise job opportunities another promising alternative to getting your foot in the door. Although the number of crew is substantially lower, the life onboard experience has many similar qualities that translate well on a resume.

Guest service experience, having a roommate and seven-day work weeks are a huge common denominator. And, many of these lines you have never heard of offer the same types of cruise jobs that you may be qualified for.

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Aaah….hot, sunny days and white, sandy beaches.  What could be more motivating to get a cruise job, than getting away from cold, dreary, snowy winters?  As the leaves turn colours and summer is a distant memory for the northern hemisphere, we know what is around the corner.

Is there any way to secure a position on board before the snow flies? 

One myth is that there are more jobs onboard over the holiday periods.  This is untrue. Most cruise ships sail at full capacity throughout the year, not just the holiday periods.  An exception to this is that all family cruise lines hire tons of youth counsellors because of the amount of kids onboard.

This equates to a perfect opportunity to get your foot in the door for this type of cruise job for a possible full time year round position when it comes available.

Some other vacancies to keep in mind are related to the launching of new cruise ships.

In December 2010 Royal Caribbean will debut the Allure of the Seas, requiring 1,650 crew members. New ships for 2011 will require a further 7,000 cruise jobs.

For those just starting their search and for those that have been pursuing a job on a ship for some time now, keep in mind that there are ALWAYS positions available. 

Landing your dream job takes more than a great resume and cover letter it also takes perseverance. Once you apply, keep following up…these are the candidates that get the job!! Now’s the time, before the snow flies.

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Is it possible to be over qualified for cruise line employment? Should you tone down your experience in order to just get hired? What are employers thinking when they read your experience-packed resume?

We were asked this question recently, “Is it possible that I am over qualified and they (the cruise lines) simply skip me over?” This person explains, “I have been applying for various jobs for nearly a year now without one interview.”

For starters, cruise applicants should first ask themselves a couple of questions before getting discouraged. Have you been consistently following up on your application? Have you been sending your resume to specific hiring managers? If the answer is yes, then it’s time to relook at your resume and cover letter again.

Cruise applicants need to understand that if their work experience and education go beyond what are required, it may be concerns for a potential employer. Similar to age discrimination, being over qualified may be interpreted that you may not fit in the current position.

One of our latest articles, Are You Over Qualified for a Cruise Job LINK TO=> http://www.workoncruiseships.com/members/Are_You_Over_Qualified_for_a_Cruise_Job.cfm, explains what employers may be thinking about you and your resume as well as how to confront the issue of having more qualifications than required.

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Another cruise ship recruitment scam was brought to our attention this past month.  The Seatrade Insider, a cruise industry news website reported on September 23, 2010 that a UK-based “business” has been advertising cruise jobs on a number of online job sites.

Representing themselves as “The London flagship of the Seabourn Yacht Group”, the company has led many job-seekers to believe they were applying to Seabourn Yacht Club.  Online job sites ask applicants to email their resume to names such as Captain Clark Fox or Captain Wilson Scott. After a cruise job is offered to the applicant, the applicant is asked to send money for a visa or for a recruiting fee.

It’s a rip off, warns Gary Ellis, VP Marine and Technical Operations for Seabourn.  We will never ask for money in advance, Ellis told Seatrade Insider.

Many cruise ship applicants have become victims of cruise ship recruitment scams.  Unknowingly, these job seekers respond to newspaper ads and online cruise ship job postings while scam artists promise jobs in return for payment.

Just remember, if it seems too good to be true then it probably is!

So, how do you spot a cruise ship recruitment scam and how do you know which cruise hiring agencies are legitimate? As a rule of thumb, real cruise lines and legitimate cruise agencies do not charge fees.

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Applicants looking to get an edge above the competition need to have a cover letter that stands out when applying for cruise ship vacancies. One way of doing that is to talk about the cruise line you are applying to within the body of the cover letter. So, what should you say?

Having knowledge about something that is new or innovative for the cruise line and relating it to a cruise job shows that you have specific interest in that company. One of the best ways is to mention the cruise line’s upcoming fleet launches.

For example, applicants sending cover letters to Disney Cruise Line should devote a sentence to the launch of the Disney Dream due out in January 2011. Correlate this with filling the company’s needs of additional youth counsellors.

For further information about the new ships due out for 2011, read {New Cruise Ships and Cruise Job Opportunities for 2011} LINK TO => http://www.workoncruiseships.com/members/New_Cruise_Ships_Cruise_Job_Opportunities_for_2011.cfm.

Another example of cruise industry news can give applicants an advantage about newly created jobs. When the Norwegian Epic was launched this past summer, the job of Recreation Staff was posted on WorkOnCruiseShips.com’s latest vacancies.

Also in April 2010, Celebrity Cruises presented their iLounge with the launch of the Celebrity Eclipse.  The iLounge is a new kind of internet cafe that offers computer classes and opportunities to purchase Apple products. They are still actively recruiting iLounge Managers since they will be launching the Celebrity Silhouette in 2011. Details for applying are in our latest cruise ship vacancies section.

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When applying for a cruise job, potential employers will try to evaluate how flexible of an employee you will be. They want crew members that can adapt to change, think on their feet and solve problems quickly. How, as a cruise applicant, can you portray yourself with those qualities? 

In cruise ship life, crew members need to be flexible about their schedule and rotations.  You may not get put on the ship or itinerary that they originally scheduled you for.  The date you start or finish your contract is hardly ever the same from what was originally discussed.

Onboard, crew members need to be flexible with their work hours and their job description. Schedules are ever-changing based on passenger demand, itinerary changes, weather and many other factors.  How will you cope and will you react positively?

The cruise line hiring managers are scouring your resume for clues. Instead of making it difficult for them to figure out how flexible you are � tell them. By using accomplishments rather than just describing how flexible you are, you excite the hiring manager to contact you for an interview to find out more.  

Here are a few phrases that show your "flexible" accomplishments.

"Implemented and trained five employees on new office phone systems"
"Relocated to new xxCity to take advantage of promotion to Sous Chef"
"Planned and organized a 150-guest reception, where the customer's budget changed and therefore many elements of the party needed to change, too" 

Once you get to the interview process, you can shine by expanding on your flexibility as a potential crew member.

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