When people get an idea that they want to work on board a cruise ship, their scope of the cruise jobs offered may be limited.  But, the fact is that a cruise ship offers numerous different and unique opportunities. For example, when Royal Caribbean introduced their Oasis-class ship in December 2009, it also introduced many new cruise jobs as well.  They now employ a Horticultural Specialist to care for the live and artificial plants in the ship's Central Park neighborhood. Recently, Holland America Line announced the introduction of a new cruise job, a Lifestylist. The primary function of this cruise job

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Although we are only into our first weeks of spring, cruise lines are starting to think about their crewing needs for the summer. For the most part, hiring occurs throughout the year due to turnover of existing crew and the launching of new cruise ships. But, during the summer months (school holidays), cruise ships sail at full capacity and therefore need more crew on board to compensate. The cruise industry is a competitive industry to get hired in to. Therefore, getting your resume and cover letter into the hiring managers before your competition starts thinking to send theirs in is a

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Finding a way to put your cover letter on top of the pile or make your interview stand out from the others when applying for jobs with cruise lines can be as simple as doing a little research ahead of time. Which facts about a cruise line should you inject into your cover letter?  How do you seal the deal during your interview by wowing interviewers with your knowledge? Just as for land-based jobs, knowing as much as you can about the company you are applying to can help you get hired.  This step is often neglected by applicants, so

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As you prepare your cruise ship Application here are some tips to keep in mind.  Resumes of the past used to list things like age, gender, marital status and hobbies.  Today’s resumes should not. Why? For one, they take up a lot of valuable space at the top of your CV. You literally have SECONDS to grab a cruise line recruiter’s attention before they put your CV down and move onto the next one. Age, gender, marital status doesn't compel them to read any further, and thus finding out what you're applying for and what you can offer. Secondly, irrelevant information can

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No experience? No problem!!  At least that’s what you hope would be the answer, right?  Do you wonder if the experience you have will be enough to land your dream cruise ship job? How do you go about finding the job that meets your skills?  How do you apply for jobs that seem to require skills and experience that you don’t have? For the positions that do not require a specialized skill, ‘experience required’ should be interpreted as ‘experience preferred’.  Many cruise lines are often overzealous when detailing the skills and experience required in order to be hired for the

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So how do you make yourself stand out from the other hundreds of other applicants that are applying for the exact same cruise job that you are? For starters, you need to do one thing that the majority of cruise applicants fail to do.  Write a thank-you letter immediately. One of our members wrote on the Discussion Forum this past week about his success story.  DJigor75 shared on the Forum about his Skype interview with NCL for the position of Disc Jockey.  His interview was on Thursday February 4th.  He explained that he wrote a thank-you email immediately after the

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As information technology is evolving, the demand for IT jobs on cruise ships has too. So what are these positions all about and how do you go about getting one? Just as on land, a cruise ship has a need for a myriad of computer-savvy crew.  At one end of the spectrum they need persons to look after the behind-the-scenes operation of onboard computer systems.  Also, as cruise ships look for ways to make additional revenue, they now employ computer instructors and managers in charge of internet cafes. Keen applicants will want to apply for all computer jobs with the same

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Earlier this week, one of our members posted this on our Discussion Forum about her cruise ship job interview: “I had an interview with Harding Brothers in December 2009 and I didn’t get hired.” She further explained that she then had an interview with Starboard Cruise Services approximately one month later (January).  She then writes, “Two and a half hours after the interview (with Starboard) I got a call back from the HR Assistant saying I got hired.” In her post she encourages other members to “keep believing.”  Do not look at the interview that didn’t get you a job as a

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Deciding to give up a perfectly good job on land to pursue a career on a cruise ship may have some of your friends and family questioning your mental sanity. It is a big risk, but one that also has big rewards, travelling being one of the biggest.  Careers at sea are unique in many aspects.  Starting with a 7-day work week and the fact you may have to share a cabin with another crew member are a couple of truths that go along with a dream job on a cruise ship. You can read, Is Working on Cruise Ships Really

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Do job applicants over the age of 35 have a chance of getting jobs on cruise ships? And, if there is a possibility of getting hired, how do you increase your chances? These are very common questions that we see on our members’ Discussion Forum. One member, Vanitak, writes, “I am in my 40s and am prepared to do anything to get onto cruise ships. Can anyone give me some help as what to apply for and that I could possibly stand a chance of getting with the age thing and all?” One of our contributors, Lucy80 responds, “Every ship I’ve worked

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