Friday, April 12, 2024

What Working on Cruise Ships is Really Like: Pros & Cons

how much do you make working on a cruise ship

However, it’s important to consider the duration of contracts and the fact that living expenses are often taken care of by the cruise line. As a Third Officer, my job is half safety and half navigation. I'm living and working onboard cruise ships anywhere from six to nine months of the year. My typical contract is two to three months with two months of vacation in between.

Cruise Ship Jobs That Make the Most Money

Cruise ship waiter salaries vary from $1,200 per month for a junior waiter to $5,000 per month for the head waiter on an ultra-luxury cruise ship. These salaries generally include gratuities which are collected and shared automatically. Cruise directors work 11 to 14 hours per day on a sea day and six to eight hours per day on a port day. They usually work for six months at a time, with six weeks off to go home in between contracts. It is a structured organization with a chairman and other officers who look after the welfare of the crew.

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Can You Work From A Cruise Ship? Our Tips for Working Remotely at Sea.

Posted: Wed, 24 Aug 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]

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This is because crew members work around the schedule of the cruise ship. For example, if you include gratuities, an assistant waiter could range from $900-$2,220 monthly. Experienced dining room servers can generate $3,200 per month, with the assistant maître d’ earning $4,000-plus in pay. Good bartenders can earn $1,800-$2,500 with wait staff receiving $1,200-$2,200 per month. To become a cruise director, one typically needs several years of experience in the entertainment industry, as well as strong leadership and organizational skills.

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A subset of lecturing includes teaching leisure activities such as bridge, ballroom dancing, painting with watercolors, patchwork or scrapbooking. Some cruise lines even recruit staff members to partner up with the single cruisers on the dance floor. Entertainers are in great demand, so if you professionally dance, play an instrument, perform magic or stand-up comedy, you should speak to your agent or manager about working on a cruise. A ship's onboard entertainers are usually on long contracts and employed by the cruise line.

While the majority of cruise guests might be primarily from one or two countries, the crew area is like a small, diverse city with people from dozens of countries. Lots of businesses understand that while guests are simply one-time visitors, crew members come back each time the ship returns to the area and can bring in a lot of regular business. While this varies by company and possibly by job, ships generally pay for crew flights. They were amazing experiences that were less physically demanding than ship life with better pay and fewer work hours.

how much do you make working on a cruise ship

That’s because they often receive the best meals, drinks, rooms, and outfits. Working on a cruise ship requires you to work more hours than in a typical full-time job. They get to live on the cruise ship and travel all over the world. Depending on the company, cruise housekeeping contracts can last anywhere from 2 months to 12 months long.

how much do you make working on a cruise ship

Modern ships have private bathrooms but some older ones have shared bathrooms between crew rooms too. Instead, they work intensively for seven days a week for the duration of their contract. Many crew members then choose to have a break on land for a month or two, before returning for another contract. Many cruise ship workers also say that it is easy to save money while working onboard.

Instead, they have specific hours or parts of the day when they are not scheduled to work. Their schedules are structured in shifts, allowing for some time to rest, but full days off are rare during their contract, which can last several months. Cruise ship workers typically work long hours, often ranging from 10 to 14 hours per day. This blend of financial savings, unique benefits, and the opportunity to travel the world makes working on a cruise ship an attractive option for those seeking an unconventional career path. However, potential employees should weigh these benefits against the unique challenges of this work environment, such as long hours, strict regulations, and limited personal space.

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That would translate to median monthly earnings of about $2,592. A former Carnival Cruise Line galley worker had the lowest monthly earnings, while a former Royal Caribbean International first officer had the highest. Despite what you may have seen on the television show, "The Love Boat", crew members are strictly prohibited from any kind of relationships with passengers onboard.

I think a lot of people have this misconception that it's easy to work on a cruise ship because they think we're vacationing and not actually working. They don't realize the amount of work that goes into making those vacations for other people. The most I ever clocked in in a day was about 13 hours, but of course this will vary according to job position and possibly whether or not it’s a busy cruise. Again it is important to remember that you have the opportunity to save most of the money you earn, unless you spend too much time in the bars, the casinos or spend too much when you are in port.

But if you can do that, there’s not much else you’re not psychologically capable of. Us staff had divided activities and games to host between us, and I got to help out with face painting the kids. While evacuees were on board, the kids’ program staff was asked to entertain the Bahamian children who were evacuating with their families. The crew was briefed on the situation and we were informed that we’d be supplying food as well as evacuating as many Bahamians as we could. During Hurricane Dorian, the ship that I was on (Mariner of the Seas) was called to provide assistance to the Bahamas.

That gives us not only a glimpse into how much the top brass at the company makes in total, but also what those who work on the ship earn as well. Major cruise lines like Carnival, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Norwegian are actually part of larger public companies that trade on major stock exchanges. As a result, the parent companies are subject to certain SEC filing requirements. This role demands strong leadership, communication, and organizational skills, as they manage a diverse staff across multiple departments and maintain high service standards.

In a traditional tipping system, these crew members are often missed. When the ship is docked, they are able to explore the ports, if they don’t have to work. When i was lucky enough to be invited on the Super Yacht Emerald Azzurra, I found that the ratio of crew to passengers was very high.

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