BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Cruises Cruise Line Job

It seems that lots of people are eager to work on a cruise line. I understand the allure of being at sea. I just don't know that I could deal with 10+ hour days of having people potentially yell at me and treat me like dirt <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Most ship employees aren't allowed to be up on "public decks" during their off hours either, so that would be rough. Hopefully you'd actually get your off hours to coincide with times at port so you could go explore a bit.

What do you think? Would you enjoy the adventure of being on a ship? Or would being trapped there with ungrateful / messy tourists drive you insane? <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

You work more than 10 hours a day, let me tell you. You're extremely lucky if you get eight hours off in a row to sleep. And forget getting time off in port! I once worked three months straight without one day off. When I finally got a day off, what did I do? I slept for 17 hours straight, no kidding. And it was a day off in Port Canaveral which wasn't exactly exotic.

True, you don't get to be on public decks, either. There's some activities down below for the crew...most of which involve getting drunk so you forget how you're tied to the ship. And unlike the guests, you don't easily get off of the ship when you've returned after the cruise to your home port. Cruise employees are given "windows" of time they can leave if customs allows them, which sometimes they don't, and there could only be three 10-minute windows a day before you ship out again. If you can't get through the exit line in 10 minutes, you're stuck on the ship. It's crazy, but true. Being a cruise employee isn't all that bad, but you also can't comprehend the living conditions until you've experienced it for yourself.

Kimberly, is Disney the only line you've worked on? True, on Princess I didn't ee the employees much but we often did see the more visible employees taking side trips? I think when they took one of the trips, they had to critique it when they returned to work.

I knew the employees on Princess worked crazy, long hours because you would see them at the strangest times. It is a tough job and it is really tough when you have to please everyone.

Angie,

I've only worked for Disney and I came onboard right after the Disney Wonder started sailing, so their rules might have relaxed a little since then. I was actually considered a really low ranking officer because I worked with the Cruise Director in entertainment, but I still couldn't eat in public places or be seen in public areas unless that was my specific job duty at the time to socialize. Some crew members are allowed on shore excursions, but that's rare and only if they can get time off and there's space available...and even then you have to be on your best behavior!

Don't get me wrong, I loved working onboard and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Working on a cruise ship is the exact opposite of sailing as a guest on a cruise ship, but it's a once in a lifetime experience that you'll always remember!!

I've definitely heard this from many other people - that you rarely get time off, you rarely get to sleep, and that your sleeping area is not quite a suite <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> It's not about flitting from island to island and getting paid for it - it's more like working non-stop for months at time, but getting free room and board while you do it. So definitely for people who are in third world siutations, where there is little food and work in their home village, this is incredibly wonderful. They don't have to spend any income at all on their own "daily needs" - they can simply send the entire check home to their family to help support them.

I know when I visited Cancun that the difference between resort life and worker life was simply astounding. You drove 10 minutes outside of "town" and people were living in cardboard houses, literally.