Though cruise patrons used to be stereotyped as silver haired folks with money,
cruise industry today caters to a much wider demographic cross section of population. There are cruises that specifically cater to singles, to families, and there is even a behemoth under construction now that is selling apartments for permanent residents.As of 1999, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines' Voyager was largest cruise ship at sea. Among Voyager's amazing attractions are an ice rink and a rock climbing wall. They carry 3100 guests and 1200 crew. Do math, and you'll see that this is roughly 1 crewmember for every 2.5 passengers. The crews are real full time residents, usually signing 6 - 8 month contracts with little or no time off for entire period. The ship sails 50 weeks per year with a 24-hour turn around between trips.
Voyager, due to it's great size is able to offer it's crewmembers more amenities than most cruise ships, including a crew gym, crew mess hall, crew break room, crew stores with special low crew pricing, crew internet café, a crew movie theater, $0.75 beer, and lots of crew parties. All this sounds good, but you must remember that it is all designed to try and keep crew happy, and why do they have to try so hard to make crew happy? You got it, work on a cruise ship is long and hard, and bears little resemblance to glamorous "Love Boat" ideal many people have when starting out in this profession. And speaking of romance, if you sign on as a single person, you'd best plan to remain that way for full length of your contract. Romance between crewmembers is strongly discouraged.
Here is a quick rundown of contract crew positions, (successful applicants are usually at least 21 years old):
Ship's Officers - should have studied navigation and/or engineering at university. These positions are highly technical, and salaries are high.
Head Chefs and Pursers - these positions are also well paid, and require prior experience and training.
Other Jobs - waiter
sous-chef
kitchen staff
cabin stewards
deck hands
pool attendants, etc.
You'll find fierce competition for these jobs from nationals of less developed countries. The salaries are very low. In fact since ships sail in international waters, there is no minimum wage, but tips can be quite good. Hours are long and you won't get off boat much. Accommodations tend to be cramped with generally 4 to a cabin. Voyager is exceptional in this respect with only two per cabin. I repeat, these jobs are HARD WORK. Though you'll be traveling, you'll see next-to-nothing of your destinations. These are jobs for people looking to save or send home money, since room and board are covered you can save most of your salary. TIP: If you take one of these jobs, set a time limit on it.
Shipboard Services Staff Members - These employees staff shops, boutiques, work in purser's office, in bars and casinos, beauty shops, discos, spas, gyms, etc. These are perhaps more attainable positions for someone seeking a change of pace for term of one or two contracts. Their jobs are basically same as they're on land counterparts, with less time off.
Cruise Director's Staff - Cruise Director
Assistant Directors
Special Hostesses
Children's Activities Director
Teen Activity Director, etc.
This entire group of employees spends their working hours smiling and trying to make passengers feel at home. If you have to work at putting on a smile each day, this is not job for you. The job can be boring and repetitious for employee, though passengers are playing game for first time each time. People in these positions do sometimes get to go ashore with passengers.
Medical Staff - These are fully licensed and qualified physicians and nurses. Some are on salary and some retain a portion of their fees. Some are permanent full time employees while others come aboard for only a few weeks at a time. These can be great positions for retired health care professionals who enjoy travel.
Enrichment Providers - All sorts of "experts" fill these short term fun positions which allow them to expound on their areas of expertise. They give talks, seminars and workshops. Generally they'll be expected to speak for 40 minutes at a time and then field questions for 10 minutes or so. They'll make one to three presentations per week usually on days at sea. They get to then spend rest of their time enjoying cruise. Talks or class can be on just about anything. Terms of temporary employment vary widely, with some cruise lines hiring enrichment providers directly and some working through employment agencies. Some lines pay a stipend, and some do not, or they may pay all air fares, or pay air fares when provider does two cruises back to back, and some lines pay NO air fare. A few lines give provider free drinks, laundry service and even tips. The majority of cruise lines do give Enrichment Provider plus his/her companion free cruise tickets. In addition, EP's nearly always eat with passengers and are given regular passenger cabins. 10 - 24 day trips are common, and 4 month round-the-world trips are occasionally available. Retirees can do well in this area as can professors who have a semester off.
