Working on a cruise ship means working seven days a week for months at a time. One of the biggest drawbacks of cruise ship jobs is thought to be spending holidays working.
Indeed, this could be said of any hospitality job. However, on a cruise ship you might actually have a better time than you would at a similar land-based hotel job.
Reputed cruise line companies make it their business to ensure the crew are fairly well looked after. This includes helping to cut some of that nostalgic, home-sick feeling with holiday festivals on board.
The biggest holidays celebrated around the world are part of the festivities for crew – Hallowe’en, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year, and Easter. However, because many of the crew are from South East Asian countries like India, cruise ships include celebrations for festivals such as Diwali as well.
It is rather hard for cruise ship crew to ignore festivities even if that is some sort of defence mechanism to avoid the painful feeling of missing their families at that time of year. Decorations and symbols of the festivities are everywhere – Christmas trees and snowmen at Christmas, scary costumes at Hallowe’en, candles for Hanukkah, eggs and Easter bunnies for Easter.
Many crew join in the festivities full swing, buying cheap, small decorations from shore to string up in their cabins and create an air of joy. The cruise line company typically organises a slew of related events. At Christmas, each department will have its own party, filled with exchange of gifts or Secret Santa events, spiked eggnog, themed food and drink.
Sometimes, smaller department heads put together less formally organised parties in their cabins. This, however, is restricted to roles in the higher end of the hierarchy, say the captain having his or her deck officers over in the spirit of the season.
Similarly, New Year’s will have a full scale party in the crew club for those who are off work. If the ship is in port, as many are, there will may be fewer guests on board, but the vessel will pull out all the stops for celebrations in any case. If by chance, they are at sea, more hands will be needed and the crew party might be deferred to a slightly later hour.
But it’s not all about themselves. Cruise ship companies often take holiday festivities as a time to engage in charitable work. The department responsible will often organise a volunteer crew trip for the less fortunate people at the ports they berth at. For Christmas, they may distribute toys to orphans or visit an elderly care home with treats dressed as Santa and elves.
A few charities even work to bring the holiday cheer to those on board. US charities such as the Seamen’s Church Institute celebrates Christmas at Sea each year by donating scarves and other garments for crew who sail. In 2008, it added cruise ship workers to its list of mariners to receive garment donations.
Cruise ship crew may not be with their families at home on holidays, but they are treated with celebrations on board complete with festive food, drink and decor. With dozens of others in the same situation, together they create an excellent holiday vibe in crew only areas which makes up, at least in part, for missing out on celebrations back home
Many negative articles have been written about life for cruise ship crew, chief among them relating to pay scales and living conditions. However, it must be noted that these are mostly written from the perspective of a Western world where costs of living, job expectations and benefits are much higher.
Much is talked about regarding the kind of food served to guests on board cruise ships. After all, it is a big part of the cruising experience. But what do cruise ship crew eat?
It’s often said that money makes the world go round. For employees on cruise ships, this could not be more true. Top level management such as the captain and executives are full-time staff, but those on the bottom rung such as line cooks and waiters are contract staff whose salary vary depending on the cruise line they work for and the position they are at.
Cruise ship jobs are known to be one of the most stressful jobs out there. They often include long work hours, new team members every day or week, and high standards of quality. Combined with this, crew members have personal responsibilities, perhaps paying off a loan, supporting a family back home, and even simple things such as doing their weekly laundry or studying for a qualification upgrade.
There is no escaping the fact that with cruise ship jobs in high demand, the incidence of related scams increases. Many unfortunate victims have paid hard-earned money to criminals masquerading as overseas recruitment companies in the hope of landing a job on board.
At the recent Seatrade Europe meet in Hamburg, the European cruise and river trade industry threw the spotlight on a booming potential market for cruising, thereby inviting new job opportunities for cruise ship chefs and other employees on board.
No industry is without its dark underbelly and no workspace without its grievances. As the industry expands exponentially, there is a huge demand for people to fill cruise ship jobs. And with it comes the undeniable existence of friction between staff and managers, company and guest.
Working on a cruise line offers many benefits. It is no wonder that dozens of people from developing countries make their way on board to take advantage of these. A recent report suggested that Indians make up as much as 30 per cent of global recruitment for the international cruise sector, with workforce from Goa taking up 40 per cent of the Indian representation.