Great article! Thank you so much for sharing your view and personal experiences.
I really like the fact that your story and your responses to questions on this feed are very well balanced.

Sometimes with these type of blogs and especially with this topic people are often one-sided in their opinions and feedback only pointing out the positives or most often the negatives of this unique work situation.

I often think when I read some of the negative comments from former or current staff if it really was that bad why did you choose to hang around or stay on and complete further contracts???
There is good and bad with everything in life and at the end of the day we all do still have a choice.

I’m sure this article will help a lot of people contemplating a career at sea.

I myself was curious on your opinions of a Training & Development Manager Role.
I have a fair idea what this role on board entails – generally 4 months on/2 months off, reports to HR Manager, conducts orientations, inductions, ship familiarisations, work place safety, harassment , ESL etc. there is also some HR generalist work, record keeping and they also play a part in crew welfare i.e.- organising activities & events and so forth.
I was wondering if there was anything you might be able to tell me about this role or duties that I might not know and your experiences with T & D Mangers during your time at sea. I’m assuming hours are the same 10+ / 7days although there is always extra work/ time required in these roles that people never see like what goes into preparation etc.
Is a T & D Manager considerd an officer? I read somewhere that in some lines they have a rank like 2.5 Stripes but it can vary.

Anyway additional information would be great.

Thanks so much 🙂

My interest in working on cruise ships over that past few months has greatly intensified. This article and interview has done so even more, answering some queries i had myself. Great work!

I applied for a position as a Sports Activity Staff member for RoyalCarribean, and have been given a Skype interview next week. I have never worked on a cruise ship before, nor have i ever been interviewed for one.

Do you have and advice/tips for the interview? Or more importantly, any advice on working on-board RoyalCarribean cruise ships? are there any other company’s you think i should look at?

Any help would be great so thank you in advance 🙂

Great website first of all, found it really useful and interesting. Basically I live in the UK and am in my last year at University studying English (didn’t know what I wanted to do in life so chose something broad) I still don’t know what I want to do really, job-wise but from going on a couple of cruises with my family, I’d love to travel the world and possibly work on-board at the end of my degree maybe for a year or two. I was thinking that maybe the youth club would be ideal but what are the possibilities and opportunities for a new graduate to find a job on a ship? I’m a student ambassador, meaning I work with teenagers and those who are younger on a weekly basis so I have some experience but I don’t know whether that’s enough? I’m guessing not. If you could get back to me with some more information I’d really appreciate it and your verdict on the matter.

Cheers,
Jon

Hey Amanda – Getting hired as a couple is possible but usually not on the bigger cruise lines. The tricky part is keeping you on the same ship and those cruise lines with 8 or 10 or 15 ships can’t guarantee that at all so they prefer not to hire couples. But the cruise lines that only have 2 – 5 ships are often quite open to hiring couples as they are able to ensure that you are on the same ship (for the most part). So if you can land jobs on a cruise line such as Seabourn or Crystal or Regent, you’d be all set.

And applying for two different positions is the way to go. Even the small cruise lines won’t hire couples applying for the same position or for positions in the same department. They prefer to have each person working in a separate department, so the two jobs you’re looking at would be perfect.

At the moment I don’t have any friends who are working in that position as many ships have actually stopped this activity altogether. But if you have any further questions, please post them here or send me an email at “earl @ wanderingearl.com” and I’d be more than happy to answer.

https://www.wanderingearl.com/travel-resources/work-on-cruise-ships/

That will give you everything you need, including step by step instructions on how to apply for most positions on every cruise line.

Hey Vero – Every cruise line is completely different but in my opinion, the larger cruise lines (those with the most ships) tend to offer the lowest pay and the least enjoyable crew atmosphere. I prefer the smaller companies such as Cunard, Crystal, Seabourn, etc. But in the end, no ship offers conditions that are terrible these days and you can have a wonderful time with any company!

As for the best position, I am a little biased but I always say that working in the Tour Office / Shore Excursion Office is the best 🙂