How to get a cruise ship job - complete guide to cruise line employment in the USA and Canada

Cruise jobs in the USA
Cruise jobs in Canada

Cruise Ship Employment

Working on a cruise ship is an unforgetable experience. However, before you apply for a cruise ship job, you need to know that not only getting a cruise line job, but also working on a cruise ship is very difficult.

Cons: Hard to Get, Tough

Employees on cruise ships work long hours - 12 or even more hours a day, 7 days of the week. There are no days off, no holidays, no sick leaves, and very little free time.

Accommodation is very modest - you would share a small cabin with your fellow workers. You might become good friends, or you might dislike each other after some time spent together in a limited space. We all have different habits and some habits of your roomates might be very annoying. In any case there is no way of escaping, you must stay with them, and have a rest before next long and hard day.

Also, working on a cruise ship means that you will sooner or later become see sick. Even then you must smile and keep working, no excuse is accepted.

Pros: Adventurous, Rewarding, Fun

However, working on a cruise ship has many advantages as well. You travel around the world, have some fun, and get paid for it. In some occasions you might even have a chance to leave the ship during a short break in a port and see the exotic countries.

You meet many people and make new friendships, some of them life lasting. You can earn quite a lot of money and save most of it, because you do not have much opportunities and time to spend it on a ship.

Moreover, you don't pay any bills while working on a cruise ship. Good pay rates and long working hours is one of the reasons why many people are looking for cruise ship employment.

Job Types

There are several kinds of positions available on board of cruise ships. Most jobs are from service and hospitality area, entertainment, retail, personal and health care, and other.

Find out more about different types of positions on cruise ships on this Cruise Ship Employment website.

Money

As far as money is concerned, cruise ship jobs can be devided into two groups: tipping and non-tipping positions.

The first group of employees with tipping cruise ship jobs has a fixed minimum salary, but get extra money from customers' tips. The better service they provide, the more money they get.

The second group of cruise ship jobs includes those who serve the other employees on the cruise ship, and those who never meet the passengers directly (e.g. deck officers, engineers, electricians, etc).

You can get more details about different cruise ship jobs and wages of different positions on cruise ships on our partner web site.

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