Originally published at: Youtuber provides an in-depth look at living on a cruise ship, and it looks absolutely miserable - Boing Boing
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and it looks absolutely miserable
I bet it also wouldn’t take long to get sick and tired of the live entertainment.
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I think that looks pretty awesome, TBH. Decent pay, all your living expenses covered, get to see all kinds of destinations. I’ve looked into it myself.
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Maybe the staff has more restrictions than the passengers?
That said, when I went on a cruise back in the 90s, I had the sinking feeling that all of the crew viewed all of the passengers like so many heads of cattle.
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I didn’t think it looked terrible.
I think the worst part would be the inability to go onto the main decks whenever you wanted. He didn’t say you couldn’t, but I’d presume that the cruise ship wouldn’t want 'the help’hanging out with the paying customers.
Another bummer would be the inability to enjoy certain hobbies like gardening or millwork. Looks like you get shore passes but when you tend to hit the same ports over and over that would get old.
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I THINK I remember hearing something about it depending on what you do on the ship. Waitstaff, housekeepers, and such aren’t supposed to hang out in passenger areas, but entertainers have a little more flexibility.
I do know that they’re not allowed to gamble in the casino, and when they visit port, they have to disembark like an hour after the passengers, and from a different ramp.
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Specifically, we called them “cones” as in an obstacle you needed to get around.
That is absolutely correct. Some staff have free run of the ship and are even encouraged to interact with the guests.
Now, the pay isn’t really that great, or at least the offer I got when someone tried to recruit me back the other year was not. It was only $200/ month more than my last salary when I left in 2006, and was a shared cabin, for a position that is higher than what I left. Different cruise line, mind you. But I only briefly considered it due to being unsure how busy we’d be on land when shows started back up. It would have been effectively a pay cut.
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I’m not terribly claustrophobic. At least I wasn’t until I pictured those staff cabins deep inside the ship.
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It’s funny–I stumbled across a random Instagram post the other day by a woman who is a dancer (and possibly handles other enterainment-type organizing) on a cruise ship, and she is SO. RELENTLESSLY. HAPPY!!!11!!! I think she might just be one of those people who is generally thrilled with life, but seeing her posts (@wanderlustalley) might make one think it’s the best job in the universe.
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If I was young and single I might do it just to bank some money. Having free room, meals and gym membership for a year would be a nice perk.
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I really thought this was going to be a post about people who retire and live full time on cruise ships, since it’s often cheaper than living on land. But yeah, being a full-time service worker in an environment where you can’t leave or go out sounds awful.
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Yeah, this is a thing. Old folks home is 6k a month, a month long cruise is 5k, so they save a bit and have full services as long as they are able-bodied enough for ship life.
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So the video ends with #2; is that because his 17 minutes ran out or am I missing something?
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And ex-coworker took a job as video producer on a cruise ship. She and her team had to record activities around the ship, go on land tours and record… then edit everything together for a ‘show’ that played on TV at night.
She said it was sure not as glamour as it seems - you are worked like a dog day after day, long days… the pay was better in that your food/lodging expenses were covered so you had more in your pocket at the end of the day.
Lots of drinking and sleeping around… closed confined spaces, personality conflicts, just all around unpleasant dynamics.
I expressed some interest early on in the job but then learning about all the ‘below decks’ stuff… no… not for me… As much as I love to travel and have a solid work-ethic, the ship lifestyle was a deal breaker.
And the workers from disadvantaged countries… well, same situation as Vietnamese in Dubai … low pay, who cares if you fall overboard… very distasteful.
Then going on a 7-day Caribbean cruise totally cured me of ANY desire for that life… Pretty sure the ship was called “Florida of the Seas”.
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Yikes. That sounds like its alternate name could be “Walmart of the Waves”.
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I wonder how it compares to berthings for working sailors.
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Nah, that’s just how Instagram is.
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Wait, there’s no vitamin C on any of these buffets?
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A supposedly fun thing that I’d never crew again.
… wut 
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