Working on Cruise Ships

Actually, these are my last hours of freedom. I’m waiting in the hotel’s lobby for the bus that will take us to the ship. The flight was long as usually. Even though to go from Bucharest to Barcelona is a 2 hours flight, the company always sends us through London or some airport in Germany, probably because it’s cheaper. At least I didn’t pay for the flight, which is always good. We all like free stuff, don’t we?

So, instead of 2 hours, I flew 7 and finally got to the airport. All Royal Caribbean employees are sent to Best Western Alfa Hotel in Barcelona, a 4 star hotel near the airport. They have a shuttle that comes to the airport every 30 minutes, but this time, I just didn’t want to wait any longer and took a taxi. Cost me less than 20 euros, which I gladly paid just to see myself at the hotel.
The first one to greet me was a good friend of mine from Trinidad. He’s a executive sous chef on Voyager. He posed for me when I did the post about uniforms, you can see him here. Next one I see is a waiter I use to work with. It really feels like home seeing all this familiar faces. When I stepped into the restaurant, my manager was having his dinner with other crewmembers. Us joining together was great because it gave us some time together to know each other outside work. We had some after dinner drinks, play some pool and we went to bed as all of us were tired after the long flight.
Transportation to the pier in the morning is also provided by the company, so basically, if you’re an officer, you don’t spend any money at all. If you are a waiter, stateroom attendant, bar staff or have any other position that is paid based on tips, you have to pay for the return ticket, which can be a lot if you have to fly across the ocean.
So that’s it! The buss is here and the crew started to load their luggage. My last hours of freedom are rapidly turning into my last minutes of freedom. Boy! Here we go another 6 months……

Labels: ship life, travel

Labels: friends, fun, home, party, pictures

Labels: animals, fun, home, pictures

Yesterday I went shopping, got what I wanted and came back home. Nothing wrong with that, is it? Well yeah, until my mother asked me how much I paid for the groceries and other stuff. When I told her she looked at me and said: “You know, people live with that kind of money for a month”.

Later on I start thinking about it and I realized that most of us that work on ships need a regular reality check. My mother was right. A lot of people live with 400 dollars a month in Romania and I just spent that kind of money in one day without even realizing how much they mean.

So what’s happening with us? Why we become so detached from the real world so much? After a lot of thinking I finally answered those questions. Ship life isn’t a real life. Not even close. We live 6 months in an enclosed environment where, even thought we have TVs in each cabin, we don’t have enough time to watch what’s going on in the world, and who’s dating who or any other gossip becomes news of the day.

If you go around and ask the crew members what date or day is, half of them will take seconds to give you an answer and most of the answers would be wrong. We are lost in time and space, sometimes we don’t even know where in the world we are, we just know it’s 6 am and we have to go back to work in our metal windowless offices, galley, pantries etc.

That’s the result of 6 months of constant work, 7 days a week, 10 or more hours a day, combined with a workplace that have no natural light, no means for us to realize if it’s light or day outside, if we are at sea or in a port. And then again is the time zone that messes out our internal clocks.

But yeah, we make good money and the best of all is that we can save up most of them. But there’s a catch there as well and most of us fail to realize it, just like me. We shuffle hundreds of dollars every day and slowly we forget that some people in our countries can live out of a 100 dollar bill for days, or even weeks. We are used to the prices in USA or Europe, and when we come back home it takes us a while to realize that the prices aren’t the same.

Did you know that you can have a chauffeur, maid, cook and cleaner for less than $150 a month? I didn’t…until one of my managers from Philippines told me he pays that much for it. Apparently, it is the same in India. Romania is a bit more expensive, but still, the medium salary per economy is around 400 dollars.

I find myself talking about thousands of dollars like it is nothing, then I see my friends’ faces change and I realize I do need a reality check. Or maybe I just need to get away from that kind of environment that ships represent. Something definitely needs to change. Maybe me...

Labels: friends, home, money, ship life

Labels: fun, interesting sites

Working on cruise ships is a wonderful job, especially if one is part of the middle management. You get to see places, meet people, work isn’t too hard, actually is enjoyable because I love what I do. But always the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.

I’ve seen many coming onboard with a big smile on their faces that says “God, I am so lucky to be here!” and after a contract (or less) going home and never come back. Why is that, you may wonder. Well, first of all, not everybody is made for this kind of life, always traveling from place to place, no day off for 6 months, working 10 hours or more a day. Second of all, they probably came to the same conclusion as I did, that money don’t bring happiness and peace of mind and being close to the ones you love and love you back is more important that counting money all alone in your cabin. Yes, money help you reach happiness, but without your family and close ones they mean nothing.

Main reason for resignations onboard the cruise ships isn’t money or work conditions as you might think, but loneliness and missing the loved ones. Being all alone is a big stress factor and no money in the world can fix that. Some are stronger and last for years working on the ships, some are weak and leave after a contract.

It is very frustrating wanting to be in somewhere and having to be somewhere else. Like me for example: in about 2 weeks I have to be back at work, but what I really want is to stay home. I am 28 years old and I want to start my own family, but this isn’t possible with the lifestyle I have, so soon I’ll be looking for a job in Romania and start building my dream home like I always wanted.

I already found the land and most likely I’ll be buying it this summer (photos to come :-)). And the house…..well….the house will follow, not sure how soon, but it will as I always get what I want sooner or later.

So the plan goes as follows:

1. finish this contract

2. apply for a job in Romania while onboard

3. hopefully getting a job when I come back in vacation

4. settle close to my loved ones

5. start building a social and love life

6. reorganizing my finances and investments, maybe sell some, so I can start building my house

7. start some kind of business (gosh, I have so many ideas)

If the step 3 doesn't work from the first time, I’ll keep repeating it until it will or until I’ll win the lottery :-).

So it looks like I am not part of the strong ones after all, even though I like to think so. To me, as the years passed by, money is not as important as it use to be, maybe because I got it already. Or maybe I am just in a bad mood because I just got together again with the man I always loved and now I have to leave him behind another 6 months. I hate it!

One thing I can tell you. If you plan working on a ship to save some money, don’t get involved with anyone back home, don’t give the opportunity to have your heart broken. Leave it for when you decide to stay home, it’ll be easier for you, trust me. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself at a crossroad where your mind will pull you to the left and your heart to the right. Which road you’re going to choose? I think I know which one to take now…

Labels: friends, home, money, ship life

It’s been almost 2 years since then, but I remember my frustration as clearly as if it would have happened yesterday and I promised to myself that one day I will write a blog and one of the posts will be about this so you guys, the ones who want and get a job an a cruise ship won’t have to go through all that. What is it about? The answer is….uniforms.

I remember stepping onboard Voyager of the Seas in 2006 with 40 or so pairs of stockings, thinking that the uniform will be a skirt and shirt, just like NCL (another cruise line I use to work for). My room mate started to laugh when she saw me and that made me feel uncomfortable. I looked everywhere online to find out something about life onboard Royal Caribbean ships, but could not find anything, so I assumed it’ll be the same like on NCL. Well, it wasn’t… Might not seem important now, but when you have to spend hundreds of dollars for things that you don’t need or you could have bought home, you’ll see my point.

Some companies, like NCL, will give you free uniforms and you only buy your stockings and shoes, others, like Royal Caribbean, will make you pay for the whole uniform except for the items that don’t touch the skin, such as bow ties, epaulets (for officers) etc. Royal Caribbean’s uniforms consist mostly of pants, vests and shirts, and you’ll have to buy them. The good news is that you don’t have to wear stockings which are a pain, especially when you have to wear them the entire day. Also, the company rule says that you have to wear company slip-free shoes for your safety, but many of the employees wear their own since they are more comfortable and sometimes more slip-free than the company ones. I advise you to follow the rules because in case of an accident (slip in the galley, etc), you won’t get paid medical insurance if you wore yours.

If you got a job with NCL you definitely need to bring lots of stockings with you if you’re a girl. The uniform consists of skirt and vest or shirt. You can buy a skirt back home, one that will fit you. As long as it’s knee length and black, nobody will say anything. Also, from what I know, you’ll have to buy your shoes as well so bring one pair from home.

You’ll also have to buy a safety belt, something like the body builders wear at the gym. It’s mandatory and you could lose your job if you don’t wear it. You can buy one back home, a quality one, or you can buy one onboard, your choice.

Grooming policy is the same for most of the cruise companies. For girls, the hair has to be pulled back, no other hair accessories except for a hair net (which is mandatory if you work with food), for boys, the hair needs to be short, no goatee or long beard, no fancy haircut. Needles to say that, if your hair is pink, your supervisor will send you to the hair dresser to change it. No earrings for boys, nickel size earrings for girls. Just the wedding ring is accepted, leave all the rest home or in your cabin when you go to work. If you’re working with food, your nails need to be short and no nail polish on them.

Annoying? Yes! Safe for the company and yourself? Definitely! I use to blame the company for stripping us of our personality, but after I got into middle management, I understood their reasons. They are only trying to protect us ( of harassment, injuries) and themselves (lawsuit from employees and guests).

Labels: ship rules