Ever wondered how is it like to work on one of the biggest cruise ships in the world? This is my experience, my life and my view as an employee on one of the many cruise ships sailing around the world.
So who’s reporting to whom on a Royal Caribbean ship? There are two main departments here: Marine and Hotel. The Marine department includes, obviously, the Captain, Staff Captain, all the engineers and marine. The Hotel department is run by the Hotel Director who overseas the operation of 11 divisions, one of them being mine.
I am not going to go into details right now, I am just going to list them and in the future post I’ll describe them one by one. So…
1. Food & Beverage – Is probably the biggest division onboard, almost half of the crewmembers in the Hotel department being part of it. It’s subdivisions are Bar, Galley and Restaurants
2. Guest Relations – This division overseas the pursers and is in charge with everything that is related to guest interaction (as the name says): printer, international ambassador, front desk, concierge, group coordinator, guest administration etc.
3. Financial – Takes care of the financial part of the operation and is divided in two: crew and guest
4. Human Resources – The HR Manager is the liaison between the management and crew. This division is also in charge with the mandatory and not so mandatory trainings and certifications onboard and also with the crew office.
5. Marketing & Revenue – All revenue areas onboard the ship report to the Marketing & Revenue Manager. This includes the shops, explorations, spa, casino, photo subdivisions as well as the art auctioneer, tattoo artist, loyalty ambassador and port & shop guide.
6. Entertainment & Cruise Division – This division is in charge with entertaining guests. Overseas the Activities Manager, Adventure Ocean Manager in charge with the kids program, Stage & Production Manager, Musical Director, Head Broadcast Technician. All activities, shows and entertainment onboard is this division’s responsibility.
7. Facilities - This division is somehow special since the managers have the benefits and privileges of the Marine Department, but is part of the Hotel. They are in charge with the technical part of the Hotel operation such as cleaning the guest and crew areas, fixing the furniture and equipment in the crew and guest cabins, the toilet system, some of the equipment in the galleys, bars and restaurants etc. Cleaners, carpenters and electricians are part of this division.
8. Housekeeping – They are in charge with the cabins, crew and guest ones, as well as the laundry onboard.
9. Inventory – This division is in charge with loading and issuing the food, drinks, toiletries, office supplies etc. Is divided in two parts, one ran by the Provision Master who is in charge with the food and drinks and the other one ran by the Hotel Storekeeper in charge with the non-food items.
10. IT Division – All office equipment such as computers, printers, Xerox machines etc is their responsibility. They are also in charge with the crew and guest Internet and the office networks.
11. Medical Division – needles to explain their role. I think is pretty much self-explanatory.
I hope this helped you have an idea of the organizational structure of the ship’s management. In the future posts I’ll go into details with some of the main divisions.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to explain a little bit of the different division on the ship. It really help me. Why ? Because I've been hired by Celebrity 3 months before and I always searching for more information about life at sea. I was hired as an Online/Internet Technician for Celebrity. Now I'm waiting for an availability. I found your blog and I have to say that you gave some great informations. Thank you for taking the time to put some information about the uniform. I would never guess that I would have to buy the uniform.
Also I would like to know, if you could, tell me what are the hours of work for an Online Technician. It would be a good indication at what to expect.
The policy regarding the worked hours in a day states that a crew member is paid to work 10 hours a day. If you have overtime accumulated in a month you get paid extra. For an Assistant Systems Manager (IT position on Royal Caribbean ships), the overtime pay rate is around $20 / hour.
Officers with 2 1/5 and above stripes don't get paid for the overtime, but they get an yearly bonus.
Name: Ariana Home: About Me: Born in a small town, ended up working around the world. I love to socialize, see places, make new friends. Always there to help, even when nobody is asking for it :-)And now I am learning graphic design as well, check out my other blogs.
Hi,
Thanks a lot for taking the time to explain a little bit of the different division on the ship. It really help me. Why ? Because I've been hired by Celebrity 3 months before and I always searching for more information about life at sea.
I was hired as an Online/Internet Technician for Celebrity. Now I'm waiting for an availability. I found your blog and I have to say that you gave some great informations. Thank you for taking the time to put some information about the uniform. I would never guess that I would have to buy the uniform.
Also I would like to know, if you could, tell me what are the hours of work for an Online Technician. It would be a good indication at what to expect.
Thanks again for your time and blog.
beetho
r_beetho27@yahoo.com