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.
99 Bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beeeeeeeer !
I think this song portraits exactly what’s going on Voyager at the present time. Just like the song, from X number of Romanians, each day is one less. And it’s not only at my nationality level; it’s bigger than that since a lot of Europeans are leaving the ship life. Why? Money mostly. Right now, for the amount of work they are doing and the hours they put in, $2000-$3000 a month is not worth anymore. What is $2000-$3000 in euros? Nothing really, it’s a medium salary that you can earn working 8 hours a day for 5 days a week. In my country, this kind of money still mean something, but slowly, slowly, the dollar value is going down and no Romanian will remain on the ships unless they are part of the upper management or they are really poor back home. So what happened? Well, a few months back, 3 of my good friends didn’t come back. They chose to work in Ireland as waiters and, from what I was told, they are doing just fine. Two months ago, a Romanian couple left the ship too and now works in Romania. Three weeks ago, another good friend went home, he presently looking for work somewhere in England. In a week, one more Romanian is going home too. He decided he had enough and the money is not enough for what he’s doing and he too will join the Romanians that are in Ireland. A Romanian bar supervisor is going home in three weeks and she’s not coming back either. This is happening too fast! So what’s wrong in this picture? I don’t know really, but it worries me since for each European who leaves, an Indian or a Philipino is coming. I guess this kind of money still mean something in those countries. Well, looks like it’s not enough for the ones from Europe and each day, more and more Asians and South Americans are coming to replace us. And you know what? More than it worries me, this is making me sad. Those are people I’ve worked with for more than a year, I got attached to them and now they are leaving me alone on this ship. I feel more and more alone and don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of other friends from other countries, but with the Romanians is different because we have a culture in common, we can advice each other about things, we can discuss common topics like politics, sports etc and we can continue our friendship at home when we are in vacation. This means a lot to most of us, it’s what makes this hard life easier and I hate it when I see it coming to an end.
You might wonder why I am still onboard. Well, my goals are career orientated and I found that onboard is easier to promote and get experience than it is on land simply because people come and go all the time. Also, I might just have a little under $2000, but I don’t pay rent or food and I get to see the world, so for me is still a good deal. Besides, the trainings they provide are free and valuable like the USPH Course in Miami or the Certified Hotel Supervisor course, which is recognized internationally.
But still, I can’t help but feeling sad every time I see my friends going home and this little bugging song comes to my mind every sign off day: 99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beeeeeeeeer! Just replace the bottles of beer with Romanians and you’ll get the picture.
The pictures! Yes, the pictures you see are the Romanians that left or will leave and not coming back. My friends…
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.
