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Working on Cruise Ships

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.

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Sunday, June 22, 2008
So who?s in charge of whom here?


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.



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posted by Ariana @ 5:21 PM   2 comments

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Sunday, June 15, 2008
The things we do for money?

So what do you do when your manager doesn’t trust you, doesn’t back you up, nor respect you? If I were on land, I would have resigned immediately, but since I work on a cruise ship, I am just going to wait until his contract is done and hope he won’t come back on this ship.

I remember my first day onboard being so happy to be back and now, after a month, I am frustrated, upset and uncomfortable with the place I live and work and my manager, the one who suppose to protect me and help me, doesn’t care at all, which makes it even worse. I always believed in teamwork and reciprocal help, but looks like my new Italian manager likes to play alone. Why? I wonder….

You need examples? Here are some:
1. I asked him to order some water for the office as we work there all day and we need it, he replied that the food cost is too high and we cannot afford it. A couple of days later, I walk into his office only to find under his desk 2 cases of water and sodas. “I’ll be damn! What happened to the food cost????(By the way, it’s not the food cost that’s affected, but the bar cost…. but whatever…)”. Apparently, the cost matters only when it doesn’t involve him….

2. My office is next to him together with the bar offices and some of the restaurant. His is at the entrance, separate from us. Being unlocked during the night because the bar staff comes in to fill in their time cards, things disappear from the office all the time. Last time even my manager’s external hard drive went missing. I tried talking to him regarding this, in an attempt to have our office locked after hours and relocating the bar staff time cards somewhere else. All I got back were excuses and a big no, but of course, he had his office locked and instructed me not to have it open not even during the day, because things disappear. Oh really???!!!! How about my office??? Things don’t disappear from there as well? Of course they do, but the difference is that MY staff disappears from there and not HIS, so why should he care…

3. Since last contract, my job description changed dramatically and I got new extra things to do now. But still, he wants me to do things that now are taken off the job description and given to other positions. When I went to him to let him know that I am not supposed to do those things anymore and that I don’t have enough time to do everything, he just tactfully checked my time card and said: “I notice that you start 8:30 in the morning and you have a break in the afternoon. You can do the extra things during that period.” And now, from 9 hours a day, I jumped to 12, which might not seam much to you, but here’s my schedule and judge for yourself: 8-13, 16-23. Don’t I have a right to go outside just like everyone else? When am I supposed to take care of my personal stuff like going to the gym, doing laundry, relax a little bit? Am I am animal, or what?

4. Since I am an officer, I am supposed to share the cabin with another officer. Common sense, don’t you think? Well, not to him…. why? Because the policy doesn’t specifically say so…. Actually, since my position changed and now I am a 2 stripe officer, I shouldn’t share at all, but the ones in Miami office are a bit slow in changing the online policy and so far they only changed the salary and the stripes. Soon they will change the cabin allocation too, but it takes some time. First day onboard they put me with a Jamaican cook in a crew cabin (very small, under the water level). I went to him to tell him, but he didn’t want to listen and he sent me to the Executive Chef (my position and my manager’s belong to the galley department). Weird, since he’s the Executive Chef’s manager as well. Finally, after a week of complaining and even going to the Human Relations Manager, the crew office gave me an officer cabin, but I had to take the cook with me. This woman has a totally different schedule, sleeps all the time and because she works in the galley, my cabin stinks, but guess what? She is the one complaining about me that I watch TV when she’s sleeping and many other things not worth talking about. I spoke to him, since there are other free cabins, but just because they are single cabins and I have to share, he prefers to keep them empty and me with that cook. Why would he care? He has his comfortable cabin, that’s all that matters to him apparently. You may say rules are rules, but how come that rules apply when is convenient to him and don’t when is not? We are all human, and since those cabins are empty, where’s the harm?

So here I am, stuck in this awful situation, just because I really need the money to start building my house. But I wonder…. is it really worth the humiliation, disrespect and stress? I am beginning to think that it’s not and now I am really considering leaving this company and find another job. I wouldn’t be the only one since the turnover on this ship is pretty high.

Royal Caribbean is a really cool place to work, but people like my manager, and believe me, he’s not the only one to act this way, spoil all the fun. I use to go to work with pleasure, but now all I can think of is finishing my work and go. Not to my cabin though, since the stinky woman is for sure sleeping already, but to my friend’s cabin where I can relax. Finally, when I am totally exhausted, I crawl into my cabin and crush, happy that one more day went by and the day my manager is going home is closer….





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posted by Ariana @ 5:24 PM   6 comments
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About Me
Name: Ariana
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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.
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