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.
Why am I doing this to myself? Do I get pleasure from inflicting pain to myself? These two questions are haunting me for a while and I still can’t get a reasonable answer to them. But more important that what am I asking myself, is why…why am I asking myself this…
First contract I had a good reason. I was assistant waitress for 6 months and in the last day of my contract they offered me the Yeoman position. I had to extend my contract 4 months, but it was well worth the bother. It was what I wanted from the beginning, to get an officer position, and of course I would sacrifice myself and do a 10 months contract. I would have done more than 10 if it wasn’t for me getting a replacement. The scheduler in Miami didn’t send anybody and I was onboard for over 9 months when I decided to choose somebody and train to replace me while I was in vacation. After begging all division heads to give me one of their crew, a good friend of mine, the Inventory Manager, gave me one of his storekeepers to train. I completed his training in 3 weeks and finally left home.
I got a good reason for the second contract too. I was just starting to get used to the position when, after 3 months of being a Yeoman, the Hotel Director asked me if I want to fill in for his admin for a week, until the replacement will arrive. He had problems with his visa and he was delayed for a week. So here I was, doing two jobs, working 12-14 hours a day and trying to please everybody. I guess I was doing well since the replacement never came and I did both jobs for almost 2 months. I was so burned up I finally said “That’s it!!!” I had to recruit another crewmember to be a temporary Yeoman until I finish replacing the Hotel Administrative Assistant and have my vacation. Nobody helped me; I had to beg again the division heads to give me someone to train. This time was the Dining Room Manager, and here I was again, training this assistant waitress to replace me. This time I was lucky enough to go home after almost 7 months.
This time, my third contract, I have absolutely no reason for why I’m doing it all over again except that it looks good in my CV (sort of anyways). I came back from vacation in mid May just to find out that the position has changed from Yeoman, which was something like a secretary, to Food & Beverage Administrative Assistant, which is not just a secretary, but more like and F&B Assistant. What they did was to merge the Food & Beverage Manager Junior with the Yeoman position and create the F&B Administrative Assistant which has the job description of both positions. It would have been ok if the salary and the living conditions would have been on the same level. But guess what? I have to share the cabin, even though I am a two stripes officer, and the salary is under $2000.
Anyways, like most of the managers onboard say it, this is it and this is what we have to work with. So I stopped complaining and just did my job. And then was when I start asking my self those questions: “Why am I doing this to myself? Why do I work 10-11 hours a day? Why can’t I just take the afternoon off and go out just like the others do? What makes me so obsessed with this job?”
Then, when I was on my third month onboard, I got asked if I would like to replace the Hotel Administrative Assistant while she is on vacation. My heart was telling me to say no, to relax, that it’s not worth the bother, but my mind started to calculate the pro’s and con’s and , just like in a dream, I saw myself saying yes. I got out of the office wondering what the hell is wrong with me. It wasn’t something that I wanted or planned to do… Besides, I was suppose to go in vacation in November and sped the holidays with my friends and family. I have no idea why I say yes. So here I am now, doing again a 10 months contract, just because I am a helpless workaholic.
PS: The pictures you see on this post are from when my sister was onboard with her boyfriend. As you might notice, I was wearing the uniform all the time for the simple reason that I was always working. I didn’t even go out with them once…Something has to change! And fast!
I wouldn’t even consider the thought of it if I was home, but here, on the ship, after 2 months of being single, the idea is appealing to me. So what’s the story about? Oh well, lets start with the beginning.
Last contract I met this fun, nice looking guy who, to my surprise, was single. Lets call him JOE. Single here usually means that you don’t have to avoid each other, you can go out for a coffee or lunch and in the evening you can have a few drinks and go to sleep together, without being afraid you’re going to be seen by someone. What a wonderful idea! So we get together by the time I was suppose to go home. I left thinking everything is ok and we can pick it up again from where we left it when he and I come back from vacation. So 4 months pass, I come back, he comes back, first night we get together and everything was wonderful, until next day. I was expecting him to call me in the evening, but nothing happened. One more day passes and he says he’s going to sleep. He did, again without calling me. I began to get upset. “What the hell did I do this time?” I asked myself because he was acting like he was upset. So, after a week, I decide we should talk. My God, what a disappointment! Turns out that he only wants casual sex and he likes to sleep alone and his focus is on his work (like it isn’t mine too!). Basically, he wants sex, but doesn’t want to give nothing in return.
On the other hand, this handsome, intelligent man is hunting me since the day I came onboard. ALEX invited me for dinner, for drinks, every time he sees me in the hallways he stops and talks to me, but he has one big disadvantage: he’s married and has 3 kids. I know him since last contract too and he straightforward told me back then that he’s married but looking for someone to spend his free time while onboard. At that time I said no, this contract I don’t know anymore.
So, after the discussion I had with JOE, I got so upset I went straight to ALEX looking for someone to hug me I ended up sleeping with him. He took me in his arms and slept with me and in the morning I was smiling again. He called me again in the afternoon, then again in the evening inviting me over. He really makes me feel special and because he’s European like me, we have many things in common.
So now the big question that I am asking you, the reader, is… Would you prefer to date a single man who only wants sex and gives you no attention whatsoever or a married man who give his whole attention and free time to you, who takes time to go with you for dinner, to go out for a coffee or just sit and watch TV with a glass of wine? Just remember you're in the middle of the sea, not at home. Since I am not planning to take any of them home, right now I am really considering continuing to see ALEX. I deal with jerks all day at my workplace, I don’t need one more in my bed and definitely I wouldn’t say no to a big smile on my face every morning if you get my idea!
I’ve changed so much since I first stepped on this ship. Many of my beliefs shifted just like the one about dating married men. I work all day, I focus on my job trying to get higher in the hierarchy, I go to the gym and study for the exam I have in about two weeks and I really don’t have time to waste on idiots who think casual sex is the way to relax. I need some good loving at the end of the day and a pair of arms wrapped around me. That’s all I need right now!
First contract is always the best. The food is good, the places we go are exciting, the work is fun, the people we work with are new to us and we always have something to tell each other. That’s always the case when we do something new. But what about the second or the third contract? If you have assigned a permanent ship like I have, things become boring.
The food doesn’t seem so great anymore, not because of the quality, but just because it’s the same food every week. Many of us go out just to have something to eat, something that is not crew mess food. The work becomes boring just because we do the same things every day. Some of us are lucky enough to have a job where new things happen all the time and we have different challenges every day, but it’s not the case with all of us. We go to the same places every cruise, so you can imagine that going out to see things is not appealing anymore. I, personally, prefer to go to sleep or to the gym rather than to go out, for two reasons: 1. the dollar/euro conversion is a disaster; 2. I’ve already seen those places before and it’s not fun anymore. Yes, Europe is beautiful, no doubt about it, but how many times can one go visit the Pisa tower? Or Rome? My ship sails 7 months a year in Europe and this is the third season I spend here. This is not appealing to me anymore so I rather do something useful like the gym or writing on this blog (which I actually am doing right now, then I’ll go to sleep for a couple of hours).
What about the people? This is a good and a bad thing at the same time. Just like me, there are many that have this ship as a permanent assignment. It can be good if you make real friends, which in my opinion, is not possible on ships, but others tend to think otherwise, or if you have a permanent boyfriend/girlfriend. But what if you break up with your partner? What if it all goes wrong between you two? You are cursed to see him or her every day, a daily reminder of your failure. Believe me, it is painful. You start avoiding certain places, go straight to your cabin, and just because you see that person almost daily, it is very hard to move on. Another bad thing that happens is to run out of discussion topics. You meet up with your friends and you basically have nothing to talk about but your work. Working in such a closed environment limits your experiences and after you go through all the stories from your life back home, there is nothing left to talk about except your work and who pissed you off or who’s dating who.
And this brings me to the main story I wanted to tell you. Royal Caribbean has quite a few traveling positions. Each department has its own auditor, a guy who visits the ship for a week or two, reviews the operations and prepares a report with the findings. Some come onboard to train us, some come to be trained. Because we are in Europe, most of them use their jobs to come visit it. I think this is one of the reasons why this ship had so many auditors onboard. The Galley Department alone had 7 traveling guys (as we call them) onboard in the last 2 months.
But I must admit, to me they are always welcome because they are like a fresh breath of air. New stories, new jokes, new faces, I love it and always take advantage of it. All of the sudden, going out for lunch or visit places when in the company of these people, sounds like fun. And going for a beer and a smoke in the back deck isn’t just a necessity anymore, it’s something that you are actually looking forward to at the end of the day, because they have all these stories and experiences that are new to you, therefore interesting.
Of course, not all the traveling guys are fun. We had our share of obnoxious, irritating people coming onboard, which picked on things and tried to justify their work hours with nasty, unfair reviews. But also we had pleasant, fun people coming onboard as well. Like the last guy who is still here onboard. He’s a culinary trainer from New Zealand who came here to train all the cooks and part of the galley management. He’s always in a good mood, smiling and always has something funny to say. Having lunch together or going for a smoke is always a pleasure for me and he’s one of the fewest I am actually going to miss when he goes away. He actually made me decide to go with him and other friends to visit Rome, something I wouldn’t do if he wasn’t here because the tour takes about 10 hours, but I know it’s going to be fun, just because of him.
He’s my fresh breath of air and I will take advantage of it as much as possible. Saturday he’ll go to a different ship and again things will become dull until the next one will join the ship. But definitely I’ll be missing Wim and I will look forward to his return in December.
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…
Last Saturday my cousin and I celebrated my birthday. I also celebrated my last days home since this Friday I will go back to work. It's really hard to leave my friends and family behind, but for now I have to do it.
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...
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…
Nobody wants to be alone. That’s a universal truth that applies to all of us no matter which country you come from, what age or sex you have or what job you do. You might think you want to be alone when you get fed up with your friends or girlfriend/boyfriend, but that’s only temporary and you find yourself alone in an empty room wishing somebody will be there to talk to you.
So why in the world I chose to go alone in this trip to Thailand, you may ask. Oh well, I didn’t choose to go by myself; it’s the circumstances that brought me here alone. It’s always been a dream of mine to visit Asia and since my friends were either working, not interested in traveling or didn’t have enough money for this trip, I decided to go as a solo traveler.
It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but I am kind of proud of myself for following my dream and not let my fear of being alone get in the way of it. Because, let me tell you, worse that being alone is postponing your dreams because of this fear.
I walked out of BangkokInternationalAirport thinking “Oh my God, I am all alone here!!” and now, after more than a week, I feel like I can go anywhere, do anything I set my mind to. It feels great when you achieve things you thought you couldn’t do. But that’s the thing, you might think you can or can not do something, but unless you try it, you have no way of knowing it for sure. You can do anything you want to as long as you follow 3 little guidelines:
1. it makes you happy
2. it doesn’t hurt the ones around you
3. you have a good plan for it
If you follow these guidelines you set yourself for success in anything you do. Take a moment, close your eyes and think. Is it what you really want? If yes, take another moment and think if anyone will get hurt because of your actions. No? Then go ahead and start planning. Think of any possibility and create a plan for it. Sounds like it’s a lot of work, but really it isn’t, and after a while, it’ll become an habit.
Doing things by yourself gives you confidence and it has a snowball effect. Meaning, you do more things by yourself, you get more confidence to do more things, things you might have thought you could never do and that increases your self esteem even more. The first step is the hardest, and then it gets easier and easier.
And you know what? You get to meet a lot of people along the way. I did and that’s why I am not sorry at all I took up on this adventure on my own. I am actually considering doing this again, and this time I’ll go alone, not because I have to, but because I want to. And anyway, you are alone, but not really… there’s always someone there who will talk to you if you give them the chance.
They say that all the money in the world won’t make you happy. Well, I’m afraid is true. What I discovered, the hard way I might say, is that only good friends who are always there for you can do that. What’s the point of having loads of money if you have no one to spend it with?
I find myself in this huge airport in Istambul, in my way to my dream vacation in Thailand wishing I had a friend to talk to and have the coffee I am drinking right now with him (most of my friends are men by the way). Instead, I am all alone writing this, not because I have to, but because I don’t want to seat at this small table doing nothing; it’s boring…
So, I am asking you: Are you sure you what this job? Are you sure you want to live out of a suitcase traveling between the ship and home over and over? Yes, you can earn good money, but by the time you reach home after 6 months, most of your friends are too busy with their lives, have not enough money to keep up with you or, worse, not there at all for you because they made other friends who are there for them and you’re nothing but an acquaintance to them right now.
In Romania, after a certain age, if you don’t have a boyfriend there’s no way you can hang out with your old friends. Most of them have boyfriends or girlfriends and they all go everywhere in pairs making you feel the fifth wheel, out of place. Nobody calls you unless there’s a party and they need single girls/boys for their single friends. Of course, there’s always the good friend from childhood, but they are so rare.
I am fortunate in a way because I still have my old friends calling me but this takes time and work from my part. How? Simple. Calling them, emailing them regularly, keeping them in mind when I go shopping for gifts and dedicating time to each of them when I am home even though I am busy with my own stuff. And I’m always happy when I get the same in return and never get upset when they tell me they have other things to do. It’s a give and receive situation, but with the lifestyle I have it’s a bit harder that it is to a person who works and lives in the same place.
So, again I am asking you: Are you really sure you want this kind of life? If yes, be prepare to lose some friends and do an extra effort keeping the ones you have left. Be prepared to be alone a lot of your time and do the things you want to and dreamed of alone sometimes. One thing I can tell you…don’t wait for anybody to do the things you always wanted to do. If you want to visit a place and your friends can’t, just go alone. You’ll make new friends along the way. If you want to do something, anything, and you’re friends can’t go along with you, just do it, you’ll feel sorry if you choose not to do it. Trust me.
The good side of all this is that you’ll make other good friends, worldwide, that will make up for the lost ones. Maybe better ones…
So you get onboard after months of waiting, you get used to the work, you even make some friends along the way. Someone who is sharing the same points of view like you, someone who likes the same type of fun and with whom you go out every time you havea few hours to spare. Everything is so wonderful and you find yourself thinking “Hmm, this isn’t as bad as I thought it would be… I am happy!”.
But one day, while having your regular drink in the crew bar with your friend, he or she gives you the news: “You know what? I had enough of this! I decided I am going to quit!”. What can you say to this? I’m sorry?? Sorry for who? You or your friend? In one split of a second you see all your plans of going out, of visiting places, of having fun going to the toilet and you finally realize this is not a stable work environment as you thought it is.
On ships, people come and go, sometimes without you noticing it. One day you might go to work and realize that the person you worked with for the past weeks isn’t there anymore and someone else took his or her place. Later on in the day, after asking around, you find out that your old co-worker resigned, or even worse, got fired.
It’s very fortunate when your friend tells you he or she is going to resign. At least you have the time to say good bye, exchange email addresses and hug your friend. It could be worse, you can find out he or she got fired and usually happens after the person is gone. Or, if you work like me in the office, you will find out a week ahead, but there’s nothing you can do and you can not say anything about it because you might get fired too.
During my almost 2 years with Royal Caribbean I saw many of my friends getting fired for different reasons, or resigning. I can almost tell everytime who’s going to stick around and who’s not, I can see who’s made for this life and who needs freedom, who’s happy and who isn’t.
My friend, Jessica, was clearly unhappy, she wanted a totally different job that she had and I tried, I really tried to make her see the good parts of working onboard the ship. We spent a lot of time together, going out, going to shows, hanging out in the crew bar. She was my first good female friend onboard. But it’s all over now… A while ago I received an email from her telling me she resigned and she will be going home in April. It really hurts, especially because I am in vacation and I can not say good bye to her properly. Also, bothers me that I have to start all over again and make a new friend. Friends are not so easy to make, as you probably know, especially on a cruise ship where everybody is busy with their own stuff.
So what’s to learn out of this? Hmm, nothing really, just be aware that life onboard a cruise ship is an unstable one, that people come and go and you might find yourself changing friends as often as you change your socks…sort of say… But now and then, you can make a very good friend that you’ll keep in touch with long after he or she left the ship. Is what I hope Jessica will do and definitely I’ll keep in touch with her, who knows, maybe we’ll be seeing each other really soon.
Jessica, if you read this, I want you to know I will miss you and you’re always welcome to cruise on Voyager and I hope you will.
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.
