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.
Out of the three divisions that the Food & Beverage Department holds, the Restaurant Division is the most popular when it comes to money. Its structure has changed recently, but it’s fairly simple and everyone knows who to report to. Described in a simple way, the structure goes like this:
1. Restaurant Operations Manager
He or she is a three stripe officer and is in charge with the entire restaurant operation. The Windjammer Manager, Portofino Manager and Assistant Dining Room Manager report directly to him or her and, of course, the position is got its own admin now.
The contract length is 4 months with 2 months off and, aside the thousands of dollars salary, he or she is got monthly bonuses from china and linen savings, wine gratuity and the big, fat bonus at the end of the fiscal year.
2. Windjammer Manager
The Windjammer Manager is a two and a half stripes officer and is in charge with Windjammer Buffet, Johnny Rockets (fast food outlet) and Café Promenade (coffee shop with snacks). Directly to him reports the following positions: Johnny Rockets Supervisor and Windjammer Supervisor.
Just like the Restaurant Operations Manager, the contract length is also 4 months on with 2 months off, and a big, fat bonus included.
3. Portofino Manager
Portofino Manager is in charge with the Italian specialty restaurant. Is a two stripes officer with a 6 months contract and sharing cabin. From 2 stripes below, no officer is entitled to the yearly bonus, but they got part of the cover charge. The Portofino waiters report directly to him.
4. Assistant Dining Room Manager
This position was introduced recently. It’s a 2 stripe position with a contract length of 6 months and sharing cabin. Their salary is based on tips, but don’t be fooled by it, they make a lot of money. There are 3 Assistant Dining Room Managers, each in charge with one Dining Room deck (our Dining Room has 3 decks/levels). They are responsible with the booking on their respective decks and the Headwaiters working in that deck report directly to them.
5. Restaurant Operation Admin
The admin reports directly to the Restaurant Operations Manager and basically does everything. He has 2 office boys/girls helping in the morning with paperwork. Is a one stripe officer with 6 months contract and sharing cabin.
6. Head Waiter
These guys are making more money than a 3 stripe officer because their salary is based on tips. They are one stripe officers, with 6 months contract length and a sharing cabin. Each of them has a station assigned (there are 3 stations on each Dining Room deck) and the waiters and assistant waiters working there report to him/her.
7. Johnny Rockets Supervisor
He or she is in charge with Café Promenade and Johnny Rockets and reports to the Windjammer Manager. This is a one stripe officer with a 6 months contract and sharing cabin. They get a fix salary with no gratuities. The Café Attendants and Johnny Rockets Attendants report to him/her.
8. Windjammer Supervisor
There are 2 Windjammer Supervisors onboard, both reporting to the Windjammer Manager. They are in charge with supervising the Windjammer operation and the Assistant Waiters working there are reporting to them. It’s a one stripe position, with fix salary, 6 months contract and sharing cabin.
9. Room Service Supervisor
The Room Service Supervisor reports directly to the Restaurant Operations Manager and is in charge with Room Service operation and Attendants working there. Is a one stripe position, with 6 months contract, fix salary and sharing cabin.
10. Room Service Operator
The position is pretty much self-explanatory. They are part of the crew with a 6 months contract, fix salary and sharing cabin. The Room Service Operator reports to Room Service Supervisor.
11. Mess Supervisor
The Mess Supervisor is in charge with both officer and crew messes and directly to him/her are reporting the Mess Attendants. Mess Supervisor is a one stripe position with a 6 months contract, fix salary and sharing cabin. He or she reports to Restaurant Operations Manager.
12. Mess Attendant 13. Dining Room Cleaner 14. Café Attendant 15. Johnny Rockets Attendant 16. Room Service Attendant
The above 5 positions are similar; the only difference is the place they work in. Except for the Johnny Rockets who get gratuities from the cover charges in the fast food outlet they work in, the rest have a fix salary and they also get gratuities from the beverages they sell (not too much though). They all have an eight months contract and sharing cabin.
17. Assistant Waiter
This is a much better position that the ones above because they have a salary based on tips. An average assistant waiter salary can be around $2000 or more a month. Also, the contract length is 6 months and they only work in the Dining Room or Windjammer during the dinner time and in Windjammer (during the day time).
During the diner time, they work 4 weeks in the Dining Room and one week in Windjammer. They get gratuities in the Dining Room, but in Windjammer they get only the gratuities from the beverages they sell. Might not make sense, but this is how the system is set up.
18. Waiter
Waiter position is a good position as well due to the amount of money they make and the 6 months contract length. An average waiter makes around $3000 and, during the diner time, works only in Dining Room (no free week in Windjammer).
As a first-timer, this structure might look confusing. Indeed there are a lot of positions in the Restaurant Division, but this is what makes it easier because everyone knows exactly what they are suppose to do.
When I decided I want to go back to working on cruise ships, first thing I had to decide is how to do that. I wanted an officer position and I was qualified for it, but unfortunately, most of the agencies are recruiting for entry level positions such as cooks, assistant waiters or bar servers. Few people are lucky enough to get an officer position from the first contract and that’s happening mostly because they come from a fist world country such as US, UK etc. or because they have connections either on the ship or at the agency. If you’re just a normal person, from a normal country, like I was, that’s very hard, and if you get it, you have to wait many months.
So I took the easy way in and I applied for a restaurant entry-level position, knowing that once I get there I will make my way up to a higher position. Well, lucky me, it took me one contract to accomplish that and only because the company requires that anyone who wants to apply for a different job within the company has to finish at least one contract in the current position. I did my 6 months and one day before going home in vacation the Food & Beverage Manager called me in the HR’s Office and gave me the good news. I got the job I applied for a couple of weeks before! Next day I unpacked my luggage, called my family and let them know I am not going home anymore and start working as a Yeoman.
Yeoman - strange name for an F&B Manager Assistant, don’t you think? To me it made no sense until one friend explained to me that long time ago, in England, they called yeoman the one who was in charge with the finances of the ships. That was me alright!
So, if it worked for me, it must work for you too! The cruise industry will always be in need of educated people that know more than just entry level English. Guys, you should be here to believe it! We get new hires that have no clue how to carry a basic conversation in English, not to say about writing it! We have old timers who made their way up because they have 5, 7 or even 10 years on ships, but when it comes to using computers or write a report, they are useless.
If you know how to use a computer for more than just playing games or sending emails, if you have a medium to high knowledge of spoken and written English and a hotel management or accounting degree, then you are most likely to get a higher than the entry level position. Three things you need to do to accomplish that:
1. Get on the ship
It doesn’t matter how you get there as long as you do. Food & Beverage Division is the easiest way to get onboard a cruise ship and once you’re there you can pursuit your goals.
You have to do a full contract and have a clean record before you can apply for a higher position. Many people here onboard started as a bar server or assistant waiter, just like me, and moved to Guest Relations Department, Crew Office or being the Food & Beverage Director’s Assistant.
In fact, I am currently looking for a reliever for when I am going in vacation and so far I could not find anyone qualified for this job. Every week I am looking at the list with sign ons hoping that “the one” will sign on. No luck so far!
2. Ask for what you want and prove that you can do it
Sometimes I go on the Back Deck for a smoke and sit with my old colleagues from the restaurant. Once, there was this assistant waiter, on his 4th contract, complaining that there are no promotion chances onboard for him. I asked him a simple question: “ Did you ever went to the Maitre D` and told him you want to be a waiter?” He looked at me with a dumb expression on his face and said nothing. His lack of words said everything!
Hey guys! Wake up! A ship has in average over 1000 crew, half of it being in the Food & Beverage Division. How do you think you’re boss will notice you if you’re not doing anything about it? Just go to your supervisor, or anyone you know in the office, and ask them what can you do or what you need to know to get the promotion/position. Is that easy!
Don’t assume that everyone knows what you know. Tell them your qualification, your education, your experience and what you want. Might not work with the first supervisor, but eventually you’ll find someone willing to help you.
3. Have patience and don’t loose your hope
The most important thing is not to lose faith in yourself. Hang in there, what ever is meant for you will come sooner or later. Sometimes there are no available positions and even though your manager wants to help you, there is nothing he or she can do for the moment.
Just make sure they have your CV and when a position will be made available, they will offer it to you if you’re qualified for it.
While Housekeeping Department’s responsibility to clean is in the inside of the cabins, cleaning the outside areas is Facilities Department’s job. That includes all the public areas the toilets, corridors, hallways, staircases, pools and jacuzzis. They are also in charge with the maintenance, from fixing a non-flushing toilet to upholstering furniture and refurbishing entire areas, guest and crew ones.
You won’t see many Europeans working in the Facilities Department unless they are part of the management because this department has the lowest salary level onboard. But that being said, the pay is still ok for some of the countries considering there’s no rent or food to pay.
So…who’s part of the Facilities Department? Let’s take the most important positions one by one.
1. Facilities Manager
The Facility Manager has the best contract deal out of the entire Hotel Department. He has 10 weeks on with 10 weeks off contract, fully paid vacation. Basically, while he or she is home, enjoying the vacation still gets paid full salary. The bad part is that the position doesn’t get a yearly bonus like the others, but I guess it compensates with the contract length and the salary, which is many thousands of dollars.
2. Cleaner
The cleaner maintains public and crew areas in a clean condition, including the public toilets. Also, he or she transports guests’ luggage to assigned areas during embarkation and disembarkation, and assists with specific loading. They have an 8 months contract and the salary is below $600 a month. Also, they need to pay for their uniforms, which I don’t consider being fair since they have such a low salary.
Many of them are taking up on side jobs helping out the Housekeepers during the embarkation day cleaning cabins, and many times, because they have to work at least 10 hours a day at their regular jobs, they fell asleep wherever they sit. I’ve seen cleaners sleeping in the staircase, in the changing room, in the crew bar, everywhere really, as long as the place is quiet and away from the supervisor’s eyes.
A Cleaner can be promoted to Head Cleaner, Assistant Cleaning Specialist and then to Cleaning Specialist.
3. Pool Attendant
The Pool Attendant position is similar to the Cleaner one. He or she maintains the pool area clean, provides towels to the guests, cleans the pools and, in embarkation day, they help with the luggage. They have an 8 months contract and the salary is the same as the Cleaner’s. A Pool Attendant’s next promotion is Head Pool Attendant.
4. Carpenter
Needless to explain what a carpenter does, I think it’s pretty much obvious. What I am going to tell you is how useful is to be friends with the Carpenter Supervisor.
As an officer, each of us has the same cabin assignment every contract and that cabin becomes your home far away from home. And like any other home, it needs to be a little bit personalized so we can feel comfortable in it.
In time, I personalized my cabin as well. The carpenters installed a nice big sofa in it which was left from refurbishing the guest’s cabins, they put a notice board on my wall so I can write my reminders, installed the cabin phone on the wall so I’ll have more room on my desk, installed a curtain that blocks the view when I keep my cabin door open to smoke and the list can go on and on.
A carpenter can be really useful and, if you tip him well, he will turn your cabin into a really cozy place where you can truly relax. They too take up on side jobs, aside from doing carpentry jobs for crew, because the salary isn’t that big. From what I’ve heard, they make around $1000 a month. Their contract is 8 months and, except the Carpenter Supervisor who has a single cabin, the rest are sharing.
5. Repairman
The Repairman, together with the Repair Supervisor, is responsible for the maintenance and repair of food preparation, galley equipment and machinery, plumbing and related equipment within the Hotel Department.
Both of the positions are on an 8 months contract, the only differences between the two being the salaries and the cabin assignments (the supervisor has a single cabin).
6. Dispatcher
The Dispatcher’s job is to answer and process the calls for maintenance from both crew and guests, and also acts as an admin for the Facilities Manager. The contract length is 6 months and he or she has to share the cabin. The pay is around $1600 a month.
7. Horticulturist
This position is in charge with all the plants onboard and also with the pest control. The contract length is 8 months and shares the cabin.
Whoever is interested in this department should know that they need to work hard and be patient, but the promotion opportunities are many and worthwhile. You don’t need to have a high education to be here, all you need, in my opinion, is to be able to deal with people and to learn fast since the procedures are changing constantly. All I can wish you is good luck!
Guest Services Department - Strong nerves and patience required!
For nothing in the world I would do this job. I don’t have the patience nor the nerves to put up with all the guest complains we receive daily, many of them that make no sense. The funniest complaint from a passenger I’ve heard of so far is regarding the alcohol policy we have onboard. This policy states that no alcohol should be brought from outside, and if the guest insists in bringing it, the security will take it and keep it safe until the guest disembarks. Well, from what I was told, this gentleman comes cruising and brings a bottle of Jack Daniels with him. Of course, the security officer takes it away and puts it safe until the end of the cruise. Next thing our gentleman does is to go straight to the Guest Services front desk and complains. What’s funny about this is what reason he came up to get his bottle of alcohol back. Apparently, his doctor recommended him to drink daily 1.5 oz of Jack Daniels and he needs his bottle otherwise he will get sick. When told he can buy onboard he said he has no money and of course he had no paper from his doctor. Needles to say that he didn’t get his bottle back until the end of the cruise. The human mind can be so creative sometimes, isn’t it?
Anyways, lets go back to our thing. The Guest Services Department takes care of all the guests’ needs. It doesn’t include, as you can see in the picture above, just the Guest Services Officers (regular hotel receptionists), but also the Printer, the Concierge, the Group Coordinator, the International Ambassador and the Guest Administration Officer.
I am going to briefly describe each position as some of you are not familiar with the terms, so…
1. Concierge
The Concierge provides personalized service for our “special” guests. A “special” guest is one who has a few cruises with Royal Caribbean. They can be part of the Crown & Anchor Society, or rated as a Platinum or Diamond guest, depending on how many cruises that guest took with our company. They get free drinks, tickets to the show and many more and it’s the Concierge’s job to make that happen for them. The Concierge is a one stripe officer, meaning that he has to share the cabin, but he makes good money since he gets tipped every end of the cruise.
2. Printer Well, it’s pretty much self-explanatory. The Printer takes care of all the printed material onboard. He’s a one stripe officer and he makes a fix salary which I am pretty sure is under $2000.
3. Group Coordinator
The Group Coordinator takes care of the organized groups onboard as well as the travel agents that come to visit the ship for the day. The salary is made of a fix salary plus gratuities. This position is a 2 stripe one, single cabin.
4. International Ambassador
Manages the FluentSeas program onboard the vessel to provide language assistance and translation to non-English speaking guests in order for them to understand and enjoy all aspects of the cruise experience.
5. Guest Administration Officer
This position is in charge with the legal part of the cruise. That includes the clearance of the ship in ports, the immigration paperwork of the guests etc. It’s a one stripe position, sharing the cabin, and makes probably under $2000 a month.
6. Guest Services Officer
This is a one stripe position and makes around $1600 a month. They are working on the front desk, handling the guests’ complaints.
All these positions are under the supervision of the Guest Services Manager, which is a 3 stripe position and makes thousands a month.
If you ask me, to get into this department, the easiest way is to apply for the Guest Services Officer. What is most required here is to have a nice personality and look and know at least 2 languages. Once you’re in, you can work your way up, just like in any other department, just like I did.
There always was a quiet competition between the Housekeeping and Food & Beverage Departments. Every week, when the ratings come in, first thing we do is to compare ours against them and damn it, most of the times they are better! We know they are doing the same because we meet the supervisors on the I95 and they smile and ask us if we saw already the ratings. We pleasantly smile back and say yes, congratulate them and move on, hoping next week we will be the one with the big green on the face. The Housekeeping Department includes the stateroom attendants and supervisors and the Laundry Division. I am not going to talk about the laundry guys because they are employed as contractors, all I can tell you about them is that they all come from Indonesia and, in my opinion, they do a poor job (unfortunately). They are not really Royal Caribbean employees, they just provide us with the service. So lets get back to more important things… The Housekeeping Department is one of the most stable one, with a low turnover rate and happy crew. The reasons are many, but the most important ones are:
1. Good money The Stateroom Attendant is a tip based position meaning that their salary depends entirely on how much the guest tip them at the end of the cruise. The base salary is $50, but don’t get fooled by it, in average, they make $2500-$3000 a month and sometimes even more. On the other hand, the middle management, the Housekeeping Supervisors, make only around $1800 a month but they have extra perks to keep them happy such as single cabins, access to guest areas etc. The Chief Housekeeper, 1st and 2nd Housekeepers make thousands a month.
2. Not such a hard job The only really hard day for the Stateroom Attendants is the embarkation day when they need to have the rooms ready by noon for the new guests, they need to get the luggage in the staterooms by evening and meet all their guests. They usually employ a helper that takes off some of their work in the morning. Other than that, on a regular day, they have to do the staterooms in the morning and in the evening, which is pretty easy since during the day the guests are off the ship and in the evening they are in the restaurant having their dinner.
3. Structure In the Housekeeping Department everyone knows exactly what to do. The organizational chart is pretty much simple and everyone knows who to report to. You can see it in the first picture on this post. Since the first day you embark until the last one, you are given a section of staterooms that you have to clean. On average, they get a 20 staterooms station, and only the ones who can not make it, the ones who are constantly getting bad rating, get a 15 stateroom station. There are few who get the officer cabins as an assignment, but don’t pity them, sometimes they make more money than the others and they only need to clean the cabins once a day or every other day (depending on how many stripes has the officers who lives in the cabin).
4. Good management (at least on this ship) After work, everybody gathers in the Back Deck (ship’s crew bar) for a drink and chat. In my two year career with this company, I never once heard a Stateroom Attendant complaining about his or hers supervisor. They mostly complain about how messy the guests can get, especially the really old ones who cannot make it to the toilet if you know what I mean, or the young ones who cannot hold their liquor. Other than that, they seem pretty happy with the job. The officers hardly complain about the system, and if you ever hear them complaining, it’s mostly because the company implements all kind of new things, but they never really prepare options in case they don’t work.
5. No competition against each other Everyone is doing their job in the Housekeeping Department and no one is looking in the neighbors’ back yard to see how is he or she doing. Most of them anyway. Because they get the same section for the entire contract, there’s no competition among the employee, they just have to do good in ratings (meaning they have to make the guest happy) not to be assigned to a smaller section, but that happens very rarely and mostly on request.
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.
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….
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).
It’s very easy to become another person when you’re away from home and the people you know. You can chose to be married or not, to be single or not, to have kids or not, so on and so forth.
Royal Caribbean does not disclose personal information about its employee and anyone who does that is immediately fired. We did had a few cases when people working in the shipboard offices gave personal information about one employee or another, sometimes out of naivety or because the one who requested was a good friend, but those people are home now, looking for another job. This is good news for some who have things to hide, like many I personally know, but bad for others who have no means of finding who the loved one really is.
It happened to me too and for a while I was ashamed, blaming myself for not seeing it coming, but then I realized it’s not my fault, I did not do anything wrong. I met him on my first contract; he was charming, smart, educated, and quite handsome. He told me he was single and I fell for it, maybe it was just wishful thinking, but he acted like one. No calls from home, no strange emails, we kept in touch daily when he was on vacation. And time passed, and we were seeing each other for almost a year when he told me he’s divorced and has a daughter. I should have slapped him and go away right on that moment for lying to me, but instead I understood his apologies and moved on. A few months after, finally he feels guilty enough to tell me he’s still married to his daughter’s mom, but they don’t live together for years.
That was enough! Even I knew that no Indian will ever divorce his wife, no matter how horrible she is. It’s just not in their blood and culture and their family won’t speak to them ever again. Valentine’s day, while he was sleeping, I packed my bags, left the key on the living room table, and moved back to my cabin. Nobody can imagine how much it hurts; I have no words to describe it.
But we all move on sooner or later. He showed up in the crew bar (we call it “back deck”) with a German girl after a couple of days, I met this wonderful man who makes me laugh and who I can actually relate to in terms of tradition and habits because we’re both European. But at least I didn’t show him off, I kept him to myself and enjoyed him and I still am.
I just hope he’s not married or in a serious relationship because I really like him and believe me, I can be pretty picky when it comes to men.
Royal Caribbean has a very friendly policy regarding couples onboard. A happy person is a happy worker so managers onboard are closing their eyes when it comes at who’s sleeping with whom and where.
If you’re husband and wife you’ll get your own cabin where you can live together. Also, you can transfer to another ship if your other half is there already. The company seems to care about families so you don’t need to worry, you’ll always be together and work together. Even your work schedule can be accommodated to fit the other’s schedule. All you have to do is tell your supervisor about it.
Now, with couples is a bit different. The company policy doesn’t say anything about it, BUT, your supervisor usually understands these things and will try to help you. If you have a long-term relationship that everyone knows about it shouldn’t be a problem, you’ll get your cabin together and your work schedule changed. If you met the love of your life recently, there are 2 things you can do about it:
Sneak out every night in your other half’s bed
Find another couple and switch without your supervisor knowing about it
Supervisors are cautious when it comes to fresh relationships because of 2 reasons:
Berthing is limited onboard the ship
If you just met the other one, the chances of you breaking up are high and reassigning you to different cabins can take up to a week. So you find yourself living with a person you don’t like anymore
All in one, love life onboard the Royal Caribbean ships is encouraged and as long as you find somebody you like, everything will be made as easy as possible by your supervisor.
That’s the easy part. Now, the hard part comes…how do you know the other person doesn’t have anybody else onboard, or worse, how do you know if it’s married or not? Well, the sad news is you can't...just follow your instinct, LEARN their culture and most important, listen to your friends.
“There’s no such thing as love onboard!’ is what you hear most of the time, mostly from the guys and the occasionally heart broken girls. I don’t believe so, even though I got burned recently. I think it’s possible if you use your head and don’t believe everything that you hear around you.
But make no mistake, love life on a cruise ship is not an easy one. Why? Here’s why…
One of the main reasons is because, if you’re a crewmember or a staff member, most likely you’ll get a roommate. Roommate equals no privacy.
Some guys are so desperate around here to get a woman that they will say anything to get you in their cabin. Don’t fall for it, it’s not worth it. As a new hire, take your time to look around, see who’s a player and who’s a good guy, don’t jump on the first guy you see because, usually, the aggressive ones are the bad ones. And ASK! Ask around about the guy or girl. Most of the relationships here onboard are not public ones. Not because one of the partners is ashamed with the other or because the guy or girl is dating someone else at the same time (which happens, but not all the time), but because privacy is high valued here.
Alcohol plays a big role in how and where you’re going to end up at the end of the night. Sounds like fun, but really it isn’t, especially when you have to take the famous “Walk of shame” in the morning.
To understand the “walk of shame” concept, you first need to understand the layout of the ship. All Royal Caribbean ships have a main, big corridor, named I95 (don’t ask me why, I have no idea). This corridor crosses the ship from one end to another and it’s packed with surveillance cameras every 50 feet. To get from the crew areas, work areas or other people’s cabin to your own cabin, you MUST go through I95. And believe me, when you meet your colleagues at 6 or 7 in the morning, and your hair is all messy, you’re make up is all over your face and instead of your uniform you’re wearing the party clothes you had on last night, you’ll think twice doing it again.
Same big rule apply onboard just like in any other place: if you’re a girl and sleep around you’re easy, to say the least; if you’re a guy and sleep around, you’re a cool guy. The difference between the ship life and land life is that here you’re stuck with these people. You have to see them every day, which is not always a good thing, so be careful who you choose to spend your free time with.
You will be amazed to know how much people can drink on a ship, both crew and guests. Some drink because it’s fun, some to forget, some because they miss their families, because it’s hard to sleep, frustration, stress and the list can go on and on.
They drink during the day, during their break, during the service, any moment is just as good as any, it does not matter as long as it makes you feel numb and another day goes by.
I am trying not to drink that much, but once I get to the back deck (that’s the crew bar onboard), I find myself in front of a Jake and Coke I cannot refuse. I ended up not being able to sleep unless I have something to drink….how pathetic…. I said to myself then “Ok Oana! If you must drink something, at least have a Corona, it’s less alcohol”. Yeah, right! It lasted 1 day and I was back to my good friend Jake.
Seems that there’s always someone or something to celebrate, and if you’re in the wrong company, you’ll most probably end up drinking every night, just like my friends. I figured it out that, if I want to slow down on the drinks, best thing to do is to avoid my friends and go straight to the cabin. And this is what I am doing!
But hey! I promised I will teach you guys about the life onboard ships, so…. Today’s lesson is about the alcohol consumption.
Royal Caribbean policy on alcohol consumption is zero tolerance. If a crewmember is found having more than 0.04% while on-duty or 0.08% while off-duty is most likely to be fired. Once they’ve tested you, there’s no going back. So what’s the solution? Quit drinking? You must be joking! Just get along with your supervisor and try and stand up straight while you’re on duty. Nobody will say anything as long as you don’t create any problems. All managers know what’s going on, they were doing it when they were crewmembers, and they are doing it right now.
It’s sad, but this is the reality onboard. Try and don’t get caught in this bad circle, stay away from the heavy buzz, don’t make it an habit to drink every day, try going straight to your cabin for a change. Believe me, it will be well worth it in the long run, and maybe you’ll make it to the end of your 6 months onboard…Maybe!
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.
