Cruise ships

[gadget123]

Does anyone have any advice for working on cruise ships? Coming from a cargo ship background what are the main differences to expect?

[alistairuk]

Don't swear, smile all time and learn to look interested when pax are telling you stuff you don't give a f about :-)

[laura]

Don't swear, smile all time and learn to look interested when pax are telling you stuff you don't give a f about :-)

That's how I survive both project crew and certain nationalities (obviously as a girl they somehow think I want to hear about their grandma/ wife/ children/ dog/ cat/ goldfish/ any illnesses they or anyone else in their family has usually with pictures/ illustrations... honestly no, I just want to get on with my job and my life.... I'm not interested in babies or wifes or looking at endless pictures of them either).

Does that sound mean? I've at least got good at getting away from giving medical advice to certain nationalities onboard... 'your arm's sore? What should you do about it? Have you tried cutting it off?'.

I don't think I would make a good cruise ship officer..... clients and project crew cut too close to the bone already (lost count how many people ask me 'what is it I do onboard? Or... What you're allowed to drive it?'), someone asked me to call them a taxi while alongside in a UK port, I asked them if they thought I was a secretary or if they were unsure how a telephone worked (this was a UK client, not one of my foreign crewmembers who would have genuinely needed the help), at least on a cruise ship you don't find them on the bridge too.. I used to be diplomatic and nice but it just makes the situation worse, better to let them know as soon as possible you mean business.

Went bit off topic there, ah well. Rant over... I'll go back to feeling the effects of last night.

[HolyNougat]

Big cruise ships are pretty crap these days to be honest, the vast majority of officers working on them seem to be biding their time until they head off and do something else, usually after getting more senior tickets.
On the swing side I would say:

1. They are great if you enjoy social activities, meeting people and like the idea of being a visibly responsible person.
2. If you are young and single then you have a pretty good chance of meeting members of the opposite sex.
3. The family travel benefits are great if you want to get your mum on for a week or two.
4. The company will pay for you to attend lots of courses which are an added professional value.
5. Modern cruise ships are quite often very interesting in terms of the technology and some ships do carry a certain amount of prestige.
6. You have the chance to work with people from your own country, which is often much easier than being on smaller foreign crews.
7. You often 'turn around' in the UK which is good.
8. You often have a full time contract and 'rights' under UK law, which gives you job security.

On the down side:

1. The crazy rules and regulations will drive you insane in the end. Everything you do is monitored and you will be subject pretty intense scrutiny.
2. The salaries are pretty bad for junior officers.
3. You are subjected to an endless stream of complete BS from 'the office'
4. You are inevitably treated like **** and in the long run you will start to feel rather aggrieved about it.
5. While you may think that being a 'Deck / Engine officer' makes you pretty important, you will soon realize that you actually rate pretty low and will be expected to be deferential to glorified waiters and toilet cleaners.
6. The highly rigid procedures do not prepare you for a life 'after cruise ships' and there are far fewer shore jobs for people with just cruise experience.
7. As a junior officer your responsibilities are terminally limited.

[Clanky]

Be aware that there will be a lot of people on board who do not have the same level of responsibility as you do and who may only be on board for a season to have a laugh and see a bit of the World. It is very easy to look at how they flaunt the rules and think that it is acceptable to do the same. It's not.

Situations which would be dealt with by a quiet word on a cargo ship are often escslated to formal disciplinary action on cruise ships as with so many crew onboard discipline needs to be much more tightly controlled.

The only bit of the Bible which I have ever found to be relevant says "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks" Apparently they used to put pricks along the front of ox carts to stop the ox from kicking the cart. Oxen are not noted for their intelligence, but even they eventually figured out not to kick the cart. I have sailed with a lot of pricks on cruise ships and it took me a long time to learn that it just wasn't worth kicking against them.

[chris]

On the grapevine, Ive heard that a major cruise line with uk departures has so many in house trained junior deck officers that theyre being paid to stay home as standby crew, not getting the trips in, so it seems strange if they are recruiting for this role too.

[Chiefy]

but it's in the planning......they are also building new ships, so need the bodies soon ish, plus churn and promotions (to fillnew builds) they are just getting ahead of the game

[Bulman]

Although a lot of then are losing ETO's left right bad centre....

[gadget123]

On the grapevine, Ive heard that a major cruise line with uk departures has so many in house trained junior deck officers that theyre being paid to stay home as standby crew, not getting the trips in, so it seems strange if they are recruiting for this role too.

Well there certainly are vacancies around for junior deckies.

It seems that it is the only sector to even consider recently qualified cadets.

[gadget123]

Thanks for the advice guys, sort of what I was expecting really. Not what I wanted to do really but its better than nothing and might be more fun than containers.

[chris]

The cruise line must be building capacity for fleet expansion, had forgotten that.

[bobofinga]

Most of the large cruise lines have orders in for new ships , the industry is always expanding. Regardless of recession.

[HolyNougat]

Yes - but who would want to work on them?!

[gadget123]

Yes - but who would want to work on them?!

British officers who haven't got a chance of getting a job in any other sector.

[bobofinga]

Yes - but who would want to work on them?!

People who haven't worked on them before? who fancy a change.