Working on cruise ships?

Seamonkey45

Seamonkey45

Seamonkey45

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4 Oct 2008
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11
Anyone ever worked on a cruise ship or off shore?

Im currently looking for a change of scene and working off shore or on a cruise ship does appeal to me.

Im currently in the catering industry and have just gained a position as a chef so realistically i would be after a commis chef role or some kind of assistant level position.

Where do i look for such positions? Google is full of websites but most look a bit dodgy.

So has anyone got experience of working, living off shore, money and any general advice would be appreciated.
 
No experience, but first port of call would be going onto any of the large cruise ships websites and seeing whether they have a job hunting page or the such like...

kd
 
Superyachts are the way forward, cruise ships are crap pay, terrible accomodation and not the nicest place to work.

Viking recruitment are one of the biggest for both iirc, DO NOT use those dodgy pay sites, the only thing they get you is a smaller bank balance.
 
I work offshore in the oil & gas sector as a surveyor, so i can tell you a bit about what it is like to work offshore.

It is a good area to work in as long as you can hack being away from home for long periods of time. I generally do 8 weeks on 8 weeks off. I have no comitments or family so it doesn't bother me at all. I'm not sure about cruise ships, but I have a friend who a 3rd engineer on cruise ships and he does more like 4 months aways, 2 months off. Though this is dependant on the company and the contract you would take. I love it really, do 8 weeks hard work, then coming back with a nice bank balance and pretending not to have a job for 8 weeks. It can be hard sometimes missing friends but I have been to some very interesting place and hoping to get to south america and Asia with work this year. If you try and get a contract on the oil and gas sector ship (survey, supply, anchor crankers etc etc), try and get with some of the Norwegian companys as the ship are allot nicer. Anything other question just ask away!
 
Really wanted to do that when I was younger but wasn't 18 yet :(

Found quite a lot on the cruise websites then. About what vacancies there was and what it was like etc.
 
kinger88 said:
I work offshore in the oil & gas sector as a surveyor, so i can tell you a bit about what it is like to work offshore.

It is a good area to work in as long as you can hack being away from home for long periods of time. I generally do 8 weeks on 8 weeks off. I have no comitments or family so it doesn't bother me at all. I'm not sure about cruise ships, but I have a friend who a 3rd engineer on cruise ships and he does more like 4 months aways, 2 months off. Though this is dependant on the company and the contract you would take. I love it really, do 8 weeks hard work, then coming back with a nice bank balance and pretending not to have a job for 8 weeks. It can be hard sometimes missing friends but I have been to some very interesting place and hoping to get to south america and Asia with work this year. If you try and get a contract on the oil and gas sector ship (survey, supply, anchor crankers etc etc), try and get with some of the Norwegian companys as the ship are allot nicer. Anything other question just ask away!
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I'd like to do this. Tell me how. :)
 
kinger88 said:
I work offshore in the oil & gas sector as a surveyor, so i can tell you a bit about what it is like to work offshore.

It is a good area to work in as long as you can hack being away from home for long periods of time. I generally do 8 weeks on 8 weeks off. I have no comitments or family so it doesn't bother me at all. I'm not sure about cruise ships, but I have a friend who a 3rd engineer on cruise ships and he does more like 4 months aways, 2 months off. Though this is dependant on the company and the contract you would take. I love it really, do 8 weeks hard work, then coming back with a nice bank balance and pretending not to have a job for 8 weeks. It can be hard sometimes missing friends but I have been to some very interesting place and hoping to get to south america and Asia with work this year. If you try and get a contract on the oil and gas sector ship (survey, supply, anchor crankers etc etc), try and get with some of the Norwegian companys as the ship are allot nicer. Anything other question just ask away!
Click to expand...

Cheers buddy, thats seems interesting.

Does your industry have much of a catering aspect and if so how would i go about applying for this type of work?

Also what sort of training would you need to do to work offshore?
 
I reckon Cruise bookings will be down this year after recent events. Whether that also means they hire less staff, or perhaps returning staff don't... who knows.
 
Nexus said:
I reckon Cruise bookings will be down this year after recent events. Whether that also means they hire less staff, or perhaps returning staff don't... who knows.
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I wouldnt have thought so. most cruise passengers are repeat passengers, and everyone on the cruise forums i go on just sees it as one of those things.

still, i wont complain if they are, cheaper holidays! :D
 
kinger88 said:
try and get with some of the Norwegian companys as the ship are allot nicer.
Click to expand...

I can testify to this. I'm currently an engineering officer cadet with Wilhelm Wilhelmsen, a Norwegian shipping line that operates ro-ro vessels and car carriers. We're just about to go back to college after our first sea phase, and my colleagues with other lines were astounded at the facilities we were provided by Wilhelmsen, which included:

Satellite internet - most lines don't provide this

Alcohol on board, at cost and duty free - again, most lines are dry these days. We could buy cases of beer, and bottles of spirits from the stores. For example, it was $17 for 24 330ml bottles of Heineken, or we could buy drinks individually from the bar :D

Gym, pretty well equipped with free weights and cardio equipment

DVD Library on board

Crew rec room, with a big tv, dvd player, karaoke machine, beer fridge and guitars, a drum kit and keyboard, a stereo system and a PS3 with about 50 or so games.

The food was really good as well. Saturdays were the highlight. It was steak night, so we got a prawn cocktail starter, steak (really high quality fillet steak about 2 inches thick), chips, sweetcorn and brocolli with icecream for dessert. They'd also put bottles of wine and beer on.

Public holidays, crew birthdays and special occassions, such as crossing the line ceremonies were marked with barbecues with a full hog roast and beer and wine on the company.

I feel lucky to be working for them, they really seem to take crew welfare and morale seriously, but I suppose that stems from the fact that they've been family owned since they were founded, 150 years ago.
 
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