Pros and Cons of Working on Cruise Ships

Going to work on cruise ships was never in my plan.

I knew that there were cruise ships and that, necessarily, people had to work on them, but that was about the extent of my consideration. For the first 20 years of my life, I — and everyone who knew me — had great expectations that I would move straight from college to an office job. Something predictable: white collar and suburban. As for going to work onboard a floating hotel — well, there was about as much likelihood that I would join the circus.

But, one thing led to another, as they have a tendency to do, and the next thing we all knew, I was standing with a suitcase on the gangway of my first paddlewheeler. What would follow were some of the best experiences of my life, but at the time, I was still reeling from a whirlwind hiring experience and wondering if I had made the right decision. Here is the list that I wish I had then.

Pro: Get Paid to Travel

When it comes to cruise contracts, the world truly is your oyster. Whether you opt to stay in one country or aspire to visit every continent, you can find a ship to take you there. Although you most likely won't be able to pick and choose where exactly you go in the beginning, you can get a pretty good idea of regions per cruise line, at least (e.g., river cruises tend to sail in continental Europe and the United States, while expedition cruises go to places like the Arctic). No matter where you go, the scene outside your window will always be changing, and you'll visit different places almost every day.

Con: 24-Hour Days for Days

Even though crew members get paid to travel, working on cruise ships is far from a vacation. Exact shift lengths vary based on the position; as an officer, my typical "shift" lasted for about 15 hours a day (7 days a week), but it wasn't uncommon to have to work longer. My record was 22 hours on a turnaround eve when our printers went out and we had to handwrite welcome packets for our incoming guests. By virtue of living at your work, you're never entirely "off" — the captain may order an abandon ship drill right when you sit down to dinner, guests may call your work phone overnight, and breaks are not guaranteed. Hourly crew, like servers and housekeepers, tend to have shorter shifts and scheduled breaks, but they also have to be on call for drills and alarms.

Pro: Free Room and Board

As a cruise ship employee, you're guaranteed free room and board for the duration of your contract. If you're in a position to travel or stay with family during the periods in between contracts, instead of paying rent for a place you're rarely at, this can be a great way to save a lot of money in a short amount of time. Several of my coworkers were able to save up for down payments or pay off student loan debt in just a few years by doing this.

Con: Tight Quarters

Speaking of students, crew quarters are about the size of a dorm room — if you're lucky — and, especially when you're first starting out, you can expect to have a roommate or three. Windows also aren't guaranteed. While larger ships have crew-only spaces (like bars and pools) where employees can unwind when they're off the clock, small ships typically do not, so you'll have to share recreation areas with the guests. When I worked on small ships, we were allowed to use the gym, library computers, and laundry room at night, but, since the guests were paying customers, we were understandably required to vacate if they wanted to use one of those areas.

Pro: Two Weeks Off

Your time off will depend on the position and the line. As an officer on riverboats, I averaged two weeks off for every six weeks worked, in addition to an optional two-month-long offseason break during the winter. On occasion, my contract might get extended at the last minute or I might have to go back from break early, but, in general, the timing was pretty reliable. This made it really easy to plan personal vacations and schedule appointments, and is one of the things I miss most now that I work somewhere with a more traditional PTO policy.

Con: Two Weeks Off

It's a double-edged sword, though. You won't have weekends in the normal sense, and you may have to miss family events, holidays, and time-sensitive activities like concerts. The FOMO can get pretty intense, sometimes.

Pro: Never Boring

It may sound cliche, but no two days are ever the same onboard cruise ships. With the ever-changing groups of guests and the events you'll often encounter in ports, every cruise will be a little different or appear to have its own theme. Of course, you'll have your daily responsibilities, but the nature of the job and the environment means you'll learn to pivot very quickly. In a "typical" week, I might have had to narrate on a coach ride because the guide called in sick, found myself suddenly in charge of booking a future cruise for a group of 10, arrived at an excursion site to find it in the middle of a full-blown Civil War reenactment, and been asked to give a ship tour to a VIP group. And then there's the plain bizarre. Almost since my first day onboard, I've maintained that cruise ships are some of the funniest places on Earth — from the idiosyncrasies of guests to the inside jokes of crew, sometimes it feels more like being on a sitcom than being at work.

Con: Never Boring

Yet still, at least once a cruise, one of us would sigh and say, "I wish I had a boring job." Because for every humorous situation and exciting event, there's usually a stressful counterpart. Over the course of my three-year cruising career, I experienced an onboard fire, oversaw excursion evacuations when a tornado came to town, had to respond to countless medical emergencies, dealt with broken-down coaches and no-show tour guides, and had to rearrange dozens of itineraries after our sailing instructions changed at the last minute. When you sign on as a crewmember, you're accepting responsibility to look after the guests and the ship; sometimes, you'll be the only one who can do your job, so you have to push through illness and injury to give the guests the best experience possible — even when every day feels like a Murphy's Law day.

But, in the end, it's worth it. Going to work on cruise ships is still far from many people's minds when they start job searching, but it's one of those things that I think everyone should do at least once. The first few days may be rough, but if you're able to stick it out — even if only for a month or a contract — working on ships can be a rewarding experience where crewmates become family and the world becomes your office.