Your daily work schedule while onboard will depend on your particular position, but you can expect to work seven days a week and anywhere between 10-13 hours per day.
Staff members often expect to work around 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Some employees may work early in the morning, like those who prepare food, while others work late into the night, like bartenders and entertainers. Your work schedule might depend on the specific cruise line and your position.
Crew Off Hours Onboard a Cruise Ship
Apart from sleeping, eating or making a phone call home [link to phones and internet], crew can use the crew internet cafe, crew gym, crew pool (select ships), crew bar or crew recreation area.
When your ship stops at ports most crew members are allowed (and in most cases encouraged) to get off the ship and explore. Generally, crew members are allowed to be out in port until one hour prior to departure (of course, unless they are on duty).
Cruise ship crew life can be intense: long hours, no days off for months, lots of rules, demanding guests, small living quarters and little to no privacy. But working on ships also allows you to travel to places some only dream of while making some amazing connections with fellow seafarers from all over the world.
All Cruise Lines offer internet access for crewmembers by using Wi-Fi access and access from the onboard crew internet cafés. Unlike before when crew members had only access per minute, today cruise lines offer various packages such as Social media package and all internet access charged by Megabytes.
Average Carnival Cruise Line Server monthly pay in the United States is approximately $2,098, which is 28% below the national average. Salary information comes from 3 data points collected directly from employees, users, and past and present job advertisements on Indeed in the past 36 months.
A cruise ship crew member for Carnival, Royal Caribbean, or Norwegian Cruise Line can earn an annual average between $16,000 to $20,000. For leadership staff onboard cruise ships, the annual salary can be much higher from $30,000 to $100,000.
Your daily work schedule while onboard will depend on your particular position, but you can expect to work seven days a week and anywhere between 10-13 hours per day.
Most cruise lines offer their staff free room and board throughout the duration of their contracts. They often cover the costs of basic living expenses, such as water and electricity bills. This allows employees to travel wherever the ship goes, frequently visiting new countries during their free time.
Cabin space is at a premium. If crew were to have days off you would still need other crew to cover those responsibilities – this means more crew onboard taking up more cabin space. And, the more cabin space crew take up, the less space there is onboard the ship for passenger cabins.
“All officers have their own cabins while the rest of the crew used to share a cabin (two per room). It seems like as of now, all crew members will have a single cabin. Cabins are, I would say, ok … There are three cabinets, bed, sofa, working desk and chair, tv, porthole, bathroom including shower cabin,” they said.
As cruise ship vessels are manned around the clock, crew members have access to food and drink 24/7. The terms of their contracts specify break and meal times, so even the busiest crew members will always have set rest breaks when they have time for a snack or main meal.
Prices for ocean view cabins are generally priced at around $110 to $197 per person, per night. Balcony cabins are the most popular cruise ship cabin available, with each cabin having a private outdoor balcony space. You can expect to pay between $150 and $250 per person, per night for an ocean view balcony cabin.
Staffers typically live with a roommate in tiny cabins that have bunk beds and small closets. We usually eat at our own buffet and hang out after work at the crew bar.
Yes, you can work onboard a cruise ship if you have a child. A huge percentage of people working on cruise ships have kids. Most of those kids are not onboard though. The majority of crew member that have children have family members at home taking care of them while the crew member works onboard.
Certain cruise lines have rooms designed for full-time living with six month and yearly lease options. Others simply allow you to book out a room for a specified period of time. Certain cruise lines have special programs for retirees.
According to CruiseCareers, the range generally goes between 1,700 AUD - 2,200 AUD per month. However, you can earn as much as 5000 AUD per month working on a cruise ship. Depending on the cruise line, you can be assigned a tipping job or a non-tipping job. Salaries are scaled according to gratuities.
The Carnival website states: “100 per cent of your gratuities are distributed to the crew who you interact with, such as your stateroom attendants, dining, bar and culinary services staff, as well as others who work behind the scenes to enhance your overall cruise experience.”
What are the cruise industry tipping standards? For a seven-night cruise on the major lines, the "auto-gratuity" currently has a wide range starting under $20 a day, per person, up to over $100 a day, per person. Passengers staying in suites will usually pay a bit extra per day, per person.
Taxes on Cruise Ship Employment Income
Crew members are responsible for any taxes due to their country of origin. Only United States citizens or employees that reside in the USA will have US federal taxes deducted from their pay.
Can cruise crew date guests? Despite what you may have seen on the television show, "The Love Boat", crew members are strictly prohibited from any kind of relationships with passengers onboard. Royal Caribbean's cruise contract states guests are, "prohibited from engaging in physical relationships with crew members.