The crew members on a cruise ship are extremely hard working people that bring smiling faces to the services they provide, but working on a cruise ship is anything like a job on land.

Some crew members elect to work on cruise ships for many years, and repeat cruises often keep an eye out for their favorite bartender, Adventure Ocean staff member, or Guest Services officer so that they can say hello.  

In order to get a better idea of what it is like to be a crew member on a cruise ship, I reached out to some former crew members to get their thoughts on what many guests may not not know about working on a ship.

They really do work hard

While everyone knows that crew members are not on vacation, they put in a lot of time and effort to make the guest vacation amazing.

Ceri Jackson noted some guests overlook that fact and think crew are almost on a kind of "working vacation".

Hickdale James said simply, "Working on ship was damn hard but I must admit, I miss it sometimes."

With that, they make good money while not having to pay for food, rent or utilities.

Crew love to have a good time when not working

It is cliched to say "work hard, play hard", but it is very true of the crew too.

Alana Campbell added, "How hard they work is pretty well known.... but crew members generally party much harder than the guests."

Depending on the ship, different facilities were available to crew to unwind, but so-called "hall parties" would always work in a pinch.  These are parties when a few crew members in nearby rooms would open up their doors and hang out in the hall, similar to a neighborhood party on a street somewhere.

Long contracts means time away from home

Unlike a job on land, you don't get to go home to your family after your work is complete.

Working on a cruise ship means many months away from loved ones, and that can take a toll on some crew who are not prepared for it.

Radu Cosmin said, "This job is not for anyone. You must to have this in you... I'm away from home for 6 months."

Some guests plan cruises around crew members

The old saying, "good service is hard to find" may be why some people who book a Royal Caribbean cruise actually try to figure out which ship a certain crew member is on before booking it.

NJ Cole said there were times where guests would try to figure out where he was working, "I had a number of families that would make sure I was going to be on board when they were planning their cruises.

"And, there were even a few families/individuals that I went to visit when I was off the ship and some who came to visit me."

Natalie King also enjoyed meeting guests who later became friends, "I have also meet some really nice guests whom I am friends with on Facebook. I even meet a few persons born in my country but living somewhere else."

Read more: 8 cruise ship tips from a former employee

They really do live onboard

There are some guests who are surprised to hear the crew members live onboard the ship.

Evidently there are some guests who think perhaps crew members come and go somehow on and off the ship, perhaps through the different ports the ship visits.

Natalie King said she had to routinely confirm to guests, "we actually live onboard".

As mentioned earlier, crew contracts range in duration, but they are all many months and that time is spent living on a ship.

Crew do not eat the same food as guests

Many people who go on a cruise think the crew are eating the same food as passengers, but it is not the case.

Crew members have separate dining rooms with less glamorous cuisine.

Certain crew members are allowed to dine in guest specialty restaurants during their time off, such as officers or performers.

They love the travel opportunities

I asked these former crew members what loved the most about working on a ship, and many responded the opportunity to see the world is something they really enjoyed, and still miss today.

Pippa Madden said the travel working on a cruise ship affords you is something she misses a lot.

NJ Cole added, "Life on land does not remotely compare to life on ships."

Licinia Ferreira commented, "We earn very good money and have no expenses. Travel for free, meet different countries and people! I didn't regret leaving after 10 years, but sometimes I miss it."

Read more: What happens to the crew members onboard during the cruise suspension?

Crew members don't usually get full days off

Unlike working on land, where you get a day or two off here and there, crew members have longer work days that are broken up with breaks.

Ian Forbes noted crew members do not get full days off, but instead get a few hours break here and there. This is to work around the daily schedule of the ship.

While it sounds bad to say there are not full days off, the crew do get regular breaks throughout the day. Many crew members will even go as far as to get off the ship and explore a port for a bit during one of these long breaks.

Crew are forbidden from having relationships with guests

Certainly crew members and some guests form friendships, but crew are absolutely not allowed to take their relationships with guests to anything beyond friendly.

Cruise lines prohibit crew from engaging in any kind of personal relationship with guests, and if discovered, is grounds for immediate termination.

The rationale of this rule is mostly centered around ship security and avoiding workplace problems of any kind.

While the crew are usually very friendly, do not assume their intentions are anything more than platonic.

Read more: The top crew members to find if you have a problem onboard your cruise

Even crew get seasick

You may think getting seasick is something that only happens to first time cruisers, but it can happen to just about anyone, including crew.

Crew members told stories of instances where on their first few weeks at sea it would unfortunately happen to them.

Alissa recalled her first run on a cruise ship, "When I first started working on ships, I would get seasick all the time and trust me, I've tried every remedy — ginger, green apples, wrist bands, ice. It is something you definitely get used to though, and now, I rarely deal with seasickness unless the water is particularly rough."

Kate added, "I remember laying in the fitness studio on a mat for an afternoon. I kept some ginger snacks around to help out."

Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley took to social media on Monday to warn crew members not to fall for an email scam going around that targets private information.

Mr. Bayley posted on Facebook the warning that scammers are trying to get crew members to fill out information in order to get crew member's personal information.

Furthermore, Mr. Bayley emphasized crew not to click the links, and that all information will be shared via the Royal Caribbean employee portal.

"We will never ask you for your personal information via e-mail," he warned.

The scam email even went to the length of copying Royal Caribbean email letterhead and Mr. Bayley's email signature in order to convince employees it is legitimate.

Phishing scams not uncommon

Unfortunately, scammers using emails that look like the real thing are an all-too-common hack that works equally as well as it is prevalent.

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that people lost $57 million to phishing schemes in one year.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says the scammers are trying to steal someone's passwords, account numbers, or Social Security numbers.

Phishing emails like this one are designed to look like they are from a company you know or trust.

Carnival hit hard by similar hack

While this scam seems to target personal information, Carnival Cruise Lines was recently the victim of a similar attack, where ransomware ended up stealing personal information about the cruise company’s guests and employees.

The attack accessed an encrypted portion of technology systems for one of the cruise line's brands and certain data files were downloaded, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

While Carnival did not divulge how the hackers were able to install the ransomware, quite often legitimate looking emails targeted to employees are the preferred vector of attack.

Six Royal Caribbean executives answered questions from travel agents during a webinar on Wednesday that touched upon a number of changes, initiatives and plans for the future.

The potpourri of questions were on the topics of new ports, crew members, cruises restating and so much more, which provided some insight into questions many cruise fans have had for a while.

Some of these answers were hints, and others gave good indications of what to expect.

When will the 2022-2023 cruises be released?

Many cruise fans want to know when the new set of itineraries will be released for 2022 and 2023.

Royal Caribbean Director of Revenue Strategy, Brittany Briggs, said that typically new itineraries are released in November and December, and others in the spring.

"I don't expect that will be too much from that this year. So I would stay on the lookout for something and some communications next month on our opening."

When will the new cruise terminal in Galveston open?

We all know that the new cruise terminal in Galveston, Texas that will be able to accommodate an Oasis Class size cruise ship is delayed by a year, but is the terminal still on track for completion?

 Josh Carroll, Royal Caribbean's Vice President, Port Development, confirmed it will be opening in 2022.

"We were on target to have that terminal up and running in 2021, due to COVID that has been delayed and will now be opening the following year in 2022. So we're very excited to bring Oasis class to Galveston and that's on track."

When will Royal Caribbean cruise on the west coast of the United States?

Perhaps the longest running constant question among cruise fans is when will Royal Caribbean return to the west coast for cruises.

The exact question posed was about cruise ships visiting ports in Western Mexico, but the answer gave us a glimmer of hope that we might be closer to cruises returning to the west coast than we might have thought.

Mr. Carroll said the growth of cruises in Alaska will offer Royal Caribbean the opportunity to sail from the West Coast when the Alaska cruise season is complete, and it sounds like sooner than we think.

'We are always evaluating different homeport options, as you can see, we're growing dramatically in Alaska, which in Alaska is only a summer product. So we're looking at a number of different options for the winter."

"And we think that pretty soon we may have something exciting to announce."

Will Royal Caribbean add any new ports to visit in the Caribbean?

Many cruise fans are eager for new ports of call to visit to help spice up the choices, and it sounds like more itineraries are on the horizon.

Mr. Carroll said more ports are coming, including stops at Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic as part of the 2022-2023 deployment schedule for Oasis Class ships.

"You'll also see us start going to places more that we don't necessarily visit often today as we partner with those government and port operators to expand the infrastructure and guest experience capabilities,"  Mr. Carroll explained.

"I saw a question come through, for example, on Grand Turk, and we are looking in the Turks and Caicos and have some some opportunities there as well to be able to add those to our itineraries."

Will the Future Cruise Credit expiration dates be extended?

As of June 30, 2020, Royal Caribbean Group reported they had approximately $1.8 billion in customer deposits, which means there is a lot of future cruise credits floating around.

Every future cruise credit has an expiration date associated with it, and the question was asked if those FCCs would be extended.

Ms. Briggs said there are no plans right now to extend FCCs, "At this time we don't have any intention of extending the global suspension or Cruise with Confidence FCCs."

"However, any other FCC that's not related to those that have either already expired or they are expected to expire by the end of this year, we are extending those through March 31st of 2021."

"So you can book by March 31st 2021 for any sailing that is open through April of 2022."

How long to train returning crew members for cruises to restart?

With regards to cruises restarting, how long will it take to train crew members so that they can get up to speed on the new regulations and policies.

Mark Tamis, Royal Caribbean Senior Vice President, Hotel Operations, said there are already crew members in the training phase, especially as it relates to cruises from Singapore on Quantum of the Seas.

Mr. Tamis explained how the digital training works, "We really digitize a lot of our training. So the crew, whether they're at home or on the ship in their own time, can get the training on their own handheld device."

"We have all these training modules that are being delivered to our crew right now. So they're already getting up to speed about how they'll be bringing to life all the new protocols."

What was the original name of Perfect Day at CocoCay?

This was not asked specifically, but Mr. Tamis mentioned while answering a call about the success of Perfect Day at CocoCay that the island makeover had a very different name.

"I joined the brand maybe a week after Michael [Bayley] did when he moved over from Celebrity, I think the first conversation we had was about, and this is inside baseball information, was originally called Adventure World."

If cruise fans are looking for an indication that cruises might be resuming, the return of crew members is a good sign.

With Royal Caribbean and other cruise lines hinting at the possibility of cruises restarting before the end of the year, crew rehirings could be a sign of what is coming next.

CNBC's Seema Mody reported cruise operators are in the process of "bringing back a lot of their crew that were sent overseas" so that there is staff available to set sail if the CDC allows cruise lines to resume sailings.

All over social media, there have been postings by crew members that they are hearing from colleagues of being hired back, or even evidence they have been rehired. As with any social media posts, it is important take these claims with a grain of salt, but every day there seems to be more evidence of crew reporting they are going back.

One such post provided detailed instructions for other crew members on what to expect when they report back for duty, and the many quarantine and testing procedures they will need to follow.

In addition, crew hiring opportunities are even popping up online that could possibly indicate that the cruise line is serious restart plans.

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Royal Caribbean does not usually announce crew movements or hirings, but there seems to be a lot of ancillary evidence that a general strategy is in place.

The game plan for cruises to restart

Royal Caribbean has been very transparent about how it sees cruises restarting in the United States.

The basic plan is to have a few test cruises that involve crew members and Royal Caribbean employees only that can simulate a real cruise in order to gauge the effectiveness of all their new policies.

Following those test sailings, short cruises to a private destination only would be offered. If all goes well, Royal Caribbean could then start adding back longer sailings.

This game plan follows the recommendations of the Healthy Sail Panel, as well as what cruise line executives have said over the last few weeks.

As it relates to hiring back crew, Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Richard Fain said recently that they will need crew back in order to start up the test sailings.

"We propose to start slowly by training our crew and embarking on a series of non-revenue test sailings, where we can rehearse and we can validate the new protocols."

Royal Caribbean's cruise ships are currently at minimum manning, so in order for any test sailings to occur, they need crew back to simulate as closely as possible real-world scenarios.

While you will likely have a great time on a cruise without running into any problems, occasionally something happens that needs attention of someone who can quickly remedy the issue.

Just like when at a resort, casino or theme park on land, cruise ship guests can sometimes run into a problem.  Rather than just chalking it up to bad luck, you can (and should) let Royal Caribbean know about the problem to get it rectified. 

You should start with the front-line crew member you have easy access to first, but if things are not moving, then it may be time to escalate.The key is knowing who to contact onboard to get things solved, so here are some important people you can reach out to during the cruise for results.

Head Waiter

When you are in the dining rooms, the woman or man who can make special requests happen is the head waiter (sometimes known as the Maître D). 

Your waiter can handle most requests, so be sure to start with him or her, but if it requires special coordination between the dining room staff, galley or even other departments, the head waiter can step in and assist.

Often the head waiter will visit your table during the meal to introduce themselves, but you can always ask your waiter to speak to the head waiter to address other issues.

Suite Concierge

If you are staying in a suite stateroom, you absolutely want to get to know the concierge early during your cruise.

It is the job of the suite concierge to make sure everything is going well, and they are the problem solver for suite guests.

Part guest relations, part dining guide, and part event coordinator, the concierge is empowered to do a lot, especially when problems arise. In a lot of cases, the concierge may have inside information on changes occurring onboard and know exactly who to reach out to about most situations.

The suite concierge will have regular hours they are available in the Suite Lounge, so be sure to stop in and say hello on the first day to not only meet them, but get a copy of their schedule.

Hotel Director

The hotel operations is a massive component to a cruise ship, and at the top of the chain is the hotel director.

A cruise ship hotel director is in charge of all aspects of the hotel-type operations, including everything related to your cabin and housekeeping.

The reason to reach out to the hotel director is for something your stateroom attendant cannot easily handle, such as mechanical issues that are not resolved quick enough or even issues with other guests.

While you want to start off with your stateroom attendant for nearly every issue, if a problem lingers or the resolution is not up to your liking, be sure to reach out to the hotel director.

You can always call down to Guest Services to get the extension of the hotel director and quickly get in touch with him or her.

Cruise Director

You might wonder why you would need to get a hold of the cruise director, but if you are anything like me, you do not want to miss out on any of the fun activities onboard.

The Cruise Director manages the activity and sports staff onboard, and she or he are the person that can answer questions about scheduling, as well as who to talk to about special requests.

With so many things to do on a cruise, it is easy to miss out on something. It is a good idea to speak to the cruise director if an activity is not running well, or if you want to inquire about an event you had on another cruise.  Heck, if your group wants a space to do an activity, the cruise director may be able to assist in getting space for you.

Guest Services

When in doubt, the catch-all is to contact Guest Services for any issues you run into.

You would be surprised how many issues Guest Services can directly assist with, but if they cannot, they will put you in contact with someone who can.

Do not hesitate to reach out, even just to ask if what you are seeing is a problem or not. Don't be shy that you are asking a "dumb question" or are being a bother. They are there to help, and odds are they have seen it all by this point.

Guest Services is your go-to call during late or early hours, when other crew members may otherwise be unavailable.

Don't forget your travel agent

If you think the job of a travel agent ends once you get on the cruise ship, you are very mistaken.

Travel agents can be a great resource while you are on a cruise to answer questions, especially if you are seeing a discrepency between what you expect and what the crew onboard are telling you.

Missing onboard credits, stateroom assignment information, gratuities and more are problems your travel agent can address with the shoreside team while you enjoy your cruise.

A quick email to your travel agent to clarify something is a great tool to keep in your back pocket if the need arises.

Royal Caribbean has been diligently working on getting its crew members home, and reported on Wednesday that it has repatriated 95% of its crew members.

Royal Caribbean Senior Vice President of Sales and Trade Support & Service Vicki Freed told travel agents in her weekly webinar that among its corporate brands, Royal Caribbean has repatriated 95% of its crew members so far, and that number will climb to 97% by July 15.

"We have about 40,000 crew members from our corporate collective efforts, of which 95% have now been taken home, either via our own ships or be a chartered aircraft. By July 15th, 97% will be repatriated to their home. So no crew left behind."

"We're happy for them that they get to spend some time with family until we know that we're ready to start service again and we can bring them back and we're excited to bring them back."

In order to get crew members home, Royal Caribbean had to overcome significant legal and political hurdles countries have set up that prevent crew members on a cruise ship from returning home.

Countries around the world, including the United States, have added complex new regulations and travel restrictions meant to protect its citizens at home, while making it extremely difficult for citizens abroad to return simply because they are on a cruise ship.

Top priority

Getting crew members home has been a hot topic in the news, and Royal Caribbean made it a top priority to get its crew members home.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Chairman Richard Fain noted in the company's first quarter results call with analysts that crew repatriation is its first priority.

"In the two months since we suspended operations, we've been working tirelessly to safely repatriate our guests and crew members to their homes," Mr. Fain elaborated,  "Our crew come from more than 100 countries around the world with widely different safety protocols and travel restrictions. This has turned, what should be a simple task into a monumental one."

"It's really hard to convey the complexity of the process to somebody who's used to making simple travel arrangements. But, our teams are working around the clock with the multitude of governing bodies to repatriate our crews as soon as possible. We've even gone to the extent of using our ships as transport vessels and currently have nine ships carry more than 10,000 crew members back to their home countries. It's a complex and expensive way to do it. But it's a most reliable way to get these men and women home to their families as quickly as possible. And therefore, we've undertaken to do it this way."

"Obviously, our industry and our Company are undergoing unprecedented challenges, and we are having to quickly adapt to this new and evolving environment. But, our priorities are clear, we will work to protect the safety of our guests and crew, we will proactively enhance our liquidity, we will protect the Company's brands and our travel partners, and we will define and prepare for a new normal."

In the months since Royal Caribbean suspended operations, the cruise line has made protecting and repatriating its crew its top priority.

Recently, Royal Caribbean executives have specifically called out the hard work its teams around the world are doing to help get crew members home, despite daunting legal hurdles.

Crew comes first

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Chairman Richard Fain started off his quarterly results calll with Wall Street analysts by making a point to say crew repatriation is its first priority, even ahead of the company's financial future.

"Obviously, our industry and our Company are undergoing unprecedented challenges, and we are having to quickly adapt to this new and evolving environment. But, our priorities are clear, we will work to protect the safety of our guests and crew, we will proactively enhance our liquidity, we will protect the Company's brands and our travel partners, and we will define and prepare for a new normal."

The task of getting crew home is more than simply buying a plane ticket home. Countries around the world, including the United States, have added complex new regulations and travel restrictions meant to protect its citizens at home, while making it extremely difficult for citizens abroad to return simply because they are on a cruise ship.

"In the two months since we suspended operations, we've been working tirelessly to safely repatriate our guests and crew members to their homes," Mr. Fain elaborated,  "Our crew come from more than 100 countries around the world with widely different safety protocols and travel restrictions. This has turned, what should be a simple task into a monumental one."

"It's really hard to convey the complexity of the process to somebody who's used to making simple travel arrangements. But, our teams are working around the clock with the multitude of governing bodies to repatriate our crews as soon as possible. We've even gone to the extent of using our ships as transport vessels and currently have nine ships carry more than 10,000 crew members back to their home countries. It's a complex and expensive way to do it. But it's a most reliable way to get these men and women home to their families as quickly as possible. And therefore, we've undertaken to do it this way."

Royal Caribbean International President & CEO Michael Bayley spoke at length about the work being done by the cruise line to get crew home safely, despite inaccurate media reports to the contrary.

Mr. Bayley characterized getting crew members home as, "genuinely a massive challenge," and went on to reassure the public it is doing everything it can, "We love our crew. We are doing everything in our power to take care for them, and to make sure that they get home to their families."

"We're doing everything we can to take care of our crew and get them home. The crew are pleased with what we're doing, they're thankful, they're understanding."

Getting crew home by the numbers

Saying you will do something, and actually doing it, are two different things, and Royal Caribbean has been actively getting more and more crew home each week.

Mr. Bayley shared an update on Facebook that as of Friday, 22,558 crew members have been repatriated, and Royal Caribbean has plans for another 4,041 crew to make it home next week.

"We’re working very hard for each member of our crew and we’re getting there! By the end of the month, we’re looking to have 95% of our repatriation efforts complete. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and every day it’s looking brighter."

Royal Caribbean announced today it has rehired over 100 employees that were laid off in April 2020 in order to help with the significantly long phone hold times.

Royal Caribbean Senior Vice President of Sales and Trade Support & Service Vicki Freed made the announcement during a webinar with travel advisors that it was aware of very long hold times, and the cruise line decided to bring back employees to help with the issue.

"I do want you to know that we're not just talking about it, that we're doing something about it. And over the weekend, we've called back over a hundred people that we had to lay off to come back, call center people and help us in the call centers. So many of them came in on Sunday and Monday of this week. They're in training right now because there will have been more suspensions since we had our layoff and they should be up on the phones this week and next week."

"So that should help on the long hold times. And again, I sincerely apologize to our value travel partners because this is not the kind of service we want to provide you. We want to give you excellent service."

A separate email sent to a travel agent specified that Royal Caribbean hired back 130 reservation agents.

Thanks to Katina Bradley for providing this email

Royal Caribbean has experienced longer than normal wait times due to the "snowball" effect of multiple cruise cancellation announcements, that has overwhelmed call centers. Compounding the issue was the lay offs the company made last month, which reduced call capacity.

It looks like Royal Caribbean has a plan to send many of its crew members home.

The Miami Herald is reporting Royal Caribbean has a plan in place that complies with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s terms for disembarking crew. 

Letters were sent to crew members explaining the situation, and the new plan to get its international crew home.

The crux of the matter that prevented crew from getting home sooner was evidently the CDC's rules for disembarking crew that included provisions such as requiring crew go home via chartered or private transportation.

In the letter from Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley to crew, it explains the legal entanglement that is created by sending crew home now, "The CDC will only allow us to disembark crew members if company executives, myself included, are willing to attest — subject to criminal penalties including imprisonment — that we will not use any public transportation and that each crew member will comply with certain conditions after disembarking the ships. We are happy to do all the things they requested, but the criminal penalties gave us [and our lawyers] pause."

While Bayley said he hopes the threat of criminal prosecution will be removed, he said, “we have decided that the importance of getting you home is so great that we will sign these documents as they are written today to help get you off the ships.”

Cruise Industry News outlined the plan that involved getting crew home to 60 different countries, involving various ships in the fleet "busing" crew members home based on their country of origin.

The efforts include ships such as Anthem of the Seas, Harmony of the Seas, Vision of the Seas, Navigator of the Seas, Rhapsody of the Seas and Adventure of the Seas.