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THE TRUTH! What Life Working On A Cruise Ship Is REALLY Like!


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23 hours ago, Floski said:

Hey Chris - has anyone ever bought one of these (or similar)?

Do you guys make any kind of commission or incentive if you were to sell one?

@Floski It's actually very rare that guests will buy something like this. It's often found cheaper in the Duty Free shops in port, like Jamaica.

We actually don't get individual commission! We have a sales target at the beginning of every cruise, and anything achieved more than that, will result in a bonus on our salary.

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On 3/7/2018 at 1:52 PM, Lindsay said:

Oh my gosh Chris!!!!!  The trash, cups and plates guests leave everywhere irritates the YOU KNOW WHAT out of me too and I am guest!  When I see anything out of place I pick them up and put them in the proper place.  My husband gets SO irritated with me...he is like - Honey, why in the world are you cleaning?  We are on vacation.  

I also clean up my stateroom like this.  I make sure everything is in the trash and things are not left out and about.  I make the bed and I even compile the towels and put them in the bathtub when we are ready for new ones.  It drives my husband crazy (even after being together/married for 22 years)!  But I know that it's appreciated.  That is why I do it.  

I agree, trash in the shops and other bad places annoys me, though I can't say I remove it as you do.

I do the same thing in our stateroom.  I'm constantly trying to keep things somewhat tidy for our attendant, especially trash in the can(s).

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10 hours ago, Floski said:

Is that a rhetorical question?   :15_yum:

Here is my haul from our January cruise.  I love liquor drinks but I'm such an idiot - I can't make a good mixed drink to save my life.

20180128_205332.jpg

Props on the Don Julio ?.  I've tried the silver, and reposado, so maybe soon I'll finally get a bottle of their anejo.

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15 hours ago, Floski said:

Is that a rhetorical question?   :15_yum:

Here is my haul from our January cruise.  I love liquor drinks but I'm such an idiot - I can't make a good mixed drink to save my life.

@Floski This is a great collection! So I always wonder - I never complain about guests buying liquor, but how do you carry all this home?

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17 hours ago, Floski said:

Is that a rhetorical question?   :15_yum:

Here is my haul from our January cruise.  I love liquor drinks but I'm such an idiot - I can't make a good mixed drink to save my life.

20180128_205332.jpg

I just noticed the Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee mixed in there. That's easily my favorite coffee out of the single-origin ones I've tried. How much did it cost for that 1-pound bag? The Starbucks 1/2 pound bags are a whopping $35 each, and I know that's got a pretty stupid markup on it. Really curious how much (little?) it cost buying it at the source. I know it's still a somewhat rare bean to get and hard to grow / harvest, but I'd hope that it's a good deal less than $70! :25_money_mouth:

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@CHRIS WONG - We had a couple travelling with us who didn't purchase anything, so they took a few bottles; the rest we put in our (very heavy) carry-on case.

 

@JLMoran - I just went and double-checked and the Blue Mountain was $45.  I never, ever would spend that at home, but that's what vacations are about, right?  

 

@RestingBirds - Thanks for the props.  I got that at the big grocery store (wal-mart like) in Cozumel.  I would have preferred the Añejo or Resposado but this is all they had.

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On 13/03/2018 at 12:48 PM, RestingBirds said:

I agree, trash in the shops and other bad places annoys me, though I can't say I remove it as you do.

I do the same thing in our stateroom.  I'm constantly trying to keep things somewhat tidy for our attendant, especially trash in the can(s).

Thanks @RestingBirds! I just hate the idea of - someone else will come along and clean it up.

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11 minutes ago, CHRIS WONG said:

@Floski Is liquor cheaper on the ships compared to the airports?

Hi Chris!   I'm afraid I can't answer that one, as we drive down to Port Canaveral from Charleston so there are no airports in our itinerary.  

My first two cruises, I bought about 4 bottles on board, but in January, I never saw a sale, and was looking more specifically for stuff that

the ship didn't carry (the Zacapa, for instance).  I enjoy buying liquor on the ship, though.

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Great blog, I always wanted to work on a cruise but my wife says no, happy wife happy life ;)

On 3/13/2018 at 9:20 PM, Floski said:

@JLMoran - I just went and double-checked and the Blue Mountain was $45.  I never, ever would spend that at home, but that's what vacations are about, right?  

 

$45 actually sounds like it must have gone up in price. I thought it was less than that here (will need to check when I'm at the store again).

5 hours ago, CHRIS WONG said:

@Floski Is liquor cheaper on the ships compared to the airports?

It depends, I kicked myself once as I saw a great deal with Johnny Walker Blue and the Reserve for $225 and I oued and awwed and at the airport, the same combo was about $300. There has been other times that the cruise is tricky like 3 for ... but if its only 2 of us we really can only bring back 2 (at least to cayman).

On 3/9/2018 at 12:37 PM, Floski said:

Hey Chris - has anyone ever bought one of these (or similar)?

Do you guys make any kind of commission or incentive if you were to sell one?

image.thumb.png.5af8c5d9651fb180229d4cc9217fd767.png

If I won the lottery this would be the first thing I bought and a really nice box of cigars. 

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19 hours ago, LetsTryThisTech said:

Great blog, I always wanted to work on a cruise but my wife says no, happy wife happy life ;)

If I won the lottery this would be the first thing I bought and a really nice box of cigars. 

@LetsTryThisTech You don't need to work on a ship - if you win the lottery, book a year long cruise!

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Just thought of one other question I had -- Do the ship's performers (actors in the Broadway / main theater shows, ice skaters, Spectra's Cabaret type shows, etc.) have to work other shifts like bartending or busing tables during the day, or do they just focus on their performances and doing "dry runs" each day, checking equipment / props, etc?

How about the technical staff for those productions (lighting, sound, effects, stage controls for platforms, etc.)?

I realize that just doing the shows is probably quite draining every day as they have to belt out songs and lines, dance, perform aerial tricks, etc. If they do "get the morning off" every day, how does the rest of the crew regard that? Understanding, annoyance, jealousy?

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On 16/03/2018 at 6:29 PM, JLMoran said:

Just thought of one other question I had -- Do the ship's performers (actors in the Broadway / main theater shows, ice skaters, Spectra's Cabaret type shows, etc.) have to work other shifts like bartending or busing tables during the day, or do they just focus on their performances and doing "dry runs" each day, checking equipment / props, etc?

How about the technical staff for those productions (lighting, sound, effects, stage controls for platforms, etc.)?

@JLMoran Yes mate, this is actually what happens.

Because the cast have a lot of free time on the ship, some of them will find other jobs onboard by helping out other departments - and they can add these hours to the system, so they can earn a bit of extra money.

The tech-crew actually helps us shop staff out whenever we have big set-ups to do, that require a lot of heavy lifting.

In our crew areas, we actually have a bulletin board where departments can post jobs where they need a bit of extra help.

On 16/03/2018 at 6:29 PM, JLMoran said:

I realize that just doing the shows is probably quite draining every day as they have to belt out songs and lines, dance, perform aerial tricks, etc. If they do "get the morning off" every day, how does the rest of the crew regard that? Understanding, annoyance, jealousy?

@JLMoran The majority of us crew all socialise with each other anyway, so there aren't any hard feelings towards each other.

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21 minutes ago, hayley_bopp said:

Interesing post. Thanks @CHRIS WONG 

Do other crew members have to chip in and help clean cabins in disembarkation/embarkation day?

Probably not cabins but common areas I would think. And I would bet if there was any sanitizing to be down if the ship had a norovirus issue they would be assigned to that. :27_sunglasses:

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19 hours ago, hayley_bopp said:

Interesing post. Thanks @CHRIS WONG 

Do other crew members have to chip in and help clean cabins in disembarkation/embarkation day?

@hayley_bopp There's no official rule for this, but crew members will often tidy and clean the cabin for before their replacement arrives. It's just a nice thing to do really.

We have cabin inspection every week, and there is a standard to which we have to maintain our cabin anyway.

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On 18/03/2018 at 9:34 PM, rjac said:

Probably not cabins but common areas I would think. And I would bet if there was any sanitizing to be down if the ship had a norovirus issue they would be assigned to that. :27_sunglasses:

@rjac The cleaners on the ships, also clean the crew areas as well. We are only responsible for cleaning our our cabin.

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Hi @CHRIS WONG!

Thanks so much for sharing some insight- your blog was very informative and entertaining. Great to see a little "behind the curtain". lol

My question is about how Royal Caribbean feels about your blog. Do they have rules regarding talking about crew life, salary and other "secrets"? I am going to assume no or you would not have a blog lol but was wondering if Royal Caribbean has a stance on the crew sharing.

Thanks! ?

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  • 1 month later...
13 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

On our cruise last week...our attendant told me 16-20 rooms each ?

Yikes! That is a lot, not to mention that they have more turnaround days on MA. I imagine that is the ship none of them want. Fingers crossed that CD Staff aren't quite as overworked.

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