Cruise ship crew work months on end without a single day off. You are on the cruise ship between 4 all the way to 10 months and during this time are you working every single day. The contracts seem to last forever and some days you just want to quit, cry or hide in a corner.
What makes cruise ship life harder for most people is the fact that you are away from home. For the majority of the crew, missing family and special events can be tough, especially if you have kids back on land. A lot of crew members have family they left behind, including kids, and on special occasions and dates, it can be very tough. Although you will be surrounded by friends on the ship, it feels like you are never alone but deep inside, you know that a part of you is missing back on land.
Below you will find my top 10 tips for surviving a long contract onboard:
Table of Contents
1 - Have a Plan For Your Vacation
When you first join the ship everything seems exciting, especially if it’s your first contract. New friends to make, shining sparkling ship for you to explore, exciting itineraries, cool crew parties and events, shore excursions organized just for the crew, everything seems very excited in the beginning. After you have already adjusted to ship life, normally in your first three months onboard, everything will feel normal instead of new and exciting, like part of your routine but that passes will bring you closer to that goal.
I guess that the curse of working on cruise ships is the fact that the days are so long. One day feels like two, a week like a month, and your contract feels like an entire year. It feels like you have already been on the ship forever but when you look back it’s only been three months.
When you stop and realize that you still have six, seven, eight more months of this routine, and don’t get me wrong ship life is awesome but waking up every day to work, not having a single day off, the weekly crew drills, things don’t seem as exciting anymore.
As the times go by, things seem to get more annoying and that’s when you need to have a game plan. You will feel bored with your job, crew drills will get more annoying(especially if it falls on a cool port), and Nassau won’t be as exciting as it once was. When you start to feel like this, you will need to focus on the end of your contract. For myself, when I was working on board, having a plan of what I was going to do during my vacation helped me to keep encouraged and excited, looking forward to it. I definitely noticed that the times when I didn’t have anything planned for vacation, the contract seems to run slow, very slow.
My suggestion for you is to have a plan for your vacation. Go visit friends, family, do a road trip, plan a trip to another country that you haven’t been yet. Planning a vacation takes some time and keeps you motivated and looking forward to the end of your contract and every day that passes will bring you closer to that goal.
2 – Take Some Time to Explore The Ports of Call
I cannot stress this enough, and I was guilty of it sometimes; Go out and explore the ports of call! One of the main reasons people signup to work on cruise ships is the allure of free travel. There are some days that you won’t feel like getting off the ship, especially if its a port that you have been before. Some days I would choose not to explore the ports if it was a port that I have been before and instead I would find something to do onboard, like catching up on sleep, relaxing or watching series or movies.
Some days you don’t feel like running around, and that’s ok but make sure that this behavior doesn’t become a routine. If you only have a few hours to explore, it’s understandable that you want to use that time to relax but if you have enough time to go out, eat outside, explore the beaches or local town, do and you will feel better.
I highly suggest that you take every opportunity that you can to visit and enjoy ports of call because one of the main reasons people come to cruise ships it is to travel the world. Also if you haven’t been to a particular port yet and you have time to explore do it. Don’t skip till the next time because there might not be the next time. You might be transferred to another ship, or you might be stuck onboard for some reason (Port manning anyone?).
You will work hard but you also should take every opportunity that cruise ship life offers, the ability to travel and see new places without spending a lot of money.
3– Socialize More Often
If you are an introvert, life will be much easier if you try to meet new people, go to the parties sometimes, mingle with the crew in the crew bar and participate in some events. You don’t have to be the life of the party or be at the crew bar every single night like some people do. As long as you let loose sometimes, these and other little things will make you ship experience much more enjoyable
4. Get Enough Sleep and Learn to Take Naps.
Make sure you have some time to catch up on sleep. One of the hardest things is working while sleep deprived, so make sure you are getting enough hours of sleep between shifts.
Some jobs are more demanding than others and require a lot more energy that you can’t fake it, especially if your job is a customer facing position like guest services, wait staff, cruise staff, youth counselor, bartenders, etc.. If you are tired and sleep deprived, it will be hard to stay motivated to smile, which is a MUST when working on ships. You have to smile so much that at the end of the day your jaw might hurt and it gets harder when you feel sleep deprived.
Learn to Nap Before Goinng Onboard
If you are not used to taking naps, start learning now. Taking power naps will be the best thing you will develop when working onboard. The jobs on cruise ships are not like jobs on land where you work all eight hours in one single shift. Some jobs are very different where you only work a few hours in the morning, have a lunch break, a few hours off, then come back in the afternoon or evening to work few more hours, another break, and work some more, and after all that, you still find time and energy to go to the crew bar. Sometimes you will have three shifts in a single day with few hours to rest and between.
By learning to take power naps, you will be more likely to finish your day with enough energy left to socialize a bit in the crew bar before starting all over the next day. Naps will literary save your day.
5. Have Some Alone Time
You can try to find a quiet place on the ship, but depending on your ship, that can also be a challenging task. Sometimes your best option is to go off the ship if you need some alone time.
A great addition to have with you is a noise canceling headphone that you can use whenever you need some quiet time onboard.
Visit this post, What to Pack for Your First Contract, to learn more ideas what to bring to the ship.
If your roommate decides to watch tv while you are trying to sleep or just relax, a noise canceling headphone helps a lot. Also, they are great to have when flying because it blocks the loud sounds emitted by the airplane engines. If you decided to have one onboard, make sure that you are not walking around the ship with the headphones on, because is prohibited to wear headphones while transiting on the ship. You don’t want to have the safety officer yelling at you.
6. Avoid Complaining
By complaining about them it might make you feel better but the end result will be the same. The thing that you are complaining about will not change, what would change is your mood and the mood of the people around you. Your energy will shift to negative energy and that can lead to stress and even illness.
Try to See the Big Picture
I recommend you to try to see the big picture. Be grateful for where you, the places you’re visiting and the friends you’re making. I know that not everything will be a sea full of roses but even roses have thorns. By having a positive outlook in life your contract on the ship will go more smoothly. Remember, nobody likes a negative person.
7. Have Friends in High Places
Working on a cruise ship is all about connections. Cruise ships are like floating hotels and there are many different positions and locations on board the ship that you normally don’t have access to. One thing that you will notice that will make your life onboard better is to have friends in different departments that can help you with things you need access to and vice versa.
Normally our techie friends will have hard drives full of movies and series that you can borrow. Make friends with the chefs or galley cooks because they’re the ones that get access to great food, be friends with youth counselors if you want to be part of the cool club at the crew bar, or if you just need some materials like construction paper, balloons, and glitter. Also very important, make friends of the shore excursions staff if you and want to go on some cool excursions, sometimes organized exclusively for the shore excursion’s team by the tour operators. Sometimes they can bring friends, just saying. Overall be friendly and practice good karma.
8. Save Money
It’s true that you can save a big chunk of money while working on a cruise ship if you are disciplined. It’s also very easy to spend all of your money and go home with barely enough to survive your vacation. Some crew members spend money like they are on vacation, and then go on vacation with barely enough to survive, thus creating a vicious cycle of having to go back to the ship to make more money, and the cycle repeats.
I do encourage anyone to you enjoy your life while on board, go out and eat outside in Venice once in a while, buy few drinks on a beach in the Caribbean, buy those souvenirs magnets and shot glasses in Italy, overall have a good time but I also want to make sure that you are not spending every single dime that you make.
No Vacation Pay
In the end, you have to remember that when your contract ends and you go vacation, you WILL NOT get paid. The paycheck will stop coming, so you need to plan for your finances for however many weeks or months you will be off the ship.
My recommendation is that you calculate how many weeks you will be off the ship, how much you think you need per week and save that money every month, set up a deposit directly from your paycheck to be deposited to your bank account, that way you don’t even get tempted about spending it. Also, keep in mind that when you go back to the ship you won’t get paid until the following month, normally 30 days, so plan accordingly.
9. Going for a next Contract? Create Some Goals
If you are going to a new ship and itinerary, do some research on the places you want to see and experiences you want to do. Create a financial plan on things you want to accomplish during the contract, perhaps you want to save money to for a down payment on a house, catch up on bills, go on that vacation you always wanted.
Perhaps you might be tired of your current job and want to move positions or get a promotion. Find out what things you can do to get you there, maybe learning a new language? Whatever you have in mind, write it down and see how much you need to save to accomplish that goal.
By creating a roadmap for your next contract with things that you want to accomplish, you will be more likely to succeed. Remember most of us will be on the ship for months, depending on your position, up to ten months, so make sure you make the most of it.
10. Stay Healthy
All cruise ships offer a gym facility for the crew and depending on your position and rank, you will have access to the passenger’s gym, normally located in the top level of the ship with stunning views of the ocean or if docked, the port.
Sometimes the last thing you want to do after a long shift is going to the gym because it feels like you have been working out the whole day. After all, you will work on your feet for the majority of the time, but by having some workout schedules and a bit of discipline, you will be able to shed those unwanted pounds and maybe end up losing weight at the end of your contract or at least maintain your current weight.
Bonus post! 11 - Know Your Why
Sometimes it’s easy to get lost in all the busy life you will have at sea. There will be a lot of things happening at the same time and things can get lost and you forget the reason you end up working on cruise ships.
Always remember WHY you decided to embark on this journey in the first place. Many people might have different reasons why they decided to work on a cruise ship, some go for the money, some go for the traveling opportunities, some to seek a life less ordinary, there are many different reasons why.
Always know your WHY and have it written on a piece of paper, hang somewhere where you can see it all the time. During the times you question why that heck you decided to work on a cruise ship, remember your why and that will help you keep on focused.
if your dreams don't scare you they aren't big enough.
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