mike geary: I have my bartending license and I want to travel and meet new people, is this a good opportunity?|||I have not worked on a cruise ship but I have talked to many people who do as I have done more than 20 cruises. Normally persons who sign on to work on a cruise ship will sign a contract to work for 6 to 10 months continuously, depending on the position and cruise line. Then after that time you would get a month to 6 weeks off. Then you come back on ship for another long stint. The daily work schedules are not 8 hour days but more like 12 to 14 hour days with split shifts. Depending on your job you may go to work at 6:00 AM, work until about noon, have several hours off in the afternoon, and then go back to work at 4:00 PM and be on duty until 10 PM. Sometimes during your off hours from one job you have to do another. If you are bartending you may work one place days and another evenings and nights. Cruise ship are used 24 hr a day 7 days a week and there is no downtime between cruises except to clean the ship and prepare for the next group of passengers to board. The ship will be in the departure port about 12 hour to discharge passengers, then load new supplies and passengers and then set sail again. When the ship docks in scheduled ports and at the departure port you may or may not be able to get off the ship, depending on your job and work schedule. But crew members do occasionally get to take a few hours off in port stops and shop, go to the beach or do whatever. Its just that they do not have a firm regular schedule. Go to this Royal Caribbean web link and click on the various options to see what the employment process is like: https://jobs.rccl.com/jobs/rccl_jobs.nsf鈥?/a> Here's an example for an entry level position on Royal Caribbean: TO JOIN OUR TEAM: (for entry level or management positions) 鈥?Applicants must be 18 years or older 鈥?Be able to speak, read and write English, fluently 鈥?Be able to obtain a valid passport and United States C1/D visa 鈥?Be willing to commit to at least a 6 month or 4 months on 2 months off schedule 鈥?Be able to work with a diverse international crew 鈥?Have related experience for the job applied 鈥?Be flexible with your work schedule, job duties and job locations 鈥?Be willing to share a cabin 鈥?Be willing to work 7 days and up to a possible 70 hour work week 鈥?Appreciate diversity among guests and crew You need to go to the cruise line web sites. There you will find a link to jobs, employment, human resources or some such link that will give you information about their positions. Use these web sites as a lead to who and where to write or call for information about positions. Some sites have actual vacancies listed and they also will list in general terms the basic requirements for working on a cruise ship. Royal Caribbean is a great site for this type information. Many cruise lines use "hiring partners". DO NOT use any other web sites that require you to pay a fee to register or get job information or referrals. Some cruise line sites may have current vacancies they are recruiting for. Several cruise lines have new ships coming out soon so opportunities will be there. Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Disney and some others will have new ships launched this year and next. Here are some links: Carnival is the parent company for several cruise lines including Carnival, Cunard, Princess, and Holland America. PRINCESS: http://www.princess.com/index.html CARNIVAL: http://www.carnivalcruiselines.com/ Then Royal Caribbean cruise line is a partner with Celebrity and Azamara. So contacting RC will likely also get you leads to these others. Royal Caribbean has very good information about its positions. CELEBRITY: http://www.celebritycruises.com/home . ROYAL CARIBBEAN: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/gohome.d..鈥?/a> This is a link to how to apply for employment with Norwegian cruise line: http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/staticPage.htm鈥?/a> There is a link to their hiring partners on the site. The cruise lines also hire people to work on land at call in reservation and information centers around the country. Some are in Miami and others are in Seattle and other cities. In addition, they also hire part-time people to work at the port on the days when ships are departing. So when you contact the cruise lines you may want to ask about those type positions also.|||Yes, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but it's also hard work. It is tough to find free quality and updated information about applying for cruise ship jobs. You should never have to pay someone to get you a job, but what you should consider investing in, if you're serious, is a guide book to the industry insider information. This gives you everything you need to know about working on cruise ships, including descriptions of all the types of jobs available and how to apply. Armed with tips, strategies, and a step-by-step action plan you will save time and money in the long run. The faster you learn how to get into the competitive cruise ship industry, the faster you can get a job travelling the world, meeting new people, and doing what you love.|||I worked on cruise ships for 10 years.... it was much like an extension of college. Every night after work, we would go to the Officers Bar to drink & dance. The next morning (hung over) we went and did our jobs. Two things to consider: 1) If you're a US citizen, you're pretty much restricted to NCL America cruising the Hawaiian islands. All other cruise companies hire from outside the US because they can pay lower wages. See the link below to NCL America's job page: http://164.109.173.40/employment/nclAmer鈥?/a> 2) If seeing Hawaii for 6 months sounds good..... SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) mandates that cruise ships maintain 33% of its crew onboard at all times in case of an emergency. That means every third day that you are not scheduled to work you are required to stay onboard (it's called In Port Manning.) If you'd rather see more than Hawaii and are willing to not be a bartender, you can be cruise staff and host volleyball games, pool olympics, etc. All of the major cruise lines will hire US/Canadians for these positions, you get the most freedom to roam anywhere on the ship, and the itineraries will take you all over the world.|||You'll definitely meet many new people and see some of the world; but it's hard hard work. There's several books mostly available on Google Books which will give you an idea of some people's experience of life on board. Try searching for either "Straight Up, No Sippin': Memoirs of Life and Work Onboard Mega Cruise Ships" by George Stowers or "Cruise Confidential: A Hit Below the Waterline" by Brian David Bruns. They're quite different accounts of life onboard.|||For the position you will work long hours for sure but a good thing about cruise lines is that you don't pay for rent or food and of course the most importatnt thing, you will have the chance to visit cool places and meet people from all around the world. The cabins are small most of the time and you will share yours with 1,2 or 3 people sometimes HR is always worried about the crew so they organized events such as bingo, bbq and cheap crew tours you can also get movies and books from the crew welfare and of course the crew bar is there if you want to refresh yourself...I personally enjoy my experience and that's why I'm going for my 2nd contract :) Hope it helps|||I have never done it, but I have spoke to many of the ship staff throughout the years. Working on a cruise ship is good when you first start cause its something new and exciting. After a couple of months, it gets to be a grind. The days are long. Remember, your not on a cruise vacation when your working. Give it a try to see how you like it. I think its a 6 or 9 month deal though. Hope I helped!|||Working on a cruise ship allows you to explore the world, but it is hard work. Cruise ships usually have an employment contract, they vary from 3 months to a year... Try looking at the web site www. allthingscruise.com, it has a section on to get a job on a cruise ship, that part is here: http://allthingscruise.com/work-on-a-cruise-ship/- it also talks about what to expect.