Personal experience: what surprised me in working on cruise ships

Sharon Waugh worked on cruise ships for 6 years. She conducted research behind the scenes of her work experience. Some things on the ship surprised her very much, reports Insider.

Photo: IStock

Medical assistance on the cruise

Sharon did not think that there would be so many emergencies and evacuations in her work.

“Bad things can happen to you anywhere. After all, no one is immune from heart attacks, injuries and other medical emergencies, even while on vacation, she says. “I knew there were doctors and medical staff on cruise ships, but I didn’t realize how highly trained they had to be or how developed the ship’s medical centers were.”

Sharon thought every ship would have nothing more than an infirmary, but she was wrong. The ships she worked on had consultation rooms and other amenities. Sharon also underestimated the value of these medical centers.

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Injured or sick guests in need of serious ground medical attention often had to disembark from the ships on which Sharon worked. They were delivered to the port when it was possible, and when this was not possible, they were taken from the boat by air.

Liners often forget guests in port

When the cruises Sharon worked on stopped at the port, the guests' key card was read every time they got off and boarded the ship.

“I worked in guest services, which was responsible for informing the port agent when we needed to sail in order to arrive at the next port on time. So the key card system allowed us to know if someone hadn't returned at the end of the day,” says Sharon.

If a bus was returning guests late from a cruise line's shore excursion, the ship had to wait for them. However, as Sharon says, if the guests went themselves and forgot the departure time of the ship, the liner sometimes left without them, which happened more often than Sharon thought.

Security

The amount of safety information Sharon needed to know in order to work on cruise ships was overwhelming.

“I learned how to capsize a lifeboat and memorized which fire extinguisher to use in certain parts of the ship, even areas I was never allowed to go into, like the main galley and engine room,” she says. “We also conducted drills and practiced various safety responsibilities more often than I thought.”

In addition to the safety briefings the crews provided to the guests, ship workers were also scheduled to have weekly drills on port days when most passengers were not on board.

“Each time we reacted to different scenarios. From time to time we would conduct additional drills, such as filling and lowering lifeboats or evacuating passengers from the ship through a special escape ladder,” recalls Sharon.

Be on the ship on your weekends

Sharon says that when the ship was docked in port, a minimum number of crew members were required to remain on the ship to help evacuate guests on board in case something went wrong.

While crew members were often allowed to leave ship and explore ports, it depended on their work schedule and their "port staffing schedule" to ensure there were always enough trained staff, Sharon says.

Activities for the crew

Most of the ships Sharon worked on had crew bars and they served drinks that were significantly cheaper than drinks at guest bars.

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“We also had our own crew parties where we could blow off some steam at the end of a long day,” she says. “About once a month, the crew officer worked with the staff from one of the departments on board to throw us a big party. They were often thematic.”

Ranking between crew, headquarters and officers

The ship's crew usually included flight attendants, waiters, cooks and other employees who worked behind the scenes, Sharon says.

“The staff included entertainers, youth counselors, gift shop staff and spa workers. They were more passenger-facing and usually had access to the guest area after hours,” she says. “And the officers were high-ranking people who were either heads of departments or worked on the bridge, that is, in the control room used to control the ship, or in the engine room. In addition to access to the guest area, they generally had more privileges than other employees.”

Sharon did not expect the division to be so noticeable. In her experience, the separation translated into social and romantic relationships on the ships where she worked and lived.

She says there were some exceptions, but people mostly interacted with other people who were in the same rank.

Food

Sharon says that the crew members usually ate separately from the guests, and their food was usually delicious, but definitely not as sophisticated as what was served in the main dining rooms. However, as Sharon points out, this was not always the case.

Depending on the cruise line and the ship she was on, some workers with guest area privileges were able to eat from the cruise buffet on certain days that were not busy.

Stewards for staff

Sharon says staff and officers were able to share small cabins with other people, but in some cases the stewards changed their sheets every few days and gave their dirty uniforms to the laundry.
Sometimes the stewards left towels in the form of animals.

Undercover services for staff

On one of the ships where Sharon worked, workers set up various barbershops in the crew area and offered barbering services in their spare time.

“If someone could use their job or connections to pay you for some service, like stealing croissants from a bakery, that became currency between crew members,” she says.

Daytime sleep instead of adventure

One of the best things about working on a cruise ship, Sharon says, is the ability to travel the world and see different places.

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“We worked very long hours—sometimes seven days a week, seven days a week—so it makes sense that naps were a coveted luxury for some employees,” she says. “Personally, I preferred an incredible experience in port rather than an afternoon nap, but other people had different preferences.”

Shopping online

When Sharon worked on cruises, she did a lot of online shopping.

“Sometimes the ports we visited didn’t have good shopping options, and sometimes some items were easier to buy online,” she says.

Sharon looked for Wi-Fi at the port, or used the discounted internet package that many cruise lines offer to their employees.

“I regularly ordered snacks, gadgets, clothes, accessories and gifts. Mail arrived on our ship when it docked at its home port, where most guests boarded and disembarked,” she says. “Sometimes after a long journey we would forget what we had ordered, so opening our packages felt a little like Christmas morning.”

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