'It's not worth it': former cruise ship worker talks about terrible schedule and low pay

Chris Libreros worked for a major US cruise line from March to November. He always wanted to travel. But low pay and a grueling schedule have left a negative impression of this work, according to Insider.

Photo: IStock

Chris has lived in Miami all his life, so he always watched the cruise ships come in and out of the port. But he never understood what was really happening on board.

Chris was working at the Ritz-Carlton last year and decided he wanted to try something new. He had a friend who worked for a large cruise line. Chris had heard that this company had ships sailing to Asia, a part of the world he had always wanted to explore. A friend of Chris's helped him get a job in the guest services department, sort of like the general check-in desk of a cruise ship. His role was primarily customer service, helping guests with questions and complaints.

Chris left the US in March and returned in November. He was earning $2100 a month before taxes. The cruise was originally supposed to depart from Hong Kong, but due to China's COVID-19 restrictions, the cruise ship was moved to Singapore. From there he sailed to Malaysia and Thailand.

Chris' contract was originally 5,5 months, but he ended up extending it to eight months because he wanted to see parts of Thailand before returning to the US.

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“For the first few months we did ‘cruises to nowhere’, where you just go out to sea for a few days and then come back without stopping at any port. During these cruises we worked eight to nine hours a day. But once regular cruises started, we worked anywhere from nine to eleven and a half hours a day, depending on the number of staff. On cruise ships, most of the crew do not have days off. It’s non-stop work, seven days a week,” says Chris.

“You must give up the way of life you had on land.”

One of the things that surprised Chris the most about working on a cruise ship was the complete change in lifestyle.

“When you leave a land job to work on a cruise, you lose a lot of your freedom. It’s not like you can’t go out and do whatever you want in your free time, and you should always be ready to work the next day,” he says.

Living conditions were also very different from those to which Chris was accustomed.

“You're in a very small room that you're probably sharing with another person. Additionally, in Singapore, COVID-19 restrictions were still very strict, so there were different rules regarding group gatherings, even when people were sitting at the same table. Later in my contract they became less strict,” Chris said.

For him, the most difficult thing was the lack of days off. Chris worked every single day for eight months. Such a long work in a row exhausts you, as the guy says.

In the US, workers are protected by labor laws, but these provisions do not apply to foreign-flagged cruise ships.

According to maritime law, the maximum amount of time crew members can work is 14 hours per day. Chris couldn't take a break until he had worked six hours and 30 minutes. In Miami, that's about a full shift.

“The only time you could get a day off was if you had a health problem,” he says. — I had a really bad toothache, so I had to get off the ship in Singapore to visit a dentist. They ended up pulling my tooth out, which was one of the most traumatic things I've ever been through. When I got back on board, I was given one day off.”

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But the payment, Chris says, was the most shocking part of his experience. Chris earned $2100 a month, which was quite low for a US citizen, Chris says that he had people working with him in different departments who earned almost nothing - about $700 a month. This amounts to less than $2 per hour.

“Many crew members were paid wages that I would consider unacceptable. And given that many of them came from countries whose national currency was worth less than the US dollar, I felt that the company had a lot of control over the crew members and paid them the bare minimum,” says Chris.

Lack of sleep

Chris says you have to choose between post-shift activities and sleep. Even if you have time to sleep, there are so many factors that can prevent you from getting a good night's sleep.

Your roommate, noise in the hallways, moving machinery, emergency calls, and crew announcements coming through the speakers in your room. You must also attend the naval exercise early in the morning after the guests have left the ship.

“I think I was the most sleep-deprived when I was working on the ship. If I slept more than six hours, it was a miracle,” says Chris. “I was one of the few Americans working on the ship.” When I arrived, maybe 90% of the crew were Chinese. Luckily, I had practiced Chinese before I got on the ship, but there was still a language barrier.”

Sometimes it was difficult for Chris to find friends who shared his interests.

“I'm gay, and some cultures aren't as accepting of it as others. I got quite lonely at times, especially in the first few months,” says Chris.

But he notes that most people were friendly and outgoing, and he enjoyed meeting people from all over the world. “Even coming from Miami, which is very diverse, I was exposed to nationalities that I had never encountered before,” Chris says.

“I am relieved to be back at work from 9 to 5”

Chris is now back in Miami, working in hotel events management. “I was relieved to be back working Monday through Friday, a stable schedule with no sudden changes,” he says.

Chris says he doesn't think he'll ever work on a cruise ship again.

“I expected to work long shifts, but I expected to have more free time to get off the ship and explore different ports. My cruise was particularly bad due to COVID-19 restrictions in Asia and I spent a lot of time on board the ship,” he says.

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“My advice for people who are interested in working on cruise ships is to first determine what department you want to work in—in addition to guest services, there's restaurant, casino, finance and entertainment, just to name a few,” says Chris. — If someone from the US is going to work on a cruise ship, they should expect a pay cut, especially if they don't have a position in the entertainment industry or connections. Determine your financial needs and what your plan is. Prepare to have your life completely changed and have to adapt to a new set of rules and regulations.”

Chris admits it probably wasn't worth it. “Maybe if I had done this at a different time, my experience would have been different. But right now I feel like I'm missing out on a lot - there's so much in Asia that I wanted to explore,” he says.

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