Cruise Ship Employment - The Truth About Cruise Ship Jobs

The prospect of cruise ship employment is an appealing one to many prospective job seekers and for good reason. However, while television series like "The Love Boat" have glamorized the industry, just keep an open mind about working on a cruise ship and that it may not be all "chocolates and roses."

One of the toughest things to consider especially if you are married with kids is the prospect of spending a long time away from your family. In some cases, this could be as long as six months.

On the plus side though, it's hard to spend money working on a cruise ship. The fact you spend the majority of your time confined within the boundaries of the ship means you won't have the opportunity to spend as you normally would living on land.

Employment on a cruise ship means basically getting free board and having the opportunity to build your savings very quickly.

Seeking A Cruise Ship Job

Finding cruise ship employment is tough despite the fact the industry continues to grow at a rapid rate. You are going to need some assistance, but be careful how you go about seeking this help.

There are several crew agencies that offer to help prospective employees find work on cruise ships. Most these are reputable, but a few, especially the ones that ‘guarantee’ to find you a job, need to be examined closely. One of their tricks is to offer you a ‘money-back guarantee’ if they cannot find you a job.

All you have to do is turn in to the agency five rejection letters from different cruise lines. What they do not tell you is that cruise lines receive thousands of applications and resumes and are under no obligation to send out rejection letters to the masses that they do not hire.

There are two main areas to consider when seeking cruise ship employment. There are the staff who work in the maintenance and running of the ship and those who work in the catering, entertainment and hospitality areas of a ship.

Competition for cruise ship employment is extremely fierce and one thing to consider is, your competition will come from all over the planet, not just your own backyard. There is a strong presence of different nationalities among cruise ship staff. It's one of the benefits of working at sea in that you have a great diversity of people from all over the world to work alongside of.