Serious about taking up a career in the cruise line industry.
A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are a part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way, i.e., ports of call. Transportation is not the only purpose of cruising, particularly on cruises that return passengers to their originating port with the ports of call usually in a specified region of a continent. There are even "cruises to nowhere" or "nowhere voyages" where the ship makes 2–3 night round trips without any ports of call.
The cruise liner is rapidly growing and are spaning across the globe with more and more tourists choosing cruiseline vacations as their number one option.
As a hotel management student lot of students dream of working on an international cruise ship. Since they get to visit different countries, meet different people, explore various cuisines and cultures. In India there are lots of representatives of various international cruise liners like MSC, P&O cruises, Princess cruises,Carnival cruises and Norwegien cruise liner to name a few. Their offices are also open for deserving candidates to wants to take up cruise liner career.
Here are the few perks and benefits of working on board the cruise ship that will make you hungry for more.
Working with crew from almost 40 different nationalities in a excellent way knowing their culture and traditions.
Visiting different countries in the course of the ship voyage with ship touching a port almost every day.
Visiting local markets and place of interest and enjoying the local cuisine at the port help to know a bit about the country.
Facilities on board cruise ships for crew members
Accommodation and food is free on board.
Recreational facilities like swimming pool, Jacuzzi, library, fitness gym are available 24 x 7 free of charge.
Satellite telephone line and high speed Wi-Fi services are available round the clock by paying a very nominal charge.
A well equipped medical centre is available for free on board to take care of you in case of any emergency.
Crew laundry services are available for free to provide you cleaned ironed uniform every day. Washing machines are also available around the crew area to take care of your personal clothing.
Crew cabin are equipped with t.v, dvd players, telephone, cupboard,comfortable beds and self contained bathroom and toilet facilities.
Crew recreational area popularly know as ‘crew bar’ are open for all crew members where tons of activities like dj night, disco night,and theme parties like diwali night, bollywood night, bingo night are planned on a regular basis to keep the crew members entertained after a exciting day at work.
Since almost all the facilities are free on board crew member can save lot on money which they earn as a salary on a monthly basis.
Various Positions are available on board of hospitality students with at least 1-2 years of experience in hospitality industry.
Sous chef.
Chef de partie hot kitchen/pastry
Demi chef de partie
Kitchen stewarding supervisor
1st commis hot kitchen/pastry
F&B assistants.
Buffet steward.
Passenger service assistants.
Butlers.
Housekeeping supervisor.
Bartenders.
Some are the hard fact you should know before you plan to go on board cruise ship.
Working timings on board are around 10-12 hours every day .
Tenure of your contract can be between 6 – 9 months with no days off.
Can only step out on the port when you are off duty or with prior permission from the HOD.
Staying away from families and friends can make you home sick.
Adapting to a completely new living and working condition can be difficult for some.
If you are comfortable with all the reality checks and are willing to come aboard all you need is a clear and focussed approached in ensuring highest level of passenger satisfaction during their voyage, which in turn will give you a rewarding experience along with financial and professional gains.
So if you have a fire in your belly to excel, come on board and see the world for free along with a rewarding career.
Welcome aboard.