What Should You Know About Cruise Ship Jobs?

If you have your heart set on roaming the world by sea, cruise ship jobs are what you should be eying at. Cruise ship jobs can be broadly categorized into two groups: on-board and on-shore. On-board cruise ship job opportunities on-board are divided into departments. These departments include: activity/entertainment department, deck and engineering department, service/hospitality department, and personal care department. On-shore cruise ship jobs are mainly located in the cruise headquarters. On-shore jobs include, accounting, clerical, marketing, air operations, and sales. Since majority of offices are are located in New York, Seattle, Los Angeles and Florida, residents living close to those areas would be given more preference for on-shore cruise ship jobs.

As far as activity/entertainment department is concerned, job roles include: casino staff, disc jockeys, dive instructors, gentleman hosts, youth counselors, audio visual coordinators, production managers and so on. These cruise ship jobs require constant interactions with passengers and are at the top of the most demanded cruise ship jobs. Typically, potential employees for these jobs, which are also regarded as entry-level positions, are hired on contract basis. Cruise ship jobs available in deck and engineering department are focused on maintenance of the vessel. Most of the staff in this department are professionals like engineers, electricians, captains and officers. It is the duty of the engineering department to maintain the standards set by the international maritime laws on board the ship. Service/hospitality department focuses on running the restaurants, pubs, gift shops and passenger cabins on board. Cruise ship jobs falling under this department include pursers, chefs, bartenders, cabin stewards and waiters. The service/hospitality department is also incharge of providing hotel services. Employment opportunities in this particular section include, accountants, bellmen, hotel managers, gift shop managers and IT staff. The personal care department features job roles such as, nurses, physicians, beauty therapists, fitness instructors, and massages.

Wages and salaries of cruise ship jobs can be categorized as tipping and non-tipping. Tipping jobs have a smaller base salary compared to non-tipping jobs. Waiters, bartenders, cocktail waiters typically get tipping salaries, but with tips the net salary can go as high as 4000 USD per month. Approximately waiters earn from 2500 USD to 4000 USD per month, while a bus boy or an assistant waiter may earn 1500 USD to 3000 USD. Salaries of bar waiters and waitresses fall in the range of 1000 USD to 2500 USD. Bartenders can sometimes earn up to 3000 USD per month. The non-tipping job holders earn around 350 USD to 500 USD per week. Furthermore, employees earning non-tipping salaries can be promoted to tipping salary positions depending on their experience and performance.

Opportunities for cruise ship jobs are published on a regular basis at recruitment agents, as well as through respective cruise lines. Visa and work permits are absolute essentials for all cruise ship jobs.