From all of my adventures, all over the world, this is the story that most people ask questions about as they feel working on a cruise ship is something they wish to do.
At the age of 26 I was working as a IT Manager for a small company in England. I had finished my BA in Computer Sciences a few years prior and been at this job for four years where I had gained so much experience but I felt it was time to move into something a little more exciting. My day to day life was becoming a copy and paste exercise; I just looked forwards to the weekend, which always went by so fast, and Monday mornings always came around so quickly. I suspect for a lot of you, you feel the same way. I craved excitement. Something new. Something I had never done before.
For many of you reading this; you are one step ahead of where I was. At this point in time working on ships never crossed my mind. One day, during my daily catch-up on Reddit I stumbled across an AskReddit thread about workers on a cruise ship. I fell in love with the idea instantly and Googled for jobs in the industry. I only applied for one. Royal Caribbean. Below is the story of how the whole process works.
Applying and Interview Process
You likely have so many questions about what to expect! I know I did. I didn’t have any prior knowledge of how the cruise industry worked, or even been on a cruise before. This was all entirely new to me. From applying to having my first interview took about 2 months. By the time I got an interview I had actually forgotten that I had applied! During the application stage, they ask you a lot of questions – Don’t be put off by this, just fill it out truthfully. Treat it like a normal application form for any other job!
With Royal Caribbean (RCCL), in IT (other departments maybe different) you will have two interviews. The first interview is with someone who is likely from recruiting and just weeding out people who are far off the mark. The questions at this stage are pretty general and are mostly about you. The will ask how you feel about being away from home for 6 months at a time a couple of questions related your background in IT. You really don’t need to worry about this – it’s all very straight forward. They will also assess your level of English on this too; being fluent in English is essential in working in the cruise industry. Having a second language is also preferred but not essential. I’m British and can only speak English. Ultimately they are trying to work out whether you are a good fit for the cruise lifestyle, as it’s very different to working on land, more on that later!
After a week (or couple of weeks, they aren’t too speedy at this stage) you will be invited to another interview, over Skype, with likely the Fleet IT Manager (the person who looks after the IT Managers on each ship). This is more technical than the first interview but in my experience, not as technical as other IT based interviews I have had in the past. I was asked two main questions:
- How would I go about troubleshooting a printer issue
- How would I rate three different problems in order of priority and why
The first question, anyone who has had prior experience in IT should be able to rattle off a handful of ways to go about answering the question. I gave about five different answers depending on how the printer was set up. As with all IT interviews, they are wanting to hear about your troubleshooting skills.
With the second question, they are wanting to know can you effectively prioritise your workload. The examples are straightforward and very easy to understand, even if you have never worked on a ship before. There are right and wrong answers to this, to make sure you take a few seconds to think about the order.
Once all of this has been done you will receive an email from RCCL’s recruitment team with an offer letter, hopefully! This took a couple of days for me after the second interview but I know others that have taken weeks! This is when you get given a mass of paperwork to fill out. Most of the paperwork is just straightforward details about you. The whole recruitment process, till now, will have been slow, but now they will chase you every other day to get the paperwork off you. It should come to no surprise, but you need a valid Passport. If you don’t already have one, apply now!
This is something I wish I was told, do your research into what ship or part of the world you wish to be in. Use the Royal Caribbeans website to go see where ships sail to and how long each cruise is. If you want to be in Europe tell the recruiter this is where you want to go. I was based in the Caribbean; if I went back I would be pushing to go to Australia, New Zealand or Alaska. That is my personal choices though. The cruise I was on, was 7 days. Every Sunday we dropped off the passengers and picked new ones up. For IT, this was the hardest day so try to avoid the three day cruises.
You will also have to preform a medical check, police background check and get visa’s (depending on your passport and what country you are destined for). All these expenses come out of your own pocket and you are are not reimbursed for them, apart from your Visa, so keep the receipt (you claim this back onboard).
For me, the medical test was the most daunting of them all. It involved a trip to London (you will be given a list of doctors who are approved for the testing) and costed about £350. London wasn’t the closest for me, Bristol was, but it worked out slightly more expensive. The medical is very thorough; they take blood, chest x-rays and urine. I actually failed the first medical due to elevated liver enzymes. The UK doctors said even though they were slightly elevated, they weren’t a cause for concern but RCCL wanted them lower. Two weeks off any alcohol and another test (ACL) at my local doctors and I was still slightly above RCCLs limits but it didn’t cause an issue – I just had to sign a disclaimer saying they were high.
They of course have a strict zero drug policy, so make sure your tests come back clean. Smoking and drinking is fine though however I would recommend staying off the beer a few weeks before your tests.
The police background check was simple. You simply request this online (in the UK if your British) from the Police website. There is a fee of about £70 for the privilege but they do send you a fancy certificate which you need to scan (or take a photo of) to send to RCCL.
As I was destined for the Caribbean, my homeport was the USA. This involved another trip to London, this time to visit them Embassy. Get there early, don’t take anything with you, apart from your essentials as you are not allowed in there with a bag! You will sit there for an hour or so till you are called up where you give the paperwork RCCL has given you, along with your police check and passport, to the embassy. In about 10 days your passport will be posted back with your new Visa.
Well done. You are now ready to join your ship!
FAQ
Did you use a hiring agency, or third party, during the process?
No – For IT on RCCL you are hired directly via RCCL and the whole process is the same as applying for a normal job. For other departments, and cruise lines, this maybe different and the recruitment process maybe handled by a third party (I believe the dancers / entertainment staff are hired this way). You shouldn’t be asked for any money or to pay any fees during the recruitment process (apart from the medical, police checks and visas but these come after you have been accepted for the job). If you are asked to pay to get a job on board, or to submit an application this is likely a scam. Research the company before parting with you cash.
What is they pay like?
The pay highly varies between departments. I would not advise joining RCCL, if you can work in England, if you are just looking at the money. The pay when I was on board was $2150 per month, but I believe this has been increased to $2700. The figures don’t sound that bad but when you work out you are working around 9 hours a day, 7 days a week, it doesn’t pay much more than McDonalds in England! You do have the added benefit that all food / accommodation is paid for so you have very little expenses. For me, I joined for the adventure, the life style, the excitement and to travel. The pay wasn’t a big factor to me. Other cruise lines, notably Disney and Norweign pay higher, but they have draw backs in crew life.
Why Royal?
When I first joined, it was just luck. They were a brand that stood out and were likely top of my Google search. After working there, and hearing stories of other cruise lines, Royal really do care about the crew. They are really into crew welfare and turn a blind eye to alcohol consumption (unlike Disney). Royal also do a lot of crew activities which you can partake in during your free time.
Do you pay tax?
Unfortunately for Americans, you do. Most other nationalities you don’t. Being British you should declare your earning to HMRC but I know many people don’t. As I was self employed prior to my employment I declared my earnings as part of my Self Assessment (as you should too). At the end of every month you receive an itemised bill of your expenses (mostly beer and smokes in my case!) which I used to write off most of the tax.
I want to know more about life on board!
You are in luck – I have another blog post that talks about daily life on cruises and what to expect on your first week along with other stories about working on board!
