Recently, I was invited on the Disney Destiny and given the opportunity to chat with six crew members about what it’s like to live and work on board the ship. It was actually a pretty fascinating work environment, as it’s quite different from the average 9-to-5. Here are 22 interesting things they mentioned about their jobs.
1.
There are no days off during their contract.
2.
Also, they have no mandatory expenses on board.
3.
The crew mess has food so good, guests have asked to order it instead of the meals at the rotational dining restaurants.
4.
Crew members can wear as many as seven different work costumes for one three-day cruise.
5.
Crew members typically get assigned their ships.
6.
You learn how to pack really really well as a byproduct of working on a cruise ship.
7.
And you also learn quite a bit of meteorology????
8.
Crew members mentioned the one thing they wished they could tell guests to do to have a nice cruise is to use the dang app.
9.
And sometimes people are so consumed with going thing to thing that they miss the “relaxing” part of a cruise.
10.
Crew can get off and explore ports during their breaks.
11.
They can also get off and explore another Disney cruise ship if it’s docked in the same port!
12.
Even though there are no days off, there are rules for how long crew members can work to preserve mental health.
13.
What does a break look like? Well, for servers, it’s usually skipping a breakfast or lunch seating.
14.
You have to learn special skills like…Madden?
15.
Just like there are activities for passengers on the cruise, there are also those same kinds of activities for crew.
16.
Opening a new cruise ship is “like unwrapping a huge Christmas present.”
17.
Before a new ship opens, it crosses the Atlantic from Germany to the US, and in that time, the crew is all on board doing final preparations and trainings.
18.
The crew really bonds with the passengers.
19.
Working on a cruise ship, you work in tons of different departments.
21.
You realize what a small world it really is.
22.
“I feel like I can stop in any country now and call someone, be like, Hey, I’m in [a country].”
Have you ever worked on a cruise ship? What were the good parts? The bad parts? The interestingly mundane parts? Tell us all about it in the comments or share completely anonymously in the Google form below.