Working on Cruise Ships

What happens when you’re a workaholic

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 09:18:00 +0000

Why am I doing this to myself? Do I get pleasure from inflicting pain to myself? These two questions are haunting me for a while and I still can’t get a reasonable answer to them. But more important that what am I asking myself, is why…why am I asking myself this…

First contract I had a good reason. I was assistant waitress for 6 months and in the last day of my contract they offered me the Yeoman position. I had to extend my contract 4 months, but it was well worth the bother. It was what I wanted from the beginning, to get an officer position, and of course I would sacrifice myself and do a 10 months contract. I would have done more than 10 if it wasn’t for me getting a replacement. The scheduler in Miami didn’t send anybody and I was onboard for over 9 months when I decided to choose somebody and train to replace me while I was in vacation. After begging all division heads to give me one of their crew, a good friend of mine, the Inventory Manager, gave me one of his storekeepers to train. I completed his training in 3 weeks and finally left home.

I got a good reason for the second contract too. I was just starting to get used to the position when, after 3 months of being a Yeoman, the Hotel Director asked me if I want to fill in for his admin for a week, until the replacement will arrive. He had problems with his visa and he was delayed for a week. So here I was, doing two jobs, working 12-14 hours a day and trying to please everybody. I guess I was doing well since the replacement never came and I did both jobs for almost 2 months. I was so burned up I finally said “That’s it!!!” I had to recruit another crewmember to be a temporary Yeoman until I finish replacing the Hotel Administrative Assistant and have my vacation. Nobody helped me; I had to beg again the division heads to give me someone to train. This time was the Dining Room Manager, and here I was again, training this assistant waitress to replace me. This time I was lucky enough to go home after almost 7 months.

This time, my third contract, I have absolutely no reason for why I’m doing it all over again except that it looks good in my CV (sort of anyways). I came back from vacation in mid May just to find out that the position has changed from Yeoman, which was something like a secretary, to Food & Beverage Administrative Assistant, which is not just a secretary, but more like and F&B Assistant. What they did was to merge the Food & Beverage Manager Junior with the Yeoman position and create the F&B Administrative Assistant which has the job description of both positions. It would have been ok if the salary and the living conditions would have been on the same level. But guess what? I have to share the cabin, even though I am a two stripes officer, and the salary is under $2000.

Anyways, like most of the managers onboard say it, this is it and this is what we have to work with. So I stopped complaining and just did my job. And then was when I start asking my self those questions: “Why am I doing this to myself? Why do I work 10-11 hours a day? Why can’t I just take the afternoon off and go out just like the others do? What makes me so obsessed with this job?”

Then, when I was on my third month onboard, I got asked if I would like to replace the Hotel Administrative Assistant while she is on vacation. My heart was telling me to say no, to relax, that it’s not worth the bother, but my mind started to calculate the pro’s and con’s and , just like in a dream, I saw myself saying yes. I got out of the office wondering what the hell is wrong with me. It wasn’t something that I wanted or planned to do… Besides, I was suppose to go in vacation in November and sped the holidays with my friends and family. I have no idea why I say yes. So here I am now, doing again a 10 months contract, just because I am a helpless workaholic.

PS: The pictures you see on this post are from when my sister was onboard with her boyfriend. As you might notice, I was wearing the uniform all the time for the simple reason that I was always working. I didn’t even go out with them once…Something has to change! And fast!

Food & Beverage Department - Restaurant Division

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:35:00 +0000

Out of the three divisions that the Food & Beverage Department holds, the Restaurant Division is the most popular when it comes to money. Its structure has changed recently, but it’s fairly simple and everyone knows who to report to. Described in a simple way, the structure goes like this:

1. Restaurant Operations Manager

He or she is a three stripe officer and is in charge with the entire restaurant operation. The Windjammer Manager, Portofino Manager and Assistant Dining Room Manager report directly to him or her and, of course, the position is got its own admin now.

The contract length is 4 months with 2 months off and, aside the thousands of dollars salary, he or she is got monthly bonuses from china and linen savings, wine gratuity and the big, fat bonus at the end of the fiscal year.

2. Windjammer Manager

The Windjammer Manager is a two and a half stripes officer and is in charge with Windjammer Buffet, Johnny Rockets (fast food outlet) and Café Promenade (coffee shop with snacks). Directly to him reports the following positions: Johnny Rockets Supervisor and Windjammer Supervisor.

Just like the Restaurant Operations Manager, the contract length is also 4 months on with 2 months off, and a big, fat bonus included.

3. Portofino Manager

Portofino Manager is in charge with the Italian specialty restaurant. Is a two stripes officer with a 6 months contract and sharing cabin. From 2 stripes below, no officer is entitled to the yearly bonus, but they got part of the cover charge. The Portofino waiters report directly to him.

4. Assistant Dining Room Manager

This position was introduced recently. It’s a 2 stripe position with a contract length of 6 months and sharing cabin. Their salary is based on tips, but don’t be fooled by it, they make a lot of money. There are 3 Assistant Dining Room Managers, each in charge with one Dining Room deck (our Dining Room has 3 decks/levels). They are responsible with the booking on their respective decks and the Headwaiters working in that deck report directly to them.

5. Restaurant Operation Admin

The admin reports directly to the Restaurant Operations Manager and basically does everything. He has 2 office boys/girls helping in the morning with paperwork. Is a one stripe officer with 6 months contract and sharing cabin.

6. Head Waiter

These guys are making more money than a 3 stripe officer because their salary is based on tips. They are one stripe officers, with 6 months contract length and a sharing cabin. Each of them has a station assigned (there are 3 stations on each Dining Room deck) and the waiters and assistant waiters working there report to him/her.

7. Johnny Rockets Supervisor

He or she is in charge with Café Promenade and Johnny Rockets and reports to the Windjammer Manager. This is a one stripe officer with a 6 months contract and sharing cabin. They get a fix salary with no gratuities. The Café Attendants and Johnny Rockets Attendants report to him/her.

8. Windjammer Supervisor

There are 2 Windjammer Supervisors onboard, both reporting to the Windjammer Manager. They are in charge with supervising the Windjammer operation and the Assistant Waiters working there are reporting to them. It’s a one stripe position, with fix salary, 6 months contract and sharing cabin.

9. Room Service Supervisor

The Room Service Supervisor reports directly to the Restaurant Operations Manager and is in charge with Room Service operation and Attendants working there. Is a one stripe position, with 6 months contract, fix salary and sharing cabin.

10. Room Service Operator

The position is pretty much self-explanatory. They are part of the crew with a 6 months contract, fix salary and sharing cabin. The Room Service Operator reports to Room Service Supervisor.

11. Mess Supervisor

The Mess Supervisor is in charge with both officer and crew messes and directly to him/her are reporting the Mess Attendants. Mess Supervisor is a one stripe position with a 6 months contract, fix salary and sharing cabin. He or she reports to Restaurant Operations Manager.

12. Mess Attendant
13. Dining Room Cleaner
14. Café Attendant
15. Johnny Rockets Attendant
16. Room Service Attendant

The above 5 positions are similar; the only difference is the place they work in. Except for the Johnny Rockets who get gratuities from the cover charges in the fast food outlet they work in, the rest have a fix salary and they also get gratuities from the beverages they sell (not too much though). They all have an eight months contract and sharing cabin.

17. Assistant Waiter

This is a much better position that the ones above because they have a salary based on tips. An average assistant waiter salary can be around $2000 or more a month. Also, the contract length is 6 months and they only work in the Dining Room or Windjammer during the dinner time and in Windjammer (during the day time).

During the diner time, they work 4 weeks in the Dining Room and one week in Windjammer. They get gratuities in the Dining Room, but in Windjammer they get only the gratuities from the beverages they sell. Might not make sense, but this is how the system is set up.

18. Waiter

Waiter position is a good position as well due to the amount of money they make and the 6 months contract length. An average waiter makes around $3000 and, during the diner time, works only in Dining Room (no free week in Windjammer).

As a first-timer, this structure might look confusing. Indeed there are a lot of positions in the Restaurant Division, but this is what makes it easier because everyone knows exactly what they are suppose to do.

Food & Beverage Department - The easy way in

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:06:00 +0000

When I decided I want to go back to working on cruise ships, first thing I had to decide is how to do that. I wanted an officer position and I was qualified for it, but unfortunately, most of the agencies are recruiting for entry level positions such as cooks, assistant waiters or bar servers. Few people are lucky enough to get an officer position from the first contract and that’s happening mostly because they come from a fist world country such as US, UK etc. or because they have connections either on the ship or at the agency. If you’re just a normal person, from a normal country, like I was, that’s very hard, and if you get it, you have to wait many months.

So I took the easy way in and I applied for a restaurant entry-level position, knowing that once I get there I will make my way up to a higher position. Well, lucky me, it took me one contract to accomplish that and only because the company requires that anyone who wants to apply for a different job within the company has to finish at least one contract in the current position. I did my 6 months and one day before going home in vacation the Food & Beverage Manager called me in the HR’s Office and gave me the good news. I got the job I applied for a couple of weeks before! Next day I unpacked my luggage, called my family and let them know I am not going home anymore and start working as a Yeoman.

Yeoman - strange name for an F&B Manager Assistant, don’t you think? To me it made no sense until one friend explained to me that long time ago, in England, they called yeoman the one who was in charge with the finances of the ships. That was me alright!

So, if it worked for me, it must work for you too! The cruise industry will always be in need of educated people that know more than just entry level English. Guys, you should be here to believe it! We get new hires that have no clue how to carry a basic conversation in English, not to say about writing it! We have old timers who made their way up because they have 5, 7 or even 10 years on ships, but when it comes to using computers or write a report, they are useless.

If you know how to use a computer for more than just playing games or sending emails, if you have a medium to high knowledge of spoken and written English and a hotel management or accounting degree, then you are most likely to get a higher than the entry level position. Three things you need to do to accomplish that:

1. Get on the ship

It doesn’t matter how you get there as long as you do. Food & Beverage Division is the easiest way to get onboard a cruise ship and once you’re there you can pursuit your goals.

You have to do a full contract and have a clean record before you can apply for a higher position. Many people here onboard started as a bar server or assistant waiter, just like me, and moved to Guest Relations Department, Crew Office or being the Food & Beverage Director’s Assistant.

In fact, I am currently looking for a reliever for when I am going in vacation and so far I could not find anyone qualified for this job. Every week I am looking at the list with sign ons hoping that “the one” will sign on. No luck so far!

2. Ask for what you want and prove that you can do it

Sometimes I go on the Back Deck for a smoke and sit with my old colleagues from the restaurant. Once, there was this assistant waiter, on his 4^th contract, complaining that there are no promotion chances onboard for him. I asked him a simple question: “ Did you ever went to the Maitre D` and told him you want to be a waiter?” He looked at me with a dumb expression on his face and said nothing. His lack of words said everything!

Hey guys! Wake up! A ship has in average over 1000 crew, half of it being in the Food & Beverage Division. How do you think you’re boss will notice you if you’re not doing anything about it? Just go to your supervisor, or anyone you know in the office, and ask them what can you do or what you need to know to get the promotion/position. Is that easy!

Don’t assume that everyone knows what you know. Tell them your qualification, your education, your experience and what you want. Might not work with the first supervisor, but eventually you’ll find someone willing to help you.

3. Have patience and don’t loose your hope

The most important thing is not to lose faith in yourself. Hang in there, what ever is meant for you will come sooner or later. Sometimes there are no available positions and even though your manager wants to help you, there is nothing he or she can do for the moment.

Just make sure they have your CV and when a position will be made available, they will offer it to you if you’re qualified for it.

Good Luck!

A clean ship is a safe ship!

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:14:00 +0000

While Housekeeping Department’s responsibility to clean is in the inside of the cabins, cleaning the outside areas is Facilities Department’s job. That includes all the public areas the toilets, corridors, hallways, staircases, pools and jacuzzis. They are also in charge with the maintenance, from fixing a non-flushing toilet to upholstering furniture and refurbishing entire areas, guest and crew ones.

You won’t see many Europeans working in the Facilities Department unless they are part of the management because this department has the lowest salary level onboard. But that being said, the pay is still ok for some of the countries considering there’s no rent or food to pay.

So…who’s part of the Facilities Department? Let’s take the most important positions one by one.

1. Facilities Manager

The Facility Manager has the best contract deal out of the entire Hotel Department. He has 10 weeks on with 10 weeks off contract, fully paid vacation. Basically, while he or she is home, enjoying the vacation still gets paid full salary. The bad part is that the position doesn’t get a yearly bonus like the others, but I guess it compensates with the contract length and the salary, which is many thousands of dollars.

2. Cleaner

The cleaner maintains public and crew areas in a clean condition, including the public toilets. Also, he or she transports guests’ luggage to assigned areas during embarkation and disembarkation, and assists with specific loading. They have an 8 months contract and the salary is below $600 a month. Also, they need to pay for their uniforms, which I don’t consider being fair since they have such a low salary.

Many of them are taking up on side jobs helping out the Housekeepers during the embarkation day cleaning cabins, and many times, because they have to work at least 10 hours a day at their regular jobs, they fell asleep wherever they sit. I’ve seen cleaners sleeping in the staircase, in the changing room, in the crew bar, everywhere really, as long as the place is quiet and away from the supervisor’s eyes.

A Cleaner can be promoted to Head Cleaner, Assistant Cleaning Specialist and then to Cleaning Specialist.

3. Pool Attendant

The Pool Attendant position is similar to the Cleaner one. He or she maintains the pool area clean, provides towels to the guests, cleans the pools and, in embarkation day, they help with the luggage. They have an 8 months contract and the salary is the same as the Cleaner’s. A Pool Attendant’s next promotion is Head Pool Attendant.

4. Carpenter

Needless to explain what a carpenter does, I think it’s pretty much obvious. What I am going to tell you is how useful is to be friends with the Carpenter Supervisor.

As an officer, each of us has the same cabin assignment every contract and that cabin becomes your home far away from home. And like any other home, it needs to be a little bit personalized so we can feel comfortable in it.

In time, I personalized my cabin as well. The carpenters installed a nice big sofa in it which was left from refurbishing the guest’s cabins, they put a notice board on my wall so I can write my reminders, installed the cabin phone on the wall so I’ll have more room on my desk, installed a curtain that blocks the view when I keep my cabin door open to smoke and the list can go on and on.

A carpenter can be really useful and, if you tip him well, he will turn your cabin into a really cozy place where you can truly relax. They too take up on side jobs, aside from doing carpentry jobs for crew, because the salary isn’t that big. From what I’ve heard, they make around $1000 a month. Their contract is 8 months and, except the Carpenter Supervisor who has a single cabin, the rest are sharing.

5. Repairman

The Repairman, together with the Repair Supervisor, is responsible for the maintenance and repair of food preparation, galley equipment and machinery, plumbing and related equipment within the Hotel Department.

Both of the positions are on an 8 months contract, the only differences between the two being the salaries and the cabin assignments (the supervisor has a single cabin).

6. Dispatcher

The Dispatcher’s job is to answer and process the calls for maintenance from both crew and guests, and also acts as an admin for the Facilities Manager. The contract length is 6 months and he or she has to share the cabin. The pay is around $1600 a month.

7. Horticulturist

This position is in charge with all the plants onboard and also with the pest control. The contract length is 8 months and shares the cabin.

Whoever is interested in this department should know that they need to work hard and be patient, but the promotion opportunities are many and worthwhile. You don’t need to have a high education to be here, all you need, in my opinion, is to be able to deal with people and to learn fast since the procedures are changing constantly. All I can wish you is good luck!

Lesson Learned

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:05:00 +0000

You think that if you spend some amount of time with a certain person you became friends with that person. Correct? Of course, but this is happening only when you’re working in a stable environment, like a hotel on land for example. What about the ships? I wish I can tell you yes, but unfortunately, it’s not going to happen. Here, people spend time with each other mostly because they have the same schedules, their cabins are close to one another or just because there’s no one else to spend time with. Once you change schedule or move to another cabin, that’s it! They stop calling, then they stop stopping by for a smoke, then they barely say hello to you and finally you pass by and he or she just gives you a look and half of a smile.

I met these guys one by one during my last contract. First I’ve met the Provision Master through my boyfriend at that time. Same thing happened with the Inventory Manager. We had the offices one next to each other, the three of us smokers and same schedules. We start talking over a smoke and, slowly, slowly, we became friends. So I thought…. I’ve met the Australian Sous Chef during my smoke break in the Back Deck. We start talking about our lives and, again, slowly, slowly we became friends as well. At some point we use to meet in the Back Deck every evening, after we finished work, for drinks. It was the Provision Master, the Inventory Manager, my boyfriend, the Sous Chef and I. Then this guy showed up. Brand-new Executive Sous Chef from New Zealand, great personality, nice looking always making us laugh.

I don’t think I ever had more fun on the ships than I had with these guys. I was waiting every day to pass so we can meet for drinks in the evening. We were such a great team. We shared our lives, dreams, failures and successes to each other, we learned from each other and we helped each other as much as possible. Then I broke up with my boyfriend and got promoted as a Hotel Admin. All of the sudden, I had a different cabin and office and a different schedule. The Provision Master barely called anymore. We still use to meet in the Back deck, but that was it. But because my cabin was now close to the chefs’ cabins, we became even more closed to each other. We use to spend our nights drinking and chatting in the cabin. Great times! I really thought they are my friends! I told them how is my life home, who I am, what I did, what I can do. Nobody was judging and it was great.

Then I left in vacation. When I came back, The Inventory Manager wasn’t on the ship anymore. He got transferred to a different ship. The Provision Master wasn’t hanging out with the guys anymore, I don’t know why really. The Australian Chef was the only one who was happy to see me and the Executive Sous Chef from New Zealand was in vacation. The guys weren’t spending as much time together as they use to, just a drink or two and then they were going to bed. I thought, maybe when Lorenzo, the Executive Sous Chef will be back from vacation, will bring the gang back again. I tried to do that, but I failed.

So finally, the day came and Lorenzo was onboard. My God, I was so happy. I could not wait for the evening to come and meet for drinks. The evening came, but except Paul, the Sous Chef, and other 2 chefs, nobody came. It was really disappointing. They had a few beers and went to bed. I ended up chatting with Lorenzo in his cabin then he asked me something that really surprised me. Last contract I was telling him that I am planning to buy my third apartment and that my dad is a lawyer and mom worked in a bank until she retired, and his question was, how come, if I have all those things, I am still here. Basically, he was telling me that he doesn’t believe me and that I am a liar. I was really shocked! I told him about my education, about school, how I graduated both school and university with honors. And in return, he replied that I am showing off how smart I am. That wasn’t my intention at all, I just wanted him to really know me and what he said really hurt my feelings. Why do I have to constantly defend and justify myself? Only poor and uneducated people work on ships? Well, according to him, yes! And what does that say about him? That was the last time we really spoke. I thought we are friends and we can share things, but now I know and learned my lesson.

Since then, we barely see each other, and when it happens, he snaps at me with rude comments, trying to be funny. I am still friends with Paul, he seems to understand me and what I love about him is that he doesn’t judge me, he’s just there for me when I need him to. And I am there for him, helping him whenever I can.

One night I heard Lorenzo bad-mouthing Paul in front of one of the Senior Executive Chefs from Miami. That was the last drop. I look at him now and feel disgusted with him, but more with myself because I trusted him. I feel sorry I let him know me so well, because now he’s judging me and makes fun of my life and who I am. How lame! I am good at assessing people’s personalities, but this one really fouled me. It never happened in my life to judge one’s personality so wrongly and it makes me thing he was fake from the first moment he stepped on this ship. If it was happening at home I would have avoid him completely, but here I have to work with him everyday and see him in the Back Deck every night.

So, listen to my advice if you want. People around you don’t want to know that you are happier than them, that you have more money than they have or that you are smarter. The miserable you are, the more they will love you and want your company because that way they look better and smarter. If you are lucky enough to find someone who won’t judge you, don’t ever let him/her go. Those people are so precious and rare.

Anyway, coming back to the ship life. When you first come onboard, be careful whom you’re spending time with and what you tell them. Now they might seem to be your friends, but many of them will kill their mothers for a promotion and more money. Choose your company carefully and never talk about work and yourself too much. Might seem extreme, but remember, you’ll work in a close environment and you have to work with and see those people everyday. It’s not like on land where you go home and forget about it or change the bar you’re going to and never see the person again. So take my example and don’t learn this lesson the hard way like I did.

But believe me, the lesson is very well learned!

Single vs. Married

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:38:00 +0000

I wouldn’t even consider the thought of it if I was home, but here, on the ship, after 2 months of being single, the idea is appealing to me. So what’s the story about? Oh well, lets start with the beginning.

Last contract I met this fun, nice looking guy who, to my surprise, was single. Lets call him JOE. Single here usually means that you don’t have to avoid each other, you can go out for a coffee or lunch and in the evening you can have a few drinks and go to sleep together, without being afraid you’re going to be seen by someone. What a wonderful idea! So we get together by the time I was suppose to go home. I left thinking everything is ok and we can pick it up again from where we left it when he and I come back from vacation. So 4 months pass, I come back, he comes back, first night we get together and everything was wonderful, until next day. I was expecting him to call me in the evening, but nothing happened. One more day passes and he says he’s going to sleep. He did, again without calling me. I began to get upset. “What the hell did I do this time?” I asked myself because he was acting like he was upset. So, after a week, I decide we should talk. My God, what a disappointment! Turns out that he only wants casual sex and he likes to sleep alone and his focus is on his work (like it isn’t mine too!). Basically, he wants sex, but doesn’t want to give nothing in return.

On the other hand, this handsome, intelligent man is hunting me since the day I came onboard. ALEX invited me for dinner, for drinks, every time he sees me in the hallways he stops and talks to me, but he has one big disadvantage: he’s married and has 3 kids. I know him since last contract too and he straightforward told me back then that he’s married but looking for someone to spend his free time while onboard. At that time I said no, this contract I don’t know anymore.

So, after the discussion I had with JOE, I got so upset I went straight to ALEX looking for someone to hug me I ended up sleeping with him. He took me in his arms and slept with me and in the morning I was smiling again. He called me again in the afternoon, then again in the evening inviting me over. He really makes me feel special and because he’s European like me, we have many things in common.

So now the big question that I am asking you, the reader, is… Would you prefer to date a single man who only wants sex and gives you no attention whatsoever or a married man who give his whole attention and free time to you, who takes time to go with you for dinner, to go out for a coffee or just sit and watch TV with a glass of wine? Just remember you're in the middle of the sea, not at home. Since I am not planning to take any of them home, right now I am really considering continuing to see ALEX. I deal with jerks all day at my workplace, I don’t need one more in my bed and definitely I wouldn’t say no to a big smile on my face every morning if you get my idea!

I’ve changed so much since I first stepped on this ship. Many of my beliefs shifted just like the one about dating married men. I work all day, I focus on my job trying to get higher in the hierarchy, I go to the gym and study for the exam I have in about two weeks and I really don’t have time to waste on idiots who think casual sex is the way to relax. I need some good loving at the end of the day and a pair of arms wrapped around me. That’s all I need right now!

A fresh breath of air is always good

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:52:00 +0000

First contract is always the best. The food is good, the places we go are exciting, the work is fun, the people we work with are new to us and we always have something to tell each other. That’s always the case when we do something new. But what about the second or the third contract? If you have assigned a permanent ship like I have, things become boring.

The food doesn’t seem so great anymore, not because of the quality, but just because it’s the same food every week. Many of us go out just to have something to eat, something that is not crew mess food. The work becomes boring just because we do the same things every day. Some of us are lucky enough to have a job where new things happen all the time and we have different challenges every day, but it’s not the case with all of us. We go to the same places every cruise, so you can imagine that going out to see things is not appealing anymore. I, personally, prefer to go to sleep or to the gym rather than to go out, for two reasons: 1. the dollar/euro conversion is a disaster; 2. I’ve already seen those places before and it’s not fun anymore. Yes, Europe is beautiful, no doubt about it, but how many times can one go visit the Pisa tower? Or Rome? My ship sails 7 months a year in Europe and this is the third season I spend here. This is not appealing to me anymore so I rather do something useful like the gym or writing on this blog (which I actually am doing right now, then I’ll go to sleep for a couple of hours).

What about the people? This is a good and a bad thing at the same time. Just like me, there are many that have this ship as a permanent assignment. It can be good if you make real friends, which in my opinion, is not possible on ships, but others tend to think otherwise, or if you have a permanent boyfriend/girlfriend. But what if you break up with your partner? What if it all goes wrong between you two? You are cursed to see him or her every day, a daily reminder of your failure. Believe me, it is painful. You start avoiding certain places, go straight to your cabin, and just because you see that person almost daily, it is very hard to move on. Another bad thing that happens is to run out of discussion topics. You meet up with your friends and you basically have nothing to talk about but your work. Working in such a closed environment limits your experiences and after you go through all the stories from your life back home, there is nothing left to talk about except your work and who pissed you off or who’s dating who.

And this brings me to the main story I wanted to tell you. Royal Caribbean has quite a few traveling positions. Each department has its own auditor, a guy who visits the ship for a week or two, reviews the operations and prepares a report with the findings. Some come onboard to train us, some come to be trained. Because we are in Europe, most of them use their jobs to come visit it. I think this is one of the reasons why this ship had so many auditors onboard. The Galley Department alone had 7 traveling guys (as we call them) onboard in the last 2 months.

But I must admit, to me they are always welcome because they are like a fresh breath of air. New stories, new jokes, new faces, I love it and always take advantage of it. All of the sudden, going out for lunch or visit places when in the company of these people, sounds like fun. And going for a beer and a smoke in the back deck isn’t just a necessity anymore, it’s something that you are actually looking forward to at the end of the day, because they have all these stories and experiences that are new to you, therefore interesting.

Of course, not all the traveling guys are fun. We had our share of obnoxious, irritating people coming onboard, which picked on things and tried to justify their work hours with nasty, unfair reviews. But also we had pleasant, fun people coming onboard as well. Like the last guy who is still here onboard. He’s a culinary trainer from New Zealand who came here to train all the cooks and part of the galley management. He’s always in a good mood, smiling and always has something funny to say. Having lunch together or going for a smoke is always a pleasure for me and he’s one of the fewest I am actually going to miss when he goes away. He actually made me decide to go with him and other friends to visit Rome, something I wouldn’t do if he wasn’t here because the tour takes about 10 hours, but I know it’s going to be fun, just because of him.

He’s my fresh breath of air and I will take advantage of it as much as possible. Saturday he’ll go to a different ship and again things will become dull until the next one will join the ship. But definitely I’ll be missing Wim and I will look forward to his return in December.

99 Bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beeeeeeeer !

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:45:00 +0000

I think this song portraits exactly what’s going on Voyager at the present time. Just like the song, from X number of Romanians, each day is one less. And it’s not only at my nationality level; it’s bigger than that since a lot of Europeans are leaving the ship life. Why? Money mostly. Right now, for the amount of work they are doing and the hours they put in, $2000-$3000 a month is not worth anymore. What is $2000-$3000 in euros? Nothing really, it’s a medium salary that you can earn working 8 hours a day for 5 days a week. In my country, this kind of money still mean something, but slowly, slowly, the dollar value is going down and no Romanian will remain on the ships unless they are part of the upper management or they are really poor back home.

So what happened? Well, a few months back, 3 of my good friends didn’t come back. They chose to work in Ireland as waiters and, from what I was told, they are doing just fine. Two months ago, a Romanian couple left the ship too and now works in Romania. Three weeks ago, another good friend went home, he presently looking for work somewhere in England. In a week, one more Romanian is going home too. He decided he had enough and the money is not enough for what he’s doing and he too will join the Romanians that are in Ireland. A Romanian bar supervisor is going home in three weeks and she’s not coming back either. This is happening too fast!

So what’s wrong in this picture? I don’t know really, but it worries me since for each European who leaves, an Indian or a Philipino is coming. I guess this kind of money still mean something in those countries. Well, looks like it’s not enough for the ones from Europe and each day, more and more Asians and South Americans are coming to replace us.

And you know what? More than it worries me, this is making me sad. Those are people I’ve worked with for more than a year, I got attached to them and now they are leaving me alone on this ship. I feel more and more alone and don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of other friends from other countries, but with the Romanians is different because we have a culture in common, we can advice each other about things, we can discuss common topics like politics, sports etc and we can continue our friendship at home when we are in vacation. This means a lot to most of us, it’s what makes this hard life easier and I hate it when I see it coming to an end.

You might wonder why I am still onboard. Well, my goals are career orientated and I found that onboard is easier to promote and get experience than it is on land simply because people come and go all the time. Also, I might just have a little under $2000, but I don’t pay rent or food and I get to see the world, so for me is still a good deal. Besides, the trainings they provide are free and valuable like the USPH Course in Miami or the Certified Hotel Supervisor course, which is recognized internationally.

But still, I can’t help but feeling sad every time I see my friends going home and this little bugging song comes to my mind every sign off day: 99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beeeeeeeeer! Just replace the bottles of beer with Romanians and you’ll get the picture.

The pictures! Yes, the pictures you see are the Romanians that left or will leave and not coming back. My friends…

Guest Services Department - Strong nerves and patience required!

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:24:00 +0000

For nothing in the world I would do this job. I don’t have the patience nor the nerves to put up with all the guest complains we receive daily, many of them that make no sense. The funniest complaint from a passenger I’ve heard of so far is regarding the alcohol policy we have onboard. This policy states that no alcohol should be brought from outside, and if the guest insists in bringing it, the security will take it and keep it safe until the guest disembarks. Well, from what I was told, this gentleman comes cruising and brings a bottle of Jack Daniels with him. Of course, the security officer takes it away and puts it safe until the end of the cruise. Next thing our gentleman does is to go straight to the Guest Services front desk and complains. What’s funny about this is what reason he came up to get his bottle of alcohol back. Apparently, his doctor recommended him to drink daily 1.5 oz of Jack Daniels and he needs his bottle otherwise he will get sick. When told he can buy onboard he said he has no money and of course he had no paper from his doctor. Needles to say that he didn’t get his bottle back until the end of the cruise. The human mind can be so creative sometimes, isn’t it?

Anyways, lets go back to our thing. The Guest Services Department takes care of all the guests’ needs. It doesn’t include, as you can see in the picture above, just the Guest Services Officers (regular hotel receptionists), but also the Printer, the Concierge, the Group Coordinator, the International Ambassador and the Guest Administration Officer.

I am going to briefly describe each position as some of you are not familiar with the terms, so…

1. Concierge

The Concierge provides personalized service for our “special” guests. A “special” guest is one who has a few cruises with Royal Caribbean. They can be part of the Crown & Anchor Society, or rated as a Platinum or Diamond guest, depending on how many cruises that guest took with our company. They get free drinks, tickets to the show and many more and it’s the Concierge’s job to make that happen for them. The Concierge is a one stripe officer, meaning that he has to share the cabin, but he makes good money since he gets tipped every end of the cruise.

2. Printer
Well, it’s pretty much self-explanatory. The Printer takes care of all the printed material onboard. He’s a one stripe officer and he makes a fix salary which I am pretty sure is under $2000.

3. Group Coordinator

The Group Coordinator takes care of the organized groups onboard as well as the travel agents that come to visit the ship for the day. The salary is made of a fix salary plus gratuities. This position is a 2 stripe one, single cabin.

4. International Ambassador

Manages the FluentSeas program onboard the vessel to provide language assistance and translation to non-English speaking guests in order for them to understand and enjoy all aspects of the cruise experience.

5. Guest Administration Officer

This position is in charge with the legal part of the cruise. That includes the clearance of the ship in ports, the immigration paperwork of the guests etc. It’s a one stripe position, sharing the cabin, and makes probably under $2000 a month.

6. Guest Services Officer

This is a one stripe position and makes around $1600 a month. They are working on the front desk, handling the guests’ complaints.

All these positions are under the supervision of the Guest Services Manager, which is a 3 stripe position and makes thousands a month.

If you ask me, to get into this department, the easiest way is to apply for the Guest Services Officer. What is most required here is to have a nice personality and look and know at least 2 languages. Once you’re in, you can work your way up, just like in any other department, just like I did.

What happens when you reach the HR?s Office?

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:18:00 +0000

The conflict between me and my manager got worse and worse over the past few days and yesterday I had enough! I went straight to his office and asked to talk to him. I sat down and started to tell him I am bothered by his attitude towards me but he cut me off and said we will have this discussion in front of the HR Manager tomorrow morning. Actually, he had a good idea since a witness was appropriate for the kind of conversation I was planning to have with him.

The HR Manager is suppose to be the liaison between the management and crew, he is suppose to help and guide us as well as help solving conflicts between two employees. I was surprised to see that our HR Manager did just that and helped me and my manager talk. Actually, I think my manager talked with me just because the HR was present in the room, but who cares? At least we finally talked instead of barking orders at me.

He said some things that made me question how my behavior is perceived by others and pointed some mistakes I did, and on my side, I let him know how his behavior makes me feel and how I wish he will be more supportive and protective of me. We finally reached a common ground and agreed we will meet half way. I will be more diplomatic with the management and officials from Miami and he….well….he just said we will meet half way. Now I guess I have to wait and see what half way means to him. I would certainly like to see a little back up from him, especially when other managers are trying to make me do their work or their Admin’s work just because those guys have no clue what they are doing.

I must tell you though, life looks a whole lot better now and I am back to the positive, happy girl I was. But also, I realized that my manager doesn’t take me seriously just because I work as an Admin for a little over a year. If you ask me, a quick adapting personality who can learn fast means just as much as years of experience. Just because I don’t have the years, that doesn’t mean that I don’t know what I’m doing. In fact, I have quite a long list of achievements and the evaluations to prove it. I have projects that are now used fleet wide, I’ve done two jobs in the same time, and I basically supported the whole F&B Division and Hotel Department during the last year’s winter holidays, changes between years and the crossing from Galveston to Barcelona with the entire paperwork that comes with it. I’ve trained two crew members to replace me while I’m gone and now I am training the third one, I’ve worked with four F&B Managers and two Hotel Directors during a year and a half since I’ve stepped in the management team and never once went to the HR’s Office to complain about something. This was not an easy thing to do and I think I’ve done pretty well considering the four out of five score evaluation I received my last contract….all until this manager came onboard.

But at least, now I have a little faith that the conflict is solved and I can go back to my daily routine and life. Besides, in three days my favorite Executive Sous Chef will come onboard and life will be a little more fun. But this is another subject…

Who wants to join the Housekeeping Department?

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:38:00 +0000

There always was a quiet competition between the Housekeeping and Food & Beverage Departments. Every week, when the ratings come in, first thing we do is to compare ours against them and damn it, most of the times they are better! We know they are doing the same because we meet the supervisors on the I95 and they smile and ask us if we saw already the ratings. We pleasantly smile back and say yes, congratulate them and move on, hoping next week we will be the one with the big green on the face.
The Housekeeping Department includes the stateroom attendants and supervisors and the Laundry Division. I am not going to talk about the laundry guys because they are employed as contractors, all I can tell you about them is that they all come from Indonesia and, in my opinion, they do a poor job (unfortunately). They are not really Royal Caribbean employees, they just provide us with the service.
So lets get back to more important things… The Housekeeping Department is one of the most stable one, with a low turnover rate and happy crew. The reasons are many, but the most important ones are:

1. Good money
The Stateroom Attendant is a tip based position meaning that their salary depends entirely on how much the guest tip them at the end of the cruise. The base salary is $50, but don’t get fooled by it, in average, they make $2500-$3000 a month and sometimes even more.
On the other hand, the middle management, the Housekeeping Supervisors, make only around $1800 a month but they have extra perks to keep them happy such as single cabins, access to guest areas etc. The Chief Housekeeper, 1^st and 2^nd Housekeepers make thousands a month.

2. Not such a hard job
The only really hard day for the Stateroom Attendants is the embarkation day when they need to have the rooms ready by noon for the new guests, they need to get the luggage in the staterooms by evening and meet all their guests. They usually employ a helper that takes off some of their work in the morning. Other than that, on a regular day, they have to do the staterooms in the morning and in the evening, which is pretty easy since during the day the guests are off the ship and in the evening they are in the restaurant having their dinner.

3. Structure
In the Housekeeping Department everyone knows exactly what to do. The organizational chart is pretty much simple and everyone knows who to report to. You can see it in the first picture on this post.
Since the first day you embark until the last one, you are given a section of staterooms that you have to clean. On average, they get a 20 staterooms station, and only the ones who can not make it, the ones who are constantly getting bad rating, get a 15 stateroom station.
There are few who get the officer cabins as an assignment, but don’t pity them, sometimes they make more money than the others and they only need to clean the cabins once a day or every other day (depending on how many stripes has the officers who lives in the cabin).

4. Good management (at least on this ship)
After work, everybody gathers in the Back Deck (ship’s crew bar) for a drink and chat. In my two year career with this company, I never once heard a Stateroom Attendant complaining about his or hers supervisor. They mostly complain about how messy the guests can get, especially the really old ones who cannot make it to the toilet if you know what I mean, or the young ones who cannot hold their liquor. Other than that, they seem pretty happy with the job.
The officers hardly complain about the system, and if you ever hear them complaining, it’s mostly because the company implements all kind of new things, but they never really prepare options in case they don’t work.

5. No competition against each other
Everyone is doing their job in the Housekeeping Department and no one is looking in the neighbors’ back yard to see how is he or she doing. Most of them anyway. Because they get the same section for the entire contract, there’s no competition among the employee, they just have to do good in ratings (meaning they have to make the guest happy) not to be assigned to a smaller section, but that happens very rarely and mostly on request.

So who?s in charge of whom here?

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 14:21:00 +0000

So who’s reporting to whom on a Royal Caribbean ship? There are two main departments here: Marine and Hotel. The Marine department includes, obviously, the Captain, Staff Captain, all the engineers and marine. The Hotel department is run by the Hotel Director who overseas the operation of 11 divisions, one of them being mine.

I am not going to go into details right now, I am just going to list them and in the future post I’ll describe them one by one. So…

1. Food & Beverage – Is probably the biggest division onboard, almost half of the crewmembers in the Hotel department being part of it. It’s subdivisions are Bar, Galley and Restaurants

2. Guest Relations – This division overseas the pursers and is in charge with everything that is related to guest interaction (as the name says): printer, international ambassador, front desk, concierge, group coordinator, guest administration etc.

3. Financial – Takes care of the financial part of the operation and is divided in two: crew and guest

4. Human Resources – The HR Manager is the liaison between the management and crew. This division is also in charge with the mandatory and not so mandatory trainings and certifications onboard and also with the crew office.

5. Marketing & Revenue – All revenue areas onboard the ship report to the Marketing & Revenue Manager. This includes the shops, explorations, spa, casino, photo subdivisions as well as the art auctioneer, tattoo artist, loyalty ambassador and port & shop guide.

6. Entertainment & Cruise Division – This division is in charge with entertaining guests. Overseas the Activities Manager, Adventure Ocean Manager in charge with the kids program, Stage & Production Manager, Musical Director, Head Broadcast Technician. All activities, shows and entertainment onboard is this division’s responsibility.

7. Facilities - This division is somehow special since the managers have the benefits and privileges of the Marine Department, but is part of the Hotel. They are in charge with the technical part of the Hotel operation such as cleaning the guest and crew areas, fixing the furniture and equipment in the crew and guest cabins, the toilet system, some of the equipment in the galleys, bars and restaurants etc. Cleaners, carpenters and electricians are part of this division.

8. Housekeeping – They are in charge with the cabins, crew and guest ones, as well as the laundry onboard.

9. Inventory – This division is in charge with loading and issuing the food, drinks, toiletries, office supplies etc. Is divided in two parts, one ran by the Provision Master who is in charge with the food and drinks and the other one ran by the Hotel Storekeeper in charge with the non-food items.

10. IT Division – All office equipment such as computers, printers, Xerox machines etc is their responsibility. They are also in charge with the crew and guest Internet and the office networks.

11. Medical Division – needles to explain their role. I think is pretty much self-explanatory.

I hope this helped you have an idea of the organizational structure of the ship’s management. In the future posts I’ll go into details with some of the main divisions.

The things we do for money?

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:24:00 +0000

So what do you do when your manager doesn’t trust you, doesn’t back you up, nor respect you? If I were on land, I would have resigned immediately, but since I work on a cruise ship, I am just going to wait until his contract is done and hope he won’t come back on this ship.

I remember my first day onboard being so happy to be back and now, after a month, I am frustrated, upset and uncomfortable with the place I live and work and my manager, the one who suppose to protect me and help me, doesn’t care at all, which makes it even worse. I always believed in teamwork and reciprocal help, but looks like my new Italian manager likes to play alone. Why? I wonder….

You need examples? Here are some:
1. I asked him to order some water for the office as we work there all day and we need it, he replied that the food cost is too high and we cannot afford it. A couple of days later, I walk into his office only to find under his desk 2 cases of water and sodas. “I’ll be damn! What happened to the food cost????(By the way, it’s not the food cost that’s affected, but the bar cost…. but whatever…)”. Apparently, the cost matters only when it doesn’t involve him….

2. My office is next to him together with the bar offices and some of the restaurant. His is at the entrance, separate from us. Being unlocked during the night because the bar staff comes in to fill in their time cards, things disappear from the office all the time. Last time even my manager’s external hard drive went missing. I tried talking to him regarding this, in an attempt to have our office locked after hours and relocating the bar staff time cards somewhere else. All I got back were excuses and a big no, but of course, he had his office locked and instructed me not to have it open not even during the day, because things disappear. Oh really???!!!! How about my office??? Things don’t disappear from there as well? Of course they do, but the difference is that MY staff disappears from there and not HIS, so why should he care…

3. Since last contract, my job description changed dramatically and I got new extra things to do now. But still, he wants me to do things that now are taken off the job description and given to other positions. When I went to him to let him know that I am not supposed to do those things anymore and that I don’t have enough time to do everything, he just tactfully checked my time card and said: “I notice that you start 8:30 in the morning and you have a break in the afternoon. You can do the extra things during that period.” And now, from 9 hours a day, I jumped to 12, which might not seam much to you, but here’s my schedule and judge for yourself: 8-13, 16-23. Don’t I have a right to go outside just like everyone else? When am I supposed to take care of my personal stuff like going to the gym, doing laundry, relax a little bit? Am I am animal, or what?

4. Since I am an officer, I am supposed to share the cabin with another officer. Common sense, don’t you think? Well, not to him…. why? Because the policy doesn’t specifically say so…. Actually, since my position changed and now I am a 2 stripe officer, I shouldn’t share at all, but the ones in Miami office are a bit slow in changing the online policy and so far they only changed the salary and the stripes. Soon they will change the cabin allocation too, but it takes some time. First day onboard they put me with a Jamaican cook in a crew cabin (very small, under the water level). I went to him to tell him, but he didn’t want to listen and he sent me to the Executive Chef (my position and my manager’s belong to the galley department). Weird, since he’s the Executive Chef’s manager as well. Finally, after a week of complaining and even going to the Human Relations Manager, the crew office gave me an officer cabin, but I had to take the cook with me. This woman has a totally different schedule, sleeps all the time and because she works in the galley, my cabin stinks, but guess what? She is the one complaining about me that I watch TV when she’s sleeping and many other things not worth talking about. I spoke to him, since there are other free cabins, but just because they are single cabins and I have to share, he prefers to keep them empty and me with that cook. Why would he care? He has his comfortable cabin, that’s all that matters to him apparently. You may say rules are rules, but how come that rules apply when is convenient to him and don’t when is not? We are all human, and since those cabins are empty, where’s the harm?

So here I am, stuck in this awful situation, just because I really need the money to start building my house. But I wonder…. is it really worth the humiliation, disrespect and stress? I am beginning to think that it’s not and now I am really considering leaving this company and find another job. I wouldn’t be the only one since the turnover on this ship is pretty high.

Royal Caribbean is a really cool place to work, but people like my manager, and believe me, he’s not the only one to act this way, spoil all the fun. I use to go to work with pleasure, but now all I can think of is finishing my work and go. Not to my cabin though, since the stinky woman is for sure sleeping already, but to my friend’s cabin where I can relax. Finally, when I am totally exhausted, I crawl into my cabin and crush, happy that one more day went by and the day my manager is going home is closer….

Last day of freedom

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:08:00 +0000

Actually, these are my last hours of freedom. I’m waiting in the hotel’s lobby for the bus that will take us to the ship. The flight was long as usually. Even though to go from Bucharest to Barcelona is a 2 hours flight, the company always sends us through London or some airport in Germany, probably because it’s cheaper. At least I didn’t pay for the flight, which is always good. We all like free stuff, don’t we?

So, instead of 2 hours, I flew 7 and finally got to the airport. All Royal Caribbean employees are sent to Best Western Alfa Hotel in Barcelona, a 4 star hotel near the airport. They have a shuttle that comes to the airport every 30 minutes, but this time, I just didn’t want to wait any longer and took a taxi. Cost me less than 20 euros, which I gladly paid just to see myself at the hotel.
The first one to greet me was a good friend of mine from Trinidad. He’s a executive sous chef on Voyager. He posed for me when I did the post about uniforms, you can see him here. Next one I see is a waiter I use to work with. It really feels like home seeing all this familiar faces. When I stepped into the restaurant, my manager was having his dinner with other crewmembers. Us joining together was great because it gave us some time together to know each other outside work. We had some after dinner drinks, play some pool and we went to bed as all of us were tired after the long flight.
Transportation to the pier in the morning is also provided by the company, so basically, if you’re an officer, you don’t spend any money at all. If you are a waiter, stateroom attendant, bar staff or have any other position that is paid based on tips, you have to pay for the return ticket, which can be a lot if you have to fly across the ocean.
So that’s it! The buss is here and the crew started to load their luggage. My last hours of freedom are rapidly turning into my last minutes of freedom. Boy! Here we go another 6 months……

Romanian birthday party

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Mon, 12 May 2008 15:30:00 +0000

Last Saturday my cousin and I celebrated my birthday. I also celebrated my last days home since this Friday I will go back to work. It's really hard to leave my friends and family behind, but for now I have to do it.

Life is wonderful sometimes

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:22:00 +0000

I was watching today my cousin's dogs play in the back yard. Two carefree, innocent souls enjoying a sunny afternoon, no worries, no problems. I wish I could feel the same, I wish I can control my worries and just erase them from my mind, if only could be possible...

Oh, and by the way, for those who in time became bitter and cynical, yes, i know they are animals and I am a human being and no, I don't want to be a dog...I just envy their innocence.

Reality check

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:54:00 +0000

Yesterday I went shopping, got what I wanted and came back home. Nothing wrong with that, is it? Well yeah, until my mother asked me how much I paid for the groceries and other stuff. When I told her she looked at me and said: “You know, people live with that kind of money for a month”.

Later on I start thinking about it and I realized that most of us that work on ships need a regular reality check. My mother was right. A lot of people live with 400 dollars a month in Romania and I just spent that kind of money in one day without even realizing how much they mean.

So what’s happening with us? Why we become so detached from the real world so much? After a lot of thinking I finally answered those questions. Ship life isn’t a real life. Not even close. We live 6 months in an enclosed environment where, even thought we have TVs in each cabin, we don’t have enough time to watch what’s going on in the world, and who’s dating who or any other gossip becomes news of the day.

If you go around and ask the crew members what date or day is, half of them will take seconds to give you an answer and most of the answers would be wrong. We are lost in time and space, sometimes we don’t even know where in the world we are, we just know it’s 6 am and we have to go back to work in our metal windowless offices, galley, pantries etc.

That’s the result of 6 months of constant work, 7 days a week, 10 or more hours a day, combined with a workplace that have no natural light, no means for us to realize if it’s light or day outside, if we are at sea or in a port. And then again is the time zone that messes out our internal clocks.

But yeah, we make good money and the best of all is that we can save up most of them. But there’s a catch there as well and most of us fail to realize it, just like me. We shuffle hundreds of dollars every day and slowly we forget that some people in our countries can live out of a 100 dollar bill for days, or even weeks. We are used to the prices in USA or Europe, and when we come back home it takes us a while to realize that the prices aren’t the same.

Did you know that you can have a chauffeur, maid, cook and cleaner for less than $150 a month? I didn’t…until one of my managers from Philippines told me he pays that much for it. Apparently, it is the same in India. Romania is a bit more expensive, but still, the medium salary per economy is around 400 dollars.

I find myself talking about thousands of dollars like it is nothing, then I see my friends’ faces change and I realize I do need a reality check. Or maybe I just need to get away from that kind of environment that ships represent. Something definitely needs to change. Maybe me...

My celebrity look-alike

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:45:00 +0000

While having my coffee and reading my RSS news, I came across this interesting site that shows which celebrity you resemble based on a picture you upload. So out of curiosity, i uploaded a picture and waited quietly for the result and surprise surprise! I look like Paris Hilton!

Well, yeah, just 55%, but could not help think that it would have been nice that my wealth resemble hers too, even 55%. What a wonderful dream...

Anyways, here's the site link. Have fun!

Crossroad

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Sat, 03 May 2008 18:01:00 +0000

Working on cruise ships is a wonderful job, especially if one is part of the middle management. You get to see places, meet people, work isn’t too hard, actually is enjoyable because I love what I do. But always the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.

I’ve seen many coming onboard with a big smile on their faces that says “God, I am so lucky to be here!” and after a contract (or less) going home and never come back. Why is that, you may wonder. Well, first of all, not everybody is made for this kind of life, always traveling from place to place, no day off for 6 months, working 10 hours or more a day. Second of all, they probably came to the same conclusion as I did, that money don’t bring happiness and peace of mind and being close to the ones you love and love you back is more important that counting money all alone in your cabin. Yes, money help you reach happiness, but without your family and close ones they mean nothing.

Main reason for resignations onboard the cruise ships isn’t money or work conditions as you might think, but loneliness and missing the loved ones. Being all alone is a big stress factor and no money in the world can fix that. Some are stronger and last for years working on the ships, some are weak and leave after a contract.

It is very frustrating wanting to be in somewhere and having to be somewhere else. Like me for example: in about 2 weeks I have to be back at work, but what I really want is to stay home. I am 28 years old and I want to start my own family, but this isn’t possible with the lifestyle I have, so soon I’ll be looking for a job in Romania and start building my dream home like I always wanted.

I already found the land and most likely I’ll be buying it this summer (photos to come :-)). And the house…..well….the house will follow, not sure how soon, but it will as I always get what I want sooner or later.

So the plan goes as follows:

1. finish this contract

2. apply for a job in Romania while onboard

3. hopefully getting a job when I come back in vacation

4. settle close to my loved ones

5. start building a social and love life

6. reorganizing my finances and investments, maybe sell some, so I can start building my house

7. start some kind of business (gosh, I have so many ideas)

If the step 3 doesn't work from the first time, I’ll keep repeating it until it will or until I’ll win the lottery :-).

So it looks like I am not part of the strong ones after all, even though I like to think so. To me, as the years passed by, money is not as important as it use to be, maybe because I got it already. Or maybe I am just in a bad mood because I just got together again with the man I always loved and now I have to leave him behind another 6 months. I hate it!

One thing I can tell you. If you plan working on a ship to save some money, don’t get involved with anyone back home, don’t give the opportunity to have your heart broken. Leave it for when you decide to stay home, it’ll be easier for you, trust me. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself at a crossroad where your mind will pull you to the left and your heart to the right. Which road you’re going to choose? I think I know which one to take now…

Things you should know

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:19:00 +0000

It’s been almost 2 years since then, but I remember my frustration as clearly as if it would have happened yesterday and I promised to myself that one day I will write a blog and one of the posts will be about this so you guys, the ones who want and get a job an a cruise ship won’t have to go through all that. What is it about? The answer is….uniforms.

I remember stepping onboard Voyager of the Seas in 2006 with 40 or so pairs of stockings, thinking that the uniform will be a skirt and shirt, just like NCL (another cruise line I use to work for). My room mate started to laugh when she saw me and that made me feel uncomfortable. I looked everywhere online to find out something about life onboard Royal Caribbean ships, but could not find anything, so I assumed it’ll be the same like on NCL. Well, it wasn’t… Might not seem important now, but when you have to spend hundreds of dollars for things that you don’t need or you could have bought home, you’ll see my point.

Some companies, like NCL, will give you free uniforms and you only buy your stockings and shoes, others, like Royal Caribbean, will make you pay for the whole uniform except for the items that don’t touch the skin, such as bow ties, epaulets (for officers) etc. Royal Caribbean’s uniforms consist mostly of pants, vests and shirts, and you’ll have to buy them. The good news is that you don’t have to wear stockings which are a pain, especially when you have to wear them the entire day. Also, the company rule says that you have to wear company slip-free shoes for your safety, but many of the employees wear their own since they are more comfortable and sometimes more slip-free than the company ones. I advise you to follow the rules because in case of an accident (slip in the galley, etc), you won’t get paid medical insurance if you wore yours.

If you got a job with NCL you definitely need to bring lots of stockings with you if you’re a girl. The uniform consists of skirt and vest or shirt. You can buy a skirt back home, one that will fit you. As long as it’s knee length and black, nobody will say anything. Also, from what I know, you’ll have to buy your shoes as well so bring one pair from home.

You’ll also have to buy a safety belt, something like the body builders wear at the gym. It’s mandatory and you could lose your job if you don’t wear it. You can buy one back home, a quality one, or you can buy one onboard, your choice.

Grooming policy is the same for most of the cruise companies. For girls, the hair has to be pulled back, no other hair accessories except for a hair net (which is mandatory if you work with food), for boys, the hair needs to be short, no goatee or long beard, no fancy haircut. Needles to say that, if your hair is pink, your supervisor will send you to the hair dresser to change it. No earrings for boys, nickel size earrings for girls. Just the wedding ring is accepted, leave all the rest home or in your cabin when you go to work. If you’re working with food, your nails need to be short and no nail polish on them.

Annoying? Yes! Safe for the company and yourself? Definitely! I use to blame the company for stripping us of our personality, but after I got into middle management, I understood their reasons. They are only trying to protect us ( of harassment, injuries) and themselves (lawsuit from employees and guests).

Hello? Mommy?

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:50:00 +0000

Being away for so long is tough on you, your family and your friends. Keeping in touch with them is important and there are several ways you can do that without spending a fortune. I spent a lot of money on that until I learned how to do it the smart way so here are a few advices.

Communicating the smart way:

Activate roaming on the phone sim card you’re using home

Before leaving home, don’t forget to activate the roaming service. It is very important since some of your friends or family will call you or text you and you need to know. You can use the number to text back.

As soon as possible go out in each port and find a local internet café

Every port has so called “calling centers” where you can use internet to check your emails and write back to your friends. As soon as possible, once onboard, go and find them, you will pay less that you pay onboard.

Buy a local phone sim card

Check out the itinerary of your ship and buy a local prepaid sim card. For example, if you’re in Europe and have 3 Italian ports, buy an Italian sim card, if you’re in USA and going to Puerto Rico and any other USA territory, buy and American sim card. You can call at cheaper rates from the sim card directly or using a calling card.

Buy calling cards from a calling center

You can find them in every port in calling centers or at the news stands. They have really cheap rates and you can talk to your family for over an hour for 5-10 dollars. Ask the seller which one is good for your country.

Send postcards

This is a great way to send souvenir postcards and keep in touch with your friends. Everybody loves to receive post cards, it shows you care since you took the time to buy one, write on it and send it. You can send mail from any calling center in the world or just go to the local post.

In some ports you can get free WiFi

This only happened in Europe so far. There were a few ports such as Livorno where you could bring your laptop outside the deck and connect at no charge. Don’t know why or how it was possible, but it was. Sometimes, in some bars or near a calling center, you can connect wireless as well. Usually, I bring my PSP (portable play station) with me and if I sit in some bar/park etc, I try to connect. Sometimes it works, so try it.

Get the ships phone number (the unofficial one)

Each ship has a phone number your family can use to call you directly to your cabin. The official one is very expensive, but there’s another one you can use and it’s got affordable rates. Usually, you can find the official one in the crew office. Talk to the other crewmembers, ask around and eventually you’ll find it out.

Bring your family and friends onboard to cruise with you

This is another way to keep in touch with them and if you can not go to them, then bring them to you. As an employee you have discounts when you bring your family or friends onboard. My company charges us only $45 per day per person so it’s very convenient to have them there with you for a week or two. Once onboard check with the crew office, they will let you know how long in advance you need to fill in the form and how long you have to work with the company before you can do it.

Avoid to:

use the ship’s calling cards

They are very expensive. With 20 dollars you get only 20-25 minutes while with a calling card outside, for that money you can talk for hours. Unless you need to contact your family urgently, I recommend you not to try it.

use the ship’s internet café

Try and use the ship’s internet as little as possible and only when you really need to contact your family. Otherwise, wait until the ship is the port and go to a internet café.

call from your home sim card

Usually, roaming service costs a fortune so you should use it only to text your friends and family. Call from a calling cards or from the local prepaid sim card.

Time to pack your bags

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:41:00 +0000

You got the job and you think this is it, huh? Well, think twice because it’s just starting. I’ve got a big question for you: “How do you fit your life in 2 pieces of luggage?”. Yes, your life, because 6 to 10 months you’ll be living on the ship and only 6 to 9 weeks you’ll be home. It’s not an easy task, but it can be done and I am here to help you out.

The secret is to pack only the necessary things and the rest you’ll find it on the ship or in the places you’re going to. So here is the list of things you need and whether to bring them from home or not.

Clothes – Bring only the necessary because, if you’re a girl, for sure you’re going to shop a little bit and when you’re going back home you won’t have enough room in your luggage for all of it, and trust me, you won’t have time to wear all of them anyway since you’ll be working at least 10 hours a day. Caribbean islands and USA are cheap when it comes to clothes, buy all your brand clothes from there because Europe is much more expensive. Also, when you choose your clothes, don’t think of the time of year, think where you’re going to be at that time ( even though is December, what’s the point of buying/bringing warm clothes if you’re going to be somewhere in the Caribbean?). One more thing should be mentioned here and that is that you should bring one or two formal dresses for the parties (Christmas, Easter etc.) and shoes to match. Royal Caribbean Cruiseline’s policy on shoes is pretty strict, meaning that no open toe or heel shoes are allowed onboard unless you’re on your way out of the ship, so remind yourself about that if you got a job with them.

Shoes – All the above applies to shoes as well. Bring a pair of snickers, a pair of formal shoes, a pair of flip flops and a pair of casual shoes and that’s enough. You don’t need work shoes since the company policy requires you to use their own shoes.

Cosmetics and make-up – It all depends on where you’re going. If it’s Europe, you better bring most of it from your home because there it can be pretty expensive. If your ship does the Caribbean then bring only the necessary things and buy the rest from there as everything is cheap. And by everything I mean really everything: from cotton pads and tampons to shampoos, shower gels and any type of make up. You can find pretty good deals for brand cosmetics in the USA and Mexico.

Medication – You don’t really need to bring anything with you because you’ll find everything that you need in the medical office free of charge.

Electronics – Both 110 and 220 voltage outlets are available in your room so you can bring any piece of electronic you want. What I found very useful to have with you is: laptop, mobile phone, ipod or any other MP3 player, hair dryer, photo camera and speakers. Anything else is just optional and if you ask me and if you don’t have enough space in your luggage don’t bring it. If you don’t have it, you can always wait until you get in the USA and buy it from there since is so much cheaper.

Books, music, and movies – Each ship has a library for its crew so no need to bring books or magazines with you unless it’s something you really want to read. Bring music and movies from home, it’s a great way to socialize and make new friends by sharing it.

Towels, linen – This is nothing you should be worrying about since they are provided by the company. Bring just one big towel for when you’re going to the beach, but you can also take the company towels as well if you don’t have your own. Some bring their own blankets and pillows too just to feel more at home, but you don’t really need it and they take up a lot of space. If you really want one of your own, buy one in one of the ports your ship is sailing from. Did I stress enough that USA is cheaper than Europe? It is when it comes to this as well.

Accessories – They make or break the outfit. In my opinion, you better bring more accessories and less clothes because, even though you’re wearing the same clothes, the entire outfit looks totally different depending on what accessories you’re wearing. Same like everything else, if you are in Europe, bring most of them from home, if you’re in the Caribbean islands, you can find better and cheaper there.

Personal stuff – Bring your teddy bear or your mini fountain garden with you, or anything that reminds you of home. It’ll make you feel less lonely onboard. Bring a few photographs of your family or boyfriend/girlfriend, it’ll help you stay on course and remind you you’re there to make some money so you can provide for them.

So this is it, time to pack your bags now. Just remember 2 things:

don’t pack your bags full since you need some space for presents when you’re coming back

check the airline company weight limit ( as a seaman, you are entitle to bring more luggage than the usual airline costumer – call and ask)

First thing first

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:32:00 +0000

So you have this friend who works on a cruise ship and you’ve notice his improved life style. All of the sudden he can afford to buy brand clothes, go to the expensive bars and restaurants, go on vacation in all those exotic places you only dream of and you start feeling a little jealous of him/her. You want those things too, but you have no idea where to start from.

Here’s the first thing you should do. Go to a recruitment agency and talk to one of the people there. Is what I did long time a go. I went there and asked them how I can get a job on one of the cruise ships. They told me the options, I chose and several months later I embarked a small ship called Norwegian Drea m.

It is very important to choose a well known, reliable agency in your country and when you get there asked them for their portfolio. Also, ask them about the commissions they’re taking and any other payments you have to make until you get the job. A solid, trustworthy company won’t ask for their commissions until you get your contract.

Some cruise lines employ directly themselves, others require you to apply through a local agency. For ships that cruise out of the UK, you will need to be at least 19, and for international ships, at least 21 years of age, hold a valid passport and not have a criminal record. Once employed, the company will make all the necessary travel arrangements, to and from ship, and any Visas that you may need. To work on a ship sailing out of the United States, you will need a C1/D Visa.

You can virtually apply for any position you want to as long as you have the back-up documentation showing you have related work experience in that field, but from my experience, if you’re not from USA, UK or any of the first world countries, you can only apply for entry level jobs such as waiter, assistant waiter, cook, front desk personnel, inventory store keeper, bar server or bartender, cruise staff, youth staff etc.

Don’t aim for managerial jobs, you’ll get disappointed. Most of the cruise lines prefer to promote from within for 2 big reasons:

1. they know and trust the person since that person are already working with the company for some time

2. they maintain the crew morale who sees that hard work is rewarded

Here you can find a list of cruise ship job employment agencies and here is the best agency in Romania, Job Selection.

10 Things you shouldn’t do when you travel alone in Thailand

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:13:00 +0000

There are things that you can or can not do when you find yourself traveling alone in a foreign country like Thailand. Some are related to their culture, some to your own personal safety and some to money. So here are 10 things you shouldn’t do when you travel alone in Thailand:

Wear shorts or tops when visiting temples – You need have respect for their tradition and religion. Although Buddhist religion is a very tolerant one, when visiting their temples you need to have your legs covered as well as the shoulders, otherwise they won’t allow you inside. So, whenever you’re going to visit a temple, make sure you’re wearing long pants or skirt and a t-shirt or a shirt. And if you want to visit the Tiger Temple near Bangkok, wear neutral colors so you won’t make the tigers too nervous.

Buy food out off the streets – Trying the local food is a must when you visit Thailand, but don’t buy it off the streets, otherwise you risk spending the rest of your vacation in bed with food poisoning and I am sure you don’t want that.

Walk alone at night – Needless to say that walking all alone on the streets at night is not safe, no matter which country you’re visiting. Just don’t do it. Use taxis instead, they are cheap and you can find them anywhere in Bangkok. Don’t forget to ask the taxi driver to start the meter otherwise they will charge you double.

Shop in the big malls for souvenirs – Might seem convenient to have everything in one place, but shopping in the malls is a big mistake. You can find the same things on the street markets or shops and it’ll cost you a lot cheaper. Besides, you can’t bargain in the malls and that’s the whole fun of shopping in Bangkok.

Go in bars or clubs at night – If you really want to have a drink late at night you better use the hotel’s facilities. Going by yourself in a bar or club at late hours isn’t safe and you better leave it for when you’re with friends.

Drink – And by that I mean having one too many. Besides the heat that will make you feel really sick, drinking too much might make you a pray for thieves. Just like going out in clubs, leave it for when you’re with friends.

Visit places outside Bangkok without a tour guide – Getting lost in the city is ok since you can take a taxi anytime and go back to your hotel, but getting lost outside the city is not advisable because taxis are hard to find and few local people know English. Remember, there are no directions in English anywhere in Bangkok or around it, so if you want to go and visit places outside the city, you better go with a group and tour guide.

Use tuk-tuks – if you need transportation in Bangkok, use taxis instead of tuk-tuks. Tuk-tuk drivers have an understanding with the shop owners and instead of bringing you to your destination, they will try and get you to a particular shop and make you buy things that you don’t really want to buy. Besides, they are much more expensive than the taxis and they have no air con and believe me, being stuck in traffic in a tuk-tuk with no ventilation or protection from the pollution and sun is not something you want to experience. In my opinion, tuk-tuks are good only for short distances, but make sure to bargain before going into one and tell the drivers you don’t want any other stops but where you want to go.

Trust people too much – Making friends is great, but you need to be cautious about it. Not all of them have good intentions, some will try to get you into their hotel rooms, some will try to get you drunk, and some will try to rob you. That doesn’t mean you have to be scared of anybody who says hi to you, just use your common sense and be careful.

Go outside without putting sunscreen lotion – Thailand is a really hot country and you can get sun burned in a matter of hours if you don’t use sun protection lotion. Even if you go outside for a short while, use it otherwise you’ll end up looking like a lobster.

10 Things you can do when you travel alone in Thailand

noreply@blogger.com (Oana) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:06:00 +0000

There is such thing as safe traveling and when you are in a foreign country you know nothing about there are things you can do and others it’s better not to do. So here are 10 things you can do when traveling on your own in Thailand.

Site-seeing – The first thing you should do is to get to know the area around your hotel. See if there’s an internet café close by, if there’s a 7 eleven around (there are everywhere here in Bangkok) or any other shop when you can buy things you need such as water, what markets are near you, temples etc. It is pretty safe as long as you do it during the day.

Shopping – Oh yeah! Either is it in a store or on one of the street markets in Bangkok, shopping is something you can do alone. You can even shop at night, they have this great night markets and it’s safe as long as you take a taxi from and back to the hotel. In Thailand you need to bargain otherwise you get to pay twice the price the item is worth.

Visit places– book an excursion at the travel counter in your hotel if you plan to go outside Bangkok. It’s safer and you get to know others like you. If the place is in the city, you may choose to go by yourself, but it isn’t as much fun as going with a group and you won’t get to know the history of that place since there’s no tour guide to tell you about it.

Sunbath topless in your hotel balcony- HA! I bet you didn’t think about this one! Well, the truth is nobody likes sun marks and since you have no idea about the culture, don’t take any chances and do it in the privacy of your hotel room. Might be allowed in Romania and it’s becoming a normal thing to do at the beach, but here you never know.

See shows – Thailand is well known for its Lady Boy Cabarets and that’s one thing you don’t want to miss when here. You can either book throughout the travel counter and they will provide you with transportation from and back to your hotel, or you might go on your own, but either way, don’t miss that, you’ll be sorry

Try out the local food – Don’t go safe on this one! Don’t order burgers and fries while here, try their local food, it’s delicious and very healthy. If you don’t like spicy food, let the waiter know, they will cook it mild for you. Might seem scary having lunch or dinner by yourself in a restaurant, but it’s a great way to relax and observe the people on the street. Can be fun at times. If you really, really don’t feel comfortable doing that, just bring with you a book, a magazine, your laptop, it’ll give you something to do until the food is ready. Remember, hiding because you’re alone is not going to do you any good and for sure won’t do anything good to your self esteem. And, at the end, nobody really cares you’re sitting all alone at the table anyway.

Check your emails – Most of the hotels here have internet access for its guests in the lobby, both wireless and their own PCs. Usually, it is more expensive at the hotel than it is at a local internet café. There are many places with internet connection in Bangkok and I am sure you can find one near your hotel. So, unless it’s late at night, I advice you to go and use one of those places.

Have yourself made a nice dress/suit at a local tailor – Thailand tailors are very good, not to say cheap, and very fast. You can choose your favorite designs from any catalog and have it made in 2 days for less than $100. What more can you want? As usually, don’t forget to bargain for a lower price. I got my self a nice kimono made out of real silk.

Use the hotel’s facilities – Go to the pool, use the sauna or any other facility they have at the hotel. You paid for it anyway, so enjoy it.

Have a massage – Another thing Thailand is well known for is the thay massage. They are great way to relax after a long day of shopping and, just like everything else here, it’s cheap. For about 10-15 dollars you can have an hour of pleasure. Go for it!