Cruise Ship Jobs?

raptorman

I am thinking of becoming a cruise ship photographer! I already have 2 years experience as a portrait photographer and also experience working with mini-labs. Can anyone point me in the right direction with regards to who to contact,websites?

Anyone done this type of work before? Is the work tax free as stated by some websites? What are the pro's and con's?

I know I will be away from home for anything upto 9 months at a time but I really need to improve my finances and this looks like something I can do.

Any help with this is greatly appreciated.

chriseeboy

Hi,

I haven't worked on ships myself but I have a good friend who, with his wife, worked for P&O for some 6 years which resulted in them being set up for life. For example, their starter home was a 3 bed linked detached down here on the south coast which they since moved from into a detached four bed house. Shiney BMW parked out front and two kids.

Yes, provided you work out of the country for 6 months your salary is tax free and paid into your account. My friend was a bar manager and they lived off his tips which meant thay came home to their income untouched allowing them to save thousands.

Contracts tend to be 6 months longs with maybe a month off. You work every day but when the ship is in port you have the time to go and do your own sightseeing.

My friends travelled the world several times over, made great friends and saved a lot of money. I even joined them on a criuse for a few weeks and sampled life both as a passenger and as a crew member. Trust me, the crew have a lot of fun!!

If I had my time over and no comittments I wouldn't think twice about working on ships. I suggest it to friends and if my own son said he was thinking about it I'd take him doen to the dockside myself.

As for websites. Try hcareer.com or alternatively, P&O, Royal Caribbean or search cruise ship operators.

Great way of life, go for it.

creditcardking_2

raptorman wrote:

I am thinking of becoming a cruise ship photographer! I already have 2 years experience as a portrait photographer and also experience working with mini-labs. Can anyone point me in the right direction with regards to who to contact,websites?

Anyone done this type of work before? Is the work tax free as stated by some websites? What are the pro's and con's?

I know I will be away from home for anything upto 9 months at a time but I really need to improve my finances and this looks like something I can do.

Any help with this is greatly appreciated.

I watched a TV show about working on cruise ships and the cleaners were only paid 80 pence per day, I would think a photographer would be paid much more. I have been on a cruise and I spent over 100 pounds on photographs and you had to que for ages, so there seems to be plenty of demand.

martyfarty69

I worked on cruise lines for nearly 6 years and worked for 3 different companies, Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity ( which is actually part of Royal Caribbean ), Unfortunately i didnt work in the photo department i worked in the casino , but i still know alot about working on ships, there are big pros and cons, the pros are (like i say at least for casino) the money can be very good, you get to see places that you could only dream of seeing normally, ( i myself have seen most of the caribbean, central and south america, spent 2 weeks in brazil and 5 days docked straight in rio for the carnival, and also spent a large amount of time in Hawaii, plus most of europe .) and you have virtually no overheads, you're meals are provided onboard for you ( although they vary greatly in quality and not just cruise line to cruise line, but ship to ship ) your accomodation is also free, and if u like a drink it works out at about 45p for a bottle of beer in the crew bar onboard. now for the cons...you have virtually no freedom or privacy, you have a roommate who you have to share a very tiny cabin space with 24/7, you live with the people you work with so everyone generally know's your business, when you first get onboard you will do so many meetings and be expected to work as well, you will be knackered for the first two weeks at least , you will be required to do a minimum of two passenger safety drills per week, which are a royal pain in the !!!!!!. If you work for a company that pays in US dollars then the exchange rate to pounds at the moment is crap, its actually one of the main reasons i packed it in as it got to the point that for every thousand dollars i sent home i was getting just slightly over 500 quid, whereas when i first went on ships i used to get about 750 quid, You are also expected to maintain a high level of customer service, especially if you are dealing with american guests as one wrong move and they will make a complaint about you .
So overall there you go, if i were to recommend a company to work for it would be Royal Caribbean , they are the last big cruise line that are still relatively good to work for, for example they still pay for your medicals they still pay for your plane tickets to and from the ship etc, as for employment with them its been a long time but i recommend going on each website and if you look around on them there should be an employment link, probably a better way than going through one of the agencies that you see in the papers.
Hope this helped a little and good luck.

raptorman

Thanks for the info everyone.

I have a wife and daughter and it would be hard
to leave them but I have to do something to clear
my debts.

I will have to think about this some more and discuss
it with my wife.

Once again thanks everyone

Savvy_Sue

One other thing to consider ...

do you get seasick?

martyfarty69

yeah good point,
I went through some really bad weather before, even went close to a hurricane once, its not much fun when you're hanging onto top bunk to try not to fall out , or spill your beer !!!!!

Almost_Redundant

Just out of interest: what sort of age groups are cruise ship workers? Had a sudden notion for the wife and I to pack it all in and go sailing! Are couples working a common sight?

Thanks

martyfarty69

Yeah redundant, couples are a common site, and i've seen people working on ships from 18 to early 50's so there really is no specific age group, although i do think the ship life is more suited to 30's and under simply because of the amount of partying that goes on. I dont know i guess every case is different, i just know that im 27 years old now, and if i did a contract now like i did when i did my first one at 21 then it'd probably kill me !!!!!

mrwendal

Hi Raptorman,

If you would like to work onboard either Royal Caribbean International or Celebrity Cruises then email your CV and covering letter to [email="shipjob@aol.com"]shipjob@aol.com[/email].

Hope this helps and best of luck.