Asians working on Cruise?

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cruisingkerry

There are loads of Asians working on cruise ships, Filipinos and Indians, Thai.

Ships are generally a very friendly place to work and everyone gets on together really. Different nationalities tend to stick together so chances are that no matter where you come from yuo'll find a little community of your own on board.

Asians are generally in jobs like housekeeping (cabin stewards etc), bars, restaurant (waiters, buffet stewards) and the kitchens. There are some working ni the pursers desk and other parts of the ship. They usually account for about 3/4 of the crew. Although there are more and more eastern europeans working on ships now.

Any more info? Just ask. I have 12 years experience on workng on cruise ships. (I am English though but my fiance is Filipino)

OC E90

I just got back from a cruise (San Diego to Cabo San Lucas) and spoke at length with our waiter, who was from India. Some things I found out:

- Most staff work on 6 month long contracts, and spend a couple of months at home in between contracts. It must put a lot of stress on staff with families at home.

- The staff works very hard, not only at their main job but with everything else that has to get done. For example, waiters are also required to help load and unload baggage; youth counselors were also busy at the start of the cruise checking in guests and directing them to their staterooms; I saw all kinds of staff cleaning up anything that needed cleaning (it reminds me of the McDonald's workers policy, "If you have time to lean, you have time to clean").

- A lot of foreign workers on American cruise lines are really hurting financially because they get paid in U.S. dollars, which has fallen in value relative to other currencies. Our waiter said a lot of Eastern European staff especially were not renewing their contracts because of the bad exchange rate.

seventy

there are absolutely loads of Philipinos on the american ships such as Princess

Yup, lots of Filipinos, Indonesians, Thai and Indians work on cruise ships in both Hotel and Deck & Engine positions.

It's hard work, but for many people, it's a really good job in comparison with the options at home.

The Open Directory Project has a listing of crewing agencies (including a bunch in Asia) and sites with info on jobs onboard:
http://www.dmoz.org/Business/Transportation_and_Logistics/Maritime/Employment/Crewing_Agencies_and_Services/

Christine H

I would say that the majority of staff on a cruise are Asian. There are a large number of staff from the Phillipines. The rest come from a variety of backgrounds, especially from India, Austrailia, and Canada. One of the nice things about going on a cruise is meeting so many people from different backgrounds.

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