What are the â€˜upsâ€™ and â€˜downsâ€™ for working on a cruise ship?

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Anja H

For photography jobs onboard cruise ships go to the following link:
http://www.transoceanphotos.com/index2.html

The work of the Photographers onboard is mostly given to a concession, and the above is one I know well.

There are also different positions within the Photo department, so even if you do not have that great of experience, you can get entry level into the photo department.

Here is a link I found from a photographer on cruise ships and he gives a good overview:
http://www.geocities.com/scottyboy_1997/personal.html

Good luck - and don't get discouraged - just go for it if you want that.

Yes you will share a cabin, you will work many hours and you will need to be able to sell the pictures too.
Yet you will see more than the average crew member onboard a ship (just forget embarkation days)
because they also go on shore excursion with the passengers - so you get those in additions.

The ship's itinerary is always different and every ship does their routes. You could be on a ship which does 6 months Caribbean, one which does the winter in the Caribbean or South America or Tahiti, or Australia and the summer in Alaska or Canada, or Mediterranean, or the Baltic, or Asia.........

So the possibilities are endless.

The above link is the major provider of ships photographers onboard cruise ships, so they have contracts with different ships and cruise lines. To recommend a ship is nearly impossible, plus you will not get to choose your ship in any case (unless you are with them for some time, you might can ask)

Good luck

kookoolovesyou

My friend worked for Royal Carribean sailing out of Southampton for a year and absolutely loved it!! She got to travel around the world, went to Mexico and the Carribean.

A couple of points I will make. Any cruise ship that needs a photographer will already have one, if they don't they will employ someone with a lot more experience than a recent graduate. You need to either get a normal job on a cruise ship and then wait for an opening (which as an employee you would be more likely to get, assuming you had impressed them wth your normal work) or you can try and find a photography job off the ship and do that a few months to get some experience and then wait for an opening to come up.

Also bear in mind the fact you are there to work so depending on your shifts you will not get to get off the ship in every country you come to. My friend used to average maybe one in eight. It's not a holiday.

And the last point is they don't actually tell you where you are going until about three weeks before hand so you could end up going to the same place twice!

loves christmas lights

Its not hard labor working on a ship in a prof manor, my neighbor got a job as a cruise activity person long ago. He loved it, he wasnt looking to get married, he wanted adventure, and took off. We only saw him once after that, so I dont know much about it. I would think, the ship your hired onto is the one you will always work, if the Co owns lots of ships, they may switch people around so you can do half and half but I kinda doubt it, moving all the employees around like that would be a nightmare, and ships have varied schedules they dont pull all the ships in at once, they rent one or two births for off/on loading and maintanence. Id make up a portfolio, showing your knowledge of using available light, and framing of people as in weddings, ceremonies, and plain just people having fun, thinking about what kind of pics you would take on a ship, even if you gather some friends and go to a location and stage the shots. You need to show you can shoot what would be the constraints you have to deal with on a ship. Not too many of each type of photo your best ones. Think public and creating memories of moments, to get customers to look at a pic and want to go back and do it again or to show someone else who will say wow I want to go take that cruise. If your a good speaker all the better too, being comfy with people, knowing how to read body language and dealing with nasty customers too, not your customers, the ships, your attention could be key in getting someone whose upset they lost their exact room rental and make them have some memory photos that really make them look good, and your flattering words make the bad stuff disappear. I would contact a cruise company, or better yet look at all the websites, see whats available, go get a passport, go get the inoculations for such ventures, and that way you are ready to go right away if hired. Is sounds really fun to me, I wish you the best of luck to get that job. Remember though in these times, to be seen as following all the rules of being involved while working on the cruise ships, they are not really that big, gossip would be huge, and protect your reputatons at all times.

marco

Whether what Nathan was told by people is accurate or not, an experience like that would last a lifetime and I would not hesitate doing it for a summer. If the wages are that bad, I would probably save up some money beforehand, so you won't have any issues later on.

But follow your dreams and if that is one of them, certainly go for it! You'll never regret it

Nathan

I live in Alaska and lots of cruise ships visit us. I've had the chance to meet some of the people who work on the ships and lots of them have told me some really sad stories. They employ a lot of foreigners and I guess they're allowed to pay extremely low wages. You see, the ships operate in international waters and are usually licensed in Liberia and other countries with no real rules (that's why the companies license them there), so you won't be protected by American labor laws. Not trying to discourage you, but I think you'd be much better off working in a hotel.

Some guy

The waves. LOL

saqqu

ups=when you are on the crest of the wave in the sea/ocean, and downs when you are at the trough of the wave:P jk

i think the ups are you meet new people plus adventorous job, and downs, meet strange people and maybe dangerous due to harsh weathers

sparklnxdim0nd

i heard, because they're always at sea they pay about $2.00/hour because they can. they pay for everything else, food, board, and whatnot but you don't get paid much. and you can meet lots of interesting people. cruises are way fun, no taxes. i think you would have to check the cruise line about the how long you would spend at certain points.

superfreq

Pros: Hot co-workers. Cons: Sea Sickness

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