a day in the life
working on a cruise ship
sea day edition
Welcome back travel lovers! Today I am taking you on a day in the life of working as a senior crewmember onboard a cruise ship.
I’ve worked on ships for two and a half years, and I have worked my way across to my current role which I love. I’m so excited to share this with you all.
I will also be doing a port day edition as my schedule is different on a port day.
7:50-8am: Wake up call
Normally I don’t need to wake up earlier than this most days, the only exceptions are for if a new colleague is joining as embarkation for crew varies from 6-8am.
Otherwise 8am is enough time to wake up, journal, shower and get ready, it’s not too far of a commute after all!
Most days I try and go for breakfast, other days I snooze my alarm until 8.20am latest and get a pain un chocolat mid morning, but I am trying to make more of an effort to eat breakfast.
9-12am: First work block
My job is a Future Cruise and Loyalty Manager onboard, and this consists on looking after our guests. We have a loyalty program onboard but if any guests have any issues, if we have high tier guests onboard that need a little extra TLC, or even new to cruising guests – that’s what we’re there for.
We run loyalty events, host dinners and help guests make future bookings. I work on a smaller ship so we had repeat guests which makes it like a family, especially coming up to the festive season it’s nice to know I have guests and crew who I know.
At the time of writing, I’ve recently embarked, and this morning consisted of sorting out my emails as each manager has their own system, and I’ve recently numbered my email folders into sections. I’m very much a girl that likes all her outlook folders to be visible without needing to scroll down, otherwise it’s out of sight out of mind.
Then it was time for a quick coffee break with a few of the officers, which was a nice catch up, followed by some chats with our regulars (frequently travelled guests) whilst adjusting to the fact we have around five hours of sunlight at the moment as we head towards Polar night chasing the Northern Lights…
12-2pm: Lunch/relaxation
Here I either go for lunch and then relax until two afterwards or I relax, head for lunch at 1.30pm and then head straight to the desk. Cruise life is regimented in some areas and pliable in others. There are always two future cruise and loyalty managers onboard normally, so I tend to work 2-6pm to finish early, but some managers do 3-7pm to have a longer lunch for gym/calling home etc.
I’m really lucky to have supportive management onboard these ships, so I feel very supported in my decisions. Today I went for lunch and then came back and put together some ideas for a new blog.
2-6pm: Second work block
This is the same as the morning, and if it’s not busy this is when we’ll try and plan the upcoming cruise events and admin.
Normally we work 9-12pm 2-6pm but we will have one to two hotel meetings where all department heads come to discuss the cruise in hand, and these happen at the end but also at the start of the cruise if it’s a long sailing.
We also have one to two events each cruise which we host, as well as formal dinners where we host a table, so our hours do change slightly. If it’s a formal night we will finish at 4pm or 6pm, depending on whether we’re hosting early or late dinner.
Captain also introduces us onstage alongside the other senior officers, which I personally love because it’s the same company that I went on as a guest when I was sixteen and thought the officers onstage were the coolest. Funny how life works.
6pm: Dinner and end of work day (unless it’s formal)
Unless it’s a formal night we always finish at 6pm on a sea day unless the last day of the cruise, in which case we stay open a little longer to see guests.
After dinner, the night is ours, which I cherish. My evenings go from writing, to seeing the shows (the theatre is right underneath my cabin on this contract so I get a preview in my breaks with the tech runs) supporting friends in the show team with their independent cab sets in the bars, or heading down to our crew bar.
Tomorrow evening we’re also going to dinner at one of the speciality restaurants which crew can book if there’s space, so tonight’s been a chilled evening.
10-12am: Wind down and get ready to do it all again!
The hours I work allow me to put my all into my job but also still have time to work write and relax.
And because a lot of my friends onboard work in my breaks I can create these blogs, and then meet them afterwards around 10-11pm, so I still get time to be social.
It definitely requires discipline but it is so worth it. This contract consists of the lot of sea days together, four days to the canaries, six days across the Atlantic, so this will be my routine for 3-6 days at a time, which in bad weather can be a little intense but it’s a lifestyle not a job, and you either love it or hate it. Thankfully I fell into the former category, and it allows me to get paid whilst travelling the world.
See you soon for a port day edition of a day in the life of working on a cruise ship!