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How To Dramatically Improve Your Chances of Working on a Cruise Ship

By Neil Maxwell Keys

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Published: 21Jun2007
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Don't limit your chances of success by only applying directly to the cruise line companies themselves. You might be surprised to know that concessionary companies and staffing agents are actually responsible for hiring a large percentage of cruise ship employees.

You see, many applicants often overlook this possibility, or wrongly assume that they have less chance of getting the job if they apply through a concessionaire or agent. For this reason the applicant 'pool' tends to be much smaller.

You can use this knowledge to your advantage and greatly increase your chances of success by making sure that you apply to as many concessionaires and staffing agents as you can, as well as applying directly to the cruise line companies.

If you're unsure what the difference is between a cruise line, concessionaire and staffing agent, then here's a quick overview:

The cruise line is the company that actually owns and runs the cruise ship. But the concessionaire company will have an agreement with the cruise line to run a specific service onboard their ships (e.g. the onboard beauty salons and the onboard gift shops, etc).

This is similar in the way that a large shopping mall will have lots of retail stores inside. The mall provides the space and the customers - and the store provides the service.

It's important to know that if you're employed by a concessionaire, then you are employed and paid by that company and not the cruise line (although you still follow the same rules and regulations and get the same privileges onboard as all other staff members).

A staffing agent is someone who works on behalf of the cruise line company (or concessionaire) to provide staff for usually a wide range of departments onboard. Once you have been placed by a staffing agent, their job is usually done and all the rest of the details are handled directly between the cruise line and the employee.

Cruise Ship Jobs for International Staff?

A question I get asked quite a lot by cruise ship job seekers is:

"Is it more difficult for a non-American to get a job on a cruise ship?"

The answer of course, is a resounding "NO!"

And if you've ever been on a cruise ship and met some of the staff who work onboard, you would probably laugh at this question! But it does genuinely appear to be a quite a big concern for many international job-seekers.

In fact, sadly, some people actually write and tell me that they're giving up on the idea of working on a cruise ship because they're not American...

Cruising is one of the fastest growing leisure sectors. It's a huge industry worth billions of dollars - and the biggest cruising market is... yep, America!

For this reason most of the world's cruise line companies at least have a presence there (mainly Miami). And of course, it's fairly close to the Caribbean which is the most popular cruising destination.

But does this mean that it's mainly Americans who get to work onboard and have all the fun?

Nothing could be further from the truth!

The cruise line industry is an international industry that employs tens of thousands of staff from the world over. What's more, this is probably one of the few industries that employs people from virtually any country you can think of. And many more from Countries that you didn't even know existed!

On my first ship (Carnival Fascination) there were SEVENTY TWO different nationalities of people working onboard ONE ship. This was split over about 900 crew (which also gives you a little glimpse into how much fun it can be working and socializing with all these different people from so many different backgrounds!)

And this is fairly typical.

There are tens of thousands of staff from English speaking countries working on cruise ships right now, including; Americans, British, Irish, South African, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand.

Not to mention the tens of thousands of staff from Europe, the Far East, the Middle East, South America & the Caribbean, Russia and many more.

So I'm always amazed when people tell me that they can't get a job onboard a cruise ship because they're "not American"!

I hope this has dispelled that "myth" and will prevent you from giving up and missing out on a fantastic and life-changing opportunity.

Neil Maxwell-Keys is THE cruise ship jobs expert and best-selling author of "Get a Cruise Ship Job!" Each week he sends out a FREE tip, technique or strategy about how to get a job on a cruise ship quickly and easily. For further information visit: http://www.WorkOnCruiseShips.com

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