Applying For a Cruise Ship Job

I never would have pictured myself working on a cruise ship after my first cruise experience back in 2005. I went with some family members and family friends that weren’t my age. I wasn’t 21 yet, but was over 18. That is probably the worst age group to be in if you aren’t with your own friends. The ship left from Miami and went to Key West and Playa del Carmen, Mexico. I really enjoyed visiting Key West and Playa del Carmen, so I told my mom that we should have just flown to Mexico and stayed there for 4 days instead of taking the cruise. I certainly wasn’t sold on the cruise experience for vacation.

Fast forward 5 years and I was applying to work on a cruise ship. Why? I had never really considered it until I read about working on cruise ships on Wandering Earl’s travel blog. I had a four week winter break in between school semesters so I figured, why not? I really want to travel and I might as well try to find a traveling job during my break.

In the early fall I applied to a bunch of cruise lines as youth staff. I hadn’t heard anything back and forgot all about it. That is, until I received an email in December during my finals week asking if I would still be available and interested in a position for 3 weeks during my break. I said I was still interested and set up a phone interview. The interview was pretty easy and I was told I had the job on the spot and would be flown to Miami in 5 days. I had to pack and get everything together, which wasn’t a whole lot. I emailed asking when I should receive flight information and didn’t get a response. I didn’t get my travel information until 6pm the day before I was scheduled to leave.

Stay tuned to hear about the travels and first day on the job…