Are you interested in working on a cruise?

In this article, we have specified some of the basic requirements for a cruise ship job. The tips we’ve discussed here will help you harbor your passion of working on a cruise.

Carry reading on and find the basics and eligibility criteria to get yourself a sea career.

Basic Requirements to Seek a Cruise Job

Here are the basic requirements you need to have to get a job on a cruise ship.

Experience – This is about the experience you need to seek a career in a cruise line.

Education – Though we have explained about this in detail in the section below, what you need to understand is that you should satisfy the basic requirement that is advertised for a specific job that you may be interested in.

Minimum Age – You should be a minimum of 18 years of age to apply for any kind of job on a cruise liner.

Medical Requirements – You should be physically fit and submit relevant paperwork about your medical condition to the cruise liners, when you are asked for it. The details of medical conditions are explained in the later sections.

Security Requirements – There shouldn’t be any legal complications when the cruise liners conduct a background check on you. We have explained more about this under security requirements.

You may also like: Sea Ship Nurse Job Description and Duties

Experience

One of the basic job requirements for any job is experience. To get a travel ship job, one has to have adequate experience in the work they seek in a cruise line. The experience one has and the way they market it is what stands between them and the job as cruise staff. The better you market your experience the more edge you have over other applicants.

Education

Anyone who aspires to work as a staff in a cruise line should have a command over the English language, that is, they should have good verbal and written command over the English language. This requirement for the staffs to know English is because most of the passengers might be comfortable speaking in a language, which is universally accepted by all.

Many jobs in the cruise ship need a formal educational certificate.

Some of the popular jobs that require educational certificates are:

1- Captain of the Ship and Safety Officer

A cruise ship captain would require Diploma from an accredited Maritime Training School and National Certificate of competency.

2- Chief Engineer

A National Certificate of Competency, Master’s Degree or Poly-Technical Degree of Technical Ship’s Operation

3- Entertainment Technicians

Extensive Technical and Practical Education

4- Food and Beverage Manager

Minimum High School education or equivalent. A Diploma in Hospitality Management and Business Administration.

5- Beauty Salon Manager

Extensive Beauty Salon or Spa Managerial Training and relevant experience

6- Chef or Cook

Culinary School Degree or Approved Certification. Five to Six years of Progressive Managerial experience in a cruise ship or a 4 or 5-star hotel also needed.

7- Guest Services Manager

A Bachelor’s Degree in Hospitality Management. A Business Administration or a related field from an accredited College or University would also work.

8- Human Resources Manager

Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resources, Business Administration and Psychology. The degree must be obtained from a recognized institution.

9- Training and Development Manager

Bachelor’s Degree or International equivalent from a renowned university or college.

10- Crew or Staff Administrator

High School Degree from a renowned school or educational institution and a college degree would be a plus.

11- Financial Controller and Crew Payroll Manager

Degree in Hotel or Hospitality Management, Accounting and any other financial degree.

Height

While there is no specific height requirement, you have to fulfill the requirements that are specified for US Navy candidates.

In USA, men and women should be anywhere between 60 and 80 inches tall to apply for a navy job. The same rules apply to most of the cruise jobs as well.

Minimum Age

The minimum age to work on a cruise ship as a staff is 21 years. However, some jobs may be given to applicants who are of age group 18, 19 and 20, provided they show maturity and responsibility. The jobs that are given to 18 – 20 years age grouped applicants are in the entertainment section of the ship. These include actors who can play as extras or chorus singers in a music band, etc.

As long as one is young at heart and bear the 11 plus hours of shift every day, they can work on a sea ship. Yet some positions do not recruit people above the age of 35 as their co-workers might be much younger than them. This could lead to disharmony among them.

Medical Requirements

Seasickness

For a sea ship job, it is mandatory to get your medical examination passed. It is crucial as long hours on the sea might cause seasickness in some people. While going for medical examinations, one must carry their passport and vaccination records. The person should have had vaccination up to date.

Glasses or Contact Lens

If the person wears glasses or contact lenses, he is supposed to wear glasses while appearing for the examination. This is important for a proper vision test.

Body Mass Index

The body mass index will be calculated by measuring the person’s height and weight.

Blood and Urine Tests

Before getting you on board, cruise liners would also ask you to provide with blood and urine reports.

Most of the cruise employers would surely ask you to provide with blood and urine samples.

They will try to find out if there is any substance abuse in the person or any other underlying illness.

Some of the questions to be expected during the medical examinations are:

• Do you wear glasses or contacts?
• How much do you drink per day/week?
• How much do you smoke per day/week?
• Are you a diabetic patient?
• Do you suffer with asthma?
• Do you have any STD?
• AIDS patient?
• Do you suffer from sleeping problems?
• Do you suffer from sea sickness?
• Have you had seizures?
• When was your last seizure?
• Do you get nose bleeds?

This article tells you how to get a medical certificate.

Security Requirements

A security clearance is a must for any job as it would make the applicant trustworthy. Cruise jobs also require the candidates to present a police clearance certificate. This helps ascertain that the applicant have no criminal records against their names.

Security Clearance from Police

A security clearance is a must to get into a cruise ship as part of the cruise staff team. Any criminal records, even a minor one, would make the applicant lose the job. Having a clean record is one of the most important prerequisites for a job candidate.

DUI

Cruise lines are very particular about the integrity and ethics of the employees. If the candidate has been guilty of DUI (driving under the influence) in the past, it will take him non-eligible to apply for the job.

Basic Requirements for a Cruise Ship Job: Conclusion

Yes, you have to satisfy a lot of requirements before getting a job on a cruise line. However, once you get it, you will know it was well worth the time and effort that you put it. If you love to travel, learn new things every day in your career and mingle with people from different cultures, a cruise job is the dream job for you. The hours may be long, but you will not feel the strain at all, because you will start loving what you do. You will get to visit exotic places while you are at work and you will also get paid for it. Isn’t that quite lovely, indeed?

When you work on a cruise, your travel, food and accommodation arrangements are sorted. Therefore, you get to save a major chunk of your earnings as well. The facts that you can make good money on a cruise job attracts many.

On a sea ship job, you can also improve your overall personality each day. This all makes the cruise job an exciting opportunity that you shouldn’t hesitate to explore.

Wondering how much you will be paid for doing your work on a cruise ship?

Here, we have given a brief overview of some of the important job profiles, the jobs they do and their average pay.

This pay structure may be different according to the terms and conditions of different cruise lines.

• Ship Captain – $150000 annually
• Deckhand (Able Seaman) – $4680 annually
• Steward/Stewardess – $41600 annually
• Waiter/Waitress – $30,000 – $60,000 annually
• Housekeeper – $41080 annually
• Chef – $45,600 – $78,000 annually
• Food & Beverage – $69,600 – $88,800) annually
• Host and Hostess – $42000 annually
• Yoga Teacher and Diving Instructors – $30000 annually

How Much Do Cruise Lines Pay You?

Working on a sea ship is one of the best things that can happen to you. You must have already known that the pay rates are reasonably high on cruise liners.

However, did you know that these cruise ship jobs can help you develop your overall personality as well?

You get to visit new places and learn about new cultures every day, which makes you very tolerant of people. There are various jobs that you can apply for on a cruise ship. Some of the common ones and their average pay rates are discussed here.

The most common jobs are the captain of the ship, the host or a hostess, housekeeping, waiter and chef or a cook.

All these groups have different levels of pay structure, as the complexity and nature of the job is completely different from one another. For very obvious reasons, jobs that are risky are paid more than jobs that are quite safe.

Ship Captain

The captain of the ship is one of the tedious and most risky jobs on the cruise ship as almost all the people on the ship depend on the captain’s expertise for the success of the whole voyage. They are usually called the master of the ship as they are the ones who control the ship’s movements, when and where to halt, etc. Being the captain of the cruise ship may seem all glamorous on the outside, but it needs a lot of hard work and effort.  With the hardcore work and effort comes an attractive pay package. A ship captain earns an average annual salary of about $150000.

Deckhand (Able Seaman)

The deckhand, being a member of the ship’s crew, is important for a cruise ship. They are the ones that look after the cleanliness and hygiene of the ship. The cruise ships are subjected to a lot of cleaning as there are lots of people on board. A deckhand in a cruise ship can earn a sum of $90 per week (approx. $4680 annually) which is quite a good sum, indeed! This work doesn’t involve too much of heavy cargo handling unlike cargo ships; therefore this pay is a good deal for a person who doesn’t have to do heavy-duty jobs.

Steward/Stewardess

The steward and stewardess are the lives of a cruise ship, as they are the ones that manage the passengers by providing them with the necessary details and also helping them when they have any issues during the voyage. They also have the biggest task of handling passengers throughout the voyage by making everything available to the passengers and by making the voyage an enjoyable experience for the passengers on board. Cruise ship stewards make a handsome amount of around $800 to $810 per week (approx. $41600 annually).

Waiter/Waitress

The waiter and waitresses on a cruise ship have a very busy profile – probably busier than their counterparts who work in restaurants on the land!

They have to cater to every passenger in the ship. The number of people on board a cruise ship is more than the number of people who go to a restaurant. The waiters and waitresses on the cruise ship have to be quick and precise while taking orders and should also be fast enough to bring the food to the passengers.

An entry-level waiter or waitress makes $1200 – $1800 per month, a dining room waiter will have a salary of $2200 – $3800 per month and a head waiter will have a salary of $2600 – $4800 per month ($30,000 – $60,000 per year).

Housekeeper

A housekeeper on a cruise ship takes care of the cleaning and domestic tasks of the rooms of the passengers of the cruise ship. The housekeeper thus provides the passengers a very warm and welcoming stay. Don’t you feel pleasant and happy when you come back to a clean and well-maintained room every day?  It’s because of the housekeeping staff do their job well that you get that feeling. The pay package for housekeepers is quite decent, indeed! They earn around $790 per week ($41,080 annually) which will work out to a handsome amount when computed for a year.

Chef

A chef is one of the important persons in a cruise ship as he will be the one providing the passengers on board the cruise ship with food. He has the task to make different cuisine styles and different varieties of food to be made available to the passengers according to their preferences. The sous chef makes a handsome sum of $3400 – $5800 per month and an executive sous chef makes a sum of $3800 – $6500 per month ($45,600 – $78,000 per year).

Food & Beverage

Food and beverage services on a cruise provide passengers with food and drinks. Drinks include alcoholic drinks and non- alcoholic drinks. The food and beverage department must make sure they are adequately stocked up during every voyage they take. The food and beverage service providers can earn a sum of $5800 – $7400 per month ($69,600 – $88,800 each year).

Host and Hostess

The host and hostess are the faces of the cruise as they are the ones who invite the passengers when they get on board of the cruise and greet them when they disembark from the ship. The host or hostess of a cruise ship will earn a sum of $42000 per year. This is a good pay package, considering the hard work that they put in. They have to come up with social events, parties and games to keep the passengers entertained in the cruise.

Yoga Teacher and Diving Instructors

While on the cruise many people would want to relax and rejuvenate themselves. What better way to get rejuvenated than yoga?

Activities like yoga and diving are the most commonly sought after by people when they wanted to relax.  This is because these activities are highly successful at calming the ever- racing human thoughts. For this purpose, the cruise ship will have a certified dive and yoga instructor.

They earn a sum of $2500 per month ($30,000 each year) excluding tips. The yoga and dive instructors are eligible to receive tips. When they provide an incredible training experience to the passengers, they get tipped generously. More often than not, the amount they receive in tips is almost equal to or more than their monthly salary.

The best thing about working on a cruise ship is that one gets to travel around the world while doing their job. This is why the cruise staffs love to work in such a happy environment. Every voyage has a story to tell, and the people working on the cruise are perfect scriptwriters for this story. Isn’t it only natural that they are paid well for the work they do?

Searching for a dream cruise job in Canada? Though there might be numerous cruise vacancies available before you, finding the high paying job with amazing fringe benefits and gravy-train type perks should be your foremost priority.

To help you in this regard, we bring you an insight into the top 5 places where you can find a sea ship job while being in Canada. These platforms are considered best for they connect employers with potential candidates, have jobs starting from entry-level freshers to experts, and serve as a trusted job-seeking platform for both foreign and national applicants.

Top 5 Portals to Find Canada Cruise Ship Jobs

1) Indeed

Indeed is the world’s most trafficked job search engine. It serves several worldwide nations, with ca.indeed.com used for searching jobs in Canada specifically.

This job portal contains a large number of fresh listings from Canada’s top-verified cruise ship agencies hiring employees from all nationalities, entry-level from fresher to advanced, and lifestyles from internship to part-time to full-time. Candidates can filter their job type by location pay scale, date posted, and level of experience.

Why Indeed?

It is currently the world’s biggest job website, boasting 250 million+ monthly visitors and the addition of 10+ new job listings every second. Because of its scale, the number of sectors and lifestyles catered to, and its unrivaled upgrade frequency, we choose Indeed as the best overall job search engine. For work seekers, Indeed is 100% free and requires no account. Its interface is extremely intuitive and designed to speed up the career quest.

2) Cruise.Jobs

A genuine leader in the procurement of cruise ship employment, Cruise.Jobs connects young talent and companies. Tens of new listings are posted and hundreds of career quest queries are entered on Cruise.Jobs every minute, every single day. We selected this platform as the runner-up because, while it is superior to others in efficiency, targeted relevancy, accessibility, it has fewer job hunt options and not as many opportunities.

The platform contains extensive details shared by employers who intend to find candidates who are a great match for their vacancies regarding different cruise positions in Canada. The platform is free to use, and job applicants can explore the many exciting possibilities for a bright future ahead.

Why Cruise.Jobs?

Cruise.Jobs serves as a dedicated platform for finding everything cruise jobs. It uses advanced technologies, providing a higher quality index and improved browsing experience for job searchers. While several famous sites refuse to take down obsolete or non-vacant postings, Cruise.Jobs adds new job listings to its website within the same hour that they are first posted, making it the perfect option for those who are looking to be the first to apply for a newly listed cruise line job in Canada.

3). LinkedIn

LinkedIn functions as an online career directory, a digital resume forum, and an all-in-one social networking tool. Unlike most other job search engines, LinkedIn helps you to establish connections with recruiters and other people of interest in the social media sphere – making it the perfect place to communicate directly with recruiters.

Your LinkedIn profile acts as a public digital resume and portfolio that is submitted to recruiters after you have applied for a job, so it is important to devote time and resources to ensure that the profile looks extensive, professional, and streamlined. If your profile is well-optimized for top page search rank, renowned Canadian cruise ship agencies will directly approach you for a relevant job position.

Why LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is ideal for finding Canada cruise ship jobs as it helps candidates establish direct communication with recruiters. It’s a perfect platform for landing jobs, free of charge. You can develop a customized, resume-like profile that emphasizes your job experience and diverse talent, and submit requests to top agencies.

4). Neuvoo

Neuvoo includes a specific collection of features that allow you to browse and search for cruise jobs Canada work listings by skill set, organization, and place. A free account provides you with opportunities to submit your CV and monitor your work records.

Neuvoo lets you browse open possibilities and submit to any related listings. Its advanced software takes your profile details and serves as a matchmaking service between your skills and the cruise ship company to which you have applied to.

Why Neuvoo?

Thanks to Neuvoo’s scam-free, ad-free platforms, work-seekers appreciate their precious time and resources saved. Employment hunters can also visit the profile of each organization and read extensive feedback on the experiences of employees and interviewees, which can be a game-changer for your interview preparation.

5). Jooble

Jooble is one of the popular places for cruise ship employment and associated information (i.e. eligibility, benefits, wages) in Canada. It has a deep pool of search filters and, in recent years, has undergone a substantial update to its features and ease of use, making it even more competitive with other job sites.

The platform is constantly updated and includes cruise ship job openings that may have been overlooked on other job sites. You can also apply for jobs directly through the web, helping you to streamline the whole process of a job application.

Why Jooble?

Jooble, one of the leading Canadian career pages for cruise workers, helps you to browse for open positions with filters such as type of job, location, and employer in mind. You can also submit your CV and make detailed feedback notification requests about those job opportunities.

If you want to read more about future occupations that would suit you, the platform is also packed with helpful information on different cruise-related employments, as well as insights into the governmental and private companies that provide them, helping you get more prepared for the next major interview.

Conclusion:

While possibilities can be uncovered through word of mouth or social media sites, extending the search through as many channels as possible is never a bad idea. You don’t ever know where the next chance will come from. These aforementioned best places to find cruise jobs – centralize thousands of opportunities and will expose you to cruise jobs and employers that you would not have known of otherwise!

The prospect of traveling around the world on a cruise ship is definitely exciting and interesting for many youngsters. While a cruise ship job pays you handsomely, it also requires you to put in a lot of effort. You may have to work for all the days in a week, if needed. If you ready to do hard work, open to accommodate yourself in tough situations and have the interest to learn about new cultures, a job on a cruise would work well for you.

You can save a lot of your money in this kind of job because all your needs are looked after. You can enjoy good food and also use the staff facilities like the spa, gym, etc. You can send a lot of money back home, which is one of the main reasons for the huge demand for these cruise jobs.

Cruise/Sea Job Portals in Philippines

Are you looking for a job on a cruise ship in the Philippines? You have to look in the right places to scan through the available job opportunities and apply for the one that suits your qualifications and experience the best. Here are three places that you can refer to, for knowing about the available cruise ship jobs in the Philippines.

1. JobStreet.com.ph

This is one of the trusted places for you to search for cruise ship jobs in the Philippines. Like most of the other job portals, here too, you can apply certain filters such as experience, specialization, etc. to narrow down your choices further. Here, you will find jobs in various departments such as HR, in-house entertainment, technical department, supervision & quality, catering, ticketing and the like. You can also view by the freshness of the job posting, so that you can apply for the most recent jobs.

Visit Website

2. Cruise.jobs

Taking the help of recruitment agents to land on a good cruise ship job in the Philippines is a great idea. Yes, you have to pay a commission to these agents, but they match your profile with some of the biggest cruise liners in the industry; therefore, you can be assured of a good break in your career when you team up with trusted recruitment agencies in the Philippines. This website will give you a list of some of the top agencies. Most of them have exclusive tie-ups with a particular cruise liner. So, this website will help you to get a job in your dream company.

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3. Indeed.com.ph

Are you interested to know more about the latest cruise ship jobs available in the Philippines? This portal will give you the latest information about the same. As you can see, currently there are over 200 job openings posted by Magsaysay Agencies who handle cruise jobs of various cruise liners such as Princess Cruises, Costa Cruises, Saga Cruises and so on. So, this is one of the best places for you to look for your dream job and apply for one.

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End note

In a nutshell, we would like to reiterate that while a cruise job is one of the most well-paid jobs in the world, it is quite hard to get selected into these ships. You need to be true to yourself and satisfy all the basic requirements that a job demands to get qualified for it.