8 Things I Wish I Knew Before Working on a Cruise Ship
Becoming a seafarer and working on a cruise ship can be a “dream come true” for many people, myself included. The opportunity is unlike any other. You get to travel the world, work alongside people from countries you may have never visited, and have your food and housing covered. Plus, you really cannot beat the commute.
But there are so many parts of ship life that I never could have imagined before becoming a crew member. Some things you learn quickly, while others take a few contracts to truly understand.
Now, three contracts into my time with Disney Cruise Line Entertainment, I want to share some of the things I wish I knew before stepping onboard for the first time. Whether you are considering a career at sea or preparing for your first contract, here are 8 things I think every aspiring crew member should know.
“Additional duties as needed” will be a priority.
Seeing as I work in the Entertainment department, I figured my day-to-day would consist purely of entertainment.
WRONG.
You know that bullet on a job posting that says “additional duties as needed”? Well, that is the reality of working onboard. At this point, I am trying to collect as many side quests as possible.
Safety is something no seafarer can escape. I have served as both an Assembly Leader and Deputy Leader, completed CPR and crisis management training, and passed three U.S. Coast Guard inspections. I have also been assigned IPM, or In Port Manning, which means staying onboard while everyone else gets off the ship. Sometimes, that is exactly what I need to catch up on sleep, laundry, and cleaning my cabin.
I have helped with gangway operations, spent more time helping Port Adventures than my own department during Alaska season, and even learned to tech some activities myself.
And somehow, my Entertainment job has also led to media opportunities, including my television debut on Good Morning America and hosting trivia during a YouTube Creator event.
The biggest lesson? On a cruise ship, your job description is more of a starting point than a boundary. You may be hired for one department, but there is an entire ship that needs to run.
At this point, I am just waiting to see what my next side quest will be.
The people you start with might not be the people you finish with.
Everyone who works on a cruise ship signs their own personal contract, which comes with individual start and end dates. What this means is that everyone is constantly rotating in and out. The team you begin with will not be the same mix of people you end with.
On the Entertainment team, that constant turnover means there are always gaps to fill. Each person knows different shows and tracks than the next, so when someone leaves, it often creates new priorities for which shows the rest of us need to learn.
In addition to your team members changing, your management will change as well. Yes, your direct manager, but also their manager, and all the way up the chain to the captain. In fact, the more senior in management you become, the shorter your contracts can be. Each manager has their own priorities and values they want to push, and navigating those different expectations can be difficult when you are constantly learning new ways of performing the same tasks.
For instance, we help with the theatre doors, but even the sequence in which we open them can change depending on who is in charge.
You may become comfortable with a certain set of leaders, and they get to know you. Then, in the blink of an eye, it can feel like you are back to square one.
That has happened to me. I was working with one manager to open a certain set of shows, then a new senior manager came in and everyone's priorities shifted. Sometimes, that leads to better opportunities. Other times, it can take things away from you. You just have to learn to go with the flow, adapt to new expectations, and constantly prove yourself.
And all of this can happen within one contract.
Your entire day can change because of one announcement.
It is no secret that a port day provides more off time because guests are off the ship. So, imagine you have a beautiful port day schedule with no need to start until 12 PM. Then, ringgggg, suddenly you are woken up at the crack of dawn and, “Surprise! Sea day!” For some reason, the ship could not dock, and now new activities need to be added. Being part of the Entertainment team, that means YOU.
Suddenly, your entire day has changed in a matter of moments. Not only is there a major change to the schedule, but you are also dealing with guest frustration. You have to navigate unhappy cruisers and try to turn their day around. This has happened to me, and I know it will happen again.
Then, someone calls out of work due to illness, and suddenly your break is interrupted because you have to fill in. It is also your job to make all of these changes seem seamless so guests never know something went wrong in the first place.
Weather can throw another wrench into the plans. If an outdoor activity cannot happen, it gets moved indoors or replaced with a substitute activity. This means you have to be adaptable, whether that means knowing the indoor contingencies or randomly being swapped into something you have never done before.
I was one of the only people who knew the indoor “Sail-A-Wave” contingency and found myself teaching my team how to do it 5 minutes before showtime when the change was called after a safety drill.
So yes, sometimes the plan changes. Sometimes the entire day changes. And sometimes, you have five minutes to figure it out.
You will learn things at an absolutely ridiculous speed.
This is quite specific to the Entertainment Host team, as we do not have rehearsal time before embarking the ship. This means all the shows we put on, whether they are fully scripted or more of a guide, are learned onboard in addition to our other duties.
Disney is an absolute entertainment powerhouse, so we are expected to perform at that level at all times. Guests should never know whether this is your first time performing a show or you have done it a million times. This can be a lot of pressure, especially when you have not run the blocking in the space or with anyone else until you are actually performing it.
The record for me learning a show? 30 minutes.
My favorite show, “Mickey’s Color Spin Dance Party,” was moved indoors for the first time. I was not in the rehearsal, so when the decision was made to move the show inside, I had 30 minutes to learn the new blocking. And it was not just about figuring out where I needed to stand. I also had to account for where the characters and additional dancers would be throughout the show.
I definitely felt the pressure, but I knew the show had to go on. So, I learned it, trusted myself, and nailed it!
And sometimes, you do get rehearsal time. But if we have to rehearse in the actual space, it is often in the wee hours of the morning while the guests are asleep. After an already exhausting day, you have to somehow keep your mind sharp enough to learn choreography, blocking, cues, and everything else that comes with putting on a show.
The speed at which we learn is not for the faint of heart. But it has taught me how to absorb information quickly, adapt when plans change, and produce high-quality work under pressure.
You need hobbies that can survive a tiny cabin.
Having things that bring you joy outside of work is beyond important. Crew living quarters are small and often shared spaces, so you quickly learn that not every hobby is going to work onboard.
If your hobby is cooking, I really hope you are a chef because you will not be touching a kitchen otherwise. Love working out with a full home gym? Good luck. Want to paint a giant canvas? You might want to rethink that one, too.
For me, I love to bake, puzzle, and dance. These are all things I enjoy, but they are not exactly hobbies that can realistically fit inside my cabin. I had to figure out what I could actually do with the limited space I had, especially after a long day when the last thing I wanted to do was leave my room.
And honestly, I found some hobbies I never expected.
Since being on the ship, I have become really into magic tricks, card games, and coloring books. None of these were interests I had before working onboard, but they have become legitimate hobbies that keep me going. They give me something to look forward to after work, and even better, they are easy to share with other crew members.
There is something really special about sitting in someone's cabin and sharing your tiny hobbies with one another after a long day. You are still onboard, but for a little while, work feels very far away.
So, when you are packing for a contract, do not just think about what you need for your job. Think about what is going to make you happy when you are exhausted, your roommate is asleep, and you have absolutely no desire to go anywhere.
You become empowered to make split-second decisions.
Confidence in decision-making has always been an area of improvement for me. Any teacher or manager I have ever had will back me on that statement.
On a ship, that is not always an option. Your team is everywhere, the operation can run from 7 AM to 12 AM, and your manager is not going to be on duty for that entire time. Eventually, you have to learn to trust yourself.
One of my favorite examples is what happens when a guest says something inappropriate into the microphone. When you are standing in front of hundreds of people, you do not have time to call your manager and ask what to do. You have to react.
Sometimes, my response is simply, “I’m sorry, Walt.”
Other times, it is, “This is not Carnival.”
You have to quickly read the situation, decide how to redirect the moment, and keep the show moving without making the guest feel like they have completely derailed everything.
As I became more comfortable in my role, I became more comfortable making decisions and standing by them. You learn what you are empowered to handle yourself, when something actually needs to be escalated, and who the right person is to ask when you do need help.
Working onboard has taught me that being a good decision-maker does not mean you always know the answer. Sometimes it means being confident enough to make the call, keep moving, and figure it out as you go.
It will be hard to remember a time where your coworkers felt like strangers.
Being away from everything and everyone you have ever known is hard. Working on a cruise ship, you can feel incredibly alone, especially when you are surrounded by families who are on vacation together. But then you look around and realize that almost every crew member is going through some version of the same thing.
This creates a special bond that is hard to put into words. Crew looks after crew.
One of my favorite shows of all time is Big Brother, where the premise is essentially that a group of strangers lives together in a house. After someone gets eliminated, even if they were the first person sent home after only a week, they will cry and talk about how much they love everyone and how they have made lifelong friends.
I could never understand how people could form such special bonds in such a short amount of time.
Until I worked on a ship.
My first week onboard during my first contract was my birthday. People I had never met before showed up for my birthday, bought me gifts, and made me feel special. When I have been sick, tea has been brought to my door. Cough drops have been purchased from land without me even asking.
It is the little things that make the difference.
You are living together, working together, eating together, celebrating together, and sometimes struggling together. You see people on their best days and their worst days. You can become closer to someone in a few months than you ever expected.
And that is why, after three contracts, one of the strangest parts of leaving the ship is realizing how much you miss people you did not even know existed a few months earlier.
Somehow, strangers become family.
You might not realize how much the ship changed you until you leave it.
After returning from my time at sea, I have been told that I seem much calmer, more sure of myself, more confident, and more fulfilled. I can say that all of this is true, even though I did not realize these changes were happening while I was onboard.
Ship life challenges you like no other. You will be at your highest high and your lowest low. It is a true rollercoaster that tests your mental and physical strength. You work 70 hours a week, seven days a week, for months at a time. You are exhausted, you miss home, and yet somehow, you keep showing up and giving your best to the guests and your team.
That is harder than it sounds.
But somewhere in all of that, you grow.
To quote the Emperor of China from Mulan (1998), “The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all.”
I think that is what ship life has done for me. It has put me in situations I never expected, challenged me in ways I did not know I needed, and given me experiences I would not have had anywhere else.
Because of this experience, I am stronger. I am more confident in myself. I have learned how to handle challenges, trust my decisions, adapt when things do not go according to plan, and keep going when I am tired.
And I have had some of the happiest memories of my life along the way.
Three contracts ago, I thought I was signing up to work in Entertainment. I did not realize I was signing up to become a different version of myself, too.
I am changed.
Comments