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I work on 'independence of the seas'!

ROYAL CARIBBEAN DUDE
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dep

dep

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Embarkation day is by far the busiest day of the entire cruise!

 

Deliveries start loading onto the ship early as 6:30am, and we all have to be fully awake ready to work. With our shop deliveries, huge pallets will be brought down to our stockroom. Each pallet will contain boxes of our stock, and we check each box individually to account for what's inside. This process can take hours.

 

Once all of our expected stock is onboard, we have to scan and price each individual piece of merchandise. This process can take a couple days to do. However, we can work out how much of the new stock we actually need to take into the shops to put on the shelves, for the guests to buy that day. So as long as we have priced enough stock to last the first few days, we're all good.

 

This will take us till lunch, and now we actually have some free time. We can use this time eat, relax, and even go off the ship. In England, embarkation port is Southampton. In Florida, embarkation port is Fort Lauderdale.

 

After a bit of free time, it's time to shower and get ready for passenger drill. Passenger drill will start at around 4pm, and majority of crew members will have drill duties.

 

After drill is complete, the ship will usually set sail at around 5pm, and everything on the ship is now open. The shops are open everyday untill 11pm.

 

11:15pm we are done for the day and can now relax, have a beer, and get some sleep - ready to work the next day!

 

WOW , I’m exhausted just reading about your day. That’s a lot of work. I’m from the United States, we will be boarding October 20, if there’s anything you need Please feel free to let me know, I would be more than happy to bring it on board for you

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Moonarino

Moonarino

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Chris, thanks so much for this and the blog. I've been thinking about trying Indy for years and finally booked a cruise for next year, so naturally your thread title caught my interest.

 

Your reaching out on this board makes me a little nostalgic regarding my first cruise (Carnival Triumph 2008), where the crew ("from 65 countries") were extremely accessible and I made some great friends in a very short time. I guess it's changed a little since then, but that first cruise spoiled me -- to the point that my attitude toward cruising is "We're all in it together" (whether I'm on a crew-friendly ship or not). Ship's crew are people too! And great to know you don't expect any flak from your bosses for doing this.

 

It's probably long odds that you'll still be on Indy when we cruise her late next year, but if you are, we'll definitely try to find you and say hello. Keep us posted, here or on the blog? I'll comment there too when I have a minute.

 

PS/sidebar: Yeah, English ... and I daresay as a former ESL teacher, your fellow crew members who haven't mastered English ("the business language of the world") should be encouraged to learn it as well as they can, as fast as they can, because I'm 99.999% sure they have very little chance of ever getting meaningful promotions without being proficient in English.

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mooseman52b

mooseman52b

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Hi Chris. We are doing the two cruises out of South Hampton in October and staying on board for the transatlantic crossing. If I purchase liquor in the duty-free shop on board on the first cruise is it delivered to my cabin the last night Or is it held so the last night of the last cruise

Hello Dep we are also on the October 20th cruise, but we are then traveling to Barcelona for the Symphony TA cruise.

 

I noticed you are also from Florida. When are you flying over to England/Southampton?

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dep

dep

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Hello Dep we are also on the October 20th cruise, but we are then traveling to Barcelona for the Symphony TA cruise.

 

I noticed you are also from Florida. When are you flying over to England/Southampton?

 

We are flying into London on 16 October and staying till the 20th. We are staying at the Hilton Darkside.

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ROYAL CARIBBEAN DUDE

ROYAL CARIBBEAN DUDE

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Hi Chris. We are doing the two cruises out of South Hampton in October and staying on board for the transatlantic crossing. If I purchase liquor in the duty-free shop on board on the first cruise is it delivered to my cabin the last night Or is it held so the last night of the last cruise

 

I'm excited for your cruises! Have you done the transatlantic crossing before?

 

If you tell us shop staff that you're on for the next cruise as well, we will deliver your liquor on your very last night. However, should you choose not to mention it, we will end up delivering it to you on your first cruise.

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dep

dep

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I'm excited for your cruises! Have you done the transatlantic crossing before?

 

If you tell us shop staff that you're on for the next cruise as well, we will deliver your liquor on your very last night. However, should you choose not to mention it, we will end up delivering it to you on your first cruise.

Thank you for the info, as the liquor is a gift for someone not on the ship.

Will you be on the ship for the Crossing?Are you still working in the duty-free store? Yes this will be our first crossing, And we are really looking forward to it.

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dep

dep

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Thank you for the info, as the liquor is a gift for someone not on the ship.

Will you be on the ship for the Crossing?Are you still working in the duty-free store? Yes this will be our first crossing, And we are really looking forward to it.

 

Do you know if the concierge lounge is available on your ship to diamond plus , Or is it only available to pinnacle and suite Guests?

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Clarea

Clarea

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Do you know if the concierge lounge is available on your ship to diamond plus , Or is it only available to pinnacle and suite Guests?

Indy no longer has a Concierge Lounge. It does have a Suite Lounge for suite guests (Grand suite and better) and Pinnacle members.

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ROYAL CARIBBEAN DUDE

ROYAL CARIBBEAN DUDE

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WOW , I’m exhausted just reading about your day. That’s a lot of work. I’m from the United States, we will be boarding October 20, if there’s anything you need Please feel free to let me know, I would be more than happy to bring it on board for you

 

Once you get into the routine of 'ship life', the day doesn't actually feel that long.

 

That's so nice of you! I'm not sure yet if I'll be there in October, but I'll definitely let you know!

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CPT Trips

CPT Trips

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Forgive me if this question has been asked and answered already. I did not read this whole thread and only skimmed your blog. It looks like one of the crew are smoking in the crew bar, where is the crew allowed to smoke?

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ROYAL CARIBBEAN DUDE

ROYAL CARIBBEAN DUDE

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Thank you for the info, as the liquor is a gift for someone not on the ship.

Will you be on the ship for the Crossing?Are you still working in the duty-free store? Yes this will be our first crossing, And we are really looking forward to it.

 

I probably won't be on for the crossing. I'm currently at home, and haven't made any plans to go back to ships just yet. I'm trying to figure out my long term plan right now. As much as I enjoy working on ships, I'm not sure it's something I want to do forever.

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dep

dep

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I probably won't be on for the crossing. I'm currently at home, and haven't made any plans to go back to ships just yet. I'm trying to figure out my long term plan right now. As much as I enjoy working on ships, I'm not sure it's something I want to do forever.

 

Chris, whatever you decide to do good luck with it. If you decide to be on the ship for the crossing I would appreciate it if you’d let me know and I’ll buy you a drink

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  • 2 weeks later...
SailingShelley

SailingShelley

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What's up guys! I thought some of you out there might find this interesting!

 

I'm Chris from Liverpool, and I am a crew member onboard the Independence Of The Seas! I work in the Duty Free shops.

 

If any of you have ever wondered what being a Royal Caribbean crew member is like, give my blog post a read, and let me know if you recognise me or any of my friends.

 

I talk about my job, social life, travel, and overall ship life.

 

https://www.chriswongvlogs.com/work-on-a-cruise-ship-uk

 

More importantly, share this with anyone you know who wants to start working on cruise ships - or ask me any questions about Royal Caribbean ships in general. I can give you an honest opinion!

 

Just left a message on your blog! :D

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Clarea

Clarea

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I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU GUYS!

 

How do you normally book your cruises? Do you use the Royal Caribbean website, or a third party site?

 

I would love to know, seeing as I'm a crew member and never booked a cruise before.

Email to travel agent.

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ObstructedView2

ObstructedView2

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Posted (edited)
I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU GUYS!

 

How do you normally book your cruises? Do you use the Royal Caribbean website, or a third party site?

 

I would love to know, seeing as I'm a crew member and never booked a cruise before.

 

 

I phone the cruise line directly to book a sailing..

 

 

 

:cool:

Edited by ObstructedView2
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