Why so few Americans as crew?

[ggo85]

Given the high percentage of American passengers on many cruises, why are there so few Americans on the crew, other than maybe the entertainers? You almost never see Americans as cabin stewards, wait staff, etc.

 

I thought it might be the (reportedly) low wages. However, on our last cruise, someone mentioned "taxes" as a reason. Can anyone enlighten me?

[bld16]

My guess is that many Americans don't want to work that hard, too many hours!

[reklawr]

Most Americans will not work for the low wages and long hours. They also seem to lack the ability to provide the type of customer service that cruise ship management requires. I'm not aware of a tax issue.

[edste]

I know several young men who applied and were never called for interviews. I was under the impression that wages was an issue.

[springtxbill]

Most of the crew do not pay taxes on money earned outside of their country. In the US you must pay taxes on that money. That makes a big difference for US workers.:)

[kitty9]

Why do you think there are so many openings at all the fast food restaurants? Why do so many seasonal resorts in the US bring in foreign workers for their hotels and restaurants? I live near a very popular summer resort town called Wisconsin Dells, and things have gotten so bad that they actually bring people over from Eastern Europe to work in the hotels/resorts, shops and restaurants because they can't get enough Americans to work. Americans don't want to put in the long hours for so little pay. Too many feel it's beneath them.

[DonLou]

...Americans don't want to put in the long hours for so little pay. Too many feel it's beneath them.

Not to mention it would put a big crimp on their cell phone use, video gaming, IPOD downloading and other leisure time activities. Sad but true.

[ALVINF]

Given the high percentage of American passengers on many cruises, why are there so few Americans on the crew, other than maybe the entertainers? You almost never see Americans as cabin stewards, wait staff, etc.

 

I thought it might be the (reportedly) low wages. However, on our last cruise, someone mentioned "taxes" as a reason. Can anyone enlighten me?

I ASKED THIS QUESTION BEFORE TO A CRUISE LINE AND WAS TOLD THAT IT HAS TO DO WITH THE U.S. LABOR LAWS. IF THEY HIRED A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF AMERICANS THEY WOULD HAVE TO FOLLOW OUR LABOR LAWS AND THAT WOULD NOT BE COST EFFECTIVE.

[RichardK]

Many Americans don't like to work.

 

Many American who do work and earn a decent living, don't like to save.

 

As they get older they look at their savings account, their 401K and IRA, and don't see very much put away for retirement.

 

Maybe that's why there's so many lawsuits????????????

[LHP]

We are blessed to live in a country where our citizens have multiple opportunities. Many who work on these ships have no choice, because of the economic circumstances in the country they are from.

 

Americans don't (unless it is in a field that they love like entertaining) because they don't have to.

 

And as said earlier, Americans are taxed at the standard rates. The pay for Social Hosts is not that great and when you take taxes out on top of that...they are definately doing it to travel and because they enjoy what they do.

[Jim Gallup]

Most cruise lines will not even consider hiring Americans to work onboard their ships (except as comedians, clowns, and dancers).

Why??

 

All Americans speak 2 languages: 1) English, and 2) English louder. They rarely speak any others.

 

Cruise lines are looking for employees with international experience and skills. Most Americans don't have any.

 

Most Americans believe that the American way to do something is the correct way and every other way is the wrong way. They rarely last very long working under a "different" system.

 

Cruise line employees work very long hours and shifts. It is not unusual for a waiter to begin work at 5am and finish well after midnight. Most Americans are unwilling/unable to do that.

 

Many young Americans are unable to pass the Drug and Alcohol tests required of all new ship employees.

 

Often there are several nationalities living in one crew cabin - often speaking several languages. Past experience proves that Americans have a problem with that.

 

Less than 20% of the American public has a passport. No passport = no job on the ship.

 

Most Americans will not work 7 days a week for up to a year, like the rest of us.

 

Strangely, most Americans will not put up with the personal and verbal abuse that American passengers are so famous for.

 

Whenever a cruise line takes a chance and hires an American crew member, they rarely last more than a few weeks. It is just too expensive to have turnover like that.

[AWED23]

Most cruise lines will not even consider hiring Americans to work onboard their ships (except as comedians, clowns, and dancers).

Why??

 

All Americans speak 2 languages: 1) English, and 2) English louder. They rarely speak any others.

 

Cruise lines are looking for employees with international experience and skills. Most Americans don't have any.

 

Most Americans believe that the American way to do something is the correct way and every other way is the wrong way. They rarely last very long working under a "different" system.

 

Cruise line employees work very long hours and shifts. It is not unusual for a waiter to begin work at 5am and finish well after midnight. Most Americans are unwilling/unable to do that.

 

Many young Americans are unable to pass the Drug and Alcohol tests required of all new ship employees.

 

Often there are several nationalities living in one crew cabin - often speaking several languages. Past experience proves that Americans have a problem with that.

 

Less than 20% of the American public has a passport. No passport = no job on the ship.

 

Most Americans will not work 7 days a week for up to a year, like the rest of us.

 

Strangely, most Americans will not put up with the personal and verbal abuse that American passengers are so famous for.

 

Whenever a cruise line takes a chance and hires an American crew member, they rarely last more than a few weeks. It is just too expensive to have turnover like that.

Jim, you pretty much said it all....

[Keith1010]

The reality is that most american can command jobs making more money than a job on a cruise line will pay. And, that is becoming the case in other areas of the world. It used to be when you cruised that many of the restaurant staff came from Western Europe. Given the devalued US dollar, you see far fewer staff from Western Europe while you see a far greater percentage of staff from Eastern Europope Bloc Countries. For them the pay is quite good.

 

On top of this, I agree that most American citizens would not work the kind of hours that are required on a cruise ship (basically you have to work every day for the length of the contract with a few hours off every week or so) and they certainly would not do it for the pay. Again, I'm talking about jobs such as wait staff, bar staff and houskeeping.

 

You will find a few US based employees who work on the Cruise Director staff from some who are part of the entertainment to others who are part of the sports crew. But, these folks are salaried and do not work on tips.

 

Keith

[Seven_Of_Nine]

Also, who wants to be away form their family and friends for the length of time cruise staff have to be? From the conversations I have had with staff they all seem to there to make money, for their family or to help them go to college or University/better their lives and the best way is taking these sorts of jobs as they have very little opportunity otherwise.

 

Also dealing with the public is very hard work. While 95% of poeple are great the other 5% are awful, they either treat you like a non-human (as if working in a shop makes you a lesser person than they are) or they try and get away with stuff they are not meant to. Also, quite a few like to shout abuse at you because they know you cannot do anything about it.

[bogforce]

I wonder what kind of money they actually pay per hour? I assume they get a free place to sleep and maybe free meals.

[Ephraim]

Americans, by law, must pay their income tax. That makes the tax-free salaries that most cruise lines pay uninteresting.

 

Cruise lines has a tendency to hire for certain job from certain nationalities based on experience of how well they do in certain service jobs. You might notice that a lot of the security personnel might be from Nepal. Store personnel from Canada, the UK and South Africa. Maitre d' might be from a European country. Restaurants that charge extra might have European waiters instead of the regular mix.

 

Sometimes it might be particular to a line or a ship. For example you might find that cruise staff on one company is composed of many native English speakers (Canada, UK and Australia) and on another line you may find that they have an international mix as the cruise staff.

 

One of the biggest problems that NCL had was staffing their ships for NCL America. The Americans just couldn't manage to work the hours and the traveller's complained en masse.

[RedDaisy]

A little off subject, but still appropriate....

A friend sent me the BEST email recently. It was a scanned picture of a 'letter to the editor' article in some newspaper.

 

It was so great - it basically was a guy who said how hard he works and he happily pays his taxes and his tax dollars go to this and that. He's got a great job, but it is understood to keep this great job, he is required to submit to a random urine test for drug screening and he is Ok w/ that. He said, that what he is not OK with is his tax dollars going to unemployed people that have no intention at all of getting off their butts to look for work. Why would they? They are getting the money they need for living handed to them on a silver platter. This guy's question was: Why don't THEY have to submit to random urine testing for drugs to be able to receive government assistance?

Brilliance. But our government would never do it. Their grapes aren't big enough.

[wadahoot]

Americans love to be waited upon.

 

Americans aren't good at waiting on others!

[caribbean dreams]

I wonder what kind of money they actually pay per hour? I assume they get a free place to sleep and maybe free meals.

 

It's not hourly, they get a monthly salary and the pay is excellent for most Countries.

here is a website that lists the pay for each job, click on the bar to find the job & starting salary.

 

http://www.cruiselinejob.com/

[daiB]

Americans love to be waited upon.

 

Americans aren't good at waiting on others!

 

Very strange, that is certainly not the impression I get, either from what one hears or my own personal experiences in New England and in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming.

 

I always found staff in restaurants bars cafes etc. to be very good.

 

I am surprised that some young Americans do not do a few years on a cruise ship before settling down.

 

On P&O ships in the UK most of the staff come from Goa in India and have done for 150 years indeed there is a training college for potential staff. Generations on Goan's have worked for P&O and it is considered to be a highly desired position.

 

The few UK staff tend to be officers entertainers etc. and apart from the officers are all young.

 

 

:):)Happy Cruising:):)

[Mark]

I do not disagree with the postings on why Amercians do not want to work on cruise ships and are not hired by cruise lines. I am an Amercian and I would not want to work on a cruise ship unless I was an officer and worked on the bridge sailing the vessel.

 

However, I will go on and say that it is not only Americans who live with these values, personalities, work attitudes and lifestyles. I had the chance to spend some time in Germany...the Germans are very much like us Americans...go over there and see for yourself. While in Germany, see who you have as your waiter or cook in a restaurant...see who you have as your maid in a hotel and yes see who you have building those expensive BMW cars! NOT GERMANS! The Germans import workers from Eastern Europe, Turkey and other third world countries to do those jobs perceived to be low paying, manual labor, non-glamorous and sometimes dirty...the Germans design the BMWs and they manage the factories that build them but they imprt Turks from Turkey to assemble the cars...think of that the next time you are in your German BMW!

 

Point here is that there are other peoples in the world today who act, talk and have the same values as us Americans...we are not alone!

[Ladydee]

Most cruise lines will not even consider hiring Americans to work onboard their ships (except as comedians, clowns, and dancers).

Why??

 

All Americans speak 2 languages: 1) English, and 2) English louder. They rarely speak any others.

 

Cruise lines are looking for employees with international experience and skills. Most Americans don't have any.

 

Most Americans believe that the American way to do something is the correct way and every other way is the wrong way. They rarely last very long working under a "different" system.

 

Cruise line employees work very long hours and shifts. It is not unusual for a waiter to begin work at 5am and finish well after midnight. Most Americans are unwilling/unable to do that.

 

Many young Americans are unable to pass the Drug and Alcohol tests required of all new ship employees.

 

Often there are several nationalities living in one crew cabin - often speaking several languages. Past experience proves that Americans have a problem with that.

 

Less than 20% of the American public has a passport. No passport = no job on the ship.

 

Most Americans will not work 7 days a week for up to a year, like the rest of us.

 

Strangely, most Americans will not put up with the personal and verbal abuse that American passengers are so famous for.

 

Whenever a cruise line takes a chance and hires an American crew member, they rarely last more than a few weeks. It is just too expensive to have turnover like that.

 

 

Wow.... What a terribly bitter and prejudicial opinion. Who are "the rest of us" that you refer to?

[discjoker]

Wow.... What a terribly bitter and prejudicial opinion. Who are "the rest of us" that you refer to?

 

Yeah, not only bitter but uninformed. Too many generalizations that have no basis in fact.

[tonid1980]

A little off subject, but still appropriate....

A friend sent me the BEST email recently. It was a scanned picture of a 'letter to the editor' article in some newspaper.

 

It was so great - it basically was a guy who said how hard he works and he happily pays his taxes and his tax dollars go to this and that. He's got a great job, but it is understood to keep this great job, he is required to submit to a random urine test for drug screening and he is Ok w/ that. He said, that what he is not OK with is his tax dollars going to unemployed people that have no intention at all of getting off their butts to look for work. Why would they? They are getting the money they need for living handed to them on a silver platter. This guy's question was: Why don't THEY have to submit to random urine testing for drugs to be able to receive government assistance?

 

Brilliance. But our government would never do it. Their grapes aren't big enough.

still off topic but..

 

That is actually an EXCELLENT suggestion...I would even extend it to random blood alcohol level tests. .... people shouldnt be able to spend government money on alcohol either...my brother is an inner city teacher and he talks about how these wellfare parents are sitting outside drinking heinekins when he can barely affored canned budweiser.

 

 

ON topic:

 

I was an exchange student in germany.. they were more relaxed about work than americans...taking two hour lunch breaks to go home and see the fam...having 6, or even 8 weeks of vacation a year (while most americans would be lucky to have 4 )...... Dont get me wrong, they work hard... but not everyone thinks working 7 days a week year round is a GOOD thing...

[pg.]

In many western European countries 4 weeks is the normal minimum vacation time given to all employees.

 

I agree that most Canadians and Americans don't want to work hard. It is pretty well obvious , in the States many ( most) manual labourers, maids,gardeners, etc are often new immigrants or illegals. They are not eligible for unemployment or welfare, so they HAVE to work!

 

We flew back from our cruise last week with a Canadian school teacher who had been a childcare worker on our cruise. She said she had been doing spring and Christmas breaks for the last 6 years. They hire her just for the busy weeks .She works full time here.

She said the hours were very long. She only got the afternoon off in St Thomas, and a few hours here and there. She likes doing it though because she meets staff from all over the world ,,, and she does get a few hours here and there, so it is a free trip for her, they pay her airfare and put her up in a hotel for the night prior( it is impossible to fly from here to there without an overnight) . She said she couldn't do it for more then a couple weeks at a time.. it is long hours! She also said that she got better treatment and hours then many of the staff