Americans working onboard

[Light Tech]

Hey are you a senior or backlounge tech?

 

Which ships?

 

Hay Ranger, I am a Backlounge Tech going to the Legend in January.

Last Ship was the Valor and before that was the Victory.

[Light Tech]

I'd like to know about the hiring process from the time they choose to contact you after you submit your resume' until you begin your job on the ship at the start of your first cruise.

 

 

Is there a central training center? Or more than one? Do you go to a school for new crew members? What do you learn there, and how long does it take?

What are the accomodations? Do you have any input as to what ship or port you will be based out of? If you are returning for a second contract, can you request assignment to a specific ship or to follow a specific friend

that you want to sail with again?

 

When on board, what are your rules and restrictions regarding use of the guest areas of the ship and interacting with the guests when you're not on duty?

 

 

 

CJ

 

Hay CJ,

The time from when they hire you to the time you walk on the ship varies. For me they needed me in 2 weeks

Carnival does not have a school that they send us to before we get to the ships. All of our training including safety training is done on board. It usualy takes 2 weeks for brand new crew mambers. If you are coming back from vacation then its usualy only a week.

As far as cabins, take the last cabin you were in, cut it in half, add bunk beds and you have our cabins. Depending on what your posistion is on the ship depends on where you live on the ship and how big your cabin is.

When we are close to the end of our contract, we contact the office for flights back home and to see what ships they have available. We cant choose a home port only from a list of availble ships. Techs are usualy on vacation for 1-2 months before we come back. We can take longer if we want.

If we find a girlfriend boyfriend Carnival will try there best to keep us together if possibal. They are usualy prety good about keeping couples together.

Guest areas and fraternization with guests....

Talking with guests is highly recomended, but thats as far as it can go. If we, (all crew) are found in a guest cabin, leaving a guest cabin, or doing anything unaproprate with a guest, we are fired. Depending on the sevarity of the act in question we may be sent off at the next port.

The use of guest areas are for guests and staff only. The Entertainment dept., the gift shop, the spa, basicaly any job that is specialized and ofcourse the Officers.

Hope this helps, if you have any other questions please feel free to shoot me an e-mail on my profile.

[Light Tech]

Glory, how are things going?? Did you send in your resume??? I think I remember some of the answers from the last time you posted... specifically one of the posters mentioned you are not able to choose your ship or follow a friend on your first several contracts. And I believe he also mentioned that it depended on who's employ you were under as to your interaction with guests... for example, if you are under the Cruise Director, you may have more interaction...

Are you intrested in working for Carnival?

[GoinCruisin]

Are you intrested in working for Carnival?

 

LOL, no!!! I love Carnival, but I prefer to cruise on them a few times a year!!! I do love all of the people I have met on Carnival though... and admire everyone that makes the sacrifice to be away from their families to help make our vacations so great!!!!

[Gloryhound65]

Actually, I do have some interest in getting work with Carnival.

I'd be good in entertainment support positions. (Sound and lighting tech, etc.)

My background is mostly technical and very heavy on electronics.

 

I was on the Glory back in June and I thought often about how it would be

to work on that ship as compared to being a passenger. It seems to me

that I could enjoy working there on the condition that I wasn't restricted

to small areas of the ship in my off time. I really like being on deck,

particularly at night on the fore decks. Simply being on board and going

somewhere is very satisfying for me. I have good sea legs. And I could

get into being in a situation where I don't HAVE to spend any money.

The real pay may not be great, but a thrifty person may be able to bank

more money in six months onboard than many people can put in the bank

in a year, due to their cost of living vs. income.

 

 

But at this moment I'm not two days away from a second interview for

what is really rather close to my dream job. I'll see how that goes. If I

don't get the job, I probably WILL send in my resume' to Carnival.

 

I'd prefer to work on a ship that's home ported at Canaveral. I'd pick

the Glory for familiarity's sake if given my first choice. In part because I

came to know some crew members reasonably well and it would be good

to start out knowing a few people there. A few you know a little would

be better than starting out with a sea of total strangers, I think.

 

 

CJ

[Light Tech]

Good luck to you, I know quite a few crew members that were guests first that came back a second time as crew.

Good luck with the interview as well

[petro772]

A large number of Americans cannot pass the strict Drug and Alcohol tests required by most cruise lines.

If they get past those tests, they often fail the physical exams.

If they get through the physicals, they fail the criminal background checks.

 

For the small percentage who have survived all of the above, most cruise lines require multi-lingual staff. Most Americans speak only 2 languages; English and English louder.

 

And for the very few who have gotten past all of these obstacles, there is the uniquely American attitude that the American way is the correct way to do something, and every other way is the wrong way. That outlook usually finishes them off pretty quickly.

 

So the cruise lines hire Americans as jugglers, clowns, babysitters, and dancers. These positions have far more lenient requirements.

 

OK everyone, get those flamethrowers going.

Are you kidding? Congratulations. You have an insight only few possess! ;)

[TxnAquarian]

I worked on a cruise ship from 2000-2001 as the Youth Activities Director. I ended up with the job after sailing as a guest during a college graduation cruise my family took me on. While onboard, they were short youth counselors so they spotted me and asked me if I wanted to assist. When I got home from the cruise, the cruise line's headquarters in Los Angeles called me and asked me if I would be interested in working for them. The next month they interviewed me onboard one of the ships while it was docked in San Francisco (I lived in SF). I was offered the job and 8 months later they flew me to Ft Lauderdale to board the ship. I had it easy - since I was considered Social Staff they had me and one of the other counselors share a guest room. We also had port days off. But I have to admit that if I had to stay in crew quarters and work 7 days a week, I don't know if I would have lasted. Most of the other staff members worked everyday - if they wanted a full day off they could win one if they recieved a good comment on a guest survey. Otherwise, they had split shifts and could go ashore for at least a few hours every other port or so. I had a lot of respect for how hard they had to work and how they did it with a smile. The pay onboard is low, but since we didn't have to pay for food or rent or any of the things land-based people do, it wasn't too bad. I saved up all my cash and had a nice chunk to put in the bank when I got home. But the places I got to visit and the people I met were the things I will always remember. I'm still in touch with some of them and it is great to have people to go visit in cities around the world.

 

Michael

[rolloman]

I know this is an old post but I just happen to hear some information on my sailing last week on Carnival Conquest. During the Q & A with the CD and one of his staff someone asked about how many nationalities were represented on board. The cruise director Brian Leavitt answered there were only nine Americans on board Conquest. He then proceeded to say Americans do not want to work for Carnival because they do not like working over 40 hours per week. A couple people kind of giggled about it and then he went on to say he was "serious". I found this comment of his to be insulting and highly inaccurate to say the least.

Edited July 1, 2015 by rolloman
added CD last name

[Jana60]

Anyone out there know anyone who went on board to work medical. I am a Paramedic and was kinda interested in doing the Nursing thing.

 

I'm not sure about the nursing side of things. I did discuss work as a physician with them and even toured the medical facilities on one ship and talked with the physician there. Carnival like most Cruise Lines hires family practice physicians and nurse practitioners to work in their medical clinics. They usually have at least one medical physician and one nurse practitioner / cruise. I'm not sure what they pay the nurse practitioner but the pay for physicians is almost 50% less than I make in my current position and I live in Oklahoma where pay is typically lower than in some of the states of our country. And for that low rate of pay they expect the family physician to not only function as the family physician of the entire crew and staff but also function as an emergency room physician for the passengers. On top of that in the event of an acute emergency the physician must function as an ICU physician even managing patients on a vent until the ship can arrive to shore! Except for emergencies the physician is in the office every other day. The physician alternates days with the nurse practitioner but if an emergency occurs that cannot be managed by the nurse practitioner the physician is on call 24/7.