MY RESEARCH BEFORE APPLYING.


This story started even before I joined my first ship.

 

In the exact moment I  followed  my sister's advice I decided to do some research, Yes! Because even if I chose only one company to apply, I did extensive research about EVERYTHING.

 

Of course I used our bestie…Youtube, one of my favs is this video in which Huong talks about small aspects of working on board that were really important for me.

 



In this video she mentioned couple of aspects of working on board cruise ships like:


  • You work 7 days a week.

“Is something very important to  understand because not everybody can pull that, not everybody is made for every kind of job… so from the beginning of your contract until the end you work every single day,  there's no such thing like a weekend or a holiday,  we even  completely lose track of what day of the week it is."

  •  You always have to keep the time in mind.

“Obviously, the ship is not going to stay in Port forever and  you want to make sure that the ship is not just leaving without you…  so even  when I was off and I had some free time to go outside and visit the ports, I was never really able to completely unwind I was always on high alert to make sure that I wouldn't go too far away that I wouldn't be late because - my friend you do not want to lose track off time-  I've seen some people running.”

·       The health aspect

“Inside  the ship you don't get fresh air,  everything is air conditioner when I first embarked my skin breaking out and this was just looking like a war zone and  I was suffering extreme hair loss… it was really bad and I would freak out all the time cuz I was so worried and since I'm back home it decreased so much and I'm only losing a fraction compared to what I've lost on the ship.”

·      You start missing the normal things you do ashore.

“Since you're on a ship you're kind of (really, really) limited when it comes to the things that you can do,  so one of the things that I started to miss the most was cooking -even though I might not like cooking for myself - I really like cooking  together with friends I was so excited when I saw a proper kitchen after 4 and  1/2 months;  another thing that I really  missed was going to the movie theaters.”

  •   You have no privacy.

“and I think that was something I was struggling with the most because I like being alone and I like having me time, especially after a long day or just to recharge my batteries,  but on the ship you're constantly surrounded by people 24/.  Even in your own cabin because you're sharing with somebody,  luckily I had a great roommate who I was getting along with very well  so we would have times where we would just talk and talk and talk a lot and then we would have times that we would just leave each other alone doing our own thing.”


I also watched videos of ships in the middle of storms jajaja. 







Then there's this video of 2010 that talks about the workind conditions on a cruise ship 




Is important to highlight that based on my experience the working conditions are not like that anymore. But is breath taking to hear that interview... 


Wait for a part two!








 




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