When you work on a cruise ship, time off is very important to maintain a healthy mindset and productivity. Most crew members use every single minute to get off the ship, even a short stroll at the cruise ship Terminal. To be completely honest, working in the bar department as a bar waiter and bartender gave me a lot of time off. Whenever the ship docks in the Port, most guests go outside, meaning few bartenders and bar servers are required to be on duty.

The officer position on a cruise ship is one of the best jobs in the world. Of course, as any other iceberg, we can only see the beautiful side of it. Underneath that iceberg is huge sacrifice, commitment, years of challenging tests in nautical school, and many other things. But when everything gets perfectly in balance, and when hard work pays off, the reward is fabulous.

In the company where I have spent nearly a decade, the bar steward position was one of the toughest jobs. There were two primary ways in which people got that kind of job on the cruise ship. Number one was by getting a job on the land through the agency. I don't know how much clarity and credibility the agency information provided to the candidates on the land for the bar steward job. However, the second way of getting the bar steward job was internally from the cruise ship company.

People come to work on cruise ships for many different reasons. Some to feed their adventurous spirit, others only for money, and some people join the cruise ships because they want something different in their lives. Others join the cruise ship because they need the challenge, career progression opportunity, or something else.

Keeping a healthy love relationship while working on the cruise ship is hard. I am not saying it’s impossible, but it's really hard. Maintenance of a healthy relationship, either from the perspective that your partner works on the same cruise company or your partner is at home, brings enormous challenges. It's hard to keep trust and loyalty and stick to your values. It is tough, but it's possible.

Crew members on the ship have an extremely interesting language of communication between themselves. Here is an attempt to explain everyday daily communication on ships worldwide. 

The cabin mate on the cruise ship can make such a significant difference when it comes to our life on board. Depending on the person we share our tiny cabin with, it can be a challenging experience. Here are some of my general experiences and honest advice I can share with everyone working on the cruise ship.

Adjust your tolerance level.

Have you ever found yourself daydreaming about leaving behind the land life and returning to the ship life? It's okay, we've all been there. But before you pack your bags and run off to join a ship, let's ask ourselves some important questions:

Discrimination on board the ship was visible through the bizarre way of dividing all crew members into three categories: officers, staff, and crew. 

If you are working on a cruise ship, you know the true meaning of the day off. There is no such thing. When you say " day off", you probably consider the day during the cruise when you start your job late in the afternoon. But If you work longer for some cruise line company, you probably experienced the true gift of 24 hours off on the ship! That happened to me once, and here is my " perfect day at sea"... We were on our usual relocation cruise from Alaska to Hawaii.