TravelDuties

If you are considering a career with a cruise line, you’re in good company. Cruise ship traffic continues to rise and employment opportunities remain quite good. Even in these days of economic turmoil so many people want a respite from their troubles and daily grind; a six-day cruise is one way they are finding temporary relief.

From the customer’s standpoint, taking a cruise isn’t always smooth sailing. Even the most opulent cruise line can run into problems with passengers getting sick or a trip cancelled due to bad weather. Some problems cannot be prevented, but a curious industry trend can be. What do I mean by this? It is those extra fees passengers sometimes incur when taking a cruise. Yes, an ugly trend is emerging in the cruise industry — charge your passengers various fees on top of their regular charges. Why would this concern you, the cruise line employee? Well, for one good reason: you could be in the firing line of a disgruntled passenger who wants you to explain their padded bill.

Thanks to an article appearing in the Kansas City Star (reprinted from the San Francisco Chronicle) I have learned that Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) has a habit of padding customer’s bills. According to the article, extra fees including a daily $10 “service charge” is added to each bill, an amount that cannot be removed. Although the fee is used as way to tip employees, the cruise line passenger has no way of controlling disbursement. This means that if the person who turned your sheets daily did a good job, but the person serving your food has done a poor job, everyone shares equally. I’m not saying that tipping isn’t important, but if you read the article closely you will see that a “non-mandatory” fee is now mandatory. Besides, why should the person doing a good job get the same tip as the one who isn’t?

NCL isn’t the only cruise line tacking on fees. Princess, MCS Cruises, Carnival, Holland America, Cunard, and Costa Cruises all add on daily fees with Disney, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity leaving these fees up to the passengers. While it may sound like a good idea to ensure that cruise line help get their tips, there isn’t a guarantee that the monies will flow directly to the employees. In fact, in cases where a 15% bar fee is added to the bill, many bartenders are reporting that they never see any of that money.

Passengers shouldn’t be surprised that other fees are routinely added including fuel surcharges to cover the cost of higher fuel prices and mooring at foreign ports. Worse, many of the fees are per day and per person, extending even down to an infant whose food allotment would be brought onboard by the parents and whose use of most any other onboard services would be neglible.

So, are you still interested in a cruise line opportunity? Don’t let my fee revelation deter you, but please understand that some of the practices of your employer can leave a sour taste in the mouths of passengers. As long as you aren’t on the receiving end of someone’s wrath, then working on a cruise ship needn’t be an unpleasant experience.

When seeking a new job, you hope that you will pass the interview and get hired, right? Well, why else would you go on an interview in the first place? To be entertained?

Unfortunately, job candidates will sometimes do their best to sabotage their job search including some things which are clearly wrong and others that aren’t so obvious. Before you go on your next interview, you just may want to rethink how you will present yourself to a potential employer.

How To Ensure That You Won’t Get Hired

Arrive Late — Oh, this is a real killer! If you have an interview scheduled, you should arrive about fifteen minutes ahead of time, but plan on being a full half hour early if traffic is a concern. Sure, cars can break down and your daycare plans could fall through, but the burden is on you to call ASAP to let the interviewer know that your plans have fallen through. Ask for a different interview time, but please note: some people simply do not tolerate excuses!

Dress Inappropriately — Tattoos are acceptable if you work at a bar, a pawn shop or other position frequented by working class folks, but lots of white collar and service-oriented employers will balk at your display. Cover it up, all of the way up or risk being passed up in the job selection process. Oh, by the way, pierced eyebrows, tongues and anything other than pierced ears is a real turn off. Please, your shocking pink hair has got to go!

Talk About Yourself — Sure, interviewing your potential employer is important but don’t get carried away. You are at the interview to answer their questions and pitch what you bring to the table. The interview is less about you, but more about what you can do for the company.

Appear Disorganized — Besides being dressed inappropriately, you can come across as being disorganized in a number of ways. Did you forget to bring a copy of your resume? Are your references out of date? Did you forget to bring a pen for the job application? Is your cell phone ringing in the middle of the interview (worse still: did you answer it?) Anything that you do which gives an appearance that you cannot comport yoursef in a professional manner is a red flag human resources personnel will look for.

Drift or Not Pay Attention — You should never come to an interview hungry or thirsty and you should use the bathroom before meeting with your interviewer. If you are tired, you’ll find yourself drifting and missing important parts of the conversation. Guess what? You need to be as sharp as a tack in order to be considered for any position.

There are other ways to ensure you won’t get hired including: lying on your resume, providing incorrect contact information, being unqualified for the job, not looking the interviewer in the eye, interrupting the conversation, blabbing about your personal life, and more.

Cruise lines are looking for solid job candidates, particularly those who can work well with the public, which is their customer base. Don’t rule yourself out of the job market by committing these and other interviewing errors — too many people do, but what about you?

With 2007 now in the history books, you’ve probably have been taking stock of your career and wondering if what you are doing now is what you want to do with yourself for the rest of your life. Granted, it can be difficult to look that far in advance, but if you are unhappy with your current job, then considering other possibilities right now is the way to go.

Cruise Line Employment Is Booming

The cruise line industry continues to grow at a record-setting pace, as leisure travelers realize that they can vacation in style without busting their budgets. This is good news for someone like you who may be looking for a change in 2008. However, one question remains: how can you find work? That’s easy — please keep reading for some great tips on finding the cruise ship opportunity that is right for you.

TravelDuties — Without shame, I must say that this website has been a good source of information for people who want to work on a cruise ship or yacht. We have links to all of the major cruise lines and tips crafting a resume, writing a cover letter, getting your references together and interviewing. We may not be the biggest site on the internet, but we hold our own.

Cruise Lines –  One of the best resources are the cruise lines themselves. In fact, we highly recommend you visit the various websites of the major cruise lines. Learn if they are hiring, what jobs are available, when open houses will be held, and find out about all of their procedures for obtaining employment. When in doubt, go to directly to the source.

Job Sites — The major job sites feature some very good opportunities. I like Indeed, Monster, Career Builder and HotJobs to name a few. Sometimes the cruise lines will only share current openings on the job sites as that is where most job seekers can be found.

Internet Search — Using Google, type in the words “cruise ship jobs” and you’ll get a bunch of results. However, I must recommend extreme caution as a lot of sites are junk and some are scams.  Buyer beware — never pay someone to find work for you.

Ultimately, finding work in the cruise industry will depend upon you. Your knowledge, personal energy and zeal will go a long way toward helping you make a career switch. Why not make 2008 the year you took to the seas? Your cruise line career awaits you — seize the opportunities and you’ll be ocean bound before you know it!