Are you considering working on a cruise ship? Has the romance of a life at sea and the opportunity to visit far-off places got to you like it has so many others before? Before you commit yourself, we suggest you take on board our ideas for charting your nautical course through some potentially stormy waters.
Find out where your ship will be sailing from you may have to leave from the USA (a lot of cruise ships ask crew to embark there). advantage car company rental If so, you will need to collect C1, D1 and B2 visas from the US Embassy in London. They won t let you in the country without them.
Beware of joining ships registered under a flag of convenience like Panama or Liberia as these are not governed by the same tight laws that we are used to. Only sign up with a ship registered in a Commonwealth or an EU country, or the USA.
You will probably be asked to pay a deposit against reneging on your contract of employment. This is quite normal and is supposed to be used to fund the cost of your return flight from the nearest port in the event of you quitting or being asked to quit. Find out what this is before you leave the UK and check to see if the cruise ship company abuses it.
Take a ferry in winter when the water is rough. Don t permit yourself the luxury of going on deck for fresh air and see how you get on. Remember, advantage car company rental you won t be allowed seasickness pills on the cruise advantage car company rental ship because they make you drowsy. Can you cope?
The word of the captain on a cruise ship is law but not all captains enforce the law as they should. There have been instances of all manner of crimes against the person (including some very violent ones) which have gone unpunished. What kind of track record does your cruise ship have?
If you are going to be working in a service-type job (e.g. as a room steward / stewardess or as a waiter / waitress) then your salary will be made up by tips. A favourite scam is for the mâitre d hôte or the cooks to force the serving staff to pay a tax in order to gain access to the best-tipping parts of the dining room or to provide your diners with hot food (instead of deliberately allowing advantage car company rental it to become lukewarm). Another cheat is sometimes operated by laundry workers who hold on to uniforms until after they are needed unless a fee is paid by its wearer. To combat the cruise advantage car company rental ship Mafia , some operators have announced a service compris system in an attempt advantage car company rental to abolish the tipping problem. What policy does your cruise ship operate?
Some cruise ships expect their kitchen or waiting staff to pay for breakages even to the point of charging them a weekly breakage fee irrespective of whether they actually break anything or not. Check this out before you go.
A job on a cruise ship is generally much sought-after. It could and should open doors to those who are accepted but, like any other job vacancy, do your homework first. Don t forget, unlike most jobs, you can t just walk away from this one.
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