Americans Working on Ships

I just completed a seven night cruise on Royal Caribbean's Mariner of
The Seas. This was my first ever cruise. While on board I came up with a
few questions:

1. I noticed that there were not many Americans working on board. I've
also heard that other cruise ships don't have many Americans working on them
either. Why is that? In one of the daily papers we got on the ship was
included a paper about the captain and other high ranking officials. If I
remember right one of the entertainment director was American. But besides
that, I didn't notice any other Americans. During the cruise I did get to
know a bartender girl from the Philippines. I asked her if there were any
Americans on board. She quickly said "no." I didn't ask her why because I
didn't want to offend her. So what is the reason? Is the pay just too low?

2. Are there any American Captains of cruise ships? Just wondering

3. How much money do cruise workers make? From the workers I talked
to, they worked like four months then get two months off. Are those jobs
good paying or perhaps low paying compared to U.S. wages? What about
waiters? Our waiter and assistant waiter/water boy treated us like kings.
They should definitely make big bucks if they don't already.

Von Fourche wondered:
>
> I noticed that there were not many Americans working on board.
> I've also heard that other cruise ships don't have many Americans
> working on them either. Why is that?

Further to the above, does anyone know why so few of
the *staff* (as opposed to the crew) on American cruise
ships are also non-American?

On all my recent cruises, the gift shop staff, photographers,
etc, are often from countries such as the UK or South Africa,
while almost all cruise directors seem to be English/Scottish/Irish!

Is there some social reason why people from the UK enjoy
working on cruise ships, but Americans apparently do not?



~ MARK ~

Yes, I am new to "Cruising" but if I understood correctly, Royal
Caribbean (at least) is not an American cruise line, it's Norweign. No,
I can't say that we met one American employee onboard our Majesty cruise
this past April, but I learned that many or most of them work onboard a
single ship for between 6 months to a full year without returning home
and that the hugest part of their salaries is tips given by the patrons.
So, what's wrong with that? Every single crew member that we encountered
was extremely friendly and helpful...we both felt like Royalty while
onboard.
And as far as the "webtv users" comment...maybe we can afford cruises
more than PC owners because we haven't invested $1,000 + into PC's that
some have and then buy newer ones every couple of years! Ha Ha

Most large cruise lines ie: Carnival, RCCL,Celebrity,NCL,Holland
America,Costa,Windstar,Princess,Orient,Cunard
Crystal, are owned by American companies but registered elsewhere. By being
regestered in other countries, they do not come under US labor laws





"Camry Wagon" <CAMRYWAGON@> wrote in message
news:18519-41517069-3@storefull-3251.bay....
> Yes, I am new to "Cruising" but if I understood correctly, Royal
> Caribbean (at least) is not an American cruise line, it's Norweign. No,
> I can't say that we met one American employee onboard our Majesty cruise
> this past April, but I learned that many or most of them work onboard a
> single ship for between 6 months to a full year without returning home
> and that the hugest part of their salaries is tips given by the patrons.
> So, what's wrong with that? Every single crew member that we encountered
> was extremely friendly and helpful...we both felt like Royalty while
> onboard.
> And as far as the "webtv users" comment...maybe we can afford cruises
> more than PC owners because we haven't invested $1,000 + into PC's that
> some have and then buy newer ones every couple of years! Ha Ha
>

mark.rawlinson@virgin.net (Mark Rawlinson) wrote:

>Further to the above, does anyone know why
>so few of the *staff* (as opposed to the crew)
>on American cruise ships are also
>non-American?

>On all my recent cruises, the gift shop staff,
>photographers, etc, are often from countries
>such as the UK or South Africa, while almost
>all cruise directors seem to be
>English/Scottish/Irish!

On our recent cruise on the Enchantment of the Seas, the cruise director
was from the USA, specifically Seattle, Washington. His entire staff
seemed to be from the US (Washington, North Carolina, Texas).

JeffGersten@ (Jeff Gersten) wrote in news:18519-4151840D-17
@storefull-3251.bay.:

> mark.rawlinson@virgin.net (Mark Rawlinson) wrote:
>
>>Further to the above, does anyone know why
>>so few of the *staff* (as opposed to the crew)
>>on American cruise ships are also
>>non-American?
>
>>On all my recent cruises, the gift shop staff,
>>photographers, etc, are often from countries
>>such as the UK or South Africa, while almost
>>all cruise directors seem to be
>>English/Scottish/Irish!
>
> On our recent cruise on the Enchantment of the Seas, the cruise director
> was from the USA, specifically Seattle, Washington. His entire staff
> seemed to be from the US (Washington, North Carolina, Texas).
>
>

entertainers are the notable exception to the no Americans rule.

Americans generally are found in the cruise director's staff but not
in the labor-intensive jobs. I have encounterd ship's officers who
were American but not any Captains yet. The money and working
conditions are no doubt the biggest reasons for Americans avoiding the
service jobs like being waiters and stewards. One of the reasons most
ships are flagged in third-world countries is so the cruise line can
take advantage of more liberal labor rules (or no rules).

NCL is currently the only major cruise line with a US flagged ship,
which runs around Hawaii. The crew is American. I assume this
includes the Captain. The ship was plagued with problems on it's
first cruises. I haven't read about further problems. These cruises
cost more, and also have a mandatory "service charge" of $10 per day
which can't be removed from your account (easily, anyway).

A typical waiter can make good money - at least for their homeland -
but they work hard for it. 16 hours a day is typical. At most, they
get a few hours off each week. A day off to them means they are off
for a morning and afternoon, but have to be back on duty for dinner.
And they can lose that time off if someone gets sick, or if they incur
the wrath of their manager.

<<< The waiters, asst waiters, and cabin steward get approximately $50
pay per
month plus room and board and I think dental plus tips from the pax.
Bill >>>

But you should mention that the tips average out to about $3.50 per
person per day, and since most cruise lines now add the tips to the
room charges automatically you can be sure that the crew sees a lot
more that $50/month, which is such an insignificant amount it should
have been put at the end of the sentence, not the lead-in.

As to how much of the $3.50 pp each service person sees (I am
referring to waiters and stewards) I would say they see the majority
of it, though a percentage will also go to other service people,
especially in the dining department (busboy, maitre d') - plus the
head housekeeper.

Most cruise lines use labor from countries with a lower standard cost
of living: Indonesia, Phillipines, and now many Eastern Europeans for
"crew".

For the officers, (captain, chief engineer, etc.) most come from
European countries with sailing traditions: Norway, Greece, Italy.

The chefs & kitchen staff are usually European, with assistants from
the same places as the waiters.

The Americans you see on board will usually be on the "cruise staff"
which is responsible for the onboard experience: cruise director,
hostess, asst cruise director, musicians, entertainers (which double
for other duties), shore excursions, pursers office, fitness center
(aerobics instructor) and youth counselors. Art auctions & shopping
programs are usually run by Americans.

You will also see Brits in these departments. You will see more Brits
in the salons & spas (though masseuses are usually American), plus the
shops. You will see some Americans in the shops as well.

All of these have exceptions, though and vary by cruise line.

The pay scale varies. Waiters & Stewards are on tips (which as I said
are now included in the bill). Shoppies and Spa-people get a salary
plus tips/commission. The rest receive regular salaries; anywhere from
$10,000 to $100,000/year. The lower salaries may not sound like much,
but everyone gets free room, board (ie: elec/water/heat) food, medical
& dental. And you don't need a car.

Contracts run anywhere from 4 months onboard up to a year onboard.
"vacations" are not actual vacations, they are a hiatus between
contracts, so they are not paid vacations. Most cruise lines provide
transportation to & from the ship for staff.

And one thing that really gets my goat is people who act as if the
people working on ships are "exploited." Nothing is further from the
truth (and I have worked on 5 different ships). Most of them earn &
save far more than they would working on shore in the native lands,
and all of them are free to go at any time.

"Robert Clarkson" <dvclarks@gte.net> wrote in message
news:gXe4d.5470$Co1.781@trnddc02...

> Most large cruise lines ie: Carnival, RCCL,Celebrity,NCL,Holland
> America,Costa,Windstar,Princess,Orient,Cunard
> Crystal, are owned by American companies but registered elsewhere. By
being
> regestered in other countries, they do not come under US labor laws


While on board the Mariner of The Seas I picked up a dvd about the
Voyager class ships. It's three hourse long and covered everything from
planning to building to first cruise. They had the top execs on and I
believe they were all American, but when it came to the actual plannign and
building it seemed they were all Europians. They did show a few Americans
in the design process tho. Also, more Americans seemed to pop up when they
went looking for entertainers for the ship (skaters/dancers etc...)

On our bus ride down to Miami we passed a building with the Royal
Caribbean emblem on it. I thought that it was the headquarters for RCCL.
So, is the RCCL headquarters in the U.S.?

"Camry Wagon" <CAMRYWAGON@> wrote in message
news:18519-41517069-3@storefull-3251.bay....

>... Every single crew member that we encountered
> was extremely friendly and helpful...we both felt like Royalty while
> onboard.

I will back that up. I also felt like royalty onboard. Especially by
the waiter and his assistant/water boy.