Jobs on cruise ships

[Bilgediver]

How come I had hairdressers, entertainment staff & waitresses on my courses then?

Cos they need STCW95 for certain duties. IE if used during boat musters etc Shoppies with no shippy responsibilities
possibly can get away without it.

Remember that in the case of The Costa Concordia and the Oceanos it was secondary staff who were the heroes and no doubt
had received STCW95 training.



http://www.stcw.org/

It is not a big thing to get but some employers expect the punters to arrive having paid for it themselves. I suspect
this may be up to £1000 these days.

 

[PilotWolf]

STCW covers a wide range of things but the minimum STCW95 is the firefighting/survival/first aid/personal responsibility course is the minimum for UK registered vessels. STCW also covers training for officers - hence the confusion?

I was amazed that when I started working on boats here in the USA the basic course (as above) isn't required until you hold an officer rating over 500 tons!

My wife did her course at Red Ensign in Cowes, there were people there from Costa and some ex students were on the Concordia that night. I think 2 years ago the course cost around £700. She and other crew I have had highly recommend Red Ensign.

If she has the spare cash then why not do the course anyway? It might give her the edge in an interview BUT it might also save her life one day.

W.

 

[Miller12]

A friend of mine worked as a photographer on a cruise ship for two "missions" of 6 months each. A transatlantic one. He said that there were loads of rude, entitled passengers, always demanding discounts and free things (since they paid for the cruise already, right?!). But if your daughter works in the fashion retail industry, I'm sure she's familiar with that.

He did make good money, though. And said that there was a lot of drinking going on among the staff, to deal with the monotony of everyday ship life. Overall he appreciated the experience for what it was, but said that he wouldn't be doing it again.