You might be surprised to learn that working on a cruise ship is not all fun and games. It's a job, and it can be hard work. It sounds glamorous, but it is just essentially a floating holiday resort for geriatrics.
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But what's it really like working on a cruise ship?
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I recently had the opportunity to spend two weeks aboard a Costa ship as an assistant wardrobe technician sailing around the Mediterranean & here's what I learned:
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The first thing that strikes you about life on a cruise ship is how big it is. It's hard to describe how large this ship really is unless you've seen one personally. The Costa Favolosa has 14 decks with more than 1,500 cabins consisting of 586 inside and 914 outside rooms. As I was a mix of passenger and crew I had an indoor cabin (no windows!) which is the norm for crew, but I was in a passenger room rather than a crew room which are usually shared rooms. The ship also has 6 restaurants, 9 swimming pools and hot tubs as well as 12 bars and an array of other amenities like a casino, nightclubs and shops scattered throughout its decks.
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There was definitely some interesting décor on board!
As a wardrobe technician, I was responsible for repairing and maintaining all of the costumes worn by the dancers and singers on board the ship. We also have to make sure that all of the costumes for shows are in good condition and ready for use at any time. If there's an emergency or someone needs a costume for a show at the last minute, it's our job to make sure that it gets done!
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Debra getting stuck into her work!
Myself and another wardrobe technician (Debra) were responsible for 7 female dancers, 2 male dancers as well as a male singer and a female singer. Although we were only on board for 11 days in total, these guys were going to be on board for 7 months! So it was our job to make sure that everything that they would need to wear fitted them, and wasn’t going to fall apart whilst they were wearing them. Sounds like an easy job, but these guys needed costumes for 5 different shows, with some of the shows having 6 - 7 costume changes each!
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Our work was mostly repairing costumes (some of the costumes being worn are 20 years old!) This meant fixing broken zips, patching up holes and sewing poppers and buttons back on that had fallen off. Our other main job was to undertake any alterations that were needed, the wardrobe for the dancers stays on board, so when the dancers get on board it is our job to make sure everything fits them. This mostly involved taking up or letting down hems on trousers, or taking things in at the waist. When we weren’t sewing we were watching the rehearsals to check the look of the costumes on the stage, for example making sure all the girls’ skirts were the same length or that nobody was about to have a nip slip!
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The work itself was fairly simple for an experienced seamstress (I'd class myself as experienced, I've been a dressmaker for 15 years now!) but there was a lot of work to do, meaning we worked every day and didn’t get a chance to get off the ship this time.
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Vegan breakfast - literally fruit and vegetables
Our typical day started around 8am where I'd meet Debra for breakfast in the buffet restaurant. They had an amazing selection of breads, meats, cheeses, full English, cakes, donuts, pastries, it all looked incredible! But as a vegan all I could eat every day was baked beans, potatoes and fresh fruit, which I didn’t mind. But being an Italian ship, they just didn’t really understand English tea (let alone soy milk!) so just juice for my morning refreshments. I kept saying to my other half at home that the first thing I'd have when I get home is a proper cup of tea. When he picked me up from the airport he bought me a flask 🥰
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After breakfast we made the trek from the back of the ship to the front, where the theatre was located, and into the dressing rooms to start repairing and altering for the day. Sometimes we would stop for a coffee break around 11ish and head to the crew bar for a coffee. Although meals were paid for, drinks were not. A coffee in one of the lounges would set you back £3.40, but if you travelled down to deck 0 the coffees in the crew bar were only 40c!
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I was starting to grow quite fond of the soggy vegetables and the will they wont they be cooked potatoes for lunch every day
Lunch again was at the buffet, there were only 3 places you could eat inclusive on the ship (all the other places you had to pay for) so we went to the buffet for lunch and the included restaurant for dinner. Again, as a vegan I did struggle to eat at lunch time, my lunch daily consisted of the same potatoes as breakfast (it was a lottery as to whether they were cooked or not) soggy roast vegetables and some bread. I did start to drizzle the bread rolls with olive oil and balsamic though as a little treat. I was warned of the food situation beforehand, so half of my suitcase was snacks from home so I didn't go hungry.
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Dinner in the restaurant was very fancy compared to the buffet
Dinner on the other hand was in stark contrast to breakfast and lunch. We went to the inclusive restaurant for dinner every night, we were given an assigned table at 7pm every night, and I was treated to a 5 course vegan menu (with more than one choice per course!) so at least I knew every night I'd have something nice for dinner.
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The dancers only perform maybe once or twice a week, so we went to see a few of their shows on board after dinner, otherwise I'd just go back to my cabin after dinner and chill out.
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Like I said before, we did work every day, and although we had a lot of work to get through the pace of work was quite relaxed, we did have the odd hour or two here or there to go sit out on deck and soak up the sights of the ports!
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Not all ports are so picturesque - this was the port in Casablanca, Morocco - a lovely view of some shipping containers!
The ship would stop most days at a port, occasionally the ship is at sea all day which wasn't ideal as it means everywhere is very busy with passengers, and there would be no good internet! The WiFi on board was only strong enough to send and receive Whatsapp messages (not even photos!) And even if you were in port it all depends on where you are as to whether the 4G is included in your phone contact or not, 2 stops were in Morocco where the data was £7.20 per MB!
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As we were on a Mediterranean cruise we mostly stopped in European ports, I got on the ship in Savona Italy, the next day we sailed to Marseilles in France, where a lot more passengers got on. The third day we were at sea and on Saturday we arrived in Malaga, and then on to Cadiz on the Sunday. Monday we set sail to Casablanca in Morocco (probably the most disappointing of ports - lots of shipping containers!) We stayed in Casablanca until Wednesday when we sailed to Tangier (still Morocco!) and then another day at sea. I was so happy to arrive in Palma de Mallorca on the Friday so I could finally get 4G and catch up on all my social media and emails! Our last day was in Barcelona, where we probably could have got off if the ship didn't leave so early in the day to get back to Italy to finish that particular cruise. These cruise ships are actually at sea from anywhere between a year and 18 months, sailing from cruise to cruise, with passengers continuously on board. When they do stop every 12 - 18 months, everyone gets off and the ship is put into dry dock where refurbishments are made then it’s back on the sea again. I learnt so much about cruise ships whilst being on board that I never knew beforehand!
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One of the things I loved the most was the views!
To wrap things up, here is my top 5 best and worst things about working on a cruise ship
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5 things I loved about working on a cruise ship -
- Although I was working, it didn’t feel like work, I still felt like I was on a holiday
- Everything was paid for - I didn't have to pay for any of my travel, accommodation or food, all my flights and transfers were arranged for me, and I could claim back expenses too
- Everyone I worked with were so lovely, I wasn’t the only wardrobe technician so I was never alone
- Getting to watch the shows, the dancers, singers and especially the acrobats were incredible
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And let's not beat around the bush here, obviously the money was good!
5 things I didn't love so much about working on a cruise ship -
- The WIFI was non - existent so I couldn’t update socials as much as I'd have liked
- Everything on board costs money, and it’s not cheap! They didn’t like you filling up your water bottle from the water machines in the buffet to make you buy bottled water at £3.30 a time.
- The passengers were generally very rude and entitled, they didn’t know how to queue like us brits!
- I didn’t have a window in my cabin which made it hard to know when to go to sleep and when to wake up (but i didn’t pay for the cabin so i couldn’t complain!)
- The food selection at times was poor for a vegan diet, but the restaurant was very accommodating at dinner time.
Would I do it again - absolutely! I was nervous about going as it was something I'd never done before, and I was having to travel on my own which was scary for the first time! I also missed my boys at home for the first couple of days, then after that the time just flew by.
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It was also the easiest job I'd ever gotten, the lovely Abi who I sublet a studio from (who was also my textiles teacher at school) has been working on the ships for over 10 years and put me forward for the job. I didn’t have to send over a CV or have an interview, Abi must have put in such a good word for me they just called me to ask me when I could start!
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As wardrobe technicians are only needed when there's a new show or cast starting, we won’t be needed on that ship again until later on in the year, and poor Debra (the other wardrobe technician) had just done two other installs back to back before coming on the ship with me, so looks like the summer will be quieter for cruise ship work. Hopefully they’ll have me back later on in the year to do some more repairs and alterations.
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If you have any other questions that I forgot to answer, please do pop your question in the comment box below and I'll do my best to answer for you!