Many people are interested in finding a cruise ship job. Jobs on cruise ships are a highly unique form of employment, offering some of the securities of a traditional job (salary, health insurance, etc.), but with a work environment that is anything but traditional. There are many different types of jobs available through cruise lines, and positions are always open because there is a high rate of turnover in the cruise ship industry. (People tend to drift in and out of cruise ship jobs, often in accordance with the changing demands of the cruising seasons. For more on this, check out our article on the general characteristics of cruise ship jobs.) So, there are plenty of jobs in the cruise industry to be had, but what are some of the best cruise ship jobs?
Of course, this is a highly subjective judgment, but in the course of writing about cruise ship jobs in some detail, we’ve come across a few that sound particularly cool. Before we discuss these, though, a general point is in order.
What one regards as the best cruise ships jobs will depend on his or her personal feelings about forms of employment. If you are passionate about, say, bar tending, then the best cruise ship job for you may well be fixing drinks for people in one of the many bars or restaurants that large cruise ships have on board. If you are mechanically minded, then a job in the engineering department of a cruise ship might suit you best. This reveals an important principle: cruise ship jobs are nothing more than regular jobs with a twist, namely, you are working on a vessel that is sailing around the world. Thus, the best cruise ship jobs are the types of jobs that would be desirable to have. Period.
With this in mind, some of the best jobs on a cruise ship have to be those related to entertainment, at least in our opinion. Many cruises offer live entertainment to their passengers, and thus cruise lines must hire live entertainers, like actors for plays and musicians for concerts. Or, many cruise ships have clubs on board, giving rise to a need for DJs. These are the types of jobs that people chase after in general, so it stands to reason that some may feel that they are among the best cruise ship jobs.
Cruise lines also entertain their passengers with activities (like rock climbing, ice skating, and so on), and the jobs associated with these activities would be ideal for those who are interested in these pursuits to begin with. The same could be said for the employees charged with organizing sports games and tournaments, which are also very often a part of the cruising experience.
Finally, cruise ships of course have to be able to address the health needs of their passengers, so cruise ships employ medical professionals, like nurses and doctors. These generally aren’t regarded as the most fun jobs in existence, but those who work in medicine are highly respected, and so the positions filled by medical personnel on cruise ships could be said to be among the best cruise ship jobs for those in the medical profession.
Clearly, none of the jobs we listed are necessarily associated with cruising, but of course this doesn’t mean that they are disqualified from being the best cruise ship jobs. A desirable job is a desirable job, on land or at sea.