Working on a cruise ship can seem like a dream – traveling the world and then getting months off for vacation in between contracts. But in all that time they’re at sea, sometimes for 8 or more months, do cruise ship crew get days off? And, what happens if they get sick, do cruise ship crew get sick days?
When you work on a cruise ship you find that everyone has an opinion (well founded or just made off of assumptions) about what life must be like at sea. Some assume that it’s the most fun you could have, traveling from country to country, getting months off in between. Others will ask if you ever feel “stuck” or “trapped” while away at sea. There will be the smattering of questions about working conditions, half with the assumption that you are living that Instagram filtered life of beaches, drinks, and romance and half assuming that you live in a tiny cabin with awful working conditions. Like with everything in life, parts of all of the above is true.
One thing that people consistently cannot get over is that most of the time cruise ship crew do not get days off.
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Most Jobs Onboard a Cruise Ship You Work Every Single Day
The majority of jobs onboard you work from the day you join the ship until the day you leave the ship. Each job onboard is a bit different as to what their schedule looks like although there are rules that govern how much any ship employee can work if their ship (and the flag state of their ship) follows the MLC.
This means there are no weekends, there are no holidays, no Christmas day off, no long Labor Day weekend. Every day you’re onboard you are working. So when crew get to go home on vacation, usually for a couple of months, think of that time like all of those weekends, holidays, and vacation days all put together. For the most part crew talk about having hours off – not days off.
Port Days Vs Sea Days – But Not Actually Days Off
Some jobs will have nearly the exact same schedule every day, whereas other jobs will have easier days on port days. For passenger facing roles or jobs onboard that deal more directly with the guests, port days tend to be a bit lighter as most guests are ashore so there are less guests to feed, clean for, and entertain. These jobs will conversely be busier on sea days. This may mean that on a port day your work day is 6-8 hours versus 10 hours (for instance).
There are also jobs that are the opposite of that where port days are significantly more busy. These would be jobs like engineering officers doing propulsion maintenance, the sailors and officers that drive tender boats, security at the gangway, everyone involved in loading provisions onto the ship, window washers and exterior painters (to name a few). However, whether your role onboard has more hours on a port day or a sea day – regardless, you’ll most likely be working every day.
Want to know more about the difference between port days and sea days? Take a look at this post where we dive into it.
If You Have a Day Off – It Doesn’t Mean You Can Get Off The Ship
What? It’s my day off and the ship is in Honolulu and I can’t go ashore?! Yes, it’s real, it’s true, and it’s called “IPM” or in-port manning. IPM is the need to have a minimum number of crew member onboard to be able to respond should an emergency happen while the ship is in port. Most of the time this is done on a rotation between the various other crew in your emergency function, but at some point you will get stuck onboard on your day off. Relax, take a nap, catch up on sleep.
Want to know more about in-port manning? This post explains what it is and what to expect for in-port manning.
Why Don’t Most Crew Get Days Off?
For the most part every job on a ship happens every day. The dining room is open every day, the buffet is open every day. Every day people need to eat, rooms need to be cleaned, engines need to keep running, and the ship needs to go from A to B.
People that work at hotels get days off – so why don’t people on a ship? That mostly comes down to cabin space. Cabin space is at a premium. If crew were to have days off you would still need other crew to cover those responsibilities – this means more crew onboard taking up more cabin space. And, the more cabin space crew take up, the less space there is onboard the ship for passenger cabins. At the end of the day cruising is a business and it’s less expensive to have crew work every single day of their contract and then have a few months off then to have more crew onboard.
What If You Get Sick? Do Cruise Ship Crew Get Sick Days?
Sick days don’t work the same as a conventional job, but cruise ship crew do get sick days. There is no set amount of sick days that crew get though and you only get a sick day if the onboard medical team deems you unfit for duty. All those tricks that you might play on land – calling in and tossing in a fake cough here and there – don’t work on the ship. There is no option to call in sick to get extra time at the beach or in port. No, to get a sick day onboard medical has to determine that you are in fact sick enough to not work (or potentially contagious).
If they determine you can’t work because of a common cold you may get to spend the day lazing around in your pj’s in your cabin. However, depending on what you are sick with they might consider you at risk of spreading an infectious virus such as norovirus or coronavirus. If you show symptoms of a virus like this and you have a roommate you will be getting moved out of your cabin either into a quarantine cabin, another isolation cabin, or into the medical facility depending on which virus and what their protocols are to reduce the potential spread of the virus onboard.
There is no finite number of sick days that crew will get per contract and you won’t get fired for being sick. If you are really sick with something that needs to be treated off of the ship the company may deem that you are medically unfit to sail or that because of your need for treatment being onboard is unfeasible or unsafe for you.
Fun fact: While you won’t get fired for being sick – you could actually get fired if you are sick with a potentially infectious illness and do not report your symptoms.
There Are a Few Positions That Are More Likely to Get Days Off
There are a few jobs onboard that are known to pretty much always get a day off once a week or every other week – or are more likely to have big chunks of time off in port. For some of these positions it is written in their contract for one day off a week or every two weeks, or a day off may just a happenstance of the ships schedule.
Musicians & Entertainers
There are a lot of different types of musicians and entertainers that work onboard cruise ships. From the guest entertainers that come in to do one or two shows onboard to the in-house entertainment, it could range from magicians to acrobats to figure skaters to high divers and everything in between. And, as much variety as there is in type of performer there is that much variety in their contracts.
Many onboard musicians are granted one day off a week. Others will not have a designated “day off” but rather will have days off in between their performances and rehearsals. Those positions that do not have a contracted day off but rather an in-between their performances day off, they may be expected to work out in the gym or practice their instruments on their own. Any time a crew member works though those hours need to be accounted for due to strict maritime regulations about work/rest hours.
Casino & Shops
Local regulations will prohibit the shops and casino from being open while the ship is in port – there are even some areas where the ships sail that it’s close enough to port that they aren’t allowed to be open. Because of this people that work in the shops and casinos have very itinerary driven schedules. Sea days are hugely busy and long days for them, where as most of the time port days are much quieter.
This doesn’t mean they have every port day off though. Most jobs onboard involve both the part of the job that the passengers see and the part behind the scenes. Behind the scenes for these kind of jobs could involve things like bringing on inventory, organizing, working on various gaming machines, and trainings.
Art Auctioneer, Port Shopping Ambassador
Nearly every job on the ship will have very specific rules outlining the job, how the department is to run, and also how much money they’re expected to make. Some of the specific rules of the job might be how many hours they need to be at their desk in a day, how many art auctions to have, all the way down to how much and what information they can send to guests cabins. However, there aren’t always rules about having desk hours for some of these roles.
Even if there isn’t a requirement for “desk hours” given by the cruise line itself, there may be from the partner company. If there aren’t any written out rules for the role though, it’s possible that these positions could then have a “day off”. However, anyone that has ever worked a job based on commission knows that how much you earn is directly related to how hard you work and how much effort you put in. So, while they might be able to snag a day off, it’s probably not in their best interest.
Spa
This one may surprise you – I know I was a bit surprised to find out that the people working in the spa sometimes got days off. This is often over a two week or ten day rotation where they get one day off within that time. The other days they work are long though, easily averaging 10+ hour days.
The spa is allowed to be open while the ship is in port; however, as most guests choose to go ashore it is less busy. This means that if you work in the spa you will likely also have less hours to work on at least some port days.
For the Cruise Ship Crew That Don’t Get Days Off – Do They Ever Get to Have Some Fun?
Just because you don’t get a day off while onboard doesn’t mean you can’t have fun! It also doesn’t mean that you are going to miss out on big adventures ashore. It just means that it will likely take some more planning and coordinating with your team to make those special days happen.
Not every job will have the flexibility and not every manager will work with you to have the flexibility to go do incredible things every once in awhile. Whether that is working a little extra one day (although still not breaking work/rest hour rules) so that you can work a bit less another day to go climb the Great Wall of China or if it’s asking someone to switch watch with you so you can go snorkeling in Bora Bora, a lot of the time it is possible to get to do these things with some planning, coordination, and yes, having a good supervisor.
Working on a Ship wth No Days Off – Is It Worth It?
Working onboard a cruise ship is hard work. If you are in a job that works every day or if you are in one that gets a day off every once in awhile. Any way you slice it, if you work onboard a ship it is hard – time away from families, often long hours. Whether or not it is worth it is up to you, who you are, and your personality. But, if you go to work at sea, unless it’s written out in your contract for a day off, you should plan that you will work every single day of your contract.
