I worked on a cruise ship for 6 years. Mr. Fink worked for 14 years. It is where we met. While this may not be true for all lines and all positions, this was how it was when I was there. Bear in mind that there are really only a few lines. Carnival Corp is by far the biggest and owns Carnival, Holland America, Princess, P&O, Carnival UK. Carnival Australia, Costa, AIDA and Windstar. Royal Caribbean who owns Celebrity. And NCL along with some other independents.

There were three distinct groups of workers; Officers, staff and crew. Each had varying contract lengths, duties, hours of work, privileges, accommodations, pretty much everything. And even within those groups, things varied widely.

Officers:
-Deck officers, Engineers, pursers, hotel manager. Contract lengths were typically 6 months on, 2 months off. Deck and Engine officers were generally of one nationality as the cruise line contracted with an agency. Carnival and Princess used Italian officers, Celebrity used Greek officers, etc. Officers have full public privileges (must be in full uniform at all times), no rules other than no going in passenger cabins, an Officers only dining room, and fairly long hours. Mr. Fink was a Engineer (First Engineer and then Chief) and worked 4 hours on; 8 hours off, 7 days a week. So 4am-8am, then 4pm-8pm. Every day. Officers had single cabins up on the bridge. Pay was excellent, with benefits.

Staff: (I was staff)
- photographers, casino staff, gift shop, hair salon, dancers, musicians, entertainers, cruise staff, childcare workers, computer lounge, etc. Generally from North America, Western and Eastern Europe. Contract lengths were 6 months on; 2 months off. Some positions were contracted to one company (i.e. hair dressers, gift shop all worked for Steiners). Dedicated Staff dining room. Shared cabins (2 per cabin) on a lower deck until you had sufficient seniority or position to get a single cabin. The cabins are tiny - about the size of a decent walk in closet in a house with bunk beds. The line I worked for as well as a few others that friends work on, staff had full public privileges, including passenger buffets with a few rules: no dancing on the dance floor in the disco, must be in uniform or dressed appropriately at all times, passengers get priority at everything. There was a crew bar as well with super cheap drinks. Pay sucked for tip-based staff (casino, hair salon) but the tips were beyond excellent. Unless you were American, you paid no tax as we were paid in international waters. Americans were taxed. You paid for nothing onboard; everything was done for you at no cost; food, laundry for uniforms, your cabin was cleaned (tip your cabin steward).

Some staff worked only when at sea (casino, gift shop), so had all port days off. Working hours on sea days were usually around 9 hours a day, with a split shift i.e 12-3pm, 7pm-1am or 3-7pm, 10pm-3am. Photographers would obviously work port days as well.

Crew:
Waiters, bar waiters, bartenders, cabin stewards, galley, cleaners, etc. Tended to be from Central/South American or Asian/South Asian countries. Contracts were generally 8-10 months on/2off. Lived 4 to a cabin, no public privileges at all when not working (crew bar only), crew dining room with crappy food, long hours (12,14, 16 hours a day on a split shift, 7 days a week), almost zero pay ($45/month) with good tips for crew like cabin stewards, waiters etc. Crew Jobs are pretty miserable. Long, hard hours and not much else to do as you can’t be in public areas.

I did it as a one year break from my life and ended up loving it and staying longer. It was the easiest, least stressful time of my life and I made a ton of money with not many places to spend it. It set me up for the life I have now. Someone cooks your food, cleans your cabin, washes your clothes and all I had to do was work a few hours when the ship was at sea. What’s not to love? But some people can’t take the rules and the being trapped on the ship for 6 months. But I loved it, it was the easiest life I have ever known and the most fun time of my life for sure. I definitely recommend it if you have the right job.

Hope that helps.