Shiplife - Life of a Carnival Crewmember

[brookiepoo]

It's me Brooke......I've requested you as a friend on Myspace. It is good to see that you are ok.

[tahitidreamz]

In the crew/staff/officers mess there is a buffet line of entrees which is repeated every 2 or 3 weeks... not specifically the same day every 2/3 weeks though. We do not get anything close to the food served in the dining room. I believe (this may not be 100% correct) that carnival has a budget of 60c pp per day to feed the crew so the quality of meat we get is not good. Staff members can eat on Lido at lunchtimes (if there is a queue we have to wait until the queue dies down) with the exception of embarkation days but we cannot eat up there in the evening. We can use the 24 hour pizzeria & deli at anytime.

The quality of food we get is poor and a lot of us eat in the ports, we all have our favourite restaraunts in each port (including the home port)

 

Offically, your last alcoholic drink should be 4 hours before the start of your shift.

 

 

This response made me sad...............sorry..............:(

[WilliamH1959]

Brilliant topic. Many of the things I've often wondered about the crew have already been addressed. Am curious, though, how crew/staff members deal with illness, family emergency, etc? Does Carnival offer them health benefits? What about taking a "sick" day?

[dorisday]

Brilliant topic. Many of the things I've often wondered about the crew have already been addressed. Am curious, though, how crew/staff members deal with illness, family emergency, etc? Does Carnival offer them health benefits? What about taking a "sick" day?

 

I can answer that one for you William, I think Eddy has gone down the pub.

You can only miss a shift through sickness if the ships doctor signs you off & then you are confirmed to your cabin except to go for meals & you cant go ashore.

If you have a medical emergency while working onboard & have to be sent to hospital the company will pay all your medical bill & expenses while off the ship, dental problems will only be paid for if they are an emergency.

Regarding family emergencies, it really depends on the circumstances. If it is a death in the family the company will fly you home & send someone out to replace you.

When I worked onboard all females had to sign a form agreeing to dismissal & to pay for our own flight home if we became pregnant. :eek:

[stx-is]

I've got a question not asked, yet.

 

Is Cruise Critic or any other cruise-related web site or forum on anyone's radar screen at Carnival, Inc.? Do they read comments/rants/raves, etc?

 

There is a lot of good marketing type information and could be useful to get a pulse on whether the latest money-enhancing change is being received, or a certain ship is experiencing a run of bad reviews, which might mean a closer look should be taken at crew morale, management style, etc.

 

Thanks for offering this wonderful information!

 

Snedecor

 

Yes, the Marketing department does follow cruise critics and several other websites.

 

Simon

[stx-is]

Do they REALLY read everyone's comments on the comment cards? That's about 2000-3000 per week! It seems like it would be a full time job just to read them. And if I praise (or chastise) a crew member, do they ever find out that someone praised them?

 

Thanks again to Eddy and other crew members posting on this thread!

 

Yes, every comment card is read. We also scan the comment cards into our system so they are available anytime for Head of Departments to read.

 

Also, good comment cards that mention specific names of crew members are copied, names highlighted and posted in crew public areas for everyone to see. And yes, good comment cards do help with promotions.

 

Simon

[stx-is]

This response made me sad...............sorry..............:(

 

I should add that the budget for crew food is a bit higher than 60c a day. Carnival buys food in bulk which does mean they get big discounts.

 

Also, food can very from ship to ship. and like all places, the galley can have good days and bad days. For the ship I am on, the food is mostly good. But please remember that cooking for 30 different nationalities means you will get complaints, mainly about food being bland.

 

Thats why a lot of crew members bring their own spices/sauces on board.

 

But then again, eating hotel/restaurant food does get boring after certain amount of months and you just really really want home cooked food.

 

Simon

[WilliamH1959]

I can answer that one for you William, I think Eddy has gone down the pub.

You can only miss a shift through sickness if the ships doctor signs you off & then you are confirmed to your cabin except to go for meals & you cant go ashore.

If you have a medical emergency while working onboard & have to be sent to hospital the company will pay all your medical bill & expenses while off the ship, dental problems will only be paid for if they are an emergency.

Regarding family emergencies, it really depends on the circumstances. If it is a death in the family the company will fly you home & send someone out to replace you.

When I worked onboard all females had to sign a form agreeing to dismissal & to pay for our own flight home if we became pregnant. :eek:

 

Doris, thanks for the response! Am happy to hear they will pay for medical expenses if necessary. Can't say I agree with their policy of dismissing pregnant women...it should be up to the female if she wants to continue working. And then MAKING THEM PAY their own way home?:confused:

[DjVyrus69]

Doris, thanks for the response! Am happy to hear they will pay for medical expenses if necessary. Can't say I agree with their policy of dismissing pregnant women...it should be up to the female if she wants to continue working. And then MAKING THEM PAY their own way home?:confused:

 

 

Well in a way you have to think about it this way, they signed a contract to work for 6 months non-stop, some positions 24/7. If a woman is pregnant, Carnival cannot be compromised having her work such an extensive schedule. If she were to lose the baby because of being over worked, or stress, she could turn around and sue Carnival.

[Yazoo cruiser]

Eddy, thanks for all the answers, very interesting. A few years ago, we were on a cruise when the itenerary had to be changed because of a hurricane. The crew and staff were OUTSTANDING and the service and entertainmnt continued even though we were at sea an extra two days. I was really concerned one day when I saw 150-200 people lined up at the pursers desk, and after eavesdropping almost all were complaining about a $10 fee for tips were added for the extra days at sea. I was infuriated because the service was every bit as good as the regular cruise. I approached an officer and asked if the stewards and waiters would be pad extra for the days when their tips were going to be substantiably less. He assured me hey would be paid extra, but did not sound very convincing. Do you think they were paid extra or just stiffed by these ungrateful passengers? THANKS.

[Darlipoo]

We have sailed on 5 RCCL ships and all 5 had country music and line dancing. Last year we were on Carnival and they had none. California cruisers are very big on line dancing and I don't know why Carnival can't oblige. Any reason?

[woodey]

Eddy Thanks for taking the time....This is a great thing you are doing for us.....My question is other duty's...I have a good friend who worked in the casino... but he also did the muster and was a on-board firemen....do most of the Crew and Staff have additional duty's?

One again thanks for your time

[rxralph]

A CV is the english term for a resume. I cant remember what the initials stand for, but that's basically what it is. :)

 

curriculum vitae

[NickAndysMom]

Darlipoo, I have lived in California (Northern) all my life. I can honestly say that I know very few people here who are into line dancing or country music (myself included)!

 

We just got off the Spirit yesterday. (We had a GREAT cruise!) If you like line dancing, you should have been on our cruise. Much to my dismay, the band played several line dancing songs in a row. A lot of folks left the dance floor at this point, but I must admit that a lot of others joined the line dancing.

 

Sorry that you didn't have any line dancing on your cruise. It seems that maybe it's offered on some & not on others.

[GoinCruisin]

We have sailed on 5 RCCL ships and all 5 had country music and line dancing. Last year we were on Carnival and they had none. California cruisers are very big on line dancing and I don't know why Carnival can't oblige. Any reason?

 

Don't give them any ideas :p:p:p LOL

[GoinCruisin]

double post

[wolfcathorse]

When I worked onboard all females had to sign a form agreeing to dismissal & to pay for our own flight home if we became pregnant. :eek:

 

There's another crew blog where this question was asked and the blogger said this used to be the case. Now the woman can work up until her last trimester. He went on to relate how a crewmember "miscalculated" the due date and gave birth on board. The ship doctor and nurse assisted and everything went fine. The blogger then challenged us readers to decide what nationality the baby would be! So female crew start their contracts with pregnancy tests but they are no longer dismissed if they become pregnant.

[DJ Eddy]

Question re the non-hiring of Americans: what about on European cruiselines, like P&O? Do you know if they're willing to hire Americans since, on their ships, American employees would be foreign?

 

DD was wondering whether she might be able to get a job on a line sailing out of England as something to do temporarily once she's done with college.

 

Thanks to all for their contributions to this thread.

I don't know i'm afraid, can't see why not..?

 

Wow I go away for half a day and I got 50 questions to answer

[DJ Eddy]

double post

[DJ Eddy]

1. When I'm in my deck chair and the waiter brings me a drink from the bar, does the 15% tip go to him or the bartender? I usually don't tip extra for his service, but I wonder if I should because I really don't know who gets the automatic tip. I didn't really understand the earlier post on this.

 

2. When is the best time to tip my cabin steward? I have tried two ways. One is by splitting my tip, giving half at the beginning and the other half at the end; or I just tip at the end. They always seem so busy on that last day and I'm thinking now I just need to tip somewhere in the middle?

 

3. When I give extra cash tips, do the crew know that this is in addition to my automatic tips? For example, I usually tip my cabin steward and wait staff a few dollars at the end of the cruise. It's not a lot of extra money, but I do what I can. When I give it to them, should I say that this is in addition to my automatic tips? I don't want them to think that I am shorting them.

 

4. On embarkation day, even if it's before 1:00, sometimes I will drop off my carry on bag in the room and then head up to the Lido deck. I know we aren't supposed to be in our rooms before 1:00, but I'm just dropping it off and getting out of the way, not lingering there. I don't think I'm being a bother, but is this something I should stop doing?

 

Thank you so much for answering everyone's questions!

Ok here we go...

 

1. The 15% gratuity on a drink order goes directly to the bar waiter/waitress that served you the drink but if you go to the bar yourself and a bartender serves you, all the bartenders gratuity get split between all the bartenders.

 

2&3. It's 100% up to you when you wish to tip your steward, it should make no difference to them. If you wish to tip them extra above your automatic s&s then again feel free, you can tell them that it is extra on top of the s&s gratuity... again that's your call.

 

4. Officially you should wait until 1.30pm to go to your rooms but i'm sure if a room steward is still cleaning your stateroom they won't mind you dropping off your bags so that should be no biggie.

[DJ Eddy]

and again

[DJ Eddy]

Hi Eddy!

 

Just wanted to say thanks for doing such a great job at my wedding reception on the Conquest. The music you played was awesome. It was the best time I can remember. Thanks for great memories!

Awww thanks guys, see this is why I love my job!

 

I'm glad I made your special day just that

[DJ Eddy]

Hi Eddy! I was on the Fantasy when you were DJing on there...in August (25th to be exact) of 05. It was the trip that we had to go around the other side of the Bahamas to avoid Hurricane Katrina. My friends got married in port before we left and someone came to play CD's for us....was that you??? lol

My question is why was Fantasy your least fave? Was it only because of the ports (I think I would go NUTS having to go to the Bahamas every week for 6 months!) or was there other things that made it your least fave ship? Also, exactly how big (or small) are the cabins for crew. Anyway you can compare it to something? Im thinking its like a dorm room size but I could have a distorted view.

Thanks for doing this thread! You have answered so many questions I have been wondering! :D

It was most likely to be me that DJ'd at the wedding. I vaguely remember that cruise, I remember avoiding hurricanes, 2005 was certainly the year for them.

the Fantasy was my least fave because of the ports but a big factor on that ship was the attitude of the guests. I sometimes felt scared when in the disco the way some of the pax would speak to me in that disco. I had things thrown at the glass surrounding the DJ booth and people booing constantly if a song came on they didn't like... it could be intimidating at times... which is a big reason why I nearly decided not to do another contract... god bless the Conquest!

After 6 months on the Fantasy I swore I wouldn't do another Fantasy class or another short 3/4/5 day ship... I did my time but unsure what my crime was..?

[gazingm42]

Eddy,

 

This is great you are doing this. This helps give a lot of answers that PAX

don't know. You all do a great job.

 

 

I have had several conversion in the last few years on tipping. I am a believer

in tipping the crew and staff has they all work so hard. Sometime I have

taken the S&S tips off and give the tip (recommendation plus about 50 - 100%)

more based on the service.

 

However I have heard if the S&S is removed that the crew member gets in

trouble or is looked down on.

 

In addition I understand that S&S tips are split between waiter and assist waiter, then from steward and assist. With some X percent going to

others and even carnival for overhead, etc. If you give the $$ direct to the

staff/crew do they get to split with the waiter/assist or does it get pool?

 

If you could please let us know how these tips are split it will help us.

 

Thansk

[DJ Eddy]

Eddy,

 

This is great you are doing this. This helps give a lot of answers that PAX

don't know. You all do a great job.

 

 

I have had several conversion in the last few years on tipping. I am a believer

in tipping the crew and staff has they all work so hard. Sometime I have

taken the S&S tips off and give the tip (recommendation plus about 50 - 100%)

more based on the service.

 

However I have heard if the S&S is removed that the crew member gets in

trouble or is looked down on.

 

In addition I understand that S&S tips are split between waiter and assist waiter, then from steward and assist. With some X percent going to

others and even carnival for overhead, etc. If you give the $$ direct to the

staff/crew do they get to split with the waiter/assist or does it get pool?

 

If you could please let us know how these tips are split it will help us.

 

Thansk

I don't work in a tipping position myself so I am unaware of the demographics behind it all. All I know is the s&s tips get split to you room steward & asst, your team waiter & asst and to all lido waiters/waitresses. What % goes to whom I have no clue.

 

Sorry