I am currently on P&O Australia - our package plans are.. WhatsApp - free or $2 a day for Wi-Fi for everything, RU-vid, Netflix, all socials, emails, internet etc. I think this is amazing! The other ships sound sooo expensive!!
Wow that sounds pretty amazing. How fast is the WiFi though? Best I've ever seen on our ship is around 130kbs but it's mostly slower (and of course it's capped). You can watch 360p RU-vid with that but that's it... And it's too much data to afford doing that
Try what I did Lucy when traveling. Buy a jar of good instant coffee like Folgers or Maxwell House, forget Taster's Choice it doesn't dissolve well and leans to bitter. Also if you like vanilla flavor buy a jar of the liquid flavorings. Put your custom mix in your cup and go get some free coffee. Their watered down free stuff always tasted better with an extra half teaspoon of Maxwell House and some vanilla. I bought some Italian instant coffee that was great, but I can't find it anymore. Happy Sailing and clear skies on starry nights Lucy! As for water try a Zero Water water filter that comes with a 2 liter pitcher and it doesn't take up much room. Depending on how many dissolved solids are in your water on board depends on how many liters you'll get. My tap water is a horrendous 360 parts per million and I only get 20 liters per filter cartridge. I pay $13 USD, but after the first filter reached .008 ppm I use it to filter the water for the 2nd filter and got double. So it was $0.65 a liter for 1st filter, but second filter was $0.24 per liter.
I refilled water bottles from the tap, am still here 🙂. I knew one guy saved every penny of his wages, never went to the crew bar or left the ship or anything, so it can be done. He was Scottish, so make of that what you will🙂. TBF, I would do exactly the same now. Internet - draft all your emails off first, get used to clicking everything real quick, then close down. Often there wasnt any signal for internet, dont know if that's improved. Dont p155 your wages up the wall in the crew bar - it's a complete waste of your life. Make a can of coke last all night and play flat pool, or chess. But the Filipina crew are good, so dont play for money 🙂 .
How much were the drinks in your crew bar? For US it's around 50cents for a coke and up to 1,6€ for a long drink. It's all rather affordable. Though of course this can add up too
Bravo young lady!! I'm a 20 year vetran of cruise ships. (Crystal/HAL/Regent Seven Seas) nice to hear someone talking intelligentilly about life on board a ship. And (GASP) even from a Shoppy! (just kidding) I was in the Entertainment Department (Technical Director) So been following you for a bit. I'm impressed.
I worked at a Swedish cruise ship and I honestly didn’t have to pay for anything… like the food they charged us while we where on board but while you’re at home they give us extra money to be able to buy foo at home.
Thank you for your videos! It helped with my preparations for my first contract. Please keep providing newbies like me with advice around starting a career on cruise ships 😊 #You'reTheBest✊🏾
Just randomly came across this video and your inside knowledge on the cruise industry is fascinating. Thanks for sharing. Still shocked that you have to pay for Internet as a crew member!
Thank you for your insight into the current state of affairs of the cruise industry. Man has shit changed! I worked several lines from ‘88-‘99. I could see the writing on the wall even then. Less privileges for staff and crew, and more bullshit duties. We used to keep hot plates, coffee makers, etc in our cabins because even the coffee up top sucked. Boozed flowed like water and unless you were totally shit-faced, there were no breathalyzers to be found. It was a big party, and no one really gave a shit. …..and I won’t even tell you which stimulant kept the Italian officers from dozing on duty. Like I said, shit has changed.
Douglas Spoonamore , here's a story you might find funny: I worked as a technical contractor on several cruise lines back in the eighties until about 1991. They used to give us free bar cards and encourage us to "throw parties" with the passengers back then. I went back to work in the cruise industry in 2008 until about 2013........boy what a different world!!
I'm a hazmat chemical tanker driver and deliver Caustic Soda to Royal Caribbean and Norwegian ships is Miami and Port Everglades. The Scarlett Lady is a beautiful vessel. I find your channel very informative about that side of the industry. Thanks for letting us in your world of cruise life. 😎✌️
It will be interesting to see how internet charges change as lines start to implement Starlink. Although, given how the cruise lines tend to run their business, they'll probably still screw you mercilessly, even with better performance at lower costs.
Thanks for the videos. I am from Kenya in Africa and interested in getting my 1st contract. Your videos are useful especially with the lifestyle in the cruise ship and practicalities.
This is crazy all the differences that there can be from one company to the other! On the one I'm working on: - Internet. We have 2 hours of free internet a day, that is automatically renewed at midnight. Then you have the option to buy 4 hours of internet for 10€ (those would stay as long as you don't use up the 4 hours). The 2 hours of free internet are enough most days (depending on where your ship is), because you're gonna work, go ashore and socialise, so most of the time it's enough. - Restaurant. We are not allowed to eat at the passengers restaurants. We only have our crew and officer messes. Only some crew are allowed (like the dancers), but only if they get invited by guests, so they wouldn't pay anyway. - Coffee. We do not have to pay for coffee, no matter if we take it in the mess or at the bar. - Water. We have free water! We get a bottle at the start of our contract, and we can refill it for free at the fountain located in the messes (and if you don't have the bottle, there are glasses). - Washing detergent for our laundry is free. I realise we don't pay for many things haha! Basically, we would only pay for the 4h of internet, the spa and the boutique if we purchase anything, and the crew bar (which is pretty low on choice, only beers, chocolates, chips and cigarettes).
When I worked on the Pacific Princess in 2000-2001, the only thing we had to pay for (apart from alcohol, obviously) was $8 a month for medical coverage. That was before there was internet on the ships.
looking to get my first cruise ship job in January, just starting to put myself out there when it comes to applying. I am a very experienced in hospitality/restaurant/hotels and love putting a smile on someone's face. It has already been discussed with my fiancé (who is long distance) so with my current work now as a restaurant manager we do not get to speak a lot during the week and are used to it and ok with it. We just need those few minutes a day,
It would be interesting to see a comparison of your spending between the video you did about your last cruise and this cruise where you made a big effort to cut expenses.
You would think they would offer some basic free email service so you could keep in contact on shore. A few messages a day and maybe they get sent out whenever there is low demand on the bandwidth.
I always used water stations on board RCCL ships I worked on and simply couldn't find places to spend my money on as everything I needed was free except internet but I used that in ports.... free at coffee shops. As cruise staff I can tell you that some of the people I would dole out their pay to would break even because back then you ran a tab at the crew bar and it came off your pay.... some die hard partiers who would treat their friends sometimes owed money..... they learned quickly. Newbies tend to spend.... people on their 2,3 or 4th contract knew better.
Thanks for this comment. I've known some Thai and Filipina crew members that assured me they were able to save the Lion's Share of their paycheck. This gal has absolutely no idea of the difference between a need, and a want. She sounds like she needs to be a cruise customer not a crew member LOL you can drink from the tap. It's safe. The friends I knew personally always left the ship to keep in touch with friends and family. Staying on the internet daily is an addiction not a need. Dinner's out to Specialty restaurants? Are you kidding me? She sure is cute isn't she LOL
@@DavidWilliams-qr5yj From what I have seen, young people, whether on-land or at sea do not know how to live cheaply and save their money. To be honest, if I had half the money I wasted when I was young, I would be a multi-millionaire. From her perspective, at least she is being honest.
@@atlantistdc1976 I googled it, crew are allowed to bring one bottle of spirits aboard per port of call. Problem with that is the crew is not allowed to leave the ship at each port. Since they are scheduled to work six out of seven days. However if we are at Port on their schedule day off. They can go Ashore and buy one bottle of alcohol. They also are allowed to bring 12 cans of soda
The tap water is safe to drink. That water is more likely than not cleaner than bottled water. Read or ask the engineers who are responsible for the evaporator or reverse osmosis machinery. I worked on a ship..not a cruise ship, and was responsible for that machinery. It’s clean.
I was on a cruise in 2016. It was the Norwegian Jewel. They were charging 7 dollars a bottle for water. I just refilled mine in the bathroom. Because they also didn't want anyone to refill their water bottles at water fountains.
My wife and I have been on three cruises. I've asked about drinking the tap water and they said it was OK. Did it for all three cruises. Never had a problem. I probably only had one or two small cups of the tap water each day, so it wasn't much, but nobody ever told us not to.
Hopefully as starlink gets more satellites the price and speed of internet should get a lot better. The only other option is ham radio, but I don’t know how that would work aboard a ship.
This honestly makes me so much happier because it sounds like the only thing I'll be paying for is the internet. I'd probably only drink once a week if that and me and my boyfriend (trying to contract together) maybe go to a nice restaurant twice a month. I also have a reusable water bottle and ill fill it up daily. And I don't drink coffee. I have two questions though: Will they let me and my bf share a room? Like are co-ed roommates okay? Also, how are they with food allergies with crew? My boyfriend is deathly allergic to nuts.
Awesome Lucy🌷《☆》Good advice & information dear♡👍💛♡It's not a bad deal🙏Water is Crucial. 3 hots & a cot with a few extra perks sounds great for a vibrant young person🖖😎☮
I, as I am many sure many peeps have seen this video. The first 5 mins speaks for all generations regardless of age. The point is you have recognized and turned your experience into a positive.
Sounds a lot like the fly in fly out camp jobs. Internet is often throttled if it's available at all. Some of the new camps like at Kitimat have lounges and stores in addition to the free kitchens and bag rooms for lunches. Flights and busses are free to and from camp. The dorms have free water coolers where you can fill up with hot or cold water. Kitimat was unusual as camp was very close to town. You could call a cab to the front gates if you wanted to go shopping or to a real bar.
thanks for sharing. I worked on Princess n Carnival. Laundry was free, had to buy detergent, drycleaning free, never knew had to tip, lol , sodas not free, internet very costly so yes internet cafes on land cheapest but our cell phone carrier said most places you can do facebook ..texting free . now not back then. back in days we bought sodas & Rum at ports brought them back onboard put in refrig and that's what we drank. guess now you can't do that. Excursions was another thing we had to pay for, always sold out so never was able to do excursions. Did crew bar few times but after gigging 3hrs night everynight too tired to go and disliked crew cafeteria so ate at buffets 10am-2pm everyday pigged out if hungry yes hit the crew cafeteria after gig otherwise never did the other paying restaurants so yes I saved money not because I wanted to but it just happened that way. Cleaning crew cabins you could pay for heard but we always cleaned our own.
YOU SHOULD SEE WHAT NAVY ENLISTED PEOPLE GET ON A SHIP. You get a bunk bed in a unit three bunks high in a compartment below the waterline. You live in the same room with at least three or four dozen other men. Your mattress is only two or three inches of foam rubber on top of sheet metal. I couldn't understand it because I specifically requested a double bed with a sea view. Aside from that, all they give you is a locker about the size of two 25-inch medium suitcases for everything you own. You have no other storage unless it's unauthorized. If you get caught with unauthorized storage you could be assigned extra manual labor, fined, or even demoted in enlisted rank and pay. The Navy is long on punishment and short on pay. Chief petty officers E-7 and above have roughly the same sleeping quarters, except with fewer men to a compartment and more storage space. *Petty* is the key word here, as in small or insignificant. Your superiors regularly tell you just how insignificant you are, even after you've been in there for years. They are not trying to be funny. Sometimes they yell at you, or otherwise verbally abuse you. Navy officers and senior enlisted have no respect for your rank/pay grade, or your job specialty. Either one can be changed at any time with little more than the stroke of a pen (or keyboard). So you think you're an aircraft mechanic? Congratulations. Now you're a deck hand. Here's a mop. Alcohol is never permitted on the ship. There is a shared shower room with toilets. If you've been in the Navy less than three or four years, you'll probably be spending a lot of time scrubbing toilets and doing other cleaning work, no matter what you think your real job is supposed to be. Recruiters lie to prospective applicants all the time and make false promises. They don't tell you that you'll be spending half your time as a cleaner. Commissioned officers, usually just referred to as officers, are the big shots in the military. They have a cabin or stateroom alone or with another officer. The most junior officer is superior in rank and authority to even the most senior enlisted. The main difference between an (a) commissioned officer and a (b) enlisted/noncommissioned officer (NCO)/petty officer, is that an officer entered the Navy with a college degree. An enlisted person entered with less than a college degree. There are exceptions. Almost everything on a warship is metal and painted gray. The military is about 80 percent enlisted and 20 percent officer. Enlisted pay starts at approximately minimum wage and stays there for a long time. Anybody can look it up online. No enlisted person could ever afford the average rent in New York City or Boston, not on his own. You do get average, sometimes bad, cafeteria food three times a day. Think lunch at a public high school. Officers have a separate dining room, superior cuisine, and enlisted servants. Officers and enlisted men always have segregated living and dining spaces, as well as separate working areas if possible. Officers are instructed to *not* socialize with enlisted persons. As a rule, the Navy treats its enlisted workers like garbage regardless of what you do; always have. Students of history know that. Of course with human beings there are always exceptions, individuals who get special treatment. Other branches of the military may be slightly different. Not everybody contributes to creating a hostile environment, but plenty do. Navy life is always legalistic and impersonal. It resembles working in a detention center or low-security jail. You are a virtual prisoner for the duration of your enlistment. Anybody who tells you different is lying to you. Over time, some enlisted people become okay with the verbal and psychological abuse, perhaps risking your life for minimum wage or little more, and being treated like a servant for military officers. Everybody else gets out. You can't compare the military to any civilian job. Very few are that bad, and only the military has a rigid officer-enlisted social class system. My abusive lawyer parents in Mississippi forced me to join when I was 17. That's probably one reason why I didn't make a good flunky for military officers, because I grew up around lawyers and other professionals. My father died, and then my mother provided virtually no financial support. They never supplied much to begin with. That was deliberate. The full GI Bill in the 1970s did not begin to pay for all my tuition, fees, and living expenses. Maybe 10 percent. I had to work off-campus the entire time, and I was still a very broke college student. I went to a private college in the South called Millsaps (BA, 1982, 3.2 GPA). However it was not expensive compared to other schools, especially in the Northeast. Even some 45 years later I am frequently the target of verbal abuse and harassment perpetrated by some ex-military people, all strangers. Trash. Persons I would have never associated with, at least not outside the Navy. I have reported it. I was an enlisted medic or Navy corpsman, and I helped them. A corpsman is never an officer. It's almost impossible for me to get an attorney in this country. Most of them simply refuse to work for possible clients who contact them. Most lawyers don't return phone calls from strangers about a legal problem. Most lawyers don't respond to email inquiries they ask for. It's not entirely clear why they advertise. I had to do my own divorce about ten years ago. In 2007 two Gladstone (Kansas City), Missouri police officers entered my apartment one afternoon for no apparent reason. Screaming and yelling, officers Picard and Steele assaulted me and demanded I call my estranged mother I hadn't seen in years. They were laughing about it the whole time. I was amazed they didn't make up something to arrest me for. I could have been killed (Clay County Pro Se Case No. 07CY-CV10003). I have not been impressed by what passes for legal scholarship. Much of what attorneys do is simply filling out forms and submitting them to a judge-another lawyer-for approval. Some cases are more complex and require staff and overhead. My Millsaps peers who became attorneys are definitely not my friends. They obviously couldn't care less about me or the public. I've also been turned down by the Mississippi Bar Association several times. They claim they don't do referrals. I've been turned down by attorneys at the University of Mississippi Law School. My deceased father William Ethridge was a state judge and part-time instructor in Constitutional Law there in the 1960s. They've got a picture of him displayed in their moot courtroom unless they took it down. I obtained a legal name change to the name Rhett Butler a long time ago. I went to court without an attorney for the name change. Does anybody really want to be named after a family of thugs? People who lie about you to everybody? In addition to my violent parents, my older brothers Bill and Paul Ethridge have assaulted me multiple times and caused obvious physical injuries. They don't enforce the law down there, especially when it comes to domestic violence in an attorney's family. RB
Some of things you need to pay for I can understand, like booze and fancy restaurants bc that cost the ship money, but internet...although it costs them money as the other items I mentioned, I think they can give people a little bit of free internet. Like 500-1k mins/monthly or something like that and if you want/need more you can pay for it, but not get gouged....unless the ships are paying astronomical amounts for it themselves. Maybe with Starlink coming on board a lot more ships the cost will come down, I guess we'll have to see
Hi Lucy it’s a great thing know that the gyms are free cause I am a personal trainer at gym in South Africa (virgin active) and members don’t want a personal trainer if they paying a gym membership and do teach classes
Although I do have a coffie addiction I tend to drink the cheep coffie any way so as long as I have my creamer and sugar I would be fine. I chose not to be a drinker so booz would not be an issue for me. My biggest cost would be internet. I am an avid youtube watcher.
you have to buy water?..I travelled on a small cruise line and they told you that the water out of the taps was perfectly drinkable. Water was even free from dispensers around the ship .I think the large cruise lines just rip people off.
OMG! Do you know the cruise line is probably buying those water bottles for less than 50 cents a bottle. There's a good chance they only pay about 33 cents a bottle for water. When you buy it in huge quantities you get a really good deal.
I love your tips, Lucy. I was a doctor on RCL & Celebrity earlier this year (2022). Very much an experience. I’m glad COVID-19 is better. Here’s a question: on RCL deck one is called I-95. What other lines call it that? Ironically. at home in VA I live just a few miles from I-95.
I'm amazed that you have to pay for water which is a basic human need. The fact that you can only buy it one day a week means your small cabin is full of water bottles. There is alao the environmental impact of all those plastic bottles as well.
I would agree with Carl -- I would not buy anything ahead of time since just like each passenger is unique, each crew member is unique and have different needs. But if you wanted to buy something material, when you are there and going ashore you can ask if you can pick up something for them.... they may or may not take you up on the offer... Cash is King 🙂
I don't think there are any technical reasons they couldn't offer the crew free or very cheap internet access. I think heavy crew usage would mostly be when passengers were not using it much like at night or on port days. Crew work extremely hard and long hours, I think free internet would likely take precedence over sleep during off hours and many would try and sneak away while working to check in. That is the world we live in today. The younger people I work with can't go 20 minutes without interacting with their phones. It would be a major distraction for a large group of people away from home for long periods of time. Perhaps they could find a way to give employees free access for limited times that correspond with their job schedules once or twice a week???
Obviously you don't have to worry about the cost of living while on board your ship, but it must be hard trying to work out what you'll be able to afford once your contract finishes and you go home. Do Virgin give pay increases, contract to contract, or is it just getting promoted to a higher level? Is it difficult talking to your family and friends while they struggle with rising costs etc and you would be like "Lalalalala, i'm aboard a cruise ship"?
I have questions. LOL. First: Is there an upper age limit for staff? Second: Are you not allowed alcohol in your rooms to chill out after work like on land? Third: Are you allowed to bring your own to stock in your room? Fourth: Are you allowed to have an electric kettle so you can make your own coffee with a pour over if you like?
I’m not working on a cruise yet, but this is what I’ve learned. My current coworker on land retired from the cruise. She’s now around 62. If there was no Covid, she would still work there until her real retired age. She was a housekeeper. And she moves really slowly. One wine, or 6 cans of beer per person in a fridge in the cabin. And they can’t carry them in from land. You can purchase on board. Kettle is not allowed in the cabin. You can go to the Crew Mess. I learned from other RU-vid and Google that a surge protector is not allowed, but a regular extension cord is ok.
@@Lovehealing1991 yes. No alcohol or open / fresh food can be brought on board. No electronic heating devices like a cattle (fire hazard). But hot water in the crew mass. No real age limit. You have to be able to do your job and depending on the position you might have to share a cabin (bunk bed).
Pno Oceania was party ship can't compare with any other pno ship and bdw i was scarlet n valiant right now Beer n alcohol was cheap on pno .85 for carlsberg and bottle sale on bottle day hope you remember
I can tell you from watching the channel of a girl who is a figure skater on RC that the have water stations for the crew and she is allowed to use the guest gym (but the gym may be because of her job, I don't remember for sure)
I have been on three cruises, all RC. I used the gym twice a day and there was hardly anyone ever in it. My manager goes on a fay cruise every year and he says the gym is always packed.
In royal carribean as you said in the case that you forget to log out and all the minutes run wasted without really using it, for that case you can talk to communication specialist and he can give you back all the remaining minutes that you lost, so you actually don't loose it..
From my experience: Water (not bottled) coffee, tea, iced tea and fruit juices were free. Every night the staff and crew mess had a full salad bar, soups, beef, pork, fish, several different vegetables, a variety of potatoes and rice, fruit and desserts. It was better than most land-based buffets. I think one of the problems is the staff and crew are from many different Countries, and it's hard to please everyone every night. You have to be willing to try different things.
Question(s) 1. How do you get Health Insurance? 2. Are you allowed Kuerig machines in your cabin for coffee/tea/cocoa? 3. Does any cruiseline offer internet by the gigabytes like cell companies?
From my experience: First of all, every crew member must pass a very thorough medical exam before being hired. If you have a chronic health condition, you most likely will not be hired. Most Cruise lines self-insure. As a crew member you can see the onboard medical staff as needed at no cost. If you need shoreside medical attention, the cruise line will pay for it. For most people, the only time you would need or should get "health insurance" is during your break, between contacts, when you are not covered by the cruise line. There are insurance companies that specialize in this coverage. Depending on what Country you are from, this type of health coverage may be way above, or way below what you consider "acceptable". As for the "coffee maker", most cruise lines prohibit any type of appliance in crew cabins that have a heating element due to fire hazards. I'll give my opinion on internet elsewhere.
outrageous ! do you mean to tell me, that 100 years ago you had to sail unconnected for 3 months to cross from one country to another, but now you can do it in a matter of hours AND be able to hook up instantly to you tube and social media and your friends and loved ones and others on instagram who don't care about you, , and they want to charge you for that. what has this world come to ?
