Hello friends! How’s everyone doing? We’re halfway through the month, and there’s still a lot to do. This week, we will talk about something much more familiar to me: cruising. The cruise industry is the maritime world’s tourism wing, offering excursions locally and across oceans. This area of maritime work is where I have spent most of my career. It is also where I will remain for the foreseeable future. Ready for a vacation? Let’s book a cabin!
What is Cruising?
Cruising is any waterborne excursion for sightseeing, dinners, vacations, or any other form of entertainment. It just about always involves carrying passengers for hire.
As I mentioned, most cruising is catered towards tourism, especially sightseeing and vacationing. We’re all familiar with the large cruise ships owned by companies such as Royal Caribbean and Carnival, but cruising is also done at the local level, such as harbor excursions and dinner cruises.
My experience has always been at the local level, working aboard tour boats, tall ships, and the occasional dinner boat. I have friends, coworkers, and former classmates who have gone to work on large cruise ships. More on their experiences below.
Cruising on Oceans and Rivers
The cruises that we see advertised are often on oceans and rivers. I’m sure many of us have seen ads for Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Disney cruise ships. These three companies are headquartered in the United States. Their attitude towards cruises is to have the ship be a part of the experience, featuring many amenities and forms of on-board entertainment.
Companies based in Europe, such as Viking, have fewer amenities aboard their vessels, focusing instead on sightseeing. This is especially true of their river cruise vessels, which feature many off-the-boat excursions on shore. While large ships feature shoreside excursions as well, they have greater importance on small ships.
On-board entertainment is a crucial part of cruising. On large ships, this includes casinos, nightclubs, theatre shows, and even concerts. I know of some ships that have music festivals on board sometimes. Aboard small ships, on-board entertainment can include history talks, live music, demonstrations, and other small productions.
Cruising Locally
Not every cruise has to involve traveling long distances. Many often stay in sheltered waters, such as lakes, small rivers, and harbors. These cruises last for only a few hours at most. These cruises usually have a specific focus, such as dining, sightseeing, partying, or fishing.
Local cruises are where I am most experienced, as I said above. I have worked primarily aboard sightseeing vessels, but also dinner boats. Sometimes I would work sightseeing cruises during the day, then a charter or dinner cruise aboard the same vessel that night.
My perspective so far has been from that of a deckhand. For instance, I can say for certain that deckhands love it when passengers clean up after themselves. We also appreciate it when guests are courteous and respectful. If you’re good to us, we’ll be even better to you!
Training Cruises
One particularly unique type of cruise is known as a training cruise. These are usually conducted aboard ships designed specifically for training purposes. During my time at Massachusetts Maritime Academy, I completed two training cruises aboard the training ship Kennedy.
At Mass Maritime, all cadets complete a Sea Term their freshman year, regardless of their major. Deck and Engine cadets complete two additional sea terms; one for their sophomore year, and one for their senior year. During their junior year, they ship out as cadets.
During a training cruise, deck cadets are taught marlinspike seamanship, navigation, and watchstanding on the bridge. Engine cadets, by contrast, are taught mechanical engineering and related subjects. I was a deck cadet for all of my training cruises.
My Interest in the Cruise Industry
Aside from training cruises, I have only worked on local cruise vessels but am toying with the idea of one day joining the commercial cruise industry. Now that I have a new Merchant Mariner Credential in hand, I can in theory return to work in the merchant marine as an entry-level seaman.
But since my MMC includes a 100 Ton Master license, some companies may be willing to hire me as an entry-level Mate. One such company is American Cruise Lines, or ACL for short.
ACL has its corporate offices right here in Connecticut, my home state. An old friend of mine works for them in their accounting department. He has good things to say about them, but given his position on shore, he can’t speak to how it is working aboard their vessels.
About Last Week…
Last week I wrote about tugboats and my interest in possibly working aboard one. After doing more research and talking it over with my family, I have ruled out tugs as a career path. They probably won’t be a good fit for me.
What initially scared me away from ACL was their rotation, which is 4-6 weeks aboard, 2 weeks ashore. However, their operations are seasonal, so I would have my winters off. Do you know what that would mean? North Pole Express, here I come!
To be fair, there’s plenty about ACL that I still don’t know. What’s their company culture like? What are accommodations aboard for Mates? More questions than answers right now.
As tempting as it is to apply, I am going to have to restrain myself. The agreement I made with myself is to work one more season at the Essex Steam Train & Riverboat, then see where my heart and mind are in one year. I’m not ruling out applying to ACL, but I am putting it off.
Why Cruise Ships?
Why would working aboard a cruise ship suit me? Well, those who know me know that I am a people person. In tourism, you meet people from all over the world. Different cultures, attitudes, and beliefs. I love meeting people and talking to them. I’ll definitely get more of that aboard a cruise ship than any merchant ship.
As stated above, the cruise industry is part of the tourism industry. I have spent the vast majority of my career in tourism, which I love. I also love ships and maritime operations, so I get to do what I love with opportunities to be sociable.
I got into the maritime industry with dreams of one day becoming a Captain. In one sense, I have achieved that goal by earning my 100 Ton. In another sense, I have a way to go, because a 100 Ton is a small license.
Had I graduated from Mass Maritime as a Deck Major, I would have earned my 3rd Mate Unlimited license. Earning that license is still a possibility, but I will take the Hawsepipe route instead. Cadet life did terrible things to my mental health, so I have no desire to go through that again.
I hope I can earn my 3rd Mate Unlimited by working for a company like American Cruise Lines. A part of me feels that earning such a license would heal some unaddressed trauma from maritime college (“If you don’t earn your license, you’re a failure!”), along with opening up more doors for me professionally.
All that said, once you hear the ocean’s call, it never completely goes away.
As always, thanks for reading!