consultant

specialist

prep cook

server

guest service agent

Norwegian-Cruise-Line-Holdings-Ltd

I want to start out saying that many people take jobs on the Pride of America with one thing in mind, HAWAII this is not the attitude to have if you decide to work here. The turnover on this ship is extremely high as every week there would always be new people each Saturday to replace those who left after a week, a month, two months because they came for fun and were not serious. I even remember a guy who came aboard Saturday and was fired the next day for getting drunk. Remember that you have to pay for your trip home if you quit early. Also remember you will be working daily and days off can be extremely hard to come by if you don't have a decent supervisor. 

Management was mediocre  at best (from the top to the bottom) they do not know how to use their people properly, are very reactionary, play the blame game, and generally are unaware of the realities of the situation you will be in. One of my supervisors actually said he liked being understaffed so he could blame all of the problems in his department on staffing to avoid actually having to fix the issues. NCL has a supposed program of being able to suggest solutions to your supervisor but this is largely ignored. On the other hand I had one very good supervisor half of the time who was very friendly and personable the other half no so much. Also these people tend to forget they are merely mangers because they have some fake cloth stripes on their shoulders they enjoy believing they are somehow "officers" it's really a joke having served in the army previously so don't take that seriously because they are not and never will be no matter how bad they want it.

Co-workers are a mixed bag as I had a few great co-workers who I never had problems with and enjoyed working with that being said just a few. Most people you will work with are bottom of the barrel who as I said above last there maybe 2 months at max as many people cannot handle ship life. At one time I had a partner while washing dishes would disappear 3-4 times a shift to go on "breaks" other than the ones we are allowed. Also keep in mind that you are living in a small community and everyone will have some idea of who you are and if you do anything to make a fool of yourself you can bet its going to go around this ship quickly. You will also see these people constantly even when you are off the ship you have a 75% chance of running into someone as these islands are small and there are over 900 crew at least.
 
Advancement is possible but in some cases not recommended in my department working as a "second" supervisor your workload is huge, at one time during a "GI" outbreak that lasted several weeks our seconds were working 12-18 hours a day with very little sleep and on top of that taking a lot of verbal abuse from the not so good supervisor who enjoyed passing the blame to everyone else. But sometimes advancement is not forthcoming as I was present for a 30 year service award being given out at a captains meeting for a person who had apparently spent 30 years of their life as nothing more than a stateroom steward which is either an entry level position or one small step above. Many of the 10+  year service awards were given to people who had never gone above entry level positions.

Life on the ship if you have ever been in the military or lived in the dorms this lifestyle will be somewhat familiar a small community of people living close together. 

Be wary while you work here as the union is not your friend they are only concerned with taking your money and nothing else. If you have any issues expect only lip service from them not actual help. Management likes to take ignore the union rules and profits from your ignorance of supposed protections. Also a big thing while I was working with my oh so disliked supervisor he skimmed hours from our timesheets as he has access and can make changes manually so please request copies of your timesheets weekly and remember when you badge in for work. NCL America was sued several years ago for not paying its employees federal minimum wage and only did so to avoid losing their U.S. flag so do not trust these people as they have done nothing to earn your trust.

I hope this review can help you with your decision on working with NCL. Again not the worst place in the world to work but just be realistic about what your getting yourself into and stay sharp oh and don't get drunk or use drugs while your here that comes with some serious consequences (random drug tests every Tuesday).

I recently left NCL after completing my contract on the Pride of America, I won't be returning unless something really bad happens and I need a safe place to stay where I can get paid.

I'm spilling EVERYTHING.

Management plays favorites. Management doesn't care if you get sick. Management isn't even appropriately trained to be trying to hold us to NCL's standards. Literally any time there is a problem, they say "That's ship life" and leave you to suffer. Management will not help you with ANYTHING if there's even a minor inconvenience to them. The entire management team needs a COMPLETE overhaul, and, I feel bad for the two or three who are currently there who think they can change the structuring. It's a very clique environment, and, you'll feel like you're back in High School.

Personel isn't available when needed. Once you get your MMC and if something happens to your room key, you have to either find your room mate, or, wait until personnel is in office to print a new key, which is normally during your lunch/dinner break, so, you have to either choose being able to eat, or, getting a new room key so you can sleep and not bother your room mates.

Medical is also a joke. You can not go whenever you feel sick, you MUST wait until crew hours, which means, if you're breakfast shift, you must go on duty, and potentially spread your sickness, and, wait for medical to be open (Which is normally about 3 hours in to that shift). Management is HIGHLY unlikely to send you back to your room to quarantine. You WILL work sick, or, heavily drugged, end of discussion.

You will have no completely off days. There was a rotating off day every three weeks on Thursdays in main dining, which means, once a month, you get a half day off. That's it. They will constantly tell you that you have to "make the time" to relax, when, there is none.

Here's the skinny on how your day goes;

You get two shifts a day, either lunch/dinner or breakfast/dinner, with Saturdays being a triple because of old passengers leaving and new passengers getting onboard. Lunch/dinner, you get about an hour and a half break between the two, and, you can sleep uninterrupted. It will leave you decently rested, but, with no real free time to be able to get off the ship for personal purchasing for toiletries or food. In order to get off of the ship on lunch/dinner, you must wake up at the butt crack of dawn in order to get off before the passengers do for their excursions, otherwise, you're stuck onboard, you will not be getting off. Breakfast/dinner means you are able to get off the ship nice and easy when your first shift is over, and it gives you a decent 4 or 5 hours to reset, however, dinner shifts are normally completely finished at about 11 or 12 at night, which means, after winding down, you have about 4 or 5 hours of sleep before your next shift starts. You must now choose to either catch up on sleep, or, enjoy your time to mentally reset yourself, even though you're physically exhausted. This schedule structure is normally steady, however, you should still check it DAILY, as well as take pictures, because, the management team likes to change things without 24 hour notice, sometimes, even overnight while you're sleeping.

I loved the people I worked with on my level, I do not regret the experience, but, unless I know that at least 80% of current officers are gone, I won't come back. The ship morale is AWFUL and they pretend like "we're family" with complete delusion.

You are required to be fully vaccinated and covid tested every week in the office. You are required to dress professionally in the call center. You can work from home only on Fridays and if you work on the weekends which is only through the end of year. 
Pay is hourly + commission across the board. Commission is determined on the number of cruise bookings per month and a percentage of the revenue. To make the most commission you need 125+ bookings per month. An average of about 6 per day. 
The cruise industry has had it rough since the start of the pandemic. Any cruises that the company canceled due to Covid or redeployed are not being protected with your commission. These types of cancels, although due to the company’s decision, are being taken out of your paycheck for the current month. Typically any cancellation that you booked would be taken out of your paycheck if they did not cruise but due to covid and changes in cruises there is an over abundance. The company was helping with these cancels prior to the month of August and was not penalizing you or deducting them from your pay. August and September they decided to no longer help with these cancels and they are deducted from your paycheck.
Everyone is paid the same hourly at minimum wage. If you’ve been there a long time or made a lot of sales and are a top performer, your cancels will be higher. Some people have over $3000 from cancels that Norwegian is taking back out of their paychecks. 
The sales dept is required to take service calls and the service dept makes more money than Personal Vacation Planners (and gets to work remote). 
They just hired a bunch of new agents as who are guaranteed to make a certain amount the first couple months on the phones and since they do not have any previous reservations that can cancel they are actually making more money than people who’ve worked here for years.  
Management expects you to work every single day overtime is available and the only people who are making the most reservations are working from 5 am to 9 pm. 
Raises are not offered.  Expectations are to make 125+ sales per month the same requirements in 2019 pre-covid. You may not even get 6 sales calls an entire 8 hour shift. 

You are required to be fully vaccinated and covid tested every week in the office. You are required to dress professionally in the call center. You can work from home only on Fridays and if you work on the weekends which is only through the end of year. 
Pay is hourly + commission across the board. Commission is determined on the number of cruise bookings per month and a percentage of the revenue. To make the most commission you need 125+ bookings per month. An average of about 6 per day. 
The cruise industry has had it rough since the start of the pandemic. Any cruises that the company canceled due to Covid or redeployed are not being protected with your commission. These types of cancels, although due to the company’s decision, are being taken out of your paycheck for the current month. Typically any cancellation that you booked would be taken out of your paycheck if they did not cruise but due to covid and changes in cruises there is an over abundance. The company was helping with these cancels prior to the month of August and was not penalizing you or deducting them from your pay. August and September they decided to no longer help with these cancels and they are deducted from your paycheck.
Everyone is paid the same hourly at minimum wage. If you’ve been there a long time or made a lot of sales and are a top performer, your cancels will be higher. Some people have over $3000 from cancels that Norwegian is taking back out of their paychecks. 
The sales dept is required to take service calls and the service dept makes more money than Personal Vacation Planners (and gets to work remote). 
They just hired a bunch of new agents as who are guaranteed to make a certain amount the first couple months on the phones and since they do not have any previous reservations that can cancel they are actually making more money than people who’ve worked here for years. 
Management expects you to work every single day overtime is available and the only people who are making the most reservations are working from 5 am to 9 pm. 
Raises are not offered. Expectations are to make 125+ sales per month the same requirements in 2019 pre-covid. You may not even get 6 sales calls an entire 8 hour shift.  

The company is pretty interesting to work for. By doing it remotely, you dont have to worry about transit or gas prices or how long it takes to go to work or anything like that. The training is paid, so don't worry. You aren't getting nothing while doing it. However, the training was incredibly stressful and anxiety-inducing. You have to pass the training with a hard 90% in order to move onto your job, which is absolutely strict and mind-boggling. Sure, they try to gear it so that as long as you try, you'll pass, but it doesn't need to be so strict. Especially when you aren't learning everything for the position you'll be in. Once on the floor past the training you did, you'll be tackling real calls of which they will not have any indication that you're new. And the IT folks are not exactly helpful. I have had this issue for a long while now and am only getting assistance now because the issue is complicated but it is affecting my work output as well as me working in general and I use this job to help me get bills paid and to get groceries, so it isn't good that I've been told conflicting info from multiple people for the same issue.

Fellow co-workers of mine, who have trained with me, left due to the job not being accommodating to assist them due to being parents and the shifts they got given not being preferable or not being able to become part time so they could still be with their kids and care for them.

And getting answers for questions can take a while and you have to search through their system. And this increases the time you have on a call which you get penalized for.

And the issue I have? It hurts my adherence (which is making sure you are doing your job) but it isnt even my fault so why do i get punished for it? Especially when i have no clue what is causing my issue in the first place?

If you're going to work here, keep in mind that these sorts of things can happen. And that getting something figured out will take a while.

This is going to be lengthy. Read it or don't I spend 1 year with this company and I have a love-hate relationship with it. Need a reason to decide if you need this job? Read this. 

Don't think about applying for a dishwasher if you're not prepared to go through horrible things and understaffed situations forever. Typically they get the worst job on the ship. 

Restaurant steward. If you have the very little serving experience to moderate you'll get stuck here. You have a chance to either move up within two weeks or 3 months to assistant waiter. Restaurant stewards are the lowest of the low on the ship. You work constant shifts. Well everyone does but you'll be bussing in a very specific place I'm not sure I can mention. With managers, you'll either hate or love. Some are rude as heck and some are amazing. It comes with the territory. 

Assistant waiters. This is where the job becomes somewhat worth it. You're pay increases and the managers are still there. But you move into main dining restaurants. It takes the stress away a bit as you're following your waiter's orders and learning what to do. 

Waiter. Big bucks are made here but if you're a waiter for a long time. Don't bother. They'll drive you crazy. Every main waiter ever joined hates it. It's a fact. 
THESE THREE JOBS AVERAGE AROUND 60-70 hours a week. 

Bar waiter- They make decent money. You are basically taking orders from a guest in various areas of the ship and delivering them. You work not as much as waiters and assistant waiters do. 

Bartender. You're among the top paid. You make money and get tips. You'll like it more. 

These are the most popular jobs. Which always need to be filled. 
Now here's the laydown. 
You'll be on your feet all day and the first two weeks absolutely suck. Then it gradually gets better and you either make it or you don't. People scoff at being late to your job on the ship. Yet you work so much it happens. 
So be on your toes and enjoy the fact that you're working on POA. Joined another ship? Sorry, can't help. POA=Pride Of America. Where old people go. 
Hope it gives you an idea. I loved and hated this job. But it was an experience that taught me valuable lessons and better yet. If you know how to save money? You can walk away after 5 months with 10k.

Work-life balance
Work-life balance at Norwegian Cruise Line ...they force you to work on weekends with not giving you leads nor support if you don't work at unpaid weekends. So if you really need money you cannot have any work-life balance and you always get stressed out due productivity minimum requirements. If you have children in school age or younger, there is no help or understanding about it. You need to do the minimum productivity requirements which will held you from selling,due you cannot be concentrate to sell from counting your calls. So,if you don't want to have problems at home, you better stay away from Norwegian Cruise Line. If you say I am ok with 12usd per h, don't need commission and don't give any sh..about earnings ,they will fire you after they see that you can't or won't sell. If you have no family,want lot's of money,are bad in person and can do everything including beeing criminal,fishy naturally,you will get all the perks,support and advise from the management, so you will get loved and cared as well. So ,if you give all your private time away and can forget about friends and family,or if you don't have any, you are good to go, too. I'm working for Norwegian Cruise Line for 2 years now, but very much regret it now due I worked in weekends for a year and couldn't get any benefits due I'm not selling with beeing fishy and unfair,like they want me to,to sell more and more...

Pay & benefits
My pay and benefits at Norwegian Cruise Line are good if you get supported

Job security and advancement
In terms of job security at Norwegian Cruise Line, I think you can get fired anytime

Management
In general, managers at Norwegian Cruise Line are unfair and help cheating

Culture
Collaboration with my colleagues at Norwegian Cruise Line is nice

Overall
My experience working at Norwegian Cruise Line is very stressful due very ridiculous and unfair productivity policy

My initial impression of the company was that they were well organized and put together and I'd be well on my way and yes they were organized. It took a long time to get rolling because you have to do a physical as well and you have to pay for it out of pocket which you will get reimbursed for after you join the ship but it's very expensive to even get that physical. You have to have of course cuz you're going abroad an array of vaccines and proof of them. 
You also have to have your passport and so on. Which is on you to get as well which is very standard for most companies that require travel. 
Where I question the company's ethics was you work everyday you get hours off not days off and you're almost guaranteed to work on holidays. During the holidays I worked anywhere from 10 to 13 hour shifts if you don't start up in a higher up management position you'll be giving a roommate and a very small cabin which again makes sense cuz you're on a ship, and overall your life is dictated by what that ship does daily and by thousands of passengers. Not only are you doing very strenuous customer service work for long hours but you also have very strict management and a hierarchy that I find very demeaning. Certain people get treated better than others if you start an entry level position you will be treated as a entry level position. The ships are operate off of Bohemian law not American work labor laws therefore they can work you as much as they want to there's no law against it when I broke down what I was actually making an hour it was $6 an hour and I was working 90 hours a week minimum. Benefit is a so amazing places in amazing people and had a pretty cool job on the ship I worked with kids but overall I would not recommend the company there are other shipping companies and Cruise line industries that will treat their employees much better.

Wake up, put on my uniform, walk from one end of the ship to the other end, clock in. Set up the mess hall; cleaning, putting out pans, dishes, utensils and refilling what ever else needed to be refilled.  Running up three or more flights of stairs to see if the main restaurant needed any help or had anything they could give to the crew.  I usually worked four shifts; breakfast 7 am, lunch 11:45 am, dinner 5:30 pm and midnight usually between 11 pm to 1 am. 
We would have random safety drills on the ship; where I and many other people would have to stop what they were doing and go back to their cabins to dawn their life jackets and safety cards with instructions on where to go and what to do.  We would wait at our required post for however long the drill took. The time ranged anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hrs. 

During my off time I had a choice of taking a "Tender" (a small boat) from the ship to the island when we were close enough.

Being at the lower rung of the job status later I usually had a lot of negative stress from the higher rungs up.  

I made quite a few friends non the less and learned to stay positive. 

My sense of humor and positive attitude helped me a lot while there. 

My co-workers were a fun group of people to work with and socialize with.  Having to work and live with them all made it so you had to either learn to get along or give up.

The hardest part of the job: finding time to rest and personal time.

I enjoyed the view, visiting the islands on my breaks when I could, dancing, socializing and having a few drinks with my co-workers in the mini lounge/bar room and talking to people whether it was co-worker or guest.

*Call center governed by phone system making entry each time you log in and out of system making job somewhat stressful as system controls pay and monitoring activity daily whcih questions trust between workers and management. Department I worked in dressed in full business attire while other departments around the center came in jeans and tee shirts which struck me as rather odd.
*Training class covered as much as possible in the time allowed but most learning came from on the job and pod mates assistance with companies software and their different sales techniques.
*Management had an open door policy conveying positive attitudes but were governed by corporate office instituting all policies and procedures regarding appearance and performance of all workers.
*Co-workers were very supportive and helpful.
*Hardest part of the job was to transition from your personality and traits you were hired for to their scripted sales agent mandated by coaches, management and corporate office. System used to grade your performance and goals being met were phone prompts by callers with no re-adjustments for callers making incorrect prompts resulting in inaccurate and unattainable goals.
*Enjoyed the one-on-one conversation with callers helping them plan their cruise, overall Norwegian Cruise Line operations on board and customer service provided to answer calls immediately.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Consultant 13 salaries reported	$39,480 per year
Specialist 2 salaries reported	$37,440 per year
Prep cook 42 salaries reported	$16.38 per hour
Server 14 salaries reported	$16.27 per hour
Guest service agent 1 salary reported	$4,500 per month

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