planner

specialist

quality assurance analyst

manager

director

Princess Cruises

CONS
Cabin Fever -  Itineraries vary. You may be on a ship that stops regularly at ports of call but you may also be at sea for several days in a row. Cabin fever can kick in if you find you miss your corner coffee shop or the park down the street, or that it’s been a while since you've hang out with other people. Which brings us to...

Relations and Personal Projects - If you have a family, you are married or involved in a serious relationship with somebody, being away for long periods of time might prove difficult. You are more likely to miss your kids’ life-events, skip anniversaries, and be absent for birthdays. You may feel lonely, even while you are surrounded by hundreds of extraordinary people —these people may not be the ones you crave to see. There will be times when you wish you could be a taxi ride or phone call away from your loved ones but instead, you are at sea in a different time zone. 

Keeping up with other aspects of your life can also be challenging. If you have a personal project on the go, for instance, a business, a band, an album, a large puzzle... You will need to put it on hold for the duration of your contract. 

The People - People might be a blessing, and we will talk about that a few lines down this article. But people may also be a hurdle. You will likely be sharing a cabin and there is no guarantee your roommate will become your best friend. In addition, your living space will also be your workspace, so depending on how you look at it, you will live at work or work at home. Either way, you will be bumping into your colleagues and possibly your audience members even when you are not working. In other words, while you may get downtime, your respectful and courteous manners may never get time off. Finally, with regards to people and personality, if you value your alone time, keep in mind that it might be difficult to find it while on a ship. 

PROS
The People - If you love meeting people and making friends from all over the world, cruise ship gigs will be like a dream come true. You will be working and hanging out with colleagues from different countries and backgrounds. You might even find the love of your life! No, really! We cannot name names, but we can tell you there are a few members of the Proship team who are married to their cruise ship sweethearts.

Playing full time - How shall we put this… you will be playing music and getting paid for it. Full time. You’ll get to play challenging music to big audiences on a regular basis. This not only means ample chances to practice but also getting to do what you love for a living. What’s more, while you are having fun on stage, you will be effortlessly transported to a whole new destination.

Traveling - Seems obvious, but it’s worth mentioning nonetheless! Cruise gigs are adventure gigs. You will see places you didn’t even know existed. You will get to experience countries you may never have been able to travel to otherwise. Not to mention, you will always be only a few steps away from an incredible ocean view.

The money - You are working and traveling in style. Of course, your sleeping and eating quarters are very different from the onboard guests’, but you are still living the life. You never have to worry about laundry, cleaning, or groceries while you are working on a ship. You don’t need to pay rent or electricity bills. All the money you’ll make (and don’t spend on drinks or at a destination) you’ll get to keep.

Cruise employees are indeed amongst the hardest-working individuals in the world. We embody a culture that embraces all of the most desirable qualities in the workplace: Commitment, Diligence, Personal Accountability, Respect, Consistency, Innovation. 

There is no "typical day" on a cruise ship, which is why the work is so enjoyable and challenging. As Cruise Director, I was responsible for every aspect of the passenger-facing experience from an Entertainment and Public Relations standpoint. Though I was also a key Senior Officer within the Hotel Operations Department, sitting on the Executive Committee, the Revenue Task Force, the HAT (HESS Action Team) Committee, worked in conjunction with Public Health, worldwide Environmental initiatives, and much more.

My direct responsibilities included overseeing the Entertainment & Event Department as Head of Department of up to 85 employees. I produced the daily on board newsletter, hosted the daily on board Morning TV show, and during my time with Princess Cruises I created an on board cultural program that set the gold-standard for immersion events at sea. That's just the tip of the iceberg; each day brought new challenges and placed me squarely in the center of a creative and dynamic environment that demanded working and living in the moment to deliver the very best on board experience while also creating a safe and nurturing work environment for those who reported to me.

The most difficult part of the job was being away from home, from friends and family. But at sea, you quickly make every fellow crew member, and indeed some of the guests, your extended family. The most enjoyable part of the job was having creative flexibility, having a stake in the game with Princess' CRUISE program focused on professional development and passenger satisfaction. The travel, the multi-cultural work environment, the personalities, the ability to grow and learn; all of this and so much more made my time at sea a truly magical and empowering experience.

My background is based in Public Relations and Entertainment, though with my myriad responsibilities within Hotel Operations I was tasked with a variety of challenges that spanned the entire operation. You will not find a more well-rounded, committed and capable candidate for your ventures than a former shipboard crew member.

If you are looking for cruise privileges, this is the job to work! When I say "privileges" I mean just the room. You pay airfare, taxes and fees and whatever you spend on the ship. Great sales pitch to get you hyped up about working for this company! The agents you work alongside are great, everyone is supportive and encouraging. (I only mean the agents) and of course that is because you are all taking in the same stress. Everyone is expected to sale so many cruises by call volume and I mean that seems realistic if only you weren't counted against for non sales calls! So you stress----fully work your soul off to receive a sales bonus that couldn't pay a utility bill! And your employment is contingent upon you meeting your sales goals set by management. Oh let me add you don't have the ability to be yourself and sell the cruise, you have to meet Quality Assurance standards also. Meaning, if you dont follow their word for word way of handling a call, you will be tallied twice a month and if you fail to meet a high percentage by sounding like a robot... Well, you will lose your job! So just make sure you are prepared to sound like a robot to you, and to them when you sound robotic be prepared to be yourself but also be prepared to be marked down for that! And do not be fooled by management they too are robots to their agents but if you work in the office you will see them hanging around, sitting on each others desks shooting the sh** but unavailable to you. And don't expect to ask for help face to face. Wait for your answer via email or Skype. So ask the person on the line to hold on while you look up info but dont make them hold too long or you will lose your job for that also! Lastly on a positive note you do accumulate vacation, bonus vacation and sick time. BUTTTT If you call in sick just be prepared! You will not get a full paid sick day, only 3.08 hours even if you have 1,000 hours of sick time! Oh wait, if you get your sick time pre-approved you will get all hours paid! I mean I know when I'm going to catch the flu, dont you? And if you want a vacation day off, no problem just make sure you company vacation bucket is full because they only give so many hours a day for someone to call off so even if you again have 1,000 hours of vacation you can only use them when there is time available. Don't worry! There are only 500 agents and 40 hours of vacation time to use a day! Good luck prospects!

The salary is very low and the management expects each employee to be perfect and error-free.  Nobody on this planet is perfect, and everyone makes mistakes.  All the errors can be corrected, most fairly easily, but management makes a big stink about errors. They like to delay paying the supplier by using the clerk's error as an excuse, even though the error could have quickly and easily been corrected to not delay payment.   A spreadsheet is kept with each clerk's name, number of daily invoice production, and number of errors.  A ratio is determined by dividing the number of errors by the production number.  The company requires no higher than .75%.  This is not possible because an error could be caught from the previous day or from weeks ago.  It may even be a tiny error made by the buyer who created the PO.  The AP clerks are blamed for every error.  Management shows favoritism toward the coordinators, and treats the clerks like children. There is a divide in the department, creating tensions and horrible working conditions.  Even the coordinators harass and bully the clerks.  The Accounting Director told the AP team that people are lined up out the door waiting to take our jobs.  He also said "If your supervisor or manager tells you the sky is green, you better say what a beautiful green sky it is."  There is a high turnover and morale is very low.  The atmosphere is very military-like and you must ask permission before you can do anything. You cannot even leave a few minutes early for breaks without first obtaining permission.  If you are late leaving for breaks, you better tell your supervisor; otherwise you will be in trouble if you are not back precisely on time. But when you tell your supervisor, she will give you a hard time for not leaving on time.  Supervisors micromanage everything, giving the clerks no room for decision-making or career growth.  If you are a whistle-blower and complain to HR, you will lose your job. There is obvious retaliation and bullying going on.  This has been one of the worse jobs of my career.  I would not recommend working here.  The cruise perks were the only good benefit, but considering the stressful working conditions, it is not worth it. Nobody should have to work under these conditions.  I am so ashamed of Princess Cruises.  I thought this would be a fun place to work, but it was far from it.

After working at Princess Cruises for 10 years I noticed that they have a trend to find reasons to fire people who have reach the $15 an hour wage. They also purposefully closed the office in Seattle and switched to telecommuting just so they did not have to increase the starting wages. Also existing employees did not have their existing wages increased when the company increased it's starting wages 5 years ago from $10 to $12, so new hires often started at higher wages than existing employees were making. The wages are not competitive with their competition either. There is no chance for growth within the company if you work in the Seattle office, you can only make lateral moves and won't earn any better pay.

The hardest part of the job is the sheer un-ending number of clients. The company is currently understaffed by nearly 100 people if the fact we have over 100 clients on hold on a daily basis during our slow season is anything to go by and there are currently no plans to increase the number of employees before we hit our busiest time of the year. 

Many direct managers are helpful and willing to assist you as much as they can but department managers are less willing to assist employees with difficulties, including technical issues. But often times they are so restricted on what they can do, that they can't actually help you. You also have to be aware that it is surprisingly hard to get time off between the months of January to August due to how busy the company is. Your best chance is to put in Vacation requests a year in advance, but be prepared because they won't always clear you for the whole vacation so you might have to called out "sick" in the middle of your vacation.

About the only good things about the company are that you have the option to telecommute (though it is mandatory for all employees working out of the Seattle office), get medical, dental, 401k, etc, and can get discounted cruises. Though getting approved for a discounted cruise can be difficult if not downright impossible depending on the time of year and location you are wanting to go.

Princess Cruises hires people on temporary to permanent status. By doing this, companies avoid paying benefits and holiday pay (Although there are many companies that will still pay holiday pay). Potential employees are drawn in with an offer of a position of temporary employment for approx. 3-6 months but that it will most likely convert into a permanent position with great potential for growth.

An employer may estimate a length of time (usually 6 months) but they are under no obligation to honor this time frame as they are an "At Will Employer" like all companies in the CA. Princess, as all companies, know this and can use it to their advantage.

There is a Code of Ethics but obligation to honor it can be questionable. If you are a temporary employee, you don't have any legal recourse - companies are aware of this - it is always wise to seek legal council before taking any action that could affect your employment.

My experience was that Princess’s processes were very fragmented – the right hand didn’t know what the left hand was doing. Accountability within processes could also be improved.

Co-workers were great!

My experience was that there was a strong loyalty to management and a definite hierarchy system in place at Princess. If you are lower in the ranks, you are pretty much disposable - you should keep this in mind when planning for your future (Stock pile an emergency fund just in case).

You should also note that a Human Resource Dept. is there (especially in the case of Princess) to protect the interest of the company (whether moral or not) and IS NOT YOUR ADVOCATE.

With that said, if you have another opportunity elsewhere, I strongly encourage you to TAKE IT!!! Really, don’t sell yourself short….. There are a lot of companies that offer benefits and holiday pay immediately and don’t make you wait – companies that truly value their employees and honor their Code of Ethics, Creating a positive work environment - These are the types of companies one wants as an employer.

Great experience working here. Possibility to meet new exciting people while working in diverse place. Traveling all the time is amazing, hours can be very long.I worked at boutiques and to be honest if you want a job on the ship that pays fine and you want a lot of free time go for shops. 
Working in shops offers great posibility to earn comission, and to be honest basic sallary is amazing comparing to other companies like starboard and cunard. Basic sallary for shoppie first contract is $1200, and every level gets it higher for $200, and you also get comission on top of that. So pay can be good.
Working hours a day on average are 10hours but could be more sometimes. You go on your job in 8:45am, have meeting with managers and open the store at 9am. Than you have one break for breakfast for 20 mins around 11am. Than back to work, than next break is often from 2-4pm or 4-6pm and than back to work. And also sometimes there is short break for 30mins around 8pm if it is not busy. And working hours are until midnight. During sea days shops are open until 9pm if it is more than 3 sea days in a row. If it is only one sea day or 2 than shops work until midnight. Inventory is done in ports when you recieve pallets of merchandise. Usually it is on turnaround day, when new guests and crew board the ship. 
Managament on the ship could be good or bad it depends. It happens very often that people get promoted if they are good with managers. Hr in this company is usually very useless, they dont treat people very well neither they protect them. And you will often see Hr managers in a bar at all times, socialising with managers. So if you want to be protected from bad manager dont think it will happen. 
Did i like working on the ship? Yes it was very rewarding, great experience. If you are thinking think no longer. There will be days you will hate it but also love it. You might get addicted and stay for years. I did it couple of years and that is it.

The place was really fun. Great for a place to go work immediately after school, and maybe the culture has changed a little since I was there more than 10 years ago, but it was without a doubt, one of the hardest and most tiring jobs I have had. 

You are paid next to nothing, with the benefit of food and room & board while you travel with the passengers on board. If you aren't lucky enough to get into the higher quality jobs, you will not have one of the better rooms. Basically crew cabins are stacked shoe boxes with a vent and a small 10x10 space. Don't work here if you get claustrophobia.

I had the awesome chance to be a videographer on board, which meant, I had a college education, and hundreds of hours of experience with marketing, production and visual design before coming to the ship. My "managers" who were all photographers, did not understand this and were more prone to treat us like the other photographers because they lacked basic understanding of video design or the time involved in the process. I was quickly promoted to senior videographer in my first tour and then smacked down when they replaced my manager with someone else from eastbumfkc SE Asia. The guy was a 5'0 foot tall terror who had it in for videographers and wanted them to put in 70 hours+ a week like the rest of the photo staff. Yes, videography was cushy by comparison but we had the skills and paid for the ability to do the things we did. Some photographers were hired that had never even picked up a camera before they got on board. So, the disparity in qualifications was amply known. Moreover, we had a manager who was obsessed with finding fault in things like: Our uniform, our facial hair and the failings of technology...ie, I could not shoot an event with  my subordinate on a deck where the 15 year old video cameras were malfunctioning due to the humidity at the equator. My fault for that one apparently.

I worked as a photographer for Princess Cruises for one year and I had a really nice experience. It was a rewarding and enjoyable job that allowed me to capture memorable moments for the guests and explore different places around the world.

The pay was good, especially considering the free accommodation, food, and travel. The colleagues were friendly and supportive, and we had a lot of help from the older crew members and the lab technicians on the setups. We also had some practical and theoretical photography classes that helped us improve our skills and knowledge.

The atmosphere was fun and lively, with a variety of entertainment options and events on board. The guests were mostly polite and cooperative, and some of them became regular customers who appreciated our work. The destinations were diverse and beautiful, and we had some opportunities to go ashore and take pictures of the scenery and the culture.

However, the job also had some challenges and drawbacks. The hours were long and sometimes exhausting, especially during peak seasons and busy days. The targets were demanding and sometimes unrealistic, and we had to deal with a lot of pressure and competition. The management was inconsistent and sometimes unfair, and we had to follow different rules and expectations depending on the manager. Some managers gave us a day off if we hit the main target, and some gave us extra hours if we did not work by their rules. The Bahamas season was easier to work because of the USA guests, who liked to have photos more than the Europeans.

Overall, I would recommend this job to anyone who loves photography and travel, and who is willing to work hard and adapt to different situations. It was a great experience that taught me a lot and gave me many memories

The cruise line is going to be facing very very challenging times in the years ahead. The days when they used to make silly mad money are over (the profit margins traditionally have been outrageous in the past). With the prolonged economic downturn now bleeding into European countries, everyone simply has less discretionary money to spend. Simultaneously, the price of oil (a major cruise line expense) has risen. Also there is a real argument to be made that the cruise industry is suffering from a serious overcapacity of cabins - mega ships being built, already built, soon to be built by every cruise line out there means cut throat competition and razor thin profit margins (if profits exist at all). If the industry isn't currently worried, they should be, because the outlook over the next 5 years will be one tough uphill struggle to eke out a profit. Like the airline industry, there will be a shakedown among all the companies with only the tough ones surviving, and several either consolidating by being bought out, or simply going under. Everyone is scrambling to re-invent their business models, since their existing ones are outdated and need to be reinvented. The luxury cruise lines have already figured out a new business model -- all inclusive fares. The premium cruise lines are still testing different approaches, but have yet to find one that works. Should be interesting to observe, and luckily this is one of the few instances where the customer benefits from this uncertainty. Look for major discounted fares to continue for some time to come.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Planner 5 salaries reported	$19.00 per hour
Specialist 3 salaries reported	$70,000 per year
Quality assurance analyst 3 salaries reported	$60,333 per year
Manager 3 salaries reported	$3,000 per month
Director 3 salaries reported	$146,667 per year

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