Confessions of a cruise ship worker

[qbman1]

Make what you will of this:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/trave ... mailonline

[Mervyn and Trish]

Crikey. Something in the Mail that might be true!

[barney]

Not quite sure what the guys point is to be honest.

Hold the front page - crew work long hours !!!

When I was a young man, I worked in Spain for three seasons in bars or discos
We also worked very long hours for little pay, but I did it through choice.
I had a good time and some very interesting experiences.
Not a single regret in doing it.

[Stephen]

My heart bleeds.

I expect he's still having physiotherapy for that arm that was twisted into him taking the job

[Manoverboard]

I used to work 16 hours a day ... it's what you do to provide for your young family etc, albeit usually only when you are at the beginning of that long hard struggle.

[Onelife]

Not much in his revelations that hasn't already been discussed on this furom.

I think what disdinguishes his experiance from that of other crew members is that he sounds like he was out for a good time whereas the majority of waiters etc are working to support their families back home....well that's what we are led to believe....isn't

[Barb44]

I read his book "Cruise Confidential: a Hit Below the Waterline" a few years ago and I was of the opinion he was having a great time. I notice this book is advertised in the article - perhaps the sales of the book are down and this is a way of advertising it.

Barbara x

[david63]

My take on it is that he went on the ship in order to write the book(s) and that it was, basically, a research project.

[towny44]

Whatever his reasons the book published in 2008 is now quite old and his employment by Carnival probably goes back even further, and 10 years in the cruising industry is a very long time.
So his experiences are possibly not relevant to todays wait staff, and as an american in a predominantly third world work force were probably not very relevant even then.
It is interesting to note that the edited highlights in this report make no mention of his final wage level after tips, only that his Carnival contract was only $50 a month, I doubt I will be buying his book just to find out.

[Mervyn and Trish]

It is interesting to note that the edited highlights in this report make no mention of his final wage level after tips, only that his Carnival contract was only $50 a month, I doubt I will be buying his book just to find out.

Plus free bed and board of course. I'm with you Towny. Plenty of books on my reading list before this one.

[qbman1]

It is interesting to note that the edited highlights in this report make no mention of his final wage level after tips, only that his Carnival contract was only $50 a month, I doubt I will be buying his book just to find out.

Plus free bed and board of course. I'm with you Towny. Plenty of books on my reading list before this one.

Anyone's by the sound of it.

....and no, it is most certainly not on my reading list either

[Mervyn and Trish]

Well I'd heard the crew cabins were no bigger than rabbit hutches. Now we know why!

[Dark Knight]

The Daily Wail travel correspondent? is a well known cruise hater, some of the articles written are very scathing about the "Newly wed-Nearly Dead" cruise demographic and have highlighted the negatives of cruising, this is no different to be fair and old news

Oddly though a lot of advertising space is given over to cruises and walk in baths and stair lifts in the weekend Mail, so the author maybe onto something
I only buy it for the crossword

[qbman1]

The telly magazine on Saturday is useful for us couch potatoes

[Mervyn and Trish]

I like it for its incisive and neutral political coverage .....

[Manoverboard]

I like it because a dozen or so half pages screwed up are perfect as a base for one's log fire .... also like the weekly Telly prog format.

[Stephen]

The telly magazine on Saturday is useful for us couch potatoes

I agree qb.

That's only paper we buy all week, purely for the TV supplement which has a good clear layout for my mincers. The glossy TV mags are a nightmare to read as far as I'm concerned