Life on a Cruise Ship

Everywhere I go, everyone says how cool my job is and how wonderful it must be to work on a cruise ship. And for the most part, it really is a cool job. I am making friends with people from all over the world - in fact, in the past week, two of my friends that are leaving the ship to go home on vacation have friended me on Facebook - so now I have friends in Russia and Turkey! A cruise ship is a really interesting environment - so many cultures (over 40 different countries are represented in the crew), with the common language of English required for employment, but the reality is varying levels of competency and it makes for some challenging moments (especially when you have to remind folks to please speak English during work calls). We all live, work, relax, and eat in a common environment, and in many ways it is a somewhat classless society - but yet it is very class-oriented. Even though there is only one crew bar and one crew mess (cafeteria), some of us have "deck privileges" and are able to eat in the Horizon Court Buffet rather than the crew mess. A few of us are "officer status" and can also eat in the officer's mess (where the food is MUCH better). Like many places, I've observed those in the more direct service positions often treated as if they are invisible - its taken about a month for people to even be willing to look at me in the M-1 (the main crew corridor on one of the lower decks). I think this is more that people don't often "see" each other rather than not wanting to know the new kid. Once I started to be known at the chick that makes eye contact and smiles, I've noticed that there are some folks that almost seem like they look out for me because I will go out of my way to say hello to them. I have to admit, the food on the ship is an interesting proposition - and surprisingly, very different on the Island Princess than on the Crown Princess. On the Crown Princess, I didn't mind eating most times in the Staff or Crew Mess (Staff Mess being a separate dining room with waiters and its own buffet). On the Island, the Staff Mess is just a separate room, but not its own buffet like on the Crown. On the Island Princess, over 85% of the crew is from the Phillipeans, and the food selection in the Crew Mess tends to reflect that. One of the more challenging aspects can be the attitude of "everyone is single on the ship". I have seen many a married person hook up, break up, and hook up again to try to relieve the lonliness that can be this environment in some ways, and to just "scratch the itch." I've had a few men hit on me, and some it has taken some convincing for them to understand that I am taken, I am committed, and I am in no way interested in "taking a break" from my relationship during my contract. Some of them can't seem to understand it at all, but finally I seem to have a bubble around me that says "don't even think about it." Fortunately, I have been making a lot of friends, and for me, that is enough.