Top 10 reasons I love to cruise... #7- the staff are amazing!

Top 10 reasons I love to cruise... #7-  the staff are amazing!

the captain of the Coral Princess on formal night

Working onboard a cruise ship is an amazing opportunity to see the world, and meet some amazing people, but it is HARD WORK.  These people work non-stop to make sure you get what you ask for.

From the security team that scan your card to let you board the ship, to the Captain of the ship  and everyone in between, the cruise ships usually run like a "well oiled machine"! 

Scott the Cruise director on Norwegian Getaway April 2016

The staff onboard are there to make sure you have the vacation of a lifetime.  Nearly all reasonable requests will be met, and if they aren’t able to get something you request, they’ll try as hard as they can to get the next best thing! 

The people who work tirelessly to make sure you have a great trip, do so with a smile on their face, and a great story to tell, if you’re interested. I have not come across too many staff members who don’t seem to genuinely love their jobs, and if they don’t, then they are amazing actors!  

the server at Moderno on the NCL Getaway always had a smile on her face. The food was delicious too!

The cruise lines build in an auto gratuity that most passengers gladly pay, however there are some that will remove this from their onboard account, and pay directly to the staff.  In my personal opinion, that may be taking money directly out of someone’s pocket since not all of the staff that benefit from the auto gratuity interact directly with the passengers (someone has to wash all the dishes we use, and do all the laundry so we all have clean sheets and towels every day…)  Some people even bring little trinkets, or gifts from their home towns for their room stewards as an added "Thank you!" for doing a great job. 

the hotel staff demonstrating how they make those adorable towel animals onboard the NCL Getaway!

  If you’re able to do a ships tour (most lines offer some sort of “behind the scenes” tour for a fee, and most of the time for a limited number of passengers), I would recommend going, as you get to see the ins and outs of how a cruise ship operates. Most will take you into the galley, onto the bridge and into some behind the scenes places that not many others get to visit. I’ve heard it is well worth the money and very memorable. 

Corey the Cruise Director on the Coral Princess Feb 2017

Make sure you fill out the comment cards and give your kudos to those crew members that went above and beyond to make your cruise amazing! The cruise lines take those seriously, and the crew members can get some pretty nice rewards, like some free internet or phone time from the cruise line,  a free shore day (when the ship is docked, they can go ashore instead of having to stay onboard and work) and some can even earn a free cruise for family members, which I would think would be the ultimate prize, since their contracts are typically 6-9 months or longer, and the communication isn't the easiest when you're out in the middle of the ocean. Being away from their family for that long is probably very difficult, so any opportunities they have to see them would be great. Just remember, those people work hard to make sure you enjoy every detail of your vacation, so make sure you thank them, and give them a smile back!