Can Cruise Ship Crew Get Mail?

Are you wondering whether or not cruise ship crew can get mail onboard?

Need your monthly Amazon fix? Have a bit of an online spending habit? Lucky for you, if you’re working on a cruise ship this doesn’t have to stop. Cruise ship crew can get mail and packages while they are onboard a ship. How does it work and what crew mail services are available?

Crew mail is primarily composed of packages – sometimes these are care packages from the likes of yours truly (or your equivalent of yours truly), but it’s also not uncommon – scratch that – it is very common for crew to get Amazon packages (or other online orders) shipped to port, or possibly get a random letter from their grandma (why yes, I am referring to my grandma who is the Queen of Letter Writing). The least common type of mail? – Junk mail!

Where Do You Send Cruise Ship Crew Mail?

So, how does it work? Does the crew mail just magically show up? Do you just send a letter to m/s Cruise Ship, Fort Lauderdale, Florida? No, not exactly.

For each home port all around the world there is an address that crew can get packages sent to. Now – mind you, that is not every port, but every home port (aka turn around port, embarkation port). There is a special address – usually for a company that will collect all the mail that’s coming in – often for a whole cruise line, sometimes they have contract with multiple cruise lines – and then distributes it out to the ships on home port days.

On my last contract the ship was sailing in Alaska, but the homeport was Vancouver. This meant that even though it would have been cheaper for me to have things shipped to Alaska (US shipping) I still needed it to be sent to Vancouver. It took a bit longer but I got it each time.

How Do I Know What Address to Use?

This address isn’t listed online anywhere, but rather is found with your Human Resources or Crew Office onboard. It might also just be posted on A-Deck or your I-95, so if you’re onboard look at the notice boards and it is probably there.

If you’re having trouble finding it, head on over to talk to the HR department or Crew Office. The names of these departments might differ a bit between cruise lines, but they handle crew life and welfare – from getting paid, helping with flights, to dealing with roommate issues – and in this case, getting mail. Either of these positions or people in the respective offices would have the address where things can get sent to the ship.

Sometimes there is a different address for packages versus for letters; however, as packages have moved to be the norm and much more common than letters, it seems one address is collecting everything more often than not. (It’s amazing how much that has changed in the 10+ years I’ve been in the cruise industry).

The crew mail will get sent to the home port. In the US popular homeports are places like Seattle, San Diego, Boston, and Fort Lauderdale/Miami. Each cruise company works with a local agency to basically collect all the mail going to the various ships and then works with the port agent to distribute it to the ships when they are in port.

What is a Port Agent?

A Port Agent is a person that does not work on the ship but instead is based on land in whichever port they work out of. They handle various components of the land based operation of the ship.

That could include meeting crew at the airport, ensuring the crew get picked up by their transport to get to the ship from the hotel, handling mail, escorting crew to immigration officials when they’re on land, and a huge variety of other various tasks that happen between the life onboard the ship and land.

There will be a fairly specific way to address the envelope as well. The crew office will show you what needs to be included, but most often it looks a bit like this:

Crew Member Name, Position (or department) , Crew ID #
C/O M/S Cruise Ship Name, Cruise Ship Company
XYZ Mail Service Company
Address (either PO Box or whatever the actual mailing address is)
City, State Zip (a “Zip” code is the US version of a Post Code)
Country (if mailing from outside the country always write the country)

Can Crew Get Packages Onboard the Ship?

In the times of restricted shore leave (thank goodness we are mostly -hopefully entirely -past this) and Amazon, getting packages delivered to the ship can be the difference between sewing up the holes in your socks or just getting some new ones.

Yes, crew can get packages delivered to the ship including from places like Amazon. In fact, it’s become pretty common place for crew to order packages to the ship. Remember that you’ve only got so much space in your cabin and in your suitcase to bring home, so don’t order too much!

There are some ports that charge for this though. While recently home porting in Boston there was a $3 per package charge.

What About Regular Mail… Can Cruise Ship Crew Get Their Mail Forwarded to the Ship?

This would really only apply to a select group of crew. I haven’t heard much about international mail forwarding but let’s talk about it domestically. Say you are from the United States and you get a contract on a ship that is going to be out of the United States… could you theoretically get your mail forwarded to the ship?

What a question! Let’s break the various factors in this first. The first is that overall there aren’t that many US crew members – the second is that most ships only spend a few months in one home port and then they move. For instance they may spend the summer season in Alaska and the winter season in the Caribbean or the Mexican Riviera.

Both of these factors make mail forwarding a bit impractical – though not impossible.

If you found yourself with a US homeport for the duration of your contract – you could theoretically get your mail forwarded to the ship. Now, as we discuss a bit more below – it’s not always the most reliable. Crew mail is most often sent to a third party that will receive the mail and distribute it to the various cruise ships using that home port (even in the same home port it might not be the same between different cruise lines). So, be aware that your mail might have lots of steps between when it gets sent, forwarded it at the post office, received at the place that receives and distributes the mail, and then gets to the ship.

So, it’s technically possible…but probably not recommended.

Things to Consider When Getting Mail Sent to the Ship

Don’t Try to Sneak On Prohibited Items

You should never get anything sent to the ship that you are prohibited from having onboard. All items that are sent to the ship will be security checked and if you are knowingly trying to import goods onboard the ship that are prohibited you will likely have disciplinary action taken against you including getting fired.

Each cruise line has different prohibited items. If you are unsure if something is okay to get sent to the ship, check with the security team onboard and they will let you know.

Plan Ahead

It’s fairly commonly known that cruise itineraries change from time to time. Contracts can also change – and sometimes with very little notice. If you are planning on ordering something (especially expensive) to have sent to the ship make sure you have it sent to arrive at the port at least a few weeks before the last time you visit that port or before you’re scheduled to disembark the ship.

Say for instance you are scheduled to disembark the ship on the 20th of the month – don’t plan on getting the item delivered on the 20th or even the week before (assuming one week turnarounds). Ideally you would plan to have it sent to be at the shipping address by say the 4th of that month (to join the ship on the 6th).

But, then if for whatever reason it doesn’t arrive by the 6th, it will get onboard the ship when it’s back on the 13th. It sounds confusing, but in general if you are getting a package do your best to plan ahead.

Crew Don’t Always Get the Mail the First Day it Gets Onboard

Just because the package or mail has made it onboard the ship doesn’t mean you instantly get it. The mail has to be inspected by security when necessary and sorted before the crew office will work to let the crew members know. This is often done by calling or emailing the supervisor or department head that the crew member is in.

All of this means that sometimes even once the mail is onboard it can still be a few days before the crew member get its. This is especially important to remember if sending baked goods. 🙂

Sometimes It Gets Lost… Like Really Lost

It’s incredibly important to label any mail getting sent to the ship correctly.

I once joined a ship and already had mail waiting for me. It had been sent on my previous contract but had gotten lost. I was just lucky my next contract was on the same ship. I’ve noticed packages sent to friends that had already disembarked the ship because it got lost or the package had initially gone to the wrong ship or it ended up at the corporate office.

It doesn’t happen that often, but just like regular mail it can get mis-delivered. A lot of times a mis-delivery has to do with an incomplete address label. For instance just writing “Cruise Company” but not the ship that it goes with. The challenge is if it gets delivered to the wrong ship it can’t get corrected until that ship gets back to port (which is sometimes weeks later).

It might be nice to think that if you send it simply to “John Smith, XYZ Cruise Company” that it will find its way magically to your friend John Smith. If, for instance you are sending it to a ship in Fort Lauderdale where XYZ Cruise Company has 6 ships going out of and their head office is there… goodness finding John Smith is going to be a challenge.

Cruise ships often have 1,000 or more crew onboard, add in a home office for it to get lost in and you’ll be lucky if your friend ever gets that letter. With the crew mail it’s always best to label things as thoroughly as possible.

Have other questions about cruise ship life? Take a look at our page, Cruise Ship Crew Life, where there are posts discussing everything from shore leave to what it’s like to date onboard.

Do Cruise Ship Crew Enjoy Getting Mail?

In my experience, yes! I have yet to meet someone that gets shipped homemade cookies and complains about it. If it’s every week maybe it’s a bit much, but I think everyone appreciates being thought of and cared about.

Sometimes people will get something shipped to them that is a bit bigger than is practical. Remember, nearly all crew have to fly home from their contracts so anything they have onboard that they want to keep needs to fit into their suitcase.

Keeping in Touch is Important – Crew Mail is Just One Part of That

Some cruise lines have offered free WhatsApp services (for texting) to their crew without having to be on the paid online service. There are also usually a couple of computers that crew can use to go online if they don’t have their own devices (although this is used less and less as smartphones, tablets, and the like become more affordable). In addition there are phone services like Google Fi that have great global plans that help people keep in touch while in port.

Keeping in touch with friends and family when on a cruise ship contract is so important for happiness. The crew getting mail can be a great part of that, both for keeping in touch but also for crew getting packages with things they need from ashore – especially right now when shore leave is sometimes restricted.