Will Crew Want to Go Back to Cruise Ships?: My Super Unscientific Thoughts on Getting Crew Back Onboard

This conversation came up the other day – will cruise lines have a hard time finding crew that want to go back to work at sea? Will crew actually want to go back to work on cruise ships? On land right now in a good chunk of the US there are so many businesses hiring and seemingly not enough workers to fill all of the jobs. Places are practically begging (though not sure if they’ve tried begging with higher wages yet) workers to even show up to an interview. It seems everywhere is understaffed, restaurants are closing for days of the week because there aren’t enough workers. But, how does that translate to cruise ships and cruise ship crew in this weird part-of-the-world-is-reopening and part-is-still-totally-screwed-by-the pandemic time?

Cruise Ships Are Having a Staggered Restart

While the exact number of ships sailing as cruising resumes is different for each cruise line, across the board cruise lines are having staggered restarts. One or two ships to start, then a few weeks or a month later a few more, and so on and so forth. Cruise lines aren’t having to go from their minimum-manning crew to a full complement of crew on every ship the exact same day. It’s staggered and that is a good thing for those people in the office looking to get crew members onboard.

It’s a Global Talent Pool

While the United States seems to be struggling to find workers, that’s not the case around the world. Cruise ships aren’t just pulling from the employment pool of the US, they pull from the global employment pool. This often makes getting certain jobs onboard quite competitive but in this case means they are rehiring crew from around the world and including those countries that have high unemployment rates and everyone is looking for a job.

Working on a Ship is Also a Chance at a COVID Vaccine Sooner

Crew on ships outside of US ports have been getting their vaccines for nearly two months now. Those crew that were set to go home – normally something they can’t wait for – were trying to stay onboard longer to make sure they got their first and second doses because they knew that when they went home the chance to get a vaccine was going to be slim to none for the considerable future. Vaccine disparity globally is a very real thing.

Working on a ship can be an economic opportunity for crew from around the world. A lot of them will work onboard and send the money home to support their entire family and possibly parents as well. And, with some of those countries still shut down working on a ship might be the best chance at consistent wages for quite a long time. Those countries tend to also be the ones with a slow vaccine roll-out. So, not only are the economic reasons that crew work on ships still there, in this case it also happens to be that working on a ship might be their best and fastest way to get a COVID vaccine, too.

Getting Vaccinated Crew Onboard Matters

While working on a ship might be the best and fastest way for crew from developing countries to get their turn at a COVID vaccine, cruise lines are also having to deal with getting crew to man their ships that are planning to sail soon with crew that are vaccinated. This ends up reducing the pool of crew they can bring on, but again, as the restart is staggered with just a few ships restarting at a time, building up a pool of vaccinated crew should absolutely be possible and manageable.

Will All Crew Want to Come Back?

No, not all crew will want to come back. This fact is also part of why a staggered restart is overall a good thing for the industry. Some crew aren’t coming back because of changes to their positions onboard, perks onboard, the ability to travel, and a whole host of reasons of how life has changed for crew in a COVID world. A lot of crew have also taken this pause to change careers because they couldn’t simply wait for a job for well over a year. While there are plenty of crew that want to go back to work on cruise ships, there will be some that don’t. Here are just a few reasons:

The Travel Isn’t There Right Now:

Some crew really worked at sea to be able to travel, with less adventurous itineraries and more restrictions on shore leave the crew that joined ships to see the world (the initial reason I myself joined ships all those years ago), will find themselves wanting more. On itineraries where shore leave is restricted only to company shore excursions – that’s not too bad if you’re a passenger. While it’s restrictive, one week onboard the ship is alright and you can choose shell out some money for the excursions if you really want. But, as crew finding the time to go on a shore excursion (let alone the money if you can’t go as an escort) can be nearly impossible.

Plus, while there are itineraries starting up in the Mediterranean, Alaska, and the Caribbean, those that planned on exploring far-off places like a safari in Africa or snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef are going to feel the restrictions of a global society that isn’t ready to reopen from COVID and that is still very much dealing with a pandemic.

Reduced “Fun”/ Quality of Life Onboard:

The Fun:

Traveling is a huge perk of working on a ship – but so is the fun part. There will be some crew that are wary of returning right off if they think too many of the parts of ship life that makes it “fun” are gone – and if not fully gone, what they look like. Aside from shore leave this also includes things like the crew bar, crew team-building events like crew parties and bingo, being able to eat all together without having to be constantly socially distanced. Being able to stay in the same cabin as a spouse or significant other also comes into play. For crew that are a bit on the fence depending on how the restart goes and what they hear from different crew about the “fun” sides of ship life could decide whether or not it is worth going back to work on a cruise ship.

As some ships are able to go mask-less this definitely leads to hope that some of the restrictions that would limit the fun side of crew life will also go away – especially on fully vaccinated voyages.

The Other Parts:

So, say you can’t go ashore but you still want to communicate with your family. A lot of crew use their time ashore not just to explore but to get free and fast internet to be able to communicate with home. If with the return to service crew have to pay for internet and can’t get off the ship to find other internet, are they going to want to? That expense can really add up – in an extreme example I knew a crew member that spent upwards of $40 per week to be able to call home as they awaited news of their baby being born.

Can they still get mail? If crew can’t go ashore regularly they have to rely on what they can buy onboard or get shipped to them. Now, realistically this is likely not a huge issue going forward. As long as ships are calling regularly at a home port the crew should be able to get mail. However, getting mail onboard is not only a way for family to communicate but also a way to get those things that you need that you can’t easily get onboard.

Career Changes:

This one’s cause is multi-pronged. A lot of crew have taken this time to shift careers into a land-based life. For some crew they have done this because they needed employment and couldn’t weather the year of financial uncertainty. Others have left because it felt like the right time to move on. It can be hard to find the right time to leave ship life. Plenty of people have said it was their “last contract” only to be offered a contract on an itinerary somewhere incredible and they come back one more time. For some this was their cue from the universe that the last contract was the last contract and it’s time to move on to the next adventure in life.

But, for every crew that has moved onto a new career is another one waiting to get that email asking them to come back to sea. Cue the “How Far I’ll Go” song from Moana that goes, “it calls me…”

If Some Crew Moved On, Will There Be Enough Experienced Crew?

Any given voyage on a cruise ship will see a myriad of first time crew members. That’s not new. Cruise ship life can have a lot of turnover. Working on a cruise ship is definitely a specific type of lifestyle. Some love it, some hate it. This means that there is always some amount of turnover from those that get onboard and realize the lifestyle isn’t for them – maybe they’ve been onboard for awhile but they want to focus more on life at home. Turnover has been and always will be a part of cruise ship life.

The crew bringing out the first ships to set sail will inevitably be mostly experienced crew. It’s entirely possible that they will have the most experienced crew bring out the first ships, get them going successfully, and then send them to another ship to roll out. The ones best equipped to successfully bring ships out in this craziness are ones that have done it before. That could also mean that they’ll be looking for crew with experience coming off a new ship build – the inaugural season of a ship is always ripe with extra and often unforeseen challenges – as will bringing these ships back into service.

As can be seen with American Airlines recent cancellation of about a million flights (heavily exaggerated there), a staggered restart for cruises – another industry that saw a lot of lay-offs, furloughs, and early retirements – is not a bad thing.

Despite some crew opting to move on there are still plenty of talented and experienced crew that will return to sea to bring the ships back into service and then to ensure that the crew they hand the ship over to are ready to go.

My Educated Opinion: If Ships Were A Career For You, You’ll Probably Come Back

Some people see ships as a chance to travel and explore, they want the fun, they want to wake up in a new port every day, they want the party, the chance to meet new people. For them it is technically a “job” but it’s far more about the fun than it is the job.

For a lot of people cruise ships are a career though. My guess is ships will be filled with a mix of crew that are in it for the career and then over the next year mixed in with brand new crew. I think a lot of crew that were relatively new before the pandemic will have moved on or sought out other employment and those that had already established their ship life are more likely to stick with it.

It’s Going To Be An Exciting Autumn!

While there have been some headaches in the news over the past few weeks – from the UK extending some of it’s restrictions to reports of crew with COVID (and subsequent delayed and cancelled sailings) – there are all sorts of positive cruise news, too. With Carnival, Princess, and Royal Caribbean in particular announcing big plans for extensive restarts throughout the end of the year.

Have no fear, there will be crew that are eager to get back onboard, welcome guests, and get back to sea.

Wondering more about crew life? Take a look at our page on Cruise Ship Crew Life for information on everything from dating to visas and getting mail.