Your First Cruise Ship Contract: Getting Home

You’re almost done your first cruise ship contract. You’re excited to go home but sad to leave your friends. Thrilled to get some rest but also sad to miss out on the next incredible places the ship is going. But, you can’t rest on those bittersweet memories for that long as there is still a lot to get done. Leaving the ship isn’t as simple as just walking off the gangway. There are i’s to dot and t’s to cross before heading home. Here’s a look at some of what you can expect when disembarking the ship as a crew member and find out how cruise ship crew get home.

A Few Days Before Disembarking

A few days before disembarking your supervisor or a member of the crew office team will give you paperwork outlining what you need to do over the next few days. This is usually well outlined. If you have questions about what is on the to-do list check with your supervisor or the crew office.

What Are Some Things that Crew Need to Do Before Disembarking?:

The most universal thing that all crew members will have to do is pack. Packing can be a bit of an adventure because often when you visit places you’ll buy souvenirs…and then need to fit it all in your suitcase to take home. I recommend having an expandable duffle bag with you incase you end up needing some extra luggage space.

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Aside from packing though, crew members have a whole host of responsibilities they may have to get done prior to going home. This is largely dependent upon position and rank onboard. Here are some things that you may have to do:

• Complete a handover. (More on this below).
• Complete any appraisals and get your appraisal!
  • If this is your first contract you likely won’t have to be writing an appraisal for any staff.
  • Make sure you get an appraisal! There are some lazier supervisors out there that might not think they are that important. Honestly, I’m still undecided by how much the cruise lines actually pay attention to them, but they can be your ticket to promotions and better contracts. So, get your appraisal!
  • Are you an awesome employee that had lots of great comments from passengers? Try to get a print out of those comments or get them on a memory stick. Those positive comments can come in handy when asking for a raise or a promotion.
• Return your uniform
  • Not all positions will return their uniform or every uniform piece. Some positions will take certain uniform pieces home to bring to their next ship.
• Make sure everything that needs to be done for the next voyage to be a success.
  • What this entails is very dependent on position. Many positions on the ship won’t require much prep to be done for the next voyage before you leave. However, if you are in a management position or in a position that needs to, for example, order things for the next voyage or anything that requires additional coordination with other departments onboard, make sure you get it done! Your replacement will thank you! As with anything, think of how you would want to join the ship and do your best to leave it that way for your replacement.
• Possibly pack and bring your luggage down for security inspection the night before.
  • This isn’t an always thing and I’ve heard it’s pretty dependent on cruise line. If your cruise line asks you to do this one advantage is you may not have to carry your luggage down the gangways (and crew gangways are often not the easiest to navigate with a suitcase!)
• Find out if there are any immigration requirements before leaving’
  • The crew office should let you know if there is; however, if you haven’t been told you have to go to immigration I would double check because it’s possible it was overlooked.
• Make sure your onboard bill is paid.
  • Different cruise lines handle onboard accounts differently. For many cruise lines you have an account you can add money to and then you can just use your crew card to buy things while onboard (kind of like passengers do). You’ll want to make sure this is settled up before you go.
• Make sure you get paid!
  • Final disbursement will often happen on your last day onboard. Whether you are heading home with some cash or just signing off that it all looks good, you’ll likely have to stop by the crew office to make sure everything is squared away.
  • The cruise line also will give you money for food during your travels home. How much you get is dependent on how long your travel is to get home.
• Add your frequent flyer number to your flight.
  • Yes – cruise ship crew get to keep the frequent flyer air miles when they fly. So take advantage because those points will eventually add up!
• *Deal with any COVID related protocols*
  • This could include PCR tests, completing necessary passenger locator forms for the country you are disembarking in and/or flying to. Uploading any necessary vaccination paperwork to the airlines or countries, etc.

What Is a Handover for Cruise Ship Crew?

A handover is the process of one person leaving the ship and transitioning their replacement into the role onboard as seamlessly as possible.

What the handover process is and looks like is very different between different positions onboard. And, not all positions onboard require you to do a handover.

Some positions will need to do thorough multi-week handovers. In this case the new crew member would join the ship prior to the current crew member leaving. This type handover typically happens if the joining crew member is new to the position or in certain departments, if they are new to that ship or that class of ship. These types of handovers are especially common amongst deck and technical officers if they are joining a ship that has slightly different equipment or a different layout than their previous ship.

For certain positions – such as those within the deck and technical departments – there are minimum lengths of time required for a handover depending on if the officer has sailed on that particular vessel before or with that specific equipment.

Nearly every position onboard that requires a handover will require well-written and thorough handover-notes to be done. Handover notes are a written document prepared by the current crew member with all the information needed about what is happening onboard the ship, projects that are ongoing, and anything else they might need to know to do the position effectively. Every detail is helpful. This is especially helpful because once the crew member leaves the ship (in this case it would be you!) they are going to be challenging to reach to ask questions. This is for two reasons – one is that they will be traveling, the other is that they are are on their vacation! Most crew members aren’t paid for work when they are off the ship, so do they really want to do work while they’re on vacation? I’ve never met a crew member that won’t answer the occasional question while on vacation, but the more that can be answered in those handover notes, the better.

What’s the Last Day Onboard Like?

This is likely a bit different between different cruise lines and is even different between different positions on the same cruise line. Here is a brief overview of what you can expect:

• Very early in the morning, Immigration.
  • If you are leaving the ship from a US port (and certain other countries around the world) you will have to see an immigration officer before disembarking. This is either right when the ship gets to port in the morning or likely even before the ship docks. Probably about 6:00am. Fun!
• Complete the morning requirements of your job
  • For many jobs they can organize that your last morning onboard is mostly filled with last minute packing and saying goodbye. However, quite a few jobs require some work to be done that last morning.
• Eat some food!
  • Remember, this is a travel day for you! Get some food in your belly. Not a bad time to hydrate a bit, too.
  • Bonus: on the cruise line I worked for I was allowed to eat in the passenger buffet area in non-uniform clothes on the morning I disembarked (because I had either packed them or handed them in). It was the most liberating feeling to eat in the passenger area in my own clothes. 10/10 recommend (if you’re allowed to).
• Make sure you are all packed up/ meet the person moving into your cabin.
  • Meeting the person moving into your cabin isn’t a requirement. However, it is something I wasn’t expecting. The crew members joining the ship are there before the other crew have disembarked. Those crew members joining the ship often will bring their luggage to their new cabin…and sometimes that’s before you’ve moved out.
• Deal with the Money Stuff with Crew Office:
  • Whether it’s getting money or simply signing off on things, most likely you’ll be stopping in to settle it up.
• Handover time!
  • If you have to complete a handover for your role onboard this is when you meet with your replacement. This handover time could involve visiting the area that you work in, or reviewing the bigger points that are included in your handover notes. If this is your first contract and you have to do handover notes there will be an outline of some sort to guide you so you include everything you need to (also reference the ones you got when you joined the ship!)

Time to Disembark!

There may be a specified time for you to leave or it may be an announcement over the loud speaker. Regardless, this is the time to say goodbye to this contract.

The end of a contract is a weird time. Each contract is filled with different people and that particular combination of people will never all work together and be onboard at the same time. Those people that made your contract great you might not see again – ever. Or maybe you will. In the next month I’m planning on seeing probably four or five different people that I used to work with onboard. Much like in life when something ends you’ll see some people and won’t see others. The difference is that with ship life it happens in a big way a couple times a year. I’d like to say you get used to it – and in some ways you do – but if you’ve had any fun at all on the contract it can be hard.

How Do Cruise Ship Crew Get Home?

Most of the time – they fly! Cruise lines (in particular those that are a part of the Maritime Labour Convention – see page 35) are required to repatriate their crew at the end of their contract.

Most cruise ship crew get home through flights arranged and paid for by the company. As they are paid for by the company they are sometimes… interesting. One time I had four flights between Vermont and Seattle? Why? I have no idea. Which airport the cruise line will fly you to depends a bit on where you live. In some countries they only will fly you to and from certain main airports. For other countries they will fly you from whatever you consider your home airport assuming it offers flights with major carriers.

If you happen to live close to where you are disembarking the ship then it is possible for a crew ship crew member to get home by simply being picked up at the ship.

How Do You Know What Flight You’ll Be On?

Most cruise lines now have employee online portals that you can log-in to and see information about your upcoming contracts and corresponding flights. You can log onto this portal to check what your flights are and they are *usually* posted at least a few weeks or a month before you fly home. However, usually does not mean always and if you check it with only a few days to go and you don’t have flights check with the crew office.

If the cruise line you are working for does not have an employee portal system most likely crew office will let you know your flights or it will be posted somewhere on the main crew deck (or along the main crew hallway often nicknamed the I-95).

What If Your Flight Isn’t Until Late At Night?

Sometimes your flights won’t be for many hours after you disembark the ship. What are you to do?

Different cruise lines have different rules on this; however, for some cruise lines if your flight is many hours after you leave the ship they have to get you a “day hotel”. (Likely either 10 or 12 hours later). This allows you to lay down relax and not spend the entire day in the airport. If you disembark the ship at 9:00am and your flight isn’t until 10:00pm don’t simply wait for someone onboard to notice that and book the room for you. Talk with your supervisor or the crew office and find out what the company policy is because you may be entitled to a day hotel. (From someone who has been there, trust me, a day hotel is much nicer than spending 12 hours in the airport – and I have done both).

Now, there is another option with this. If your flight isn’t until late at night you may (somehow) have the energy to want to go explore. Unless you’re required to just go to the airport (not common but with ever changing COVID protocols it’s possible and/or a weird visa situation related to the country you are leaving the ship in), you likely would be allowed to go explore the city. Keep in mind that you’ll have all of your luggage and most of the time you can’t check your luggage in to your flight until just a few hours before your flight time. Some airports or cities have luggage storage but not all. Even if you don’t want to use the day hotel if you get a room for the day it could be an option for you to store your luggage while you go explore.

How Do I Get To the Airport?

The cruise line will arrange a transfer for you from the cruise port to the airport or hotel. This will likely be in a shuttle bus of some sort. If you are the only one or if there are only a couple of crew disembarking (this may happen if it’s mid-cruise and not at a traditional homeport), then it may be in a taxi or hired car. Any transfers between the ship and the airport or hotel the cruise line should be paying for. However, if you go rogue and get a taxi/uber/etc on your own instead of using the company provided transportation, you’ll most likely have to pay for that out of pocket. Once you arrive at your home airport transportation to your house is your responsibility to arrange.

What if My Flight is Canceled or Something Goes Wrong?:

Cruise lines all have an “emergency travel” number that is available 24 hours a day. If you contact them, they will ask for your employee ID number and then a quick summary of what’s happening and will help you through your situation. They will handle rebooking your flights, get you a hotel, or whatever else might be needed.

And…That’s It? That’s the End?

After that, you fly away. You’ll keep the memories of the people you’ve met and places you’ve been. Maybe you’ll decide you never want to work on a ship again or maybe you’ll have caught the bug and are already excited about your next contract. Most likely you’ll find that life at home hasn’t changed much in those months that you were gone. Things kept going. You’ll stay in touch with some ship friends and lose touch with others.