I live on a cruise ship – we get amazing food & I save thousands monthly, but there’s also a daily struggle I deal with
A MAN who lives on a cruise ship for 10 months of the year has revealed the biggest pros and cons of his job.
Jack Nolan is a house band musician on board, and regularly updates his social media pages with videos from the Virgin boat.
In a recent video, he explained that while he has to live in a “teeny tiny cabin”, there are several reasons he believes it’s one of the best jobs in the world.
His first reason is travel, as he said he’s been able to visit some incredible places around the world thanks to working as a cruise ship performer.
And the second biggest perk of his job is that it allows him to save money.
“I can easily save thousands each month because two of life’s biggest outgoings – rent and food – are totally free.
“Even the flights are paid for! And because these bases are covered, it allows for more creative time and energy into other things like, I don’t know, making TikTok videos!”
And the last major reason Jack loves his job is because he’s able to meet people from all over the world.
“I think there’s about 20 or 30 different nationalities on my ship,” he said.
“And these are people you live with for months. You become friends with them, you learn their ways, their languages, their cultures.”
Of course, there are also cons to working on a cruise ship too.
One of the biggest daily struggles Jack has to deal with is the WiFi.
“The WiFi on ships isn’t the best,” he sighed.
“In fact, it’s a daily struggle! To my knowledge I do work for the only cruise line that offers completely free WiFi to everyone on board and I don’t just mean WhatsApp.
“This is great, but don’t expect to be downloading videos anytime soon.”
Another big downside is missing home, as well as the living arrangements on board.
“Depending on the company and your position, you might get your own very, very small cabin and that’s if you’re lucky,” he said.
“Most crew sleep in bunks and share cabins that look like this and it’s not fun, trust me.
“Plus, we live where we work – we’re all in this big floating tub together and sometimes it can feel like there’s no getting away from work like you would in a regular land job.
“For some, this can be a hard adjustment.”
“Worked on cruise ships and met my husband there too,” one person commented on the video.
“Cons are really bad lol but nothing can compare to waking up in a different country every day.”
“I was lucky enough to have my own very large ocean view cabin,” another added.
“I was only 1.5 stripes but that was back in 2013. I know a lot has changed.”
Some people in the comments also slammed the low quality food the crew get given on the ship, but that wasn’t something Jack ever experienced.
In another video showing the crew mess – where they all go for their breakfast, lunch and dinner – Jack showed what they were given.
Of the dinner, he said: “The spread is usually much the same every day.
“There’s always rice for the international crew. There’s usually some kind of beef, chicken, meats, pastas, fish, fresh vegetables.”
Jack added that “occasionally” there will be a special occasion or celebration where they “really raise the bar for the spread they put out”.
He used Orthodox Easter as an example, and said they “quadrupled the amount of bread”, as well as doubling the variety in the salad bar.
“They were even dishing out ice cream which was amazing,” he gushed.
“We don’t usually get ice cream in the mess!
“It really lifts the spirits when there’s a bit of variety in the everyday food that we get here on the ship.
“Safe to say my plate was very full that day.”