Why are the vast majority of cruise ship employees foreign?
The answer to that question depends on who you talk to. If you want the official story, talk to the Public Relations person for the cruise line. If you want the truth, talk to the employees – which I did. Here’s the reality.
For the sake of appearances, diversity of ethnic backgrounds adds to the exotic nature of a cruise experience. Also, multiple languages make communication with a variety of guests more comfortable. These things are true, but only part of the story.
The bottom-line is this: The employees are paid extremely low wages and are worked 80 plus hours a week (often much more). They are only allowed one “vacation” a year to visit their families in their home countries and when they do so, they must travel at their own expense. Many have accepted these positions with the cruise line for the purpose of sending money home to poverty stricken families and friends, so there is very little left over for the employee to live on, or to save for a vacation.
This is the reason the majority of cruise ship employees are foreign. Few, if any, North American or Western European citizens would work under these circumstances, so foreign workers are used. They provide the appearance of exotic variety and will work long hours for next to nothing.
Fortunately, they are also wonderful, committed people who have servant’s hearts and always go the extra mile to accommodate the desires and needs of the cruise line guests.
Because the vast majority of passenger ships are not registered in the US, they are not subject to US minimum wage and other labor law requirements. And indeed they do not. The vast majority of crew in housekeeping, food service, deck department, and other of the lowest-paying jobs are recruited from areas of the world in which the wages paid are considered very good, and those crew members who save their wages and tips are able to send money home to support their families. Of all of the nationalities of crew members I have met on ships, the largest number are from the Phillipines, where ships’ wages go very far. The most “international” crew I have ever seen is on Cunard’s ships, and they have large numbers of crew members from England. (Cunard is English.) Costa ships have more crew members from Italy than I have ever seen on other ships (Costa is Italian). I have not seen crew or officers from the US, although I understand that there is a ship in Hawaii that is US-registered and car
