"I work on a cruise ship and probably the top perk of this job is getting to save a lot of the money that you make. We have very limited expenses when we're here on board so if you wanted to spend zero dollars you could," shared Krista Jocelyn, a performer who works on Royal Caribbean ships.
Jocelyn, however, admits that she's nort saving every penny she earns.
"We're gonna see how much I spend on average," she shared.
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"First we need to talk about what I do and don't pay for here on board. So the firstthing that I don't pay for on board is my cabin and no it does not get taken out of mypaycheck. Along with our cabin, we don't pay for things like water or electricity so webasically have no bills while we're on board," she added. "Really the only bills that you might have are the ones that you have back home."
Cruise crew also get some other included perks.
"Another free thing that we have here on board is laundry. The laundry is free to use besides having to provide your own detergent," Jocelyn said.
She purchased detegent in bulk from Costco before joining the ship.
"We probably uselike two to three pods per load like once a week.That's like actually I have no idea maybe like 50ish cents a pod? I don't know. But to be honest half of the machines are broken so the laundry room is covered in water. One of the machines is missing.It's actively overflowing yeah," she added.
Jocelyn is currently working on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas.
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Entertainers have added privledges
Regular crew members cannot eat in passenger areas. As an entertainer, Jocelyn essentially has the run of the ship.
"My biggest spending category I think is probably going to be food. It's most definitely going to be food. Yes the food on the ship is free in the crew mess and I do eat there most meals but the rotation does get a little bit boring so about once a week Robert and I will go to the specialty restaurants here on board," she said.
Crew members who are allowed to eat in specialty restaurants generally pay the same prices as passengers albeit with a discount.
"We have a few options from Italian at Giovanni's, steak at Chops, and sushi at Izumi which are all a little bit pricier but then we have Playmakers, Sports Bar, and Johnny Rockets which are a little bit cheaper so we thankfully do get a 20% discount and sometimes even more if they're running a special which I feel like they do pretty frequently," she shared. "I'd say I tend to spend about $50 a week at the specialty restaurants give or take. That's an average."
Restaurants are not the only place where a crew member can spend money on food.
"When it comes to like snacks and drinks on board we do have a crew bar and a slop chest. You can get soda, alcohol, coffee, smoothies, snacks, and toiletries. All of the things that you might need to hold you over until you can get to like a bigger grocery store i needed," she added.
Crew members also get special deals on alcohol.
"I usually just get a bottle of rum from the crew bar for about ten dollars and maybe a Coke and I'll have a drink every once in a while. If you do the math a drink if I make the drink myself it comes out to like a dollar fifty but the drinks in the crew bar are very cheap. You can get a margarita for four dollars where on land it would be at least ten dollars depending where you are," she said.
Royal Caribbean does also throw parties for the crew which can can with free drinks.
"We also have a lot of crew parties here on board where HR will provide free drinks and food. Not always but oftentimes they'll at least have beer and soda. These partiesusually have a really fun theme," she added. "It just makes for a great night out when you don't have to Uber, pay a cover fee, buy overpriced drinks, and then find a way home. It's all in one place and for cheap."
WiFi is a major onboard expense
"One big expense I save on while on board is a gym membership. As a cast member, we are actually required to do five gym hours per week to keep up our stamina and physique for the shows," Jocelyn shared. When I'm back home I'll usually spend anywhere between ten and fifty dollars a month for a gym membership so it is really nice to have such a beautiful gym to use for free.
There is, however, one major expense that all crew members face.
"Okay let's talk about what I'm pretty sure is most crew members' biggest expense on board. WiFi. WiFi on the ship costs $3.99 per hour. You can also purchase bigger packages and the more minutes that you buy the less it becomes," she said.
Crew Interner is priced higher than passenger internet.
"The crew also does get two free hours per week but for many people that's just notenough and it can really add up. Except for Robert. Somehow he only uses those twofree hours a week. I don't know how he does it but he does. For me, though I use much more but I actually don't pay for it. I have a side job at the wi-fi desk so for one hour of work I will get 300 free minutes of WiFi," she added.
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Jocelyn generally helps at the WiFi desk 1-2 hours per week giving her an extra 300-600 minutes of internet acceess.
Currently, Jocelyn's ship is sailing two different seven-day itineraries in the Caribbean that alternate each week. it visits St. Thomas, San Juan, the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Grand Cayman.
"Most days of the week are spent grabbing lunch off of the ship or visiting like anearby beach which you wouldn't think would cost a lot but the Caribbean isn't asinexpensive as one might think," she said.
When the ship is in its home port, the crew, if they can get the time off, take care of more mundane errands.
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"Day one of this itinerary is always our turnaround day in Fort Lauderdale and it'sbasically an errand day for us. We usually take the four-dollar crew shuttle to Publix toget things like almond milk for our coffees and just whatever else we might need thatweek. We'll also usually go to a coffee shop and get some food and wi-fi to do things that he ship WiFi might not be strong enough for especially to download things for the upcoming week like new music, podcasts, and Netflix," she closed.
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