How Do You Get Temporary Shipboard Job?

Q. Could you tell me how I could get information about working on a ship as a dance instructor? I am 50 and left Southern Bell on an early retirement to teach dance at local condominium associations and clubs. I would like to travel and this would be a good opportunity to do so. My pension is only $580 a month, so I could not afford to travel otherwise. - T.M., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Q. My husband is a physician of retirement age, and would like to investigate the availability of ship’s physician positions. So far I have been unsuccessful in receiving a reply to a request for applications. What would be your advice? - A.S., Bradenton, Fla.

A. Availability of these sorts of temporary (often one-cruise) jobs depends on the individual cruise line’s policies. I talked with spokesmen for two of them to get examples of how these jobs are filled.

For Holland America, applicants who want to give piano lessons, organize dance groups or bridge tournaments, cast horoscopes or otherwise entertain the passengers in return for a free or low-cost cruise, should send a resume and proposal to the Entertainment Department, Holland America Line, 300 Elliott Ave. West, Seattle, WA 98119.

Concerning ship’s doctors, the line works through its medical department, which receives applications at the same Seattle address, said Lawrence Dessler, Holland America’s director of public relations. Applicants must be certified to practice medicine in the United States or Canada.

At Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, applications for lecturing, teaching or entertaining jobs should be sent to On-Board Entertainment Program, RCCL, 1050 Caribbean Way, Miami, FL 33132.

However, Royal Caribbean rarely uses these kinds of shipboard part-timers, said Rich Steck, the line’s manager of media relations. But he suggested another way:

“Work with a travel agent to get together a cruise group that wants what you have to offer - horoscopes, bridge, or whatever. If you get enough takers, you’ll receive a free cabin in exchange for acting as teacher or entertainer to the group,” he said. This is done a lot on Royal Caribbean ships, and it is easier than trying to get a shipboard assignment from the cruise line, he added.

Royal Caribbean gets its physicians through a medical service that screens applicants to find those who meet the line’s requirements. These include the ability to speak Norwegian. Applications may be made with the director of medical services, Marine Department, at Royal Caribbean. Physicians may stay aboard for a period varying from a few cruises to several months.

Some lines rely on outside employment agencies to provide all personnel. So the best bet for applicants is to phone the individual cruise lines to find out their particular policies.

Q. My wife and I are retired and on a limited income. We enjoy traveling, but some of the trips we would like to take are beyond our budget.

Do the cruise lines have any system through which they re-sell canceled reservations at a reduced rate? We are interested in a Panama Canal cruise, since my uncle worked on the canal.

We would be ready to go on short notice. I figure that if someone canceled in the two weeks prior to departure, the cruise line would resell that cabin at a reduced rate (having probably kept a large part of the cancellation deposit). Am I correct? Please let me know. - R.M., Chapel Hill, N.C.

A. You have the right conclusion but the wrong method.

Cruise lines do sell unpurchased or canceled cabins on short notice near sailing time, but they prefer to work through travel agents on the bookings. In some cases they work with specific agencies, and in others they offer specific types of late- or early-booking seasonal discounts.

Carnival Cruise Lines this summer, for example, anticipated a slow fall season and offered unusually good fall promotional fares. Although this was done soon after the line received some bad publicity resulting from a fire aboard its ship ‘Celebration,’ the promotion resulted in Carnival’s most-ever reservations in one day.

So people like you are actively looking for bargains, and the cruise lines are offering them. Some are a trade-off with both sides benefiting.

For example, folks who wait until the last minute might snag a cancellation at bargain rates, but don’t know until the last minute when they will sail or, in some cases, aboard what ship. This fills cabins but works only for people with flexible travel time.

I suggest that people like Robert M. find a travel agent who knows the cruise business and will let them know about bargains.

Here in South Florida, where we have big seaports crowded with cruise ships, most travel agents do inspections and/or cruises to get acquainted with ships, so their advice is based on first-hand knowledge.

But in inland cities or smaller places where agents’ knowledge comes mostly from brochures, it must be harder to match customers with the right ship at the right price.

The National Association of Cruise-Only Travel Agencies, 3191 Coral Way, Suite 630, Miami, Fla. 33145, (305) 446-7732, will send you a listing of member firms in a particular state. Enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope.

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