There are approximately 2,200 passengers on board our cruise ship and 1,070 staff and crew. That makes for a pretty pampered crew to guest ratio. Of course the paying guests only really interact with a very small proportion of the staff according to our individual priorities, be they bartenders, food servers, entertainers and spa/fitness center attendants. Most of the staff, as you might imagine, work behind the scenes and many never get up to the top 7 or 8 decks (out of 13) that cater to guests. If you've cruised before you're likely aware that most cruise ships are not American-registered and you may, if you've given it any thought, know that cruise ship workers are not governed by U.S. labor laws and standards. They are considered International workers governed by United Nations and other international maritime conventions. What this means is that these folks work pretty darn hard. From the staff we've talked to they work upward of 70 hour work weeks, 7 days straight, with no days off. They are also contract employees working anywhere from 4 to 9 month assignments. At one of the ship informational presentations one passenger (not me!) was brazen enough to inquire about wage rates and working conditions. The expected politically correct but innocuous response was that the wages were competitive with other cruise lines and high enough to obviously entice workers to leave family and friends behind in their home countries (staff on the Norwegian Gem seem to predominantly hail from Asia and India with very few from the good 'ole U.S. of A) for months, and even years, at a time.
I'm sure if I were from an impoverished town or city in the third world the opportunity to work on a cruise ship serving very wealthy (by comparison) guests is an opportunity too good to pass up. Still, similar to illegal immigrants working in the U..S., the reality is that most Americans wouldn't even consider doing the work these folks are doing day in and day out.
None of this is meant as a condemnation of Norewegian or the cruise industry. If it weren't for folks like me willing to sit back and enjoy the luxury that cruising offers the cruise employees would have very few comparable opportunities in their home countries. Still, the inequities do give one (at least me) pause as well as to motivate one to be as nice to, and respectful of, the hard working employees without who's efforts and sacrifice would see me stuck back in Denver shoveling snow. Now, where's that Employee Appreciation card?
Big thank you to the staff!
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