Love to cruise?  Looking for an interesting way to earn some extra cash while seeing the world? Then you may be interested in being paid to cruise. Cruising is the fastest-growing travel sector worldwide.  There can be over 200 different cruise ship vacancies on any one ship with many opportunities for professionals, whether you are looking to build a career or have a bit of fun with retirement or semi-retirement. Working on a cruise ship is great for seniors travel, particularly if you can’t afford to pay to cruise as often as you would like.  This is a great way to do it

Cruise ships cater to all sorts of different people – mature age customers, singles and families,  so companies are always seeking a wide range of skills and backgrounds

In the next 5 years, more than 50 new cruise ships will be launched in this booming industry.  This means lots of cruise ship vacancies will be available with a wide variety of skills required

The types of jobs are wide and varied:  childcare workers, entertainment specialists, retail staff, photographers, production staff, counsellors, gym instructors, tour guides, dance instructors, teachers and plenty more.  Great cruise jobs for seniors include:

Gentlemen Host – Gentlemen hosts are single men who’s job is to entertain and dance with mature single cruise customers.  Yes, really! You generally need to be 45+.  In exchange for dancing and chatting, you’re given free room and board on the ship.  You literally get paid to have fun

On Board Lecturer –  Most cruise lines offer a series of lectures held throughout the day and it’s a very popular form of entertainment.  If you’re suitably qualified in your field and appointed as an on board lecturer, you’ll generally receive free room and board on the ship

It’s difficult to list all the topics for special interest lectures and seminars aboard cruise ships, but the spectrum is wide open – opera, theatre, classical music, photography, marine life, wildlife, cooking, wine, art, movies, bridge, astronomy, lighthouses, animals, arts & crafts, earth science, medical, nutrition, world affairs, computers, fashion, geology, astronomy, self – improvement, just to name a few

Arts and crafts teachers –  Cruise ships are always looking for fresh topics.  So if you are a knitter extaordinaire or specialise in scrapbooking, there could be a place for you on the ship.  No hobby is too obscure, if you can teach it, let them know

If you’re interested on pursuing cruise ship work, take a look at How To Get a Jon on Board Cruise Ships .  It’s written by Derek Baron, an ex- cruise ship tour manager.  He goes through the pros and cons of working on a ship, the types of jobs available and what to expect on board.  He also gives great tips on how to write your application and the types of things that go down well in the interview.  There is also a good description of all the cruise companies and the type of people they like to employ

Another book worth reading is Permanent Passenger by Micha Berman. It’s really about his life working the cruise ships after graduating from college, but there’s lots of useful information for the older generation of what life is really like working on a cruise ship. Buy it here

When you’re sure you’d like to give it a try, sign up to cruiseshipjob.com to see what’s available

Ship ahoy!