One of my favorite travel bloggers, Wandering Earl, recently came out with an eBook about landing a job on a cruise ship. In the following post, I’ll be doing a review of the eBook.

Quick Cruise Background

When I was younger, I was fortunate enough to go on three cruises with my family. If I had to describe cruises in one word, it would be “awesome”. Being waited on hand and foot, eating six times a day, and visiting exotic locations was an amazing experience. Working in that environment, while traveling the world always seemed like a dream. Needless to say, when I saw that Earl was coming out with an eBook on how to land a cruise ship job, I immediately began figuring out if Sharon and I could incorporate working on a cruise ship into our future plans. And, I of course purchased Earl’s eBook.

A General Thought About eBooks

Rather than spending money on an eBook, I could have easily used Google to find most of the information I needed. However, I like the idea of buying an ebook for two main reasons:

1. Paying money for an eBook mentally commits me to the idea a lot more than simply doing research and looking into the idea. It’s far more likely that I follow through on the idea because I don’t want to feel like I “wasted” the money.
2. Having all of the information brought together in one place from an expert is worth a few bucks.

How to Work on A Cruise Ship eBook Review

• 173-pages
• Current price (November 2010) - $37
• Link to download

Part 1 – Introduction to Ship Life

The first section discusses the pros and the cons of “ship life”. In my opinion, the pros of low expenses while traveling the world far outweigh cons such as an intense work schedule with small living quarters. However, you can be the judge. The introduction also includes a great guide to the various cruise lines – what type of passengers they typically serve, where their boats go, etc. They also give a general introduction to the different types of jobs on a cruise ship. In the back they include a much more detailed description of each job on the ship, as well as a general idea of each positions salary.

Part 2 – Pre-application Preparation

In this section they go through the basic requirements of working on a cruise line (clean police record, good health, flexible schedule, etc.). Then they help you build your resume and cover letter. The resume and cover letter are pretty standard compared with applying to other jobs with a couple small tweaks. The most helpful part of this section is the incorporation of a real resume and cover letter example used to apply for a cruise ship job.

Part 3 – It’s Time To Apply

This is the bread and butter section. Applying for jobs is as easy as sending out your resume and cover letter. What’s time consuming, though, is researching all of the different cruise lines that exist and how exactly they want to receive your resume and cover letter. This section provides those application details for nearly every cruise line out there. Additionally, some types of cruise line jobs are outsourced to other companies. All of the contact information on those companies are provided as well.

Part  4 – The Interview

In this section they walk you through what to expect during the interview process. Additionally they give some basic tips on what to say and what not to say during the interview. Most of it is common sense: be positive, be confident, show that you’ve done the research about the position. If it’s been a while since your last interview, these serve as a nice reminder.

Part 5 – The Job Offer

If all goes well with the first four steps you’ll hopefully receive a job offer. The last part of the eBook wraps up by walking you through the required documents in order to get employed. Unfortunately it’s not as simple as signing a piece of paper. You have to get a background check, medical check and Maritime Visa (if you’re not a US citizen).

Bonus Section- Welcome Aboard

This section has recommendations on what to pack and what to expect once on board the ship.

Overall Summary

If working on a cruise ship is something that interests you, I fully recommend the eBook.  It prepares you in almost every possible manner. It stops just short of writing the resume and cover letter for you and submitting it to the cruise lines. It’s odd to say, but it’s hard to think of something that they should have included.

To read more information about the eBook or purchase check out: http://www.howtoworkonacruise.com/.

Our Cruise Job Plans

My first priority for work has always been UnAnchor. The promise I made to myself was that if things did not continue to progress, then I would consider putting UnAnchor aside and going for a cruise ship job. Fortunately, things are progressing nicely with UnAnchor and I continue to be optimistic about its future. For now, I’ll be filing the eBook away and my dream cruise ship job will have to wait.

Full Disclosure – I was not paid in any way to write this review. However, all links to Earl’s Cruise Ship Job eBook are affiliate links. By using these links you financially support Sharon and my travel habit. You’re awesome!

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