As holidays go, cruises are probably the most marmite-adjacent. They’re some people’s idea of holiday heaven, and others’ holiday hell.
Either way, they don’t come cheap. Bed and board can cost thousands per room, and that’s before you consider pocket money for any ports you stop at.
Spare a thought, then, for the passengers who aren’t there for their holibobs: the crew. Some cruise ships are staffed by more than 1,000 people, typically at a ratio of one per every three or four holidaymakers.
You’d think these guys would be covered cost-wise, seeing as they’re both at work and at sea. It’s not like they’re getting the tube every morning or grudgingly spending £7 on a sandwich at lunchtime, after all.
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As it turns out, working on a cruise ship can be a costly business. One cruise worker has taken to YouTube to share his daily and monthly expenses whilst working on Royal Caribbean’s Odyssey of the Seas.
As part of the job, Bryan James lived on the ship for six months whilst working as a guitarist, entertaining up to 4,198 guests over the course of each voyage.
So, how many doubloons does this seafarer have to part with?
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Well, let’s start with the booty he gets for free. For one, his spacious room comes with the contract, and his food is covered too if he only dines in the crew’s mess.
Of course, he could by some goodies from the public decks, but for Bryan he’s there “to work and save'.
Unfortunately, he does have to part with a fair bit of cash in order to see out the six months with his sanity intact.
Wi-Fi is a great sticking point there: “It's not cheap at $12 for just three hours coverage," he explained. Beggars can’t be choosers when you’re out on the big blue, but $4 an hour is nevertheless a hefty bill.
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"And then even after paying it's a pretty poor download speed at less than 2MB per second. It can then worsen depending on how many people are using the service." Yikes!
Bryan continued: "Here's how much money I spend every day as a crew member working on a cruise ship.
"First though, it's really important to know what I don't spend my money on and most importantly that's my room. It's completely free, comes with the job. And certain jobs get certain types of rooms.
"I'm a solo guitarist on this ship which means I get a room which is really huge compared to most cruise ship cabins."
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The video then cuts to a shot of a cabin he lived in on another cruise ship whilst working as part of a band, and it was considerably smaller.
"And then there's food. Zero dollars spent on food. I eat down at the crew mess every single day.
"I could in theory go to other restaurants onboard and spend money but ultimately I'm here to work and save as much as possible."
So, beyond the expensive and awful Wi-Fi, what else is he spending his cash on?
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"Soda,” he says. “I know it's really bad for me but it's just a part of my life and I buy two cans of soda a day that comes out to $1.72," Bryan said. His mum and dentist must have been shaking their fists at this admission.
"I spent my money on internet, costing me $12 a day and that gets me three hours at around one megabit per second or so.
"If the network is super busy then it can be a little bit lower, so there we have it.
"I spend $411 per month for two sodas and three hours of internet each day."
This eye-watering slice of his monthly pay packet has drawn consternation in the comments.
"What I am hearing is that, if you are working on a cruise ship, you should download a tonne of videos to a hard drive for entertainment," said one aghast YouTube user.
A second said: "$12 a day for internet? Crazy."
“The Wi-Fi charges cover the price of the 'free food',” noted another.
"Charging for 1MB of internet is BS,” said another. It really puts internet speeds and general on-shore living costs into perspective.
[FOODbible has contacted Royal Caribbean for comment.]
Topics: YouTube
Rachael Davis