Adventures in Hospitality

My new website just up and running is at www.stevetalks.ca

People often ask me if it was difficult to work on a cruise ship and my immediate response is ” compared to what.” Because working on a cruise ship cannot really be compared to anything else.

First of all , your accommodations are all taken care of so you save a heap of money on rent and the money you save can be invested in real estate on land.A lot of crew members buy a house and rent it out while on the ship for 6 months at a time.

The food is taken care of while on board saving on that expense. The money you save can be used to buy souvenirs , sightsee when in port , or spoil yourself with a great lunch in a beautiful setting.

You need not worry about transportation as the ship will take you everywhere you need to go with taxis waiting at each port to take you to the sights. With 3-4 passengers the cost of using a taxi guide for the whole day is minimal. Also as well you need not own a car for the couple of months you are home as during your vacation you will most likely be traveling around visiting friends with whom you worked with or met on the ship.

On a cruise ship you will do things that you would not normally do on land working in a restaurant. Such as participating in the crew show and singing your rendition of “My Way” with a band behind you in front of a few hundred people or bungee jumping 50 metres in Phuket Thailand. Visiting the Lost City of Petra in Jordan , seeing the pyramids in Egypt , or having an overnight in St. Petersburg Russia and going out on the town are some of the other things one gets to do.

As well , getting as close to perfection one can possible get doing the same thing over and over again. That is providing 5* service to passengers who are just there to be pampered and treated like royalty for up to five weeks at a time. Demanding yes , but rewarding as well with income comparable to anything on land and better.

So in my opinion , if you want to do something you enjoy over and over again and live differently than most people ever will , try the cruise ship. I did and it still remains the longest time I have worked anywhere.

There are many ways someone can go out to meet a partner. Nowadays people use the internet for chat rooms , spend money joining dating services , and still some just hope that going to discotheques and bars they may bump into another person at exactly the right time looking for the same thing. Is it any wonder then after repeated failures and the word no repeated over and over again people eventually give up on the idea of finding that special someone and end up just hanging out with anyone to satisfy their individual needs.

Now I am not saying everyone is like that. Some people, the 5 per cent of us just happen to have a stream of choices available to them at all times , and while the rest of us look on with bewilderment at how they can meet so many one after the other , we just want to hang on to the one we have because we may never meet anyone else afterwards.

First of all let me say the problem is not with the person. It is the lack of opportunities that are presented which is the obstacle. In office settings where the same people hang out there is the fear of gossip and what about if you break up and you still have to see one another. If you work alone the chances are few and far between as you work all day then come home plop on the couch and think about dinner. Or you may even be working past dinner.

Then when you are off there is the usual chores to do and before you know it you are back to work again. Especially now if you are single and the high cost of everything you probably have to put in more than your share of hours to get by as you have no one to share the expenses with. Everyone is busy , busy too.

All of the circumstances I mentioned as roadblocks to meeting someone occurred to me before I started working as a bartender back in the disco era.

I worked in factories , offices , warehouses , painted , drove truck. Just about every type of job someone with a high school education could do. The money I was making was not enough to wine and dine someone on a regular basis. In fact money was pretty tight. The two week cheque would come in and be gone. I am wondering if anyone out there can relate?

So when I started in the Hospitality Industry as a bartender at 21 years of age it was a real shock for me to discover two things that changed my whole outlook on life. One was I could make some really good cash and the other while doing so I could meet some really nice people. The people I worked with and got to know in a team environment. This was good because there was no pressure. You knew you could take your time and become friends first. After all , they were going to be there again the next night.

As well , the people at the other end whom you were serving were also potential partners. Although I made it a point not to fraternize with the regulars it was great practise to interact socially with them and improve my self esteem. The Hospitality Industry is great to develop your confidence because by interacting with others you learn so much about yourself too.

Now if you choose to work in another country you would not believe how popular you will become. In your own country there is nothing really different about you that sets you apart from others , but in another country just all of a sudden your different accent will attract huge numbers of interested people who want to know more about who you are and where you came from.

The easiest way to do that is work in the Hospitality Profession. I have explained how to do that in some of my other articles already.

I finally married at 37 years of age and am now going on 12 years this month and have two boys ages 6 and 4. It was definitely a great decision taking the Bartending course back then. If I didn’t I doubt highly I would be as happy as I am now. How about you ? Make a change if you want to. Even if you can only do it part time for now. Take a course to learn how to bartend and get out Saturday nights and make some money and meet new people. That is all it takes.

 

The days when someone used to view a waiter or bartender as someone who is uneducated or just passing through till something better takes place are long gone.In today’s fast paced world the Hospitality industry is flourishing providing a good income and opportunity for those who seek flexibility in both their work environment and how they want to live.

In a recent job market survey by the Canadian Food and Restaurant Association it states the Foodservice Industry employs over a million people or 6.3% of the total employment eclipsing other industries such as agriculture , forestry , pulp and paper , banking, and oil and gas extraction combined.

The young people entering the Hospitality profession are finally being rewarded financially as noted in the same survey with the first 8 months of 2007 citing an increase of 8.2% in average weekly earnings in Ontario as an example.So when at one time young people entered the profession to earn enough money to get by now they are looking at it as a career option.

With other former industries such as manufacturing that used to provide stability on the downswing because of changing demands and competition ,young people are turning to the hospitality industry because of it’s guaranteed growth.

Just a note that the number of times reported that an average Canadian household ate out for a meal or snack in 2006 was a staggering 536 times. This statistic will only increase in the future as the time constraints on families multiply.

The Foodservice Industry has always been looked at with some criticism in the past because of the long and unsocial hours one works.Not anymore , in fact many people love the industry because they work with other like minded people developing teamwork and social skills , meet new people everyday in most cases when they serve the guests , and then at the end of the day go home to continue with their other interests.
All in all far from a boring life.

Some other professions involve working with computers and corresponding via email and cell phones prohibiting the human need to socially interact face to face. Although these are worthy occupations and some indeed very well paying the link to cell phones and email often means the job even after one leaves the workplace never really ends at all as their availability is with them everywhere they go.How may cell phones do you hear ring now when you are enjoying a dinner in a restaurant?

Few people in the Foodservice industry a decade ago every achieved any notoriety at all but now that has completely changed.With the start of Food Networks and the internet young people now can look to someone who is a chef , restaurant owner , or innkeeper whom they can aspire to right in their living room making the profession inviting and glamorous at the same time.

With the high self esteem of Foodservice personnel everywhere due in part to the constant instant gratification one receives from another meal cooked to perfection , or the gratuity a waiter receives each shift , who wouldn’t dream of having their moment of glory in a show of their own or a cameo appearance in one.

One thing is for certain , the opportunities in the Foodservice Industry are limitless now and always will be for as long as there are people on this Earth there will always be someone willing to serve another.

When I mention that I worked on a cruise ship people usually reply with a desire to do the same one day. Knowing full well that when people say that they really are just entertaining their wish to live an adventurous life with no idea of what is in store for them.

Having worked up to 5 years on two different kind of cruise ships , one of being an enormous size carrying 2500 passengers and the other being a smaller luxury ship with a capacity of 114 passengers , my recommendation is to go for the smaller ships.

The advantages of working on a smaller ship are numerous beginning with the accommodations. When I worked on the bigger ship there were about 1000 crew aboard which meant the rooms were smaller and more crew lived per room up to six and eight. Also the shower facilities were down the corridor and shared rather than having a separate one within the room itself. As well cabin inspections were less regulated and cleanliness less enforced than on the smaller ship just due to the enormity of the task at hand. So working on a smaller ship with a capacity of no more than 300 and relatively new is what I would suggest going for when choosing a ship to work on.

The food , ah yes , the food which can appear so abundant and delicious on television when looking from a passenger point of view can be one thing but what the staff eats can be something totally different. The big ship I worked on was such an example. There were a couple of galley cafeterias in which I could eat in and the crew cooks were all from Asia. Not too appear against food from that part of the world and I like rice but there was not a lot of variety to suit North American taste. On the other hand there is more catering to our taste here and in Europe on a smaller ship as they hire more European and North American crew to serve their guests therefore the staff food lends itself to more variety.

The difference between a smaller ship and a large ship is definitely the workload. This can mean a workload that is excessive by North American standards or a workload that is tolerable and balanced by the amount of other things a crew member can do during his or her contract. Let’s be honest on any cruise ship there are no days off. You work a pre-determined contract from 4-6 months up to 9 in some cases. What you do not want is to say you worked on a cruise ship and that was it. No chance of seeing the places the ship stopped at , no time for anything else but work.

So look for a cruise ship that is smaller , where there are great ports of call such as the Greek Islands , Mediterranean ports of call , Scandinavia , in other words ports of call are the ship’s main selling point. Not only will you get time off due to the fact all the passengers went on shore excursions during the day but you will be able to do the same and see the world. On the small ship I was on the passengers actually all went to Luxor overnight allowing the crew the whole ship to themselves to do what they want. Crew also took turns going to Luxor as well. Stay away from the big Caribbean cruise ships because the ship is the selling feature with all the entertainment on board. You will always be working to serve the masses.

As well if you want to make a good income which should be an important consideration look toward the smaller luxury cruise ship as they tend to cater to the most expensive taste. You will be serving people somewhat older , educated and more affluent with more dollars to spend. Unless all one does is want to party then in that case just head to the big ships of the Caribbean.

A smaller ship is great too for getting to know everyone else who works on it so it creates a close environment where friends are made. I had the opportunity to visit co - workers all over Europe while on leave from the ship. A big ship is like a big city so you may see someone once every few days if you are lucky and before you know it they are gone before you got a chance to know them.

In summation , on any ship you will have fire drills , busy embarkation days , and sometimes annoying demanding guests but know what you want beforehand before hastily choosing a ship to work on because the difference could be between finishing your contract and enjoying your time ,or just wishing you had not thought of ever working on a cruise ship.