Okay, I'm going to work in Epcot in September, and when I'm finished I want to go and work on the Cruise Lines, but I was wondering how long they employ you for on the ships? The IP is a year, does it work the same on the Cruise lines? Is there a set amount of time they emply you for. If you wanted to stay longer than the year could you? I know there are visa issues, but say your visa was up and you went home to renew it, would you have to go through all the job interview process again to get on the cruise line (criminal background, medical etc) or would it be possible for them to renew your contract once you got the visa?
The visa is very different with the cruise line. It is a C1/D visa that you get which is for people who work on cruise ships or with airlines. I'm not sure about other countries but when I went to get mine here in the UK I got a 10 year one so if I had decided to work for another cruise line my visa would have been ok. Contract lengths can vary between 4 and 8 months but I think the majority are six months. When I first arrived to work on the ship, the merchandise contracts were 4 months on with 1 month off but then they changed them to 6 months on with 2 months off. I extended my first contract so ended up doing 2 6 month contracts. Believe me 6 months of working 70+ hour weeks is long enough!!!! As I said I got a 10 year visa but if you did need to get your visa renewed in between contracts they advise you when you finish your contract of anything that you need to get done while you are on vacation. i.e. renew your visa, medical or passport. You wouldn't need to go through the whole interview process again unless you completely quit but if you are just in between contract on vacation you only have to worry about getting things renewed if they are out of date. The only thing I would say needs renewed a lot is the medical as you need to have that done every 18 months of so. You only need to have a criminal background check done once. Hope this info helps! Laura. ;D
Thanks! I assumed the visa worked the same but now I know it's a different one it makes a lot more sense! Another quick question, are the hourly rates of pay the same as the IP program (6.80/hour)?
I can only speak for merchandise...................it's hard to tell if the hourly rates are the same as you are paid bi-monthly on the ship i.e. every two weeks. We received around $1200 a month and you also get a quarterly bonus based on sales and guest service ratings. We actually did sit and break it down one day and if I remember correctly it did turn out to be roughly the same hourly pay rate that we got at Epcot which did make us rather depressed as we worked so much harder on the ship!!! But if you look at this way.................you work 70+ hours a week with very little time off therefore very little chance to spend your money and it's tax free!!!! So it does feel like you earn a lot more!!!! ;D I know it's different for other departments. My boyfriend was a waiter and made an absolute fortune in tips!!!! They get a very low basic wage (similar to tipped positions on land) but could make around 3 or 4 times as much as we did in merchandise per month!!!! :-[ Laura.
I can only speak for merchandise...................it's hard to tell if the hourly rates are the same as you are paid bi-monthly on the ship i.e. every two weeks. We received around $1200 a month and you also get a quarterly bonus based on sales and guest service ratings. We actually did sit and break it down one day and if I remember correctly it did turn out to be roughly the same hourly pay rate that we got at Epcot which did make us rather depressed as we worked so much harder on the ship!!! But if you look at this way.................you work 70+ hours a week with very little time off therefore very little chance to spend your money and it's tax free!!!! So it does feel like you earn a lot more!!!! ;D I know it's different for other departments. My boyfriend was a waiter and made an absolute fortune in tips!!!! They get a very low basic wage (similar to tipped positions on land) but could make around 3 or 4 times as much as we did in merchandise per month!!!! :-[ Laura.
Wow, that is not that much, considering the working hours you guys have! The good thing really is you don't have time to spend it (haha) and you don't have to worry about a monthly rent I guess ( or getting a car, insurance etc. ). Julia
A friend of mine went almost straight from WDW to the cruise line. He ended up working on his ship for like 5 years or something. They start off with a short contract (average 6mnths, give or take), and if they like you , you can repeatedly renew it as often as you like (pending on the status of your work visa).
