Korisničko ime: zokidac
Država: Macedonia
Spol: Male
Kompanija: MSC Cruises
Pozicija: Shop Seller/Shop Attendant
Kako ste čuli o poslu na kruzerima?
Online and from a friend of mine that used to work for Princess.
• Što vas je privuklo da aplicirate za posao na kruzerima?
Money and to travel.
Preko koje ste se agencije za rad na kruzerima prijavili i zašto baš preko nje?
Kouzon Macedonia, because it was the biggest and the most serious agency at that time (2010).
• Za koju ste se kompaniju i poziciju prijavili i zašto?
The first agency i applied promised me shop seller position and i waited for 1 year and nothing. Then i took my papers and went to Kouzon MKD.
When i visited Kouzon i said any company, any position in a bar or restaurant because getting a job in a bar and restaurant is easier to get hired in then the other departments and its possible to embark faster.
After the preliminary interview in Kouzon i was told that except English i will need one more language for RCCL for a position in a bar or restaurant but maybe for MSC Shops i can pass the interview only with English and i decided to go for MSC.
Koliko je trajao interview i kada ste saznali da ste prošli?
20-25min, Skype interview for MSC Cruises, shop department, and i was told 2/3 weeks later that i passed.
Questions were: where have u worked, how your shop looks like, what have u been selling, which system do u use to charge, how do u make inventories, what are your good/ bad sides....
The Interview was done by Francesca - in charge for Shop HR. Today there is a new woman in charge called Simona and Francesca is now in charge for Photo HR.
• Koliko su bili vaši troškovi odlaska na brod?
€100 Medical, €350 STCW95, "agency training" €100, agency provision around €300, all in total around €900/1ooo with included traveling costs to and from the agency.
Kako ste se spremili na put u nepoznato, što ste odlučili nositi sa sobom?
Suit with few white shirts, a lot of socks and underwear , few t-shirts, ajvar and cheese , "rakija for disinfection only", hygiene things, camera and a laptop.
• Opišite kako ste se osjećali prvih nekoliko dana na brodu
At the begging any people with first time onboard feel lost like i did, disoriented, some feelings like i don’t belong here or what am i doing here.
There are all kind of people there, some really brought from the forest directly on a ship so if they can handle on a ship anybody can and don’t allow to be depressive.
First two weeks are critical, just push and be positive, anyone can go home whenever he/she wants, the deal is to stay till the end and never give up.
Koliko vam je kompanija pomogla osjećati se dobrodošlim na vaše radno mjesto?
When i arrived in the port of Amsterdam to embark (year 2010) and one more girl, we were not on the list to embark and we were left to wait on the gangway for 4/5 hours until an official email was sent from the MSC Human Resources to the ship. The temperature was very low and cold but we survived.
It was a big mess, and that was my impression at the beginning.
I was given a cabin one hour before start to work and the cabin was already full (two people two beds and i was the third).
I just put my suit on and went to work and later sort out the cabin issue. I was told that the ship came back from Brazilian season and it was the first port where the big cargo arrived for all departments and a lot of people embarked and disembark (minimum 100 people). Company didn’t helped out a lot, i was introducing to the ship by myself.
Today on the MSC ships there is a "buddy" in each department- a person responsible to familiarize the new embarking person with the ship.
• Da li vam je, po dolasku, netko neposredno pomogao uputiti vas u posao?
Some of my colleagues helped me and my manager.
At that time the company didn’t had a strong or needed HR department on the ship, now i heard some things have changed.
Kako ste se nosili sa ograničenošću životnog prostora na brodu?
It’s not bad, as a staff the cabin is for two and not too big or small but it’s ok. Some of the newest MSC ships have bigger and better staff cabins.
There are some benefits being a staff in the restaurants and going in the bar or the disco until 2am.
• Jeste li bili zadovoljni zaradom?
The salary on MSC was in EUR (600eur) and the commission in Europe was paid in euro's BUT the shop seller that work on ships with itinerary outside Europe their commission is in US dollars.
There is a bonus of 300eur(400usd) if the shop department reaches the PPD. ---for example total number of passengers is 2000.
The PPD is 6eur per passenger (6*2000=12000eur revenue per day ) which means every passenger need to spend at least 6eur per day to reach the minimum PPD.
It should be minimum of average 6eur per passenger for the duration of the all month.
....The commission depends of every cruise (3-4-5-7-11...days cruise) the minimum commission i took which was on MSC Splendida, a big ship with around 4000 passengers was 60 euro's for 11 days cruise which was really really bad and for a Chinese new year cruise on the same ship the maximum i took 650 euro's for 7 days cruise. Shop seller should be pleased if the average commission is minimum 200/250 euro's for 7 days cruise.
On MSC is possible to hit 5% commission, the minimum commission is 1%, the bigger revenue the bigger % of commission.
All sales from the shops are going in one total revenue, but from some sold products from the jewellery such as Mont Blanc or Bulgari, the commission of those sales are going only to the jewellery team.
In 2013 the commission in N. America is fixed 2% and in S. Africa is fixed 2,5%. During some crossings the commission depends on the office evaluation and the past experiences.
Nowadays things have changed on MSC, NEW CONTRACTS (by MLC-Maritime Labour Convention).
Contracts are now 10 months plus/minus 2 months, not like before 6 months.
Salary is now 780 usd. For now we have been told that in Europe the commission first will be in euro's and then converted in dollars.
Lets say 5% commission is 300eur and later converted in usd but its possible that later the 5% commission which was 300eur scales down to 300dollars.
It wont surprise me if they do the that.
Postoji li mogućnost napredovanja tj. promocije na poslu?
Yes but many factors are in the game on MSC, First the shop seller should be in a very good relations with the manager or some of the supervisors that come onboard.
Doing the job properly and without mistakes is not one of the requirements to get the promotion but sometimes it could help.
• Kako vam se svidio društveni život na brodu?
MSC is one of the companies that do pay good in the shop department but unfortunately the social life onboard is very bad.
Sometimes there are no crew parties for month or two because the captain or the staff captain thinks like that. Very poor social life compared to another companies.
Colleagues that used to worked for other companies said it’s totally incomparable .
The past 2 years MSC is trying to improve the social life by assigning Training and Development officer onboard but its still far away from that.
The officer is in charge of organizing crew parties, lottery, bingo event for the crew etc...
There is still no real HR on MSC, crew is still unwilling to complain for some reasons. There is a new crew complain policy but ...
Opišite kakvi su ljudi sa kojima ste zajedno radili na brodu.
Most of the people in the shops are from Romania and Bulgaria. A lot of managers are from Romania and some from Bulgaria and Italy.
There are also few people from Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, South Africa a lot of people from Brazil if the ship is doing the Brazilian season and recently Morocco and Barbados
• Kako biste opisali putnike?
Depends of the ship and itinerary the passengers are sometimes extremely relaxed which makes the crew onboard to get an impression of passengers being extremely stupid and blind.
If the ship is doing itinerary where places are quiet and green most of the passengers are old retired people who want that kind of places.
If we are talking about itinerary like Ibiza or Palma de Majorca, passengers are younger.
Jeste li imali vremena posjetiti destinacije koje je brod posjećivao?
One of the advantage in the shops is a lot of free time compared to the other departments.
There is almost always enough time to see the places and when some officers see us going outside every time they get jealous and after they brake our "balls" for any small thing onboard if its not by the book.
• Jeste li imali neko omiljeno mjesto za izlazak?
Palma de Majorca, area called Magaluf, i will never forget it, cheap drinks, full of bars and restaurants, night clubs, a lot of girls, huge beach, amazing.
Also St. Peter is nice, руски девушки are the best !
Opišite dobre strane rada na kruzerima.
Seeing the world, a lot of cultures, their way of life, expanding your horizons, making some money, moving out from your parents house, getting to know a lot of people around the world
• Opišite loše strane posla na kruzerima.
Food is free but not as good as average. The air conditioner onboard is very strong and watch out the first month there.
Some rules are ridiculous but probably not made for nothing.
Biste li zainteresiranima preporučili posao na kruzerima i zašto?
Yes, don't wait and waste your time at home, get out, take the initiative and do something, you can always go home.
• Koji savjet biste dali ljudima koji namjeravaju aplicirati za posao na kruzerima?
Apply and don’t wait, go on a every possible interview, invest in your future
Želite li dodati nešto što smatrate važnim?
The probation period now is 3 months and before was 2 months only. There is a new evaluating procedure.
MSC now keeps around 20 % of the salary+commission that every shop staff should receive at the end of each month in case you sign off and need to go home earlier then expected and signed period in the contract so with the 20% of the money that they keep can pay your flight ticket.
Before every commission was given at the end of every cruise, one or two days after the cruise, but now commission plus salary end of the month from the crew purser office not from the manager like it was before.
If you finish your contract on time the 20% will be given to you before disembark.
The new contracts are based on MLC-Maritime Labor Convention.
There is a person that used to work for starboard and MSC hired that person to improve the Shop Department so things are becoming slowly similar to starboard, new procedures, new rules.
There was a test being made and the results were sent to the office in Geneva. The test was about products knowledge, customer service, shops ......
Before it was required to inform the office two weeks before disembarkation and now its one month. Even when finishing contract the same period of 1 month is applied.
The MSC is really struggling to have a repeating passengers but for now doesn't work so good. Cruises are sometimes really really cheap which effects on shops revenue.
Do the job by the procedure and always ask the person above you if you are unsure what to do or how to proceed, don’t try to hide everything and don’t lie too much .
