Text translated from: Cruise Ship Jobs forum
Username: Incognito
Country: Serbia
Gender: M
Company: Celebrity Cruises
Position: Bar Server
How did you hear about the work on cruise ships?
I heard from an acquaintance of a friend, back in 2008.
I have not been interested in it too much, but it stayed with me.
Only later did I hear that more and more people, even some people that I know personally, went to work on cruise ships.
At some time in 2011. I somehow stumbled on to this forum. How? I do not remember.
What attracted you to apply for jobs on cruise ships?
I think that my future earnings onboard were motivating factor, + I wanted to gain experience and travel the white world, to see what is beyond the borders of Serbia.
At that time I was killed myself by work at home in my hometown for pocket money, so I told myself why wouldn’t I do it for a bigger buck.
What recruiting agency you went with?
I’ve contacted all Balkan agencies. However, only Kouzon agency has replied affirmative, announcing the interviews for the position that I wanted.
What company and the position have you applied for, and why?
I signed up for the Princess Cruises, because I knew only one foreign language – English.
After preliminary interview, final interview has been scheduled to take place, about a month and a half after the preliminary.
However, it was postponed until further notice. After 2 months I get a call from the agency and was ask if I wanted to work for NCL.
I said why not, in order to go as soon as possible. But a few weeks later an agency said that there would be no interview, because the company is searching for the female candidates only, and just a very few male.
I was not on that list because I originally applied for Princes.
I said WTF, I wasn’t thrilled.
Four and a half months went by, nothing was happening. Then I finally got a call for an interview for a bar server, that would be held in Skopje, for Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean.
They didn’t ask for a second foreign language, so I was ok. Final interview for Princes had not been scheduled at that time.
I went to Skopje and after 8 months got a job for Celebrity Cruises.
How long did the interview and when you find out that you passed?
Job interview lasted 10 minutes.
It was very easy interview. “Good evening, how are you? I’m good, thanks for asking. How are you?”
There’s one interesting story from that interview, because of which I thought I would not get the job.
The recruiter asked me, what vodka based cocktail I would recommended, if he was to visit the club where I worked. I got confused and said Viagra.
There was one other character in the room who was restaurant manager on Oasis and held a training for the F&B department. The recruiter started to laugh and said I nailed it, and then the three of us laughed for 2 minutes.
If he had asked me to suggest another cocktail, I would have probably said “Sex on the beach.”