MSC, Shop Seller; Social life onboard is awful …

Following text is part of Layla’s work experience on a cruise ship described on cruise ship jobs forum.

Username: Layla
Country: Serbia
Sex: F
Company: MSC
Position: Shop Seller

How much $$$ have you spent going to the ship?
My expenses were exactly $1900 ..
It includes commissions, certificates, medical exam, money that I brought on board plus the money I spent to buy things before going to the ship .. such as uniform, shoes, etc .. because I knew from a friend that onboard they sell synthetic uniforms of low quality, so I bought here better clothes and comfortable shoes, and it was the right move.

How did you prepare for a trip into the unknown, what have you decided to carry with you?
I am female .. if I don’t carry the entire wardrobe with me, I don’t carry anything .. Terrible, I brought everything. I thought I would need all ..
I went in December and returned in July, so I needed both winter and summer wardrobe ..so that I wore a sweater and swimsuit and T-shirts ..
I wore about 60% of what I carried with me. Other stuff had stayed in a suitcase untouched.
I was wearing a full medicine kit .. and I did not regret, you never know what will you need .. so I wore lots of cosmetics .. I only regret carrying 3-4 books … they stayed in a suitcase until the last day ..I didn’t open to see the titles, let alone to read one ..
But it’s a good experience because now I know exactly what to take with me the following contract. Couple of t-shirts, jeans, training shorts … and I’ll buy everything else in Europe for example, on sale for a pocket change price …
When I returned to Belgrade I found all too expensive here, I will not spend a penny here because I think it is pure robbery .. One can find same brands and models in Barcelona for 3 times lower price ..

How did you like the social life on board?
I DIDN’T. It is awful. MSC company takes no part in organizing a social life, some party or something for crewmembers.
Everything is terrible when it comes to that. I didn’t like it at all.
I have a lot of colleagues who came to MSC from Royal or some other cruise lines and when they start to talk about how social life is organized there, I feel like crying.
You have literally nothing. The party is organized for the crew once a week and usually 20 people show up ..empty .. horror ..
Also, team events not worth mentioning..People mostly separate into groups of two, three ..rarely a group of people get together and go to a shore … very rare

*****
Have you been working for MSC? How did you like it? Write your comments below …