Working on board a River Cruise Ship - what does this mean?
River Cruise Ships are floating hotels which are sailing along various rivers in Europe, Asia, America and other destinations worldwide.Capacities are varying - while in Europe a river cruise ship can cater for 90-200 passengers, river cruise ships in Asia and Russia may cater for 300- 400 passengers on board.
A classical river cruise last 7 days, with guests embarking in one port and disembarking in the last port of call - for example a rhine river cruise would start in Amsterdam with sailing for 7 days along the Rhine to Basel. During the journey guests will have stops in various cities along the route, such as Cologne, Strasburg, Amsterdam, Kinderdijk, Rüdesheim, Breisach and Basel.
Lengths of river cruises may vary depending on the itinerary, sailing schedule or even weather conditions sometimes.
The crew on board is usually working for a seasonal employment, means starting in March/ April a year and finishing November/ December the same year. However, on board river cruise ships regular paid vacations leaves do apply, which means that the crew is working for a period of 2-3 months on board, followed by 2 weeks of paid vacation leave, before continuing their contract on board.
All river cruise ships do have a strict health and safety protocol in place and do monitor the different requirements of the countries the ships are sailing through. With reduced number of passengers and usually only 30-50 crew members on board, river cruise ships are providing a familiar environment for crew and passengers alike.
Did you know that there have been 379 river cruise ships active only in Europe prior Covid with additional 19 new builds to join the fleet in 2019?
This dynamic and growing market allows for interesting and exciting career opportunities in different branches - with German, English, French, Italian and Spanish speaking customers, and new markets are developed regularly.
Since these vessels are mainly sailing within the EU, EU work Visa restrictions do apply for Non EU crew. Our agency is therefor only able to assist applicants having an EU passport at hand. Specialised agencies do assist candidates as well from Non EU countries, yet the contingent is very limited and restricted.
barasaindra@yahoo.co.id
Do you have any questions about working on board? Let me know!
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