As with any trade or industry you choose, it is important to know a little something about the business - other than "I want a job on a ship, because it would be cool to get paid to travel the world." KNowing the current up-to-date industry news you will not find in a pamphlet or book or video that is pretty much obsolete the moment it is printed. Things change too fast - there's that common phrases again!
Learn about each cruise lines profile, their customer base, their fleet, their history, their future etc. Be impressive with your knowledge (if you are asked) because companies care. Learn about the job you want to apply for onboard - read older posts here as well for this information is always revisited.
Here are some sites I like to persue on a weekly/monthly basis for up-to-date information - most of it amazing news, some of it not so amazing, and some of it horrible, but industry news nonetheless.
1) www.djrmpcanada.spaces.live.com/?_c11_BlogPart_pagedir=Next&_c
_BlogPart_handle=cns!52F385893F74FCB!2985&_c11_BlogPart_BlogPart=blogview&_c=BlogPart
(yes its a big cut and paste but it's a great link)
2) www.cruising.org
3) www.cybercruises.com/cruiselines
4) www.internationalcruisevictims.org
5) www.cruisebruise.com
6) www.maritimematters.com
Also, another good strategy for sourcing out job contacts is to contact the Port Authority office of each city where cruise ships sail. The following is a list of North American cities which are home to cruise ships. Contact / Google the Port Authority Office for your closet port, and call or email them, asking for the list of cruise line port agents for their particular port.
Each port agent will represent one or more cruise lines. Ask them for the local or corporate cruise line employment contact info. From my experience, they have been pretty cooperative because they do not get alot of cruise ship job enquiries...because most people don't know how to source them out - until now.
Cruise ship home ports:
Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles(San Pedro), San Diego, Galveston, LaPorte TX (Houston), New Orleans, Mobile, Tampa, Miami, Fort LAuderdale, Port Canaveral, Jacksonville, Norfolk, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Bajonne NJ, New York City, Boston, Montreal.
