25 Things I Learned Living and Working on a German Cruise Ship
In case this is your very first time here, let’s get something out of the way:
I used to sing on cruise ships. Big ones.
Cool, now that’s taken care of, let’s move on. Because I don’t work on cruise ships anymore. In fact, I do something entirely different altogether, but that’s a post for another day.
Despite only working on ships for a grand total of two years, the experience of living and working as a cruise ship performer for a German company is one of my more memorable phases of life. That’s why I won’t shut up about it. It kickstarted my love with Hamburg, showed me the most magical places in Norway plucked right out of a fairytale, and truly was one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
And just this week, the company behind my former floating home, AIDA, celebrated its 25th birthday which calls for some major celebration and a trip down memory lane!
So here are 25 things I learned from living and working on a cruise ship:
Seasickness is 75% mental and 25% real (one captain told me it was 100% mental, but I’m unconvinced. Some sea is just ROUGH…)
When the bartenders take the bottles down from the shelves behind the bar, take your seasickness pills
The best snacks are at midnight. Starting at 23:00, the crew mess is filled with a late-night meal including extras from “upstairs” at the parties, restaurants, Brauhaus, etc
Always wear a watch
Always know which time zone you’re in!
Need perfume or nice face creams? Buy them on board. It’s actually cheaper (especially with a crew discount ;) )
The offline downloads of Google Maps are a game-changer in new cities. (Do this next time you travel!)
There’s a fierce, European princess that I’d literally never heard of before working in Germany, and Netflix is even making a show about her. Check out this piece on Sissi.
This might be unpopular but… German should not be sung. It is not a nice language to sing. Speaking? Yes. Singing? Nein, Danke.
You don’t need to pay for expensive whale watching tours when your home literally sails by Free Willy’s cousins. One of my favorite memories is standing in a parka on the open deck at the bow of the ship, with warm coffee in hand, spotting whales in Iceland. (Akureyri was FULL of them. I even have pins on my Google Maps with the best spots in the channel for whale watching.)
Cruise ships are FULL of hidden staircases. You will get lost for about a week. Then you’ll be fine.
There’s a lot to celebrate!
12. The leftover food from ships is ground up and put into the ocean like fish food (the highly-processed, sad kind)
13. Even singers are surprisingly knowledgeable about ship safety. Everyone on board goes through rigorous training covering safety, security, and even medical preparedness.
14. Cruise ships are absolutely terrible for the environment
15. Portholes are a luxury
16. Make friends with officers: they have magical cards that make everything free
17. Calling people on the phone is the best way to reach someone on a cruise ship (and yes, we all memorized a surprising amount of phone numbers, so we knew where to reach people all over the ship)
18. Facebook Messenger is the Tinder of cruise ships
19. There are different codes for the severity of Gastrointestinal (GI) outbreaks on ships. (It’s surprisingly common.) “Red” is not fun and means that the crew bar, crew gym, and the sauna are all closed, in addition to movement for crew members being extremely limited in all passenger areas.
20. There are two kinds of lifeboats on cruise ships: the physical boats that you see lining the decks and an army of inflatable rafts hiding in large, round tubes at the back (guess where most of the crew are supposed to go in an emergency?)
21. Russian port security is about as consistent as the sunshine in Hamburg: What you need to enter completely depends on the person and how they’re feeling that day.
22. When in doubt, as for a crew discount. Favorite discounts: The Hop On Hop Off boat in Stockholm, countless museums, and Mystic Mountain in Jamaica (it’s touristy but super fun)
23. Being late is not an option on ship time
24. Always have an encore (Zugabe). The Germans will ask for it.
25. Rain, shine, or rough sea, you can always do a concert! A dance show is another story… Speaking of which, head over to my Instagram stories today for a peek behind the scenes and on stage at AIDA!
Now that I had to stop at 25, I realize that I could keep going for at least 50 more. Spending months living at sea is a weird way to spend your mid-20s, but the experience of waking up in a new country every day, performing on a high-tech stage for an audience of thousands, and planning off-the-beaten-path adventures over a Starbucks coffee on the ship, taught me so much about the world, and about the independent, traveled, confident person I wanted to be.
So thank you, AIDA, for the memories, passport stamps, and incredible life lessons.
Here’s looking at you, kid.
Did anything surprise you?
Let me know in the comments below
For more AIDA memories, be sure to follow me on Instagram, where I share throwbacks entirely too often.