I think it’ll be a great experiance, you’ll meet lots of folks, some of whom you’ll make friends of.
You’ll see a bit of this planet.
You’ll see lots of middle aged whingers too.
You’ll see a lot of oldies with lots of caaaasssssh.
You’ll also see many young things rattling around the ship that have been dragged along by parents etc. who will be looking for a bit of “adventure” and “social intercourse”

Take condoms.

Someone I work with did a very similar job for 6 months and hated it, said he wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. I’d probably give it a go if I had no career and commitments but I doubt I’d leave my good job for it just to get a bit of travelling and some ropey cruise ship slags in 😆

I went on a ferry to French France last year, which makes me perfectly qualified to give you advice on this

I outrank you on this! I went via overnight ferry from hull to Zeebrugger. For the first two hours it was fun. Then I was **** bored rigid. The cabin had no windows, smelt abit and it was like sleeping in a train toilet.

When we got to the otherside I think my car took off the ramp for about 100metres before landing with much whoopin’

I would m’t do it if I was 44. If it is anyone’s I would say it us a young man’s gig.

Ex Chief Mate here, though my time was spent on tankers so vast difference – we were a crew of 20 to 30 as opposed to a 1000.

I think you may have more facilities recreation wise but it all depends how you feel on sharing a cabin, sticking to schedules, getting along with the same people in confined environments day in day out for 6 months.

Don’t be lured by shore leave and visiting great places. Whilst no doubt cruise ships go to more interesting places – they still stick to schedules and depending on your tasks/work you may or may not get a chance to go ashore all the time.

I think you might want to look at your taxes as well it used to be favourable if you spent more than 6 months outside the country.

I wouldn’t recommend a career in the merchant navy/cruise. At some point it gets lonely and messes with you. You really need to be cut quite differently from most people.

I went to sea when I was 18 and quit 11 years later.

Advantages
Saving money for a short period of time (never happened to me most of money was spent on phone calls back when satellite calls were 9 usd/min though it did come down to a respectable 3 usd/min)
Traveling around the world ( yes, unfortunately on the bg tankers we were moored offshore and spent entire contracts never getting off the ship until it was time to sign off)
Meeting people from many different nationalities and cultures (yes can be nice and a lot depends on your tolerance levels as well)
Developing professional skills (you learn to adapt with whatever you have at hand so it can be fun and frustrating!)
Gaining work experience

Whatever you choose all the very best… fairwinds

I think it would really come down to the ship and your colleagues, if you are with a good bunch then you’d have a good time, if you’re stuck with people you don’t like then you can’t just get off! Depends on your own charachter too and whether you are personable and thick skinned.

A good mate of mine was a croupier on the cruise ships for 2-3 years in his 20’s, had a really good time, but spent all his money on partying and left as he had enough of the small change gambling by 80 year old woman and as he was physically worn out.