Some staff never see a passenger?

[Seraphine]

I was watching "Cruise Ship Diaries" recently, about the Costa Serena. They had footage of the laundry area, and mentioned how a lot of the staff can spend months on a ship and never see a passenger.

 

Really?

 

I know the work is hard, but are the staff who are working in non-public areas never allowed outside? Are there some outside areas for staff only? The thought of spending months and months below deck with no windows makes me ill.

 

What does anyone know of this?

[DanJ]

There are separate crew leisure areas where they wouldn't see a passenger at. I can see some of these people in certain workspaces not seeing passengers. When we did the tour on the Carnival Pride, the deck below the lowest passenger deck was the main storage areas for food and beverage, luggage, maintenance facilities and whatnot (called I-95 on most ships). Below that was where the crew quarters, dining areas, lounges, and a lot of the offices were. Below that was where the laundry area was (amongst other various functional spaces). I can see someone working in the laundry not having a lot of cause to be in an area where they would run into many passengers. Their outside area on this ship was on the bow, where passengers don't go either.

 

It does kind of the take the glamour off the whole "working on a cruise ship" mystique some people have before they see some of the behind the scenes life of a crew member.

[paul929207]

I believe all crew gets days when they can go ashore, usually for a few hours in the morning or afternoon. They would likely see some passengers then.

[uppitycats]

I believe all crew gets days when they can go ashore, usually for a few hours in the morning or afternoon. They would likely see some passengers then.

 

I think the "not seeing a passenger" line really means that, in the course of their work day, they are not in positions to have face-to-face interactions with passengers as part of their jobs. Indeed it's not like they're "held captive", never allowed off the ship, and yes, they do have days off in ports where it's likey they'll "see passengers"...but they -- and the passenger -- aren't doing any formal "ship-related business".

 

And yes, there are lots of employees on a cruise ship -- laundry, mechanical, engineering, etc., who "don't see passengers" as part of their normal job, unless there is some extraordinary circumstance.

[SadieN]

There are certain crew who are not allowed into the pax areas unless needed.

[Putterdude]

Back in the '60s when I was a galley slave, we never saw passengers or had any interaction with them aboard ship. We might run into them ashore but that would be it.