CRUISE SHIP stylist

Hi Def,I don't know what to tell you about being a stylist on a ship. However, back in 1984-1986 I did work as a visiting astrologer on a few cruise ships. I was on the Norway and the former Atlantic. I did some of the other NCL ships too. I have other friends who worked on the ships as "professional" astrologers. This is not quite the same as being a hairstylist or massage therapist because I only did one or two weeks "stints". One of my friends actually did work on the QE2 and was on the ship for several months straight. I also had friends who did several of the lines.I personally did not like doing it, even in the short term. The reason? You have to be constantly "on" and polite to all the guests. So I never had any private moments, expept when I was sleeping. I also did not get the same treatments as the guests. Which you would expect, but it was burdensome at times. I am not complaining, I got to see some great exotic ports (St. Barts, St. Kitts, St. Martin, Puerto Rico, Martinque, Barbados, St. John, Panama, Mexico, South America, etc.) I was treated OK, but there were some problems with working on the ship rather than being on a cruise.While I love people and love to socialize...I also like my private moments where I can unwind. It is very hard to do on most of the cruise ships. The atmosphere is very different depending on the ships too. On the NCL ships the staff is younger and more relaxed and I actually enjoyed that experience more than on the more traditional lines.What my other friends who did the longer stints told me is that you are basically "captive" for long periods of time where you have to work and can't go to shore or just hang out by the pool. Also, many of the lines do not allow or encourage the "help" like the staff or waitors to "mingle" with the guests...even though you have to be constantly "on" from the viewpoint of always being friendly and polite and helpful.So you can have a "bad day" but not in front of the cruise ship guests. Also, if you are on a smaller ship and you don't like the staff, you are pretty much stuck.However, if you like feeling like every day is a new adventure and you want to be footloose and fancy free with no ties, it is a great opportunity.I have heard both good and bad things about tipping for specials services. I had massages on a couple of the ships and the therapists told me that they don't get tipped very well because the guests wait and do a big tip at the end of the cruise and therefore don't necessarily tip well for individual services. Or they forget to tip.I am not sure how true that is for the hairstylists. Every ship certainly has a salon onboard. Many have special deals where you can get everything from simple trims to the full treatment.I would recommend that you take a cruise and check it out for yourself. I would also recommend NCL as a good place to start. They seem to treat their staff pretty well compared to many of the other lines.If you want to email me privately I can tell you more specific details about some of the other lines. I would rather do that privately.Best wishes,Karen> I was wondering if anyone has worked on a cruise ship> as a stylist. I am exploring my options in the> cosmetology field and was hoping someone could give me> some first hand advice of what it would be like. The> good, the bad, the ugly, etc. It sounds like a great> opportunity to travel, meet people, and make money,> but I know that all that glitters isnt always gold, so> all advice is welcome.> thanx> defRelated Link:Twists & Braids