“Work on a cruise ship” search often goes together with cruise recruitment agents. Major lines have their own cruise recruitment agents. They are established in particular regions of the world. Thus cruise line companies would send your inquiry to one of their agents. If you want to find employment and be working on cruise ships, better contact overseas recruitment agencies if you have decided which cruise line you wish to work for.
The cruise recruitment agent chooses the most suitable applicants and presents the applicants to the interviewer from the cruise ship line. His task is to select from numerous applications only those who match the requirements of the employer. The cruise recruitment agent checks your experience, references and criminal record and arranges the medical examinations so that the cruise line representative meets prepared people at the interview.
Most cruise recruitment agents providetraining for newly hired crew – they start from basic courses which have to prepare the new employees to the new circumstances ending with courses that cruise lines already require (STCW - International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers ). Each of the courses lasts a couple of days.