Cruise ship photographer jobs

After reading this article: www.9news.com/story/life/2015/01/19/woma...ruise-ship/22026447/


I got thinking about how much fun it would be to be a cruise ship photographer.   Anyone ever done this before?  Are these direct hires from the cruise company or are these photographers freelance? 

I know that one of our ubookoo staff members was a cruise ship photographer when he was in his 20's and loved it. He was hired by the cruise line and it seems like he had a free room and free food. I remember him saying that he relied on tips to make it worthwhile.

Probably has changed by now as that was 20 years ago.

$167,000 per year?  That's a lot of cheddar!  

I cant give you a firm opinion other than I remember one of our waiters on the cruise ship i was on (royal carribbean) mentioned that the regulations and laws regarding pay most of the time do not come into play. So your base salary could potentially be very low.

Other than that, I think it would be alright, but don't expect to be hanging out at the pool or roaming around the ports. They rarely let you off the ship from my experiences.

Takennnn wrote: I cant give you a firm opinion other than I remember one of our waiters on the cruise ship i was on (royal carribbean) mentioned that the regulations and laws regarding pay most of the time do not come into play. So your base salary could potentially be very low.

Other than that, I think it would be alright, but don't expect to be hanging out at the pool or roaming around the ports. They rarely let you off the ship from my experiences.

But wouldn't you make high tips?  The last cruise we went on, a photographer that came buy spent 5-7 minutes with my wife and I, got some memorable photos take of use and we tipped him $12.  Now whether I'm cheap or a good tipper, let's say this photographer is able to reach one couple per ever 10 minutes of the hour.  That's $72 per hour (not including any sort of hourly he might get).  $72 per hour x 8 hours in a day = $576.   Times 5 days = $2880 per week.  Equals $11,520 per month.  Which puts this photographer at $138,240 per year.  


That's not a bad living!

Adrian Footman wrote:

Takennnn wrote: I cant give you a firm opinion other than I remember one of our waiters on the cruise ship i was on (royal carribbean) mentioned that the regulations and laws regarding pay most of the time do not come into play. So your base salary could potentially be very low.

Other than that, I think it would be alright, but don't expect to be hanging out at the pool or roaming around the ports. They rarely let you off the ship from my experiences.

But wouldn't you make high tips?  The last cruise we went on, a photographer that came buy spent 5-7 minutes with my wife and I, got some memorable photos take of use and we tipped him $12.  Now whether I'm cheap or a good tipper, let's say this photographer is able to reach one couple per ever 10 minutes of the hour.  That's $72 per hour (not including any sort of hourly he might get).  $72 per hour x 8 hours in a day = $576.   Times 5 days = $2880 per week.  Equals $11,520 per month.  Which puts this photographer at $138,240 per year.  



That's not a bad living!

Yes, tips would be the majority of your cash flow I would imagine. However I have one question, how did you tip? And how would most people tip. If its on a cash only basis the photographer can likely keep the money, if it is done through credit or a final amount at the end of the cruise (some cruise line companies will do that, I believe on Royal Carribbean that was what they did) then the photographer may not actually see that money due to taxes/companies with their hands in the jar. 

That's being a bit overly optimistic....

 
Cynic!
But I do agree. That and good luck on getting one of those positions, especially now that the story is in the wild.

I'd bet about half of that.  

Most likely different wage for different cruise, plus tips.  Don't know if I would want to do this for long.  

Not really my taste of a fun job, to many problems on cruise ships these days.

I don't do to well on large boats, so I would pass on this.