According to an article published in Business Insider, Aida Carvahlo, a former human-resources manager for MSC Cruises, Viking Cruises, and Holland America Line says, sexual relationships with passengers are forbidden for cruise workers.
Here’s an excerpt from it.
Sex between crew members?
Carvahlo said, an employee found guilty of sleeping with a passenger, is likely to be fired. She said “We are not allowed to have any type of intimate contact with the guests. We are dismissed for that.”
On the other hand, sex with other employees is considered casual. “There’s a lot of sex on cruise ships,” said a former casino manager for Holland America Line.
Cruise ship’s intense hookup cultures
The hookup culture in the cruise ships are compared to that of a college dorm, by a few current and former cruise-ship workers. Similar to college, frequent alcohol consumption leads to sexual activities.
Sex between employees is so ubiquitous that former Carnival Cruise Line waiter and art auctioneer Brian David Bruns said a co-worker was surprised when Bruns had not hooked up with one of his colleagues during his first night on a ship.
Permissive sexual culture and behavior
But the permissive sexual culture on cruise ships can also lead to aggressive or inappropriate behavior.
A former Royal Caribbean Cruises employee, now who working for Carnival, said she was bullied about her sexual orientation and hairstyle by one of her managers on Royal Caribbean. Royal Caribbean chose not to comment on this accusation.
Another current Carnival employee said at one point, she was dating a man whose contract was close to ending. Male co-workers would remind her of her boyfriend’s imminent departure, and, as soon as he left, made advances under the guise of comforting her.
Relationships move faster than on land
Romantic relationships among employees develop and end much faster than on land, which, along with frequent turnover, can make long-term relationships difficult.
“One month on a ship is maybe like two years on land, because you spend so much time with these people,” said Taylor Sokol, a former cruise director for Holland America.
Sokol said that the intimacy between employees can make it difficult to maintain a healthy amount of space from a romantic partner. “It’s kind of hard to give someone their space when you live maybe 10 feet away from them.”
Chad Stone, a former production manager for Seabourn Cruise Line, said the dating scene on cruise ships was one of the reasons he stopped working on them. At one point, he got engaged to a coworker, but ended the engagement a month later after he learned his fiancee was not loyal to him during a break between contracts.
Quality family time affected
Bringing up children becomes really challenging in a cruise ship lifestyle. This is because cruise ship workers sign contracts that keep them on board for months at a time.
Nina Beader, a former youth staff employee for Carnival, said she decided to stop working on cruise ships in part because she wanted to one day have a family and feared that quality time with her children would be snatched away if she gets a cruise ship job. “I did not want to end up being 40 and not having a family,” she said.
Long-term relationships possible?
A Royal Caribbean employee who has spent two decades working on cruise ships expressed ambivalence about the unusual nature of on-board romance. He is considering to ‘call it quits’ for the fact that long term relationships are not possible on cruise ships. He has also observed that friends who are in conventional relationships do not appear to be completely satisfied.
“I look at my friends all over the world that have relationships that would be considered normal, and I don’t find a whole lot of them too happy,” he said. He added that he is very happy with his single lifestyle.
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Source: Businessinsider
