Every Level of Cruise Ship Crew, Ranked by Pay
Australia CountryAIDA Cruises Cruise LineAman at Sea Cruise LineCarnival Cruise Line Cruise LineCosta Cruises Cruise LineCunard Line Cruise LineDisney Cruise Line Cruise LineHolland America Line Cruise LineMSC Cruises Cruise LineNorwegian Cruise Line Cruise Line
Every level of cruise ship crew, ranked by pay, from the buffet attendant who clears your plate to the cruise ship hotel director who runs the whole floating hotel. In this cruise ship documentary we rank 20 more cruise ship jobs by salary, each with a real monthly figure from a job ad or crew reports. If you've ever wondered how much cruise ship workers make, or what the crew you walk past every day really earn, this is the answer, job by job. Our first film on cruise ship pay ranked twenty jobs, and you told us who we left out. A cruise ship butler starts from $1,450 a month in an October 2026 ad, before tips. One ad offers cruise ship security officers, women on luxury ships, from $2,300; the onboard tattoo artist is offered $2,500 and a head waiter $3,500. On the way up: youth counselors, cruise staff, guest services, a plumber, the public health officer who inspects the galley, the HR manager, the executive sous chef and the food and beverage director. At the top, the cruise ship staff captain and the hotel director tie, on ads of up to $15,800 and $16,000 a month. We also check whether crew work ten hours a day or thirteen, and why a river cook can be offered more than an ocean chef. Then we end in the dish pit. A cruise ship dishwasher on a big line starts at about $650 a month, while American Cruise Lines advertises dishwasher jobs at $1,000 to $1,400 a week. We explain the US law behind that gap, and a pastry chef who says he worked for American Cruise Lines describes the hours. These are advertised offers and crew reports, not what everyone earns: monthly, for the months on board, before tax. Some top figures come from older or closed ads, and the film says which. The $650 is the Philippine government's starting pay for cruise galley attendants, reported by GMA News. Our first pay film: https://youtu.be/g227xDkGlWY If you've worked on a ship and we've got your job wrong, tell us in the comments. You've been right before. CHAPTERS 0:00 Four jobs, four numbers 0:44 How the ladder works 1:01 #20 Buffet attendant 1:36 #19 Butler 3:50 #18 Youth counselor 4:19 #17 Shore excursion staff 5:03 #16 Cruise staff 5:27 #15 Guest services 6:25 #14 Plumber 7:02 #13 Security 7:52 #12 Tattoo artist 8:21 #11 Stage technician 8:49 #10 Head waiter 9:28 Ten hours or thirteen? 10:10 #9 Senior IT officer 10:40 #8 Chief housekeeper 11:02 Same job, different ship 11:59 #7 Refrigeration engineer 12:25 #6 Public health officer 12:51 #5 HR manager 13:12 #4 Executive sous chef 13:30 #3 Food and beverage director 14:09 Why there's no #2 14:31 #1 Staff captain 15:54 #1 Hotel director 17:31 The dishwasher 20:19 Why the American is paid more 22:01 Same plates, same steam CREDITS Crew in their own words: Asif Ali (Butler in Silver-sea.); a Silver Nova butler (Silversea); Trent (Cruise Along With Trent); Alex Figueras and Jefron Rodrigues (Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines); Staff Captain Wendy Williams (Royal Caribbean); Hotel Director Gary Davies (CruiseGuy); Chef Rico Rodriguez. Independent creators: KTGetaways Dream Vacations; Jackson Jetsetting; Langyaw TV; CharlieMor'sTravel; Ken Murray; Chris Frame the Maritime Historian; TravelTouristVideos; Nicole Ricci; Floridaman Drone; TheSharkyTube; Jason and Heidi's Popular Cruising; Chinky Nava; Crew life onboard; Living Life on a Cruise; Plumber Cruise ship tv; The Cruise Spotter; This Is How We Roll; Now That's Cruising; Old Dragon Ink; Sam Austin; The Cruise Vibe; John Ramsperger; MidLife Cruising; Maan Gaspay; Roland Pacheco; Christine Caldbeck; Carmen Valki (Szasz); Aleksandar Tursunovic; Cruising with Goldy; Destinations with Sal & Debi Pitera; KuyaJoyberth TV; Byahe Ni Mar; Cruisereiziger; EUROPE TRAVELLING; CruiseNews; DANIEL LUDWIG EMAN; #Boy Lamig Adventure; I Love Cruises; Joex Manatad; SHIP AND CRUISE LIFE; AMAN AT SEA; Cruise the World A to Z; All Aboard with Joe; CHEF IN JEANS. Company footage: Royal Caribbean and Royal Caribbean Careers; Cunard; MSC Cruises; Disney Cruise Line Jobs; Princess Cruises; American Cruise Lines; AIDA Cruises; Costa Crociere Careers; Carnival Cruise Line Australia; Viking; Seabourn; Silversea; Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines; UnCruise Adventures; Dream Cruises; Villa Vie Residences; sea chefs; Banijay Documentaries; Banijay Food; Smithsonian Channel; Business Insider; In The Know; MTV Uutiset; Mighty; Royal Caribbean Blog; ALMACO Group; MCA Europe; backup jobs agency; International Services; info & training. Job ads and pay data: Faststream; ISMIRA; AllCruiseJobs; Norwegian Cruise Line; Holland America Line; Marine MAN (Crewell); Seamen Group; Jobs on a Ship; Carnival Entertainment; Anglo-Eastern; Stellamar; ROHI Global; Grand Circle; Yatta Recruitment; ARM Marine & Shipping (SeaCareer); CruiseShipJob.com; ForCrewLife; American Cruise Lines' job board. Reporting, law and guidance: GMA News; The Points Guy; Marketplace; GAO (GAO-04-421); US Code, Title 46; ILO Maritime Labour Convention; IRS. Music: original AI score (Lyria). Narration: AI voice.