Have you ever wonder how many crew members are employed in the cruise industry? Based on the data collected by the crew center team we managed to give you a rough estimate. The total number of the crew working on cruise ships is 223.914 employees. Currently on board the cruise ships worldwide there are 186.595 plus 37.319 crew members on vacation waiting to join the vessels. This analysis includes 90% of the world’s largest cruise companies and therefore the total estimated number is around 250.000 crew members.

Royal Caribbean Cruises is the biggest employer with 33.602 crew, followed by Carnival Cruise Line 32.298, and Norwegian Cruise Line with 19.669 shipboard employees. However, if you compare on Corporate Level, Carnival Corporation & plc is by far largest employer, with 10 cruise lines and combined fleet of over 100 vessels deployed worldwide.

Below is a list of all major cruise lines and crew on board plus 20% of the crew for rotation. Please note, this is independent analysis created by Crew Center and is for informational purposes only. If you wish to share or use this data you can do so without prior approval, however, please make sure to you add the source and link to this analysis. The data presents a number of the shipboard personnel including crew, staff, officers, shore side employees are not included.