This year at the 6th annual DC Web Fest the Gold Award went to the Virtual Reality 360-degree short film entitled “The Crew”.

Hi, I am Vanja from Ship to Shop. As a former Crew member for NCL and Royal Caribbean, like you, I was very busy on board with little time off in port! 

I always appreciate when I could find a quick and easy crew shuttle, like in Miami.., so that I could do all my shopping and relax with a cup of coffee in a very short time, and get back on board to work on time.

Holland America Line, the luxury subsidiary of cruise industry leader Carnival Corporation, says it will hire some 400 Filipino seafarers for the company’s newest cruise ship named Nieuw Statendam. Set to debut in December this year the Pinnacle Class vessel Nieuw Statendam, will have a capacity of 2650 guests and 1300 crew.

After almost nine years in service Mein Schiff 1, the cruise ship that inaugurated the TUI Cruises brand leaves the fleet. TUI Cruises said goodbye to Mein Schiff on April 11, 2018, having been part of the company from May 15, 2009. The first TUI ship, that launched the German brand with capacity for 1,924 passengers, was purchased by Celebrity Cruises under the name Celebrity Galaxy. 

The Caribbean Season is over Hello Mediterranean. More than 100 cruise ships are making their Transatlantic cruise this year from the Caribbean to the Med. The transatlantic voyage is a long one, sometimes up to six days at sea before reaching the land. For those lucky ones who are working on cruise ships setting sail to Europe this season I’m sure you are looking forward to the adventure.

Cruise Lines have a different working environment, policies, and services for their employees onboard. There are numerous positive aspects that some Cruise Lines have already implemented on their cruise ships that should be an example for other companies to follow. A happy crew can make the working and living environment more pleasant and more productive, thus consequently make guests happier which is always good for business.

Even the most committed couples can grow apart especially if they are for a long period of time separated. This is the most common issue of married crew members who spent 6 to 8 months away from home and away from their spouses. There are numerous cases when these couples decide to break the wedding vows because they are becoming strangers due to the distance.

It is early Sunday morning at the Port of Miami. Today some 200 new sign-on and returning crew members from different courtiers around the world will arrive at the Miami International Airport ready to join the cruise ships. Once they pass the migration they will board the ship and off to different trainings, orientation and on duty. All of them (without exception) no matter if they are first timers or returning crew will suffer from Jet Lag.

A Cinematic 360-degree Virtual Reality film entitled The Crew, will premiere at the DC Web Fest on Friday, April 6th at the AT&T Forum for Technology, Entertainment, and Policy. The film was produced using the latest Virtual Reality 360-degree technology as part of the Google Jump Start Program, and is based on the writer’s personal experience. The message behind this 8-minute story is very powerful.

Why did you sign up to work on a cruise ship? If you ask a crew member this question he/she will tell you to see the world. But you will find out that this is not the main reason. Many of us have started working on a cruise ship because we have a dream, and the reason for working on a cruise ship is so we can make that dream come true with the money that we earn. Some of you had a dream to build a house back home or start a business.