Samenvatting

Cruise tourism depends on a global workforce, with many crew members recruited from the Global South. While cruise employment can offer income, family support and future opportunities, it also involves demanding working and living conditions, hierarchy and long periods away from home. This research examines how current and former crew members from the Global South evaluate the trade-off involved in cruise ship employment. A qualitative research design was utilised, based on nine semi-structured interviews with crew members from different countries and onboard departments. The findings show that cruise work was not evaluated as purely positive or negative. Instead, participants understood it as a changing balance between opportunity and necessity that made cruise work worthwhile, especially when alternatives at home were limited. However, long working hours, emotional strain, separation from family, restricted freedom and hierarchy made the trade-off difficult. Coping strategies helped participants continue but did not remove the pains of shipboard life. The study concluded that cruise employment is evaluated through the interaction between economic need, onboard hardship, hierarchy, coping and future plans.