I'm not a recruiter. I was the crew.

Since then, I've built Cruising As Crew into a trusted platform for people who want to work on cruise ships but have no idea where to start.

I'm not here to sell you a dream that isn't real. Cruise ship life is hard work. But it is also one of the most life-changing things I have ever done.

And if you are sitting there thinking, "I want to travel, I want to change my life, but I have no idea how people actually get these jobs," that is exactly why Cruising As Crew exists.

How it began

At 18, I was working in a salon in the UK.

On paper, there was nothing wrong with it. I had a job, I was earning money, and I was doing what I thought I was supposed to do.

But I felt stuck.

I remember looking around and thinking, "Is this it?" I didn't want to spend my life in the same place, doing the same thing, waiting for something exciting to happen.

I wanted to travel. I wanted adventure. I wanted to meet people from all over the world. But I didn't have a big savings account, I didn't come from money, and backpacking around the world wasn't really an option.

Then I found cruise ships.

The idea that I could work, earn money, live onboard, and travel the world at the same time sounded almost too good to be true.

So at 19, I packed my suitcase and joined my first ship: Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas.

I had absolutely no idea how much that decision was going to change my life.

My first contract changed everything

Walking onto my first ship was overwhelming.

I had gone from working in a salon to living onboard a cruise ship, surrounded by hundreds of crew from all over the world. I was sharing a cabin, working long hours, learning ship rules, trying to find my way around, and figuring out a completely different way of life.

It was intense.

But it was also incredible.

Suddenly, I was waking up in different countries. I was meeting people I never would have met at home. I was seeing places I had only ever seen in magazines or on TV.

That first contract opened my eyes to a world I didn't even know was available to me.

Cruise ships gave me freedom, confidence, friendships, travel, and life experience that completely changed the direction of my twenties.

Ten years at sea

Over the years, I worked in different roles across the cruise industry.

I started in the spa with Steiner, then moved into onboard retail with Harding, and later worked as a Shopping Ambassador with Diamonds International.

I worked in sales, beauty, guest-facing roles, luxury retail, and port shopping. I learned how different departments work, how contracts operate, how crew life really feels, and how different the reality can be from what people imagine.

I also learned the parts people don't always talk about.

The long hours. The shared cabins. The homesickness. The strict rules. The pressure. The fact that your manager can make or break your contract because you don't just work onboard — you live there too.

But even with the hard parts, working on cruise ships gave me a life I never thought I would have.

I travelled to over 50 countries, worked with people from all over the world, and built a career at sea that started from one decision: applying for a job I barely understood at the time.

Learning the system from the inside

One thing I learned very quickly is that getting a cruise ship job is not always straightforward.

The industry has its own way of doing things.

There are different recruiters, different agencies, different departments, different paperwork, different medicals, different visas, and different routes depending on your role, nationality, and the cruise line you want to work for.

And when you are new, it can feel impossible to know who to trust.

I learned the system the slow way — by doing it.

I applied, interviewed, completed contracts, changed departments, worked with different companies, spoke to recruiters, watched other crew members get hired, and saw people miss out simply because they didn't know where to apply or how to present themselves properly.

Over time, I came to understand what a strong cruise ship CV looks like, how recruiters think, what makes someone stand out, and what mistakes cause good candidates to get ignored.

That is the knowledge I now share through Cruising As Crew.

Then I started filming it

When I came back on land, people started asking me the same questions again and again.

At first, I answered people one by one. Then I realised there were thousands of people asking the same questions — people who wanted to work on cruise ships but were completely overwhelmed by the process.

So I started making videos.

What began as me sharing my own experience turned into Cruising As Crew, a YouTube channel and online platform helping people understand the real cruise ship industry from someone who has actually lived it.

Today, more than 100,000 people follow along on YouTube to learn about cruise ship jobs, crew life, cruise lines, onboard departments, and what it really takes to get hired.

Cruising As Crew today

Today, Cruising As Crew exists to make the cruise ship application process clearer, safer, and less overwhelming.

Through my YouTube channel, free resources, masterclass, blog, and course, I help people understand what jobs are available, how to apply, how to prepare their CV, how to avoid scams, what recruiters are looking for, and what life onboard is really like.

I don't charge anyone a fee to get them a job.

I'm not a recruiter.

I don't work for a cruise line.

I'm someone who has done it, lived it, loved it, struggled with it, learned from it, and now wants to hand you the map I wish I'd had when I started.

Because working on cruise ships changed my life.

And if you want to travel, earn money, meet people from all over the world, and do something completely different with your life, it might change yours too.