Is there a laundry you can use on ship? (I know there’s one for the guests, but I don’t know if employees are allowed to use it or not.) If so, there’s no need to bring multiples, like six pairs of jeans, because no one but you will notice that you’re wearing the same ones all the time as long as they’re clean.
Think layers - more on when it’s cold, more off when it’s not. I do a two week camping trip every summer where the temps can range from 40’s overnight to 100 during the day. I generally get to do real laundry once, but if not, there’s a stream nearby. For this, I bring (in colors that all coordinate with one another):
3 T-shirts
2 turtlenecks
1 sweater
1 pair of jeans
1 pair of sweats
1 pair of thermal leggings
2 broomstick skirts (they pack better than any other kind - there’s a reason homeless hippies wear them)
2 pairs of shorts
1 warm winter hat
1 sun hat
1 pair gloves
7 pairs underwear
3 pair lightweight socks
4 pair heavyweight socks
3 bras
1 pair sandals
Packed right (roll, don’t fold), this will all fit in a good sized school backpack - not a backpacking frame. You’ll have enough to wear and a backup outfit no matter what the weather. The thermals can be layered under the jeans, sweats or skirts for more warmth. Most of it you can hand wash in your shower or sink if need be (except maybe the jeans).
Plus I wear another pair of jeans, a t shirt and a flannel or sweater, a pair of heavy socks and hiking boots.
I wouldn’t worry about having “lots” to wear, though. Basically, bring a week worth of clothes and plan on doing lots of laundry.
Cruising tends to be more formal - since it sounds like most of the week you’ll be like a guest in a tiny room, you’ll probably want khaki’s, capris, skorts. You’ll want swimsuits - two or three, unless you don’t mind a wet suit - and sunglasses - several pairs so you don’t loose them. The fact that almost no one is wearing jeans in the evening will make a single pair of jeans for the day you spend in New York work fine. (Its a pain to pack as a passenger for a cruise - shorts and shirts for the day, long pants for the evening, formalwear, semi-formal wear.
Most ships have libraries - not a huge selection of books, but passengers apparently often leave things behind as well.
You may want to go over to www.cruisecritic.com - I think is mostly (all?) guests, but it will give you a feel for the ship you’ve been assigned to and what the passengers will be like.
There are washers & dryers on the ships. Even irons & ironing boards.
Depending on the line you’ll be on some have dress codes. Could you contact the cruise director to give you an idea? I don’t think any allow jeans in the evening in the diningrooms but you don’t have to get real dressed up on some. Depends on the line.
Check out the ship online to get an idea about what the rooms look like. Some are better than others, but the the rooms are really, really small. You can stick suitcases under the bed.
BTW, I don’t know what line it is but if your a big coffee drinker, I’d bring a small coffeepot.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I hate coffee on a cruise ship.
I brought a couple sweatsuits and would throw one on in the morning to run down to get coffee or walk on the deck.
I think all of the Norwegian cruises are freestyle, meaning they don’t have formal sit down dinners. I really think anything pretty much goes except for jeans/sloppy.
You find people extremely dressed up all the time, and other people neat but very casual. Really, it’s anything goes.
Like I said, some sweats or warm-up suits or whatever you call them if you want to run down for coffee in the AM or walk on the deck. What I wore more than once were skirts/skorts in khaki or another color. They’re great and cool to walk around in when your off the ship or on the ship for lunch with a t-shirt. You can even spruce the look up with some jewelry at night.
Bring comfortable sandals or comfortable walking shoes. The ship is HUGE and you walk a lot. They have a meet the captain night once or twice where people do get pretty dressed up.
TV reception is good and they have lots of movies but I guess you could bring a portable DVD player.
Towels are supplied by the pool and also available for excursions so you don’t need to bring beach towels. Bottles of water are available (I think you pay) when you leave the ship so you don’t really need to bring containers.
Shampoo, soap, etc. are also supplied although I brought my own. I think there’s even a hairdryer and electric tea pot in the room. I didn’t have problems with plugs. I don’t know how it’ll be with you because your an employee but I’d bring some soda. Soda isn’t included and if you buy sodas all day it gets to be expensive. I think you can buy a card for $60 for a week but that might not apply to you. I’d also bring some snacks. They have all the food you could ever want but not a lot of junk food if you want that.
I left from NY too and brought some clothes for cold weather but it really wasn’t necessary.
No one really goes on the decks when it’s cold and I used a lot of space for nothing. Coats and things just take up room and you don’t use them. You could even bring one of those velour warm-up suits if you like them. I wore that in the AM for my morning coffee run.
If you do run out of clothes you can pick up really cheap shorts and t-shirts and things at one of the islands. They do have shops on the ship but clothes are pretty expensive.
They sell odds and ends like band-aids and aspirins but if you forget make-up or something like that your out of luck.
You might want to hit the gym while your there. I gained over 10 lbs in 11 days.
As far as NYC goes, there is unlimited things to do and all of it easy to get to.
Here is a great interactive Subway map: onnyturf.com
It is a very clever Google hack.
There have been some very good threads here on the dope on things to do, things to eat, bargain things to do and etc. I will link to the ones I can find or remember.
Look into Subway card deals that suit your stays.
If you like Zoos, consider becoming a member of the Wildlife Conservation Society.
I just went on a cruise this year, out of New York. My two cents:
Don’t expect to get into New York for sightseeing too often. The port is a huge crush of people both debarking and embarking, there are never enough cabs, and there’s a massive traffic jam. It took us about 30 minutes of waiting to get through the last few blocks to the port, and we even got out and walked several ships early; we also showed up about 3 hours before the cruise line stated that they were “open”.
After awhile, the great crush of people outside your room can be overwhelming. The only exception is when you’re at ports of call - a great time to get in the pool.
Ports of call are typically very expensive (except liquor, which, for passengers, they hold until you disembark) and very touristy, and just as crowded.
Bring a lot of reading material so you can entertain yourself while you hide in your room. I would consider bringing a full-fledged game system to hook up to the TV, since there’s nothing good on.
Explore the boat - there are usually some ‘off the beaten track’ areas to hang around that most people don’t seem to find.
I saw entertainers around the boat quite a lot, and they often got approached by patrons, so your need for privacy may be even greater.
All those being said, I had a great time. The food was outstanding - stay away from the buffets, the sit-down meal is ALWAYS better.
Oh, and I bet you’re on the same cruise line, since we had Second City - Norwegian Cruise Line, right? The Second City show was definitely the best of them, in my opinion. Are you on the Dawn? That’s the boat I was on.
D’oh! I totally missed your other post. You’re on the Spirit.
The restaurants are named the same - the extra charge restaurants fill up very fast. If you’re eligible to use them, I heard good things, but we weren’t able to get dining times.
I’d be real careful to separate advice from people who have traveled as a passenger on a cruise ship from advice from people who have been employed on a cruise ship.
As an entertainer you’re not quite in the same class as a deck hand or cook, but unless you have explicit info from the cruise line to the contrary, don’t assume you’ll be enjoying the easy life of a guest / passenger.
I’m vastly confused that your employer hasn’t provided you with solid info. If you show up with 3 steamer trunks only to find out you’re sharing a broom closet with 4 other crew-people who each own 2 pairs of underwear & a toothbrush, well that’s gonna be real awkward. Not to mention expensive when your steamer trunks get left on the dockside for the bums to ransack after the ship sails.
As a former long-time employee of the travel industry, when I travel I tend to look at the back-stage side of things with interest & talk to the workers I encounter to learn about things from their POV.
I know a guy pretty well who was a house musician on cruise lines back in the 1980s. His experience was life in a broom closet with 2 sets of civvie clothes plus ship-provided costumes/uniforms, three 2-hour gigs per day 7 days a week, a lot of boredom, and all the food & sex he could handle. No booze though. And after about 3 weeks the food gets mighty monotonous.
Net of expenses, his pay was about $0. He had no shoreside obligations, family, apartment, etc., so the gig wasn’t costing him either. He did it for two years. Says he never regrets it but would never do it again.
I have had several ship-board coversations with other crewfolk in the passenger-relations side of things, and their stories are always similar. I haven’t had a chance to talk to the really back-stage / below-decks folks, but their experiences wouldn’t be as relevant to you anyway.
In another life I’d have liked to try it for a month or two myself. But not much more than that.
And just to clarify about “life in a broom closet” … 100% of the musician’s personal effects had to fit inside a space about the size of a single drawer of a filing cabinet, plus 8"-10" of closet / coat hanger space in a shirt-length locker.
That was it for his clothes, toothpaste, books, souvenirs (hah!), etc. This was pre-computer, cellphone, ipod, etc., but if he’d had that stuff it would also have had to fit in that drawer. 100% of what he owned on the ship fit in that space. Or got left out to be stolen / lost.
In addition to the two lockers he had a bunk. One of four in the room. All 4 occupants could not stand in the center of the room simultaneously without rubbing shoulders, butts, etc. There wasn’t space not to.
Again this was 20 years ago on a ship built 30+ years ago. So it may not be what you’re in for. But I’d sure suggest you know for sure before you show up.
I agree. Certainly I’d make a phone call to my hiring manager and ask a few pertinent questions:
A) What will my living accomodations be like? Will it be unisex?
B) Will the cruise line provide toiletries, such as toothpaste, shampoo?
c) Will I have access to (free) laundry facilities?
d) How much storage will I have? Will I have a secure area to keep my (laptop, iPod)
e) Will I be able to use the exercise room? Will I be able to eat for free in the restaurants?
I must say that after I recovered from horrific seasickness (the seas between NYC and Bermuda were unusually rough), I got bored on my cruise. Since we only had two ports of call (both on Bermuda), we spent a great deal of the time sailing. After a few days, eating like a glutton gets old. I can’t imagine not having access to my laptop for that long.
I sailed on The Norway back in '92 and my husband and I were one of only 5 couples under 50 on the entire boat (or so it seemed). The NYC cruises attracted old money; the Caribbean cruises attracted the younger crowds.
I’d be cautious still about cramming crap - in four months on a ship you will run into rocky seas, and you don’t want that crap falling on your head or keeping you from being able to sleep when you do. Think of it as a tiny dorm room that is going to - from time to time - move, a lot.
Also, things do get stolen.
You should know that ship to shore calls and internet charges are really expensive - I know a lot of the crew tends to use internet cafes in ports, if they are lucky enough to have time in the ports.
