As crew members, we always find a way to be positive and smile, despite everything happening behind the scenes. Managers onboard the ship must often remember the essential part of their job description- motivating and inspiring their subordinates. Instead, they have a different mindset- when a crew member does a good job, it's only part of their salary package. Generally, people on board don't feel validated and acknowledged for their job. Yet, they still do it on a day-to-day basis because they have families back home and need to take care of them. 

Don't get me wrong; a significant part of working on a cruise ship story is a challenging, unique, and often life-changing experience. But when you are overly excited about the cruise ship's job, do not expect to chill out on the exotic beach with a beer in your hand, and don't trust the agent who is only trying to get their commission within your employment. 

It is challenging to adjust when we sign on the cruise ship on the first day onboard. Depending on the position, you must work 10-15 hours per day, seven days a week, during 7-9 months, but your time off can be very challenging. 

When you finally go to your tiny cabin, there are plenty of loudspeaker announcements for the safety drills, tests, and guest services. Even if you are not part of those events onboard, the sounds are annoyingly present in your cabin. In your time off, almost daily, you are scheduled to go through the mandatory safety meetings, various drills, and safety exercises for the actual emergency on board, department meetings, and other things. What crew members have left, it's just a couple of hours of sleep, working consistently under tremendous pressure, and ineffective management on board. 

I have witnessed many injustices throughout ten years of my working experience onboard cruise ships. Most of the time, crew members were just the numbers and nothing more than that. 

Most crew members fear speaking up and fighting for their rights because they know it might jeopardize their job.

Unfortunately, I have seen many unfair dismissals and terminations of loyal and hard-working crew members. That decision was brought up by inexperienced, biased managers who would terminate the crew members because of subjective, personal reasons. Meanwhile, in the past ten years, company growth has been astonishing. Truly amazing. It became the wealthiest and the most enormous cruise line corporation globally. Cruising has become In demand that our guests book their cruises a year in advance! But what happens with crew members, meanwhile? Extremely hard-working crew members brought up the company's growth, yet no law was ever placed to clarify and support the crew's rights, give them a sense of job security, or make them feel that they are not just the numbers at sea. How do I know that- you might wonder? Because I have seen extreme injustice and unfair treatment. Every day, I could witness the hidden, silent abuse of the crew members. 

Also, some of the most challenging jobs on earth exist on cruise ships. Galley steward. The person who would potentially apply for that role probably sounds pretty fancy" galley steward."  People cannot even picture in their minds what kind of job it is. If you have ever been on one of those giant cruise ships, you probably know that every ship has two main dining rooms.

There are huge galleys between those specious, fancy dining room areas, where all utilities are washed, plates, cutlery, and glasses. The galley steward has a tough job —deep cleaning and cleaning thousands of dirty dishes in very humid conditions. 

Without a doubt, those crew members are the true heroes of the seven seas. On average, 14 hours of consistent, backbreaking work, seven days a week for nine months. No day off, no sick leave, no annual leave. That is around 360 hours of work monthly when you do the math, yet galley stewards are paid 500 dollars monthly. 

Some people might say they have an option when signing up for that job. But how about those poor crew members' ongoing and excessively abusive management? On a larger scale, who would even question those untrained, shallow managers who would scream and shout at galley stewards, treating them like animals, while the company officially promotes " Show care and respect" values on board? Very sarcastic, indeed. Making a policy that should blur the public's perspective is easy, but walking the talk is hard. The very unethical money-making process makes dollars and achieves the targets. Who cares about ethics and fairness? That is of little importance to the company.

The most challenging job is galley steward

While passing through that colossal dining room galley one regular day at sea, I witnessed a lack of management and human skills at the worst possible level. 

Walking through the entire galley between two dining rooms usually took a few minutes. My face was already wet because it was too hot over there. 

Imagine you have to spend 14 hours in those inhuman conditions. While I was passing through, all of those stewards kindly said "Hi" to me with huge smiles. When I walked past my friend, Gede, one galley supervisor was shouting at him at that moment because some plates were not washed properly. 

Politely, I called the galley supervisor on the side and probably surprised him with the following question:" Sir, do you have any personal problems? How about some other way to explain why you are yelling at Gede? Do you know that people can often hear only your loud voice when you shout, but not your words? You are entirely losing your point with that approach. If I ever again see you being abusive to these hard-working people, I will report you to the HR department," angry I concluded my statement.

The galley supervisor did not say a single word. As I approached him a little closer, I intended to scare him away. He just walked away. We are very straightforward people, and we never hold back. Some other people on the ship are the opposite, most of them. They will smile at your face and look for opportunities to set you up for trouble. I was allergic to that kind of behavior because I always liked the straight talk and constructive criticism. The company did not like that; they only needed their loyal army to implement cruel management policies on board. 

The very same afternoon, I went to speak with a Human resource manager about that incident. While explaining my point and perspective, I was told by the HR manager that this is classified as:

"Normal ship communication in such a busy working environment."

Lack of understanding and compassion

Wow. It took me a while to process that. I have realized the true meaning of HR management on board at the exact moment. That position was designed to protect only its interests and cruel policies and procedures, not individual crew members. Somewhere between the lines, that situation truly got me thinking. With the burning fire, I still had a vision of changing that cruel management system onboard. I have decided to create a unique, specially designed Leadership Development program focusing on quality training of all managers and supervisors fleet-wide for my own beliefs. The goal was simple, to create a happy, win-win working environment where every crew member on board would feel important, acknowledged, and validated. I have studied hard for several months and diligently researched this area. I was excited to find a solution for disrespectful management onboard; possibly, I fought hard to find a way to impact the lives of thousands of crew members positively fleet-wide...

Part Two of the article continues with Letter to the company CEO