Living On The Oceans For 8 Months! The Real Story. PART 2

Today I will be elaborating on what I think were the biggest pros and cons of living on the oceans. Hopefully you will be able to find out if this is something for you! In my last blog I gave you an insight on how I ended up on a Cruise ship and I talked briefly about my first few months living on the oceans. Today’s blog will be about living on one of the biggest ships of the world!

Unexpected transfer
If you haven’t yet and you feel a need to then you can find the post leading up to this one here: https://steemit.com/travel/@heyitshaas/living-on-the-oceans-or-8-months-the-real-story-part-1

All in all, everything was very enjoyable for me on the ship I initially boarded on: Legend of the Seas. After the first 3 months, the ship was due to go to Asia, after having seen most of the Pacific Ocean. I was very excited about all the new places we would soon see when I received an email from my employer stating that they wanted me to change ships! They found it more suitable for me to learn and work on a bigger ship. So before we set sail to Asia, they decided to send me to Anthem of the Seas, one of the biggest ships in the world!!

I was overwhelmed by feelings of surprise and disappointment. I really felt at home on the Legend of the Seas and there had been many nice ports in Asia to look forward to! When my flight details for the transfer first came in, I only looked at the date to know when I would be leaving. When the transfer date came closer and I decided to take a closer look at my flight details I was shocked!
My flight would take me from from Brisbane, Australia via Abu Dhabi to New York and finally to Puerto Rico where I would join the ship after flying for 40(!) hours. Trust me: it was THE WORST and longest trip I was ever on, it was simply too much.

Anthem of the Seas
Because of the transfer, I went from working one of the smaller ships of the fleet to working on a ship that is home to 6000 people! Everything on this monster was almost twice a big, intense, impressive, frustrating end exhausting.

Where the Legend of the Seas was built 20 years ago, the Anthem of the seas was just one year old and the ship had all the latest equipment and entertainment on board. I really enjoyed the design of my new home, it was just super nice! Below you can check out some of the “amenities”...

During my “stay”, the Anthem of the Seas was sailing in the Caribbean while based out of New York. We visited Haiti, Saint Martin, Boston , Puerto Rico, The Bahamas, Saint Kitts and Nevis ,Barbados and every fortnight we had day of in Bermuda.

Final verdict.

Because the ship is considered one of the flagships of Royal Caribbean the pressure of working there was much larger. If you look at the pictures of the beautiful ship and look at the destinations we visited, it looks like you are living the dream. And depending on what your dream is, you might be, but before you sign up, let me list some of the obvious pros and cons that I experienced.

Pro:
+Travel
+Saving money
+Meeting people from all over the globe
+Every day is an adventure (no 9-5 grind)
+Stunning destinations
+Once in a lifetime(?) experience
+Great travel option for people whom it’s hard for to get visas for other countries

Cons:
-Work,work,work
-Stress
-Mentally tough
-NO privacy ever
-You almost never have steady Wifi
-Saying goodbye to friends on an almost weekly basis
-Days and days of not even leaving the ship
-Same food most of the time

See for yourself if you are up for the task! If you are seriously considering this option then please let me know how I can help and if you have any question don’t hesitate to ask!
I decided to leave the ship life after my first contract, trying to find another way to travel the world. Living on the oceans is a unique experience for sure though and I don’t regret a thing!