‘I wake up in a different country’: What it’s like to work on a cruise ship – and be in charge of all the fun

So what does it decide to try do her job well? Passion – a lot of it.  

“You’re the one opening and closing the show. You’re always all over the news. You have to be able to have yourself well, regardless of what happens. You must have the power to raise the feel of the place. And to have that type of energy, you need to have passion, ” said Chen.  

“When you have passion, you will your work with truthfulness. Guests can believe that. And you also have to be good with people. They have to really feel welcome, ” she added.  

If all that sounds exhausting, that’s because it is, which is why Chen offers trained herself to always live in the current moment.  

“My mantra is definitely ‘carpe diem’ or ‘seize the day’. When I’m onboard, I embrace the particular rhythm of deliver life and when I am on vacation, I will focus on winding down and spending as much time as possible with my loved ones, ” she stated.    

With the little time this wounderful woman has to herself on-ship the ship, Chen likes to be simply by herself in her cabin on the lower deck, doing what she describes because nerdy things like reading through and writing. In fact , Chen has a book out in China, written in Mandarin, called Chasing Desires 100, 000 Kilometers Around the World, which chronicles her adventures away at sea.  

“In it, I share our unique experiences as a Chinese working in the transnational, multicultural environment; my personal advice meant for other young people seeking to establish themselves at work; and the process of finding what one values as an individual within work and lifestyle to truly become our best selves, ” the lady said.  

Chen believes she’s at the peak associated with her career but there’s one fantasy she still harbours: Becoming a mum.

“I’m thankful for the equal working environment on board, but existence out at ocean is still not conducive for starting a family, ” she said.

But Chen is hopeful. Whenever she next will get vacation time – she typically will get two months off after four months of working and spends the time at home with her family – the lady plans to deep freeze her eggs.  

She will consider marriage when the lady “encounters (the) right person”.  

When that time comes, she believes that will she can determine an arrangement that may accommodate both the demands of cruising and motherhood with Royal Caribbean, “as it has done for my woman colleagues who are functioning mothers”.