Presents observations of the author about employees and employment on cruise ships. A ship is like a small city. The crew population holds manicurists and masseuses, chefs, piano players, personal trainers, waitpersons, golf professionals, blackjack dealers, and so on. Typically there are 200 to 1000 different types of jobs available on a cruise ship, with an average starting pay of 2000 dollars a month. The typical contract is five to eight months. That means a crew member is away from home and at sea for the whole time. Then they take six weeks off before embarking on the next six months or so. The crew is provided with uniforms but must supply their own dress-up clothes for formal nights on the ship. They also save most of their pay because they have almost no expenses.