‘I’m a cruise ship crew member – this is what life’s like on board’
Ever wondered what life is like for cabin crew staff on board a cruise ship? Ella, who works as a dancer in Mamma Mia! The Musical on Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas, shared a behind the scenes insight on TikTok.
Ella (@elladv_) began her now viral video with a peak into her cabin, which she shares with her colleague and pal, Samara. Panning around the small enclosure revealed bunk bed accommodation for the pair with walls adorned with photos of their nearest and dearest.
A curtain offered a degree of privacy for both bunks, while space under it and a single drawer provided storage space. The room also afforded space for a wardrobe, bedside drawers and shelves, meanwhile, albeit very little floorspace.
“We wanted to really make our cabin look cosy because when you’re living here for nine months at a time, you want it to feel as homely as possible,” Ella explained as she showcased further walls decorated with plants, hooks for jewellery and magnetic photos.
Making use of the little space, Ella went on to reveal the pair’s separate drawers and even a laundry bin and “sunrise alarm clock” perched on top a fold out table. “We don’t have a port hole so we never see natural light,” she added. “This turns itself on in the morning so at least we don’t wake up in pitch black every day.”
Next, Ella revealed the cabin’s only chair, covered in a blanket to hide their electrical appliances beneath it, while they efficiently used a shoe rack hanging on the back of their cabin door as another way of making the most aof the area.
“It’s an absolute essential,” Ella told anyone interested in a similar career. “You’re going to need to save that space.”
Two whiteboards have also been fitted to the walls detailing the duo’s weekly and monthly schedules, while a small “coffee corner” sits neatly on a further shelving unit that also includes a handful of books. Impressively the room also includes a mini fridge and a cramped en-suite bathroom complete with toilet and shower.
Closing, Ella showed off her “cosy” bed, surrounded by LED lights and Jellycat soft toys with a TV at the foot end “loaded with TV shows and movies” to occupy her spare time.
“I’d be so claustrophobic,” one TikTok user declared in response. A second exclaimed: “You should definitely get your own little cabin even if it’s really small. That’s zero privacy.”
“Did you ever struggle with lack of privacy?” pondered a third. “I’d love this lifestyle but would really need time alone.” And a fourth hit out: “Too small and no window, it would send me mad.”
Ella’s footage clearly left someone in the same profession jealous, however, who declared: “You got lucky! I couldn’t even stand in my room, no storage had to live out my suitcase for nine months just in the middle of the floor.”
While a second added: “My cabin could never. My last cabin mate had zero interest in decor (she was the best roomie though). So only my top bunk walls had any form of life to it.”
