Cruise ship worker explains what she really earns on board and what perks she gets for free

A Royal Caribbean cruise ship worker has revealed how much she earned working for the cruise line while also explaining what she got for free to show just how much it costs to live and work on the boats.

Alley Kerr is a content creator who has worked for Royal Caribbean as a professional dance captain and general manager.

Working on board the cruise line's Liberty of the Seas ship, Alley took to her Wanderlust Alley YouTube channel to give an honest breakdown of what she earns from the job and how it differs depending on whereabouts in the world she is.

As a content creator based around her job, she also explained how that impacts her revenue.

Alley revealed she got paid two rates when working for Royal Caribbean; an 'on land' rate and an 'at sea' rate, with the latter paying a lot more than the prior.

'On land' and 'at sea' cruise ship pay explained

"Staff are probably getting paid more now but I got paid $300 a week. So that ends up being about $1,328 per month which even though you're not paying rent, it's honestly not a lot." Alley said.

"I find that during this time for a lot of dancers especially it's a net loss. Sure, there are ways to budget and everything but grocery stores are not close by, everything is really far away, and then even though you're getting housed it has nothing in it so you end up spending quite a bit on services like food, Ubers, and cleaning supplies."

But she stressed this was 'pretty normal in the entertainment industry' given she was not actually 'doing the job yet' as they waited for the at sea holidays to begin.

Alley was honest about her take home pay (Instagram / @wanderlustalley)

As for when the 'at sea' rate begins, Alley mentioned her base rate which is the only bit of the money she is guaranteed every month.

She said: "As a dancer/vocalist in a Broadway show they're paying for me to know the shows, maintain the shows, rehearse the shows, and then as well as do things like Muster 2.0 [Royal Caribbean safety drills], spotting and dressing for the ice skaters, and then pretty much any other thing that the cruise director would ask us to do in the realm of entertainment."

Alley also revealed that she got paid $3,800 a month for this as her base rate salary while at sea.

Do you think its a good salary? (YouTube / @wanderlustalley)

Extra pay for extra jobs

Alley revealed her pay increased from when she was just a dancer, with the vocalist aspect seeing her land an extra $1,000 a month. On top of this, she got 'supplementary pay' for three things: fly pay, understudy pay, and company manager / dance captain pay.

With fly pay - which is extra cash for being in an aerial dance/performance show - she got an additional $450 a month. Understudy pay is as it sounds, being an understudy for a role in case you're needed to step in - that was an extra $180 a month per role, plus $100 for every show you step in to perform.

However, she notes that this can vary month-to-month.

With the company manager / dance captain's pay, she ensured the show ran as it should, both on the stage and behind the scenes, including admin and HR work. For this, she received $1,200 a month.

All in all, she made about $6,500 a month on this particular cruise contract.

And with Alley taking to YouTube to document her life on cruises and travelling, she said she makes between $1,000 and $5,000 a month extra on top of that in advertising revenue, with her average being around $3,000.

This kind of makes sense, given that so many cruise ship workers are taking to social media to earn a bit more cash.

Cruise ship freebies

As for freebies, Alley said she gets food for free on the ship. Her cabin is also free, as well as utilities alongside that.

Crew members don't have to pay port fees either like guests do in some places, with short excursions also free if you have the time off.

There is also a discounted cruise rate for friends and family, with a $10 a day rate for friends and family staying in her cabin with her.

As for her workplace insurance, Alley said you get full medical coverage on land and 80 percent of your pay if you suffer an injury or turn in health.

All in all, it sounds like a really good deal if you can make it work for yourself like Alley has.