Cruise ship worker reveals what crew members are given for meals and it's got people shocked

One of the biggest perks of working on a cruise ship is the freebies, according to those who take up the jobs.

For the ordinary passenger, it usually costs you thousands to truly enjoy everything a cruise ship has to offer.

But for those heading on board for work, a lot of what you'd have to pay for as a customer comes with the job.

Accommodation? Free with the job. Food? Also free, it you stick to the crew mess. Not everything comes without a cost, mind, with some left open-mouthed at the cost of one particular expense.

One cruise ship worker, Bryan James, is currently travelling on board Royal Caribbean's Odyssey of the Seas and regularly takes to TikTok to share updates on life while working on a cruise ship.

He's on Odyssey for six months in total, where he is performing as a solo guitarist to entertain guests - of which there are more than 4,000. Quite the crowd.

As part of his social media journey, he's recently shown off exactly what food crew members get in the crew mess.

For a start, it's free, so any minor complaints automatically have an acceptable rebuttal.

But hold the complaints because it actually looks... good?

Showing off what there is on offer at lunch time for staff members, Bryan says: "Here's what a typical lunch looks like for crew members on cruise ships. It's actually pretty good.

"Number one: rice. Every single meal - breakfast, lunch and dinner - rice.

"And in the mornings for breakfast, fried rice [thumbs up].

"Secondly, you're always going to find a salad bar. And it's a very typical salad bar.

"It's really similar to what you'd find at a Pizza Hut or something.

"And then on every single ship you're always going to have Indian food. And then of course Filipino dishes because the majority of workers on cruise ships are Filipino.

"On Royal Caribbean ships you're always going to get two choices for soups. This one [picking up a ladle in the soup] actually looks pretty good but I didn't eat it, maybe next time.

"And then every so often you see items that you've just never seen before like boiled yucca - which looks very yucca to me. No I'm just kidding it looks delicious.

"This ship is a lot smaller than my last ship and so we just have two little seating areas. It can get pretty packed during the lunch hour but that is only like a 20 minute rush.

"So if you don't have to eat at that very specific time then you can kind of avoid all the craziness."

Bryan also showed off a Valentine's Day spread that was put on for 14 February, full of fresh fruit and a giant cake in the shape of a heart.

Some of the dishes shown off by the cruise ship worker was a Dahi Kadhi curry, Filipino dish Bistek Taalog, pepper pot soup, boiled yucca and bean stew.

Viewers of Bryan's video were shocked at just how good the food looked.

"Honestly would prefer the crew mess to the passenger buffet if I were cruising," one TikTok user wrote.

Another said: "This is actually pretty decent. I've been told something much worse, more like a prison food. Did they just exaggerate things up?"

A third added: "It looks pretty damn good to me."

And a fourth wrote: "Thanks for sharing this, it looks delicious."