Joshua Kinser

I have been on numerous cruises on numerous cruise lines and made many friends among the various crews. So I was interested to see how the crew members in Mr. Kinser's book see life aboard ship. While I already knew that crew cabins and crew areas are not like the ones we passengers luxuriate in, I was also surprised to learn some the lingo the crew members use. If you want to know what "red alert" means you must read the book - I won't give it away.

The author covers five years of working on board various ships and I was laughing out loud at the descriptions of what some cruise ships try to pass of as decor, reference the Kitty Lounge in this book. Descriptions of food served to the crew is fairly accurate although I have personally heard it isn't as bad as the author would have you believe. But now I know why some of the crew have asked me to smuggle them something from the passenger buffet.

Although six months might not seem long, when they are spent working on a ship they can be the source of cabin fever (or something similar). The fun descriptions carried the book for me and although I also believe a published work can be an author's voice when speaking for the downtrodden (crew), I felt as though it detracted a bit from a 'light-hearted' book.

This book would be a perfect gift for the cruiser in your life.… (més)