CRUISE DIRECTOR
Education And Training
Cruise directors have to be focused on customer service. They need to be creative, organized, energetic, flexible, and, most of all, friendly. You can't take a class to become any of those things. There are things you can do to prepare for a career as a cruise director, though. Take public speaking classes so that you become comfortable talking in front of groups. Help plan a school trip so that you can find out what scheduling and leading groups of people involves. Learning a foreign language can also be helpful.
Do research on what cruise ships are like and what kinds of jobs are available. Try talking to travel agents or people who have worked on ships. Read travel magazines or the travel section of the newspaper. That way you can find out if a cruise line is adding a new ship and will need to hire new people.
You can also consider going to a travel school. The American Society of Travel Agents lists travel schools on their Web site (http://www.astanet.com). There are many travel programs around the country. Some of them specialize in training people for cruise ship jobs.
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