Cruise Condom Outrage

After four years working at sea, I can verify that the lifestyle of employees is completely outside that of what most Americans have experienced. Reading the article on Cruise Bruise that judged so harshly the treatment of crew by the various lines had me quite upset. Their article was designed to be an expose of crew abuse and ship practices that are predatory in nature, but I found it very misleading indeed. Having lived through the outrages they speak of, and been suitably annoyed and even screwed by the cruise lines, I still speak very highly of them. There is a reason for this that articles stating bald statistics will never understand.

http://www.cruisebruise.com/Carnival_Crew_Tells_All.html

Certain subjects this article covered are obvious, universal business practices, such as pushing alcohol sales on a Carnival fun ship and offering financial incentives to employees who sell the most. The article is accusatory in tone about this practice, which is common in any restaurant in the States. They claim it creates an atmosphere where drunken guests can become belligerent and have every right to, because they were made drunk against their own will and by design. That's like suing McDonald's for making you fat. Doesn't anyone take responsibility for their own actions nowadays?

But the section that really infuriated me was on the fourth page of this posting (which will have a link below). It refers to a young man who shyly purchases condoms on a ship, only to find out the crew gets them for free. The moralist tone was palpable and I think completely misses the many, many reasons for this practice. This is nothing like disbursing condoms in schools, my friend, these are all legal adults who traveled thousands of miles, if not tens of thousands, from home in order to do this work. The atmosphere of a cruise ship is not unlike that of a dormitory at a university, but with a few added boosts to amplify it.

A vast majority of the crew are young, attractive, and fit. These are prerequisite for most positions on a cruise ship. But far more so, they are in an environment where many are exploring their personal freedom for the first time in ways they never would have dreamed possible back home. This is a key ingredient to understanding ship life that most Americans cannot relate to.

Because most crew hail from second and third world nations, this means widely varying levels of equality for women and social accountability for men. In my four years working on cruise ships, I met hundreds of women who marveled at being able to ‘play’ in the same manner that is, quite frankly, accepted from men all over the world. This does not necessarily mean sexual promiscuity, but it sure can include it. Men and women alike are literally thousands of miles from home and the judgment of their society, family, or peers. Relationships are very hard to keep on a ship where crew is exchanged weekly, and in such a cold environment any warmth is preferable to none. Certainly sex is easier to come by than true friendship.

Adding to the mix is another prerequisite for working on cruise ships: everyone is squeaky clean. Knowing that the likely worst consequence of promiscuity is an unexpected pregnancy, many crew play around. Cruise lines invest large sums of money taking care of their crew, and part of that responsibility means keeping their employees happy, healthy, and here. Pregnancies invariably mean signing off, which disappoints all. Further, what is the likely outcome of an unwanted pregnancy between, say, a Lithuanian and an Indonesian who will both be returning to their separate countries in a few months? Cruise lines take great care of their employees, but it is impractical and inappropriate for them to force a particular set of morals on them.

While I applaud the work of Cruise Bruise website, it should all be taken with a grain of salt because bald statistics do absolutely nothing to understand how some of these situations come about. The link to the article in question is below.

http://www.cruisebruise.com/Carnival_Crew_Tells_All.html