shore excursion staff

Life of Shore Excursions Staff Onboard a Cruise Ship – Job Description and Daily Duties

As some of you may know, I have been working as a Shore Excursions staff onboard Royal Caribbean cruise ships for a few years now, and I wanted to share my experience and cruise job description with you.

I want to tell you about my daily duties as Shore excursion staff and will do my best to give you a description of what we do on daily basis.

Please note that this article describes my personal experience and is not the official company/agency job description . Shore excursion staff job duties vary on the cruise lines.

Purpose of Writing This Article

The main reason I am writing this article is to try to make it easier for all of you who never worked on cruise ships before, and have no clue what a typical day-by-day cruise flow on a ship looks like.

Before I first joined the ship, I remember I was struggling so badly to get to know as many details about my job as possible. I didn’t have anyone to describe it to me and on the internet, I couldn’t find any reliable information. That’s why I decided to make a small contribution to all of you who consider applying for this amazing job.

So, this article might be useful and interesting for you if:

• You want to apply for the Shore Excursions Staff position.
• You are simply curious to take a peek at what typical days onboard cruise ships look like.

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• Working On Cruise Ships: How To Apply For A Cruise Ship Job?

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Shore Excursions Staff – Who Are We?

First, let’s start with the definition of Shore excursion staff.

Shore Excursions Staff (or Shorex staff) is an important job position within the cruise industry that consists of promoting, selling, and dispatching shore excursions/tours in various ports of call worldwide. The staff position is a part of the Shore excursions department whose direct supervisor is the Shore Excursions Manager, assisted by Assistant Shore Excursions Manager.

In the beginning, I’d like to highlight that for a crew member working onboard a cruise ship days of the week commonly known as Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. – Do not exist . Our contracts vary from 2 to 9 months and we work every day.

Yep. You heard it well, no day off.

Very often we forget which date or day it is and start checking it only when our contract is about to finish. Then we start the countdown: two more months, one more month, two more weeks… Then they extend your contract last minute and you realize your home is not as close as you might have hoped. Anyway, that last month is always the longest one.

But let’s get back to the topic. If we don’t have typical days of the week, what do we have then? The answer is – the days of the cruise, commonly referred to as Embarkation Day , Sea Day , Port Day , and Debark Day .

First Day of the Cruise – Embarkation Day

Embarkation day is the first day of the cruise and is usually the busiest one for all cruise departments. Depending on your position on a ship, it can be either a very stressful day full of duties and guest inquiries, or just a chill day when you can go outside for a coffee or shopping.

For Shore excursion staff it can vary. Your assistant manager (who is in charge of making your schedule) can assign you to be “on duty” , which means you are in charge of escorting guests from the previous cruise who decided to go on a tour on the last day.

In homeports (the port where a ship is based and where the cruise itinerary starts and ends) the Shore excursions department usually offers a few tours with airport drop-off (after the tour ends, guests are transferred directly to the airport).

For Shore excursions staff on duty it means they have to wake up early (around 6 or 7 am) to make sure the debark process goes smooth. This usually doesn’t last long, just a couple of hours as guests are well informed about what debarkation procedures to follow. Once you escort guests to their buses, you have some time off before new guests arrive at the ship and you start your regular daily duties.

If you are not a person on duty, you can have a morning off and start later in the day. “Later” can mean 10 am (if you are scheduled to set up the Shore excursions desk which usually opens at that time for new guests coming onboard) or around 1 pm (meaning SHOPPING TIME!! You go outside of the ship and check out shopping malls, or you can just stay in your bed and chill).

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Embarkation day is the day when the Shore excursions desk is open all day , usually until 9 pm. The shore  excursions desk is a sort of customer service desk where we sell tours and handle all guests’ inquiries and issues regarding shore excursions.

On embarkation day when new guests come on board, Shore excursions staff are very proactive and do their best to answer guests’ questions regarding tour bookings or resolve any problems they might have. That’s also the day when most of the guests come to the desk to book a tour, so you have to repeat yourself a lot of time to recommend to guests a tour that suits them.

The first day can get exhausting as you also have to answer questions non-related to tours. Guests don’t know the ship yet, so they can ask you where the toilets are, what the program of the cruise is, where certain venues on the ship are… Sometimes it can consume a lot of your energy so you have to be extremely patient.

Shore excursion staff is sometimes required to help out other departments and participate in their activities on embarkation day.  These are mostly entertainment activities or helping other departments promote their products. Those activities vary from company to company and ship to ship.

Another part is “pax-drill” – a passenger safety drill , mandatory for all guests and some crew before the ship sets sail. Few Shore excursion staff are always required to participate and help out guests to find their muster stations (muster station is the designated place on the ship where you go in case of emergency). The drill requires great crowd-management skills, usually lasts up to one hour, and starts once all guests have embarked on the ship (middle of the day).

Middle of the Cruise: Sea Days vs. Port Days

The following days of the cruise can be split into two categories: sea days and port days.

SEA DAYS are the days when the ship is sailing 24  hours and both guests and crew members stay onboard . When the ship is sailing, all venues on board are open to accommodate guests, which means a lot of hard work for crew members in all departments.

For Shore Excursions, it depends on whether sea day takes place before or after port day.

If it’s before the port day, it means that the entire Shore excursions team will be engaged in promoting and selling the tours and conducting other job-related activities (This also varies from company to company!).

One of them offered by the Royal Caribbean cruise line is my absolute favorite: a Behind-the-scenes tour of the ship , hosted by Shore excursions staff. It is also called the All Access Tour, and it’s a tour of restricted areas of the ship guests can sign up for (crew areas onboard cruise ships are restricted for guests). It is an amazing experience allowing guests to access the Galley, Bridge, Engine Control Room, and other ship venues.

If sea day happens to be after port days, usually the Shore excursions desk is open a few hours per day only (as there are no more tours to sell). That’s the day when the Shore excursions team deals with remaining guest issues or complaints and starts preparing for the following cruise.

PORT DAYS are very active and most interesting days for the Shore Excursions team . At the beginning of the day when the ship arrives in port, we have a tour dispatch, so we are among the first ones to get off the ship. It means that we need to make sure that all guests are properly escorted to their tour meeting point and joined the right tour. Shore excursions team is also there to ensure that the whole dispatch process goes smooth, and when most of the tours are escorted – we are free to go!

We can enjoy some free time for a few hours or join one of the tours with guests – which is the  number ONE advantage of this job !

The shore excursion desk usually opens an hour before all-onboard time (the time when all guests and crew members have to be on board because the ship is about to leave port), which gives us more than enough free time to explore and enjoy the destination. In the late afternoon or evening, we open the Shore Excursions desk for several hours and that’s more or less the end of the working part of the day.

Port Day for Shore Excursions Staff on Duty

These port days sound too perfect to be true, right? Well, for the majority of the Shore excursions team they are because they get a lot of free time to enjoy port. On the other hand, there is always one Shore Excursions staff assigned to be “on duty” when the ship arrives in port (Usually your supervisor is the one who assigns you for duty days and Shore excursions staff rotate, so it’s not that often).

Being on duty means that the staff member is responsible for the management of the whole tour dispatch process and overall paperwork that needs to be dealt with . When you are a person on duty, you are not allowed to go outside of the ship as you need to be available for ship management in case they try to reach you. You communicate with tour operators, tour guides, and keep track of how tours went and if anything went wrong. One of your responsibilities is to wait for all tours to be back and write a daily report.

“On duty” day is long and tiring, there are no other words to describe it. Challenging, sometimes, depending on how the day and tours went. Tour operators have rights reserved to cancel a tour anytime, so if it happens (and it happens a LOT in the Caribbean), you are in problem as you need to explain to the guests and find the alternatives for them. However, it is a part of the job and we quickly get used to it (after some time, it’s not that scary).

Finally, after all of the guests came back from tours and you are done with your paperwork – you are off duty and finished work for that day.

Last Day of the Cruise – The Day Before Debark

This day can also be both a hard and easy-going one, depending on the department you work in.

For the Shore excursions department, this day is usually a relaxed one, as most of the work is done in the office. The team prepares the paperwork for the following cruise : tour tickets for guests who prepaid their tours are being printed and delivered to their staterooms, tour order forms (brochures) printed and stuffed, as well as all necessary letters and other paperwork.

The desk is still open for several hours in case guests have questions or issues. There are still some additional activities to be done but overall, that should be all.

The last day of the cruise is normally an easy-going one for Shore excursion staff. My favorite part of it is going for dinner with the team after we had finished in the office and just chilling in a crew bar with friends. It is usually a quiet night as all crew members are getting ready for the following embarkation day.

The next day is debarkation day for old guests and embarkation for new guests coming on board. We don’t have any free days in between, the ship sails non-stop, so the same the old guests leave the ship we have new ones arriving onboard. On this day, Shore excursions staff can either be “on duty” (I spoke about it in the First Day of Cruise – Embarkation day section) or have a morning off.

As you can see, it’s always dynamic onboard if you take into consideration that cruise ship capacities can be up to 6500 passengers, plus crew members. It’s crowded and busy at all times, never boring and never the same. The main difference lies in the people you meet, places you visit, and the experiences you get.

And whoever says the life on a ship is hard – they speak the truth. Challenging and hard very often, but one of the most rewarding life experiences you can get. There is one sea life quote that crew members like, and that is: “Once you experience the life at sea, the life on land is never the same”. And, I couldn’t agree more.

You May Also Like:

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3 thoughts on “Life of Shore Excursions Staff Onboard a Cruise Ship – Job Description and Daily Duties”

Was quite indepth and helpful… thank you…

Thank you for giving ideas about the life of shore excursion staff onboard. It was very helpful at the entry level, like me. This is one of my dreams: to be a part of Royal Caribbean. May I know where I can apply for this position? I’m trying to look at the different cruiseline websites, but the position is unavailable.

Hello! If the position is unavailable – it means they do not have open positions. I advise you to keep following up until the position is opened. The best is to apply directly on Royal’s website but you can also try through local recruiting agency. Also, you can apply for other cruise companies as well, such as Norwegian, Carnival, Virgin… Good luck, I hope you fulfill your dream!

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A Day in The Life: Shore Excursion Staff (Job Description)

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• Post category: Cruise Ship Jobs / Positions

The shore excursion department is by far one of the best jobs I had while working on a cruise ship. You are essentially the go-to person for everything shore excursion related. You need to know all the features and attractions, and most important excursions, in each and every port of call. One of the main perks, in my opinion, is the ability to try almost every excursion available for FREE.

You are the face of the shore excursion department and passengers trust that you know everything that is to know about the ports of call, even though it might be your first contract onboard and the only route you know is from your cabin to work and the crew mess; perhaps the bar as well; but that’s only if the watertight door is open. If it’s closed, PANIC!

One of the main reasons people go on cruise ships is to explore the ports of call, and they expect you to know everything but how can you know the ports of call if you just started?

In order to gain product knowledge, you will be “required” to go on the most popular excursions first, the ones that the majority of the passengers ask about. Working in the Caribbean? Be prepared to go on sightseeing tours, snorkeling tours, and food-tasting tours. Working on a ship based in Europe? You will most likely have a call in the port of Civitavecchia, where for sure you will “ have to” go to Rome.

After you have been to the most popular excursions first, you can then choose which ones to go after, but that will depend on your schedule and the tour’s time, as well as the discretion of your manager. I can guarantee that working in the excursions department, you will get to travel while getting paid. Getting paid to go on excursions that guests pay a lot of money to go. For many guests, this is once in a lifetime experience, while for you it can be a once-a-week, or cruise, experience.

I had the privilege to visit many awesome places, including the Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii, the Colosseum in Rome, the Pyramids of Egypt, wine tasting at a winery in Tuscany, swimming in the clear blue waters of Bermuda , just to name a few.

All of these places where people spend tons of money to go I went there for FREE and didn’t have to pay a dime because I was part of the best job you can get onboard.

Table of Contents

W hat are the Job Requirements for Shore Excursion Staff?

Sales background.

You definitely need to have some sales background. You will be selling an excursion, a product to the customer but worry not, the selling portion is only part of the equation.

The main reason people come on cruise ships is to travel and see the world, so when you go to sell this product to the customer, they are already inclined to buy it from you. All the sales onboard are warm leads, meaning the customer comes to you seeking information.

Your job is to explain it very well, use your own experiences from the tour, if you have already done this tour, and convince the guest to walk away with not just a tour but a lifetime experience. Guests will often come back to book more excursions if they had a great time on an excursion you recommended.

Customer Service

That goes without saying. Working on a cruise ship is all about the customer experience. Every crew member that’s hired goes to extensive safety and customer service training in the first weeks onboard. The majority of customers will have a great experience on the excursions but you will always have a few that did not enjoy it, had some issues with equipment while on the tour or they will say the guide was “rude” and so on. I could probably write a book on the excuses I heard from guests. They all come to you expecting something, ALWAYS! Most of them want a free cruise because you “ruined” their vacation and the “only reason” they came onboard was to see whatever they didn’t get to see, so be prepared.

When a situation like this occurs, you have to be patient and use your best customer service skills to turn around the situation. A big part of your job will be customer service related and damage control.

Speaking More than One Language

Speaking more than one language can be the decisive factor in getting a position as shore excursion staff. Cruise ships are scattered around the world and visit almost every country in the globe and have an international clientele that speaks many languages. If your ship’s homeport is in Barcelona, expect the majority of the guests to speak Spanish.

The most common languages spoken onboard are German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Russian, Mandarin, and Japanese. Having a second language it’s an essential part of the job but don’t get discouraged if you only speak English. It’s still possible to get a job without it but it will be a little harder and you might only work on ships based in the US market.

If you are a US citizen or green-card holder, you can apply to work for Norwegian Cruise Line on the Pride of America.

Normally the Shore Excursion has its own department, all under the supervision of the hotel director. The department size will depend on the size of the ship and itinerary but you should expect to have a manager and an assistant manager. You can expect your contracts to last between five to six months with normally five to six-week vacation in between contracts. As a rule of thumb, you should expect to have one week off for every month worked.

How the Guests Book the Shore Excursions?

Cruise lines want to make it easy for guests to book excursions and guests have many options to book it, both before and during the cruise. There’s a lot of information on the cruise line’s website, including videos and reviews from past customers.

Guests can book excursions directly on the company’s website or via phone. Guests can call the cruise line’s call center and make reservations. Once booked, tickets are delivered to their stateroom and they don’t even have to see your face unless there’s an issue.

• From their stateroom TV
• From Kiosks around the ship
• From the company’s App, if available.
• By filling out an order form found at the Shore Excursions desk
• By asking their Butler, who in turn will book the excursion.
• By booking directly with you at the Shore Excursion desk.

Some guests already know what they want to see and what they want to do. These are the guests most likely to book either pre-cruise or onboard directly via the app, order form, and with you. They usually don’t ask many questions and know what they want. There are always those guests who have no clue where they are, or where they are going, and then come to you asking all the questions possible. One of the questions I hated to hear was “What’s the best tour?” on a cruise with more than 100 excursions available. It gets tiring explaining the same things over and over.

What Does a Shore Excursion Staff Do?

The job of a shore excursion staff goes beyond just selling excursions. There’s a whole new part of the job that happens behind the scenes. In no particular order, here are some key aspects of the job:

Download and Prepare Tickets

Guests that book their excursions pre-cruise will have their tickets delivered directly to their stateroom once they board the ship. By booking excursions online, the guests can sometimes get a discount if booked well in advance, as well as guaranteeing that they will have a spot on their desired excursion.

The process involves downloading a file sent by Shoreside into the company’s system (Fidelio Cruise for most companies) containing all the excursions booked online or over the phone, pre-cruise. Once downloaded into the system for the next voyage (this step is normally done 2-3 days before the next cruise) you have to print the tickets, place them in designated envelopes and deliver them to the guest’s stateroom at the beginning of the next cruise but before the guests are onboard.

Tour Dispatch

This is a BIG step and a very important part of the job. You can avoid many issues and guest complaints by having a good and organized dispatch.

You will have tour dispatches every day the ship is in port. When the ship arrives in the port of call, shore excursions are one of the first people getting off the ship. Early arrival means an early day for you.

The ship mostly arrives on ports in the morning and normally you are up one hour before the ship docks. One example of an early arrival was when the ship called into the port of Livorno, with a scheduled arrival of 6 am. We had to be up at 5 am to get our stuff ready to be off the ship and to meet the guests at the dispatch location, which was both ashore and inside the ship, normally on the ship’s theater if onboard. The bulk of the tours departing Livorno were mainly to Florence and Cinque Terre, which was about one hour and a half away from Livorno.

The main job during dispatch is to gather all the guests that booked excursions and essentially make sure they get on the right excursion. Some ports are busier than others, so there’s a little short window of time that you need to get the guests from the ship to shore and into the correct excursion, making sure tours are not departing late. Tours dispatches can get very overwhelming and frustrating if not planned properly. The last thing you want is to have guests screaming in your face because they missed or were booked on the wrong excursion.

The only drawback of working in the excursions department is the early mornings. Going out to the crew bar at night sounds fun but not so fun the next morning, when you have to be up at 6 am, ready to deal with the guests. Enjoy the crew bar but don’t hang out too late.

Other Side Duties

There could be additional duties assigned to you besides the job of a shore excursion staff. You could be chosen to participate in the crew welfare committee, Lead a Behind The Scenes tour for the guests, safety committee, or be chosen to randomly interact with guests to collect feedback on their cruise. This will vary from company to company.

What’s a Typical Day Like?

A typical day for the excursion department varies depending on which day of the cruise it is. Forget about the days of the week because once onboard, your calendar will be based on the days of the cruise, such as embarkation, debarkation, sea day, and port day. Instead of saying “Which day of the week it is?” you will be saying “It’s tomorrow sea day or sea day two?.”

I have divided the timeline into four different days that you will experience while onboard.

Embarkation Day

Ah, everyone’s favorite( and not so favorite) day of the cruise. This is the day most crew love to hate. You love it because that’s the day you might get a morning off, not having to wake up early, having a chance to do some shopping at the homeport to buy things you normally can’t get in the ports of call. You hate it because you might have to work debark, turn around, and work embarkation.

Embarkation day is when all the guests come onboard and flock to the excursion desk to book tours. The days are long and you are on your feet the whole time , dealing with the guest’s questions and issues, often repeating yourself constantly, with fewer breaks. It’s one of the busiest days for the Shore Excursions department and the overall ship.

As the name implies, sea day is the day that the ship is sailing 24 hours and you’re basically stuck onboard. Usually, If you have a sea day before the first port of call, expect to be just as long and busy as the embarkation day. The guests are stuck onboard with you and they have nowhere to go. The majority of your bookings will happen on sea days .

The shore excursions desk it’s usually open the whole day the only close for a few hours for an afternoon break. One example when I was working on the Norwegian Escape, the excursions desk hours ranged from nine to two (9 am to 2 pm)  and from five to nine(5 pm to 9 pm). We had rotations starting at 11:30 AM for half an hour lunch break. Besides that, you are essentially on your feet the whole day, answering questions about excursions, selling some tours, and preparing for the next port of call. Some ships have multiple sea days in a row, meaning more work for you.  In theory, more sea days mean more work most of the time.

When the ship docks, the Excursions staff it’s one of the first people off the ship. We have to be up and ready typically one hour before the ship arrives in port, to get ready for the dispatch procedures and make sure there are no issues with cancelations, either due to weather or tour operator issues.  Once all the tours are out and on their way, most of the shore excursion staff will have part of the day off until the desk onboard opens back again. Opening hours will depend on the ship and company. Some open at 6 pm, some earlier. Regardless of opening time, the earlier you finish a tour dispatch, the more time you will have to enjoy the port.

Let’s assume the desk reopens at 5 pm. Once all the tours are dispatched and gone, say by 9 am, you don’t have to come back to the ship to work until 5 pm, giving you a good chunk of time to explore the port, go on excursions, or just go to sleep. There’s always one staff that is assigned an all-day duty.

All Day Duty on Port Days

All-day duty(ADD for short) means that you are working essentially all day while the ship is in port. As part of the shore excursions staff, you are in charge of making sure that all excursions are back, reporting excursions that are late coming back, to notify the excursion’s manager if any issue arises with an excursion, and notify the bridge that all tours are back. You are also in charge of delivering tickets booked onboard via the automated kiosks, the onboard app, or via a dropbox, where guests can fill out a form, requesting a tour to be booked when the desk is closed.

The all-day duty person cannot leave the port area for the whole day. You will be carrying a radio and the all-day duty phone, in case someone from shipboard management needs to get hold of you while the desk is closed.

The all-day duty person is off when the ship set sail. The staff that had part of the day off works at the desk in the evening, while the all-day duty person has the evening off to either enjoy one of the shows offered onboard, have a nice meal at one of the ship’s restaurants, or simply relax and enjoy the time off.

The all-day duty position is assigned on a rotation basis. For example, if you are in a port, let’s use one of my favorites, Naples in Italy, and you have the duty shift, you cannot go out and see Naples but on the next cruise you will most likely not have the ADD duty that day, and will be free to explore the best Naples has to offer, like it’s delicious pizzas!

Last Day of the Cruise

The last day of the cruise is usually not very busy. The only tours left to sell are the debark tours. On this day, you are preparing for the next cruise, making sure that everything is ready for the debark tours and that all tickets booked pre-cruise are ready to be delivered on the next day, which will be the embarkation day. The number of customers coming to the excursion’s desk will be minimal, giving you a much-needed break before the next passengers embark.

Usually, debark days are short because fewer people go on these tours. The dispatch time takes roughly two hours to complete but again, that will depend on which ship and itinerary you are working on.

Debark tours give the guests an option to pick up at a drop-off location either at a predetermined hotel or airport at the end of their tour. The luggage is held on the same bus the guests are on, giving them more time to explore the port instead of worrying about where to store their luggage.

For most companies, the debark time is around 9 AM and by this time everyone must be off the ship. A lot of guests don’t book their flights until later in the day, sometimes late at night, so this is a good option for guests to maximize their time while not being bored at the airport or having to drag their luggage around.

How Much Does a Shore Excursion Staff Make?

Salaries can vary greatly from company to company. Some companies pay better than others, while some companies have better perks and commission structures. Overall, you want to consider the whole package before deciding if a position is right for you.

Below you will find an approximate monthly salary:

Shorex Manager

Between $3,000 – $5,000

Asst Shorex Manager

Between $2,500 – $3,500

Shorex Staff

Between $1,500 – $2,500

The position of Shore Excursion is not a tipped position but It’s not uncommon to receive tips from guests for a job well done. I have many times received tips from guests for lending an extra hand, like getting extra space on a tour when there was no more space available, or just by suggesting an excursion that the guest ended up really having a great time.  

You will have a fixed salary paid monthly but for most companies, you can request a cash advance, paid in the middle of the month for up to 50% of your salary.

Some companies provide a commission structure, while others might not have one in place. The commission structure sometimes can be a bit confusing, like a crazy math calculation created by shoreside and varies from ship to ship and from cruise to cruise, based on last year’s revenue. Sometimes you can work your ass off and not reach the commission target and when that happens, you don’t get a commission.  My recommendation is not to count on the commission and treat it as a surprise bonus that you can spend on the crew bar or ashore at the beach, cafe, etc.

As I mentioned earlier, the commission can vary from company to company and even in the same company, it varies from ship to ship and itinerary. Some itineraries are a gold mine for commissions. Alaska and Europe are ports where the majority of the guests go on excursions, so you have better chances of making a good commission on these ports. To have an idea, during my time at NCL, a typical cruise would bring around $50-$100 a cruise in commission. The most I ever made in commission was $215 on a 7-day Eastern Caribbean cruise.

Cruise ship life is very exciting and visiting awesome locations around the world is just one of the many benefits of working on a cruise ship. If this is your first time going to work on a cruise ship, you might be wondering what you need to pack for a cruise ship contract. This post might just be what you are looking for.

Do We Really Get to Go on Excursions?

You WILL and SHOULD take every opportunity to go on an excursion when time permits. If you are just starting in this position, your manager will most likely focus on sending you on the most popular excursions to get acquainted with the details of it. You will be surprised at how many questions you get from guests that are very specific and only someone that went on that excursion will be able to answer it but once you go on the excursions, you will have a different set of eyes and will be able to answer even the most specific questions.

When you go on an excursion, your first responsibility is to take this opportunity to learn all you can about the specific tour, try to anticipate what guests might ask you about it, and see potential issues that can arise in the future.

Take every chance you can to go and enjoy the tours. That’s why you are here =)

Final Words

Working as a shore excursion staff, you get to see the world. How many people can say that their job is to go on excursions around the world, seeing awesome places while helping someone make a lifelong memory? We don’t sell tours, we sell experiences of a lifetime!

A ship is safe in the harbor but thats not what ships are built for. John A. Shedd

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A Day In The Life Of A Shore Excursions Staff Onboard Cruise Ship

Shore excursions staff is one of the most interesting and dynamic job positions onboard a cruise ship that consists of selling, promoting, and dispatching the shore excursions offered by the cruise line. It is part of the Shore excursions department managed by the Shore excursions manager and assisted by the Assistant shore excursions manager. This department is usually small, consists of 5-15 team members, depending on the class and capacity of a cruise ship. 

I have been working in the Shore excursions department for a few years now, and in this article, I will tell you how a typical day in the life of the Shore excursions staff looks like and what the main advantages and disadvantages of this job are. 

To make the article more clear, I will divide the typical days of the Shore excursions staff into five different parts within a cruise, as the duties are different and vary on daily basis. Those are embarkation day, sea days, port days, port days for a person on duty, and a debark day. 

EMBARKATION DAY

Embarkation day is the first day of each cruise when the guests from the previous cruise leave the ship, and new ones arrive on board on a new cruise. This day is usually a busy and long day for Shore excursions staff as it requires a lot of standing, talking to guests, patience, and mental energy. 

On embarkation day, the shore excursions desk is usually open from 10 am to 9 pm, and our main goal is to promote and sell as many tours as possible. Besides selling, we deal with guest requests and all potential issues: guests want to switch or cancel the tours, they have special requests, etc. On this day, there is a lot of talking involved, and you are expected to know the answers to all guests’ questions and inquires. 

While the Shore excursions staff team members are at the desk (we do rotations, so everyone can have a break), the Shore excursions manager and Assistant manager are normally at the office, dealing with the paperwork.

The day when a ship is sailing is commonly referred to as “sea day”. For crew members in general, it is a hard day because all guests are onboard and almost all venues are open. For the Shore excursions department, it varies. 

At the beginning of a cruise, before port days, we are normally at the desk trying to sell as many tours as possible. After the ports, we have no more tours to sell, but we still have to deal with guest complaints, issues, and other requests. 

If the day before last is a sea day, a part of the team is at the office handling paperwork and preparing for the next voyage. The office part usually consists of printing the tickets for the guests who prepaid their shore excursions, doing changes in the system, stuffing tickets, writing letters to the guests, cleaning the office/desk, etc. 

There are also some other duties to perform, such as helping other departments and participating in their onboard activities. Sea days can be tough at the beginning of the cruise, but by the end of the cruise, they become more easy-going. 

One of the main advantages of the Shore excursions staff position is the chance to join the tours for free when the ship is in port, and get the same experience as guests. That’s why port days are the favorite days of Shore excursions staff.

On port days, approximately an hour before the ship docks, the Shore excursions department organizes a tour dispatch for the guests who are joining the tours. The dispatch is organized either onboard or outside on the pier, depending on the port, and the whole team works together so that everything goes smoothly. The dispatch process is very dynamic, as there are hundreds of guests joining the tours, and sometimes we have to improvise to make it right.

While almost the whole team does the dispatch, there is usually one team member (or more, if needed) at the desk in the morning, who needs to be there for the guests in case they want to book tours last minute. 

The desk closes after the ship docks, and the tour dispatch is done in a couple of hours, after which we are free to go explore the port or join one of the tours. 

Sometimes, we are required to go on specific tours to inspect them, or have a familiarization trip with the rest of the team, organized by a tour operator. Port days are great and we don’t open the desk until an hour before the ship sets sail, which leaves us the whole day to spend in a port. 

In the evening, once everyone is on board, we re-open the desk for a couple of hours, and that’s it for the day.

PORT DAY FOR PERSON ON DUTY

Port days sound too perfect, right? Well, not for the Shore excursions staff who is on duty that day. On port days, there is always one team member in charge of leading the tour dispatch process and he/she is required to stay on board for the whole day in case there are some issues or problems on the tours. 

The person on duty is responsible for the whole dispatch (sometimes there are tours in the afternoon or evening, and a person on duty has to be there to make sure everything goes right) and write the daily report once all the tours are back. Port day for a person on duty is long and exhausting, both physically and mentally, as many issues and changes can occur. 

DEBARK DAY 

Debark day is the last day of the cruise and is the same as embarkation day, as one cruise finishes, and another one starts. 

On debark day, there are always one or two team members on duty, in charge of dispatching debark tours. Debark tours are a few shore excursions organized for guests on the last day of their cruise and consist of a tour followed by an airport drop-off. 

Debark day for the team members on duty is not demanding, it usually takes a couple of hours and the process goes smoothly. The rest of the team starts their day at the desk around 10 am, as I mentioned in the "Embarkation day" part. 

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE JOB

To conclude, being a Shore excursion staff has both positive and negative sides. As the main advantage, I would highlight the opportunity to go on tours for free and enjoy amazing and unique experiences that guests normally pay for. Working in a small team is also one of the advantages, as well as the commission-based salary which motivates us to sell more and do our jobs passionately. 

As for the negative aspects, the contracts of Shore excursions staff are quite long – they vary from 6 to 8 months, which can be challenging sometimes, especially when your contract is reaching the end and you are fed up with everything. We don’t have a day off (like most departments), and sometimes we have to do perform some activities that are not part of our department and our job. That is all I could think of. 

If you are into traveling, have excellent communication skills, and are passionate about selling and promoting tours, this is a job for you! I encourage everyone to try, as the experiences you’ll get happen once in a lifetime. 

If you need more insight into a ship and crew life, or you have other questions, feel free to reach out and check out some of my articles on the topic:

• Working On A Cruise Ship: How To Apply For A Cruise Ship Job?
• 10 Things To Know Before Applying For Cruise Ship Jobs
• New Hire? This Is Your First Day On A Cruise Ship Looks Like

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Staff members may also include: Assistant Shore Excursion Manager, Shore Excursions Associate

One of the specialties of a cruise ship is that it is able to offer its passengers the opportunity to enjoy special tours in the various ports where the ship will stop. Shore Excursion Staff help to promote and sell the various tours that are available.

The Shore Excursions Associate will usually sit at a desk and provide information about the various tours to the passengers. This includes tasks such as:

• Answer questions about the various tour packages.
• Promoting the tours, and seeking to upgrade the sale when one is made.
• Handling and resolving complaints or refunds.
• Use a computer system to regularly create reports.
• Help to train new Staff members.
• Monitor and evaluate the Tour Staff.

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Cruise Ship Shore Excursion Staff

The responsibilities of shore excursion staff are to assist with shore excursions and land tours.

The position is comparable to that of a Junior Assistant Purser and, on some cruise lines the actual title is Junior Assistant Purser: Shore Excursions. Shore excursion staff lead outings off the boat like hiking, backpacking, rafting and other adventure related activities. They also will lead excursions such as shopping depending on the nature of the cruise and the region where they are employed. Excursion staffs are generally trained to safely and educationally lead their specific tour sand many college students find it to be an excellent summer job since the cruising industry is so popular during the summer months.

Office and secretarial skills are required, but no previous experience in tourism is necessary to lead excursions. A good way to find a cruise job of this kind is to take a look at the various seasonal land tour opportunities connected with the cruise lines. Alaska is full of them (many of which are listed in the Tour Guide section of JobMonkey). A large number of cruise staff and shore excursion personnel currently working in the industry got their start on land by working seasonal tours, then moved on to higher paying positions on the ships.

Seasonal land tours are a great way to “get in” with the company without interrupting an education schedule, particularly in Alaska, where ships generally only visit and use land-based tour guides during the summer months. A summer in Alaska can be a great experience. As one guide put it:

“It couldn’t have been a more ideal summer job . I got to work with people from all over the country, live in Juneau, which is one of the most beautiful towns I’ve ever seen, and get paid for the experience! I even got to work as a customer service representative for a week on one of our Columbia River cruises, and next year I hope to get hired as a cruise coordinator on one of our ships.”

Land tour jobs are a great segue to cruise ship shore excursion jobs because the responsibilities are very similar. Cruise ship excursion staff usually enjoy a change of scenery and will specialize in a number of different excursions along the cruise itinerary, while land tour guides stay in one location during their contract.

Shore excursion positions will vary in contract length and in salary. Depending on the cruise line, shore excursion personnel may earn $1,600 – $2,000 a month. Shore excursion managers can expect to make more.

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Shore Excursion Tips You Want to Know Before You Cruise (Booking, Tipping, & More)

Take a cruise and you’re likely looking forward to the port of calls. To be honest, however, the amount of time spent in port is relatively little compared to what is spent on the ship. That means you want to be able to make the most of the time in port you do have.

Enter shore excursions . These are pre-planned tours that you can purchase before your day in port. With one convenient purchase, everything is planned for you, and you get the opportunity to have an experience you just can’t do back home. At the end of your cruise, your excursions very well could be what you remember most about your vacation.

Before you book — especially if you’re a first-time cruiser — there are some things you’ll want to know about these excursions that you may not be familiar with. The following tips can give you a better idea of how to make the most of your adventure.

Not Sure What to Book? Talk to the Professionals

Any cruise line you sail will have a shore excursion desk. This is where you can meet with staff to purchase tickets, but you can also ask them any questions you might have. The staff members here specialize in excursions , and have often done many of them personally. They can speak to exactly what to expect.

If you have questions about a specific excursion or simply want to talk to someone about your options and figure out which is best for you, then be sure to take advantage. You’ll find the open hours for the shore excursion desk in the daily planner for your cruise or just stop by when you pass it walking around the ship.

Book Early for the Most Options

Like anything popular, there can be sell-outs for some of the most interesting shore excursions. If there is something that you have your heart set on doing, then don’t wait to book. The last thing you want is to be excited about a tour and then see that all the spots are filled.

The good news is that if something is sold out early enough then the cruise line can sometimes work with the tour company to add more capacity. Even so, we wouldn’t count on it. Book as early as you can to ensure your spot.

Book Early for Discounts

Another reason to book early? Sometimes you can get a deal on the excursion as well. Cruise lines love to offer discounts on everything from excursions to drink packages if you book them before you get on the ship. The reason is that passengers who book ahead of time usually end up spending more overall on their cruise as the money spent weeks or months before the vacation is “forgotten” by the time they board.

Even so, it’s hard to pass up a deal when you see it. Discounts will vary, but many times it’s easy to save 10% just by booking before the cruise instead of onboard.

Keep an Eye on What’s Available up to the Last Minute

So say that you have your heart set on one excursion and it’s sold out. You might be out of luck, but we’d suggest based on personal experience to keep checking regularly if there is an opening… right up until the tour’s start time.

Cruise lines offer apps where you can explore and book excursions. If they are booked up, they will show as unavailable. We’ve noticed that sometimes you can check and spots will open up, whether due to cancellations or more capacity being added. In fact, on one trip we were able to snag an open spot on a previously sold-out excursion just 45 minutes before the start time.

Tip Your Tour Guide

Tips and gratuities are common in the tourism industry and that’s no different on a cruise. You’re expected to pay a daily gratuity charge on the ship , you’ll see an extra charge for any drinks you buy onboard or spa packages, and yes, you should also tip your tour guide on the excursion.

At the end of the tour as you’re arriving back at the ship, there will usually be a little “wrap up ” speech from the guide. They will thank you for coming, ask you to review them positively if you enjoyed the day, and also mention that tips are appreciated. In general we like to tip between $10-20, depending on how many people are in our group.

Factor in Price Per Hour

How do you know if you’re getting a good deal on an excursion? One way is to consider the price per hour on the trip. When exploring excursions, you’ll see the price but also the approximate time of the tour. That means you can see how much you’re paying per hour.

It’s not the end-all, be-all of what’s a deal. After all, a one hour jet-boat ride is likely to be more expensive than a three-hour trip to a beach. Still, if you want to get the most value, then figuring out how long of a tour you’ll get compared to what you’ll pay is a good metric. Just be sure you’re factoring in the uniqueness and any other extras (food, drinks, etc.) and don’t just pick solely based on this metric.

Limit to One Port to Save

If money were no object, then having a shore excursion booked for every port would be ideal. But the prices can quickly add up. Consider two people booking a $100 per person excursion in three different ports on the cruise. That’s $600 in tours. For some people, that’s no problem. For others, it’s a bit rich.

Our advice? We always suggest booking at least one excursion on a cruise as they are definite highlights of the trip. But more than that should be at your discretion. Don’t want to spend the money? Then it’s fine to do something else in port. Don’t mind the extra cost? Then by all means book more tours.

Consider Ages and Exertion Levels

Each shore excursion description will mention some things like age suggestions (or sometimes age requirements) and exertion levels.

If you have mobility issues or are traveling with small kids, you want to pay attention to these notices, which sometimes can be harder to find depending on where you look. The last thing you want to do is book an excursion that you’re excited about only to find that it’s something more than you — or someone you’re traveling with — can handle.

If you have any doubt, it’s a good idea to check with the shore excursion desk. They can give you an opinion on how strenuous or age appropriate specific tours will be.

Look For Things You Can’t Do in Other Ports

One of our favorite things about excursions is that they give you the ability to do things you just can’t do back home. While you can swim in cenotes in Mexico, you can’t do that in Missouri. Take advantage.

This includes things that you might do somewhere else on your cruise. For example, if you’re sailing to a cruise line’s private island where you can spend all day on the beach for free, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to book a beach-focused excursion the day before for a charge.

Factor in Transportation, Food, and Drink

All excursions will include your transportation to and from the cruise ship. Some — especially beach-focused trips in the Caribbean — will also include things like food and free drinks during the trip.

When you gauge the value of these tours, you definitely want to factor in these costs to compare the tour versus a day on your own. For instance, if you’re paying $70 for an excursion that includes a trip to the beach with food and drink, it could be that you’re paying only a fraction of that for the actual tour portion given the costs you’d have to pay anyway to eat and get back and forth.

You Can Switch or Refund Tours

If worries about changing your mind are keeping you from snagging a spot on a tour, don’t let that hinder you. Cruise lines are actually fairly lenient on switching or canceling excursions.

If you decide you change your mind on a particular tour, then just cancel it or you can talk to the excursion desk to switch things over to another excursion.

For example, Royal Caribbean says on its website that “ excursions can be modified or canceled up to 48 hours prior to port arrival without penalty.”  There is the same timeline for exchanging one excursion for another.

Carnival says “in the event of a cruise booking cancellation within the cut-off window, a full refund will automatically be posted to the form of payment used to pay for the order.”

Just don’t wait until the last minute to make changes.

More on Shore Excursions:

• Worth It? 15 Shore Excursion Questions & Answers

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One dead, 11 others injured after shuttle bus plows into group near Honolulu cruise port

H ONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - One person is dead, and 11 others were injured Friday when a shuttle bus driver dropping off passengers near a Honolulu cruise ship terminal hit the gas instead of the brake, pinning several people against concrete barriers, first responders said.

Honolulu EMS said 68-year-old Dianna Cricelli from Pocahontas, Illinois, was taken to a hospital in critical condition, and police traffic investigators confirmed she later died. There were four others who were seriously injured: Her husband Frank Cricelli, 66, a 67-year-old woman, a 55-year-old woman, and a 58-year-old man.

Diana’s husband, Frank, said, “The family is mourning the loss of Dianna. They are asking for privacy during this difficult time.”

The Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii said the four others who were seriously injured are also from Illinois and that they are being offered assistance.

Additionally, a man in his 70s was taken to the hospital in stable condition while six other adults, ranging in age from their 40s to their 70s, suffered minor injuries and declined transport.

Multiple EMS units with paramedics and EMTs responded to the scene at Pier 2 about 10:20 a.m.

Honolulu police said the incident happened in a private parking lot when a 57-year-old driver dropping people off and picking others up was notified that his vehicle was moving forward. He jumped into the driver’s seat to stop it, but pressed the gas pedal instead of the brakes.

Florida ER nurse Janet Lightfoot, on a cruise with her mom, jumped into action to help.

The two had just disembarked Friday morning and were waiting for a shuttle to go shopping when they saw a bus with a Hilo Hatties logo heading toward a crowd of people.

“Somebody screamed, and then I looked over and the bus hit into the crowd,” she said.

“It just kept going until it hit the wall there. Big cement block was pushed out and the bus hit into the wall. I ran over and kind of started triaging people and trying to help.”

Lightfoot said she’s accustomed to seeing traumatic injuries, but “this is just different.”

“We’re on vacation. The husband of one of the family members was there and just sad.”

Bystanders said the chaotic scene unfolded in seconds.

“It was shocking,” said witness Mike Frost.

Added Linda Reck, also visiting from Florida, “It just kept going and and my daughter yells out, ‘There’s nobody driving the bus.’ And then poof, it hits the wall.”

Honolulu police said it’s unknown if drugs or alcohol are factors in the crash.

Carnival Miracle issued the following statement about the incident:

Nine Carnival Miracle guests were hit by a shuttle bus in the transportation area outside the Honolulu cruise terminal on Friday morning, April 12. Sadly, one guest has died from her injuries. She was traveling with her husband, who was also injured and is expected to recover. Members of the Carnival Care Team are assisting the guests. Our thoughts are with the guests affected and their loved ones. Carnival Miracle is on a 15-day Carnival Journeys sailing that departed Long Beach, Calif. on April 6.

This story will be updated.