i went on a mini cruise once to learn about and get a feel for the hospitality and catering they have.
shortly after that, maybe a year or two afterwards, i applied to P&O Cruises for a job as a chef aboard one of their cruise ships.
some recruitment agency contacted me back and arranged for me to attend an interview at P&O headquarters in Southampton UK. i took the train there the day before the interview and stayed overnight in a hotel.
the interview turned out to be more of an open day where several of us had the privilege to attend. first was an introductory meeting where they told us all about the company, all about the job specifics etc. then our group got paid taxis to go to, and board, the Aurora cruise ship that was docked in southampton that morning
once arrived at the port, they took our passports, gave us identity badges, and boarded the Aurora for a tour of the entire ship. this was the best part of the day.
we had the ship to ourselves, there was no customers on board, only staff and contractors. i got shown round every restaurant, the top deck swimming pool, and the numerous top-to-bottom stainless steel Galleys.
the open day concluded with a job interview, after two hours sat in the ships movie theatre waiting for my turn to be interviewed, i got to meet and speak with the head chef of the Aurora.
a few days later i got a callback from my welsh contact to inform me that unfortunately i didn't get the job position. just the opportunity to go there though, and have a guided tour of the Aurora was enough for me, and made my trip worthwhile. i wasn't bothered that i didn't get the job i had applied for because the hours of work they were proposing were ridiculous. they were handing out 6 month contracts working 7 days a week with one afternoon off. i even complained that those type of hours are against Working Time Regulations set out by law here in the UK, but they seem to have a different agenda offshore with regards to working time regulations. i probably wouldn't have accepted the job on account of the amount of hours anyway.
Aurora cruise review & photos
