ex crew or current crew experiences.important things to know?

Answer 1

Buy plenty of crackers (for any motion sickness you might have-they settle your stomach) and coffee (depends on how many hours you'll work per day AND coffee is good for staying awake during any unplanned emergencies). Make sure you know shipboard firefighting and shoring techniques in case of leaks. You might need to test that knowledge someday. No one expected that the Titanic would sink. No one realized just how bad a shipboard fire can get without training the crew in shipboard firefighting (different from fighting fires on land) until the USS Forestal (aka USS Forest Fire) went up in flames. I've never been on a cruise ship, but...