Cruise Ship Compensation Data: Salaries, Wages & Gratuities

In 2024, Spinnaker launched a salary benchmarking survey for hotel staff on board cruise ships. These reports provide monthly salary data covering fixed cash and total compensation. The cruise reports also include the daily wage cost information for deck and engine positions on board cruise ships.

The cruise salary survey methodology

Spinnaker’s annual seafarer salary reports are made up of salary, bonus and gratuity data from cruise companies worldwide.

These companies provide Spinnaker with anonymised salary data for all their hotel staff on board cruise ship.

The reports capture all guaranteed pay, bonuses and gratuities, whilst taking rotation patterns into consideration.

Participants in the wage cost survey become members of the Cruise Plus Association who in addition to the reports for hotel staff also receive the wage cost reports for deck & engine positions.

Cruise salary reports are available annually from 1^st August.

What is included in the cruise salary reports?

• 50 hotel specific ranks. Including activity & entertainment, admin, food & beverage, hotel administration, housekeeping, marketing/PR, medical, purser and reservations/sales.
• Data representing 60,000 cruise staff.
• 60 nationalities including American, British, Ukrainian and Danish.
• 2 reports – fixed cash and total compensation.
• Reports are personalised for each member which allows the client to make a direct comparison between their data and that of the market.

Who would benefit from the cruise salary reports?

Cruise companies and shipmanagers operating cruise ships would benefit from the report.