On a cruise ship, the photographers are classified as "staff". Alongside other staff members are those shoppies (those working in shops), casino staff, youth staff, spa hostesses. Others are the uniformed officers (the highest rank in the hierarchy) and also crew (cleaners, kitchen cooks, waiters etc)
And sadly, amongst all the staff onboard, the photographers are treated the worst; both in terms of time off and pay. The photographer's pay is almost the same as the room attendants/utility cleaners, who also roughly receive a monthly salary of around USD700. Photographers do get slightly "more" at times because of the commission. However please keep this in mind. IMAGE is a concessionaire, which means the photographers are sent to different ships. IMAGE has lost a lot of contracts and right now, as of September 2015, the remaining cruise lines they still work with are:
Disney Cruise Line
Royal Carribean
Celebrity Cruises
MSC (They got this new one after losing their contract with Cunard)
Some cruise lines, like DCL has more people taking pictures thus photographers onboard these vessels earn slightly more compared to, say those working onboard a Celebrity ship, where the demographics are a more matured crowd (eg. retirees who think "they are too old/ugly for a photograph"). On a Celebrity ship, a photographer roughly earns around USD800 (commission included) whereas on a Disney ship, it is USD1000 (commission included).
But this is just the old figures. As of 2015, IMAGE has changed its pay structure again and thus it resulted a large wave of senior photographers leaving/resigning.
True. Those who have been on ships for a few contracts have learned enough about various job positions onboard and thus it is easy for them to switch to another position and work directly with the cruise lines for more money and better treatment.
Enough about the paycheck. So if you're considering a job onboard as an IMAGE photographer, I'd suggest you to think again. Perhaps you've already consulted a few former photogs and you were already WARNED about the hardship of this job. But what exactly is the hardship? How hard is that?
-Long hours (But with all other positions onboard, it's long hours. Cruise ship jobs aren't 9-5)
-Carry a lot of heavy tools (This is not something everyone can stand. Can do serious damage to your health; sadly, if the damage starts to surface after you left ships, the insurance cannot cover that and you have to pay from your own pocket. The insurance only covers your injury whilst onboard and that has to be a work-related injury)
-Wear costumes. You have to be a "teddy bear" under the hot Caribbean sun for a minimum of four hours. If you don't take enough number of photographs your manager assigned you, you're put out there again. Sometimes if you're Scandinavia in a sailor's costume or pirate's costume, you have to withstand the coldness as well for hours.
-No dinner breaks on certain nights. Yes, you cannot have dinner on some nights because the photo studio gets busy with long lines and you're not allowed to eat.
The above is just a short summary. There are a lot of malpractices onboard.
And finally I'd talk a bit about the management. IMAGE promotes from within, thus all the managers leading the photo team were once photographers themselves.
-Sexual harrassment is common
-Verbal and physical harrassement are common (I have encountered this and left a permanent scar on my face as a result)
-Violate the international maritime law; they let the photographers work overtime without compensation. Since there is not overtime pay at IMAGE, the managers fake all the clock in/clock out data and modify it; then they ask the photographers to "Sign and agree" on the paper and present that modified timesheet back to the onboard HR and shoreside HR.
The shoreside HR at Image's head office is also very inefficient and evil. They neglect those who are really in need. Since the photographers are NOT PAID during vacation, it sometimes takes an amazing 10-12 months before they can schedule them back to work. And finally, when I filed in my complaints to the HR office in Miami, they threatened me to keep my mouth shut and stop talking about everything ever, again.
Because they are missing their revenue targets and also talents who work for them for years, they are PANICKING now and being very aggressive to people who send them a feedback of what is really happening below the decks.
They don't listen. And they won't. So the best is to just apply directly to the cruise line for other positions. For videographers you may consider taking up a role in broadcasting. For photographers with graphic design skills, consider a position as printer or desktop publisher or art auctioneer. For sales manager you may consider a position with shops/jewelry/art auctioneer/trunk show host and for senior managers who have revenue managing experience, Royal Caribbean/Celebrity Cruises/Norwegian Cruise Line offer onboard marketing/marketing & revenue manager.
