Cruise ship crews reveal the craziest things that happen on board

For those who actually work on these hotels of the sea, the story is very different.

In a recent Reddit thread, cruise ship employees have revealed what it's really like to live and work at sea for months at a time.

The hours are LONG:

Let’s face it, there is nowhere else for the staff to go right?

“The best way I could describe it is this: Work hard, play hard, work harder, play harder, die a little and do that cycle for almost a year” says user Shynxie.

A user named teddersman wrote: 'Crew members are super hard working and work weeks are 70 hours a week without a single day off for 6-8 months at a time.

RELATED: 5 common cruising misconceptions debunked by a first time cruiser

RELATED: The Gen Y guide to cruising

But they party just as hard it seems…

Employees have access to cheap booze from the crew bar or event discounts at certain bars or restaurants on land.

Reddit user heapsgoods wrote: 'There is a crew only bar, and beers are $1.50. Some ships have a crew only hot tub.'

They have some serious stamina!

“We had a saying ‘Every night is a Friday night and every morning is a Monday morning. Every day is ground hogs day,'” says rmmyyz.

According to Pixielix : “We actually have more fun than the guests. Sure we’ll work the big white hot party that you’re all going to, but once we finish our shift all hell is breaking loose in the crew bar.”

That being said, if you do want some downtime, privacy is hard to come by.

User Seastar321, who worked on cruise ships for five years, described the joy of sharing a room with colleagues and working alongside them all day.

They wrote: “Long working hours, very small shared cabin with walls thinner than paper so you can hear everything your neighbours are doing.'”

User too-tsunami added: “Think of a time you did something embarrassing while drunk at a bar. Now imagine having to see every single person who saw you do that embarrassing drunk thing, every day for months & months. That's what ship life is like.”

Several crew members wrote on the thread that the food served to crew is “almost inedible” or “really bad”.

Workers also said they had limited options or had to eat food they weren't used to.

A user named too-tsunami wrote: “Food is provided, but the two most common ethnicities on my ship were the Philippines and India, so the crew cafeteria was usually full of food I wasn't used to, like pigtail stew & fish heads. I ate a lot of salad & mashed potatoes on my contracts.”

RELATED: The 12 best cruise ports as voted by ship Captains

It can be the dream job for some…

“In 5 years on cruise ships I literally travelled the world. I went to Europe, Canada, North, South and Central America, including Alaska and Hawaii, Asia, including China, Japan, and India, and Africa. I basically visited every continent except Antarctica, and went to over 75 countries. I took a sled dog ride in Alaska, white water rafting along a river through the jungles of Costa Rica, visited Alcatraz, and had an authentic curry in Mumbai,” wrote Seastar321.

But not everyone feels they get to experience it properly:

TickleMafia said “Seeing the world for free is absolutely awesome. I’ve seen every continent but Antarctica […] But… You don’t get more than a taste of the ports you stop in, and it almost never feels authentic. About a third of the time in port you have to spend on the ship as a job requirement, and very often you are required to work during the ports even when nearly all the passengers are onshore. You always have to watch the clock to make sure you get back to the ship on time. Usually you get about four hours at a given stop. Which just isn’t enough to get to know a place. A lot of the crew doesn’t even bother with the ports (once they have stopped at them 20 or 30 times), and spends most of their time in coffee shops using their WiFi.”

Want more Travel news? Follow Be Travel on Facebook, Twitter,Pinterest and Instagram.