Cruise ship worker who revealed 2025 payslip shares unique way all members get their salary
A cruise ship worker who revealed his payslip and how much he earns while on board the vessel explained the unique way he and his colleagues get their salary.
In most jobs you get a regular payslip and just kind of expect that the money is deposited in your bank account when it ought to be.
However, for Royal Caribbean crew member Chris Wong the process is a little different.
Chris explained that instead of just being paid his salary into his own account, he got a 'salary at sea' bank account which Royal Caribbean employees have created on their first day on the job.
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That's where the money goes every two weeks for Chris, who works as a casino host on board a cruise ship and has been in the business since 2013 so he certainly knows what he's doing.
How much is he paid by Royal Caribbean?
The cruise ship casino host and YouTuber showed his payslip from January, or rather both of them since he explained that Royal Caribbean employees get paid every two weeks.
Chris revealed that in the month of January his 'salary at sea' account got topped up to the tune of $2,890.21 in the first couple of weeks and $1,450.09 in the two afterwards.
So that was $4,340.30 (£3,195.36) for the month, which seems like a pretty good deal and Chris said it felt 'just insane' as he was able to save a lot of money.
Crucially he doesn't have to pay for some of the major overheads like rent that gobble up a big portion of the payslip.
Why does his pay keep changing?
Chris said it was a fair question to wonder why the first payslip had him being paid almost double for the first couple of weeks in January compared to the second fortnight.
The cruise ship worker explained that he couldn't go into all of the details as it was 'confidential', but he could lay out why.
"It's a combination of commission and tips and a whole bunch of other things," the casino host said.
"Depending on which ship you're on it's actually going to be a big factor in how much money you are realistically going to make.
"Whether it's a large ship, a small ship and depending on where it is in the world is also going to have a huge impact on this."
Chris explained that at the time he was filming the video he was on board a vessel called Quantum of the Seas on a trip around Australia, but the most lucrative ones he'd found were around the US and the Caribbean.
He said that you'd normally get 'just a little bit higher' commission and tips on those routes and that back when he was an assistant casino host on Icon of the Seas (the world's biggest cruise ship), his salary was actually higher than him having a more senior role on a different ship.
At one point on the US routes, he revealed that his highest monthly salary was around $5,000 when he was an assistant.
What is Royal Caribbean's salary at sea card?
It's the thing Royal Caribbean workers use to access the funds in the bank account set up for their pay.
Chris explained that staff got a bank account 'for the sole purpose of Royal Caribbean paying our salary', and the account was based in the US.
There weren't any restrictions on how he could use the money, but it went into a new account and the 'salary at sea' card was how he could spend it.
"I am free to do with it, whatever I want," Chris said.
"I can put this card into an ATM, draw out the money, I can use this as a debit card and just go shopping, spend it wherever I like, the restaurants, the shops.
"This is where my money goes to, so Royal Caribbean don't pay you into your own home bank account, they give you what is called a salary at sea bank account."
Topics: Cruise Ship, Royal Caribbean, Travel, Money, Jobs
Joe Harker