Working Remotely on a Cruise Ship: 11 Tips for the Ultimate Work and Travel Adventure
Working remotely on a cruise ship may seem like a dream come true for digital nomads, but my experience wasn’t as positive as I had hoped. While the scenery and ports of call were breathtaking, the internet access and workspace were often unreliable, making it challenging to stay productive. The constant noise and distractions from other passengers and crew members also made it difficult to concentrate on work when in public areas. Despite the challenges, I learned valuable lessons and tips that can help others make the most of their remote work experience on a cruise ship. By being prepared, flexible, and managing expectations, it is possible to enjoy a productive and enjoyable work and travel experience on a cruise ship.
Here are my tips for remote work on the high seas
- Plan for poor internet. Make sure you have documents downloaded or in offline mode so you can be productive when you can’t be online.
- Avoid streaming and video conferencing. What can you do via chat or email vs. a meeting? If you must meet, aim for earlier in the day when fewer people are online.
- Work early in the morning if possible. The ship is quiet and the bandwidth is better.
- Pack noise-canceling headphones to avoid distractions when working in common areas
- Set clear expectations with your boss, your team, and/or your customers about when you can be reached. If you use a shared calendar, block out the times you are available and not available well before you leave.
- If you are in a different time zone than the home office, set your laptop and your calendar to ship time so you are not constantly doing time math.
- Befriend the internet manager. He or she will know where the best access points are located.
- Check out the restaurants and bars that are not open during the day for a quiet place to work. They are typically quiet and have tables and chairs.
- Consider room service meals if your days are full of interactions with others.
- Plan breaks in your day for lunch and walks – look outside and enjoy the view!
- Find a ship with Starlink if you need streaming and video conferencing all day. This is becoming more common on cruise ships.
Our 15-day Panama Canal cruise on the Norwegian Joy included 7 at-sea cruising days so I thought I could work remotely and not burn up so much vacation time. Here are some specifics about working remotely on the Norwegian Joy.
Wi-Fi Woes
My job requires a lot of team meetings – I am on Zoom at least half of the time. I purchased the premium wi-fi for about $350.00 which promised unlimited access to support streaming. The wi-fi was fine in the early morning hours and on the first few days of the trip, but as people woke up and started using the internet more it would slow down to where it was completely unusable. I had to cancel all of my meetings and work offline toward the end of the trip.
The public areas tend to have better speed than the cabins and there was one particularly funny moment where I was running around the ship up and down the stairs to find reasonable bandwidth for an important meeting. I ended up in the Mojito bar which has some interesting background music for a work setting!
There is an internet cafe aboard the Norwegian Joy where you can get assistance and possibly better access but I could never work there as it was too close to the Atrium bar and was a bit noisy most of the time.
Where to work on the Norwegian Joy
If you don’t need to be connected there are plenty of great options for working on the ship. The cabin is not one of those areas. In our balcony stateroom, the seating was not ideal with only a stool available and the bandwidth was poor.
The Observation Lounge
In addition to the spectacular views, the observation lounge was my go-to place for work. It’s relatively quiet, they have tables, if you look closely you can find USB ports, and coffee is readily available. Arrive early for the best seats as this place fills up.
The District Brewhouse
This fantastic spot does not open until the evening hours so during the day is it super quiet with really comfortable leather seats. It does not have easy access to coffee.
Deck 8 (The Waterfront) Restaurants
The specialty dining venues on deck 8 all have outdoor seating and since they don’t open until dinner are available for anyone during the day. These spots are protected from the sun and were popular work areas for other digital nomads on this trip.
The time zone difference was a challenge
My office is in the Pacific time zone, and most of this trip was on Eastern time. The hours when bandwidth was good were much too early for west coast meetings.
Would I do it again?
There was a lot of downtime on this cruise so having enough time to work wasn’t a problem. The wi-fit and time zone differences made it difficult to interact with the office. Next time I’ll decline all meetings and make sure I am prepared to do some work offline. So, yes, I’d do it again but would be more realistic about what I am actually able to accomplish.
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