River cruising has experienced incredible growth over the past few years which means the opportunities for jobs in this segment of the cruise market is positive. Popular cruise itineraries include Europe’s waterways, China’s Yangtze, the Nile in Egypt, as well as the rivers of North America.
There are plenty of differences when comparing ocean cruising to river cruising. The obvious is the size of the ships and their crew. For example, in Europe, most river boats are long and narrow in order to fit under bridges. The size of a river vessel varies, but typically, there are fewer than 190 passengers on board and the number of crew rarely exceeds 50.
The hiring and management of the crew and officers onboard a river cruise vessel varies with each company. Some river cruise companies use their own HR department while other companies use crew management companies to staff their ships.
For a current list of the major river cruise companies throughout the world, check out Directory of River Cruise Jobs.
Updated: August 14, 2020