Background checks for cruise ship jobs

Dear musicians,

Background checks are one of the items on your list of paperwork to be completed before you embark on a ship.

What seemed to be a sporadic procedure is now pretty much a standard amongst all major cruise lines. For some that means having to sign a consent form, giving authorization to a third party company that specializes in background checks. For others it means getting a police record at your local police station. We will be able to tell you more exactly what to do, once we know which cruise line you’ll be working for.

These background checks have to be fairly recent, so you couldn’t use one you have laying around from several years ago. We get asked fairly often what kinds of entries on your criminal history will prevent you from getting a job. This is, unfortunately, not something we can answer as these decisions are made by the lawyers at the cruise lines.

This information is provided simply to make sure you won’t be surprised later when you’re asked for this background check.