You're probably already aware of the fabulous benefits of working onboard a luxury cruise ship. After all thousands of people have already discovered that it's a great way to get paid to travel the world for several months at a time - without the hassle, expense and danger of doing it alone. Not only that, you'll get to meet new people and make amazing friends of all nationalities while enjoy possibly the most highly satisfying and life-changing experience you'll ever have!

But did you know that there are actually certain times of the year when you have a better chance of getting a cruise ship job? Before I tell you when they are, let me let you into another, perhaps more important secret:

There is NEVER a ?perfect? time to apply for a cruise ship job!

What?! Am I contradicting myself?

Not really. You see, cruise liners operate all year round. That's 365 days a year and 24 hours a day. And they recruit staff all year round too. So for this reason you can see that ANY time of the year is a good time to apply. The most important thing is to JUST GET STARTED!

You see if you wait around for the ?perfect time? it will never arrive. This is called procrastination and is the death of dream jobs! So do it now - even if you're not quite ready to go right this moment, you can at least begin the simple application process, while getting a good ?feel? for the industry. When you are ready to ?up and go? you'll have done all the hard work so that getting a cruise ship job at the right time will be a snap!

Just please don't make any excuses about the time ?not being quite right?. I've heard it all before from friends and colleagues who wanted to do it...but always had a *better* excuse for NOT doing it!

Right let's get back to our discussion. The best times to apply for such a job are the months leading up to Christmas. Why?

For three main reasons:

1. It's an extremely busy time of year. Most ships are fully booked during the winter months and they have to ensure that they are fully staffed in all departments.

2. A lot of experienced crew sign-off to be home with their family for Christmas. In fact many of them actually time their contracts to end just before Christmas!

3. The ?world cruises? begin in January through to the end of March, so it's important for the ships to be fully staffed and prepared. And of course, this also gives you a good chance of getting on a world cruise for your first ship!

For these three reasons alone, a great time to start applying is from September onwards. But keep in mind my previous comments. If you're reading this in January then don't sit around waiting for Christmas to come! Start applying right now.

The second best time to apply are the months before the peak summer season (May to July). Not quite as many crew sign-off for the summer as they do for Christmas but the ships are often fully booked. And once you've worked on a cruise ship experiencing glorious weather most of the time, you tend to get a bit of a phobia for the cold and dread going home in the winter months.

It's much better to arrive home during the mid-summer months when you can show off your nice golden suntan! And this is what many crew members do.

The most important thing for you to learn from this article is that cruise line companies operate ALL YEAR ROUND from January to December. Sure, there are certain periods of the year when they tend to hire MORE people MORE often ? (e.g. Christmas and summer, as mentioned) - but in general, it's always a constant steady stream of new people being hired: week in, week out.

So if you're the type of person that aspires to a bit more in life...if you want travel, adventure and romance! And you want to meet people and make friends from all around the world...if you want to visit unique, exotic islands that few people ever get to see and enjoy amazing life experiences...but most importantly you're someone who is prepared to work hard and play hard - then get started right NOW ? you won't regret it!