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Coast to coast on a C-note | page 1, 2
Get a copy of the book "How to Get a Job With a Cruise Line: How to Sail Around the World on Luxury Cruise Ships and Get Paid for It," by Mary Fallon Miller (Ticket to Adventure Inc., 4th edition 1997). Besides describing the main cruise lines and how to contact them, it tells you which job vacancies are filled directly by the line and which are filled by concessionaires. The book steers you in the right direction for each. The manual also profiles the crew makeup, programs and facilities, and passenger demographics of each ship, making it easier for job-hunters to determine whether they would fit in. The book is in bookstores, or can be ordered by sending a check or money order for $18.95, postage paid, to Ticket to Adventure, Box 41005, St. Petersburg, FL 33743, or by credit card at (800) 929-7447. Among other guides are:
* "How to Get a Job on a Cruise Ship," by Don Kennedy (Careersource Publications, 1995).
* "Working on Cruise Ships" (Vacation Work, 1997).
* "Jobs for People Who Love Hotels, Resorts, and Cruise Ships," by Ronald L. Krannich and Caryl Rae Krannich (Impact Publications, 1996). You can also find cruise line descriptions and contact numbers in any of the annually updated cruise guides published by Fielding's, Frommer's, Fodor's, Berlitz or Stern (Pelican). Internet users can also check out the Web sites of each cruise line. Some of them have job links. For instance, RiverBarge Excursion Lines has a button called "employment opportunities." Links to most of the big cruise lines can be found at the Cruise Lines International Association. Revisiting a previous Travel Advisor column: A recent discussion of the value of traveler's checks drew several responses from readers, including this one from P.L. in Medford, Mass.: We just got back from a month in southern France, exchanging houses with a couple in Perpignan. We brought with us about $2,000 worth of American Express traveler's checks, in francs, and found out they were almost totally useless. Not a single store, from little shops to huge "hypermarkets," would accept them; car-repair shops would not accept them; restaurants didn't take them; and hotels, by and large, no longer took them (although we found a small hotel in Paris, where we stayed at the end of the trip, that did). Banks charged a 5 percent cashing fee, except for the French bank the checks are drawn on, Societe Generale, but that's only true at its main downtown branch -- the suburban branches of the same bank charge 5 percent. Even the post office gets into the act: Branch post offices didn't take them, even though traveler's check exchange is included on its list of services, and the main post offices charge 5 percent. Travelers to France are much better off making sure their stateside bank account is full, and using ATMs. They are everywhere, they are always open and the exchange rate is quite a bit better than you get buying traveler's checks, even from AAA, which doesn't charge up front -- AAA gave us francs for about 16.3 cents, while when we used an ATM, each franc was worth 15.8 cents. Even with the $5 withdrawal charge our U.S. bank laid on us, this was a much better deal.
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