steiner cruise spas? help!

[Gumdrops &Lollipops]

I would like to talk to someone who has worked for steiner at sea as a MT.
I am seriously considering it.
I am worried that I won't make any money.

 

[Max]

This thread should help you find some old links and threads on the forums to get you started.

I searched " cruis* " in the top right box of the search function here, to find it.







Note: edited to add the url to the thread... duh! :shock:

 

[ross097]

A young co-worker of mine got a job with Steiner about 16 months after she graduated from massage school. She is in her early 20's, and I think the job was a perfect fit for her.

She did not make much money on her first stint at sea. I think the initial commitment was 9 months. Mainly, everything was new for her, and she said she spent most of what she made shopping on her days off. She got that out of her system, and seemed to be doing pretty well after that. She really loved the on-board living, made some incredible friends, and I think after only about a year, she was the spa manager.

Now, she is young, didn't have any debts "at home" that she needed to take care of. (Things like car payments, credit debt, furniture storage, and pets.) Also, being employed internationally, she said she didn't have to pay income tax. (Not sure about that) So, even though you work really hard, and may not make as high as an income as you would at home, you get to do an incredible amount of traveling, and have very, very little day-to-day costs of living. ---Take all that into consideration, when figuring out your income.

Frankly, if I were 20 years younger, heck, even 10 years younger, I would consider it. It doesn't have to be a way of life forever, just a super unique experience for a couple of years.

Noel

 

[Passion (is NOT sick)]

From what I've heard and read it seems that working at sea is a form of u work, u sleep, get paid little, repeat cycle.

In their mind why should they pay u when your on a vacation already.

That being said if you go into it with the right attitude, hey I'm going to be doing fluff and buff massages all day then I'm off to party. Under no circumstances do deep work which could affect your future career if you get injured from the high pace workload that they will present you.


In summary go in with the attitude I'm going to pretend to do bodywork, because they are pretending to pay me. :

Jason

 

[Altrissa]

I was interested in working for steiner and went and interviewed. I loved the thouhgt of working on the ships and meeting new people. What I didn't like was the fact that you have to go to London for training. You pay your way there and the only thing they give you is room and board with a bus pass. You are not paid for training.

Then you are on the same boat for the whole length of the contract which is usually 8 months. They want you in full make-up like glamor make-up with an up do for the hair.

The work days are 10 hours and every 7 days you get 1 1/2 days off. Sometimes that is divided up into 3 half days.

They said that a good emphoyee would usually bring in $6000 a wk between services and retail, but you only get 7.25% of that plus your tips. You do not pay any room or board so there is a chance that you can make some money if you don't spend alot and don't have too many bills.

I did get the job, however choose not to take it.

 

[Jack A]

hey I'm going to be doing fluff and buff massages all day then I'm off to party. Under no circumstances do deep work which could affect your future career if you get injured from the high pace workload that they will present you.

You can forget that. The Elemis menu does not have fluff and buff massages. In fact, they only have three massages -- Deep Muscle, Aroma Stone and Mother to Be. The training is quite meticulous - X number of strokes here, do this then.

 

[hobojo]

They said that a good emphoyee would usually bring in $6000 a wk between services and retail, but you only get 7.25% of that plus your tips. You do not pay any room or board so there is a chance that you can make some money if you don't spend alot and don't have too many bills.

That works out to about $400 per week. Tips - even at just $15 per - would get you another $400 or more.

And, yes, if you are without a physical US address for more than 6 months out of a year, at least $70,000 of your income is tax free (not sure what the limit is not, it was $70,000 12 years ago when I was in Mexico)

$800 a week with no taxes and no living expenses

 

[Anna]

So what the cruise lines are expecting you to do is ten hours of deep tissue a day. :shock: Also your hair has to be up in glamor style? I'm surprised they don't make you wear clear polycarbinate hi heels.

The whole thing just sounds abusive to me.

I defy anyone to do ten hours of deep tissue on big people day in and day out without there body breaking down.

Now maybe if they had an ashiatsu bar you could stand on them. But other then that the human body wasn't designed to do that kind of work.

Jason

 

[P6590]

I continually hear the statement from my clients: "I had a massage on a cruise and it was the WORST massage Ive EVER had." It sounds like the therapists on the ships dont have too good of a reputation. But with the above described work schedule I can see why that is.

 

[Brigitte]

I continually hear the statement from my clients: "I had a massage on a cruise and it was the WORST massage Ive EVER had." It sounds like the therapists on the ships dont have too good of a reputation. But with the above described work schedule I can see why that is.

That is what I've heard, too - and it makes sense, with that set of circumstances.

 

[Alihaa]

I continually hear the statement from my clients: "I had a massage on a cruise and it was the WORST massage Ive EVER had." It sounds like the therapists on the ships dont have too good of a reputation. But with the above described work schedule I can see why that is.

i've heard the exact same thing.

 

[Giovanna]

I've heard the same as well from a client who is extremely well traveled. She described one massage she received aboard a Princess lines ship as "the massage from hell performed by a woman who spoke not one word to me and acted like she hated me for being on her shedule!!!" All I could think of was how horrible an experience that must have been for my client [she is very accepting of all levels of expertise in massage] for her to describe it that way!

 

[Henry T]

Okay, I feel I should jump in here:

While I didn't work on a ship, I did work for Steiner in one of the inland spas they bought out. It wasn't the best experience of my career. Perhaps others have had better experiences with them, but our particular spa, which was a very busy one, experienced horrible treatment from Steiner and their cronies. They gouged the techs terribly, using a 'matrix' system, they payed us based on our product sales and not the services we performed.

Their treatment of the therapists was horrible. We were not given breaks, and were expected to do all the housekeeping, as well as other extraneous tasks, after our shifts for no pay. We also worked under bullying, stressed-out managers who stressed the constant threat of spa closure or loss of jobs if we didn't sell more product, and we had to submit to physical searches every day after our shift to make sure we weren't stealing product. Eventually, they locked us out of the locker/storage room and made us come to work with clear plastic purses.

Steiner's overall treatment of their employees, from the techs to the managers was at best disrespectful. They finally ended up closing our spa, even though it was constantly busy, and planned on just locking the doors without notifying us so that we had some warning and could clear our lockers and look for other work. My manager defied them and told us the week before. There was no severance package, and we were unceremoniously dumped. There were about $1,000,000 in outstanding gift certificates left when the spa closed, and all the clients had was a note taped on the door telling them that they could redeem their GC's for product on the website, or use them if they took a cruise before the expiration date!

I've also heard, from Steiner cronies themselves, that cruise therapists are treated even worse.

Like I said, this was mine and my co-worker's experiences with Steiner. Perhaps they have changed, or treat other workers better. I wouldn't know. I do know, however, that no one needs to tolerate being treated in such a manner, and the spa closing was a relief for me, as I was about nearing the end of my rope with them.

My advice is to get as much info as possible before committing, since you will be under contract for quite a while. Good luck!

Namaste,
Carolehands

 

[Contard H. Moshiach]

I live in Cozumel, one of the busiest cruiseship ports in the world. Although I don't know any of the cruiseship MT's personally, I have heard the stories.

First, the shortest path to burnout is to work on a ship. Hours are incredibly long and "puff and buff" massages are not the norm. Appointments are made on the hour, no breaks.

Second, the pressure to sell product following the massage is intense. This generally aggravates the client and reduces your tips.

Third, "see the world"? Forget that idea. Your time off is spent doing laundry and sleeping. You'll be too exhausted to get off the ship.

It's the last place I would ever work...

 

[Mandrake]

Sounds like the cruise ships are creating a 'slave' workplace. What is this you sign a contract, is it kind of like inlisting the military. Once your in, you can't get out untill your 'contract' is up. :shock: Down with Steiner down with the cruise ship massage industry.

Sounds like you should run not walk away from this job 'opportunity'. Just say no.

Jason

 

[chipper35_1999]

My niece is considering working as a massage therapist on a cruise ship. In surfing the web, I found two magazine articles about the experience:

This one interviews people who have done it:
http://www.massagetherapy.com/articles/index.php/article_id/585

This one interviews the person doing the hiring for Steiner:
http://www.massagemag.com/Magazine/2001/issue89/advice89.php

 

[saffrondoula]

It sounds like the perfect employee for a Steiner therapist would be a person has experience selling (cars or telemarketing) massage experience, and of course the bubbly personality. Oh yes the ability to smile and enjoy your fifty dollar a week base pay. :?

Down with Steiner t102

Jason

 

[to be continued ...]

Fifty bucks a WEEK! Yowza!

I don't care how they conduct their business, but it's interesting to know what's involved in something that is rather heavily marketed at a lot of MT scools. I was particularly surprised by the part where you fly yourself to London after getting the job.

 

[TeeHee]

Yes, and they forgot to mention that during the time you're in training, your pay is minimum wage.

The product selling is pushed, and I mean HARD. Really takes away from the relaxation for most clients, and makes the therapist seem like a used car salesman.

Pah-tooey!

Like I said before, the closing of the spa was a blessing for me!

Namaste,
Carole

 

[alexander w]

Ew...sounds most unappealing... :roll: