ONE CREW ONE VOICE
Aerial view of a large cruise ship sailing through deep blue sea
One Crew One Voice — for crew on every major cruise line, all departments, all nationalities

One Crew
One Voice

Every ship. Every line. One crew, one voice.

The ship runs because you do — 10 to 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, for months at a time. One Crew One Voice is a home for cruise crew to learn what the Maritime Labour Convention actually guarantees, name what needs to go beyond it, and speak up without risking the next contract.

Read the 10 demands ↓How to report safely

90%worked 16+ hrs in 48 hrsCruise crew, previous 48 hours — Cardiff SIRC 2025, cruise-only
64.3%adjusted rest recordsAll seafarers, WMU — 80.2% to avoid inspection findings
84%share a cabinCruise crew vs 7% on cargo ships — Cardiff SIRC 2025
7.55 moaverage contract servedMost common: 7–8 months — Cardiff SIRC 2025
Our name — chosen

One Crew One Voice

One crew: every department, every nationality, every line — galley, housekeeping, dining, bar, deck, engine, entertainment, spa, and everyone passengers rarely see. One voice: because a single crew member asking alone is easy to ignore, and thousands asking together for the same fair standards are not.

The name
One Crew One Voice
One Crew One Voice — every ship, every line, one crew speaking with one voice.

Also considered: United Cruise Crew · All Hands Union · One Crew · Fair Seas Union · Below Deck, United · Crew Alliance at Sea · The Anchor Union · Open Gangway.

Domain — registered 2 Nov 2026: onecrewonevoice.org is the home of this site (onecrewonevoice.com forwards here). Both were registered on 2 November 2026. A web search found no union, cruise, or maritime organisation using the exact phrase “One Crew One Voice” (closest matches were unrelated: a corporate rowing mantra, a punk song, a school motto), so name-conflict risk looks low. Caveat: the phrase is generic, which also makes it weak as an exclusive trademark. Cruise lines are named and shown as plain wordmarks here to identify and campaign about them — nominative use, with no implied endorsement; using line logos on merchandise for sale would be a much higher legal risk.
What crew are asking for

The 10 demands

Ranked by the evidence — what crew surveys, interviews, and happiness data say matters most, first. Not slogans invented in an office.

1

Free Wi-Fi to talk to family

Not WhatsApp text only. Real video calls home. Family contact is seafarers' #1 way of coping with stress (29%, Gard 2025). Virgin Voyages and Viking already give crew free Wi-Fi — it can be done.

Demand beyond MLC
2

Honest time cards — no pencil-whipping

Record your real hours without punishment, and enough crew on board that honest hours are actually possible. Demand uninterrupted rest, not just 10 split hours.

MLC rest limits + protection
3

A full day off — and real shore leave

No routine drills or training scheduled into your only port window. Organised, affordable transport from remote terminals so shore leave is real, not theoretical.

Demand beyond MLC
4

Know your guaranteed pay — in writing

Before you sign: is the figure basic only, or guaranteed total including gratuities? What is the floor if passengers remove gratuities? Show the pool maths on the pay slip.

MLC pay transparency
5

A cabin you can actually sleep in

Single cabins where possible. Where sharing remains: matched-shift cabinmates, enforced quiet hours, never opposite split shifts in one cabin.

Demand beyond MLC
6

Crew food with respect

Fresh food — not passenger leftovers or near-expiry stock. Rice and Filipino, Indonesian, and Indian staples at every service. Mess hours that match split shifts.

MLC: free, quality food
7

Medical care without fear

Report illness early without penalty or automatic contract loss. Clear sick-pay rules — including whether gratuities stop. Confidential mental-health support off the chain of command.

MLC medical + sick pay
8

No blacklist. No retaliation.

Anonymous, off-ship reporting routes promoted before the onboard procedure. Complaining about pay, safety, or conditions must never quietly end your career.

Protection demand
9

No fee to get the job. Ever.

Placement fees are banned for seafarers under the MLC and, for Filipino crew, under the Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers. Only your medical certificate, record book, and passport are chargeable to you.

MLC guarantees this
10

Repatriation on time, at company cost

Home at contract end — no rolling extensions past 11–12 months — with wages paid to the last day. Photograph your SEA and the financial-security certificates on day one.

MLC guarantees this

The reality, in numbers

Read the labels carefully. Cruise-only figures come from Cardiff SIRC 2025. Figures marked “all seafarers” include cargo and tanker crew and are shown as benchmarks — not passed off as cruise numbers.

Cruise crew who shared a cabin84%
Cardiff SIRC 2025, cruise-only. Cargo comparison: 7%.
Catering crew who worked 21+ hours in the previous 48 hours66%
Hotel services: 62%. Marine: 30%. Entertainment: 27%. Cardiff SIRC 2025.
Seafarers who said they adjusted work / rest records64.3%
All seafarers, WMU. Of those who told the company about non-compliance, 46.7% got no response.
Seafarers with no full day off in an entire contract78.3%
All seafarers, WMU — average 11.5 hrs/day, 74.9 hrs/week, 7 hrs sleep.
Cruise crew who could eat as much fruit & veg as they wanted80%
A genuine cruise strength vs cargo (67%) — Cardiff SIRC 2025. Credit where it's due.
“We don't have any day off. Every day is Monday for us. So even if your entire body aches, you have no choice but to go to work.”
— Hotel worker, quoted in Cardiff SIRC 2025
“When I do shore leave, I feel like I regain my strength. Even if you don't buy anything, you just go out, use the internet outside. It feels different when you are outside.”
— Catering worker, quoted in Cardiff SIRC 2025

Issue by issue

Tap an issue for what crew report, what the law says, and what to check on your own ship.

Maritime Labour Convention 2006 — the seafarers' bill of rights

Know what is already yours

Ratified by 111 states covering over 96.6% of world tonnage. The MLC sets minimums — a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) or flag law can be better, never lawfully worse.

🟢 The MLC guarantees this

  • Rest: max 14 hrs work in any 24 hrs or min 10 hrs rest in 24 hrs and 77 hrs in 7 days. Rest in no more than 2 periods, one at least 6 hrs.
  • A signed SEA you can review before signing, with wages, leave (min 2.5 days/month), job, and repatriation stated — plus your own copy.
  • Pay at least monthly, in full, with a monthly account and the right to send an allotment home.
  • Free food and drinking water of proper quality, respecting religious and cultural needs.
  • Free medical care on board and ashore, and shipowner liability for sick wages for at least 16 weeks.
  • Repatriation at no cost to you when your contract ends abroad — max service on board must be under 12 months.
  • No recruitment fee charged to you for getting the job.
  • A complaint procedure — and the right to bypass it and complain directly to the flag state or a port state. Victimisation for a good-faith complaint is prohibited.
  • A copy of your own work/rest records, endorsed by the master or competent person.

🟡 We demand this — beyond the MLC

  • Free Wi-Fi. Since 23 Dec 2024 the MLC only says charges, if any, must be “reasonable.” Free is a demand, not yet a right.
  • A full weekly day off. The MLC mentions an 8-hour day with one rest day as a norm — its binding limits do not deliver it.
  • A single cabin. The MLC permits sharing within minimum size standards. “MLC-compliant” does not mean private.
  • A universal binding minimum wage for every rank. The $690/month figure from 1 Jan 2026 is a recommended guideline for an Able Seafarer only.
  • Uninterrupted rest aligned with adult sleep needs — Cardiff SIRC's own recommendation for reform.
  • Full gratuity-pool transparency and sick pay that reflects what you actually earn.
  • Suicide covered by death compensation in every cruise CBA — ITF's Mind At Sea demand, already won in Norwegian Seafarers' Union cruise agreements.

Wi-Fi: what crew actually pay

Crew-reported snapshots — lines do not publish crew tariffs, and prices vary by ship and date. Check the exact allowance in writing before you sign. Ask the question the research poses: is ~$120 a month reasonable on an $800 salary?

LineFree element (reported)Paid crew example (reported)
CarnivalSocial / messaging in some periods$4 / 24 hrs social-only ≈ $120/month daily; $40 / 450 min
Royal Caribbean / CelebrityFree unlimited WhatsApp text only$89.99 for 1,800 min over 60 days — just 30 hours in 2 months
MSCLimited / varies$9 / 400MB · $30 / 1.6GB · $80 / 6GB
DisneyWhatsApp + 8 hrs free Wi-Fi / weekPaid beyond allowance
Virgin VoyagesFree Wi-Fi for crew— Proof it can be done
Viking OceanComplimentary crew Wi-Fi— Proof it can be done
Margaritaville at SeaWhatsApp text only (one listing says “free Wi-Fi” — get it in writing)—

Sources: Cruise Mummy crew-price compilation; ForCrewLife; Crew Center. Full links in Sources below.

Every line. Every parent. Every flag.

Your employer is the parent group, your law on board is the flag state, and your pay deal is your SEA and CBA. You need all three names. Filter by parent group:

Why flag matters: A Bahamas-flag ship in Miami is under Bahamian labour jurisdiction on the high seas — US or UK minimum wage generally does not apply to foreign crew on it. Port state control is the counterweight: inspectors in any port can check your MLC certificate, rest records, and wage accounts, take a confidential complaint, and detain a ship for serious deficiencies. Ship-by-ship flags change on sale or transfer — check the individual ship's registry before relying on a brand-level flag.
Between a quarter and a third of seafarers don't feel safe raising concerns

Get help — safely, off the ship first

A procedure existing is not the same as a procedure trusted. If complaining only to your own supervisor feels unsafe, it is not the only route — and on paper, victimisation for a good-faith complaint is prohibited.

01

Keep your own evidence

Photograph your SEA, pay accounts, rest records, and the A2.5.2 / A4.2 financial-security certificates posted on board. Keep copies off the ship, with family or in personal cloud storage.

02

Go outside the chain

ITF inspector or affiliated union, a Mission to Seafarers chaplain or seafarer centre in port, the flag-state administration, or a confidential port-state MLC complaint when the ship calls.

03

Use your home-country lever

Filipino crew: the DMW (formerly POEA) — fee bans, the standard contract, and agency liability travel with you. Never pay a placement fee, whatever it is called.

Day-one checklist — photograph these

  • 1Your signed SEA — wages or formula, paid leave, notice (minimum 7 days), repatriation entitlement, CBA reference.
  • 2The posted table of shipboard working arrangements and your first rest-record copy.
  • 3Financial-security certificates for abandonment (A2.5.2) and shipowner liability (A4.2) — posted in a conspicuous place, in English and the working language.
  • 4The Maritime Labour Certificate + DMLC Parts I & II — what your flag requires and how the owner says it complies.
  • 5The onboard complaint procedure — you must be given a copy. Note the external routes alongside it.
  • 6Your exact crew Wi-Fi allowance and your guaranteed pay floor — in writing, not a recruiter's promise.

Stand with crew — the pledge

For crew, former crew, passengers, and supporters. Copy it, post it, send it to your line. No sign-up, no list kept here.

I stand with One Crew One Voice and cruise crew on every line: free Wi-Fi to talk to family, honest time cards, a full day off, pay in writing before signing, a cabin you can sleep in, and no blacklist for speaking up. Every ship. Every line. One crew, one voice.

Talk to us

Contact & crew stories

Two ways in. The contact form is for anyone. The story form is for crew and is built to be anonymous: it asks for no name and no email. Never put your name, crew ID, or another crew member's name in a story. Stories may be published anonymously after identifying details are stripped.

Contact us

Questions, corrections, press, passengers who want to help. If you are crew with something sensitive, use the anonymous story form instead.

Share your story — anonymously

For crew, current or former. No name field. No email field. We cannot reply to you from this form, and that is deliberate.

Protect yourself: do not include your name, crew ID, cabin number, or the full names of other crew. Ship and department are enough.

Crew to crew community

A private One Crew One Voice Facebook group for crew only is being set up now: private and hidden from profiles, join questions limited to your line and ship or department, and house rules pinned at the top. No full names of other crew, no rosters or schedules with names, no photos of internal documents with identifying details. Topics by line, plus Wi-Fi watch, time card watch, shore leave, and a shipmate finder. The join link will be posted here the moment it opens.

Sources & honesty notes

Research compiled 2 November 2026. Strongest cruise-only dataset: Cardiff SIRC, The Health of Seafarers Working on Cruise Ships 2023–2024 (2025) — orca.cardiff.ac.uk. MLC rest standards: ILO MLC FAQ — faqmlc.ilo.org. Minimum wage agreement: ilo.org. WMU fatigue findings via Nautilus International — nautilusint.org. ITF Mind At Sea — itfseafarers.org.

Open questions, stated plainly: No verified cruise-only suicide rate, cruise-wide union density figure, or per-line published wage table was found — lines do not publish crew payroll, so this site gives no invented wage table. Crew Wi-Fi prices are crew-reported snapshots, not official tariffs. 2025 MLC amendments (stronger shore leave, harassment prevention) are adopted but not in force until expected 23 Dec 2027. Line logos are shown as plain wordmarks on this page — the campaign is about the companies, not their artwork.

Existing help already out there: ITF Seafarers, Norwegian Seafarers' Union (the most visible cruise-CBA union), Nautilus International, AMOSUP and national seafarer unions, Mission to Seafarers centres in ports worldwide. Most cruise ships are covered by a CBA even when crew have never met a rep — ask what yours says.