Real cruise career advice from someone who spent a career at sea and behind the scenes of the industry.
Why CruiseCareer Pro Exists
My name is Wolfgang Juranek, and I started CruiseCareer Pro to give people honest, practical guidance on how to build a career on cruise ships. There is a lot of noise online about working at sea. Some of it is romanticised, some of it is simply wrong, and very little of it comes from people who actually ran operations on board. I wanted to change that.
My Background
I spent my sea career as an Executive Officer and Food and Beverage Director on major cruise lines, including Princess, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean. As an F&B Director, I led a team of over 700 crew from more than 40 nationalities. I know what it takes to run the largest department on a ship, and I know what recruiters and operations teams are really looking for when they build a crew.
Partway through my career, while I was still active in the industry, I was recruited to help build and grow Fidelio Cruise Software at Micros-Fidelio, now part of Oracle. I was brought in specifically for my operational knowledge from the ships. There I served as Director of Business Development and Finance and later as Director of Operations. That gave me a second view of the industry, this time from the technology and business side that keeps modern cruise operations running.
Today I am retired and based in Bangkok, Thailand. I am bilingual in English and German, and I now spend my time helping the next generation of cruise crew get their start.
How I Can Help You
Getting hired on a cruise ship is not about luck. It is about understanding how the industry actually hires, presenting your experience the right way, and preparing properly for the interview. Most cruise ship hiring happens shoreside through manning agencies, not directly with the cruise line, and most applicants never learn how that process really works. That is where I can help.
Through the blog and the CruiseCareer Pro platform, I share what I learned across decades in the industry. You can start with a free CV Evaluation and Review at cruisecareerpro.com, which includes a free ATS score that shows you how your CV performs against the applicant tracking systems used by cruise recruiters and manning agencies. From there, I offer CV rewrites, cover letters, and cruise line specific interview coaching for those who want to go further.
Let’s Stay in Touch
I read every message and I am happy to help. You can reach me at hello@cruisecareerpro.com, connect with me on LinkedIn, or join the CruiseCareer Pro Community on Facebook.
Wolfgang Juranek
Founder, CruiseCareer Pro | Retired Executive Officer & F&B Director | Former Director, Micros-Fidelio (Oracle) Fidelio Cruise Software