For a period we have collaborated with one of the most important shipping companies selecting for them pizza chefs who want to work on a cruise, so we can tell you something about it.
First of all we can tell you that contrary to what many believe, what matters most to be hired as a pizza chef on a cruise ship is the knowledge of spoken and written English. Many believe they can speak it because they can say 3 or 4 words but we don't mean that type of English but knowing how to converse in English with everyone. This is because on a cruise ship all the crew come from different nationalities and the only language to communicate with everyone is only English. So forget about being hired on a cruise as a pizza chef if you can't speak English.
Obviously, skill and experience also count but it is considered immediately after the knowledge of the language, on a cruise the electric oven is used on most ships so if you don't know how to use it, learn. The Italians who are chosen are generally placed at the head of a small team of foreign pizza chefs who must know how to roll out, season and bake so the pizza chef who is taken is also a sort of pizza chef also for this reason it is important to be able to speak English, otherwise you wouldn't know how to make yourself understood by your own team of pizza makers.
Working on a cruise is also a real school of life and work because you learn new rules and highly professional ways of working, and by being in contact with people of different nationalities you really learn how to manage a team. The pay ranges from 2500 euros to 2800 euros obviously including food and accommodation. If you like the idea, start learning English well because whoever said that a pizza chef should limit himself to making only pizzas.
