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281st out of 780 books
—
1,335 voters
Cruise Confidential: A Hit Below the Waterline: Where the Crew Lives, Eats, Wars, and Parties: One Crazy Year Working on Cruise Ships
by
Brian David Bruns (Goodreads Author)
In Cruise Confidential, Brian David Bruns spills the dirt — or in this case, the dirty water — on those romantic, fun-filled vacations at sea. His hilarious chronicle of the year he spent working for Carnival Cruise Lines takes readers down into the areas where the crew works and lives, leaving readers gasping with laughter as they’re assaulted nonstop with events that ran...more
Paperback, 384 pages
Published
September 1st 2008
by Travelers' Tales
(first published January 1st 2007)
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It starts well...the author is fun, the people are interesting, and the insider information is great...but slowly you start to realize that he is telling the same story over and over, spiraling into a bitter tornado of drunken, "it wasn't my fault that I lost it" and "I couldn't have had sex with all of them" self-pity. I got over this book after about the first 100 pages.
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Started to read it on a western Caribbean cruise in April. Knew it would be awful, but thought it might give me some insight into the lives onboard of the crew I would spend a week with.
It was bawful (beyond awful). Just no way to finish it. Yech.
It was bawful (beyond awful). Just no way to finish it. Yech.
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Cruise Confidential is a fast, enjoyable read. It's lightheartedness reads as sincere rather than mocking and its brevity adds to its charm. For myself, it was a perfect choice for a cold January; the descriptions of warm tropics and lovely ladies provided a welcome relief from the dreariness outside.
The memoir tells the story of Brian David Bruns as he follows his girlfriend Bianca to sea as a Carnival Cruiseline employee and the misadventures he has while living and working on a series of crui...more
The memoir tells the story of Brian David Bruns as he follows his girlfriend Bianca to sea as a Carnival Cruiseline employee and the misadventures he has while living and working on a series of crui...more
Patchy. I would have liked less of the office politics and drinking and sex, and more of the nuts and bolts of cruise crew and passenger interactions.
The long hours for low pay wasn't a surprise. I did a long cruise a couple of years back and our dinner waiter on the second sitting would be up at dawn doling out the hand sanitiser at the buffet. The stewards also got to earn their keep.
We would see the crew in their clean uniforms, apparently unruffled, but I got the feeling that there was a lot...more
The long hours for low pay wasn't a surprise. I did a long cruise a couple of years back and our dinner waiter on the second sitting would be up at dawn doling out the hand sanitiser at the buffet. The stewards also got to earn their keep.
We would see the crew in their clean uniforms, apparently unruffled, but I got the feeling that there was a lot...more
Sigh. I don't even know how to say how bad this book was. I cruise a lot, and I was expecting more of a behind the scenes tour. What I got instead was a blow by blow of how drunk cruise employees get and how many people they hook up with and how little sleep they get. The "author" is Brian, supposedly the first American to ever finish a contract in a Carnival dining room. Whatever. First of all, Brian is a spolied, conceited 30 year old. My immediate comparison is the lead on the short-lived NBC...more
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Brian David Brun's memoir follows his year long contract on Carnival cruise ships.His experience was very unique as he was the first ever American server to finish a full contract in a Carnival dining room. His writing style/tone was also interesting. Mr. Brun's tone was that of a confidant if not cocky American, but he also comes across as a very likable, "life of the party" type guy. I still couldn't decide if I loved or loathed him by the end of the book.
As a cruise lover, I was looking for i...more
As a cruise lover, I was looking for i...more
As a veteran cruiser (20+ years) and budding travel writer, the topic of this mini-memoir caught my eye while browsing through a bookstore. I had heard of the book and had read its mixed reviews, yet thought I would judge for myself -- and have my own mixed review to report. In most ways, I was not surprised -- I knew the general aspects of the crew's living and working conditions by talking with various waiters and cabin stewards over the years. Still, the picture painted by the author was vivi...more
Cruise Confidential takes readers on an tour of the life of cruise ship workers. Brian, the author, is an American who decides to become part of the crew on Carnival cruise line to follow a woman. Everyone asks him, "Are you crazy, or just stupid?" He is the first American to finish a full contract working in the restaurants on Carnival.
As an avid cruiser, I was excited to read this book because I was curious about the inner workings of a cruise ship. How much does it really take? What does the...more
As an avid cruiser, I was excited to read this book because I was curious about the inner workings of a cruise ship. How much does it really take? What does the...more
Cruise Confidential by Brian David Bruns is a laugh-out-loud introspective about life aboard a cruise ship. Most people only see these ships for a week or two at a time, living the glamorous life as experienced by guests. Bruns shows the behind the scenes accommodations and lifestyle as experienced by the crew.
The details provided in Cruise Confidential focus more on the story rather than the characters. It feels like Bruns was attempting to fully chronicle the one year he spent working for Car...more
The details provided in Cruise Confidential focus more on the story rather than the characters. It feels like Bruns was attempting to fully chronicle the one year he spent working for Car...more
I really enjoyed this little memoir of crew life on a Carnival cruise ship. It's definitely a job that only a lovesick man in his twenties would undertake. The hours, the labor, the lack of a reasonable social life sound unbearable, but his sense of humor and relentlessly upbeat attitude left me wanting more. Especially since he left us hanging in regards to whether or not he's still with the woman he endured all this for. I'm hoping there's a sequel.
What made me rate it down a star was the way...more
What made me rate it down a star was the way...more
It's not great. To an extent, it's interesting to look behind the scenes of a big cruise ship operation and find out how the crew is treated by management, how they all interact with one another, and all the things the general public might not know, but all that is overshadowed by the author's constant commentary about beautiful women and their physical attributes, drunk men, and the former having sex with the latter in stairwells. After a while, it just gets old. There was also a lot of ego-str...more
Jun 04, 2011
Bill Paton
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Cruisers
Recommended to Bill by:
No one
I bought Cruise Confidential to read on our May 2011 Western Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Dream. This book is based on the authors experiences as an American crew member aboard another Carnival cruise ship based out of Miami. The author is the only American crew member that has ever managed to complete a contract aboard one of these cruise ships. The difficult working conditions are such that the crew is made up mostly of Asians and Eastern Europeans. The book is interesting in that I could...more
Good read overall. Some interesting information about life working on cruise ships. I have been on many cruises and I agree that alot of the female employees are quite attractive, but the author makes it seem like 99% of them are smokin' hot, drunk alot and looking for sex all the time. Of course he was the perfect gentleman and was always faithful.
I was disappointed that he never talked about one of the top asked questions, "How much do people make working on cruise ships?" Barely mentioned mon...more
I was disappointed that he never talked about one of the top asked questions, "How much do people make working on cruise ships?" Barely mentioned mon...more
I have this habit of randomly choosing books to read that are behind the scenes exposes of working for a certain industry. Invariably, all of these books are full of terrible writing and terrible stories. Apparently I am the kind of person who doesn't learn from her mistakes, because when I saw this one I thought, "Hmm, this could be interesting. I've never been on a cruise before - I wonder what it's like from the crew's perspective." This book was AWFUL. The anecdotes were shallow in every sen...more
I actually liked the way Brian writes this book, but really, it's not about cruising so much as it is about a guy spending the last year or two of his youth drinking himself to the point he can't go to work and can't get enough sleep and being proud of himself for only sort of hooking up with a bunch of women because he has a girlfriend. This guy could really use some sexual harassment training and some AA meetings. It was odd that he felt that it was the cruise ship schedule that was stressing...more
I started reading this book with the understanding that it would be light entertainment--less about the quality of writing or complex plots and more about uncovering how crew members live. I did walk away feeling more knowledgeable about this topic, but I would have liked to have enjoyed the ride much more. In my opinion, the book isn't written well, and I personally never got attached to the author/protagonist. I found his personality cheesy, and he simply wasn't that funny. He did introduce me...more
It took me months to read this book as it was not really gripping enough, nor did it really deliver the promise to give insights on behind the scenes. It was more about getting drunk and sexual goings on. I dipped in and out of it, and used it as light reading on the beach. Like other reviewers, I was not sure if i liked or disliked the author by the end. I also did not feel this really was a real account but was more on the boundary of fiction. A bit like the Babylon series (Hotel Babylon, Pop...more
I picked this up after my first Carnival cruise because I didn't pay for the behind the scenes tour of the ship and this looked interesting. Ugh! My fault for not reading the reviews before purchasing it. The writing is horrendous. The dialogue is awful, the author is fond of both cliches and exclamation points, and his habit of using the word cat instead of God (as in cat bless you, or cat-willing) is just plain annoying.
There are a few interesting tidbits about cruise life scattered in betwee...more
There are a few interesting tidbits about cruise life scattered in betwee...more
Not a very good book. With some editing it would have made a nice long magazine article, but the author went on and on and on, for hundreds of pages, without telling us anything new. The point of the story seemed to be that he was an alcoholic who was irresistible to women.
To be fair he writes well enough that it wasn't painful to keep reading, once I realized it was just going to be more of the same. Fortunately this was one of those weeks when I needed a nice book to lull me to sleep after a...more
To be fair he writes well enough that it wasn't painful to keep reading, once I realized it was just going to be more of the same. Fortunately this was one of those weeks when I needed a nice book to lull me to sleep after a...more
Wow. Total commute trash, but, again, really satisfied my wanderlust. After working at Starbucks, I'm fascinated by accounts of people working in the service industry, and this didn't disappoint. Never been on a cruise, but any experience I would have on a ship in the future will be colored by my new understanding of the ridiculous life that the staff have to live. The narrator is only kind of likable, sort of an egotist, but the book is readable anyway. Great literature it's not, but it's a goo...more
I'm fascinated by the life that the crew on a cruise ship lives, so I had to read this book. Wow! This was a very interesting book and I'll definitely read the next one. I did find the author slightly irritating. Another review I read mentioned that he said that he had no memory of a party because he drank so much, yet he remembered conversations in great detail. That was true! I also couldn't help but wonder if his portrayal of himself as this superman worker were really accurate. In any case,...more
I can't believe I got past the line, "...and she was bumpy in all the right places." Ugh.
That being said, I enjoyed it somewhat as a light read, though extremely repetitive with the booze and the flirtation and the booze and the flirtation and the booze and the flirtation. I also suspect a bit of historical editing going on in that that the writer was probably not as witty with the ladies as he makes himself seem in the book.
Also, if Bruns really says, "Cat" as a replacement for "God," he needs...more
That being said, I enjoyed it somewhat as a light read, though extremely repetitive with the booze and the flirtation and the booze and the flirtation and the booze and the flirtation. I also suspect a bit of historical editing going on in that that the writer was probably not as witty with the ladies as he makes himself seem in the book.
Also, if Bruns really says, "Cat" as a replacement for "God," he needs...more
The book is alright. The author moans pretty much the whole book about how as an American he was nationally discriminated against by other employees on the ships. In the next sentence he blast overweight Americans that are on the cruise ships and how they treat him. The book was an easy read but I don't feel it shared to much information other than other countries hate Americans and have a total misunderstanding of Americans and their ways of life just as Americans don't understand how they are...more
If I was a twenty-something guy, I would have liked this book (and the author's narration) better. I don't really care how many women the author could have slept with, nor how increasingly muscular his body became, etc. I did not enjoy reading about the author's ego nor his own weird slang involving the word "Cat," such as "Holy Cat..." What kept this book from dipping into two stars are the details the author provided about cruising.
Evidently the author was the first American in Carnival's thi...more
Evidently the author was the first American in Carnival's thi...more
I love cruises. So when I saw this Kindle book for $2.99, I figured it would be worth a read. Plus I spent Thanksgiving in Florida with family, so I wanted something light and easy to read by the pool. Well, it was definitely light reading, but not really what I was expecting.
The full title of this book is "Cruise Confidential: A Hit Below the Waterling: Where the Crew Lives, Eats, Wars, and Parties. One Crazy Year Working on Cruise Ships." Uh...yeah. Longest title ever. Basically, Brian fell in...more
The full title of this book is "Cruise Confidential: A Hit Below the Waterling: Where the Crew Lives, Eats, Wars, and Parties. One Crazy Year Working on Cruise Ships." Uh...yeah. Longest title ever. Basically, Brian fell in...more
A very interesting book. I work in the cruise industry(on land), and take a lot of cruises, so the book was very interesting. Plus, I could picture exactly on the ship he was talking about since I have been on very similar ships. Two criticisms, however:
1. The author seems to continually mention how many hours he worked and the punishment he took. After awhile it just wasn't convincing-in the end he said he worked many 15 hours a day-yet also said he only slept a few hours a night. While 15 hour...more
1. The author seems to continually mention how many hours he worked and the punishment he took. After awhile it just wasn't convincing-in the end he said he worked many 15 hours a day-yet also said he only slept a few hours a night. While 15 hour...more
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I'd give this a 2.5 if the option was available. I like the author's voice but his story was mostly boring with him getting drunk, being pursued by women and how proud he was of being faithful to his girlfriend, all while surviving on 4 hours of sleep a night. I would have rather read a bit more about interactions with passengers - who makes a good passenger vs. the ones from hell. The couple of stories about bad passengers were really interesting, such as the "Roundells" who ordered 6 entrees a...more
One of the reviewers for this book said that this book was the same story over and over and over again - about how tired the author was and how strong he was in not having sex with every hot crew member onboard - and I have to agree - that is this book in a nutshell. It needed severe editing - unlike other readers I stuck with it and read the entire thing - there were some interesting bits on politics and the behind the scenes crew life - but I had to force myself to slog through it.
Interesting book, but a little frustrating. If you have a heart for the underdog, you may not enjoy reading how this man was treated by the cruise line and their managers. I found it more informative than funny. If I ever go on another cruise, I will certainly be more objective to the serving staff. But after this read, I'm not so sure I ever want to go on another Carnival Cruise. I've been on two. I guess I can say I enjoyed the book, but I was glad when I finished it. The author's account seem...more
I will be honest - the only reason I picked up this book: 20/20 was doing a cruise ship special and the author was on the show. The curiousity got the best of me & despite reading all the reviews how people were done with it 1/2 way thru - I ended up getting this book. I got up to page 124 out of 336 and I 110% agree with all the other reviews: the book just dies out in the middle - the stories get too repetitive & it didnt hold my attention for a long time.
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| Does sex really matter? | 1 | 13 | Sep 13, 2008 04:01pm |
Brian David Bruns is a nationally best-selling and internationally award-winning author with books lauded by the Travel Channel, Today Show, and USA Today. He has contributed to The Daily Beast, BBC, and CNN. He has twice won national Book of the Year honors.
Brian's Cruise Confidential series has twice been featured by ABC 20/20. A script for a TV show is being written by Matt Jones with in associ...more
More about Brian David Bruns...
Brian's Cruise Confidential series has twice been featured by ABC 20/20. A script for a TV show is being written by Matt Jones with in associ...more
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