Permanent Passenger: My Life on a Cruise Ship (Paperback)

~ Micha Berman (Author) "I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up; my biggest dilemma wasI was grown up!..." (more)
Key Phrases: assistant cruise director, cruise staff, cruise line industry, Permanent Passenger, Love Boat, Captain Gallo (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Imagine yourself sitting at home. The phone rings. You have been offered a dream job and have 48 hours to fly to Miami and board a 70,000 ton cruise ship. Your destination: the Caribbean. Permanent Passenger: My Life on a Cruise Ship tells the adventure of a young man serving as an Assistant Cruise Director on one of the largest cruise ships in the world, Carnival Cruise Line's M.S. Ecstasy. Witnessing rescues at sea, stowaways, and passionate romances are just some of the day-to-day events revealed in this humorous adventure. Discover one of the wackiest job searches ever undertaken including sending letters to over 2,000 college alumni, chasing cruise line executives into bathrooms, and transforming a dorm room into a private office with hired interns. All aboard - this is one adventure you don't want to miss!

Product Details

• Paperback: 140 pages
• Publisher: Lulu.com (December 29, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1435706188
• ISBN-13: 978-1435706187
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #123,850 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A nice idea....just not quite fully there, July 4, 2008

By	F. Siller (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Let me start by saying that I DID enjoy reading this book. I cruise several times a year, so I read anything I can get my hands on that has to do with cruising. I anxiously awaited this book to arrive and I started reading it immediately.

This book definitely had the potential to be extremely engrossing. What made it not engrossing, to the extent I thought it would, is the fact that it is so obviously written by someone who's not a writer. While that could be a plus, in this case it is not. While reading I would find that there were not many transitional areas from one topic to another. There was a lot of jumping around. Quite often the author repeats himself, as well. For example, He writes about something in chapter one, and you'll read that same thing over again in Chapters 3 and 5.

Another thing about this book that I found unnecesary, is the addition of the author's bowel habits (in the same waters that we swim in) and his zit popping escapades. Why, I ask you, is it necessary to include such details in a book such as this? I could have done without those details.

If you enjoy cruising and have wondered what it's like to live and work on a cruise ship...you'll probably enjoy this book. Don't expect it to be a well written book and don't expect to be drooling over each word, but expect to have a little fun with it. I don't regret reading it, but I won't read it again. Enjoy!

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Disappointment, September 9, 2008

By	Travel Girl - See all my reviews

It's an okay read, but not very detailed compared to another recent cruise book, Cruise Confidential. It is quite short and I would have enjoyed it more if the author had gotten into more detail about life on the cruise ship. Many details were just glossed over and it came over as a long journal entry for a never-ending college party. I really wanted to like this book more than I did.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Barely Seaworthy, May 31, 2009

By	Greg Fenderson (Sea Cliff, New York United States) - See all my reviews

Micha's life at sea, limited to one Carnival vessel (Ecstasy) and less than a year in length, still had potential in terms of an expose, but fell well short of expectations. Disjointed and repetitious, we found flashes of descriptive brilliance ruined by the writer's perceived need to describe bodily functions best left to the imagination. As cruise lovers, we felt a promising "pull" only to be left unfulfilled as Micha fell short of describing life below the waterline. To hear him tell the story, Assistant Cruise Directors have little responsibility and too much spare time--- a stark contrast to life as a Waiter described by Brian David Bruns in his book, CRUISE CONFIDENTIAL. PERMANENT PASSENGER by Micha Berman is "barely seaworthy".