My experience as an Acupuncturist on a Cruise Ships.

Wow. That has not been my experience at all.

I have worked on a cruise ship with Steiner now for 5 months and I am totally happy with my experience.
I was told from the beginning that it would be hard work, and that I would have a fully booked schedule. This is certainly the case. I am making more than $1000 per week, so the potential to earn that much is definitely there.
I suppose of course that this could vary with the ship and the itinerary, but how do you control that? I think really that so much depends on your attitude and drive. I was told this was an average however, so I knew it could be more or could be less. As for pushing to sell products, I don't pay too much mind. I love the traditional Chinese prescriptions they have on board, and find that they are effective, so I recommend them, but not much else.
I could also see that if you didn't get along with the spa manager that things might not be so much fun, but I generally get along with everyone, so it's pretty good! They should be supporting you for sure;
you're not supposed to go it alone.
I honestly feel that I was made aware of what life on board was like, and was prepared well for it in the training.
It seems to me like the previous comment has a very pessimistic and negative tone. I think perhaps that they are suffering from a little burn-out, and need to jump ship for a bit to gain some perspective!
I don't think Steiner is taking advantage of the industry lacking in opportunities, but rather providing a great one!
Hey, it might not be for everyone, but at least it's an option.
I tried to make a practice on land work for a long time, with really not much success. I am not afraid of hard work, and am in fact thankful for it. I am indeed busier than I have ever been on land, and I get to introduce so many people to what I studied so hard to do - that part is awesome!
I genuinely feel it is a great thing to do. Don't let things get you down!

Be Happy.

I also had a very different experience. What ship and what spa manager did you have??? I have completed two contracts and getting ready to do a third. Yes, its hard work, yes its demanding-however the rewards/positives definitely outweigh the negatives. I only worked 52 hours per week-I made sure of that. My first contract was more difficult than my second because I didn't understand ship life yet. Now I go on, and know what to expect and how to get around the negative factors.

I agree with the fact that there are little job opportunities for acupuncturists-and if I could have graduated and stepped into a full time practice making over $1000 per week, I would have. However that isn't the reality and I am happy that an opportunity exists somewhere. I have saved a great deal of money working on ships, and gained a lot of experience as well. I will open my own practice eventually, but with some money saved-experience earned-and confidence built. Instead of being negative, I am grateful that I can work within my field (instead of having to get a second job in an unrelated field like so many of my friends that graduated acupuncture school has had to do).

I have found it really easy to build a practice week after week with so many people on board wanting to try acupuncture. I wish it was this easy on land! I have had times that I felt like you, working so hard-but ultimately, I am happy making money doing what I love and I take very long vacations between contracts so that I can rest.

I have had an adventure of a lifetime out there. I am sorry you had such a bad experience. Although I have learned, it is what you make of it!

Hope things improve for you!

It's been a while, but I had the same type of experience as the first person to comment. Negative. I trained in Miami at Steiner for a week and was never paid for it. I worked on a ship and "everything" was different than it was portrayed to be. I won't go into details here.

Be aware...you're signing contracts at sea so you have no recourse in America if you aren't making the money you expect to, feel mislead or don't get along with your Spa manager. I made a "total" of $1000 in 4 weeks (with no tips), then waited about 4-5 months to get that from the company. The ship I worked on included tips so people would not leave more- but that was really your pay, not a tip- it only happens on one line, but that was the one I was placed on. I did not get any pay the whole time I was on board and had begun running out of what I took with me, you don't pay for things onboard with your credit card, only cash (ship credit).

I worked with girls in the spa from other countries. They seemed to have fun, they were in their young 20's, traveling and making friends- staying up late partying. (One called her mom to send her money to fly home after 8 months onboard, because she was broke)
If you're young and just starting out, maybe. If you have any responsibilities at home- rent, office, car payment, student loans, etc.. you may not make enough to cover them. I didn't. To stay in touch with people at home you have to buy cards to use the internet and phones- that can all add up quick. I even paid when I had to contact the home office in Miami. Using a cell phone in one of the ports of call was about $3.00 a minute.

You can not freely roam the ship. As an employee you stay below deck, eat at restaurants only rarely with a managers permission (there is a staff mess below) and aren't suppose to get friendly with guests. Being found in a guests room can get you fired.

I expected to make enough money on a 4 month contract to have a cushion for starting a practice, I didn't. I worked 70 hrs weeks - in 4 wks I worked 7 days a week twice and 5 1/2 days twice (1/2 day was 7 hours) My spa manager wouldn't let me be in the spa on walk through days so that I didn't take away from the Spa business. That was a challenge. My last day on board started at 7:45 am and ended at 1:15 am after cleaning and waiting for the books to balance. 17 1/2 hours !

While on board I kept in contact with the girls I trained with and the resounding theme was once at sea, we felt adrift, on our own with no support or guidance from our acupuncture mgrs at Steiner. One acupuncturist even started doing massage and facials to supplement her income- even though she had no background in the facials. (She had a good spa mgr who was trying to support her)

When I was there they hadn't gotten Chinese herbs yet, but the products we were pushed to promote were so far out of a normal price range. About $400 + for 3 bottles of detox pills that probably had a wholesale price of $30. (if that, based on the ingredients)

I see the positive comments... lucky you. I guess it's hit or miss. I don't recommend my experience to anyone.

My experience as an acupuncturist with Steiner holds more pluses than minuses.

It seems obvious to me that there are a number of factors that could vary experience from one practitioner to another, other than just personality alone. The size of the ship, the itinerary & the resulting demographics all play a crucial role in how busy one will be.

I've only done two contracts, but it's been enough time spent on the same ship, seeing the changing faces of passengers on the ship - the age, the nationality, etc. A 10 day cruise leaving England for the Baltic in June will provide a dramatically different demographic than that of a 5-day Caribbean cruise leaving Florida in March. For acupuncture, the Baltic cruise will pack a lot more interest.

Describing life on a ship is difficult. It's so different. If you are an adaptable person you should be able to hack it. It has a harshness about it for sure, and I'll admit to having used St. John's Wort (which worked really well) on occasion for mild depression.

As far as dealing with management, you must realize that YOU are running a business. You must pull the reins on that business, see things in their place, identify where your attention will benefit your busyness. So there's no need to get caught up in all the hoopla, don't let someone else's pressure be your own.

One of the most crucial and rewarding aspects of your acupuncture practice on the ship will be promoting and giving seminars. This is where I pull in 95% of my clientele. If you can speak about your art and convince people it's worth trying, then you will be busy. These seminars do a world of good for promoting acupuncture overall and I'm sure land-based acupuncturists have benefited from them.

I've been lucky enough to have earned, on average, $4500-5000 per month. Depending on whether you gave a single treatment, it was a package deal, and if you got tipped, you receive $25-40/treatment. This is, for many of us, WITHOUT EXPENSES (maybe other than debt payments). You'd have a hard time beating all that cash on land, until you're well established in a good area. For those of us that are recently out of school it's one of the best opportunities for a single person.

Now is the cruise industry, is Steiner, taking advantage of it's workers. Well, this is a no-brainer. Are spa people overworked? Uh, yeah. Am I. Uh, no. I make my own schedule, work 40-50 hours/week. While that's already a lot of hours for me, it's different on the ship. You walk to work and all your meals are prepared for you.

So...... this can be a great opportunity AND there's always some drawback. But, hopefully, if you get in the right situation, you have a good outlook, can speak to people and attract them to your business, and you're adaptable, you can stay on the positive side as I have.

I'm going back for more.....

..... and i didn't even mention all of the beautiful places i've been to......................

Well, it's nice to see someone has the guts to shed some light to the factual information that is never shared by recruiters from steiners. Obviously this articles description is lacking in enlightening us with positive side of the whole experience but I have to say I agree with many things mentioned on this post. Before I begin discussing about my views I want to mention that those people who have left comments criticizing the author of this article sounds very artificial and smells awfully fishy to be so happy and content about being confined and restricted for 5 to 6 months and being away from home for so long... unless they are linked with steiners in some way...???

Anyways, the first matter I want to discuss is about the potential earning capabilities. There is lots of opinions about making $1000/week potentially, but let me tell you this is not easily done on every ship. I agree that you can make this much only on handful of ships because I sure never made near that amount, when i was on the job.

Contrary to what steiners ( and others?) claim, an acupuncturist will have to generate approximately $3500 to $4000 in total sales to earn about $500 to $600 in commission plus about $400 in tips to make $1K per wk however this is not possible on every ship. Most ships are 7 day cruises and ussually ships are schedule to be on port for 3 days. That means there is only 4 sea days to generate the majority of the income through out the week. An Acupuncturist will have to be completely booked up to make about $3200 to $4000 in sale and being fully booked on every sea day is just not possible on most ships. Sure there are some ships with great opportunities but most clients do not line up  at the spa for an acupuncture treatment. Clients who are willing to pay $100 for someone to poke needles are doing so for a medical reason so don't expect to be fully booked all the time. You'll probably have to work you tail off promoting yourself to make a decent income.

While on the subject of earning I want to mention something on tips. Someone commenting on this article said the tips are $25 to $35 that is straight out lie! Yeah sure you'll get great tips once in a while but this is on very rare occassions. The norm is 10% to 15% so expect to be tipped around $10 to $15. This is the real amount you'll be tipped. Not $30 or $40 (not 30-40% tip) unless they are completely wasted on booze from partying too much or just filthy rich.

Basically my experience with steiners gave me an opportunity to grow as a practitioner when there was no job to be found and bonus opportunity to travel and see the world but I would never return again unless I am desperately broke. There is a reason why people won't continue returning to steiners for more than two contracts. The price of confinement and restriction of your freedom is just too much to deal with for a long periods of time. It can be a fun experience as temporary gig especially if you have no other opportunity at the momment.

For those who are contemplating about joining steiners, give it a try you'll never really know unless you experience it yourself but I assure you, you'll never want to make this job a life long career. The benefits of no-tax, paid meals and boarding is only good for so long. The ship recovers back the money from you by charging you extra on many essentials things.  Unless you manage your money  well, it becomes so easy to loose your money on partying and having too much fun to counter the stress you will encounter on the job.

Lastly, I've been on different ships and most ships are managed by ships officers and I have to say they are bunch of pompous europeans who are filled with ignorance and arrogance. I now have this fixed  image about europeans and I am blaming it all on those jerks in white uniforms who thinks too highly of themselves.

I have more to say but I am going to bed maybe there will be others with similar thoughts continue posting comments about there experiences, Thanks for your attention and good luck.

 To steiner cronies, kiss my....

Response to 2nd commentator who wrote "Wow that has not been my experience..."

First of all you are absolutely correct that Steiner can not control to make all ships potentially profitable for all Acupucnturists to earn $1000/week. I think that is exactly the point the original author was trying to make.

Secondly, there is a quota for how much product steiner demands to be sold for each worker including the Acupuncturist. This is a enormous pressure and if you fail to make quota continuously then ultimately the worker will be reprimanded with more useless training that make the worker even more over worked.

Thirdly, you can not be prepared enough for this job no matter who you are. It's a twelve hour shift with only 1.5 days off per week. Plus on the last night of the cuise week all workers including Acupuncturist must participate in port cleaning (cleaning treatment rooms) and mandatory meeting which make it become 14 to 15 hour shift on that day.

Additionally there are other miscelaneous mandatory chores for staff member of the ship to participate in drills and safety classes. Not to mention strict regulations that limits your freedom on the ship.

Also, the so called training Steiner provide is heavily focussed on selling there product line that has nothing to do with Acupuncture. Not to mention the outrageous prices they expect workers to sell it for. Like someone said this is a business and it is definitely geared toward making money at all cost to workers who was willing to have come so far to work for them (Steiner.)

The ship's life is nothing like you have ever experienced. It's operation is conducted in heirachecal manner ordered by officers and rest of the crew is treated as second or third class mates (citizens.) Ship's inside culture below the passengers deck is a domain where lines are clearly drawn between the have and have nots (of stripes.)

Finally the original commentators intention was to shed some light on matters that are not shared by Steiners recruitment to prevent negative image. If there is any negativity in the truth than it's certainly not the original commentators fault or intention. It's just the way truth is sometimes.

It's very suspicious to have someone seemingly so defensive and protective on Steiners behalf. If you really are currently working on the ship you should know how physically and emotionally draining it is to work at Steiners Spa. Employees are over worked and under paid and the major topic of many conversation among workers are feelings of animosity toward management and yearnings to return home.

Most workers at the Spa comes from econimically strained society and sure they are considered previliged compared to others back home but they are enormously strained by unrelenting demands to make more money for the Spa and being burned out is just matter of time and if you say you are immune to this condition then you must of been working for another company other than Steiner.

I think this issue can only seem negative to those who have a stake in protecting Steiners policy and position. I personally haven't met any Acupuncturist who haven't negative complaints toward Steiner.

Steiner provides a rare opportunity for work to some what jobless market for Acupuncturists but at the same time it's far from being a great career opportunity either. For the amount of same effort and time it can be more beneficial for the future cause to focuss on building you own practice on land where home belongs.

For those of you who are fresh out of school and adventurous with endless source of energy  this opportunity might interest you,but it is definitely not for everyone and in order to determine that you need to know the negative as well as the positive. I don't see any wrong in shedding a light on negative issues. What is purpose of covering up the truth in first place. This world is not perfect and we are mature enough to know the raw truth if we are going to commit to a six month contract with Steiner.

Ofcourse during the course of your stay onboard there are wonderful opportunity to travel and meet people from all over the world and it's very fun and exciting at times spend time with new friends you'll make but at the end it has to be worth it to stay away so long from home and enduring a long contract that will eventually wear you out.

Let's not sweep the truth under the rug instead we should confront it face to face and make an informed decision about your own career path.