An offer letter from cruiseship companies is a bankable product!
You can ask the US Embassy who ask for a legit offer of employment letter before issuing a work visa.
An offer letter is worth thousands of dollars, and here is the good news—Most of the income earned is send home…or spend home as cruiseship workers save on accommodation, food and other living expenses.
The US Embassy official was quoted in the press saying they expected to have issued 2000 visas to cruiseship workers by end of 2024.
Now dear Zbinites,
The Harare US Embassy is not the only one issuing visas—we have Maputo, Pretoria, Windhoek offices too.
And here is another interesting part—thousands of Zimbo job applicants recruited at walk in fairs in South Africa.
Is that all? Well cruiseship job recruitments did not start in 2024 but 2021—Reached a peak in 2022 where an estimated 6000 were recruited and to date the number could well be above 15,000.
Salaries: They vary depending on field but the lowest taking $600-800 per month x 6-7 months. The highest group depending on experience and qualifications on $5,000 per month. Difficult to get an average salary but my estimate is an average of US$1,500.
Do the Maths: 15,000 cabin crew x $1,500 and that’s $22.5 million per month of income earned by Zimbos on cruiseships. Maybe as an accountant, let me be conservative and whittle down the figures to US$10m per month or US120m per year.
No wonder why diaspora remittances were reviewed upwards in the preparation of the 2024 National Budget to US$2,4 Billion.
Banks: Just how banks especially those offering real estate mortgages—are missing this golden opportunity, a story for another day.
Homelink: A missed opportunity by Homelink and real estate agents to actively target and engage the cabin crew clients and explore opportunities.
For now let’s stick to the above 2 areas although the list is obviously long. You will be surprised that they are many financial institutions that crafted 2025 corporate strategies and left out cabin crew as possible avenues of new income.
Perhaps the key question could be how to target cruiseship cabin crew? You need innovations but not too difficult.
