Lucy Southerton, 28, from Birmingham, claims cruise workers use code words to get out of work and says the crew bar and relationships can get wild and intense.

A cruise worker who has lived on huge passenger ships since she was just 19 years old has revealed what it’s like to work onboard. She claims that crew members use secret codes to get a break – and that relationships never stay hidden for long.

Lucy Southerton, 28, from Birmingham, UK, started working on cruise ships at the age of 19 when she applied to be a massage therapist at the on-board spa. She never looked back and now posts about her life on Instagram and reveals an inside look at cruise life on her website.

Lucy, who now works as a shopping ambassador, helps passengers to choose expensive goodies from the ship's onboard luxury shops. While flogging fancy watches, bags and jewelry she also has a lot of experience of life on a large cruise ship – and claims things can get messy and crew have mechanisms to cope with the intense lifestyle.

The young woman spoke to Daily Star and explained that workers use a secret code to get time off work. Lucy noted: "WOFT is an acronym that stands for 'waste of f*****g time' and crew members will usually say this if they are going on an unscheduled break.

"Working on cruise ships is relentless as many people know the hours are very long so sometimes crew members will make up a task that they will tell their manager they're going to do, but really they're just going to WOFT, or maybe they will do the task, but instead of getting it done in five minutes it might take 30 and maybe they'll take a little detour to the cabin."

It's not just secret breaks that keep the crew amused while on the ship though. Lucy claims that parties and relationships are pretty common too – and that both can get a little bit wild while out at sea.

Lucy noted: "I have had some wild nights in crew bar because let me tell you, seafarers really know how to party. Yes, there are many relationships that are formed between crew members some of those are romantic and some of those are platonic. All I will say is very few people are able to keep sexual relationships under the radar for very long.

"News spreads like wildfire on a cruise ship so it really does only take one person to see a touch of the hand or a sneaky kiss and before you know it, every crew member knows who you are sleeping with."

As for what drew her to the cruise industry in the first place? She explained: "I studied massage therapy at college and one of the days, a lady came in who worked for the On-board Spa (the company that hires spa staff for cruise ships) and gave a speech to all the college students about how amazing it is to work on cruise ships. This was the first time that I had ever heard about cruise ships.

"After finishing college I went on to work in a spa in my local town, however I wanted something more exciting for myself. I really wanted to travel but I had no money, so working on cruise ships seemed like a fantastic way to use my qualification and also see some of the world. So, at 19 I applied for a job with the On-board Spa, and the rest is history."

Daily Star  UK