Recruitment checks
How to check an authorised hiring partner
Many cruise employers recruit through local agencies, often called hiring partners or recruiting partners. Before you share documents or pay anything, make two separate checks.
Check 1: Start from the employer's own list
Go to the employer's official careers website yourself, by typing the address or using the link in our Crew Careers Directory. Do not rely on a link, logo or phone number sent to you in a message. Find the employer's published list of authorised partners and look for your country of residence.
- Confirm that the agency name, website and contact details match what the employer publishes.
- If the agency contacted you first, contact it through the details on the employer's list, not the details in the message.
- If your country is not listed, read what the employer says about applying directly.
For example, Royal Caribbean Group publishes a country list of its authorised hiring partners and states that only partners listed on its site are authorised to hire for it.
Royal Caribbean Group's official hiring-partner list
Other employers in our directory that publish their own partner lists: Viking.
Check 2: Check the national licensing register, where one exists
Being on an employer's list is a commercial authorisation from that employer. It is not a government licence. In many countries, agencies that recruit or place seafarers must also be licensed or registered with a national authority, such as a labour ministry or a migrant-worker agency.
- Find the responsible authority in your country through an official government website.
- Search its public register for the agency's exact legal name and licence number, and check that the licence is current.
- If you cannot find a register or are unsure which authority applies, ask the authority directly, or ask a seafarers' union or welfare organisation listed on our help page.
The two checks answer different questions. An employer list tells you the employer works with that agency. A licence register tells you whether the agency is permitted to operate in your country. You may need both.
Questions to ask about any payment
Ask in writing what each requested payment is for, who receives it and which written rule or instruction explains it. The Maritime Labour Convention generally provides that fees for recruitment and placement should not be charged to seafarers, while some costs such as national medical certificates, seafarer's books, passports or similar personal documents may be treated differently under national rules. Check the employer's written instructions and the applicable national rules before paying.
Why we do not publish an agency list
Agency authorisations change. A list copied onto another website can become out of date and could mislead you. We link to each employer's own list instead, and we do not describe any agency as permanently approved.
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Sources
- Royal Caribbean Group: authorised hiring partners
- ILO: Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, as amended (Regulation 1.4, recruitment and placement)
Links checked 20 October 2026.