Behind the doors marked Crew Only is another side of the cruise ship.

Passengers see the restaurants, swimming pools, theatres and shops. But behind all of that is the part of the ship where the crew live their lives between shifts.

When I say crew quarters on a cruise ship, I mean more than the cabin where you sleep. It is the wider living space set aside for crew, made up of the places and facilities we use day after day.

After years of living onboard, these spaces became incredibly familiar to me. My cabin was home, but these shared spaces were where much of everyday life happened.

Come with me behind those doors. Let's take a walk through the other side of the ship.

A walk through cruise ship crew quarters

Crew generally live in designated areas away from the passenger spaces, largely concentrated on lower decks, with accommodation and shared facilities spread across several decks and compartments.

The alleyway

If you were to follow me into the crew area, we'd probably start on Deck 4, where the gangway is located. The middle lift lobbies can be public areas, while further forward and aft, there were lifts that took crew deeper into the crew side of the ship.

From there, the main corridor – what we called the alleyway – runs straight through the ship, from forward to aft. It is the main street of the crew world, with smaller corridors branching off towards cabins and the various facilities we use throughout the day.

The corridors throughout the crew area are distinctly utilitarian: heavy metal walls, exposed pipes and hard-wearing flooring. The exact colours and materials vary between cruise lines, but you might find different colours of linoleum, or grey or blue non-slip flooring used throughout the corridors.

It isn't somewhere you'd normally stop to admire the surroundings. But after enough time onboard, the corridors become familiar: you know which turn leads to your cabin, which lift is quickest, and which doors you'll be passing several times a day.

The crew alleyway, the main corridor through the crew area.

Where crew sleep

Crew cabins

From the alleyway, smaller corridors branch off towards the crew accommodation areas. Your cabin may be shared or single, and the arrangement may change from one contract to another. Whatever your setup, it becomes your little patch of personal space – somewhere to sleep after a long shift, keep your things, and shut the door on the rest of the ship for a while.

Where crew eat

The crew mess

Further along the alleyway, you'll usually come to the crew mess – the dining room where crew have their meals.

It is essentially a canteen, with rows of tables and serving areas where crew collect their food. There are usually two serving lines, helping to keep people moving through during meal periods.

At peak meal times, it can be crowded and noisy, with people coming and going between shifts and trying to find a seat before they have to be somewhere else.

Meals are provided at set times throughout the day, with different meal periods accommodating the various working hours onboard.

The food reflects the mix of people working onboard, too. On the ships I worked on, the food in the crew mess predominantly catered to the many Asian nationalities among the rank-and-file crew.

There is also an officer mess, serving the same purpose for officers. It is usually smaller and quieter than the main crew mess, with a more Western-oriented selection of food.

Depending on the ship and cruise line, there may also be separate dining areas for different crew groups – such as a staff mess, or department-specific mess.

Where crew spend their free time

The crew bar

Once you're off duty, the crew bar is one of the places you might end up.

The bar only opens during certain hours, with drinks generally served in the evening, making it a place to have a drink and catch up with colleagues.

It was one of those places where you could finally change out of your uniform, leave the working day behind and just be yourself for a while.

It could also be where birthdays, celebrations and the occasional crew event brought people together.

Larger ships may have more than one crew bar.

The crew lounge and recreation spaces

Not every ship has a crew lounge in quite the same form. On some, it may be a dedicated room; on others, a quieter corner of the crew bar, mess or another shared area can serve much the same purpose.

These spaces are generally more relaxed than the rest of the crew quarters, with comfortable seating, books, televisions and board games.

Larger ships may have dedicated recreation rooms with facilities such as pool tables or even a small cinema. There may also be a crew cafe or similar space where crew can get a drink or snack.

An officer lounge may also be available, usually a smaller and quieter space reserved for officers.

The outdoor deck

Then there is the outdoor deck– one of the few places where you can step out of the enclosed corridors and cabins, get some fresh air and see something other than the inside of the ship.

The crew-accessible outdoor spaces are what we generally called the boat deck, usually on Deck 7 or 8, with additional spaces further forward, around the helipad or below it.

Some ships also have a plunge pool for crew. I remember one on an older ship I worked on, although I only used it once and it wasn't something I often saw in use. The newer ship I worked on didn't have one at all.

But the boat deck isn't necessarily about recreation. During the day, particularly when the ship was in port, it could become quite a social place. Crew would hang around with their phones, plug them into power banks, chat with friends, make video calls, or play mobile games.

With internet access often limited or more convenient from certain areas of the ship, the boat deck could become a surprisingly busy place to connect with the world outside.

At night, once the ship was sailing, it was a different story. The chatter died down, the deck became quieter, and there was mostly the sound of the wind and the sea. You might find someone standing alone at the railing, watching the waves in the moonlight.

That someone could have been me.

The crew gym

For those who want to exercise, there is a crew gym, usually with at least basic cardio and strength equipment.

The size and equipment can vary, but you might find treadmills, exercise bikes, free weights and other pieces of gym equipment – although I wouldn't be the best person to name them all, as I'm not much of a gym-goer.

It is generally more functional than the passenger fitness centres, without the same emphasis on views, design or extra amenities. On larger ships, however, the crew gym can be much more extensive.

Taken together, these spaces provide much of what crew need outside work – somewhere to socialise, exercise, read, sit quietly or simply spend their free time.

The practical side of living onboard

The crew laundry

The laundry setup can be quite different from one ship to another: there may be several small self-service laundry rooms spread across the crew areas, or a more central laundry where the department takes care of uniforms as well as personal clothes for crew.

With self-service laundry rooms, you might find yourself checking whether a washing machine or dryer is free between shifts, getting a load started and trying to remember to collect it later. It is one of those small routines that becomes part of life onboard when your entire wardrobe has to fit into a cabin and keep you going for months.

A central laundry takes more of that work out of your hands, particularly when it handles uniforms as well as personal clothing.

Either way, it becomes part of the routine when your entire wardrobe has to fit into a cabin and keep you going for months.

The crew shop

A small crew shop sells some of the everyday things you might need while living onboard. Depending on the ship, it may be a dedicated shop or, as it was on the ships I worked on, part of the crew bar itself and open during certain hours.

It isn't a supermarket, but you can usually expect a selection of basics such as snacks, drinks, toiletries, and other small necessities. Having somewhere onboard to pick up something you have run out of can be particularly handy when you're working long hours or aren't going ashore.

Purchases are generally charged to your crew account using your crew card, so there is no need to carry cash around the ship.

The garbage room

Not every part of the crew area is somewhere you'll want to linger. There is also the garbage room, where the ship's rubbish is sorted and prepared for disposal.

The important part for crew is knowing how to separate waste correctly, because different types of waste are handled differently onboard. You learn where everything needs to go, and eventually the process becomes second nature.

What happens after that depends on the ship's waste-management and recycling system. Some waste may be incinerated onboard, while other materials can be compacted, crushed, bagged or baled before being sent ashore for further handling.

You don't necessarily see much of this process as a crew member, but it is part of the less visible infrastructure that keeps the ship running.

Living onboard a cruise ship is less glamorous than the passenger side might suggest, but the crew quarters become their own little world. There are places to sleep, eat, wash your clothes, exercise, meet people and get some fresh air – and, eventually, you learn where everything is.

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