Margaret Ingesa’s life simmers down to two things: cooking and travelling. She prefers the moniker “The Roaming Chef” because she is at sea for at least nine months a year.
Cooking and, while at it, travelling the world on the high seas on a cruise ship. It is a beautiful alchemy of her two most important proclivities, as she readily acknowledges, “When I think about the path I wanted to follow in life, it ends up where I am currently. I just didn’t know I could travel and cook at the same time and earn a living while living a dream.”
As a child, she loved the kitchen more than playing outside with siblings and friends. Coming of age, it was clear, not just to her but also to those around her, that her passion would inform her career path. Little wonder that she ended up training as a chef at the Amboseli Institute of Hospitality and Technology in Thika.
It is not an opportunity that came to her on a plate. Far from it. There was a brief moment of looking and doubting.
After graduating with a diploma in food production, Ms Ingesa interned at the Muthaiga Golf Club. While working there, a friend from college called her to ask if she’d seen an advertisement for job opportunities on a cruise ship. As many people would, she took it with a pinch of salt.
“I started believing the whole process when I got an offer letter. As an active job seeker, it was easy to be scammed, especially by a supposed international organisation,” she says.
A cruise ship is like a safari but on the sea. You embark at a point, and most likely, you will disembark at the same point. Whatever happens between these two occasions is what is commonly referred to as cruisezella.
Think of a cruise ship as a floating city with all the amenities one would want, from accommodation to medical care to games to restaurants.
A city on the move. Traditionally, they are the hallmark of luxury vacationing due to the amount of time and money spent at sea; hence, for a long time, they have been a preserve of a few.
However, over the last two decades, this has changed significantly, with studies indicating that the world’s largest cruise ship at the moment is twice as big as they were in 2000, and if this trajectory is maintained, by 2050, they will be eight times the size of the Titanic.
Currently, Ms Ingesa works on a cruise ship with a 6,500-passenger capacity and about 1,000 seafarers.
When she spoke to the BDLife, they were cruising past Somalia on their way to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), having stopped at Durban, South Africa.
“We go on cruises for up to a month, during which we cross high seas and international borders and go around continents. This trip started in Germany’s North Sea, we cruised via the North Atlantic Ocean, went down through the South Atlantic Ocean, made a brief stopover in South Africa, and proceeded to the UAE via the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea.”
They will take the same route back to Europe, stopping over in Spain, and then cruise further up via the English Channel to disembark in Hamburg, Germany.
Due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East that has affected transport on the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, cruise ships such as the one Ingesa works in have had to take the longer route via the Cape of Good Hope.
More Kenyans take cruise ship jobs
Ms Ingesa, 25, offers that cruise ships have become a lucrative employment hub. Over the three years she has worked in the sector, she has witnessed an increase in the number of Kenyans and East Africans working on cruise ships.
Margaret Ingesa on a cliff after disembarking from a cruise ship at Gerainger, Norway, in November 2024.
Photo credit: Pool
“I can’t put a number to it because we are so many, but I have several friends working on different cruise ships and many East Africans working with me here. We are seeing more and more people from our region venture out to take these jobs, and it is always a good thing to have them on board as it brings home close even when our homes are thousands of miles away at times.”
These jobs, she says, are not just in the hospitality industry.
“Cruise ships have many departments and therefore many jobs, we have engineers, plumbers, medics, painters, name them. One doesn’t have to be a chef like me to work on a cruise ship.”
Spending this much time afloat could lead to routine fatigue; how does Ms Ingesi and many like her sail through this?
“I’d say we have a good work-life balance. We have weekly karaoke and dance at the crew bar. Music and dance have a way of reminding you of home. I agree that the routinised lifestyle can get one worked up, but the trips have factored in activities that assist the crew in achieving a balance for their health—physically and mentally—as well as their efficiency and productivity at work. I bury myself in a good book or watch a movie to unwind,” she says.
Navigating relationships, family or otherwise, is a challenge for many seafarers. How does she overcome this?
“If the communication channels are not open and clear, that boat can be rocked. Sometimes, we are in different time zones with our loved ones. I must admit that it takes great effort to set aside time to catch up with them. I believe distance could be a factor in the quality of relationships one has, but communication is the bridge that shortens that distance.”
What is her advice to anyone who would want to work on cruise ships?
“The time to board is now, especially if you are young. Other demands of life, like family and settling, will kick in at some point, and you’d want the stability brought about by being present. Joining early allows you the opportunity to work and experience the industry and maybe invest,” she says.
