"I live on a cruise ship - I even met my boyfriend on board"
Meet the woman who lives on a cruise ship - and even met her boyfriend onboard.
Ellen Hardie, 23, moved on to her first cruise ship to work as a dancer in May 2022.
The six-month cruise Ellen is currently on will see her visit Cairns, Fiji and Vanuatu- entertaining the boat's 3000 passengers with routines three times a cruise.
It's not Ellen's first time at sea - with her having lived and worked on two cruise ships before for six months each.
Ellen even met her boyfriend, Louis, 28, a deck officer, onboard and said life at sea suits the couple - who have been together for a year and a half.
She says the benefits to working and living on a cruise include travelling the world and meeting new people - but draw backs such as being away from home make it hard too.
Ellen, from Brentwood, Essex, said: "It's an exciting and vibrant life.
"No two days are the same, you can live very simply on board and create your own family away from home.
"You can get homesick but there is always someone around.
"I am very lucky that I have a great team and my partner is on this ship now."
"Louie and I are from two different countries, we would have never met if we weren't on this cruise."
Ellen started dancing when she was five years old - training in jazz, ballet, tap and contemporary - and knew she wanted to be a dancer on a cruise ship from a young age.
In 2020, aged 19, Ellen auditioned to work on her first cruise.
After sending the audition tape, bosses said they would love to have her but cruises were stopped due to the pandemic.
In March 2022 after restrictions were lifted, Ellen got a call asking if she wanted to join the cruise and set sail in May that year.
She said: "I grew up dancing and I knew that people could work on cruises as a dancer.
"I thought it sounded amazing that you could travel and get paid for it.
"Especially with dancing jobs which are so hard to come by."
Ellen joined her first cruise in May 2022.
She said: "I was on the ship for six months at the time - we went around Australia and the South Pacific.
"I was 21 and I had never moved or lived away from home.
"It was good that in the sense that you got all your meals cooked for you, I don't have to commute to work and everything is straight forward.
"It is a simple life but a big change as ship life is a whole different world."
The ship was in dry dock in Singapore - with no guests on board - while it had repairs and it's when Ellen first met Louis in February 2023.
She said: "We got chatting one night and started to spend time together.
"We were able to get together and know each other because the ship wasn't in normal operation.
"Louis then got transshipped to a ship in the Mediterranean but we managed to keep in contact and continue the relationship - with me going to Italy to see him once my contract was finished.
Ellen Hardie, 23, moved on to her first cruise ship to work as a dancer in May 2022.
The six-month cruise Ellen is currently on will see her visit Cairns, Fiji and Vanuatu- entertaining the boat's 3000 passengers with routines three times a cruise.
It's not Ellen's first time at sea - with her having lived and worked on two cruise ships before for six months each.
Ellen even met her boyfriend, Louis, 28, a deck officer, onboard and said life at sea suits the couple - who have been together for a year and a half.
She says the benefits to working and living on a cruise include travelling the world and meeting new people - but draw backs such as being away from home make it hard too.
Ellen, from Brentwood, Essex, said: "It's an exciting and vibrant life.
"No two days are the same, you can live very simply on board and create your own family away from home.
"You can get homesick but there is always someone around.
"I am very lucky that I have a great team and my partner is on this ship now."
"Louie and I are from two different countries, we would have never met if we weren't on this cruise."
Ellen started dancing when she was five years old - training in jazz, ballet, tap and contemporary - and knew she wanted to be a dancer on a cruise ship from a young age.
In 2020, aged 19, Ellen auditioned to work on her first cruise.
After sending the audition tape, bosses said they would love to have her but cruises were stopped due to the pandemic.
In March 2022 after restrictions were lifted, Ellen got a call asking if she wanted to join the cruise and set sail in May that year.
She said: "I grew up dancing and I knew that people could work on cruises as a dancer.
"I thought it sounded amazing that you could travel and get paid for it.
"Especially with dancing jobs which are so hard to come by."
Ellen joined her first cruise in May 2022.
She said: "I was on the ship for six months at the time - we went around Australia and the South Pacific.
"I was 21 and I had never moved or lived away from home.
"It was good that in the sense that you got all your meals cooked for you, I don't have to commute to work and everything is straight forward.
"It is a simple life but a big change as ship life is a whole different world."
The ship was in dry dock in Singapore - with no guests on board - while it had repairs and it's when Ellen first met Louis in February 2023.
She said: "We got chatting one night and started to spend time together.
"We were able to get together and know each other because the ship wasn't in normal operation.
"Louis then got transshipped to a ship in the Mediterranean but we managed to keep in contact and continue the relationship - with me going to Italy to see him once my contract was finished.
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