Mariposa Cruises

It's hardly fair for the whole place to get a bad rating when most of the problems are simply because a floating restaurant is a horrible business to get into.  It's all the expenses of a normal restaurant, plus all the expenses of a marine operation.  Trying to make the ticket price seem worth it when nobody can see all the engine repairs, paid training, or safety certifications is where this company sacrifices everything.  Servers will not make the same tips they would at a land restaurant not only because the food is prepaid, but they only take tables half their shift, with the other half consisting of intense set up and clean up.  This is where it snowballs, where server turn over is so high that the ones who stay feel no pressure to perform since they are one of the only employees left.  The good ones usually can't handle the stress of the bad ones lack of consequence, or the terrible pay, and leave for better money.

 There is a lack of communication that can be noticed immediately, where front of house performs a ton of clean up for the sales staff.  Common in a lot of work places, the sales staff are far too optimistic about what we can do for the customer because, again, it's on a boat and there are a lot of complicated rules to follow. Most people in management aren't afraid to come down and talk to people and or help out, which is the only points the management earns. They find themselves surprised most of the time by how far behind the setup/clean up always is.  Again, in an attempt to make the ticket price feel worth it, they are always pushing the same amount of staff to set up more and more glitter and sparkle.

The culture is an all too common one, where staff bond by a common enemy, and rant and babbel cynical banter about the company to get along.  That being said, drinks after work and out of work parties are common, and the company it self has put more money this year into staff parties than any other year, having finally noticed that companionship is the only thing keeping staff there. I have made a lot of friends over the years.

All in all, they will hire just about anyone and advancing is easy since the turn over is so high.  A good worker with lots of tolerance can get the word manager on their resume in a few months, but boats are a bad business and the company will always be short on money, and short on product to sell. Up

I feel bad having to say this in a review. Not all the staff were terrible, but it was not a comfortable place to work. I cried having to work everyday there, I felt so uncomfortable it made me not the best employee. Upper management was not helpful, and instead of addressing issues, they talk behind your back and it's as if they wait for you to fail to let you go. I always heard staff whispering. once I heard them gossiping about me but I let it go. There's racism, prejudice, and not the place to help me grow in. At the end, the manager basically implied I should get an easier job, that it wasn't my career. Except, it is. Staff was not friendly, and boat staff was even worse and they all felt entitled. They never helped and if you made a mistake they would complain. There was always gossip, always unfairness and the attitudes were very selective. I noticed that only the caucasion workers would talk amongst themselves, and their tone would change with me. My insecurities ran extremely high there. I kept trying to push myself, until I completely screwed up. Yes my fault, but I was not treated fairly and the job is only minimum wage when they expect more than needs to be done. They don't give feedback to help you improve, instead they just say, we're here for you, but if there is an issue with your work, the managers will not tell you directly therefore no improvements can be made. I was always unaware of everything. 

I believe the company has potential, great for tourists and the service is good if you are having lunch/dinner or going to an event. But from a behind the scenes view, it's nasty in there. If your going to work there you need a strong backbone. The position I had was only a summer contract, it was the worst summer I've ever had. Since then I have become more efficient and started my own company doing everything they said I could not do. 

I heard management is new this season, but if the staff is the same, then the culture most likely is. 

Working with Mariposa Cruises is no doubt a unique, once in a lifetime opportunity. Lake Ontario, the Toronto Island and the Toronto skyline are breathtakingly beautiful and serene to work around. With that being said, that’s where the beauty of ends with working with Mariposa Cruises.

Period point-blank, the company will pay you pennies in comparison to what you deserve. All service positions will pay server minimum + tips/gratuities. It sounds great right? Wrong. Cash tips range anywhere from $4.00 to (if you’re extremely lucky) $50/cruise. Gratuities range from $10-$60 on your paycheck every two weeks. Gratuities are taxed by the government. All cash tips are split equally by every single server and bartender working the cruise. Also, you will have to purchase two uniform shirts that will be deducted from your first paycheck -$44.

If you were hired as a Server or Bartender, do not think that is your sole job. Your main job is moving tables and chairs from one level of the boat to the next, throwing away heavy bags of garbage, lifting crates of plates, sending boxes of beer and liquor bottles to the recycle and setting up for the cruise.

30% Serving/Bartending
70% Set-up/Take-Down and Cleaning

The job is no where near as glamorous as it seems. All workers are tired and overworked. On the positive side, Mariposa will feed the staff the remainder of the food left from the cruise before th food is thrown out. I’ll also say that the FOH staff are a fun bunch and easy to make friends with but nowhere is perfect. You will still find some bad apples.

The new bar manager they hired this season is a pure gem to work with. However that cannot be said about the rest of the hospitality managerial team. I came on as an experienced bartender and I was told I would be given freedom to prepare drinks and provide hospitable service at my own discretion. The guests were happy but the managers will belittle you and try to bully you into doing jobs outside your job description. 

The tip distribution is absolutely in favor of the server with no regards to the bartender. On public cruises, the servers make 80% of the total tips and bartenders only make 20%. That is standard. However, on charter cruises where the bartenders do all the work and the servers just hang out in the break room, the bartenders have to split the tips equally amongst the servers.

If that wasn't enough, there is this one manager who is assigned to the Northern Spirit most of the time who steals tips from the servers and bartenders. 

They will make you work to their sole benefit with no regards to your health. Once, I accidentally inhaled cleaning chemicals while closing down the bar and almost passed out and got very sick. Instead of making sure I was okay, the manager told me "the sooner you finish the work, the faster you'll go home and take your medicine." That was the last straw for me. I voiced my concerns to upper management and it seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. I absolutely do NOT recommend working here.

It is easy to advance in your role if you take your job seriously, and be a team member and leader. However, the pay is not balanced with the amount of work being done which is why staff turn over rate is high. The hours are long and your shift can be longer depending on the team members. It is a very friendly environment but that being said there is miscommunication or lack of communication within the departments which interferes with your daily job at certain times. That being said, the departments help each other no matter what. One day, you are in a meeting with the GM or sales manager and another day they come down to the boats to help set-up the next cruise because the timing between cruises is too tight. There is always motivation and verbal appreciation. 
There are training sessions at the beginning of the season, and some of the managers keep training or giving feedback to the staff daily based or every cruise but other than that if you were hired in the middle of the season, there is not much training going on (you have to ask or figure certain things out by yourself). 
One thing I like is that it is easy to be cross-trained if you want another role if there is availability. 
Overall, it was a nice place to work due to people and it is fun to work at the boats but a lot of things need to be corrected.

Management is very deceptive about hours and positions. You should very well expect to be promised all sorts of things that will not happen. I was promised all sorts of advancement, and ended up being offered minimum wage and very little hours despite my extensive boat experience. 

There is also a lot of politics, mostly with the lifers getting salty with the new hires because they are nervous about being replaced. Most of their captains are overgrown babies with no real licences or experience outside a harbor. They want to limit your learning and progression as much as possible, because they know that you'd leave and make more money elsewhere if you did. 

There are about 5 people fighting for each mate's positions and it finally came after about 7 years for most people currently there.

The only dude I met there who was happy with the scheduling liked it because he could scam the welfare system during the winter with his hours at Mariposa. 

"They give me just enough shifts so that I can stay on EI forever and make money on the side, perfect dude!"

If you want to end up like that, come work here.

There is a fair bit of work involved bartending on the ships. You're involved with set up and tear down of the entire ship, including cleaning. When you need to flip the boat from one set-up to another, this can take a considerable amount of time and muscle (capacity of some boats as large as 550 people I believe).

The most frustrating aspect of this job was the way tips were pooled when I was there. I often found I would be doing more work than the servers, and receiving the same amount if not less than they were in tip out. Certain event types are pooled differently (public vs. private cruises, lunch/dinner cruises, party boats etc.) which attempt to redistribute tips in a "fair" way. 

Moral of the story... hard work, lots of fun, likely less money than you would expect.

It is hard work and long hours, which is customary of ANY hospitality job. The compensation is not the greatest, however, the team is the absolute best. I have been working here for 3 years now and have created some life long personal and professional connections. 

Typically you start early. Coffee should be in continuous consumption. You work through blood, sweat and tears for 10 hours, then go home and cant wait to do it all again.

I loved coming in to work everyday and loved working hard. The absolute BEST part: you are on the water in the middle of Lake Ontario all summer. It is insanely beautiful and rewarding, if you have what it takes!

At Mariposa Cruises, the management team was a wreck. I would hear stories of the scheduling manager messing up people's schedules by giving too many hours or giving too little. Honestly, I experienced it as well, having to work everyday for 3 weeks. When I was given hospitality shifts, I would get 11-15 hour shifts, which is a regular shift for any normal server or bartender. Mariposa Cruises does not pay their servers or bartenders, AND managers enough for all the work they done. They don't treat their employees like family which they should like most companies, which is why their turnover rate is so high.

I enjoyed working here because I got along with all the staff members and the scenery was always amazing to look at and never got old.  We just had to set up and clean for the majority of the shift. 50% was serving the customers, and 50% of the shift was cleaning and setting up for the next cruise.

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