Who wouldn’t want to find work on an ocean liner and start listing “island hopping” as a daily job responsibility—right? Well, not so fast. We at hosco.plus were curious to find out what working on a cruise ship is really like, so we asked around. We talked to a former waiter, a former pastry chef, a current chef and a recruiter for an agency that specializes in placing cruise employees. While opinions varied, we got some great feedback about what to expect if you decide to set sail and embark on a new career path, as well as what the application process is like.

Imagine being born into the world as a sheep farmer and leaving it as the ultimate symbol of luxury, wealth and glamour. Chances are slim that this could happen even in today’s modern, globalized world, but in Europe during the 19th century, it was all but unheard of. And yet, César Ritz, born in 1850 into a distinctively non-ritzy, mountain farming family in Switzerland, the youngest of 13 children, did precisely that. In fact, César Ritz transformed luxury hospitality to such a degree that his last name now has its very own entry in the dictionary, defined as “ostentatious luxury and glamour.”

Ever been curious about how the Guide Rouge—the Michelin Guide—became the last word in gourmet dining around the world? Well, so were we. So we did some research to get to the bottom of what makes the little red guide so special (quite a lot, as it turns out) and caught up with the chef of a newly-starred restaurant here in Geneva to find out what the star means for restaurants and chefs—and what it changes.