What is the best way to find a job as a cruise photographer?

I am currently working as a children's sports photographer and I absolutely love it. The problem is that the work isn't consistent and I am looking for something full time. Someone suggested that I look into working as a photographer on a cruise ship because it will be a great experience. I am in a position where I am able to leave for months at a time and I don't know when I would ever have the chance to do it again. I have been doing searches online but so far most of the websites ask for an upfront fee to find jobs on cruise ships. I have also tried looking on websites for individual cruise lines but it appears that they use outside companies to find their photographers. Any suggestions??

I just got off a Holland America cruise and I got to know some of the photographers working onboard. They don't work directly for Holland America it turns out. They work for a company called Ocean Images that has some sort of concession contract with a number of the big cruise lines. They live on board and under the same circumstances and regulations are the rest of the crew but get their actual assignments from Ocean Images. I'm sure there must be other "third party" companies that do the same but the guys I talked to gave me the impression that Ocean Images is one of the major players in the field.

There are a couple places to contact to get employment information and possibly a job on a cruise ship. One way is to contact the concession that run the shops on the ships like the souvenir, gift and clothing shops. Then also contact the cruise line that hires the crew and the staff. Below are links for you.

First contact the companies that handle the concessions of cruise ships:

http://www.steinerleisure.com/

and

http://www.hardingbros.co.uk/

Then you may want to contact each cruise line on their web site. Each web site has a link for jobs or employment and some have a link to the jobs they are currently hiring for..

The luxury cruise lines are:

REGENT SEVEN SEAS:
http://www.rssc.com/

RADISSON:
http://www.cruisingluxury.com/Radisson.....

SILVER SEAS:
http://www.silversea.com/

CRYSTAL:
http://www.crystalcruises.com/home.asp.....

Other cruise lines that most people go on:

CUNARD:
http://www.cunard.com/

HOLLAND AMERICA
http://www.hollandamerica.com/

CELEBRITY:
http://www.celebritycruises.com/home .

ROYAL CARIBBEAN:
http://www.royalcaribbean.com/gohome.d.....

AZAMARA:
http://www.azamaracruises.com/07/azama.....

NORWEGIAN:
http://www.ncl.com/

PRINCESS:
http://www.princess.com/index.html

CARNIVAL:
http://www.carnivalcruiselines.com/

DISNEY:
http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/dcl/.....

Then there are some that operate out of Europe:

P&O:
http://www.pocruises.com/pocruising/Ho.....

STAR:
http://www.starcruises.com/newweb/main.....

COSTA:
http://www.costacruise.com/B2C/USA/Def.....

MSC:
http://www.msccruisesusa.com/

Each of these cruise lines will have a phone number where you can contact them directly.