Contemporary Balinese cruise ship workers, passengers and employers: colonial patterns of domesic service

Abstract

This chapter considers Balinese service staff on transnational cruise ships. We propose that racially-targeted service staff recruitment and cruise passenger advertising point to a touristic re-creation of colonial nostalgia expressed in personalized domestic service. The luxury colonial aura attracts the white working-class to cruises, especially retirees and honeymooners. The first section of this chapter considers resonances of colonialism and the triangular relationship of power between passengers, Southeast Asian service workers and transnational cruise companies. The second section focuses on the experiences of Balinese cruise ship workers, presenting the voices of the workers themselves