Creator in Public
Posts
Alley's Hustle from Cruise Ship Employee to Content Creator

Alley's Hustle from Cruise Ship Employee to Content Creator

From Cruise Ships to YouTube: Alley’s $31K Year

Abe Colwell
February 08, 2025

Alley, of WanderlustAlley, has been a YouTube travel vlogger for 7 years, but she discovered her audience In March ‘22 when she began posting behind the scenes content of her life as a cruise ship dancer. Alley’s first 4 cruise ship related videos have reached 250k viewers, changing her life. She would go on to amass nearly 90 million views across all of her content before a single performance changed her life in February ‘24.

She injured her back and thumb and would learn 2 months later that her injuries would prevent her from being able to return to her career as a dancer. Fortunately for her, she had a new passion in content creation and 225k YouTube subscribers behind her at the time

Wanderlust Alley’s Growth

Alley has growth her audience to >260k YouTube subscribers today, but her audience doesn’t stop there. She’s matched that audience with >250k on Instagram and is growing a TikTok following quickly as well up to 125k

Alley’s First 6 months on YouTube

Alley’s journey to monetization wasn’t easy. She started her channel in 2017, but didn’t commit to consistent uploads until 2022, during her first cruise contract. By March 2023, she finally hit the YouTube Partner Program requirements: 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours.

Her first day of monetization? March 8, 2023. Her first earnings? A humble 7 cents.

“I know 7 cents isn’t exciting in the slightest,” Alley shared, “but at that time, I was over the moon. It was the beginning of something I’d dreamed about for years.”

Over the next six months, Alley’s earnings grew steadily, thanks to a mix of Shorts and long-form videos. Here’s what she learned:

Long-Form Content Pays More: Despite fewer views, her long-form videos earned $4,448 compared to $3,884 from Shorts
Consistency is Key: Even with setbacks like account issues and limited Wi-Fi on the cruise ship, Alley stayed committed to her goal

By the end of her first six months through September ‘23, Alley had earned $8,267—a milestone she never thought possible

Life working on a cruise ship #greece # cruiseshiplife (short) - $1,057
Posted in June 2023, this short racked up an incredible 13.2M views
Cruise Ship Crew Sign on Day - $1,040
With 300K views, this video documented Alley’s experience moving into her new “floating home”
Cruise Ship Crew Cabin Tour - $763
Posted in August 2023, this long-form video received 116K views and gave viewers a behind-the-scenes look at crew life
What it’s REALLY like to work on a cruise ship | Day in the life of a cruise ship - $534
Originally posted in August 2022, this video gained traction in 2023, accumulating 141K views
Life working on a cruise ship #cruiseshiplife - $563
Posted in May 2023, this short garnered 7.4M views and highlighted the quirks of cruise ship life

2024: Alley’s First Fully Monetized Year

Fast forward to 2024, and Alley earned $31,785 from AdSense alone. Her top 5 videos made up a significant chunk of that income:

Working on a Cruise Ship | Expectation vs Reality – $2,289
Posted in 2023, this video has 530K views in total, but 400K of those views were in 2024 alone. It’s her second most popular video ever
I Left the Cruise Ship (for Good) – $1,606
Alley’s personal story of leaving the cruise ship after her injury resonated deeply with her audience, earning 193K views
How Much Money I REALLY Made Working on a Cruise Ship – $1,593
A transparent breakdown of her earnings while working on board, paired with her love for analytics
Answering ALL Your Cruise Questions: Getting Fired, Relationships, Hours, Future Plans and MORE! – $1,531
A mix of personal and professional insights, this video answered her audience’s burning questions
Cruise Ship Crew Cabin Tour – $1,406
Originally posted in 2023, this evergreen video continues to perform thanks to YouTube’s search engine. It has accumulated 925K views

Looking Ahead

While this is not enough income for somebody to live comfortably on, it’s only a component of her overall creator income, and she feels extremely blessed to be succeeding in content creation.

In addition to the direct YouTube Adsense, she makes money from video sponsors she feels good advertising to her audience and other product and affiliate income streams as well. Her catalog of content reaches new audiences as she continuously adds new content for her whole audience