I'm a general manager on a $450 million cruise ship. I'm on duty 24 hours a day, but it's worth it to travel the world in a floating 5-star hotel.

• Alessandro Menegazzi has worked on cruise ships since 1997 and has always felt a call to the sea. 
• He is now the general manager for the $450 million Regent Seven Seas Explorer.
• Menegazzi shares what it's like to work and live aboard what he calls a "floating five-star hotel."

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Alessandro Menegazzi, the general manager for the Regent Seven Seas Explorer, about his job at sea. It has been edited for length and clarity.