Cruise Ship Officer

What's the biggest secret about cruises or cruise ships that 99.9% of people don't know?

Asked by Jerry over 13 years ago

I've been thinking about this for a while and can't come up with a good answer. But I think I'll answer it with one aspect of the industry that is often reported but, I feel, inaccurate: that cruising is somehow this completely unregulated industry where every ship can do what they want. True, ships are registered in Bahamas or Panama or wherever, but they are all subject to port state control inspections in the countries they go visit and all follow internationally approved (by IMO) safety standards in SOLAS. Any large cruise ship built today has tremendous safety equipment and the crew will undergo a lot of training. And they all follow the regulations! I saw one email today from a company proposing new changes post Concordia, including having to send verification for every passenger booked in the US that an emergency drill was held prior to departure. I do believe there needs to be a drill before departure; why there needs to be a separate verification sent is something I find hard to understand. If there is a requirement to do so, ship's officers will do so. They have licenses and undergo years of training and know the importance of following these international regulations; it isn't like in this day and age once this becomes a requirement they would simply not do the drill and hope no one notices. Yes, ships are registered in a variety of countries, and yes I believe a ship registered in the UK is subject to more stringent inspections than one say in Liberia. But that does not mean that the Liberian registered ship does not meet certain standards or acts without any regard to international laws or regulation.

Is the "captain going down with the ship" actually a law? Like was the Italian captain legally required to stay on board if he knew that there were still passengers alive on the ship?

Asked by SSmith over 13 years ago

No one is going to fault a Captain for abandoning ship after the evacuation is complete. However, the Captain has a duty of care to his or her passengers, and this means taking every possible step to ensure the safety of your passengers until the very end. The comment from a Captain that, "I ordered 'Abandon Ship'-- that means everyone, including me" is definitely not correct. The Captain should be in the last boat (or raft) from the ship, and barring imminent death or sinking, should be onboard until he or she has been told everyone else is off. Now, if there is a fire or water is lapping at the bridge and the ship will sink within moments meaning that the Captain needs to either jump off then or certainly die within a few minutes, then he or she should save himself. As long as he or she has done everything possible until the last minute, there isn't any reason for the Captain to unnecessarily die. And while I don't know the specifics of the law, there is a law in Italy against abandoning ship prematurely that the Captain is being charged with.

How much can cruise ship captains make?

Asked by greatScott over 13 years ago

I would think most captains run in the range of 50,000GBP to 100,000GBP. Those higher ranges, though, are probably for Captains who are on older contracts with a defined incremental raise increase every year and have been going to sea for four decades or so. I don't think you'd find too many cruise ship captains at that top range.

Are there any additional cruise-ship safety precautions that are being put into place as a result of the Italy disaster?

Asked by JimmyBX over 13 years ago

I don't think you'll see any new international regulations go into effect before the official reports come out about the accident. You want to wait and see what really happened before you start legislating ways to prevent it in the future. However, what I see as the most likely regulation to change- that you can wait 24 hours after sailing before holding an official muster and emergency drill- has already been adopted by the cruise lines. A broad collection of companies announced last week, I think, that they would make it their policy to always hold the emergency drill before sailing. Again, regulations don't require this immediately, and almost all companies already did this anyways, but now the lines will be exceeding the international requirements here. Also, I am sure companies are doing individual additional precautions. These would likely include additional damage control training or additional training for crowd and crisis management for affected crew. There is no doubt that companies will also be communicating with their Captains and bridge teams about the accident, and that onboard the officers will be reviewing the accident- and their own procedures- in meetings. Carnival Corporation has already announced they will be doing a complete review of all their safety procedures in light of the accident.

Have you ever sailed through waters where you knew pirates were active? Were you scared and did you take extra precautions?

Asked by SSmith over 13 years ago

I've been on cargo ships going through the Straits of Malacca where there are active pirates. You certainly take extra pre-cautions, including extra watches posted around the ship, all the doors from the outside being locked, and fire hoses kept full of pressure to repel any boarders if necessary. I was also on a very large passenger ship a few years ago going through the Arabian Sea- many precautions were taken, including naval escorts, instructions to passengers, a partial blacking out of the ship. I had very little concern then that the pirates would be able to do much to the ship-- it was too large, with too many people, going too fast for them to do anything significant. I know of another passenger ship that transited the region off Somalia- but without passengers- where razor wire was strung around the ship, the hull coated with grease to make boarding difficult, and outside security agents placed onboard for the transit.

What's the protocol if a passenger gets really sick and needs to be hospitalized but you're days away from a port?

Asked by Sarah over 13 years ago

It depends on the severity of the illness, but the general procedure is whatever the doctor recommends, we will do. So that might mean diverting very far to get within helicopter range so the passenger can be medi-vaced off. (On a North Atlantic crossing, for instance, you have the option of airlifting from Newfoundland or Ireland, meaning there are really only a few days when the ship is in the middle of the ocean where you can't get someone off by helicopter.) But if the doctor recommends getting to shore (or near shore) as quickly as possible, then costs are not factored and the ship will go full speed in order to get there quickly.

What is a Staff Captain? My ship has a Master, a Chief Mate for cargo ops and maintenance, 2nd Mate for navigation and two 3rd Mates for OICNW. Is it the same on a cruise ship?

Asked by Capt. Dennis O'Leary over 11 years ago