Ship Captains, Who is in charge

To use the Famous Quote....WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE

Many regular cruisers are familiar with various individuals that are currently Captains of ships. It can be nice to know if you are going to see a Captain that is an acquaintance.

To use the Famous Quote....WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE

Not sure what you’re asking or perhaps I’m missing something but by your title “Ship captains....who is in charge”, it is the captain who is in charge of the entire ship.

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:confused: Are you asking if the Captain is in charge of the total ship or if who the Captain is makes a difference? :confused:

I often see people posting to find out who is the Captain, or Cruise Director or the Maitre 'd. I have never seen the fascination. None of them has ever ruined my cruise and none have ever made it wonderful

Knowing who the captain is doesn't determine which ship we'll sail on. But it is nice when a captain is visible and friendly. We never saw the captain on our Royal Princess cruise in December. (He even skipped our Captain's Circle party.) We ran into the captain on the Regal this past week often. He stayed behind at the Captain's Circle party to take photos with people who wished and just to chat.

On a ship the Captain is always in charge.

Captain of the Ship (Overall responsibility for the ship)

reporting directly to the Captain are:

Staff Captain (Second in command, becomes the Captain of the ship if the Captain is unable to fulfill his duties. Responsible for crew, staff and passengers.)

Chief Engineer (responsible for mechanical workings of the ship)

Hotel Director (responsible for hotel and dining operations)

Captain of the Ship (Overall responsibility for the ship)

reporting directly to the Captain are:

Staff Captain (Second in command, becomes the Captain of the ship if the Captain is unable to fulfill his duties. Responsible for crew, staff and passengers.)

Chief Engineer (responsible for mechanical workings of the ship)

Hotel Director (responsible for hotel and dining operations)

The Staff Captain is actually a qualified/certificed Captain ... so no worries. :)

You may have noticed that it is very seldom you will see the Captain and the Staff Captain at the same function on the ship at the same time.

I don't think I have ever seen a captain.

On our last cruise we were with a school group. The cruise director happened to be from our region of Ontario and knew all of the kids names a what adults belonged with the group. That was impressive

I often see people posting to find out who is the Captain, or Cruise Director or the Maitre 'd. I have never seen the fascination. None of them has ever ruined my cruise and none have ever made it wonderful

Exactly...............WHO CARES !!

Do you KNOW this captain?

Is he a better Captain that any other one?

As long as he gets the ship from port to port and doesn´t run aground......WHO CARES.

Exactly...............WHO CARES !!

 

Do you KNOW this captain?

 

Is he a better Captain that any other one?

 

As long as he gets the ship from port to port and doesn´t run aground......WHO CARES.

When the changes need to be made to the cruise (usually due to weather) and the captain is doing a poor join of communicating them to the point that almost everyone is wondering just what our revised itinerary is, I care. While a captain rarely makes or breaks a cruise, I can assure you there is (at least was) one Princess captain I would prefer to never sail behind again. Interestingly, this I have seen no mention of this captain being in command of a Princess ship since then so perhaps Princess does pay attention to customer feedback about captains and their communications skills or lack thereof.

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I often see people posting to find out who is the Captain, or Cruise Director or the Maitre 'd. I have never seen the fascination. None of them has ever ruined my cruise and none have ever made it wonderful

I suspecct that if you are ever on a ship that has Michelo Tuvo as the Captain, you will change your mind. He is an outstanding captain who I would cruise to anywhere if he were the captain!

Tom

If you cruise a particular line or a particular ship often enough, you may have had conversations with some of the officers, etc. It is always nice to see a familiar face. It is also nice to know who to approach if there is a problem (and the passenger services desk doesn't always cut it.)

We've had some familiar staff on one ship do some very nice things for us. On one cruise, my daughter knew that I wanted to do a certain ticketed activity. I'd tried to obtain a ticket in advance without success, and went to the appropriate desk as soon as we boarded, only to be told that they were all gone. My daughter "knew" the hotel manager from a previous cruise and when she saw him walking around the ship, asked him if there was a way to secure the ticket; he had it sent to our cabin. On another cruise, we received a plate of chocolate covered strawberries with a nice "welcome back" note from one of the officers.

Princess officers don't seem nearly as "out and about" as those on some other lines. And with as many ships as they have, it takes longer to get to know anyone.

We disagree with the OP. We find that different Captains run the ship with different results. The crew and the ship atmosphere are a reflection of the Captain's management style.

Some people don't see the difference between the store brand and the national brand. To them every version of a product is the same.

Exactly...............WHO CARES !!

Do you KNOW this captain?

Is he a better Captain that any other one?

As long as he gets the ship from port to port and doesn´t run aground......WHO CARES.

If you have read a number of threads about Princess, you have seen where some people report great service from all areas of the ship (cabin steward, waitstaff, CD staff, shore excursions, Purser's desk, etc.) and others report poor service and attitudes from staff.

The Captain makes the difference. Good leadership at the top sets the standard for all Princess employees on the ship.

I guess most cruisers judge the captain by their visibility around the ship, their 'meeting and greeting' abilities, broader communication skills, etc. Communication is important but I'm more interested in their seamanship and decision making skills ie the attributes that, as cruisers, we don't see.

Before the Costa Concordia tragedy many people thought Capain Schettino was wonderful, based on his interpersonal skills, but his seamanship and decision making were clearly flawed.

I guess most cruisers judge the captain by their visibility around the ship, their 'meeting and greeting' abilities, broader communication skills, etc. Communication is important but I'm more interested in their seamanship and decision making skills ie the attributes that, as cruisers, we don't see.

Communications is an important part of being a leader and is just as important, if not more, as decision making. A leader who makes good decisions but can't communicate them well will have the people under him not understanding what he wants. A captain who communicates poorly to the passengers is probably also communicating poorly to his officers.

I say communications might be more important than decision making because a leader who makes a good decision but can't communicate it will be operating solo without his staff fully bought in on his decision. But a leader who communicates well with his staff will get their buy in as well as feedback that lets the decision be improved.

Exactly...............WHO CARES !!

Do you KNOW this captain?

Is he a better Captain that any other one?

As long as he gets the ship from port to port and doesn´t run aground......WHO CARES.

WHO CARES? Some do, and some don’t. Who cares that you don’t care? Andwhy are you shouting? Are you angry that some care?

WHO CARES? Some do, and some don’t. Who cares that you don’t care? Andwhy are you shouting? Are you angry that some care?

Sorry about the caps....I just can´t figure out why the interest in the Captain....do you fly with only certain Pilots?

And, no I´m not angry...just curious...maybe there is something about these certain Captains that I missed.

I do remember a certain Captain, I think on a R/C cruise who had a mini motorcycle that he rode through the ship.....but HE is the only Captain that I ever spoke to...(or cared to speak to)

Communications is an important part of being a leader and is just as important, if not more, as decision making. A leader who makes good decisions but can't communicate them well will have the people under him not understanding what he wants. A captain who communicates poorly to the passengers is probably also communicating poorly to his officers.

 

I say communications might be more important than decision making because a leader who makes a good decision but can't communicate it will be operating solo without his staff fully bought in on his decision. But a leader who communicates well with his staff will get their buy in as well as feedback that lets the decision be improved.

An interesting thesis but not one I wholly agree with. Communication is complex - a leader is ultimately responsible for all decisions/actions and effective communicators will clearly articulate decisions and seek feedback. However, it is the leader's decision and they may choose to ignore/reject feedback. So IMO sound decision making (of which effective communication is a sub set) is the ultimate skill.

My original point was that it is the 'superficial' interpersonal skills that most cruisers judge captains by. I maintain that it's the things we don't see (seamanship and effective decision making) that make a good captain - the skills and attributes that keep us all safe and have an enjoyable cruise.

An interesting thesis but not one I wholly agree with. Communication is complex - a leader is ultimately responsible for all decisions/actions and effective communicators will clearly articulate decisions and seek feedback. However, it is the leader's decision and they may choose to ignore/reject feedback. So IMO sound decision making (of which effective communication is a sub set) is the ultimate skill.

My original point was that it is the 'superficial' interpersonal skills that most cruisers judge captains by. I maintain that it's the things we don't see (seamanship and effective decision making) that make a good captain - the skills and attributes that keep us all safe and have an enjoyable cruise.

I'll partially agree as well. And I agree that a lot of people judge captains on superficial skills. And if a cruise goes completely as planned, there may be nothing of importance that the captain needs to communicate to the passengers so capability in that area is not something we as passengers ever see. But when cruises do require modifications, clear communications are important as I somewhat mentioned earlier and will go into more here.

My last three cruises, all on Regal Princess (not that that is really relevant) all had events requiring the captain to communicate what was happening. On the first two, both with the same captain, a helicopter evacuation was required on the first and a port swap (changing the order of ports) on the second. Both were communicated well by this captain with a detailed explanation of what would be entailed (turning due to wind and clearing certain areas of the ship during the evacuation for the first and that weather and tide conditions made getting into the first port on the scheduled day impossible so we'd go to the second port first and then the first port the next day). I had no doubts as to what was happening or why and no reason to try to get more information. And as a result, I had full confidence in the captain.

But the most recent cruise (a TA) was totally different. It started well and when at our first port we needed to return about 10 minutes after departing for a medical evacuation, that was communicated well. But a few days later at another port, departure was delayed an hour without explanation (and those of us on deck planning to watch sailaway were left to wonder if it was worth waiting since no information forthcoming). And the came our hurricane deviation. First announcement came saying we'd be skipping two ports but no information about what we'd do instead. It was an announcement that raised more questions than it answered. And for the next 36 hours before the captain's next announcement, rumors swirled around the ship - we would be arriving at our final port early and kicked off early; we would arrive early but with no CBP people available to process us, confined to the ship; we were going to some alternate port (lots of people suggesting places that were clearly unreachable given the ship's speed). Meanwhile, those of watching the moving map saw two significant (40 to 50 degree change in the heading) course changes but no announcements. While we didn't go to Passenger Services with questions, lots of people did and we'd hear what they were being told at various events - essentially Passenger Services had no additional information and I got the sense they were just as frustrated by the lack of information. I'll also add that the captain was a no-show at two events he would normally attend - the UST I was on (which did go to the bridge where he was not even around, even in the planning room behind the bridge) or the CC reception. Now I understand that deviating around a hurricane requires extra decision making but when you're still a couple of days away, it does not require holing up somewhere (I know some will disagree with me here) and doing nothing but figure out what to do (hurricanes don't move that fast and it's several hours between meaningful updates on what it's doing - at this point, this still should have been medium range planning where you're checking your plans every few hours or if something significant has changed). In short, due to poor and infrequent communications and a lack of visibility, I did not feel confident in this captain's decision making abilities. If you can't communicate your decisions well, what does it say about the decision itself?

BTW, I've had three cruises where the captain was unable to attend the CC reception. In two, the reason was well-communicated at the event (one involving a difficult navigation area where the captain understandably wanted to be on the bridge, the other where fog kept him on the bridge longer than planned which coupled with early morning difficult navigation coming up meant the time of the reception was the only time he'd have for sleep that evening). OTOH, on the last, the staff had no information on why the captain did not show up. As I said, put it all together and I had no confidence in this captain.

Thanks - I think we have gone off topic with our discussion on the qualities of leadership and role communication plays! But interesting nevertheless. Captains of cruise ships require an additional set of skills over other master mariners - the ability to feed a group of information hungry passengers. As you say, their success in this will influence the confidence that passengers have in them. However, I'm still not convinced that this an indicator of their ability as a master mariner.

Thanks - I think we have gone off topic with our discussion on the qualities of leadership and role communication plays! But interesting nevertheless. Captains of cruise ships require an additional set of skills over other master mariners - the ability to feed a group of information hungry passengers. As you say, their success in this will influence the confidence that passengers have in them. However, I'm still not convinced that this an indicator of their ability as a master mariner.

I quite agree regarding going off-topic. Different people will have different qualities they look for in a captain and that's to be expected. No different than in anything else really.

I quite agree regarding going off-topic. Different people will have different qualities they look for in a captain and that's to be expected. No different than in anything else really.

Happy cruising!