Ceremonial Captain

[gabbyisadog]

Some years ago(many), we took a cruise with two captains. One who ran the ship and one who dined with guests, had cocktail parties etc. Does anyone else remember this? What line? Not sure the background of the ceremonial one- maybe a retiree? I think this is not a bad plan.

[Globaliser]

I've come across a similar system of a "staff captain" on a number of lines. The captain captain does all the things you'd expect from the popular perception of a cruise ship captain including all the ceremonial and social stuff - but remains in overall command of the vessel, with the staff captain being the most senior member of the department that actually drives the ship (like the captain captain's number two).

[Randyk47]

Some years ago(many), we took a cruise with two captains. One who ran the ship and one who dined with guests, had cocktail parties etc. Does anyone else remember this? What line? Not sure the background of the ceremonial one- maybe a retiree? I think this is not a bad plan.

 

I think I've heard of this from years and years ago but I've not seen one on HAL in nearly 18 years of cruising.

[dot73]

When I was on the Tahitian Princess there was a staff captain. Apparently one captain dealt with the navigation and mechanical issues, while the staff captain (who was second in command) took care of all staff and crew issues.

 

You often hear complaints from people that they never get to see the Captain and that he is not particularly friendly and outgoing. Having seen what happened on the Concordia, I don't particular want to see my captain too often. I'd be happier if he was on the bridge.:o

[sail7seas]

I've never seen that on any HAL ship.

[ASIWISH]

My DW says she wants a husband like that!

 

Yikes!

[SwissMyst]

Perhaps it is time to make the Hotel Manager the key public relations person in this role to be the primary interface with the passengers - we are also pretty interested in how the ship works as a dining and hotel establishment as much as how it is navigated. The Hotel Manager can have more interesting stories to tell as well.

 

Perhaps changing the title for this officer would elevate his/her status as the real go-to public person on the ship and leave the critical technical operations to those who can concentrate on this full-time.

 

I thought originally the Hotel Manager was the person who kept track of ordering the toilet paper but have learned this is really the person dedicated to make you happy while on board, while the captain critical as he/she is should be far more concerned about getting us there.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I have never heard of this.

 

Pretty interesting though.

[Typhoon1]

I've heard it mentioned. However, in this day of company cutbacks, it's probably an additional expense any cruise line can do without.

[sail7seas]

Captain was on the bridge when this event happened.

He wasn't out shaking hands and taking photos.

 

Captains have managed just fine to attend to their duties on the bridge, their administrative duties and social acitivities just fine.

 

We have been seated with a Captain, he has been paged he is needed and he leaves immediately. It is not an issue.

 

If he is not on the Bridge, Chief is. Captain is not the only licensed Master's license holder on a ship.

 

[ShipsAreTheBest]

Some cruise lines have Staff Captains (sometimes also referred to as Deputy Captains (oni British ships). They are second-in-command and are also responsible for crew discipline. They are licensed masters and could take over full command if that were required.

 

HAL does not have Staff Captains, but the Chief Officer fills the same role. (Just a title change).

 

As to the subject of the OP, I agree with others that this isn't necessary. One simply needs competent officers who are standing watch on the bridge (and the engine room) and who know enough, when they are in trouble or unsure of something, to call the Master (or the Chief Engineer in the case of the engineering officers) before the situation becomes extreme. I suspect these calls happen much more often than anyone realizes, and because they do and are handled 99.9% the correct way, we never even know about it (just the way it's supposed to be!)

[Jemima]

The HAL daily newsletter always has a brief captain's bio once each cruise. The bio always contains a summary of many years of experience, often on various types of ships, that has to their current position as a HAL captain. I'm not seeing any of this background info on the Costa Concordia captain other than he went to nautical school in Italy years ago and then nothing is mentioned until he joins Costa 2002 (or thereabouts) as, depending on which news article, a safety officer or security officer. Then a few years later he's a captain.

[sail7seas]

The HAL daily newsletter always has a brief captain's bio once each cruise. The bio always contains a summary of many years of experience, often on various types of ships, that has to their current position as a HAL captain. I'm not seeing any of this background info on the Costa Concordia captain other than he went to nautical school in Italy years ago and then nothing is mentioned until he joins Costa 2002 (or thereabouts) as, depending on which news article, a safety officer or security officer. Then a few years later he's a captain.

 

 

I read somewhere the Captain of Costa Concordia has been a Captain since 2006.

 

[DeepWaterMariner]

Some lines still have staff captains. We dined with the staff captain on an RCI cruise (2002) and it wasn't at the official captain's table. His role was social but he also had significant other responsibilities. I've seen them on other lines too. I think its used to have more officer interaction with the passengers without increasing that responsibility on the ship's master beyond what we normally associate with that position.

[DeepWaterMariner]

The HAL daily newsletter always has a brief captain's bio once each cruise. The bio always contains a summary of many years of experience, often on various types of ships, that has to their current position as a HAL captain. I'm not seeing any of this background info on the Costa Concordia captain other than he went to nautical school in Italy years ago and then nothing is mentioned until he joins Costa 2002 (or thereabouts) as, depending on which news article, a safety officer or security officer. Then a few years later he's a captain.

 

During a captain's Q&A on our last HAL cruise I asked a question about having non-Dutch captains (ours was English). He explained that there aren't enough Dutch officers to fill all the positions and that was the reason they also had English captains and also the reason that the age of captains was dropping. That means less experience on average when an officer becomes a captain or, put another way, more opportunity for career officers.

[InTheWASide]

Some years ago(many), we took a cruise with two captains. One who ran the ship and one who dined with guests, had cocktail parties etc. Does anyone else remember this? What line? Not sure the background of the ceremonial one- maybe a retiree? I think this is not a bad plan.

 

For those mentioning a "Staff Captain" I think this would likely fall somwhere at/between the Hotel Manager and Chief Officer positions on HAL.

 

As for TWO Captains... believe the only ships that do this are Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas

[CruiserBruce]

An old HAL Captain some 20 years ago told me that Dutch law doesn't have a Staff Captain position, so HAL doesn't use the position.

[Caribbean Chris]

I've come across a similar system of a "staff captain" on a number of lines. The captain captain does all the things you'd expect from the popular perception of a cruise ship captain including all the ceremonial and social stuff - but remains in overall command of the vessel, with the staff captain being the most senior member of the department that actually drives the ship (like the captain captain's number two).

 

Yes, this was the system when I worked for Royal Viking Line in the 1980s.

Some of the Norwegians on board called that the "show captain" who had the passenger contact and was senior to the staff captain, who was typically running things on the bridge.

 

One popular guy, Helge Brudvig, captain of the Royal Viking Sea, was known as the "Paul Newman captain" for his good looks, and did a mean chicken dance.

 

That said, some of the senior captains took a stronger hands on role and were more serious. The relatively young captain of the RV Star would not allow champagne to be served on his bridge when I brought travel agents up for their tour. He was well respected by his crew.

[bishop84]

Some years ago(many), we took a cruise with two captains. One who ran the ship and one who dined with guests, had cocktail parties etc. Does anyone else remember this? What line? Not sure the background of the ceremonial one- maybe a retiree? I think this is not a bad plan.

 

The only time I have heard of 2 Captains on the ship has been when the ship was during the inaugural of the ship. This enabled the company to introduce both Captains assigned to the ship as also split the normal duties and the extensive PR requirements during that period.

[bishop84]

During a captain's Q&A on our last HAL cruise I asked a question about having non-Dutch captains (ours was English). He explained that there aren't enough Dutch officers to fill all the positions and that was the reason they also had English captains and also the reason that the age of captains was dropping. That means less experience on average when an officer becomes a captain or, put another way, more opportunity for career officers.

 

As well as Dutch and British Captains I believe HAL also has at least one Canadian and possibly a New Zealand Captain as well.

 

I understand that the average cruise ship Captain (or Master to be nautically correct) has about 15 years experience as a qualified officer prior to being considered for command.

[sail7seas]

For those mentioning a "Staff Captain" I think this would likely fall somwhere at/between the Hotel Manager and Chief Officer positions on HAL.

 

As for TWO Captains... believe the only ships that do this are Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas

 

 

:confused:

 

Captain = Navigation

Hotel Manager = Hotel

 

Very different positions except perhaps for social responsibilities.

 

[gabbyisadog]

Yes, this was the system when I worked for Royal Viking Line in the 1980s.

Some of the Norwegians on board called that the "show captain" who had the passenger contact and was senior to the staff captain, who was typically running things on the bridge.

 

One popular guy, Helge Brudvig, captain of the Royal Viking Sea, was known as the "Paul Newman captain" for his good looks, and did a mean chicken dance.

 

That said, some of the senior captains took a stronger hands on role and were more serious. The relatively young captain of the RV Star would not allow champagne to be served on his bridge when I brought travel agents up for their tour. He was well respected by his crew.

Thanks so much for the info. It was indeed Royal Viking. A great cruise line that we enjoyed several times in the mid to late 80"s

[Modern_Viking]

It is my understand that on a HAL ship, the person in charge of navigation, safety, security, crew discipline, and exterior (deck) maintenance is the Chief Officer. On many lines, the title Staff Captain is used for this roll. The Chief Officer, on HAL, is a department head and wears 4 full width stripes, just like the other department heads (Chief Engineer and Hotel Manager).

 

While the Chief Officer is generally in charge of running the deck department, the senior officer on board is the Captain, who also often/generally takes control of the ship at critical/dangerous times such as entering/leaving port, transiting a canal, in dense fog while underway, etc. The captain has overall responsibility for the ship at all times, even though it is the Chief Officer who is in charge of navigation and running the deck department.

 

The Captain is also in charge of mediating disputes between department heads, inspections, certain long term projects on the ship, and of course being the social host to passengers.