Princess Officers Dress

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

Been chat about lack of officers that can be seen on a ship, by that they mean those wearing whites,

 

so question how many folk on a Princess ship are allowed to wear whites,

 

bridge crew but how many officers make up a full bridge crew

 

engineer, doctor, pursar etc

 

so anyone got an idea what the total number is.

 

 

yours Shogun

[OldSeaDog]

I don't know the number offhand, and can't be bothered to look it up. There are two completely different sorts of officers, though. There are Navigation and Engineering officers, and there are Hospitality officers. One set runs the ship and the other runs that big hotel you're floating around in. Hospitality far outnumbers Nav and Engineering. So...to count "officers" you need to specify which kind, not lump them together.

[Pam in CA]

The Princess Channel in the cabin has a continuously-running explanation of how to identify an officer and their rank/job by their epaulet. Even the doctors are officers.

[Shogun]

Hi Oldseadog

 

Fully understand difference between Hotel Manager and Captain

 

however both are refered to as officers by Princess and wear whites,

 

so for this question they are the same.

 

yours shogun

[skynight]

Hi Oldseadog

 

Fully understand difference between Hotel Manager and Captain

however both are referred to as officers by Princess and wear whites,

so for this question they are the same.

yours shogun

 

You are confusing the "Officer Rank" with jobs on the ship and the uniforms worn. The staff you see walking around are not usually the deck or operations officers. They are too consumed manning the bridge, engine room, and the operations of the vessel to be out and about. You very seldom see a bridge officer by the pool or in a lounge, but be assured they are always on post where you would want them to be. The hotel staff, which is the largest portion of the ship's company, has many employees that have officer status. Some are uniformed in traditional "whites" or "blues" with a rank shown on their shoulder, and some are not. For example, the Cruise Directors staff are either officers or petty officers. This staff and others from the customer service area take command of crews in different emergency situations. During the muster drills and during training drills, held on port days, you will see this staff preparing for different situations. The security staff is out and about, and you will see them in uniform doing their rounds.

Hope this information is helpful and calming to your concerns.

[77Network]

You are confusing the "Officer Rank" with jobs on the ship and the uniforms worn. The staff you see walking around are not usually the deck or operations officers. They are too consumed manning the bridge, engine room, and the operations of the vessel to be out and about. You very seldom see a bridge officer by the pool or in a lounge, but be assured they are always on post where you would want them to be. The hotel staff, which is the largest portion of the ship's company, has many employees that have officer status. Some are uniformed in traditional "whites" or "blues" with a rank shown on their shoulder, and some are not. For example, the Cruise Directors staff are either officers or petty officers. This staff and others from the customer service area take command of crews in different emergency situations. During the muster drills and during training drills, held on port days, you will see this staff preparing for different situations. The security staff is out and about, and you will see them in uniform doing their rounds.

Hope this information is helpful and calming to your concerns.

 

I don’t think he was concerned. I believe he is looking for a number per ship.

A hundred or so.

 

 

.

Edited January 20, 2012 by 77Network

[mr green]

On a cruise about five years ago, all the officers, and department heads introduced on stage at the Captain's reception, wore white pants and blazers.

 

john

[nukesubsailor]

Certain officers wear white uniforms for their working uniform, (different from formal dress uniform). Engineering department officers wear khaki uniforms for their working uniforms.

The more strips/bars on the uniform shoulder board, the higher the rank. A captain rank has 4. There can be several officers aboard a ship that hold the rank of captain, but only one will be in command of the ship. I have heard that the officer who is second in command is called the Staff Captain. I presume the Hotel Manager and possibly the Food Service Manager may also hold the pay grade of captain.

[Shogun]

Hi There,

 

Why would I be concerned, ?

 

any way it was following up another chat where folks were saying in the

 

good old days almost everyone wore whites, while today you see very few

 

ships people in white, eg once upon a time all the staff at the pursars

 

desk would be in whites, while today if it was not for name tags most

 

crew look like passengers, so question still stands unaswered.

 

yours Shogun

[Times Prince]

Certain officers wear white uniforms for their working uniform, (different from formal dress uniform). Engineering department officers wear khaki uniforms for their working uniforms.

The more strips/bars on the uniform shoulder board, the higher the rank. A captain rank has 4. There can be several officers aboard a ship that hold the rank of captain, but only one will be in command of the ship. I have heard that the officer who is second in command is called the Staff Captain. I presume the Hotel Manager and possibly the Food Service Manager may also hold the pay grade of captain.

I have observed Staff Captains on several cruises wearing khaki as well.

 

Officers dress to match the occasion. You can pretty much bet that any one wearing khaki is busy running the ship and won't have much time for passenger interaction.

[skynight]

Hi There,

 

Why would I be concerned, ?

 

any way it was following up another chat where folks were saying in the

 

good old days almost everyone wore whites, while today you see very few

 

ships people in white, eg once upon a time all the staff at the pursars

 

desk would be in whites, while today if it was not for name tags most

 

crew look like passengers, so question still stands unaswered.

 

yours Shogun

 

OK Here you go. On a December 2010 Island Princess Cruise there were 10 deck/navigational officers including the Captain, Staff Captain, two 1st officers, two 2nd officers, three 3rd officers and one deck cadet. Of the other 1000 or so Officers, Staff and Crew on board, my estimate is that only about 100 or so wear traditional Navy type class "A" uniforms, as their everyday dress. All others wear uniforms that fit their jobs. Regarding the Pursur's staff, which is now called Customer Service, the managers and supervisors do wear Navy type uniforms. The front desk staff wears more of a suit, similar to what you would find in a nice hotel, but you can still tell they work for the company.

[77Network]

OK Here you go. On a December 2010 Island Princess Cruise there were 10 deck/navigational officers including the Captain, Staff Captain, two 1st officers, two 2nd officers, three 3rd officers and one deck cadet. Of the other 1000 or so Officers, Staff and Crew on board, my estimate is that only about 100 or so wear traditional Navy type class "A" uniforms, as their everyday dress. All others wear uniforms that fit their jobs. Regarding the Pursur's staff, which is now called Customer Service, the managers and supervisors do wear Navy type uniforms. The front desk staff wears more of a suit, similar to what you would find in a nice hotel, but you can still tell they work for the company.

 

 

Of those 100 or so, how many wear boxer vs breifs?

[BruceMuzz]

Shogun,

 

In order to cut to the chase here, the actual number of staff entitled to wear Officer-type uniforms on a Princess Ship the size of Ruby Princess is approximately 200. This includes petty officers, supervisors, managers, etc.

 

Fewer and fewer of them are seen "out and about" when not working.

 

In the good old days, officers enjoyed substantial discounts on food and drink in public venues. All of that is now gone.

The cruise lines needed to cut those perks to keep operating costs down.

They also cut the perks to minimize fraternization between officers and passengers, due to lawsuits, etc.

Finally they cut the perks to avoid the passenger perception that officers in charge of safety and security might be indulging while on duty.

 

After the recent Costa debacle, you can bet that any other chances of Officers enjoying themselves in public will be removed.

[Shogun]

Hi BruceMuzz

 

Thanks for that, have seen formal photos of sjips crews and there does appear to be a lot, but out of a thousand crew not that many,

 

 

like you said the days of having a drink in the crew bar with an officer has long gone, which is a pity.

 

yours shogun

[OldSeaDog]

FWIW, I wasn't being rude. Too many people seem to have no idea that there are *two* "Captains" on the ship, or that nearly all the "Officers" they see during the day in public areas are hotel staff. Also, for the past several Princess cruises, I've only seen the Engineers wearing dark blue coveralls.

[srpilo]

Of those 100 or so, how many wear boxer vs breifs?

 

 

:D:D:D

 

 

 

 

 

Perhaps we need new thread/poll to discuss this in more depth :)

Srpilo

[cruiseshipofficer]

I'm an engineering officer on a cruise ship and have 5 different uniforms.

 

Boiler suit and khakis for working in, a set of whites to wear to passenger events in the daytime, evening semi-formal and evening formal.

 

One of the reasons you don't see many officers 'upstairs' in the evening is that we like to relax in casual clothes after a days work, so we stay in the crew areas.

[pablo222]

Engineering department officers wear khaki uniforms for their working uniforms.

 

On princess, their uniforms are olive-blue.

[Shogun]

Hi Cruiseshipofficer

 

 

Welcome to cruise critic, thank you for posting,

 

please post when you can,

 

first hand, correct information is always welcome,

 

 

yours Shogun

[flamomo]

Hi BruceMuzz

 

Thanks for that, have seen formal photos of sjips crews and there does appear to be a lot, but out of a thousand crew not that many,

 

shogun

 

 

Like most businesses, even on cruise ships, most of the employees are the "worker bees"

[beg3yrs]

I'm an engineering officer on a cruise ship and have 5 different uniforms.

 

Boiler suit and khakis for working in, a set of whites to wear to passenger events in the daytime, evening semi-formal and evening formal.

 

One of the reasons you don't see many officers 'upstairs' in the evening is that we like to relax in casual clothes after a days work, so we stay in the crew areas.

 

Hi Cruiseshipofficer

 

 

Welcome to cruise critic, thank you for posting,

 

please post when you can,

 

first hand, correct information is always welcome,

 

 

yours Shogun

 

Yes, welcome and please stick around. Accurate first hand information is a valued commodity here on the CC forums.

 

Bruce Muzz - glad to see you're still around. For the same reasons as stated above.

[MauiLvrs]

... A captain rank has 4. There can be several officers aboard a ship that hold the rank of captain, but only one will be in command of the ship. ...

Hense ... the difference between "a Captain" and "THE captain".

And while a Staff Captain may be in command of the ship (on watch) ... THE captain is in COMMAND of the ship. Another Captain (Purser) is in command of the things the affect passengers daily onboard life ... except when it hits the fan then THE Captain becomes the one that most affects onboard passenger life (otherwise he is busy getting folks safely from point a to point be and not making sure the dinner service goes well).

 

Except ... when the engine quits and then focus is on the engineering Captain to get passengers home ... but the heat is always on THE Captain.

 

So .. when THE Captain runs the ship aground and leaves the ship .. does the Staff Captain become THE Captain? And when the ship goes dead in the water for 5 days, does the Engineering Captain become a Deck Hand?

 

Anyway ... As the ships get bigger add many more passengers ... passenger to Captain ratio gets smaller and the passenger THE Captain ration get much smaller and the area to Captain ratio get smaller there is much less time and space to see Captains and the Captains that one does see are more likely to be seen walking through out the ship and with the huge ships there are many more ways to get around the ship in crew only areas.

 

And of those that are seen, one could venture to guess that new cruisers feel more comfortable with hotel staff in business dress as opposed to ship whites?

 

And then BruceMuzz made a number of excellent points.

Edited June 12, 2013 by MauiLvrs

[cmst220]

I'm an engineering officer on a cruise ship and have 5 different uniforms.

 

Boiler suit and khakis for working in, a set of whites to wear to passenger events in the daytime, evening semi-formal and evening formal.

 

One of the reasons you don't see many officers 'upstairs' in the evening is that we like to relax in casual clothes after a days work, so we stay in the crew areas.

 

well said you guys deserve time off to chill out .

[Meatman1]

I LOVE your post. Comando here.

[RickEk]

 

After the recent Costa debacle, you can bet that any other chances of Officers enjoying themselves in public will be removed.

 

Well, on our recent cruise last week, we were having dinner in the Crown Grill and a group of 4 officers in dress whites came in for dinner. Bottles of wine were opened and consumed. Now, of course, I assumed they were off-duty and planned to be so for the rest of the evening. At least I hoped so. :)