CruiseShipOfficer
New York, NY
Male, 33
I have worked as a deck officer on large cruise ships for almost a decade. When standing watch on the bridge for eight hours a day, I was directly responsible for the safety and navigation of the vessel. In addition, in my roles as Safety Officer and Chief Officer, I have had duties outside of the bridge regarding emergency response and procedures.
It depends on your rank. A few deck officers will be in charge of some of the regular lifeboats with passengers. But on a ship with, say, 20 lifeboats, there aren't 20 deck officers to be in charge of each lifeboat. (In this case, other trained (and certified) people- Quartermasters, engineering officers, etc- will be in charge of the boat, along with several other crew members that will also help man the boat.) In addition, when you give the order to abandon ship, losing all of your officers to go man the lifeboats means you have less people onboard to ensure critical elements of the ship and evacuation are going as they should-- so a core... Read More +
It really depends on individual companies. Most European/"western" officers will usually work between 6 or 8 months a year. This is often broken down into 3 months on and then 3 months off, or 4 months on and 2 months off. I would say 4 and 2 is probably slightly more common than 3 and 3, at least for cruiseships. Of course, when you are working, you are working 7 days a week without a break, and are always 'on call' even when off the bridge.
I wouldn't say any really close calls, no. There have been, however, many moments where my blood pressure has gone up and my heart rate increased, for sure, or times where if the situation was not handled correctly and promptly, there could have been more serious consequences. But I've seen fires- albeit minor ones that are out quickly- power outages, medical evacuations, big storms, and mechanical failures. But well trained crews can and do respond effectively to these situations to ensure they don't become 'incidents.' And being responsible for the safety of these ships is stressful- I always felt when I walked down the gangway at the end... Read More +
Truthfully, I have no idea-- but the number is very small. Whenever it happens, there is usually a fair amount of media attention, so the frequency might seem higher than people think. The bottom line is you really have to try hard to fall off a ship. Regulations dictate the minimum height of railings, and they are high enough you won't just accidentally slip and suddenly find yourself in the sea. To fall off, you essentially have to be doing something pretty stupid- like climbing on a rail- or intentionally throw yourself off. Recovery chances vary depending on how high the person was when they jump and where the ship is-- obviously if you... Read More +
SWAT Team Commander (Retired)
Chef
Radio program/music director
Antiquated. What surprises me are the news reports that this was- either formally or informally- the policy at some boats on the Concordia. None of the passenger ships I've worked on have had this rule at all. In fact, it is the opposite-- to keep passengers calm, you want to keep families together. Splitting people up will only make crowd control more difficult.
It depends on the size of the ship, mostly, along with the conditions at that time... Smaller cruise ships on a normal passage out at sea will usually have one qualified officer on watch at any time, along with a lookout, or Quartermaster. But the vast majority of modern cruise ships will have two officers on watch at all times, with at least one lookout/Quartermaster assisting as well. However, if the vessel is in an area where there is more demanding navigation- close to shore, coming into or out of ports, areas in which there is heavy traffic, or during restricted visibility, for instance- the bridge team is supplemented by additional... Read More +
As with all these answers, until the report comes out we don't know for sure, and it is all speculation. But we do know the rock opened up a very, very long hole in the side of the ship. Ships are broken into watertight compartments that stretch from the bottom of the ship to a few decks above the waterline. This prevents a hole in one part of the ship from sinking the entire ship-- one watertight compartment would fill but the ship can still easily float. The Concordia was designed so that multiple compartments could be flooded and the ship would still be afloat, but I suspect the damage was just simply too large and the number of compartments... Read More +
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