Work On A Ship

Years ago, women weren’t allowed to work at sea. Having a woman on board a ship was seen as bad luck – a myth that stemmed from tales of mermaids luring seamen to their deaths.

In fact, the only way that women ever worked at sea was if they pretended to be men – something that was relatively common across history.

Thankfully, times have changed and the cruise industry is now a welcoming place for women to seek employment. Despite only 1.2% of the world’s mariners being women, on cruise ships that number is closer to 20%.

So, what types of jobs should you be seeking if you’re a woman who wants to work on a cruise ship?

Well, around 85% of jobs on board cruise ships are classified as ‘hotel’, while the remaining 15% are classified as ‘marine’. Hotel jobs include departments like bar, restaurant, guest services, cabin, casino, shops and gym.

While this probably explains why there are more women working on cruise ships than other types of marine vessel, that certainly doesn’t mean that those are the only jobs that women can apply for.

So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the best cruise ship jobs for females…

1. Captain

Top of the cruise ship jobs list – and one of the best cruise jobs for female employees – is the Captain. The first woman appointed captain of a cruise ship was Karin Stahre-Janson of Sweden, who took command of Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas in 2007.

Now, you’ll find female captains working for many cruise lines including Cunard, P&O Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Silversea, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Windstar and Virgin Voyages.

Becoming a cruise ship captain is tough, it requires at least 20 years of training. But if you want to be the best of the best, then your gender needn’t hold you back.

Read more: Captain Kate McCue: Salary, Age, & Fun Facts

2. Deck Officer

Deck officers work on the bridge of a cruise ship and are responsible for the navigation, communication, maintenance and safety of a ship. Jobs include Staff Captain, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Officers, Safety Officer, Security Officer and Deck Cadet. 

Statistics vary depending on the cruise line, but figures show that between 5 and 22 per cent of officers are women.

Onboard Celebrity Cruises ships, 32% of the bridge officers are women and in 2020, Captain Kate McCue captained the first all-female bridge crew aboard Celebrity Edge.

3. Cruise Director

The cruise director is responsible for all of the entertainment staff on a cruise ship. Once a male-dominated position, there are now many female cruise directors. If you take a look at the Carnival cruise director schedule, you’ll get an idea about how many of them are women.

Gender doesn’t matter for a cruise director. What’s important is personality – you must be charismatic and charming, but also incredibly well-organised with strong leadership skills.

Suggested read: Top 10 Carnival Cruise Directors Of All Time

4. Guest Services Representative

Working in guest services is a good cruise ship job, particularly for those who speak several languages and enjoy working with the public. Behind the guest services desk on a cruise ship, you can expect to see an even mix of men and women.

5. Performer

You’ll find many female entertainers on cruise ships. So whether you want to be a dancer in the theatre, a singer in the bar or an acrobat on stage or even a close-up magician in the lounge, there are a wealth of jobs for talented women on cruise ships.

6. Shore Excursions Manager

Shore excursions managers are responsible for presenting and selling the shore excursions that are on offer on a cruise. The best part of this job is that you get to try them all out for yourself! It’s a great way to see the world.

7. Waitress

While it’s not uncommon to see all-male services teams in the restaurants on cruise ships, there’s certainly no reason why a woman cannot join the team as a waitress. Whether you wish to work in the buffet, cafe, main dining room or one of the speciality restaurants, there are plenty of waitressing jobs available on cruise ships.

8. Chef

Cruise ship kitchens (or galleys) have traditionally been male-dominated environments. But as this female cruise ship chef explains, “no one really thought about my gender”.

Recently, more and more women have been appointed culinary roles on cruise ships. And in 2022, Windstar Cruises revealed its first all-female chef lineup.

9. Beautician

There is a huge range of beauty jobs on board cruise ships. Working in the salon and spa, there are careers for hairdressers, beauty therapists, nail technicians, massage therapists and more.

This is a female-dominated space as many of the staff and also the clients are women.

10. Shop Assistant

You’ll find many different shops on board cruise ships. So whether you’re interested in selling luxury jewellery and watches, designer handbags and clothing or confectionary items, there are many retail roles to consider.

11. Security Guard

Responsible for controlling the entry to the ship, amongst other duties, you may be surprised to see just how many cruise ship security guards are female.

While security guards on land are most commonly male, particularly when it comes to nightclub bouncers and other hands-on security roles, cruise lines regularly employ women to work in the security department.

12. Bar Server

Behind the bar of cruise ships, you’re much more likely to be served by a man than a woman. However, that certainly doesn’t mean that women need not apply for thess roles.

In fact, cruise lines like Celebrity Cruises have been actively seeking women to work in the beverages department in an effort to redress the balance on board.

13. Engineer

There are many different engineering roles on cruise ships, responsible for maintaining all kinds of equipment from generators and compressors to the plumbing and air conditioning systems.

In 2018, Leanne Robertson was promoted to first engineer for P&O Cruises – the first time that a woman has ever been appointed in such a position.

14. Lifeguard

A lifeguard job is traditionally a role that appeals to both men and women. Some cruise ship lifeguard roles are advertised as exclusively for women though. The reason for that is cultural – in some parts of the world such as the Middle East, it would be seen as inappropriate for a man to be watching over women while they are in swimwear.

15. Youth Staff

Most family-friendly cruise ships have kids clubs with lots of fun organised activities for children. If you love kids, then perhaps working as a Youth Counsellor could be the job for you?

Just as childcare workers on land are predominantly women, the vast majority of people who look after children on board cruise ships are female.

While this is a job that obviously appeals to those who enjoy spending time caring for children, cruise ship contracts can make it impossible for women to start relationships and have families of their own.

To Conclude

I hope that this guide has given you an insight into the job roles that are available on cruise ships.

The most important thing to take away is that having a vagina should not stop you from achieving any career path that you wish to pursue!

I’ve only been able to cover a few roles in this guide, but there are many more, from doctors and nurses to croupiers and photographers to cleaners and laundry workers. You can have whatever job you want on a ship if you’re willing to work hard enough.

Next, you might also be interested to look at my guide to how to get a job on a cruise ship. Or, take a look at this guide to how much cruise ship jobs pay.

Related Posts:

Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.

Read more about me

People go on a cruise because they want to have a good time. But how much of a good time are they having – and are they enjoying the crew’s company a little too much at the same time?

A lot of cruise lines talk about how the crew are there to take care of anything a passenger needs, but that doesn’t mean they take care of ‘those needs’, does it?

Don’t expect it to be rampant…

Cruise ship workers are not supposed to hook up with passengers, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. It is rare though – most crew follow the rules because they know they’ll lose their job if they’re caught.

You won’t be surprised to hear that cruise lines ban crew from having sex with passengers. It’s basic standards of professionalism really.

However, the question isn’t “are crew allowed to hook up with passengers?” – it’s whether or not they do it anyway.

And yes, some do.

Indeed one former cruise ship officer named Jay Herring, who used to work for Carnival Cruise Lines, has written a book called “The Truth About Cruise Ships” in which he gives details about the escapades (sexcapades?) of the crew with passengers.

Not only does he describe how it did happen, but that it happened enough to be given a nickname – “coning”, with the passengers referred to as cones.

In his book, he describes how the nickname either came from how passengers looked like neon traffic cones during boat drills, or how the passengers would eat everything in sight on a ship, just like the aliens in the 1993 film Coneheads.

Others online have spoken about it too, both former crew and passengers. A former photographer on a cruise ship explains how the rules have been in place for a long time, but they weren’t quite as strict:

One element remains consistent – when crew do sleep with passengers, it doesn’t happen in the stateroom, but instead happens either in a public area of the ship away from cameras, or in the crew quarters.

The fact that there is a nickname for the act of sleeping with passengers, and detailed plans that entail giving the passenger fake crew details, show that this isn’t something which only happens once in a blue moon.

That being said, guests shouldn’t expect to be able to proposition a crew member and be accepted. Most crew value their jobs and will turn down any advances for fear of being caught.

The repercussions (for crew) are severe!

Crew members who are caught having sex with guests, or even fraternising with them in other ways such as kissing, will almost always be fired. For that reason, most crew follow the rules.

Cruise lines draw a very hard line against this kind of fraternising, and with good reason. So crew should expect to be fired very quickly if they are caught sleeping with a passenger.

That being said, Jay Herring does admit in his book that it would not always result in the termination of the crew’s contract.

He says “Getting caught did not guarantee that a crew member would get fired. There was a shade of grey, and politics governed such situations. A crew-ranked crew member was more likely to get fired than an officer. A male crew member might be more likely to get fired than a female crew member.

“If a passenger filed an official complaint, then it usually didn’t matter who it was because he or she would probably get fired, but otherwise it was at the direction of those who enforced the rules.

It’s worth bearing in mind that Herring’s book was written in 2011 and was about his past experiences, so these stories may not have even been recent then. And even in the past 20 years, cruise lines have really tightened up on the rules.

There’s another reason why crew don’t tend to sleep with passengers often too:

“Mostly because there are plenty of crew members on board who are open to casual relationships. Little to no risk of getting fired there.”

There are plenty of stories online from past (and some current) cruise ship crew that talk about how prevalent sex is with other crew members – and so there’s not really a need for the crew to pursue passengers. 

Because everyone lives in such close quarters, the crew often get it on with each other instead, and they can’t get fired for that (provided they do it when they aren’t on shift and in their own cabins).

Reasons why crew are banned from fraternising with guests

The obvious reason why the crew are banned from fraternising with guests is that it’s unprofessional.

Cruise lines want to provide guests with a relaxing holiday that feels safe – and if crew were suddenly allowed to flirt with guests and perhaps take things further, it might please some passengers but most would be uncomfortable.

However, there’s another reason too. There was a trend of honey trapping – where guests would invite crew to have sex with them, and then falsely accuse them of sexual harassment in order to open up a lawsuit against the cruise line and potentially win huge settlements.

So it’s even more understandable why cruise lines ban crew from hooking up with guests – it’s to protect their own interests.

Final word

Yes, there are some incidents of cruise ship crew hooking up with passengers, but it’s extremely rare due to the severe consequences if the crew are caught.

So that’s good news if you want to avoid unwanted attention from crew during your cruise. And if you were hoping for a crew hookup as a passenger, you’ll need to try your luck with other guests instead.

There are plenty of singles cruises if that’s what you’re looking for.

Related topics

Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.

Read more about me

When you’ve taken a cruise, you may have noticed a small boat appear alongside the ship as it enters or leaves a port.

This isn’t a tug boat, it’s a pilot boat, carrying a very important person who boards the ship to help guide it in and out of port.

But what exactly does a ship’s pilot do? And why are they needed? I interviewed a port pilot to find out…

What is a ship’s pilot?

A ship’s pilot (also known as a port pilot) is a seafarer with detailed knowledge of a port and expertise in ship manoeuvring. They board a ship and help the crew guide the vessel safely in and out of ports or other dangerous navigational areas.

Although the captain (also known as the master) always has command of a ship, the pilot is responsible for directing the course and speed of the vessel while it’s within the port area. 

What do ship pilots do?

To learn exactly what ship pilots do, as well as what qualifications are needed to become a ship’s pilot, I spoke to an experienced pilot by the name of John.

He very kindly gave up time from his busy schedule to answer all of the questions that we often wonder about port pilots.

Hi, John. What’s your job title and where do you work?

I’m a port pilot and I work for the Port of London Authority, so that is the River Thames. It’s the biggest port in the UK.

We have every type of vessel on the river, including the world’s largest container vessels and some cruise ships. These berth at Tilbury, Greenwich and alongside HMS Belfast in Central London.

How long have you been a port pilot?

I’ve been a pilot since 1991. I started at sea when I was 16, in 1975. So I’m getting close to retirement now.

Do you just work at the Port of London or other ports too?

Pilots are specific to their district. We all start off with the same ship’s officer training and have the same qualifications (Masters Foreign Going Certificate of Competency) as a cruise ship master (captain). But then we train in a particular district, so we’re limited to working only in that district.

We can swap districts, but then you would have to go through the whole process of acquiring licences again.

I started off in the port of Shoreham, which is a very small port, when I was 30 years old. I spent two years there. Then I came up to the River Thames, and had to go through another six months of training and progress over a number of years to unlimited vessel size authorisation.

If I were to go to, for example, Southhampton, I would have to do a tailored training programme. It would take at least three months or more to learn the district, complete a series of port-specific examinations, and then I would still have to progress through the class sizes. So I wouldn’t jump on the biggest ships straight away. 

Do you just pilot cruise ships or container ships as well? 

We do both. On the River Thames, we pilot some of the biggest container ships in the world: tankers, roll-on roll-off bulk, basically all ship types, all the way down to small coasting ships, as well as small and medium-sized cruise ships.

How do the two compare?

Well, the early morning pastries are definitely better on a cruise ship! They all have their challenges and they are equally complex. The weather and tide influence things much more than the type of ship.

Let’s compare the container ship I’m piloting tomorrow, a Hapag Lloyd container ship, versus Anthem of the Seas…

They’re a similar length – the container ship is 333 metres and Anthem of the Seas is 347 metres. The gross tonnage (volume) and beam (width) are almost the same too. 

The biggest difference is the draft (depth). Anthem of the Seas has a maximum draft of approximately 8 metres, whereas this container ship can load to about 13 metres. This equates to a considerably increased displacement. However, we have had vessels of up to 16 metres draft on the river.

Both ships have similar windage. They’re like big sails so they can be affected a lot by the wind – 25 knots of wind equates to about 125 tons.

With the container ship, we’ll use tug boats to help control the ship against the wind and current, and to assist the manoeuvre. Whereas the Anthem of the Seas has powerful transverse bow thrusters.

Because the propellors on a cruise ship are now commonly Azidpod type (not always, they could be a conventional twin-screw arrangement), they will rotate directionally 360 degrees. So you’ve got much more control over a cruise ship than a container ship. That’s why container ships need tug boats and cruise ships don’t. Unless the port has a compulsory tug usage code, of course.

How does the ship’s pilot actually get onto the ship?

I take a small boat called a pilot launch. They’re powerful boats that can get up to speeds of 20 to 26 knots quite easily. They need to have a powerful acceleration so that they can get out of trouble very quickly.

Suggested read: How Fast Is A Knot in MPH?

There are two crew on the pilot boat: a cockswain and a deckhand. The cockswain decides whether you go to sea, because if it’s really rough, you don’t.

As we approach the ship, we check the ladder to make sure it’s correctly rigged. The pilot boat comes alongside, and the pilot and the deckhand walk out round the outside of the boat. We’re not tethered on, we walk along the deck holding the guide rails. 

Once the boat is alongside the ship, I will time it with regards to ship and boat movement, and step onto the ladder. The ladder has rope sides and wooden steps, except for the bottom four which are rubber because that’s more durable.

It’s not like the rope ladder you use to go up a tree, it’s much stronger – each step can hold 800kg. Complex international rules govern the construction and rigging of pilot ladders.

This video shows another pilot transferring on the Oosterdam cruise ship in the Queen Charlotte Sound in New Zealand:

Do pilots ever fall into the water?

Yes, sometimes. One of my colleagues fell in the water a few years ago.

It was a small ship. He didn’t manage to transfer from the ladder into the ship because there was a problem with it. He fell about five or six metres, bounced off the pilot boat and dropped into the water. It was dark and the water was very cold. It’s not like the Caribbean. He was successfully recovered.

Pilot launch crews regularly practise ‘man overboard’ rescues. This wasn’t an isolated incident. Worldwide, pilots do and have fallen into the water, and some have paid the ultimate price.

Being a ship pilot is a dangerous job. A ship is doing about seven knots when the pilot boards. So in ten seconds, you’re 30 metres away from where you fell in the water, relative to the ship’s position.

The most dangerous bit is the transfer from the ship to the pilot boat, as you’re going backwards down the ladder. But boarding can, at times, be equally dangerous.

With a cruise ship, you don’t normally have to climb very far, maybe two or three metres. Within the regulations that govern pilot ladders worldwide, we can climb a maximum of nine metres. Over that, other arrangements apply.

In 2023, a pilot in the port of Nagasaki tragically lost his life after falling into the water while attempting to board Diamond Princess. The pilot was experienced, he was wearing a lifejacket and the seas were calm – so it’s unclear what caused him to fall.

Unfortunately, while he was successfully pulled from the sea, he passed away two hours later. This illustrates John’s point about this being the most dangerous part of the job.

What happens once the pilot boards a ship?

One of the officers will conduct the pilot through the vessel to the bridge – that’s the rules. On a cruise ship, it’s generally one of the security people who have been trained to observe the pilot embarkation procedure in operation. When we’re taken up through the ship, it’s sometimes through the passenger area, sometimes not.

After all of the hellos and pleasantries, we conduct a master-pilot exchange, where I present my plan to the captain for the whole passage.

We discuss the timings, the route, and the amount of water we have at the state of tide. There’s particular reference to under-keel clearance, traffic, weather, tugs if required and a myriad of finer details – all of the pertinent information to the conduct of that passage. This is called a ‘Master Pilot exchange’.

He will reciprocate. The ship will have its own passage plan, which the bridge team are obliged to create. The navigating officer would have prepared the passage plan for the conduct of the vessel into the port.

We will compare plans and amend them so that we’re singing from the same hymn sheet, so to speak. As a general rule, the pilot’s plan is the plan. But the captain is still in command.

The plan can and will be amended continuously, because it’s a dynamic business. There’s traffic (be it ships, yachts, fishing boats etc.), ships manoeuvering in front of you and changing weather conditions. 

Who’s ultimately in charge of a cruise ship when it’s entering or leaving a port – the pilot or the captain?

The pilot has conduct of the vessel, as in the control of the course, the speed, etc. but the captain always remains in command. This is mandatory in the UK, but in other countries, it may be only advisory.

The captain could relieve the pilot of his duties, if he thinks the pilot’s not competent. But that doesn’t really happen, of course. But he could, in terms of the law.

When it comes to the manoeuvre of the ship, the pilot controls everything verbally. We dictate the speed, initiate operation of the thrusters, put power on at a tug, etc.

Strictly speaking, if I say “Dead slow ahead,” the captain then says to his officer “Dead slow ahead.” But in reality, the command is carried out directly.

With cruise ships, the masters are skilled at handling their own vessel’s complex propulsion and manoeuvring systems. So the whole arrival or departure manoeuvre is an excellent example of two professionals working towards one result.

Is this always done in English, no matter what country you’re in?

Yes. English is the language of the sea. So even if everybody on the bridge is mixed nationality, the whole pilotage is conducted in English.

What are your hours like?

We have a roster of nine days on and six days off. We can work at any time within a 24-hour period.

In nine days you rotate around the system, depending on how busy it is. There are fatigue management protocols to adhere to. In a nine-day period, I do about seven or eight ships.

That’s just for the Port of London, though. Each port has its own roster arrangements. In the Caribbean, it could be very different. One pilot may do four or five arrivals or departures in a day, each an hour apart, because each ship is quicker and simpler to pilot in and out.

What does it take to become a port pilot?

The training to be a ship pilot can be very long, especially in the large and complex ports.

To get to what we call ‘class one unlimited level’, which allows you to do most of the biggest vessels, takes around six years. And then to pilot the ultra-large ships takes another good few years after that.

To be a pilot, you’ve got to have some luck. You have to be in the right place at the right time, with the right qualifications.

Every port has its own way of selecting pilots. Here in London, we conduct interviews and test ability using a simulator.

Miami, for example, operates an examination system to select their pilots. Every year they conduct a set of examinations. If they need just three people that year for training, they will take the top three from those examinations and, following a successful interview, offer them a training position. I believe this is unpaid, but I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong.

There are approximately 600 marine pilots spread over all of the UK ports. Some ports are large, some are small. We have approximately 115 pilots in London, as it’s the UK’s largest port.

Over in Rotterdam, I believe there are in excess of 200 pilots. Smaller ports like the island of St Maarten in the Caribbean may have only two pilots.

It depends on how big and how busy the ports are, and how long it takes to guide each ship in.

What attracts people to want to be port pilots?

If you’re the captain of a ship, sailing around the world with all that entails, but then you had the opportunity to work in a port, come home every day, have a sort of shore-based life, what would you do?

That said, being a pilot is not everybody’s cup of tea. Many seafarers love their ability to sail worldwide.

In my opinion, though, the best bit of the whole job of being on a ship is the end and the beginning of a voyage. And pilots get that every day.

What’s your favourite thing about your job?

Everything! I love going to work. You’ll find very few pilots that will not tell you the same. It’s a profession and a way of life as opposed to a job.

Every day is different. If you took a ship today at 12 o’clock and then it came back a week later at 12 o’clock, the whole job would be totally different. The draft (depth of the ship in the water) changes, the weather changes, the timing’s change, the tides change, etc. 

Seafarers are probably some of the best people in the world. They are just wonderful people to meet. Definitely the unsung worldwide heroes during the recent virus breakout!

Is there anything you dislike?

Well, none of us like two o’clock in the morning because, who would? This job is 24 hours a day and it never stops.

Do you like to take cruise holidays yourself?

Yes, I do, and a lot of my colleagues do as well. It’s nice to see somebody else doing the driving for a change! You can sit in the bar and watch it all happen. I’ve been on between six and ten cruises, but I don’t keep count.

When we went to the Baltic on Cruise & Maritime’s Magellan, I was the pilot for the ship going out and also coming back in. So there were no small boats involved that time, as I just happened to be already on board. 

It saves the cruise line the cost for the pilot boat if I’m already on board. It also saves on fuel, because the ship doesn’t need to slow down to meet the pilot boat and subsequently speed up.

After the ship’s got to the edge of the district, as I walked out of the bridge door, my status changed and I became an ordinary passenger again.

What’s the best cruise you’ve been on?

I loved cruising to Alaska. We went to the beginning of the 2019 season, so it was the first ship and there was still ice around. It was cold, but it was wonderful.

We’ve enjoyed Caribbean cruises as well. We tend to try and go on cruises to places that we didn’t go in my seagoing career. I never went to Alaska. I sailed through the Caribbean, but I never went to the Caribbean islands, only to the mainland Caribbean ports. 

My next cruise is on in Anthem of the Seas to the Canaries in September, and I’m looking forward to that.

Thanks to John for agreeing to this interview, and for providing many of the photos in this article.

Related Posts:

Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.

Read more about me

Ever wondered about a cruise ship captain’s quarters? The captain is a pretty key person on your cruise, so surely they must have some pretty swish accommodation to keep them happy, right?

Or are they like the rest of the crew – given the most basic features, so that guests are always the priority?

Well, I spoke to the deputy captain of Azura and asked him what his room was like. He said it was nice and had a window. But sadly no balcony.

I love it when cruise ship captains take the time to chat with guests!

So, what is the captain’s bedroom like on cruise ship? Let’s take a look….

The captain will have their own quarters

A cruise ship captain will always have their own quarters, unlike the general crew who will typically share a room. Typically all senior officers onboard a ship will be given more spacious, well-appointed accommodations to reflect the seniority of their role.

The captain’s quarters will vary by ship but typically there’ll be a separate bedroom and office space, so that the captain is able to switch off for a few hours of sleep without being in ‘work mode’.

However, they will be on call, so if there’s an urgent situation they’ll be summoned to the bridge to handle it. The cruise ship captain is one of the few roles where there are no relief workers – captains are responsible for the ship 24/7 during their working time, and there is no actual time off while they’re on the ship. They’ll either be working or on-call.

They don’t have a special name

There isn’t a special name for a cruise ship captain’s quarters – they can be called the captain’s quarters, the captain’s cabin, or the master stateroom or suite. It varies by ship, instead of being a standard name. Most people will colloquially refer to them as the captain’s quarters.

The reason most people will refer to them as “quarters” rather than a room is that they aren’t usually just one room. Most captains will have a full-blown suite with multiple rooms, but calling it a “suite” sounds too luxurious.

With other types of ship, there may be two cabins, instead of one larger room. They’d be called the in-port cabin and the at-sea cabin. The in-port cabin is the main accommodation and the at-sea cabin is a more basic option close to the bridge, where a captain might sleep during times when urgent action may be necessary.

But on cruise ships, the captain is always on call so they tend to just have one quarters.

Not much of a commute!

The captain’s quarters on a cruise ship will always be close to the bridge, often with a door giving direct access to the bridge from the cabin. This allows the captain to get onto the bridge immediately if there is an emergency or other situation which requires their instant attention.

As you can see here, the bridge will usually be visible from the captain’s window…

Being a cruise ship captain is not easy – you don’t really get downtime and even your own private quarters are directly linked to the space where you work. Plus your cabin will likely contain an office. 

You could argue the same applies to everyone on a cruise ship – you don’t really get separation between work and private time – but it’s worse for a captain since their private space is so close to where they work.

Why captain’s cabins tend to be at the starboard

Traditionally, the captain’s cabin would be situated on the starboard side of the ship because it was considered to be the superior side of the ship. However, as shipping laws developed, ships now pass on the starboard side and so the captain’s quarters being on that side allows the captain to monitor traffic.

With a modern cruise ship and all of the technology onboard, you’ll know of any ships approaching you for miles before they reach you. That being said, it’s always good for the captain to have the best visibility of oncoming ships, just for added safety.

Having their cabin on the starboard side of the bridge, therefore, means they get an unimpeded view of the ships that will pass.

The facilities are pretty good too!

Because the role of captain is so senior and respected, most cruise ships will make sure that their captains are very comfortable in their accommodations. Not only that, but they will provide space for entertaining, as there are some occasions where a captain may wish to invite guests, or it may be expected of them.

The size of cruise ship captains’ quarters will vary by each ship, and the dimensions aren’t made public. You won’t see them on deck plans either. But there have been a few insights into what a captain’s quarters look like.

Here’s a look at the captain’s quarters on Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas:

Typically, the captain’s quarters will have a master bedroom with a spacious en-suite bathroom, and there will likely be a walk-in wardrobe. This is important because a cruise ship captain has to look their best – so they need space for their uniforms to be properly hung once laundered and pressed.

There’ll be a living area, which will typically include some form of small kitchen. A cruise ship captain will avoid dining in the restaurants onboard the cruise ship most of the time, because they won’t have the time to meet with all the guests who will want to say hello and likely take selfies.

Having a small kitchen area allows a captain to prepare their own lighter meals when they aren’t getting food delivered from the galley, and helps a captain to keep themselves fueled with snacks during any busy times.

There’ll be a living area too, designed for the captain to relax. It may incorporate a dining table, because captains can sometimes host parties which could include dinner for elite guests. If that’s the case, expect there to be a guest bathroom too, so that guests aren’t walking through the main bedroom belonging to the captain.

From what we know of the captain’s quarters, it seems like private balconies are not too common. That’s probably because they’re not needed – cruise ship captains get enough time looking out to sea during their actual job, and any downtime is likely to be spent watching TV or catching up with family online.

Finally, a captain will have an office space, and it’ll either be within the quarters or it’ll serve as the gateway between the living quarters and the bridge. These offices are often tech-heavy, with various monitors showing important readouts about the ship and the surrounding waters.

There’ll be a fast PC too, which the captain will use to carry out some of their daily tasks, file reports and communicate with the necessary people at the cruise line’s headquarters and at each port of call. The best WiFi connections will be saved for the captain since their work is so important.

And there are other benefits too…

There are other perks that cruise ship captains enjoy as part of their accommodation.

The WiFi access they have is not limited to working hours, and they’ll be able to spend as much time online as they want to when they’re relaxing. This can be used to stream box sets on their large TV, or to chat with family.

But sometimes, chatting with family online isn’t enough – so one of the best perks captains enjoy is having their family onboard the ship. Individual cruise lines will set their own policies on this but they may allow families to be onboard for extended periods of time, or to make occasional visits.

And it’s not just humans – cruise ship captains may also be allowed to have a pet living with them! Captain Kate McCue of Celebrity Cruises travels with her cat. This is her tour of the quarters on Celebrity Edge:

You only get a fleeting view of the cat in the video but you can see the litter box and the cat food in the fridge too, so it’s not a temporary visitor.

Don’t expect a tour!

You usually won’t be able to visit a cruise ship’s captain’s quarters to see them for yourselves. Cruise ship captains are very busy people and when they’re not working in their office, they’ll be relaxing in their room – they don’t want to be disturbed just to host a tour!

Some cruise ships do offer behind-the-scenes tours and they might show some of the crew accommodation, but only rooms that aren’t being used. Because the captain is always on the ship, that rules the captain’s quarters out. The tour may show off the bridge and there may be a view into the captain’s quarters from there, but discretion is usually maintained.

It used to be a lot more common for cruise ship captains to host the occasional party for the most elite guests but it’s an older tradition from the days of ocean liners. Some cruise ship captains may still choose to entertain within their room, but it wouldn’t be widely available.

Captain’s drinks or parties are still relatively common on cruise ships but they’ll be hosted in a different venue on the ship.

If you want to see inside a captain’s quarters, your best option is to keep tabs on social media and look out for quick video tours, like those I’ve included in this article. They’re rare though – captains are usually too busy to share things like this!

Final word

There you have it – a little bit of insight into how a cruise ship captain lives while they’re on a cruise ship.

Usually, a cruise ship captain will be at sea for three months at a time, so it’s important they’re comfortable, but they also need to be close to all the action for when they’re needed at short notice.

The videos I’ve included in this guide are from one of the biggest cruise ships in the world, and one of the most modern with Celebrity Edge. Older ships may have smaller quarters but they’ll still be as big as some of the suites on-board the ship.

If you want to know more about cruise ship captains, check out this guide to Captain Kate McCue, the Celebrity Cruises captain who shared her quarters on Celebrity Edge in the video above.

And if you want to know how much the captain gets paid (because we’re all a bit nosy about that, aren’t we?) make sure you read my guide on Cruise Ship Captain Salary Stats.

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Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.

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