Ranks on a Cruise Ship: I'm staying as Senior 2nd Officer!

Time to update you on my rank and the chance of promotion, but why stop there? I run you through all the departments onboard the ship and describe their epaulettes, so you can spot them from a distance! I also talk you through the rank structure you find onboard a cruise ship.

My views do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

00:00 Intro
00:26 About me
01:12 Ranks onboard
06:34 How long will I stay in this rank?
09:00 From Cadet to Captain...to Commodore

[spookydude]

Great to see you back again, loving all that you bring to us, please keep on going from a retired Royal Marine.

[lindadoerr]

It's always good to get your updates. Thanks so much!

[trishradloff]

I love when you take the time to educate us. It’s so interesting. The next time I sail, I’m going to be looking for the colors between the stripes.

[thomasmurray]

Thanks for this. I was interested in seeing where my shipboard experience as a Navy officer might compare. On my third ship I was the Asst First Lieutenant, then later the First Lieutenant and Deck Department head. Deck was the largest department on the ship (around 200 people) that included all the cargo and weapons handlers as well as those handling the refueling rigs and operating with the helicopter detachment on the flight deck. My ship carried fuel, ammunition, food and other supplies. I was also the Safety Officer, the Officer of the Deck for special sea details (entering and leaving port and underway replenishments), as well as acting as one if the three Tactical Action Officers when needed for combat operations. Supervising maintenance and training also took up much time, as well as other administrative duties. Fortunately, we had enough qualified officers that we were in a 4 section watch rotation.

From what you described, it seems as though my duties would be akin to the First Officer, although with added military responsibilities. In between the Commanding Officer/Captain and the Department Heads is the Executive Officer (XO). This position is largely administrative in nature, but is a stepping stone to bring the CO. On none of my three ships was the XO ever a watch stander, either underway or in port. Oh, one other duty if the department head was to control of the department operating budget.

My last ship was just under 800 feet long and 54, 000 long tons fully loaded, a little under 19, 000 long tons unloaded.

[deborahweick]

Thank you Alfie for explaining the ranks, I enjoyed the education. great to see you back on board

[carold]

Glad to see you. I hope you are well and enjoying the new way of life on board.

[frankd]

Great explanation of the ranks. Thanks Alfie

[burningblue]

Well done Alfie, well done. Hope to see you onboard as first officer. From your friends in passenger services!

[mama]

Very interesting, will be sure to pay more attention to epaulettes next cruise! Loved the pics of you with your different ranks, your parents must be very proud of their boy! Thanks for this educational video, always enjoy your stuff.

[irishinusa]

Thank you. We appreciate this, both hubby and I are retired Military, this is really interesting. Most importantly, we sail on Princess ALOT. Be safe 👍🥂🥂😁

[kimcarr]

Thank you so, so much! Very helpful! It will really come in handy when I'm on the Enchanted Princess in November (fingers crossed).

[Marshal_Dunnik]

Congrats! Always found it interesting how stripes differ on cruise ships: the Master of a cruise ship has the stripes of an admiral, not a captain, and the heads of departments (staff captain, hotel manager, etc.) have the rank of captain (4 stripes).

[darrenblois]

In the Navy, we call that "hoop" an executive curl. "Executive" = the executive (or deck) department.

[davidkalbacker]

Interesting to read that a couple of cruise ships where heading on a rescue mission to remove residents from the island where the volcano is acting up.

[elaineedwards]

Tremendous video. Who knew??? But I'll definitely pay attention in the future. Might even pull out some old photo's and take a peek at the stripes.

[rachelduke]

Ok the YouTube algorithm recommended your channel and I've been binging your videos lately. I worked shoreside for a cruise line for 10 years and I know more about the officer life from your videos than I ever learned while working there!

Video ideas: have you considered doing incident analysis of past incidents like the Norwegian dream or the infamous Concordia? It would be interesting to hear your commentary on some of those incidents. Also you could do reactions to ship videos like posideon, jack and Jill, or even titanic lol. Maybe check out 74 gear or mentour aviation YouTube channels they do those types of videos on aviation disasters or movies on planes and they're very interesting/ fun!

[lovedfriend]

PSA When cruise start back up anyone who who will not give respect you ALL staff should walk to Plank! Make sure you give everyone the UPMOST respect! They work hard to keep you safe! Thank you this has been your PSA!

[kevintunnicliffe]

Thanks for that. Very interesting to see and understand a little more of the rankings and epaulette stripes we see onboard. Looking forward to being on the sea again, hopefully, this year.

[SteamboatWilley]

Interesting to compare P&O with other shipping lines. On Holland America Line only deck officers had a curl on the stripes. Us engineers just had straight stripes. HAL also used blue as the distinguishing colour for environmental officers as green was used by Comms/IT officers.
The Island escape (which was a subsidiary of Thompson cruises) had a diamond instead of a curl, and it was worn by both deck and engine departments.

[paulalderson]

I didn't realise that officers are on contract, I thought they'd be all permanent. Very informative.