Behind the Scenes on Royal Princess

Ever wondered what it is like beyond the ‘no admittance’ signs on a cruise ship?

As you know from my previous blog, I have not long returned from the Royal Princess and we was given a brief tour of some of the ‘no access areas’.

We were lucky enough to visit the bridge of the ship and meet one of the co pilots, the captain was obviously otherwise engaged and was shown the enormity of the controls and operations that control the whole ship.  After seeing the equipment they use, it is no wonder that it takes years to become a Captain of a vessel like the Royal Princess, because that is one hell of responsibility to take on.

You may notice that on the very front of the ships their is normally a small pool, but you cannot access or use this pool. That is because this is for crew to enjoy during shifts and days off. They have their own pool area so not to disturb guests in the main pool areas.

Taken from the ‘Bridge’

The crew also have their very own ‘Crew Bar’ which has a pool table, dance floor and DJ booth, lots of tables and chairs and sitting areas, plus that all important bar. I can imagine that there have been many an after party in here!

The ships personnel are split into 3 categories, Officers, Crew and staff. All have different times on board also.

Officers can be at sea between 3-6 months with 1 month off (dependent on position), crew normally 6 months at sea with 1-2 months off and staff 9 months at sea with 2 months off.

The officers are the higher up team and have their own cabins (normally) and own eating facilities to the other crew & staff. They also have certain privileges  that allow them to enjoy the ship on their day off, such as using the guests bars and dining areas.

Officers own dining room

The crew and staff have different dining area and is more of a canteen and do not normally have any ship benefits like the officers and normally live in cabins with up to 6 other workers (depending on the ship). Unfortunately we did not get to see any staff cabins of any sort.

We also got to see ‘back stage’ for the theater group that are on board, how the costumes are stored and the area for the troop to get ready in. It was quiet limited with space and the mechanical line of costumes seemed to go on forever. As they are at the front of the ship, the area for the theater can reach up to deck 10 for some of the mechanical works that are required.

It was great to see some of  the behind the scenes of a cruise ship, but have to say, I will stay on the guest side, thank you very much  and I will stick to selling cruises rather than working on cruises.

Dawn

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