lstone19

Concur. When the captain and other senior officers are keeping an eye on things, service is good; when they're not, the crew knows it and service suffers. One of the best cruises had a Hotel GM who was constantly visible, sometimes just sitting in a lounge having a drink while keeping an eye on things and a Maitre D' who was in the dining rooms almost every meal (and one day saw him and the executive chef checking things out in the buffet). OTOH, a cruise where the captain was invisible (no-showed the CC receptions and my Ship's Ultimate Tour) and where the Maitre D' seemed to be only visible for his ceremonial jobs (champagne waterfall, cooking demonstration) had poor service.

Seems like there are a lot of cruise neophytes (and even some non-neophytes) who think captains and other officers are permanently assigned to a ship and don't get any time off. And they don't get that while on the ship, they are working 7 days a week and on call 24 hours a day (particularly the captain) and therefore when they get a break, it's for multiple weeks, not just a weekend or equivalent. Others have more knowledge of contract lengths but I believe for many of the senior officers, they are only assigned to a ship abut 50% of the time (e.g. three months on, three months off).