Your Thoughts on Cruise Ship Captain's Salary

[Copper10-8]

The purple between engineer's stripes came from the Royal Navy, and just transferred to the Merchant Navy as most uniform insignia did.

 

Some lines, instead of colors between the bars use symbols on the shoulderboards/epaulettes:

 

Fouled anchor: Deck

Propeller: Engineer

Lightning bolts: Electrical Engineer

Caduceus: Medical (though usually with red between the stripes as well)

Snow Flake: Refrigeration Engineer

Globe: Environmental Officer

Crossed Kukris: Security (NCL's bow to the use of Ghurkas as Security staff)

 

Interesting post, thanks Cheng. HAL does not formally use the symbols you are mentioning above. I do have seen some engineers with a small propeller at the end of engineer's shoulder boards however not on a regular basis. I have also seen facility manager wearing his Royal Navy submarine "dolphins" on his blues; Great sight! :)

The piping colors in between the gold bars on HAL are:

White - Hotel

Red - Medical

Blue - Environmental

Green - Information Technology

[lenquixote66]

You start. ;)

 

 

I was being facetious

[MasterNotCommander]

The HAL Captain salaries are actually more in the range of $100,000 - $150,000. Although for some nationalities the salaries are tax exempt (such as the Brits). There are bonuses based on various KPI's such as 'Comments on Board' ratings, fuel consumption etc. 

 

 Overall it's still a pretty poor salary and I made the leap from being an officer with HAL into Harbour Pilotage several years back and don't look back. It would have taken me another 5-10 years earning $50,000 a year to gain a command whereas as a harbour pilot I earn around 4 times the above quoted Captain's salary. 
 

 I certainly don't think the salary for command is enough and some cruise lines pay even less. Friends who still work as Captain on various cruise lines complain about the constant throughput of inexperienced officers, lack of retention, lack of quality and spend every waking moment supervising (micromanaging) them. 
 
 As I pilot I've been disappointed by the quality of some cruise ship bridge teams and put this down to the salaries. 

 

 It's also worth noting that the Captain on Micky Arison's super yacht earns more than the highest earning Captain on any of his cruise ships. A reason why so many cruise ship officers are leaving for the super yachts. 

[ski ww]

And here I thought there are highly qualified & competent officers on the bridge at all times, makes you think. 

[*Miss G*]

I don’t think skill and ability can be completely tied to salary, but it does play a large part.  A lot of weight and responsibility should be put on the vetting of new hires as this is your best opportunity to weed out mediocrity.  If you are going to pay entry level salaries, however, you can expect the good ones to move on and up, which reflects in the turnover rate.  But if I am making $150k for a 3-4 month contract then that’s a pretty good deal.

[sail7seas]

On 9/5/2018 at 11:16 AM, *Miss G* said:

On one of the days they’re not at their desk they are in the Neptune Lounge working with the Suite passengers.  Yes, sometimes on some cruises bu by no means all.  They usually   chedule  lest one timem but  not   all of them on     all cruises.   😞   I have hard them refuse when asked by neptune guests  .

 

[sail7seas]

IMO, this   thread is TMI .

 

Not my business to know or read  some of this.  I have great respect for t he years of education, experience  and hard work, daily, weekly, monthly before a brief vaca tion senior officers represent on HAL ships.

t

JMO  and my consitutional right  to  it.  🙂

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, *Miss G* said:

I don’t think skill and ability can be completely tied to salary, but it does play a large part.  A lot of weight and responsibility should be put on the vetting of new hires as this is your best opportunity to weed out mediocrity.  If you are going to pay entry level salaries, however, you can expect the good ones to move on and up, which reflects in the turnover rate.  But if I am making $150k for a 3-4 month contract then that’s a pretty good deal.

There will be 2-3 of those 3-4 month contracts per year to earn the $150k figure.  They don't work just 3-4 months a year, they work 6 months a year.

[chengkp75]

4 hours ago, ski ww said:

And here I thought there are highly qualified & competent officers on the bridge at all times, makes you think. 

There's a difference between "qualified & competent" and "experienced" officers.  It's not so much the salary that makes folks move on, it is the separation for long periods that make most younger people (getting more so with the current generations) not want to maintain a sea-going career.

 

As to the comment about "disappointing bridge teams", that is way more a reflection of the Captain's abilities to train and motivate the junior officers than an indictment against those officers.

[*Miss G*]

21 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

There's a difference between "qualified & competent" and "experienced" officers.  It's not so much the salary that makes folks move on, it is the separation for long periods that make most younger people (getting more so with the current generations) not want to maintain a sea-going career.

 

As to the comment about "disappointing bridge teams", that is way more a reflection of the Captain's abilities to train and motivate the junior officers than an indictment against those officers.

 

Very good points.  My Dad was Chief Eng on the ships when I was young and he was gone for long periods of time.  I got great presents from far-away places though!  I loved his hurricane stories and pics.

[chengkp75]

40 minutes ago, *Miss G* said:

 

Very good points.  My Dad was Chief Eng on the ships when I was young and he was gone for long periods of time.  I got great presents from far-away places though!  I loved his hurricane stories and pics.

I missed a lot of milestones in my family, including the deaths of both parents and both my wife's parents.  My kids had resentment towards me while they were young, but having all grown, they now understand and respect what I did and sacrificed so that they could have the best life possible, even if I couldn't be there to be part of it.

[*Miss G*]

3 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

I missed a lot of milestones in my family, including the deaths of both parents and both my wife's parents.  My kids had resentment towards me while they were young, but having all grown, they now understand and respect what I did and sacrificed so that they could have the best life possible, even if I couldn't be there to be part of it.

 

My Dad missed both mine and my sister’s births, but he was there for my younger brother’s and my Mum tells a good story of that night.  😂  It was all I knew so I didn’t really pay it much mind.  I’m sure my Mum would tell a different story but I’ve never heard that side of it.  He eventually left to build a successful business, so even though he was no longer away for months at a time, he was fully occupied with that... and still is.  My Mum had her own career so I learned responsibility and independence pretty quickly.  I am grateful for that.  

[sail7seas]

On 9/2/2018 at 1:45 PM, CruiserBruce said:

 

Unfortunately that is not true for everyone...when my name and salary were on the front page of our local paper...

Some news papers will print the   salaries of 'public servants,'      whether it is right to do  so or not.

 

 

 

Edited October 27, 2018 by sail7seas

[Hlitner]

6 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

I don’t think skill and ability can be completely tied to salary, but it does play a large part.  A lot of weight and responsibility should be put on the vetting of new hires as this is your best opportunity to weed out mediocrity.  If you are going to pay entry level salaries, however, you can expect the good ones to move on and up, which reflects in the turnover rate.  But if I am making $150k for a 3-4 month contract then that’s a pretty good deal.

What you post is inaccurate.  Cruise ship passengers for HAL (and most other lines) work 3 months on 3 months off or about 6 months a year.  While that might seem like an easy schedule, a Captain is technically on duty 24/7 when he is in command.  There is no such thing as a 40 hour work week for Captains.

 

Hank

[Copper10-8]

1 minute ago, Hlitner said:

What you post is inaccurate.  Cruise ship passengers for HAL (and most other lines) work 3 months on 3 months off or about 6 months a year.  While that might seem like an easy schedule, a Captain is technically on duty 24/7 when he is in command.  There is no such thing as a 40 hour work week for Captains.

 

Hank

 

Cruise ship passengers???? What do you mean, Dean?

[DocJohnB]

1 hour ago, Copper10-8 said:

Cruise ship passengers???? What do you mean, Dean?

 

 

[MasterNotCommander]

I suspect that Hank meant ‘Captains’. It’s a lot of responsibility for the 3 months onboard with insurmountable commercial pressures whilst trying to ensure that safety remains a priority (a very very difficult balance and the cruise industry is massively behind the aviation industry when it comes to regulating this). The criminalisation of the seafarer continues and several cruise captains this year have found themselves in court for laws they didn’t either know existed or for ridiculous technicalities. It is a full prison term for the 3 months. The divorce rate amongst cruise captains is high, I can count only one friend that is still married to his first wife. 

 The employment contracts are often offshore, with inferior terms and conditions to those people working in the office in Seattle, Miami, Southampton etc. 

 The 3 months off is also broken up with revalidation and simulator training, conferences and meetings. Then the dreaded phone calls to return early (until you gain enough seniority to say no).

 

 There are many pro’s to the job, but it certainly isn’t all roses and the level of responsibility is not rewarded appropriately. 

[GUT2407]

Of course cruise staff aren’t the only ones that spend loooong periods away from home and family.

[Copper10-8]

29 minutes ago, MasterNotCommander said:

I suspect that Hank meant ‘Captains’. It’s a lot of responsibility for the 3 months onboard with insurmountable commercial pressures whilst trying to ensure that safety remains a priority (a very very difficult balance and the cruise industry is massively behind the aviation industry when it comes to regulating this). The criminalisation of the seafarer continues and several cruise captains this year have found themselves in court for laws they didn’t either know existed or for ridiculous technicalities. It is a full prison term for the 3 months. The divorce rate amongst cruise captains is high, I can count only one friend that is still married to his first wife. 

 The employment contracts are often offshore, with inferior terms and conditions to those people working in the office in Seattle, Miami, Southampton etc. 

 The 3 months off is also broken up with revalidation and simulator training, conferences and meetings. Then the dreaded phone calls to return early (until you gain enough seniority to say no).

 

 There are many pro’s to the job, but it certainly isn’t all roses and the level of responsibility is not rewarded appropriately. 

 

Appreciate your insight! The master of the Amsterdam for the GWV works a four month contract during that voyage. And then there's also the annual Senior Management Conference

[*Miss G*]

4 hours ago, Hlitner said:

What you post is inaccurate.  Cruise ship passengers for HAL (and most other lines) work 3 months on 3 months off or about 6 months a year.  While that might seem like an easy schedule, a Captain is technically on duty 24/7 when he is in command.  There is no such thing as a 40 hour work week for Captains.

 

Hank

 

There is no such thing as a 40 hour work week for anyone on salary.

[MasterNotCommander]

1 minute ago, *Miss G* said:

 

There is no such thing as a 40 hour work week for anyone on salary.

 

True, but a 70 hour week is the absolute bare minimum on a commercial ship for the entirety of a contract. Also appreciate that to obtain command the previous 15 years at sea will have been a minimum of 8 months away per year. 

 

You cant really compare a seafaring job to anything shoreside. And if you crunched the numbers the Captain would probably be better of working the same number of hours per annum as a supervisor at McDonald’s.

[*Miss G*]

I have no knowledge of anyone working at a McDonald’s so I cannot relate to that aspect.  I do not dispute the long hours of a seafaring life so you’re probably preaching to the choir.

[Bill B]

5 hours ago, MasterNotCommander said:

There are many pro’s to the job, but it certainly isn’t all roses and the level of responsibility is not rewarded appropriately. 

 

So... it's NOT just the lowly: laundry workers, deck attendants, stewards and waiters etc. the lines 'take advantage' of...

[AmazedByCruising]

13 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

 

There is no such thing as a 40 hour work week for anyone on salary.

 

Any time that people in my business work more than what their contract says they get compensated for, in days off or money based on what they choose.

 

[chengkp75]

9 minutes ago, AmazedByCruising said:

 

Any time that people in my business work more than what their contract says they get compensated for, in days off or money based on what they choose.

 

In the US, if you are on salary, there is no "contract" specifying work hours.  This has been a legal dodge by companies over the last couple of decades, where the company decrees someone is "management", and puts them on salary, to stop the claim for overtime.