When at sea there are always fishy tales to be told during a nice meal with several glasses of fine wine. During my time working at Thomson cruises I was lucky enough to host the Captains and senior officers table at formal nights. My duties included meeting the guests before the officer arrived, so I could put the guests at ease and assure them it would be a pleasant evening and what the format of the evening would be. We had pre dinner drinks, then Captains reception before being taken to our table by the Maître D Hotel. A photo would be taken of the whole table and this would be given to each couple the following day. After dinner we had reserved seats at the show and free drinks. Sometimes if the guests were night owls, we all ended up in the disco setting down some cool moves on the dance floor. That was normally me! At least they were cool moves in my own mind.
If you are lucky enough to be asked to join the Captains table doooooo itttttt! So many people turn down the offer either because they haven’t bought the right clothes with them or don’t feel comfortable dining with the Captain, Staff Captain or another Senior Officer.
My top tip if you are selected to be on the Captains table is just be yourself, the officers are usually nervous too, meeting eight people they have never met before and then making pleasant conversation for several hours can be hard work for them. After all they are ship, seafaring, navigating, docking, bunkering, piloting specialists.
Many questions can come up at a table where you have the full attention of the Captain. For example;
‘what was the knocking noise that went on most of last night?’ There was then a detailed account of how the bulbous bow had picked up a fishing net that was drifting at sea. This net had weights that were then bashing the side of the ship during the night as we sailed to our next port. The net was then cut away by a seaman to stop the noise when it had been reported to reception several times by angry sleepless guests. When at sea you will get knocking noises and these can echo throughout the ship. Noise does travel easily if you bang a metal object against another metal object repeatedly.
‘What do you do when you are not being a Captain?’ Skiing, fishing, sailing, and my favourite answer was from one staff captain whose answer was ‘shark fishing’. I have this picture in my own mind of this particular gentleman still in his uniform in a canoe (which is actually what he used) with Jaws at the end of a fishing line being towed out to sea.
‘Where do the crew sleep?’ which I have heard several answers said tongue in cheek like ‘we fly them in each morning have you not seen the helipad?’ or ‘they don’t have time to sleep they are here to ensure you have the best holiday ever!’
If you are celebrating either an anniversary, birthday or special occasion always let the social host or hostess know. They have the power to put your name forward for a night to remember! As cruise specialists we can also put forward requests to the cruise line and a Captains table request is one that I can highly recommend. Did I mention how lucky I have been….