Cruise control: running a big ship

Ensuring the smooth running of a giant ship is a big task, writes Niall McIlroy

It’s not just a ship, it’s a floating resort and with more than twice as many rooms as Australia’s biggest hotel, the house staff on Explorer of the Seas have to run operations with military precision.

The man in ultimate charge of those rooms, plus food and beverage, medical and information technology and, “everything that doesn’t have to do with driving or fixing the ship” is hotel director Gordon Marshall.

“I’ve only found out about that statistic recently and it’s a fun fact,” the Scotsman laughs.

“It’s a great number and I’m going to use it. I have already told my mum about it but you can’t compare a ship to a hotel on land, to be honest. Aside from some really big convention hotels there aren’t many that would turn over that many rooms in one day.”

At the end of a cruise, 3080 passengers get off and are replaced by the same number.

They all expect comfortable cabins cleaned daily and with a turn-down service.

Thankfully Marshall has about 900 crew he can rely on to get that job done — oh, and to serve up about 22,000 meals a day.

But for most passengers it’s their stateroom attendant who is the hardworking hero who cleans, folds, vacuums and has the cabin as fresh as the day they boarded.

Each attendant has about four hours to get 15 cabins spick- and-span but more than that they often turn out to be something of a cruise ship encyclopedia.

“A huge part of the cruise experience is the relationship you have with your stateroom attendant,” Marshall says.

“Some passengers will ask all of their questions of the attendant and never go down to guest services.

“From dining times to port schedules, tours and any maintenance issues, the guests will let their attendant know and we really spend a lot of time educating them — the good stateroom attendant — well, we’re almost talking about a butler.”

No matter how widely you travel, there is always much to learn on the job, according to Marshall, who says little tweaks have been made to cater for Australian passengers.

“We add the kettle to the cabins when we have Australian cruisers and in the bars the Aussies like beer, rum and local wines.

“There’s Vegemite up in the Windjammer but coffee is bigger in the Australian market than any I’ve seen — and so we have two additional staff working in the cafe, an extra machine installed and the Star Lounge is used as an overflow coffee lounge.”

But despite such domestic issues, Marshall’s biggest priority is one that is of paramount importance, especially when a ship with more than 3000 passengers is hundreds of kilometres from land.

“Safety,” he says. “The hotel director is the official responsible for evacuating the ship in an emergency.

“The captain will give the order but the bridge will be putting the ship in such a position where we can try to launch the lifeboats and the engineering team will be working on what is probably a technical issue and to keep the ship afloat as long as possible.

“We talk about safety every day. If anything happened, you’re on your own, you have no help out here — the cavalry won’t be coming over the hill. It doesn’t keep me up all night but it’s at the forefront of my mind.”

It’s a necessary consideration of life at sea but thankfully, the big crew under his charge have the much cheerier daily duty of giving passengers the best cruise possible.