I did take over for the Captain even if it was for a minute, and not everyone gets to do this. It felt amazing to be steering a massive 81,679 ton cruise ship. We boarded the ship in November of 2018. We were taking the Holland America Line’s Zuiderdam to Panama, Costa Rica, Curacao, Aruba, and Half Moon Cay in Bahamas. I was really excited to set sail with a cruise line that I’ve never been on before and also have a great time at the Kid’s Club. At first, I was worried that I would be the only kid there because I saw nothing but old people! Believe it or not, there were only four kids on the whole cruise! It wasn’t a little cruise either, the Zuiderdam can hold 1,964 passengers. After going through customs, we finally boarded the ship. About three days passed, my dad approached the Captain one day in the hallway and sweet talked him into giving us a tour of the Bridge. My dad said that the tour was for a school project.
Captain of Zuiderdam, Holland America Cruise
At the bridge, the Dutch Captain showed us his fancy captain’s chair and the steering wheel to steer the ship. I got to sit and get a nice picture in his chair and I got to steer the ship! Believe it or not, they use a small joystick about two inches long to steer a massive ship, but they still have the wheel too. Then he passed us on to someone else who was a First Officer and he showed us all the controls and how all of their warning systems work if there was an emergency. For example, if there was a fire or if the ship was about to sink. The First Officer told me that the ship uses Azipods for propulsion and a whole bunch of other information. After that was done, we headed to our stateroom and I wrote a thank you card to the Captain. And I did turn it into a school project, later that year I won first place for my Science Fair presentation, ”How Do Cruise Ships Float?”
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Fast forward one year later, we took a Mediterranean Cruise. I’m sitting on a desk aboard the MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company) Divina. This ship can hold 3,502 passengers. It is definitely larger than the Zuiderdam. There was a lot of kids to play with at the Kids Club so I was glad. I wrote a letter to the Captain to ask a if he could answer a few questions on navigation. The Italian Captain was so delighted, and he wrote a letter back to me with answers to my questions and he would like to meet me in the lobby. I wore my best dress and my fancy sandals because I was meeting the Captain. He arrived with a paper bag overflowing with gifts! All for me! He gave me a T-shirt, a mug, a notebook, a water bottle and a model ship of the ship that he first sailed. I was so surprised because I wasn’t expecting anything! After he gave me all those gifts, he called over a photographer to take our pictures together. We chatted a little bit and we headed back to our stateroom. The next day, the pictures with the Captain were delivered to our room. He even signed them. It’s a big deal go get a free picture on a cruise because a standard print costs around $12.00 to $22.00. I also wrote the Captain a thank you note for being so generous.
I think it was so cool to meet the two captains and learn about navigation and how a cruise ship works. It was a great learning experience and now that I know everything I think I could make a pretty great captain.