We’ve only met, over the years of cruising, one ship’s captain we didn’t like — and that's likely because he never gave us the chance to like him (“I don’t do interviews”). This is a colony of mostly men who are all personable, often funny, always accommodating and forever fascinating.
These are our top ten, in no particular order — hey, what's wrong with having 10 favourites? — and we've included something about them that we hope you'll find interesting:
Captain Roger Gustavsen (Norway), Norwegian Sky
The first captain to invite us to watch departure from the bridge, he once had his mother there on the Norwegian Dream while negotiating the Kiel Canal: “You know how mothers always like to tell their sons what to do. She wanted to tell me how to drive the ship!”
Captain Dimitrios Manetas (Greece), Celebrity Eclipse
He watched ships come and go from his home in Piraeus, near Athens: “I knew when I was a teenager, about 15, that I would be on the sea. it always inspired me. I was always curious for the unknown.”
Captain Henrik Loy (Norway), Explorer of the Seas
One of the youngest (38) captains anywhere, he met his wife Karina, now a mother of three, when she was a dancer on Liberty of the Seas when they met and he calls it: “A true love boat story. We are really on the same page and we make it work.”
Captain Frank Juliussen (Norway), Norwegian Epic
He had to overcome seasickness and bad days at sea: “I don't have bad days and I have learned to enjoy this. You meet a lot of nice people. The world is full of nice people, and a lot of them do what they call ‘dirty work’ on cruise ships.”
Captain Fabio Amitrano (Italy), Coral Princess A seaman for more than four decades since he left Ischia, a resort island with hot springs: “All the ladies come there to look younger. It must work, because they keep coming back!”
Captain Andrea Viacava (Italy), Carnival Ecstasy
A character with an easy laugh and a sense of humor: "When I am stressed, I go down in the galley and cook a meal. I cook something every day. Gnocci, risotto with pumpkin…sometimes I cook for 40 persons.”
Captain Patrik Dahlgren (Sweden), Navigator of the Seas
He’s still not 40, he’s now Royal Caribbean’s Vice-President of Marine Operations for Quantum of the Seas Technology, after serving for years as the youngest captain anywhere on the ocean: “I started when I was 12.”
Captain Luca Manzi (Italy), Oceania Riviera
When he visits his roots in Italy: “I still have to explain what I do for a living. My friends ask what I do — ‘Sailing?' In Italian, it's the word used to surf the Internet, so now I say I do nothing for a living."
Captain Trygve Vorren (Norway), Norwegian Epic
Not long before he died suddenly, he shared thoughts on the size of ships: “What will catch people’s attention will be the future. Look at the last 20 years…we developed technology we never imagined. What did we do, not in cruising but in life, before the Internet?”
Captain Tore Grimstad (Norway), Allure of the Seas
Now sharing the captain’s chair on the Allure with close friend Johnny Faevelen, he was once on an American-Russian-Norwegian ship with the capability of launching rockets, near the equator: “I was captain, not a rocket scientist!"
Today at portsandbows.com: Reflecting on the cruise news of 2014
Carnival Glory
7 nights
January 24, 2015
Miami (return): Half Moon Cay, San Juan, St. Thomas
Inside: $299
Cost per day: $42
www.carnival.com