Cruise Hotel Department
The hotel department is 60–75% of every cruise ship's complement — 800 to 2,000 people on large vessels. F&B, housekeeping, guest services, entertainment, medical and concessions. No STCW officer rank ladder, but every person holds statutory safety certificates.
The job titles are set by the operator. The safety certificates are set by international convention. Both matter, and they are separate things.
Every hotel crew member is a certificated seafarer.
Hotel crew are not exempt from STCW mandatory safety training. Every person aboard a cruise ship — galley, housekeeping, entertainment, front desk — holds STCW Certificates of Proficiency. These are not Certificates of Competency (those are officer instruments). CoPs are separate documents issued for specific safety competences.
Basic Safety Training
STCW Regulation VI/1 · 5-year revalidation · All seafarers
Covers personal survival at sea, fire prevention and fire fighting, elementary first aid, and personal safety and social responsibilities — including, from 1 January 2026, prevention of and response to violence and harassment at work. The size and voyage exemptions in the STCW Code do not apply to passenger ships: full BST is mandatory for all cruise crew regardless of vessel size or route.
Certificate: Certificate of Proficiency in Basic Safety Training (STCW Regulation VI/1; Table A-VI/1)
Security Awareness
STCW Regulation VI/6 · All seafarers
Baseline security knowledge — recognising threats, reporting procedures, shipboard security policies. Required of all seafarers. Those with designated security duties hold the Ship Security Officer CoP (STCW Regulation VI/5) in addition; the SSO aboard is a designated role, not a department-level requirement.
Certificate: Certificate of Proficiency — Security Awareness (STCW Regulation VI/6; Table A-VI/6)
Crowd Management
STCW Regulation V/2 · Crew with muster-list duties on passenger ships
Mandatory for all crew with muster-list duties on passenger ships — on a cruise vessel that is virtually the entire hotel department. Covers management and control of passengers in emergencies, crowd dynamics, recognising passengers who need assistance and mustering procedures.
Certificate: Certificate of Proficiency — Crowd Management Training (STCW Regulation V/2; Table A-V/2-1)
Crisis Management and Human Behaviour
STCW Regulation V/2 · Department heads and passenger safety roles
Required for those with designated passenger safety responsibilities — including hotel department heads. Covers crisis management principles, managing human behaviour in emergency conditions and leading passengers under stress.
Certificate: Certificate of Proficiency — Crisis Management and Human Behaviour Training (STCW Regulation V/2; Table A-V/2-2)
These CoPs sit alongside the job, not inside it. A cabin steward's job title is corporate — set by the operator. The STCW certificates are a statutory layer carried by every crew member regardless of title.
Hotel Director and Hotel General Manager
The same role, two title conventions. Which one the operator uses depends on the brand — not on seniority or a different certificate. Both report to the Master.
Hotel Director / Hotel General Manager
Cruise ship onlyTitle varies by brand · Reports to Master
Responsible for the full hotel operation: revenue, guest satisfaction, food safety, passenger complaints and the heads of all sub-departments. On large vessels (3,000+ passengers) an Associate Hotel Director coordinates day-to-day operations across sub-departments.
Hotel Director: RCCL, Celebrity, NCL, MSC, Disney, Costa, AIDA, Viking, Regent, Oceania
Hotel General Manager: Carnival Cruise Line, Princess, Holland America, Cunard, P&O Cruises, Seabourn
Galley, restaurants and bars
The Food & Beverage Director oversees the full F&B operation. The Executive Chef runs the galley — 200 or more chefs on a large vessel. Service runs through the Maître d'Hôtel; beverage through the Bar Manager.
Food & Beverage Director
Cruise ship onlyOversees all restaurants, bars and specialty dining. Responsible for food safety compliance on the F&B side, beverage revenue and cost control. Reports to the Hotel Director.
Executive Chef
Cruise ship onlyRuns the entire galley operation across all restaurants and sections. On a large cruise vessel the Executive Chef leads 200 or more chefs. Responsible for menu planning, HACCP compliance, provisions quality and food cost. Reports to the F&B Director.
Galley team
Head Chef (by restaurant or section) → Sous Chef → Chef de Partie → Commis Chef. The Pastry Chef and Baker sit alongside this ladder reporting to the Executive Chef. The Provision Master manages stores and HACCP temperature records. The Butcher is a separate specialist role.
Maître d'Hôtel
Cruise ship onlyManages the main dining room or a specific restaurant venue — seating, reservations, service quality and supervision of the dining team. Reports to the F&B Director. Also known as Restaurant Manager.
Service team: Head Waiter (Chef de Rang) → Waiter → Assistant Waiter
Bar Manager
Cruise ship onlyManages all bar and beverage operations across the ship — inventory, team supervision and beverage revenue. Reports to the F&B Director. Bar team: Bartender → Barback.
Cabins, public areas and laundry
The Cabin Steward is the largest single rank cohort on most cruise ships — typically 300 to 800 on a large vessel. All report through the Assistant Housekeeper to the Executive Housekeeper.
Executive Housekeeper
Cruise ship onlyResponsible for all cabin and public area cleaning, the laundry operation and linen inventory. Reports to the Hotel Director.
Cabin Steward
Cruise ship onlyResponsible for cabin cleaning, turndown, linen change and passenger requests. The largest single rank cohort on most cruise ships — 300 to 800 cabin stewards on a large vessel. Also known as Room Steward or Stateroom Attendant. Reports to the Assistant Housekeeper.
Purser and the front desk
The Purser — or Guest Services Director on contemporary lines — is the administrative and financial hub of the hotel department. Immigration, payroll, passenger accounts, foreign exchange, safe management and complaint resolution all sit here.
Purser / Guest Services Director
Cruise ship onlyPassenger administration including embarkation and disembarkation, financial accounts, immigration and customs documentation, safe management and crew payroll. Reports to the Hotel Director.
Chief Purser: traditional and older cruise lines, some HAL and Cunard vessels.
Guest Services Director: RCCL, Celebrity, NCL and contemporary operators.
Guest Services team
Guest Services Manager (Assistant Purser) → Guest Services Officers (Front Desk Officers). Passenger-facing reception, complaint resolution and information service.
Entertainment Director through Cruise Director
The Entertainment Director manages all onboard programming and contracts. The Cruise Director is the passenger-facing host. Production cast, solo artists, comedians, lecturers and guest performers typically join on short-term contracts.
Entertainment Director
Cruise ship onlyOversees shows and productions, activities and enrichment programmes, the Cruise Director team and entertainment contracts. Reports to the Hotel Director.
Cruise Director
Cruise ship onlyPassenger-facing entertainment host. Daily activities coordination, broadcasts and announcements, talent liaison. Reports to the Entertainment Director.
Senior Doctor and nursing staff
The ship's medical team sits within the hotel department for administrative purposes, but the Senior Doctor reports to the Master on all safety and operational matters.
Senior Doctor
Cruise ship onlyReports to Master (safety) · Hotel Director (admin)
Manages the ship's medical centre, passenger and crew medical care, public health outbreak management and medical emergency coordination. On US-homeport vessels, responsible for USPH Vessel General Permit compliance. Reports to the Master on safety matters; to the Hotel Director for administration and logistics.
Qualification: Full medical degree (MD/MBBS) plus maritime medicine certification; most operators require ATLS and ACLS in addition to STCW BST.
Also known as: Chief Medical Officer (some luxury operators); Ship's Doctor (smaller vessels and some premium lines).
Nursing staff
Registered Nurses supporting the Senior Doctor in the medical centre. Required to hold a nursing degree and Registered Nurse status alongside STCW BST. Reports to the Senior Doctor.
Third-party operators aboard
Spa and wellness, shore excursions, art galleries, photography, specialty retail and casino operations are typically run by concessionaire companies under contract to the cruise line. Staff are employed by the concessionaire; the onboard supervisor reports to the designated hotel department head.
Concessionaire staff are seafarers and hold the same STCW safety CoPs as all other hotel crew.
Where the certificates come from.
Your BST, Security Awareness and Crowd Management CoPs are obtained through STCW-approved maritime training providers before joining. India and the UK both have well-established networks of approved centres. The pathways pages cover approved institutions and the training structure.
Talk to people working in cruise hotel.
The Career & Recruitment category on the Marine One forum covers cruise hotel questions — breaking in, advancing from cabin steward, transitioning from shore hospitality, and working the certificate requirements. Read what others have been through, or ask your own question.