Staff, Crew, Officers... Whats the difference.

[Lumiere]

Hi there,

I have recently been accepted for employment with DisneyCruise Line as a guest Service host. I am a benched candidate at the moment so still waiting for a start date, but my head is just swimming with questions.

I am hoping someone can clarify exactly what the difference is between staff, crew and officers. I see there is a fair amount of overlap i.e. all the people on board are generically referred to as crew but individually a employee would be classed as one or the other right? I also note from other topics that staff can also be officers - so Im a little confused as to what each category actually means - furthermore as a guest service host - what am I :-)

Im sure this is a simplistic structure to you seasoned crew members, but this will be my fist time at sea, and I cant wait

thanks all

[sz]

Yes, in reality . . . everyone is "crew", . . . but . .

Officers - usually the marine dept with stripes on their uniform. Think of the structure/classes like the military - the more stripes, the more responsibility, privileges, pay, etc. The hotel dept has 'officers' and 'stripes' also, but generally when you say 'officer', you'll mean the marine dept. I usually think 2 1/2 to 3 stripes and above.

Staff are the hotel division - guest services, cruise division/entertainment, shops, spa, casino - 1 to 3 stripes (yes, overlapping 'officers')

Crew are those without stripes - housekeeping, food & beverage, bosuns, repairmen and utility workers.

There are usually separate dining/social areas for these three groups. Officers and staff have the 'privilege' of being able to be in passenger areas (though, once you've been onboard long enough, you REALLY don't want to hang out there during your personal time, trust me)