Cruise ships are busy vessels, full of excited passengers and hard working staff. The latter can often mix with guests, sharing the same social space on their downtime. Yet when staff are working and on officer duties, they usually wear a uniform. These come in differing colours in styles, but one in particular signifies more than most.
Former cruise ship officer Jay Herring, who worked on Carnival Cruise Lines, let slip just what the variations signified - and why white uniforms were particularly pertinent.
In his book The Truth About Cruise Ships, he wrote: “Staff and crew ranked employees and uniforms unique to their department.
“They also had day uniforms that were more casual than the formal evening uniforms.
“None of their uniforms resembled the all-white officer uniforms.
“Staff employees had a higher rank and this is more privilege than the crew-ranked employee, but their uniforms didn’t distinguish them the way the officer uniforms did.”
Cruise secrets: One particular uniform on a cruise ship signifies
