Our amazing colleagues on board our ships work so hard to create unforgettable holiday happiness for our guests, so we’re taking a moment to shine a spotlight on them! Continuing our Holiday Heroes series, find out what makes them shine, hear about their roles, ambitions, hobbies, and what life is like working aboard our P&O Cruises ships.
Next up meet our very own Deputy Captain, Chris Kennedy …
Chris Kennedy has been with P&O Cruises for 16 years. He’s from Southampton and has cruising in his blood – both his parents and sister have worked for P&O Cruises. One of his favourite elements of the job is the sense of camaraderie and friendship, and he’s proud to be part of a diverse, hardworking team.
“I’m a product of P&O Cruises. My parents both worked for the company; they met on Canberra in the 1980s and my dad went on to have a 30-year career with the company. My sister also works in our head office, in the entertainment product team. I’ve been here for 16 years so P&O Cruises is very much in my blood.
I was lucky to cruise as a child and the holidays meant so much to us as a family. To now be part of the team giving that back is really special. Since I was about 12 years old, my goal was to be a captain. That’s still very much the plan! I’m extremely lucky to be working with some fantastic captains who give me the opportunity to manoeuvre, to ply the craft, and learn from their examples.
As deputy captain, my responsibilities can be separated into four areas. The safety team looks after the lifeboats, the fire gear, all aspects of training in occupational health and safety and promote safety culture on board. The deck maintenance team keep the ship nice and shiny – it’s a 24-hour operation keeping her looking her best. The bridge team is in charge of all the navigation, getting the ship safely from A to B. And then the security team on the gangway do all of the scanning on and off the ship as well as take care of all security elements onboard. I love the teams I work with.
In this career we all start at the same level, as cadets – there’s no fast track. We’ve all gone through the same journey. That’s an aspect of the job I love – mentoring junior officers, giving them their first opportunity to steer the ship or to be on the bridge for certain roles on arrivals. People did that for me along the way and it’s nice to give it back.
The bridge is a fantastic place to be – it’s a window to the world. We see whales, dolphins and turtles when we’re out in the Caribbean. The most impressive thing I ever saw was the bioluminescence in the water off the coast of South America. It was a very dark night, but there was a huge number of dolphins playing around the ship. Because of the bioluminescence they were lit up as they swam, like glowing green torpedoes.
We’re really lucky on Iona because we’re primarily based in the Norwegian fjords in the summer, so we get the best view in the house for the spectacular scenery. I’ve been lucky to do quite a few Caribbean seasons sailing out of Barbados, and that has become a home from home and will always have a special place in my heart. Further afield, I love Sydney; sailing into the harbour, where we moor up the ship between the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, is absolutely spectacular.
Thank you Chris for sharing your story with us!
We’ll be sharing more of our P&O Cruises Holiday Heroes over the next few weeks, so be sure to keep a look out! Can’t wait? Meet them now on the P&O Cruises blog.
