I’m currently being tormented by an earworm of the “Love Boat” theme, which brought a question to mind: How do you get to be Captain Steubing? Navy command path, then retire to something less martial? Merchant Marine then get tired of Liberian flagged ships? Assistant radio polisher for Princess then work your way up? Anybody know how that usually works? Definitely don’t need the answer promptly.
Sorry about the earworm.
If you are on social media, follow Captain Kate McCue - Captain Kate McCue (@captainkatemccue) • Instagram profile or https://www.youtube.com/c/captainkatemccue
She’s a cruise ship captain and her content shows the day to day life on ship, but also goes into what her career path was to get there. Basically, you start with lower roles on smaller ships and work your way up. Most of the bridge crew seems to have gone to a Maritime Academy.
The few wiki pages I’m seeing for cruise ship captains seems to suggest they ‘work their way up’.
After obtaining her Master’s Licence in 1994,[2] she became interested in working in the cruise industry, joining Cunard Lines as a deck officer in 1997. Over the next 13 years, she worked her way up through the ranks.[3][4] In 2010, she was named as the Captain of Cunard Lines’ MS Queen Victoria.
she started working for Windstar Cruises as a Second Officer in 2005. She continued rising in rank, being made Captain of the MSY Wind Star,[1] and Windstar’s first woman captain, in March 2016.[3]
Your captains papers, creditials, years of onboard positions.
A Master Mariners license.
And apparently a love of quirky characters as a crew.
I ran across her wiki page while putting my post together, but I couldn’t find a good short quote to use.
Did Stubing ever get any action, or was he too busy captaining?
As for the theme song, I tend to hear the South Park version in my head for some reason, complete with the abrupt ending with Randy screaming.
Alternatively, you get a supporting role on a popular sitcom as a terrible writer, and then fail upward until you get promoted cast as the captain in the sexiest sea cruising commercial on television.
Stranger
Well, he married Marion Ross in the last episode. I’d say that counts.
A seafaring adventurer made a deal with Mr. Roarke many years ago that if he made the dude the captain of a luxury liner, a trip could be arranged to bring the whole ship over to Fantasy Island. That promise was fulfilled on November 22nd, 1980 on a special Love Boat/Fantasy Island 2 hour crossover.
The career of this former captain here: Francesco Schettino - Wikipedia
He’s the one who ran the Costa Concordia aground while grandstanding, then abandoned it. He’s serving 16 years.
So, is the guy schmoozing the first class passengers at the captain’s table and giving tours of the bridge really the same guy responsible for actual nautical matters? Seems like two completely different jobs to me.
Even the captain has to eat.
But kissing ass is usually the last thing a person who has climbed to a position of authority wants to do.
Didn’t Steubing get started on a PT boat during WWII?
The Captain does what The Company wants, and The Company loves charming ass-kissers.
He had loads of romantic interludes.
Yep, Playa!
He was also a crew member in a tank in WWII. 
IIRC, Captain Kate (linked above) doesn’t do the Captain’s Table, she doesn’t like them. The captain has great discretion as to which non-essential activities they have to perform. I think that was in one of her Captain’s Logs, but I can’t find it on a quick search.
I don’t know if they actually dined at the Captain’s table, but my parents definitely schmoozed with the Captain on the several cruises they took. At the very least, I guess the Captain is supposed to walk around and greet the passengers for a certain amount of time each day.