Bridge on Carnival Breeze
Where inside a cruise ship has a view forward, backward out both sides, and down below? Most passengers never get to see this area of the ship, and if they do may be so interested in everything else they don’t notice, but the best views on board from anywhere inside the ship are found on the bridge!
bridge crew at work
I’d imagine that is a good thing. The captain, officer of the watch, or whoever else may drive the ship needs to see everything around them far more than the passengers do. Of course the ship has all sorts of electronic gadgets to assist the bridge crew in their navigation.
big ship, tiny steering wheel
Every cruise ship bridge we’ve seen had a very tiny steering wheel, almost lost among all the other navigation equipment on the bridge. Unlike the ships of yesteryear steered with their large wheels, modern ships hardly use them. Manual control is usually done with more of a joystick instead.
docking station on Carnival Breeze
The front window extends the width of the ship and beyond. The beyond part is what offers the views to the sides, back, and below. Yes, there is a window in the floor. The extensions on either side of the bridge allow the captain to dock on either side of the ship with a good clear view. Both sides have identical navigation stations.
window in bridge floor
This window aids the captain in docking the ship. With a cruise ship, the captain has a very lot of ship to dock. It’s a good thing ships that large can move sideways (by use of thrusters) as well as forward and backward.
Captain Stefano Battinelli of Carnival Breeze
Captain Stefano Battinelli had the honor of taking Carnival Breeze across the ocean on its very first transatlantic cruise. He took the time out of his busy day to show us around the bridge and we even had a cup of tea with him. Cruise ship captains are real people, although they do have far more responsibility than the average person.
Interview with Captain Stefano Battinelli
We did this interview somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on our transatlantic cruise. While looking out the front window we noticed a hitchhiker on the bow.
hitchhiker on Carnival Breeze
Look up – more control panels above on Carnival Breeze Bridge
A cruise ship bridge covers a vast area
diagrams of the ship hang on Breeze bridge wall
Cruise Stories 
I have never done any of these cool things and I have been on 20 some cruises…….
That’s a lot of cruises. It is a great way to travel.
I was fortunate enough to be invited to the bridge on a cruise. It was one of the highlights of my trip. The other highlight was waking each morning to hear the Italian Captain Stefano say “Gooda Morning Ladies anda gentlemen” Very nice. ,
Was it the same Captain Stefano, or a different one? A very lot of cruise ship captains do come from Italy.
Another Captain Stefano.
I enjoyed both these candid images inside the ship’s bridge (something I would have called the cockpit in the infinity of my ignorance) as well as the video interview you shot with the very personable Captain Stefano. But, was someone whistling “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” in the background or was I experiencing an aural hallucination? I love that bird perched as a lookout, too!
Now that you mention it, there is somebody whistling Christmas carols in the background on the video, although the one I mainly noticed was “Deck the Halls.” We were miles from any land at that point, that bird flew a long way to sit on that post. Probably needed a good rest.
“Deck the Halls” could have been it. I have a natural aversion to holiday carols. Possibly that bird was a stowaway that had been secretly hanging out on deck while the ship was docked before flying up to its perch?
I think the bird just took advantage of a place to rest because it left before we got to the other side of the ocean. No idea which way it was going. The ride on the ship could have either helped it along the way or set it back a distance.
On some level, I identify more than ever with that bird now.
Because it was stuck in the middle of nowhere or because it got on the ship for free?
Put that way, both are semi-autobiographical.
Thats a lot of blue in that bridge. The floor is blue the celing is blue the consols are blue and outside the water is blue too.
A lot of ships have lots of blue on the bridge.