Transition between Cargo ships and Passenger ships

Apart from the obvious there are so many differences between cargo ships and passenger ships. People are the difference which stands out the most. Not only the number of people on board but more-so the type.Cargo ships tend to generally attract people who are self-motivated and driven, like to work independently and don’t mind spending most days working alone.Passenger ships on the other hand attract people who are patient and who like working as a team, present themselves well, and who are polite and considerate.Cargo Ships generally have up to 18 crew members and can carry up to 12 passengers to come under SOLAS regulations for a cargo ship.Passenger ships on the other hand usually have at least 200 crew members on board and anywhere from 13-3000+ passengers. To go from a cargo ship to a passenger ship as a deck officer can be a big shock to the system with respect to the number of people who are now around you, but it’s also like a step up in class and presentation. Most deck officers make a transition that way rather than from passenger ships to cargo ships, because after having star service, cabin stewards, gourmet food, dry cleaned uniform daily, it harder to make the transition down to working in overalls on a deck of a ship, washing your own dishes and changing your own bed linen. Some would say that working on cargo ships is a hard life and is defiantly not for them. Personally I love working on a cargo ship where you can look after yourself and have a large cabin like a double bedroom and office at home.Cargo ships have a bridge team consisting of a Captain, Chief Officer, 2nd and 3rd Officer, an AB or IR as a QM/lookout. On Passenger ships the average bridge team consists of 2 x Captains, 1 x Chief Officer, 1 x 1st Officer, 3 x 2nd Officers, 2 x 3rd Officers, 2 x 4th Officers, 2 x Deck Officer Trainees, 1 x QM, 2 x lookouts and a Pilot in pilotage waters. That’s a lot of people.

So for me personally as much as I love people and interaction, cargo ships are the way for me to go at this stage.