Don’t look for a tiller or sextant. There isn’t even a captain’s chair. “See all those black seats there? I can take any of those at any time, depending on what role I have,” says Captain Marco Carsjens, waving his hand around a huge room that looks more like a trading floor than a cruise-ship bridge.

The popular image of a captain might be of someone wrestling a big wooden wheel, hauling on the extended spokes for extra leverage, and yelling instructions above the roar of the waves while copping spray in the face. Instead, Captain Carsjens is leaning back into a comfy red lounge, looking at the Aegean Sea through a spotlessly clean windscreen that is nearly 40 metres wide.