'When you are on the ship you are always on duty, especially now that I am a captain. I have my office hours but I am on call 24 hours. Unlike other jobs, where you can leave work after a shift, at sea you can't because you are both working and living on the boat. The captain of a cruise ship is like the mayor of a little village. You have your own medical department, you have your maintenance department and stores and groceries.
I am not sure movies give a realistic picture of ship life; it can be very lonely, especially when you become a captain. You have to rely on your own judgment. When I leave the boat it feels like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. But there is always the chance the telephone will ring in the middle of the night if something is wrong.
I was born in a little village in Norway called Nevlunghavn, which has about 500 inhabitants. My family has been living there since the 15th century and most of the people there are sailors or [maritime] pilots.
My parents had a shipping company and my great-grandparents built sailing ships.
I was very fortunate that my great-grandparents were alive as they told me stories about sailing to the Far East and South Pacific. I have always been an adventurous person and I always wanted to explore the world.
I also picked shipping because Norway, in the past, had only two major industries - shipping and fishing. And also shipping is a business in which anyone can succeed. A lot of tycoons in the business started from scratch.