Semester at Sea - Officers & Crew

Study Abroad Voyages

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Ship Management

Officers & Crew

Meet the officers and crew aboard the MV Explorer.

Captain, Jeremy Kingston MNI

Captain Jeremy first heard the call of the sea at the age of 12, despite the fact that his father was an officer in the army. He spent his childhood on the water, canoeing, rowing and sailing. Upon leaving school, in 1974 he embarked on a career at sea, starting as a cadet officer with the British shipping company P & O. During his training he served on a variety of ship types within P & O’s large and diverse fleet, interspersed with periods of study at the prestigious Southampton School of Navigation. His last seagoing appointment before going to sit the examinations for his 2nd Mates certificate was a passenger ship called Uganda. This was a ship that operated “educational” cruises around Europe & the Mediterranean, carrying 1000 high school students in dormitories along with 300 cabin passengers. This must have been a sign of things to come.

After three and a half years of training, of which most of it was spent on board ship, he passed his first professional qualification and started sailing as a 3rd officer in the combined passenger fleets of P & O Cruises & Princess Cruises.

After further periods of study he gained his 1st Mates Certificate in 1981 and “Foreign Going Master Mariners Certificate in 1985 which is the equivalent of an “Any Ocean, Any Tonnage” Captain’s license. Despite having spent a few years on freighters to gain more experience in all trades, he decided that his future lay with passenger shipping. In 1986 Captain Jeremy stood by the building of the new cruise ship Astor, in the German port of Kiel, for the South African Marine Corporation. As Chief Officer and Safety Officer he was responsible for planning and implementing all of the safety organization and training for the new ship, and after a year in the shipyard sailed for a further 2 years with the ship. At that time he was offered the position of Staff Captain with Pearl Cruises, and for the following 7 years cruised to exotic and little known destinations in South East Asia, including Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines and Indonesia.

In 1996 Jeremy started his association with V Ships standing by the building of the new cruise ship Minerva, in Genoa. As Captain, he sailed the Minerva between Europe and the Far East, operating cruises with a cultural theme and a team of eminent lecturers. Once again the ship visited many little known and exciting destinations. 1998 found him back in the shipyards again, but this time in France, as the Marine Manager for new building projects with Renaissance Cruises. Over a period of rapid expansion for the company he was responsible for the development & supervision of the construction of a fleet of eight 30,000 tonne cruise ships. After completion of the last ship in the series, Jeremy sailed in command with Renaissance Cruises.

The events of 9/11 caused much disruption in the cruise industry and during the downturn Jeremy turned his hand to piloting ships. He was authorized to pilot ships on the River Humber and into 14 harbours and havens within the Estuary complex. However the call of the sea was too strong and he returned to sea as a captain with Radisson Seven Seas Cruises, in command of the unique catamaran Radisson Diamond. After 3 years in command with Radisson, Jeremy was pleased to accept the invitation to join Explorer as her captain in 2005 and has sailed in command on 10 voyages to date.

During the Fall 2005 voyage, whilst in Hong Kong, Jeremy met Apple, an Asian based fashion model, and they married in 2007. When not sailing, they spend their time between their homes in the Philippines, France and England.

Captain, Roman Krstanovic

Captain Roman Krstanovic first heard the call of the sea at the age of 15, despite his father's profession as a university professor and hospital chief. He spent his childhood on the water—rowing, sailing, and diving.

Upon leaving nautical school in 1978, he joined the Atlantska Plovidba Company as a Cadet Officer. Over a period of four years, he served on a variety of ships. In May of 1982, Captain Krstanovic was appointed as 3rd Officer to his first passenger ship, Dalmacija, which was a cruise ship carrying 350 passengers on cruises around Northern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. After completing two years sailing as a 3rd Officer, Captain Krstanovic was appointed to the Jadrolinija passenger fleet as 2nd and 1st Officer in fleet.

In 1988, Captain Krstanovic studied at the Nautical University in Dubrovnik, Croatia to obtain a Bachelor of Science and Engineer of Trade and Nautical Transport. He also received his Foreign Going Master Mariners License in December 1988 and Croatian Marine Pilot License in March 2000.

In 1995, he joined Commodore Crown Cruise Line as a Safety Officer on board the Crown Monarch. He was appointed as Staff Captain in July 1995. The Crown Monarch offered unique cruises in China and South East Asia. He was appointed as Captain in June 1996. The following four years were spent cruising to exotic destinations in South East Asia, including Viet Nam, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Indonesia. He served as Captain onboard all ships within the fleet of Commodore Crown Cruise Line until July 2001.

Following his employment with Commodore Cruise Line, Captain Krstanovic joined the Renaissance Cruise Line as the Staff Captain and Captain onboard R1, R2, and R5 ships. He joined the Semester at Sea program in May 2003 aboard the S.S.Universe Explorer as Staff Captain. In May 2004, he became Captain of the S.S. Universe Explorer and in Spring 2006 he served as Captain of the MV Explorer.

Captain Krstanovic has been happily married for 26 years and has two daughters. When off duty, he returns home to Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Staff Captain, Kostas Siamantas

Captain Kostas Siamantas was born in Thessaloniki, Greece, and has always wanted to travel the world. He started his career at sea as a deck cadet at the age of 18 for Niarhos Shipping Company. He attended Merchant Marine Academy of Thessaloniki from which he graduated in 1985. In 1987 he joined his first cruise vessel. He served on many cruise ships and has been promoted regularly to the positions of 1st Officer, Safety Officer, and Staff Captain since 2001, when he acquired the Master's ticket. He joined ISE and V.Ships in June 2005 on board the MV Explorer, and his dream to circumnavigate the globe became true. When not on board the ship, he lives with his family in Portsmouth, England, where his main hobby is building wooden model ships. He also enjoys table tennis and swimming.

Hotel Director, Stefan Heuser

Stefan was born and raised in Germany. He started his professional career with a formal apprenticeship to become a chef. At the same time he attended a hotel school in Germany. For some time he worked as Chef in a number of restaurants in Germany and Spain.

He started his career at sea in 1992 on a small luxury passenger ship operated by Tauck Tours cruising the Caribbean, Galapagos, Central America, Northern Europe, and West Africa.

Afterwards he worked a short period of time for Norwegian Cruise Lines before joining V.Ships 14 years ago. He held the position of Executive Chef on several ships including the TSS Albatross and MS Carousel. Next step in his career was to become the corporate F&B Controller for the Airtours fleet, which at that time was managed by V.Ships. He also spent some time onboard the TS Universe Explorer during her Alaska Cruises.

Subsequently Stefan became F&B Manager and at the age of 29 he had his first assignment as Hotel Director on the MS Explorer. This was a small cruise ship sailing for Abercrombie & Kent, offering expedition voyages to places like Antarctica, the Amazon, Greenland and Sptizbergen.

Following that, he was assigned to the start-up of a large Casino Ship operating between Hong Kong and mainland China, before setting up the Spirit of Oceanus for Cruise West, operating in Alaska and the South Pacific.

In summer 2002 Stefan took the position as General Manager of V.Ships Catering. He lived with his family in Monaco and Cyprus.

In spring 2005 he moved to Bangkok, Thailand and returned to work on ships. His first assignment was on the MV Orion, a small luxury ship cruising around Australia and the South Pacific. Since August 2005 he has been with the MV Explorer and Semester at Sea.

Stefan is married and has one daughter. He enjoys gardening and has 5 dogs. One of his hobbies is diving and he is a certified Scuba Instructor.

Chief Purser, Angelito Untivero

Angelito Untivero was born in Manila Philippines. He supported himself and earned two Bachelor of Science degrees as an athletic scholar. He has a BS in Electronics and Communication Engineering, and a BS in Computer Science. Prior to beginning his career as a seafarer, he worked as a college faculty member, stock trader, and was one of the youngest consultants hired to work for the Filipino government. In 2000 he joined the Semester at Sea family as 2nd Purser Finance aboard the SS Universe Explorer. He was transferred to the MV Explorer and promoted to Chief Purser in May 2007. He loves volleyball, karaoke, ping pong, tennis, and his wife and two daughters.

Chief Purser, James Agan

James is a native of New Hampshire and is one of the few American crew members onboard. He was born in Hanover but spent the first 12 years living in different states as his father was working for a construction company and was transferred many times. He attended and graduated from Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire with a bachelor's degree in secondary education. Unfortunately at that time there were an abundance of social study teachers and he never worked as a full-time teacher.

For the next 13 years, James worked in a steel foundry in New Hampshire and was a substitute teacher in his local school district. In 1988 when the steel foundry closed he went to work at Ascutney Mountain Resort in nearby Vermont. He started as the night auditor and was soon the front office manager. In 1991 the resort closed due to three winters of little snow.

James went to the CCTI (Cruise Career Training Institute) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in August of 1991.

On December 7, 1991 James started his shipboard career as an assistant purser onboard the MV Crown Monarch for Crown Cruise Line. Although this was only a two month contract, he knew that he had found a job he truly enjoyed. When Crown Cruise Line became part of Commodore Cruise line, James continued to work with the new owners. In October of 1992, James was transferred to the Enchanted Isle with the Commodore fleet in San Diego and promoted to crew purser.

For the next three years James worked for Commodore Crown Cruise Line in the position of crew purser and 1^st purser. He went to Spain and brought out the newly built Crown Dynasty in 1993. Other ships he worked on during this time were the Crown Jewel and the Enchanted Seas. When the Crown Monarch was sent to Australia late in 1993, James was chosen as the 1^st purser for the voyage from Baltimore to Sydney. He spent 6 months on the Crown Monarch with Sydney as the home port.

In 1995, the ships of the Crown fleet were all sold or on lease to other companies. James continued on the Enchanted Isle, and in October of that year went to the Enchanted Seas which was undergoing a refit to become the SS Universe Explorer and become the new ship for the Semester at Sea program. In January of 1996, James worked his first "voyage of discovery" on the Universe Explorer. Since then James has worked mainly for V.Ships Leisure. From 1999 on James was the relief chief purser. In addition to the Universe Explorer, he also worked on other ships which V.Ships was managing. He spent a month in Singapore in 2001 preparing the Spirit of Oceanus for her new owners, Cruise West. He was the chief purser as the ship sailed from Singapore to Alaska for the summer 2001 season.

In 2004 when the Institute for Shipboard Education chartered the MV Explorer, James was again onboard. He was promoted to chief purser in 2005 and is now one of the two chief pursers who work the SAS program onboard. With the Fall 07 voyage James has now done parts of 25 voyages.

James enjoys reading, taking pictures and of course traveling. His favorite places to visit are Phuket Island in Thailand, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.