After you have registered, you'll be automatically ranked as a cabin person but after you confirm your e-mail, you'll be a pirate. (I have now set your rank to SO.) Since the "Crew Bonding" forum is only for the crew, people ranked as a cabin person can't see it. Senior officers and fleet officers can enter said forum even if they don't enter the password. 
People ranked as officer or pirate needs to enter the password manually everytime they want to enter the forum though... 
Thanks for the question and I hoped my answer helped! 
