February 10, 2012
Two days ago I spoke of the ‘invisible stars,’ but today I’d like to introduce you to a few who you might have a chance to meet if you were on Silhouette. One of the things I love most about this ship is the great people and amazing contributions that are made in so many different ways at so many different levels, even by people who have never seen an ocean before.
Let’s start with Iaroslav from Ukraine. Iaroslav joined us January 17th in Bayonne as a brand new bar server. He had never been on the ocean before and probably had never seen the ocean before. He is a gangly young man. One guest described him as the Ukranian Mr. Bean. This was the cruise that started with two days of 20-25 foot swells in the Atlantic. I first noticed Iaroslav when he showed up at a Safety Training on his first day sporting a pale green complexion and politely informed the Chief Safety Officer that he was not feeling well from the ‘ship rocking’ and wasn’t sure if he should stay for the training or go back to his cabin. The Safety Officer looked at me and we nodded that we didn’t want a ‘clean up on aisle 7.’ We sent Iaroslav to the Medical Center and told him to try to make the training the next day if he felt up to it and he would make up that day’s on the next cruise. The next day, only slightly less green, he made it through the entire training session. He quickly got his sea legs under him in the first 12 day cycle, so much so that he received 8 ‘by name’ positive comments from guests on his very first cruise. I copied these out for him and put them in a Word document so that he could send them to his family. Iaroslav is all smiles and great attention to details. Just seeing his sincerity and hard work makes you smile. He is self-studying English using Rosetta Stone, and has asked about how to cross-train in other positions. He already asked me what it would take to put in to be part of the opening crew for Reflection. He is already a superstar and I hope he stays along time with us bringing smiles to the faces of our guests.
Ralph is from India by way of Nashville. He is a seasoned cruise casino host who is very proud of his recently earned American citizenship. He has a gregarious personality and is all about guest satisfaction. When a lady came on board at the start of this last cruise and asked when she might avail herself of the electric ‘scooter’ she had ordered to traverse the ship, given her limited mobility, Ralph went down to the loading gangway, found the vehicle which had just been brought on, had the technician immediately install the battery and personally delivered it to the woman, all in less than 15 minutes. Ralph can’t help but make you smile. He will help anyone in any department at any time. He’s a big football fan. American football, of course!
Valentina and Nikolina started on the same day. They are both from Central Europe, but two more distinct personalities you will rarely meet. Valentina is tall, blond and brassy. Nikolina is petitie, with short dark hair and glasses, and quite respectful. They are both bar servers and have become fast friends. They each enjoy serving me wine when I’m in guest restaurants and catching up on the day. You see, they were in the first training class I ever taught on the ship. Niki has already gotten a promotion from the casual dining room to the main dining room. She had two by name positive comments on her first rotation in the Grand Cuvee Restaurant. I think Valentina will be right behind her.
Sam is the resident artist on board. She is one of the few Americans. She not only displays her art but she teaches art classes to the guests. In addition, she has volunteered to teach English classes to enhance the language abilities of some of our crew. She is a gentle and artistic soul. For some reason my deck phone kept dialing her in my first two weeks whenever I tried to call someone saved in my phones memory. Our phones obviously were fast friends before we were.
Finally, there is Sabrina. She is a Junior Guest Relations officer from Spain who started one cruise before I came on. She has become my ‘go to girl’ whenever there is a guest problem. She is very bright and a great problem solver. She is persistent in getting her answers and professional with the guests. She is amazing at what she gets done. Amazing for a young woman just out of college. She has expressed interest in maybe becoming a Training and Development Manager. I’ve been told that they only like to hire T&Ds that have previous shore side experience. However, I think she would be perfect in this role. So, my plan is to mentor her and come up with a development plan that will prove to the company that she can and should be considered for this role. Young talent like hers should not be lost.
Seeing all of our new hires in training reminds me daily that Celebrity is truly STARRING CREW!
And the adventure continues . . .
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