Truly STARRING CREW

February 8, 2012

Despite the beauty of Silhouette, that is not the reason that guests love returning to us and our sister ships. You can have the most beautiful ship or hotel in the world but if you don’t have a world class group of people meeting every one of your guests’ needs, you will not have many returning. Celebrity Cruise Lines understands this, and hence was born our STARRING CREW campaign. This business focus recognizes that the true stars of the show are our crew.

But many of our stars hide behind the scenes. If you really want to understand how the magic happens, you need to meet the people who are often ‘invisible.’ These are people that I have been privileged to meet but you may never see. The all are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made.’ And they make the magic happen, and our guests may never realize it. Let me introduce you to some of them.

Let’s start with Jess. Jess is from Nicaragua. As a large, dark-skinned man he has an imposing presence. But Jess is a gentle giant. Jess’ primary job is to keep the I-95 clean. So Jess spends a vast majority of his time working from one end to the other of our ship-long corridor first sweeping and then mopping this heavily trafficked area. It is a truly thankless job. No guest ever sees this avenue. But by Celebrity standards it needs to be just as clean. Jess must do his job while hundreds of crew walk this corridor every hour. During Turnaround Day, Jess takes off from his normal assignments and steers dozens of luggage carts with our guests’ suitcases on and off the ship. When turnaround is done the I-95 is trashed. But each morning after we sail I walk down this corridor and it is spotless and shining. When I first met Jess he seemed more than a bit down. I asked him how he was doing, and when he gave the standard Celebrity response of ‘Excellent,’ I pushed just a little harder. He admitted he was homesick and wasn’t sure if he could make it to the end of his eight month contract, which was still six weeks away. I told him I was sure he could and I told him I would check in with him every day as I passed him, which I have. I like to tell him how much it means to me to walk down such a beautiful crew corridor on my way to work. Jess is now two weeks away from going home. He has worked eight months and no guest has probably ever seen him. He receives no tips. But I’ve seen him. And Jess ROCKS!  Jess has a big smile now as he looks forward to his sign-off date. And I will miss him.

Then there is my amigo, Antonio. Antonio was a high school teacher in Honduras. On Silhouette he is a Utility Cleaner. He works in the Crew Mess Galley washing dishes and cleaning pots and pans. For 11 hours a day. Seven days a week. Antonio also volunteers to teach Spanish classes to the Crew. He is a natural teacher. He works extra hours helping man the Crew Laundry. He aspires to more and has begun to cross train to be a Crew Welfare Specialist, a one-stripe officer who is the front line of taking care of crew needs. I think he will be great at it. For several mornings in a row we had breakfast together. He has a sharp mind and a desire to excel. I can’t wait till he crosses the threshold and becomes an officer, hopefully on his second contract. He is now working graveyard shifts. I miss our breakfasts together.

Jude is a Celebrity Cleaner from India. A Celebrity Cleaner is a general custodian for the ship. He is the one picking up trash and sweeping and vacuuming floors in crew and guest areas. This is also not a tipping position. Jude is also the head of the Catholic community among the crew. He offers Bible study once a week and is part of a prayer group every night. Since most crew get off between 10 and 11pm each night, their meetings start at 11:30pm. He wishes I would attend more. So do I. His birthday is coming up at the end of February. I think I will get him a card.

Joseph is the cabin steward that takes care of my room and several other officers as well as the Captain’s. He is a young man from the Philippines who always has a quick smile and a winning personality. You wouldn’t get the job of taking care of the Captain’s quarters unless you did. He misses being home in the PI, but is willing to make the sacrifice so he can make money for his family. Joseph and I talk a lot. Officers do tip our stateroom attendants. When we get paid, he gets a little bonus. He never takes this for granted and always finds me to thank me. We are good at checking in with each other to see how we each are doing. I really hope my contract ends before Joseph’s does. I can’t imagine anyone else taking care of my cabin.

Walter is our Junior Payroll Purser. Walter is also from the Philippines. Obviously, being responsible for paying a crew of 1200+ twice a month is a major responsibility. Perhaps I told you we are paid in cash. Walter does a consistently solid job. I’ve never heard anyone complain about inaccuracies. Walter is a bit of a joker and has given me a hard time from the day I stepped onto the ship. I return it in kind. Walter is actually a computer ‘geek’ who wishes he could work in IT for the company. Since I made that transition from Accounting to IT, I’m happy to help him. Well, unless he keeps teasing me too much . . . then he’s on his own.

Finally, for today, there is Marian. Marian is a he. He is from central Europe. Marian is the Crew Mess Supervisor. He started the job about four weeks ago. On his first day he wore a coat and tie. I liked his style. He is a first time supervisor, and I can see him managing a guest restaurant in a year or two. He has since dispensed with the coat, but still wears shirt and tie. By doing so he reminds me of my dad who honored his students by always wearing a tie, even when teachers became less formal in their clothing. I believe Marian is one of many who you never would see who have a bright future with our company.

Yes, especially with the ones you would never see, Celebrity Cruise Lines is truly STARRING CREW!

And the adventure continues . . .