Worth Bragging About!

February 1, 2012

I’m proud to be a member of Celebrity Cruise Lines. When I made the decision to accept this position, it was not primarily about pay, for there are many other jogs that would have paid more. It was not primarily about content, for there are a growing number of training and development jobs in great locations around the country. It was not primarily about location, for while it is nice to be on a ship in the Caribbean, it is equally as hard to be away from home and family for months at a time.

My decision to pursue this career option was based significantly on joining a company whose culture was in line with my beliefs on how a company should be run. And as I move toward completing my first month in the position, I can clearly say that although no company is perfect, Celebrity Cruise Lines is an organization that ‘get’s it.’ We ‘get it’ not just with our head, but with our heart and soul, as well.

We ‘get it’ with their head. I am proud that my employer has made conscious decisions that not only improve the bottom line, but make a positive impact on the world. One of the first mandatory classes that each new crew member takes is our Environmental Course. This course describes the ways that Celebrity consistently makes decisions to “Save the Waves,” through environmental conservation. Our newest ships have converted from diesel to gasoline thus reducing our atmospheric emissions by over 25%. As a crew we also work hard to reduce fuel consumption with rules that require us to not only turn off every light when we leave our cabins, but unplug all electrical devices to minimize the impacts of ‘phantom power’ consumption. We have our own self-contained water purification system on the ship allowing us to convert salt water and waste water to water purer than created by most municipal systems. Although international law allows us to release refuse into open waters, we never do. We have an active, reduce, reuse, and recycle program on ship. Yes, all of these steps help us reduce costs, but they also reduce the impact of our floating hotels on the environment.

We ‘get it’ with our heart. We believe in being good citizens to benefit all the port cities that we visit. One of our key charitable endeavors is gifting of donated goods to the people of Haiti. During the course of the cruise we collect clothes and other reusable goods from crew members, especially from those who are signing off. These goods are distributed to those in need when we make our scheduled stops in Haiti.

We ‘get it’ with our soul. The soul of the company is our people. We have a slogan that describes our ships as ‘Starring Crew.’ We work to truly treat our crews like stars, knowing that they will in turn honor our guests. All the training and crew focused events and celebrations that HR does is oriented to honor the stars of our show. And it seems to be working, especially if you are part of the Silhouette family. In the last two months our crew satisfaction surveys have scored the highest in the fleet. This pays forward to our guests. For the last cruise ending on January 29^th, we just received word that our guest surveys showed 99% of our guests rated us very good or excellent. Coupled with overall and individual category ratings that were consistently above target, we will soon be ranked the top ship in the fleet by customers, as well.  All based on the effort we invest in taking care of our people.

You bet I’m bragging . . . but it is something worth bragging about!

And the adventure continues . . .