Most of you are aware that Royal Caribbean has been providing relief supplies to the people of Haiti after the devastating earthquake. What most people don’t know is what we have been doing to help our Haitian employees and their families. Steve Christian, of our Human Resources Department, recently traveled to Labadee to oversee the delivery of supplies to our Haitian employees and their families. Here is Steve’s account:
At the time of the earthquake, 158 Haitians were serving onboard Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity ships, another 200+ Haitian employees were working at our Labadee site, and we had 50 crew members who were on vacation, presumably at home in various cities throughout Haiti.
A few days after the earthquake, Royal Caribbean announced that we would be working closely with four different relief agencies in Haiti: Compassion Alliance, Food for the Poor, the Solano Foundation, and the Pan American Development Foundation. Each of those agencies was involved in off loading supplies from our ships and transporting them to distribution sites throughout Haiti. While we were pleased with the results our partnerships were producing, we were hearing from our employees and their families that relief supplies were not reaching them quickly enough.
We decided it was time to contact Compassion Alliance to see if they could set aside some supplies just for our families. Our contact at Compassion Alliance, Paul Romine, was more than willing to help. In fact, he and his team offered to assemble 250 special “care packages” just for our folks, and all we needed to do was give them a “wish list” of items to be put in the care packages.
Just finished a cold but lovely weekend in the northeast. The primary purpose was to attend the memorial service for my best friend’s father. Joel Loeb passed away in January at 94 years old. He was a naval officer in the North Atlantic throughout WWII and a wonderful man, husband and father during his long and dignified life. Among other things, he was as proud of having gone to Princeton as anyone I’ve known. If you know Princeton people you know what that means. The old warrior got about as much out of life as one could expect. What more could one ask?
Speaking of Princeton, I spent the day before the memorial service on campus with some of my classmates at a meeting to kick off the 30th reunion cycle (2011, ouch). The attendees were able to spend time with a panel of students who are either juniors or seniors. If you want to renew your faith in the possibilities for making the world a better place, you should spend time with students like these. They are worldly, multidimensional, articulate, personable and totally committed to various paths of public and/or community service. As we would say at Royal Caribbean, this was a Wow.
Next week is the Cruise Shipping Miami conference, the biggest (by far) cruise conference of the year for cruise industry types. The conference used to be called Seatrade Miami. Virtually everyone still refers to it as Seatrade. I’m sure that must be frustrating for the new owners, but hey, we changed our name to Royal Caribbean International over 13 years ago and plenty of people still call us Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. Both Dan Hanrahan and I will be on the panel of cruise line CEO’s and therefore face the annual challenge of trying to be interesting while making sure we don’t say anything too noteworthy.
Some of our readers already appreciate the intensity of the preparations we undertake for our entertainment and activities. Here is Lisa and her team’s insider view into some of the Oasis shows:
Lisa Bauer - Senior VP, Hotel Operations
It is truly amazing to see the amount of the behind the scenes work it takes to create, produce and eventually perform a Royal Caribbean Show. Typically our casts rehearse for seven weeks before they even arrive at the ship!
For Oasis, we had cast of “Come Fly with Me,” a Production show featuring aerial and gymnastic artistry, rehearsing at the Don Taft arena at Nova University, the ice cast in California, the cast of Hairspray at our Hollywood Florida Production Studio (Royal Caribbean is the only brand in the industry with a dedicated shore side production facility) and the cast for the aquatheatre shows had the opportunity to train at the City of Fort Lauderdale & International Swimming Hall Of Fame prior to heading to Turku.
While all our production shows require elaborate planning, without a doubt, the most complex shows we have ever done are the shows for our aquatheatre. There is a very high level of complexity with everything this cast had to do, including getting the Acro/Aqua cast PADI Scuba certification as anyone who goes into the pool had to have this type of training. This cast consists of eight divers, six synchronized swimmers and six acrobats/divers. These divers are highly talented and come from the ranks of world class Jr. Olympic and Olympic divers.
This week is the Royal Caribbean International Fleet Operations Leadership Conference in Orlando. We have many of our Captains and Hotel Directors and some of our Chief Engineers and HR Managers there plus our shoreside leaders and guests from authors to travel agent producers to our onboard retail partners. Richard Fain and I kicked off the conference with a lively Q&A session. What a pleasure it is to be around this group of people. The longevity of some of the Captains is remarkable – several were reminiscing about being on Song of Norway in 1971. The focus of the conference is on the functioning of the shipboard Executive Committees because the success of a ship is a direct reflection of the success of the EC.
There are lots of things to discuss with this group and of course one of them is our continued global development. Among other things we will have 10 of our 22 ships in Europe in the summer of 2011. Just a few years ago we would not have imagined such a scenario. Over the next 90 days we will be releasing all of our itineraries from spring 2011 to spring 2012 for sale.
Almost any crisis in the world affects us. We are saddened by the destruction and casualties in Chile. While we don’t have as much involvement there as we do in Haiti, our sister line Celebrity Cruises operates out of Valparaiso, we are represented in Chile for sales and marketing by Interexpress and we had well over 100 crew there on vacation. While we are not aware of any of our own people who were killed or injured in the earthquake, there are some friends and family who lost their lives. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all Chileans.
On a much more positive note we have now accounted for all of our Haitian crew who were on vacation at the time of the earthquake there. Just after January 12th it seemed like we might not be able to account for dozens of employees. After weeks of little progress we have now made contact with everyone. We are very pleased about this but always mindful that many, many others were not so fortunate.
Lisa Bauer - Senior VP, Hotel Operations
Greetings from 35,000 feet. We are just on our way back from an amazing visit to Brilliance of the Seas in Dubai. The three of us John Mc Girl, VP Human Resources and Captain Bill Wright, Sr. VP Marine Operations (also known as Captain Storm by me from his time on Oasis) continue our travels to all 21 of our ships.
This weeks Anchored in Excellence Program (AIE) was to Dubai to visit the leadership team and crew onboard Brilliance of the Seas. Brilliance began her 7 night itineraries three weeks ago, and we wanted to see how this new itinerary for our brand was being operated and received by our guests.
We held an all crew meeting, and then any crew member that wanted to meet with us 1:1 came by to visit to share their feedback, suggestions or concerns. The biggest number of crew feedback is really around our career “pipeline.” We had a number of defined positions with specific career tracks. Our crew is always anxious to get promoted, so they do the interviews and qualifications for the new position they want, and then they go into the pipeline for when a position becomes available. They usually come to see us too because they want us to know that they are anxious to grow with the company and want to know “how much longer?”
It’s a beautiful Sunday in Miami and I’m very happy to have run a 5k PR this morning in 19.17 (6.13 per mile). The course was long on my fancy GPS watch at 3.15 miles so the elusive sub-19 5k is coming closer. By the way, in a totally unforeseeable happening, last Saturday near Orlando I actually won a 10k race. Not just my age group but the entire race. I had a lot of ambitions in running but being the one running behind the guy on the bicycle was beyond my aspirations. Of course there weren’t the kind of runners I raced against this morning. But it was a memorable experience nevertheless. Speaking of good runners this morning, a 51 year old ran 17.47, a fellow 50 year old ran 18.12 and my hero, a 56 year old with an artificial hip who beats me all the time, ran 18.51. So I’m looking for sustained improvement. Older and faster.
It’s time to hang out in Washington DC again. I have several full days of Capitol Hill visits and Executive Branch interactions this week (unless it snows 10 feet again). Plus my Energy Security Leadership Council is meeting to discuss next steps in our effort to prod the government to improve the country’s energy security through various approaches. And I get to see my little sister who just moved from Japan to Bethesda.
Many of you have commented on the question Craig asked about Oasis’ Nassau call – whether to keep it on Friday as the last call or change it to Sunday as the first call. There are strong opinions on both sides but the majority favor changing to Sunday with appropriate lead time for implementation. We’re still deciding.
Due to what one of my law professors called the “relentless march of the calendar”, we suddenly have only eight months and change until the delivery of Allure of the Seas. We are often asked about whether there will be anything different from Oasis of the Seas on our new 225,000 ton baby. We have said no but we may have been a little hasty. We wouldn’t be Royal Caribbean International without doing a few things differently. I’m sure you’re not at all interested so we won’t keep you posted on this.
Delegation is the key to life. Well, maybe not all of life (especially since traveling light is also a key to life and not to mention “Happy Wife Happy Life”) but at least it is a key to keeping a blog going. I enjoyed delegating this space to Lisa during the crossing of Oasis of the Seas so much that I have been missing her entries ever since. Obviously the attention to Haiti in the last month has made everything else a moot point but now I would like to move forward with “Fridays with Lisa.” I don’t want to give her a heart attack so I’m not insisting on every Friday. But hopefully most Fridays she will chip in with her observations about some aspect of the wide and wonderful world of Hotel Operations at Royal Caribbean International.
Today, Lisa will be talking about her AIE visit. During the course of the year our top operations executives visit every ship in the fleet, as Lisa describes below. Although I do not do these visits myself anymore, I regard the 10 + years of Anchored in Excellence (AIE) program and my own 117 AIE ship visits as true highlights. I congratulate Lisa Bauer and Bill Wright for continuing to enhance AIE.
AIE 2010 Kick-off
Lisa Bauer - Senior VP, Hotel Operations
A few weeks ago I spent a week in Brazil where we officially kicked off the Anchored in Excellence (AIE) visits for the year. We were able to spend time sailing with both Vision of the Seas and Splendour of the Seas, and as a bonus, we were also able to visit our office in Brazil.
AIE is a program where we visit each ship in the fleet, and meet with the shipboard Executive Committee, attend both hotel and marine departmental meetings, host an all crew session, as well as invite any crew member to come see us for any 1:1 topics they would like to discuss. When sailing with the ship, we also have the ability to see how guests are enjoying the ship, as well as how our crew is interacting with our guests. A personal highlight for me from this trip was a dinner hosted by Captain Tommy on the Splendour of the Seas where they served all local Brazilian dishes.
While my blog lately has covered topics other than Haiti, the country and its people has not been far from my thoughts. We continue to transport pallets of supplies on each and every ship that calls on Labadee. The outpouring of support from the community has been unbelievable, with pallets and pallets of needed supplies coming into our warehouse every day from all over the country.
Below is a letter I received from Sam Davis, founding director of the Burn Advocates Network, whose organization is providing much needed medical attention to Haitians hurt and injured during the earthquake. We are thankful that we can continue to assist organizations, such as the Burn Advocates Network, that make a difference in lives of the Haitian people.
Dear Mr. Goldstein:
I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your company’s generosity. I was blessed to travel to Haiti aboard your Explorer of the Seas cruise ship last week. There, at their Labadee dock, your staff and I oversaw the offloading of over 65 pallets of medical supplies and emergency food. In addition, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines donated 200 mattresses, bedding, and hundreds of pounds of clothes donated by the crew for this relief effort. With the precise teamwork of the Explorer’s ship and ground crews, the entire shipment of 65 pallets was unloaded onto the piers, providing 60,000 pounds of aid. After a one-hour convoy, we reached our destination in Cap Haitien, Haiti, where not a single package was damaged, delayed, or diverted. In other words…
“From Dock to Doctor” in 6 days!
Many of these supplies went to For Haiti With Love, a 24-hour FREE emergency clinic specializing in burn care. In the last few weeks, they have treated thousands of earthquake victims. While in Haiti, I also formed a relationship with the Justinian Hospital run by the government of Haiti. There Dr. Andre Voltain, Chief of Medicine, and Dr. Jean-Gracia Coq, Chief of Surgery, informed me that they lacked an oxygen generator and had only one x-ray machine, a beat up C Arm, which had been down for several weeks, scarcely the equipment expected at a hospital of three hundred plus patients. During my short stay, two gravely burned Haitian children had to be airlifted to Shriners Hospital in Boston because the equipment to save them did not exist.
Now that Oasis of the Seas has settled into her regular routine I thought this would be a good time to get an update on the ports we are visiting. I’ve asked Craig Milan to give us a glimpse of how the ports are handling Oasis as well as some of the guest feedback.
I thought it would be good to update everyone about how Oasis of the Seas is doing in her ports of call.
Oasis of the Seas is now in the midst of her 11th voyage (10th regular Eastern Caribbean itinerary) and by all accounts the ports of call have been going extremely well. You may recall the ship’s current itinerary is departing Port Everglades on Saturday followed by two sea days before she arrives in St. Thomas and then onto St. Maarten. We then feature one more sea day with a Friday arrival into Nassau, Bahamas. For operational reasons, we switched up itinerary over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays by calling at Nassau on Sundays instead of Fridays. Both versions have worked well but it would be nice to hear from you all as to if you think we should stay with the current Friday call in Nassau or the Sunday arrival.
Our new terminal in Port Everglades, Terminal 18, is working even better than we thought. We have been able to maintain our goal of getting our guests from curbside to ship in 15 minutes or less. This terminal is easily the most efficient of any within our worldwide system. Not only has the boarding process been going well but also the departure from the ship. US Customs and Border Protection processes have been smooth and have enabled us to clear the ship on most Saturdays by 10:30 am at the latest.
In St. Thomas we are calling at the Crown Bay dock, which is a departure for us since we usually use the dock at Havensight for all other ships. Crown Bay has been working very well. All guests who have purchased tours from us are dispatched from a segregated area only a short walk from the ship. There are ample taxis and other transport available and the shopping at Crown Bay, whilst not as extensive as at Havensight, seems to have resonated with our guests. St. Thomas remains one of the premier shopping destinations in the Caribbean and our guests on Oasis are taking full advantage of the myriad of shops available to them.
Haiti is several weeks post-earthquake. Royal Caribbean’s involvement is what one would expect from our company and people. The media has moved on to other topics or at least other aspects of the post-earthquake environment. Meanwhile, our people and guests continue to help. This will remain true for a very long time given Haiti’s needs.
I would like to thank the remarkable number of people who wrote letters, sent emails and posted on blogs in support of the calls of our ships and the importance of delivering supplies, maintaining economic activity and sustaining hope. Some of the most heartfelt communications came from our own employees including at headquarters.
Fortunately the number of employees who have not made contact with us has significantly reduced. For days it was stuck at 34 out of 50 and it seemed that we were facing a possible 68% death rate of our crew who were at home in Haiti on vacation. Now the number is down to 11 and none of those are confirmed dead. So we continue to hope that all of our crew are in fact safe but we simply do not know. Nine of the 11 have addresses in the Dominican Republic so we’re hoping some of the 11 were not even in Haiti at the time. Obviously we are trying to contact them to be sure.
The ships are routinely bringing in pallets of supplies and within a week we will have delivered over 1,000 pallets. There is a focus right now on getting three generators onboard to be delivered to schools in Haiti. Also by a week from now we will have contributed over $500,000 in proceeds from the revenue we normally earn during our Labadee calls. In addition, in aggregate our shoreside employees, guests and crew have donated $300,000 to relief efforts.
