My name is Kristin Pearce and I work in the Community Relations department in Royal Caribbean’s Miami office. Our team handles all company initiatives related to the Make-A-Wish Foundation (MAW). June is our company-wide fundraising month for Make-A-Wish called Destination Joy. Many departments in our offices compete for fundraising contributions by hosting ice cream sales, bingo games and even a china and crystal sale, all with the goal of raising money for this amazing organization. As part of our partnership, we host a program called Wishes At Sea, where any given ship could have up to two MAW families onboard. Of course, they are given the Royal VIP treatment and the ship’s crew tries to accommodate every specific aspect of the child’s wish while onboard.
Since my debacle at Albuquerque in March where I tried my first track meet at national level and had a terrible race, I have been very focused on ramping up the quality and intensity of my training. My next opportunity to run the way I believe I can run was in Houston in June at the National Senior Games. Fortunately, things went much better than they did in New Mexico.
Before I get to the race, a few observations about the environment of masters track racing. The bottom line is I really enjoy the atmosphere. Of course there are a few hyper competitive (fill in the blank)s but for the most part the men and women are mutually supportive and a pleasure to be around. They know a lot more about training and racing than I do at this point. I take that deficit as a positive – if I can learn more over the next few years I will have a better opportunity to improve relative to my competition. Nevertheless, there are runners who are and most likely will always be on a higher level.
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Recently I had the opportunity to join Radiance of the Seas in Alaska for an Anchored in Excellence visit, as well as to see the results of the recent dry dock. The transformation in a number of the venues is unbelievable. Perhaps the biggest examples are the addition of the Quill & Compass, an authentic English pub offering an extensive selection of imported beers and ales, along with the variety of all the new dining venues. I was only onboard for three days, so it took a lot of effort to “sample” all of the experiences. It was a high caloric visit needless to say.
Another year of Royal Caribbean International deployment is open, in this case from the spring of 2012 to the spring of 2013. Deployment means the placement of the ships on itineraries every day of the year except for when they are in dry-dock. Deployment is one of the most important and time-consuming processes we undertake each year. It is one of the most secretive processes we engage in while it is in process, and then one of the most publicized after we are finished.
Everyone cares about deployment – shareholders, customers, employees and communities. These are the same four constituencies we mention in our corporate vision statement. One of my occasional guest bloggers, Chris Allen, is Director of Deployment and Itinerary Planning. He oversees a small but ace team of experts who coordinate amongst numerous departments internally and with hundreds of ports externally to identify the right place for each ship on each day of each year. His team is charged with understanding the economics (i.e., profitability) of every decision we make with our fleet. As if that were not enough, another team led by Jason Liberty, our VP of Corporate Planning, evaluates ship profitability from its own perspective.
We’re happy to bring everyone the latest round of answers in our “Ask Adam Blog Series.” You can read last month’s blog answers here. As always, a thank you goes out to everyone who has submitted questions. If you would like to submit a question for consideration in the next answers blog, you can do so on our Facebook discussion page.
Does Royal Caribbean’s Choice Air program allow guests to arrive at their destination several days prior to the sail date? We are considering Mariner of the Seas this October.
-David M.
It’s always nice to be able to arrive at a departure port ahead of time so you can enjoy and explore a new city or country. With Choice Air you are able to select fares that work with your schedule. ChoiceAir offers nearly all published flights and fares as well as special rates offered only through us. Of course, airlines limit the number of seats and with the volatility in pricing and fuel you may want to book early while great fares are available. With ChoiceAir, you can also check out the “Flexfares” option, that allows you to hold flights without payment or obligation up until final payment is due on your cruise. Those fares might be a little higher than instant purchase, but provide you with more flexibility. As always, when you book ChoiceAir, you will receive our Assured Arrival service, so if flights are disrupted, we will do our best to get you on the next available commercial flight to Rome - or the next available port- at no additional cost to you. Checkout the details of all these ChoiceAir features on the ChoiceAir website, or feel free to contact our support desk at [email protected] or 800-533-7803.
Is there a height restriction for ships coming to the Port of Baltimore? Can Radiance or Voyager class ships make it under the Chesapeake Bay and Key bridges?
-Jim M.
Good question Jim. Yes there is a height restriction. Radiance class ships are able to clear the bridges however the Voyager and Freedom class ships cannot.
Any plans to bring back the roundtrip 14-night from San Diego to Hawaii?
-Maureen F.
At this time we are not planning to bring back the roundtrip 12 night sailing from San Diego to Hawaii.
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Yes it is possible to attend your college 30th reunion and then go on to Sao Paolo for two days of frenetic business without checking a bag, but it’s not easy.
OK, I admit it. I’m biased. I genuinely believe Princeton University is the greatest place on earth. Two days of hot, sunny weather surrounded by lots of friends and family did nothing to disabuse me of this notion. Running along the path by Lake Carnegie in such weather was a highlight, and there were many others along the way. I have a new resolve to see more of my college roommates in different parts of the country. Three of my law school roommates were there as well, two because they went to Princeton and one because his daughter was graduating from Princeton. On Sunday morning we assembled 18 of the 29 members of the Vacation Gang.
After a fly by in Manhattan for my in-laws’ 50th wedding anniversary dinner, I was off to Brazil to attend the first ever Seatrade South America Cruise show. After flying all night I took a helicopter from the airport flying above Sao Paolo’s awe-inspiring traffic and made it to the cruise executive panel discussion with 30 minutes to spare.
The panel included my counterparts at MSC Cruises and Costa Cruises, our largest competitors in Brazil, not to mention in Europe. It was an important opportunity for the cruise industry to articulate to the Brazilian government the challenges that will potentially undermine the impressive growth the market has had in recent years. These challenges consist of a lack of infrastructure (piers and terminals), costly operations and bureaucratic processes such as those related to visas for crew and foreign guests. It’s not possible to tell immediately if the dialogue will have an impact. The Brazilians are riding high on the strength of their new President, economic growth, ascendant currency and upcoming World Cup (2014) and Olympics (2016). There is a sense that cruise ships may be helpful as temporary hotel capacity during one or both of these mega-events. My involvement with the show concluded the first night with a dinner with Brazil’s Tourism Minister.
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