Fall is in full swing and so is the September edition of the “Ask Adam Blog Series.” To see the answers to August’s questions please click here, or if you have a question you would like to ask Adam regarding Royal Caribbean news, what he’s have been up to or just curious about anything Royal related, please follow this link to our Facebook discussion page.
Do you plan on having a ship stay year round in Tampa? Other cruise companies do. Thank you.
- Karol W-W.
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I’ve been on the road a bit lately. We are all quick to highlight the hassles of travel but with those hassles usually come a variety of interesting experiences.
Richard Fain and I recently spent a day in Port au Prince, Haiti. We met with Haiti’s new and energetic President Michel Martelly. Given our status as Haiti’s second largest foreign direct investor, it made sense to take the time to meet the President and a number of his advisors. The outlook for the new government is uncertain given the President’s struggle to obtain the Parliament’s approval of a Prime Minister. It was apparent that President Martelly and his team understand the role of tourism in generating sorely needed economic activity. We hope and expect the government will actively support the necessary steps to establish the Citadelle and the Palais Sans Souci as first tier attractions.
Over recent months we have featured a number of our crew in “day in the life” entries such as the one immediately below. The response to them has been very favorable but I would like to hear a little more about specifically what makes them enjoyable to read and how we might make them even more so. From my standpoint, I find it interesting that the authors of these guest blogs appear to be so schedule driven. Our shipboard colleagues rightfully speak about how flexible and guest-centric they must be because just about everything is happening onboard at all times. Their blog entries indicate that the way they accomplish the seemingly impossible is to inject structure (i.e., a schedule) into their endlessly unique days. When we ask them to tell us about their “typical” day they often respond by reciting their schedule. When I see this I sometimes ask them to give us more “color commentary” to go with the “play by play”. The goal is to give you (and me!) as much insight into their world as we can bring to a blog entry.
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My name is Maryann Delany and I am the Director of Entertainment for Royal Caribbean Productions. My team and I are located in Hollywood, Florida in a 38,000 square foot rehearsal facility. We are approaching our 11th year here where we audition, cast, contract, house, costume, teach and rehearse singers, dancers, actors, flyers, gymnasts, ice skaters, swimmers, divers and DreamWorks® costume characters, to name a few, We create and produce all entertainment and entertainment-related activities for 22 Royal Caribbean International ships, and two Azamara Club Cruises ships. Collectively we have 14 ice shows, 18 Parades, four water shows, 56 theater productions and three Broadway shows, Hairspray, CHICAGO: The Musical and Saturday Night Fever.
I recently posted an entry on some of some memorable work-related events from over the years. The topic today is memorable travel experiences I have had during my years at Royal Caribbean, and a few from before I joined the company. I would like to hear from you about your own favorite travel experiences.
1990 & 2002 – Alaska cruise and excursions most notably the Taku River flightseeing and salmon bake, the helicopter tour that landed on the glacier and the boat trip to see the orcas. This is a major bucket list experience and so far we have cruised twice in Alaska. Even if the local bear that ran to the grill and licked the remnants of the salmon was staged, it was entertaining. The views of the blue ice in the glaciers make for top notch sightseeing. But the best memory of all is the kayak trip near Ketchikan with my then-7 year old son in a rainstorm so powerful the water penetrated all seven layers of our clothing starting with the orange rain gear which only succeeded in turning our bodies orange.
The end of summer is upon us. We are finalizing our thoughts about the 2012 Plan for Royal Caribbean International. This is always a challenging exercise with 22 ships sailing around the world and customers coming from over 100 countries to those ships. We want to do the best we can for our guests, our shareholders and our employees. This is the primary process for making the necessary trade-offs. It’s never easy.
Even as we define next year’s activities and expenditures we are casting our eyes further forward. All of the strategic discussions about where our ships will sail from spring 2013 to spring 2014 are taking place at this time. There are a lot more opinions than there are ships. Now that we are offering our All Access behind the scenes tour onboard the ships, maybe Chris Allen should offer an All Access behind the scenes tour of our deployment planning. Just kidding.
As the summer begins to wind down here is the August edition of our “Ask Adam Blog Series.” To see the answers to July’s questions please click here, or if you have a question you would like to ask Adam regarding Royal Caribbean news, what he’s been up to or just curious about anything Royal related, please follow this link to our Facebook discussion page. Now let’s get to the questions.
Adam, are you from Brooklyn?
- Michael B.
Actually I am from Philadelphia.
Can frequent Royal Caribbean International cruisers submit name ideas for future ships?
– Steph R.
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One of the striking features of cruising is its complexity. When hospitality intersects with maritime, the result is — a lot of variables!
Usually we master the variables in a way that reinforces the world class reputation Royal Caribbean is fortunate to enjoy. This blog just posted an entry about a spectacular passport retrieval that saved a cruise with minutes to spare. There are many stories directionally like that and we are proud of our people who so often deliver the WOW.
The complexity produces two consequences from time to time. First, we sometimes fail to read a guest situation correctly and the failure has implications. Second, we sometimes do get things right but there is nevertheless a perception that something is amiss. In recent days, we have experienced one of each. This blog provides an opportunity to comment on such matters.
Delivering the Wow!
One of my responsibilities as Senior Vice President of Land Operations for Royal Caribbean International is an area we call Guest Port Services (GPS). GPS is the team of professionals that meet you either at the airport or at the pier when you check in for your cruise. We refer to ourselves as the department of First and Last Impressions since we are your first point of contact prior to your cruise and generally the last people you see before you leave to go back home.
In South Florida, the airport and pier staff are all Royal Caribbean employees as we have year round operations. During the busy Winter months when many of the ships are back in the Caribbean, our Miami and Port Everglades pier agents assist over 50,000 guests on any given weekend. That is a lot of customer touch points!
I have been with Royal for 11 years and seen my fair share of both complimentary and complaint letters over this time. However, I recently received a letter from one of our guests who had a situation prior to boarding Oasis of the Seas in Port Everglades that was worth sharing.
You can imagine that over time I receive some interesting emails and letters. It goes with the territory but every once in a while I am unusually impressed. When that happens, with the permission of the writer, I will publish it here.
Do you have a question you would like to ask Adam?
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