Adam Shares Memorable Travel Experiences from the 1970’s to Present Day

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.

Alaskan Glacier

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BY:Adam|26th September, 2011 4 Comments

Adam Shares Some Humorous “Outtake” Stories during his Time at Royal Caribbean

There must be a subliminal current of nostalgia running under our buildings, because we’re quite focused on our history right now. There is a history videography project going on at the moment and there is also a first ever company sponsored reunion event for employees from the early years coming up soon in South Florida. This prompted me to think about some of the past moments I remember or came to know about that wouldn’t show up in press releases or webisodes. There are more where these came from, and feel free to volunteer your own Royal Caribbean “outtake” moments.

1. 1988, underneath Heathrow Airport. During the three plus months of insanity while our company was experiencing a merger and a potential acquisition by Carnival, we had a lot of tasks to complete in Europe. At one point, our CFO, Treasurer and I needed to catch the next flight to Oslo fast. I went to the airport in a different car from the other two and we encountered each other in one of the tunnels under Heathrow, all running as fast as we could with our suitcases – in opposite directions! Fortunately we made the flight.
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BY:Adam|22nd September, 2011 20 Comments
CATEGORY: Our Company

Finalizing Plans for 2012 and a Look at 2013 and Beyond

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.

image-ship-royal-caribbean

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BY:Adam|13th September, 2011 32 Comments
CATEGORY: Our Company

Ask Adam Blog Series - August 2011 Answers

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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BY:Adam|9th September, 2011 10 Comments
CATEGORY: Our Company

Updates on the Impact of Hurricane Irene and Concierge Lounge Policy

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.

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BY:Adam|6th September, 2011 84 Comments
CATEGORY: Our Company

Crisis Averted: The Royal Crew Comes Through to Help a Family on their Vacation

Delivering the Wow!

Craig MilanOne 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.

Oasis of the Seas

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BY:Craig Milan|1st September, 2011 26 Comments
CATEGORY: Guest Posts
 

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