Check In Staff

[pablo222]

they must have a different rule in Australia because the princess staff can wheel disabled people out to the car park if necessary

 

the staff that work in the terminal can bring disabled people on and off the ship too

 

Same in Ft. Lauderdale.

[CatsareCool]

The Princess personnel in Seattle at Pier 91 do not work for a 3rd party or contracting agency. We have the privilege of working directly for Princess and wear the Princess uniform only! May through September, Saturdays and Sundays. Our days are long and can be tough, we do disembark in the morning and as you know people start showing up to embark before the ship is even cleared. Some days are better than others. We smile because we love our jobs, our co-workers and we get to sent some excited people off on a terrific cruise to Alaska!

[shellbeachjim]

I'm pretty sure San Francisco uses an agency for the personnel who perform the embarkation/disembarkation duties. I believe there are a couple of people here who work at the port - aaerobear and pegpowell.

 

The port is also covered by a couple of unions. I was on the "embarkation from hell" a few years ago and heard a union steward threaten to shut the port down. I believe it had to do with a non-union member performing a union function. I don't know who is allowed to assist passengers, but I'd guess there is some sort of line of demarkation between the shipside and shoreside personnel.

[Mingus]

The Princess personnel in Seattle at Pier 91 do not work for a 3rd party or contracting agency. We have the privilege of working directly for Princess and wear the Princess uniform only! May through September, Saturdays and Sundays. Our days are long and can be tough, we do disembark in the morning and as you know people start showing up to embark before the ship is even cleared. Some days are better than others. We smile because we love our jobs, our co-workers and we get to sent some excited people off on a terrific cruise to Alaska!

 

We embarked the Grand on 9/21 and noticed during sailaway, your "last ship of the year" party on the Pier 91 deck.

We had the pleasure of being checked in by Bernie and then running into her many times (and I believe about 40 other co-workers/spouses) on the B2B.

[Northender]

Ha! You are exactly right, especially if we are looking after more than one line at a time! Thanks for the many kind words about the staff - it's good to know that we are appreciated and not always thought of as 'fake' employees! We make mistakes but hopefully we learn from them so your debark/embark experiences are as painless as possible. Happy cruising everyone!

 

You are most certainly appreciated. Seeing your happy faces just makes the cruiser's day. Just two words.....Good Job.:):D:)

[always_cruisin]

I'm one of those people you think only work 4 hours a day at the pier. We are there for debark before the ship even gets in and then switch to embark duties. Eight to ten hours a day is the norm for us. We may technically work for a contract company but most of us consider ourselves as working for Princess, HAL, Celebrity, NCL, etc. because when each ship comes in, that is OUR ship, not a third party ship. When you check in at an airline, are you aware or even care that it often isn't really an airline employee looking after you but a 'sub-contractor'? We have some fantastic people on our teams and a few not so fantastic but we try our best. There will always be a learning curve for newbies at any job.

 

Snoodqueen, I don't know if you can give the info here, but how does one go about getting a job like that? DH and I would love to do that. We always enjoy talking to the people who check us in at the piers.

[Pierlesscruisers]

Most ports where Princess calls are staffed by a company hired by Princess. The only places where I know of Princess employees working on the pier are at Seattle, WA and Vancouver, B.C. Those are seasonal Princess employees and not employees of an outside company.