cruise employees on the new ship/old new ship

[danoconnl]

So its my understanding that the new ships usually get the best employees.  I may be wrong about this and If I am, please just ignore this.  Does that mean that wonder gets the 2nd best employees and Odyssey the 3rd and so on.  And every time a new ship comes out they do a reshuffle?

I've never really had a bad experience with a Royal employee on our 7 or so cruises.  I did notice a bit better service on Odyssey in March of 22, but this could have been the fact that I was so happy to just be cruising again.

Going on Wonder in March, but I'm more curious than anything, like I said, I've never had a bad experience with a royal employee 

 

Dan

[Saab4444]

3 minutes ago, danoconnl said:

So its my understanding that the new ships usually get the best employees.  I may be wrong about this and If I am, please just ignore this.  Does that mean that wonder gets the 2nd best employees and Odyssey the 3rd and so on.  And every time a new ship comes out they do a reshuffle?

I've never really had a bad experience with a Royal employee on our 7 or so cruises.  I did notice a bit better service on Odyssey in March of 22, but this could have been the fact that I was so happy to just be cruising again.

Going on Wonder in March, but I'm more curious than anything, like I said, I've never had a bad experience with a royal employee 

 

Dan

No, they do not reshuffle staff on all ships according to age of ships, this is nonsense. If they bring a new ship into service they simply select experienced staff and not newcomers because everything needs to be set up and should run smoothly. 

[firefly333]

I have heard a few crew members saying oh I will be on icon next or wonder. Cant wait. So evidently it is somewhat true. Good crew members do get to ask to be moved to the newest ships if they request it.

 

on the other hand I was told CD cory who is now on harmony has it written in his contract he always gets to work out of texas. 

 

good employees I'm sure can make requests. 

[Tatka]

This is incorrect. To make people want to sail on older ships.. with less all kind of parks etc.... Cruise lines pick better itineraries and try to get better crew. Of course everything is subjective and there are more factors involved.

 

For example from which port ship sail. If they sail from the port which other ships cannot sail then it is important what other lines sail or use price variations. But lines know that not all people will sail with another line or fly to the different ports,

 

We found the best combinations. We sail 4 times from Northeast Bayonne (Anthem several times, Oasis class, Freedom/Voyager class)  and once from Baltimore on older Grandeur, Enchantment, Vision.

 

This combination works better than others.

[mo&fran]

Chris Wong just released a youtube video from the Icon as it makes his way to Florida. He stated that the crew is made up with the most experienced members and very few new members.  No sneak peaks of the ship yet. 

[SilkySal]

I've seen some other sneak peek videos of the Icon, so not sure why Chris Wong is not allowed to post his yet? The ship looks fabulous inside and out!

[BND]

54 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I have heard a few crew members saying oh I will be on icon next or wonder. Cant wait. So evidently it is somewhat true. Good crew members do get to ask to be moved to the newest ships if they request it.

 

on the other hand I was told CD cory who is now on harmony has it written in his contract he always gets to work out of texas. 

 

good employees I'm sure can make requests. 

Pretty sure Marc Walker has something similar in his contract except he sails out of FL, with a few shorter special event type sailings.  Marc has two daughters who live in FL who are still fairly young and he gets to see them quite often when the ship is in port.   He just posted his schedule for 2024, all out of FL and he'll get to spend Christmas with his daughters.

 

I do know that crew and staff can request to be placed with spouses/SO's.  Doesn't always happen, but they do try.  I also am pretty sure they can apply to go to new builds and that experience counts more than popularity for those.

[firefly333]

10 minutes ago, BND said:

Pretty sure Marc Walker has something similar in his contract except he sails out of FL, with a few shorter special event type sailings.  Marc has two daughters who live in FL who are still fairly young and he gets to see them quite often when the ship is in port.   He just posted his schedule for 2024, all out of FL and he'll get to spend Christmas with his daughters.

 

I do know that crew and staff can request to be placed with spouses/SO's.  Doesn't always happen, but they do try.  I also am pretty sure they can apply to go to new builds and that experience counts more than popularity for those.

Yes Cory's family lives in texas so that's why he gets to stay in texas. So he can see them more often. Hes a decent CD. He gets the newest ships out of texas. 

[Morecruisesplz]

1 hour ago, danoconnl said:

So its my understanding that the new ships usually get the best employees.  I may be wrong about this and If I am, please just ignore this.  Does that mean that wonder gets the 2nd best employees and Odyssey the 3rd and so on.  And every time a new ship comes out they do a reshuffle?

I've never really had a bad experience with a Royal employee on our 7 or so cruises.  I did notice a bit better service on Odyssey in March of 22, but this could have been the fact that I was so happy to just be cruising again.

Going on Wonder in March, but I'm more curious than anything, like I said, I've never had a bad experience with a royal employee 

 

Dan

IMHO, small/midsize ships have very experienced, friendly crews. The big ship staff see so many people that it's more difficult to get personal service... unless you do a TA or b2b2b. But all ships are constantly training and changing staff due to contract lenghts.

[alfaeric]

1 hour ago, firefly333 said:

I have heard a few crew members saying oh I will be on icon next or wonder. Cant wait. So evidently it is somewhat true. Good crew members do get to ask to be moved to the newest ships if they request it.

 

We've recently met some crew that were offered Icon, but either have turned it down, or are really thinking about it as they are not sure.

[Morecruisesplz]

3 minutes ago, alfaeric said:

We've recently met some crew that were offered Icon, but either have turned it down, or are really thinking about it as they are not sure.

Just like any job, staff gets used to the ship and feel comfortable with their friends and surroundings. They have proven their worth to their supervisors and can make special requests. This causes a higher retention rate on certain ships... some staff never changing ships for 15 to 20 years or more. 

[neverbeenhere]

Some staff like big ships, some staff like smaller ships. Recently, I've heard more staff wanting to go to the bigger/newer ships as their accommodations are much nicer. (Room size, crew facilities, crew gallery locations and offerings)

[NanciRDH]

1 hour ago, SilkySal said:

I've seen some other sneak peek videos of the Icon, so not sure why Chris Wong is not allowed to post his yet? The ship looks fabulous inside and out!

The social media relations person has been posting stuff, but nothing not already made public.  They're holding back a few surprises (crew mom here)

[shipgeeks]

We sail mostly the smaller ships, and we've been told a number of times by crew members that they prefer them, and that they also have area preferences -- US east coast rather than Med or Asia, for example.

[gumshoe958]

7 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

We sail mostly the smaller ships, and we've been told a number of times by crew members that they prefer them, and that they also have area preferences -- US east coast rather than Med or Asia, for example.

I bet they do. Guaranteed big tips for just doing their job.

[Anton]

I know several outstanding bartenders who have been with the company for years (10 to 30 years or more) who have been on new builds as the "take out" crew that want nothing to do anymore because it's simply a pain in the butt to set up new bars and deal with the shipyard work environment where the crew gets sent everywhere to do grunt work because they are a warm body.   I know that two of them were offered Icon and turned it down.  They are content staying on particular classes of ships, typically Voyager and Freedom class although a couple really like the Vision class.  After a certain number of years of continuous employment they get a lot of consideration for their preferences.  Some also want nothing but the 3 and 4 night market no matter the ship because they make more money from bar sales with the party crowd.

[Ourusualbeach]

20 hours ago, BND said:

Pretty sure Marc Walker has something similar in his contract except he sails out of FL, with a few shorter special event type sailings.  Marc has two daughters who live in FL who are still fairly young and he gets to see them quite often when the ship is in port.   He just posted his schedule for 2024, all out of FL and he'll get to spend Christmas with his daughters.

 

I do know that crew and staff can request to be placed with spouses/SO's.  Doesn't always happen, but they do try.  I also am pretty sure they can apply to go to new builds and that experience counts more than popularity for those.

He's been out of LA for quite a while now

[BND]

2 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

He's been out of LA for quite a while now

One contract (5 months).  He's returning to FL for all of 2024.  He normally cruises out of FL.  I did say "similar" which means not exactly the same.  If you follow him, you know he does his best to stay close to his girls.  He also goes to the UK to visit his family there.