Would Your Boss Take You on a Cruise?

[lady_cruiser]

I have wonderful bosses (one is a Chief Information Officer and the other is Director of Management Information Systems.) We all decided that we would keep our private lifes private and our work lifes at a professional level. I am 60 years old, have been working since I was in high school and I never have felt comfortable socializing with my supervisors out of the office.

 

We do recognize birthdays, holidays and special occasions like Bosses' Day or Secretary's Day but that is as far as we go.

 

I have seen many of my work friends put in uncomfortable situations because they socialized with their bosses out of the office then when it came time for them to be written up, transferred or even fired their friendships were destroyed.

 

While I think that it is nice other secretaries go on weekend trips or vacations together with their bosses (for example; a girls weekend) I just feel that this is not for me.

[printingchick]

Our holiday party was cancelled last year, replaced by a casual gathering in the company cafeteria to which only full-time employees were invited.

 

A cruise??? Not a chance!!!

[MedicKen]

As a reward for meeting the holiday (Dec-Jan) sales goals, our company took the store managers, and wives on a 7 night cruise. I won it in 1986/7. My wife and I boarded with about 30 others for a cruise on the Costa Riveria. To say the trip was a bit painful would be a bit of an understatement. Like previous posters, I work and I play, I'd rather not combine the two. The people we were "asked" to dine with were the HR assistant and her "I love me" boyfriend who spent every moment primping in the mirror behind us, or pawing his girlfriend. We were never so happy as when they didn''t show for lunch one day and we sat with other company folk we enjoyed. Add to that the fact that we had NO idea as to what to expect since we never got any information form the TA or company other than "show up at the airport at 5 am for a flight to Ft. Lauderdale." Would I cruise with my company? Only if it were a Freedom or Qasis class where I could get lost. Will it ever happen? Not in this lifetime. By the way, the company that gave us that cruise fell victim to that first recession in 87 and is now a fond/bad memory.Bit the best thing I did get from that experience was my desire to cruise, Thank you Mace.

[editor@cruisecritic]

My brother in law heads up sales for a big manufacturing company and there were three or four years running where he'd take his top sales folks on a cruise. It was always Royal Caribbean if I remember correctly and it was a big hit.

 

One year he took them to Hawaii, nice, he said, but a snore. The next year -- back to a cruise.

 

The company hasn't done it for the last five years, though.

 

Carolyn

 

As I am solo , yes, I take myself on cruises as a bonus for breathing.

 

Seriously, in 1990 I was on a Greek Island cruise. I met two couples who are partners in a large insurance agency. They took 25 of their top-selling agents and their families on a seven day cruise. Everyone seemed to be having a great time.

 

The owners felt that they more than benefited by this perk.

Fran

[shbroc]

If I went on a cruise with MY boss....

Someone would be yelling

"MAN OVERBOARD":D

 

 

LOL!!! My company provides a venue for a Christmas party where you have to pay full price to bring a guest and half price for your ticket.

[1greencar]

No cruises, but a full weeks vacation in Hawaii one year and 5 days in New Orleans another year. (we did have to do a little bit of work and hobknobing while we were there). It sure is nice starting your vacation out with fancy resort hotel, meals and transportation all paid for....

[Aplmac]

Of course, my wife always takes me with her when she goes on a cruise. :)

That's more like it! :D

 

This is about the closest any of us get to be cruising with our boss

-lot more likely it'll be "The Boss" :cool:

 

 

.

[Bob & Sandy]

As a job steward with ATU 583 (Calgary Transit), not only do I

never socialize with my employer/management, I have zero

desire to do so. Most of them are useless chair warmers. :)

[DocJohnB]

My boss took me and our entire staff on more than one cruise. Our cruises lasted from 4 days up.

 

Now, my boss was Uncle Sam and we called these cruises "deployments". Longest "cruise" was 10 months.

 

:D:D:D:D

[emdia43]

We had some bigwigs come by the office this week for a future project we're working on.

 

We wowed them. We showed them around, impressed them with our knowledge and professionalism, and won the contract.

 

As a reward, we were treated to fudgecicles and popsicles. I believe I also got the same reward when I was six and did particularly well on my fingerpainting....

 

Good one! I didn't know you worked the same place as me though- but you must have completely missed the stale bagels....:)

[emdia43]

As a job steward with ATU 583 (Calgary Transit), not only do I

never socialize with my employer/management, I have zero

desire to do so. Most of them are useless chair warmers. :)

 

 

So, your Boss is not a Cruise Critic member? :D

[emdia43]

LOL!!! My company provides a venue for a Christmas party where you have to pay full price to bring a guest and half price for your ticket.

 

 

And you don't have to bring your OWN food like we do ? :D

[rakaia]

Riiight. I'm lucky to get time off to pay for my own cruise.

[katz]

I work for my husband, so he has to take me!!! The closest he has gotten to a company trip is a once-a-year golf day for his employees.

[Bob & Sandy]

So, your Boss is not a Cruise Critic member? :D

 

I don't believe any of them would be allowed on a cruise.

You have to have a heartbeat at embarkation! :D:D:D

[cruising to paradise]

One of my last jobs, we had an employee appreciation day in the summer. We went on a school bus to the beach,and we also had a party at Christmas time at the local bowling alley. I guess its better than nothing.

[xxoocruiser]

Actually I was pretty lucky to work for a couple of companies that did some nice perks.

 

One company handed out certificates for a getaway weekend for 2 at a local resort. Another company set a goal at the beginning of the year for the entire organization to strive for. When the goal was met, the owners shut down the company for 4 days and flew everyone & their spouse to Las Vegas for the weekend . In addtion to air and hotel ,they provided everyone with a set of new luggage, a couple of dinners and some spending money. Another company I worked with would occasionally organize day outings to a casino or ballgame. All 3 companies were privately owned .

[KC Traveler]

Although this was not an official office cruise or outing, my boss did ask me if I and my wife wanted to take a cruise together. So last year, my boss, her husband, my wife, and I took a seven day Mediterranean cruise on Costa. We all had a great time but didn't do everything together due to different tastes on excusions. We did meet every night for dinner, and on most nights, after dinner, we headed seaprate ways. There were a few moments on the cruise that we all agreed "What happens on Costa, stays on Costa!" One funny occurrance that we all laugh about and share with friends is boarding the ship, my boss and her husband who are both 18 to 20 years younger, were boarding the ship ahead of us. The young cruise director greeted our friends with pleasantries "How are you, where are you from? etc, and then extended his hand toward my wife and I and asked "and your parents?" Well, needlesstosay, we were stunned, but I joked about it and told my boss "if you misbehave, you are not too old for me to take you over my lap and spank you!" If was a fun cruise and we would certainly do it again.

[lovesbaking]

Most I've ever received was an occassional lunch and a Christmas function.

 

Quite honestly I can not think of any former "bosses" that I'd want to go on vacation with, I vacation to get away from work :). Now, if the trip was without the boss that would be fantastic!

[HeinBloed]

Well - we went last year on DELPHIN (a German cruise ship) for a 1-Nighter from Hamburg to Kiel through the Kiel-Canal.

 

I am the General Manager of a small company with 35 employees. Some of them asked me if I would accept to do a voyage with them.

 

As May 01 is in Germany public holiday and this year's 1-Nighter was so on an extended weekend I offered them to join us.

 

A 1-nighter is not very cheap (about 200 USD) and so I was nicely sursprised that 9 employees joined us.

 

If there would be a World Championship for the most hungry office staff: be sure my staff will win the cup...

 

So after

 

 

 

 

 

 

After this food parade plus show the decision was already made on way back home: Next year again.

 

Currently 20 has signed up for next year's cruise.

 

I wish that I would have a budget for it to invite my entire staff for such a crew and much more longer.

 

But as we cannot just take notebooks with us and do the work from a ship I doubt that this should work with us.

 

Best regards,

HeinBloed

[cruznnana]

Our company, which combined with the 2 plants took around 400 employees and each employee was allowed to take a guest. We went on a cruise one year and we have went to Disneyland. While on the cruise we were allowed some spending money and each guest received a carnival robe. It is really great for those that do not have the opportunity to travel.

 

I would imagine with the economy the way it is, it may be awhile before we get to go on another trip, but those were a blast.

[RICKnVICK]

I have the greatest boss ever! However, I work in city government so my boss could never take us on a vacation because our revenues are almost all from the tax payers. There are other perks that we receive though all in the scope of what is ethical and not abusing tax payer money.:)

[nauticalnancy]

Delurking to say that my husband works for a private company (owned by a family) that has been exceeding generous to its employees. They have taken the top sales reps and managers (and their spouses) on a cruise for the past 4 years, all expenses paid including shipboard gratuities, transportation to the cruise port and overnight accommodations. There have been 60-70 people on each cruise.

 

We enjoy spending time off the clock with these wonderful people, many of whom have become close friends as well as work colleagues. The reps are spread all over the country, so this is one of the few times they can get together and relax and not focus on their jobs. During the day we spend time by ourselves or in a small group, then we all sit together for dinner in "our" section of the dining room and catch up on what we did that day. No business meetings are scheduled, this trip is just for fun. We are not taxed on any of this, it is the company's gift.

 

This is the ONLY way I could ever have gotten my husband on a cruise! But once he tried it, he really liked it. We are very grateful that his company wants to do this as a reward for hard work and dedication, and requires nothing except that we all have a great time!

[WEELYNCRUZER]

I've taken the boss on 25+ cruises and we have brought our kids on 5.

[SelectSys]

... In this economy I hardly think any boss, unless it's someone the caliber of Oprah or Bill Gates, would take their staff on a cruise. With bailouts, bankruptcies, layoffs and firings, there isn't room in today's economy for this kind of thing.

 

I don't think it was ever Bill Gates style when he ran Microsoft to have these kind of outings. Now that his focus in on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation junkets like this are even less likely.

 

You also have to remember that Oprah's company is private and doesn't have the same kind of scrutiny that a public company would get for this type of junket.

 

It will be interesting to see how the IRS will rule on the deduction of the cruise as a business expense. She'll probably be able to write the whole thing off and get the cruise subsidized by the taxpayer.