Sea ViewsFrom President and CEO, Adam Goldstein

Recently someone posted that they would like to hear from a crewmember who will be serving on Oasis of the Seas. I asked Lisa Bauer about this and she knew immediately which crew she wanted to invite to write a guest entry. Lisa said this about Jacques de Kock: “For background, when I was on Brilliance of the Seas for Anchored in Excellence [Adam’s note: this is our 11 year old program where our executives visit every ship every year to meet with the crew and officers], he served us in Portofino. He was amazing. He had a great relationship with Captain Zini, and I was very impressed. He mentioned to me he was going to Oasis, but didn’t know which specialty he would be assigned. I asked him to investigate, and to tell me which one he wanted. He did his homework, and respectfully requested 150 Central Park. So, he was the very first waiter hired for 150!”

Jacques wrote [Adam’s note – there were no edits!]:

“My Royal Caribbean.

This is just something I would love to share with others regarding the Royal Caribbean Cruise line company. I am a crewmember currently onboard the Brilliance of the Seas and feel that it is important that I let all know how amazing the company is that I work for, as I am overflowing with gratitude. My name is Jacques de Kock, I am from South Africa. I have now been working for RCCL for almost two years.

I started in the RCCL company as skeptic as people would be joining a new company so far away from home. But as of my first day I am amazed more and more consistently. I started as an assistant waiter in a buffet restaurant called Windjammer Cafe on my first voyage. I was intrigued by the amount of training that was provided to me. After that I progressed to the main dining room as an assistant waiter. I soon learnt the “tricks of the trade” and was asked to help as an assistant waiter with a concept in the dining room called “My time dining.” I was overwhelmed and worked there for awhile.

As soon as I was confident enough with my knowledge I participated in the Waiter training program they offer, and soon after, when I returned from my vacation, I was promoted as a waiter. Not long after that I moved to a specialty restaurant called Portofino. I received excellent training and soon participated also in the hosting of an event called Wine Dinner pairing.

Now I am still working at Portofino for the next couple of days after which I will go on vacation and believe it or not, return to the new incredible engineering masterpiece, the Oasis of the Seas. On this ship I will be working in one of the most exciting new restaurant concepts that will leave people amazed. I know that this will be something everyone will be talking about. The ship itself is something that I know will set a benchmark for cruise ships to come, for a long time. I sometimes feel like I am overflowing with gratitude towards the company I work for, and I know all my guests recognize my confidence in what I see as, one of the best companies ever. And as if this is not enough, they are still creating career opportunities to thousands of people every year. Truly amazing. From here, who knows where I will reach in the next two years.”