I got an email today dunning me for another blog entry. How cool is that? The question is whether it truly came from a reader or whether it was Lyan Sierra-Caro in Corporate Communications writing under a pen name.
Indeed it was an exceptionally busy week mainly because of the annual Cruise Shipping Miami conference. There were two nights where there was no point in even taking my laptop home with me. That virtually never happens.
Amidst the craziness, there were some nice moments. I enjoyed our lunch with the delegation from Singapore. Although the people have changed over the years, my relationship with Singapore goes back 20 years now. The current representatives are wonderful discussion partners as it concerns the business and I look forward to seeing Singapore’s new cruise terminal come online in 2011.
This will probably harm my image but I also enjoyed my time with the media. I suppose since I am writing this blog I am also a member of the media (for the second time, the first being as a sportswriter for the Daily Princetonian). Many of them talked about reading this blog. I kept asking why, as in WHY? If there is any pattern of response it is – because it isn’t marketing speak. Whatever that may be, I will try to avoid it.
A third source of enjoyment was meeting the Royal Caribbean alumni who attend the conference. The overwhelming majority still have a keen interest in our business and our people. They love to ask about Oasis of the Seas and take pride in it even if they haven’t been with our company since before the project started. It is the outgrowth of 40 years of hard work by countless current and former people and our many partners.
My next entry will be about a few developments in our business so let’s get the personal updates out of the way:
- to my absolute chagrin, I found out the hard way that the new version of Brickbreaker on the Blackberry doesn’t automatically end at 80 times around the 34 levels like it used to. So, as a birthday present to a close family member, I voluntarily ended my game at just over 1,434,000 points on the 81st time, about 100,000 over my previous high score. The infernal thing didn’t even register the new high score. To paraphrase someone, a good game of Brickbreaker is the mark of a gentleman while a great game of Brickbreaker is the mark of a misspent adulthood.
- Lots of races. Ran a point to point 5k against a constant brisk headwind which made a good time impossible. However I was right with people who are usually 30 – 45 seconds faster than me. I have lots of excuses for why I haven’t gone under 19 minutes yet but in any event I am still getting better all the time.
- With my family I visited Seafarer’s House at Port Everglades which is the charity that is honoring me with its Golden Compass Award at their fundraiser dinner in May. It is a temporary refuge for crew from cruise and cargo ships to speak to family by phone and internet, buy food and electronics and spend time in the chapel if desired, among other things. The staff is incredibly dedicated as you may have guessed. We were there on a Sunday and we heard it’s pretty busy there on Saturdays when Oasis of the Seas is in port.
Does Royal Caribbean make any provisions for religious services for their crew during the months they spend working virtually seven days a week during their tours? I guess I could ask the same question regarding passengers, in that we’ll soon be on a 12-day cruise involving two weekends. Are there any organized protestant religious services on board the Navigator? –Jim Lane
Dear Adam
It was I that asked for the blog entry and THANK YOU!!!.
Im glad that your keeping busy. I am also a brick breaker fan ever since seeing your blackberry since i met you on Oasis on the Royal Promenard.Then later played you at table tennis. Regards Simon Pallot the kid you played table tennis with on Oasis. Aka the guy that scored that amazing point on you on the 27th cruise in novemeber last year. Aka the guy you introduced Chris H to. Cheers Simon Pallot
Great now I have to look up “dunning” in the dictionary…..
BTW, Lyan, Does an outstanding job not only helping the big outlets for cruise information, but also helping little outlets like mine.
Dunning is the process of methodically communicating with customers to insure the collection of accounts receivable. It follows the process that progresses from gentle reminders to almost threatening letters as accounts become more past due
Now are you “dunning” us? or was she “dunning” you?
On our cruise aboard the Radiance Mexican Riveria, 3/12-3/22/2010 one of your own commited suicide, or as your captain has addressed an “incident” . it was early in the evening and our children were with us abord deck 12 where the incident took place we saw resue units go out, the ship0 stop, and cpr performed on a lifeless canadian man as he was brought back to the ship. The captain announced that he was alive. The next day he made an awful announcement that was for everyone to hear that he had died. I had children onboard one of which s 6 and is traumatized by the whole expirience. Why is it allowed for the captain to make such an announcement without any regard to children onboard who are not prepared to handle a situation of that nature. The days that have followed have been a series of questionms and nightmares for him. I my self was devastated to see and hear of it! How was it possible that a standard protocol is not in place to of course keep everyone informed in a way to protect our children? I didnt sign up for this! It was meant to be a happy time celebrating our ten year anniversary with our kids!!!!!
Hi Jim. We do offer religious services for our crew members onboard. Also, there are several organizations that provide this service in port. I referenced the Seafarers House in the above blog. With regard to your question about Protestant services, we offer an interdenominational service on each cruise. Also guests can request a meeting through our Community Bulletin Board.
Adam,
My wife and I were also onboard the Radiance of the Seas along with Paola. I concur that the event was traumatic as we, along with hundreds of guests, observed the failed rescue attempt. While we never questioned the valiant efforts of the crew, we also felt insulted by the way the information was mishandled. Regardless if it was intentional or accidental, a crew member or a guest, the fact remains that we witnessed a human death. I agree with Paola that the daily 12:00 public loudspeaker report was both inappropriate and inadequate. It was addressed as a simple, routine announcement. Is the corporation even going to put out a press release? Our condolences go out to the friends and family of the individual.
Hi Adam
Please can you tell me when the Voyager from Venice sailings for 2011 will be available for booking?
I am driving my TA nuts with “is it there yet”.
Thanks
Hi Elizabeth,
The Voyager sailing’s from Venice should be open mid April.
We love RCCL and just got back from another amazing cruise. While on the ship I whipped together a quick video and I thought you and your team might get a kick out of it. Hope all is well and keep up the amazing work
here it is http://vimeo.com/10365728
Hi John,
It looks like you had a wonderful time onboard Freedom of the Seas; and we hope you did. This is a fantastic video. Thank you for sharing with us!
I was aboard the Raidence of the Seas March 12 through March 23rd sailing. My 6 year old daughter was with us. I think the Captain did an excellent job handling the man overboard incident. My 5 year old daughter interacted quite a bit with the park west crew member so we knew him as well as you can any crew member. We had to explain to her what happened and she did have questions. We used this as a learning oppertunity for her. Life happens, we are not in control of what others around us choose to do. I don’t pretend that I can shield my child from life. I was glad the Captain made the announcements he did and answered the questions he did at the captains corner. The rumors were bad enough with out the information the captain gave out. I think they would have been worse if he did not make those announcements. The fact that the crew recovered the body in 18 minutes should be a proud moment for RCI.
Now if you could just fix the toiletts on the Raidence.
Dear Mr. Goldstein:
Our travel agent just informed us of a new RCCL policy that we believe will have a very negative impact on your cruise line. We are diamond members and have traveled exclusively on RCCL and on the last several cruises have stayed in Grand Suites. We were going to book another Grand Suite on cruise in March 2011 and were informed that it is now a $1000.00 deposit instead of a $500.00 deposit.
We love RCCL however I think that this really is not a good decision, we have never cancelled our reservations on our cruises; however, I do not feel that we should not have to pay such a hefty deposit for these cabins or at least that there should be some consideration for those of us that are Diamond members and have been loyal to RCCl. We are going to go on Celebrity since their suites are still at a $500.00 deposit. I am sorry that RCCL has made this decision in economic difficult times you would think that you would want to promote the bookings not discourage us and if this practice occurs with your sister company Celebrity we certainly consider changing our allegiance to Holland America or another line that will value our allegiance to a cruise line. I am not sure what the reasoning is however our travel agent informed us that ninety percent of those individuals who book these suites do not give them up unless there is a family emergency. Thanks for your consideration in this matter.
Sincerely,
Dr. Brian Malechuk and Mr. Kevin Melgaard
Pingback: More Than Just a Blog: Royal Caribbean’s President & CEO Talks About the Importance of his Blog | Why Not?