The middle of summer. I have misplaced nostalgia for the idea that once upon a time the pace of life, or at least of business, was slower in the summer. This is not true now and hasn’t been true in the cruise business for a long time. My schedule is as full as ever.
Yesterday, our three President & CEOs – Dan Hanrahan of Celebrity, Larry Pimentel of Azamara Club and myself – spent an hour with our summer interns. What a pleasant experience. They asked more questions, arguably better questions and certainly more personal questions than our management team asks us. They are very enthusiastic about their summer assignments in various departments, but most of all they seem extremely eager to understand if there is a defined path to success. There isn’t.
One intern asked me if I was thinking about my path to a business career when I was his age. I don’t know what he was expecting but it wasn’t what I told him – when I was his age I was having so much trouble with my back that I couldn’t sit in a chair. I kept going to school because school was the only environment I could manage in those years. How does one convey the mixture of hard work, overcoming of adversity, maximizing of talent and extremely good luck that determines a successful career?
The best question that came up was about life balance. We each tried to convey that the pursuit of balance is a lifelong, every day struggle that involves an inevitable amount of failure. In my case, there is a platform of stability underneath the daily craziness that is crucial to any success I enjoy. That begins with my wife Cheryl who has not only been with me for over 20 years but worked for 10 years at our company and knows exactly what the craziness is all about; she is the key to the whole puzzle. In addition, my assistant Marta has been with me for 17 years. We hardly need to speak to one another as she knows exactly what to do. Finally, as I have mentioned before, I have a fabulous team of leaders who are just as focused on guest satisfaction, employee welfare and shareholder returns as I am. I don’t know if any of this resonates with an intern, but it does with me.
Adam, I am a 59 year old female who in 2001 fell in love with RCL & cruising: I was married @ the time and still raising a family. Now, I am single again, my kids are grown & am still so passionate about cruising & RCL that I want to work for your company: I am always looking @ the RCL employement page thinking “I could do that” but I don’t have a degree, just 35 years of experience in the healthcare & custome service industry. What is your advice? I live in TX but would be willing to relocate. I want to work for you!!!
I look forward to hearing from you,
Yannick Haas
Thank you for your interest in working with Royal Caribbean, Yannick. Our recommendation is to apply to one of the positions you feel best qualified for. You can click here http://bit.ly/6fk1wJ to view all of our available career opportunities. We are happy to hear that you have had satisfying experiences with us and we wish you the best of luck.
As a former crew member/ Sports Director of RCCL and a young professional continuing in the industry, I can not express how fortunate the interns are to have three CEOs sit down with them and talk about “life.” Im glad to hear that the time is taken to share expeirneces that relate to work and life outside of work. It is all a “balance” like Mr. Goldstein said, that takes fine tuning and hard work!
Luis, thank you for your kind words and feedback. We appreciate you sharing your experience and insights with us here. May you have continued success in all your future endeavors.
Hi Mr.Goldstein. I am Karen from the Philippines. I want to express my extreme desire to land on a job on The Caribbean Cruise Line… Ive made research about cruise ship jobs and cruise ship lines. And I’ve found RCCL fascinating from the reviews and different links ive opened. I noticed one qualification though in getting a job on a cruise ship, that is experience on a hospitality job or from a 4 to 5 star hotel. Honestly, i dont have those. I graduated from a four year course though. My specialization is on communications. In fact,i was on the media for almost 4 years. Presently, im a telephone operator in the second largest sugar milling company in the Philippines. Im just wondering if there is a chance for me to acquire a job in the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line? Please advice. Thanks and God speed!!!
Karen, thank you for your kind words and interest in employment with Royal Caribbean International. To find career opportunities with Royal Caribbean, please visit, http://bit.ly/chfZe5.