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RCI has hired 10,000 new crew so far in 2022


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Royal Caribbean International announced that the company has hired 10,000 new crew members since the start of this year, who have already joined the cruise ships in operation. As of September 2022, RCI reported that there is a total of 34,819 crew aboard its 26 cruise ships, meaning that each 3rd crew member is a newly hired employee.

In order to fill up many shipboard positions due to crew shortages, Royal Caribbean International initiated a recruitment world tour this year.

Recruitment was also advertised in the crew areas on its ships calling up the crew to spread out the word to all friends and family who are interested to apply for the job openings.

It was not an easy task to pull out this extraordinary challenge and recruit so many professionals around the world. All hands were on deck from the company’s leadership to the onboard management, recruiting partners and online applications.

The recruitment dive in April saw thousands of new recruits hired by the company. Back then RCI send its top managers to:

  • • The Balkans attended by Amadeo Fusco Traveling F&B Director
  • • South Africa attended by Catharina Maritz - Traveling F&B Director
  • • St Lucia attended by Naomi Celaire - Manager Hotel Operations
  • • Mexico City, Mexico - attended by Andrew Trabosh, Director Operational Excellence
  • • Mauritius - attended by Dominique Gamba, Fleet Director Restaurant Operations
  • • Mumbai, India  – attended by  Linken Dsouza, VP Food & Beverage

In May RCI announced that the company has hired 600 crew at the recruiting fair in Gambia attended by Andrea Chessa, Recruiting Manager, Bulk & Hiring Partners Shipboard at Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

In June Barbados Tourism Marketing in partnership with the Royal Caribbean Group hosted a three-day national recruitment drive in Barbados, which gathered about 500 people interested to join the cruise industry.

In July over 600 Trinidad and Tobago nationals took to the seas for the first time as employees of Royal Caribbean. Just over a month since thousands flocked to Royal Caribbean's recruitment drives in Trinidad and Tobago, the cruise line has confirmed that 602 candidates have been hired so far.

Hiring new crews is just the first step in the process, however once aboard they needed to be trained in order to get familiar with the brand standards, policies and procedures. This process was achieved with programs designed by RCI as well as the guidance of the ship's middle management and seasoned crew members. The teams make sure every new crew member feels valued, welcomed, and receives the guidance and training they need to succeed.

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On Enchantment of the Seas earlier this week I attended our ship's international parade of flags where they listed every nation represented on the ship. There was some silence when the 1 Russian crew member was announced and a loud applaud for the 7 Ukrainians. Personally I just clap for everyone regardless of nationality because every single worker deserves appreciation for their hard work. The three most populous nations on the ship were from the Philippines, Malaysia, and India in that order. The Philippines was ahead of the other two by a significant amount.

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On 9/6/2022 at 11:21 AM, smokeybandit said:

Anyone know how many were crewing RC-branded ships prior to covid? Best I can find is total across all of RCG, not just RCI

@smokeybandit

If I was at home instead of in a hotel waiting to board, I'd look up each of royals 26 ships and the stated crew complement (even if I used wikipedia) and then add them up to get the total RCI crew.  While not official probably a good estimate 

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  • 1 month later...

We just completed a cruise in Europe and noticed a number of new employees.  They were all eager to please -- if they didn't know the answer to our questions, they sought out someone who did.  In the MDR, the new employees we met were very friendly and apologized for any delays that occurred (MTD was a bit of a zoo).  I imagine overall performance in all areas will get better with time.

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We just got off of Radiance of the Seas and that was one of my observations.  Lack of Staff.  In the theater one one crew member taking drinks. Same around the pool and during the nightly events.  The Bar often only had one bartender.  Maybe because it was an older and smaller ship? In two weeks we get on the Allure and hope for the Royal customer service I've come to love. 

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