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.
