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INSIDE VIEW:
A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE A Conversation with Robert Taggart Hotel Director of Serenade of the Seas by Richard H. Wagner |
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Hotel Director Robert Taggart first went to sea as a summer job working as a kitchen utility on the Princess Patricia, the ship that would later become the first ship to sail for Princess Cruises. “At first, I was terrified. All the cooks were Chinese Canadians and only one would speak English to me. But the traveling was great.”
Accordingly, Mr. Taggart later accepted a position with Carnival Cruise Lines. After three years with Carnival, he decided to return to his native Vancouver, Canada and pursue a career on land. He was working for a major hotel company when he received a call from Royal Caribbean International asking whether he would be interested in going back to sea on Song of America. Taggard was skeptical but decided to go to Miami and check it out. “After the first 24 hours, I was hooked on Royal. The way they did everything, treated the crew , the safety plan, to me they had their game on. From the day that I came to this company, they seemed to get the 'it.' They understood it. Through all the years and all the transformations that we have gone through with the ships, the core values of the company have never changed. That was important to me because if I was going to work at anything, it had to be proper. It had to be proper from the standpoint of the environment, the welfare of the crew - - this company ticked all the boxes.” “This job has changed so much in the last 30 years. The crew are different now. It takes a lot more thinking about how we manage people than back in the day when [the crew] followed orders and did not question. You need to explain to people, tell them why you want them to do it. Then they will do it. This generation of kids coming up with access to all the media that you have now are far smarter and more questioning because they want to know. Once they know, they buy in.” |
Along the same lines, the attitude of the crew toward the guests and the job in general has evolved. “When you go to the crew mess here and you see the crew when they are not working, you never hear a bad word about the people that they are working for. They do not have a negative attitude about people You do not hear them moaning and groaning, they just get on with the job.”
The attitude of the crew is particularly important on a smaller ship like Serenade of the Seas. Serenade does not have all of the physical features that her bigger fleetmates have, but she compensates by offering a more personal experience. “We have a large group of people who like these ships in particular. They know everybody on here. We are like family to them. In a small ship like this you see everybody whereas on the bigger ones you might see them once so that connection is more difficult to make.” Like her sisters in the Radiance class, Serenade also offers longer cruises that takes her to ports around the globe. “They are the pathfinders to all these great itineraries like the Baltic, Australia-New Zealand, like the Mediterranean.“ In sum, a cruise on Serenade is “a good personal experience with committed people. It is a nice ship, well laid out. You have multiple lounges so if you want noise, you have got noise If you don't, you can get away from it. It is a really nice product, the standards are good. She is a well-built ship and a safe ship. You are going to get a good personal experience and travel safely.” |
Cruise ship inside interviews - Royal Caribbean International - Serenade of the Seas - Hotel Director Robert Taggart