Who Likes A Know It All?
We’ve mentioned Seabourn Square a number of times here in the past. It’s a new style of service center on Seabourn Odyssey that will replace the more typical “lobby” style of reception area. Rather than separate desks for pursers’ business, tours and other travel services, Seabourn Square will be a location that feels more like a lounge. And in that lounge, there will be unobtrusive, semi-private desks where guests can find a new hospitality professional called a Guest Services Specialist. Part purser, part destination services manager, part concierge and part future cruise expert, these multi-tasking marvels will be able to assist Seabourn guests with virtually any inquiry or request on the spot.
So where does Seabourn find people who can do all that?
The answer is that they aren’t born, they are made. Seabourn is gathering skilled, cheerful and naturally helpful people and creating a training program to prepare them for the uniquely challenging duty of having all the answers and knowing what to do about anything. So they take a person who has been doing a great job at the reception desk, for instance, and now they teach them about how to book tours, and about future cruise procedures, where the church or the nearest ATM is in a particular port of call…everything else.
Ten such individuals are starting this demanding course in the next few days. We’ll meet some of them and hear more about their course work during the next six weeks.
And then they will debut, along with Seabourn Odyssey, in Venice –as a new sort of person that doesn’t exist in nature– A “know-it-all” that everybody likes!
February 26th, 2009 at 9:07 am
I used to work for Seabourn and now I’m a travel consultant specializing in luxury – cruises and travel in general. Seabourn was almost alone in the early 90s before Silversea came around. Crystal was just starting and Regent was Radisson and had 1 ship.
I have clients on the Spirit now and they’re saying it’s the best thing since sliced bread. And about 18 months ago, the same thing on the Pride from another couple.
For fun, I just took a 2 day cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas — it was their West Coast inaugural. The Biggest Ship ever now based out here. It was great for a certain market, but it reminded me of what Seabourn and that end of the market are all about.
Josh
March 14th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Looking forword to my first travel with Seabourn this summer…. F. Huber