Celebrity Cruises says it has had no issues rehiring crew when it restarted cruising — here's why
- Celebrity Cruises has had no issue rehiring workers as the cruise line continues to resume passenger sailings.
- In a Q1 survey, 98% of its crew said they were "ready to come back," a company executive told Insider.
Royal Caribbean Group's Celebrity Cruises has had no problem rehiring crew members despite the general hospitality and leisure industry's acute staffing shortages, Brian Abel, the cruise line's senior vice president of hotel operations, told Insider in an interview.
Throughout 2021, the "great resignation" and difficulties rehiring workers have afflicted adjacent industries like hotels, restaurants, and airlines. But according to Abel, Celebrity Cruises has been unaffected by these widespread staffing difficulties, and instead found that the majority of its crew members wanted to return to the company.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Celebrity tried to keep their workers "engaged" through a series of webinars and newsletters. And in Q1, the company sent a survey to its crew asking if they were "ready to come back." According to Abel, 98% of staff said they were, and of those respondents, another 98% said they would be willing to be vaccinated.
Abel attributes Celebrity's ability to retain workers to the company's "great culture" and a lack of other hospitality jobs that were available during the COVID-19 pandemic, which could have poached its crew members.
"They work here because they can't find a comparable job in their home country making the same type of salary," he said, noting that the company's crew comes from over 60 countries. "They're back here working again, doing what they love, and they're vaccinated. And a lot of [their home] countries are still having challenges."
However, like other cruise lines, Celebrity has faced difficulties related to the logistics of bringing its international crew back.
"The only challenge [has been] crew movement," Abel said. "Getting them back to dealing with all the different types of protocols and regulations from different countries. But the crews' willingness to come back was not an issue."