Royal Caribbean adds another day for cruise ship recruitment
An overwhelming response by T&T nationals to calls for jobs with Royal Caribbean has led the cruise line company to add another day of registration at the National Academy for the Performing Arts in Port-of-Spain.
The company said it would return to NAPA on Friday to accommodate those who did not get through yesterday.
Thousands of people lined up from early yesterday to late into the evening, hoping to get into NAPA to register.
The demand was so high that the process, a joint project between Royal Caribbean and the Ministry of Tourism, was too much.
“There are people in their thousands here. That speaks to the need for jobs, and this is what we are trying to do here at Royal Caribbean Group to assist with job creation. For me, it’s heartbreaking to see so many people stand out here. We are trying our best,” Wendy McDonald, Royal Caribbean’s Regional Vice President of Government Relations for the Caribbean, said.
“We were supposed to be Tuesday through Thursday (in San Fernando on Wednesday and Tobago on Thursday), but we’ve decided that we will be here, at NAPA again, on Friday. What we want to do right now is set up an appointment system for people we don’t see today. We will see those people on Friday.”
McDonald said while Royal Caribbean committed with the T&T Government to hire 2,000 people, she never imagined that so many people would turn up yesterday.
The process was supposed to start at 9 am, as advertised, but people lined up from as early as 7 am.
But the orderly lines in place initially soon dissipated, leaving chaos.
“We brought down a team of 21 people to do the interviews, and they are all in there to do their best. We have each interviewer doing three interviews simultaneously, so we could try to move the crowd as quickly as possible,” McDonald said.
A 19-year-old woman, who did not want to share her name, said she arrived at NAPA from Sangre Grande at 7 am.
Sweaty and exhausted, she described the scene as disorganised and said she left the line because of a pending panic attack.
“They are not letting anybody in until they make lines, and people are not listening to instructions. It’s a bacchanal in front there. The people in front are not making lines. A whole set of sweaty people quarrelling. I was going to wait until 4 pm, but at this point, I don’t see anything moving, and it’s 12,” she said.
“It’s a great opportunity. Travelling the world, helping other people, speaking to people, getting to know people’s life stories. To put me out there is something I want to do,” the woman, looking for her third job, said about the opportunity.
Another man, who didn’t want to be named, came out early with his son, hoping to complete the application process.
Saying he was surprised by the massive turnout, he said he got there at 9.30 am. Two hours later, and having made no progress in getting inside, he abandoned the process.
“There is no order. There is no system. What they are saying is that they didn’t expect this crowd, and that is surprising to me because if you put out your advertisement for 2,000 vacancies. You indicate that entry-level is just finishing primary school - no O’levels, then you should expect a crowd,” he said.
“What we will try to do is get to one of the other locations - either South or Tobago, and probably get there early, and I will hope that the authorities would put a system in place to manage the crowd. We don’t mind waiting, but we want to see a system that says things are progressing.”
The Tourism Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with Royal Caribbean International to see the cruise line hire 2,000 Trinbagonians.
Minister Randall Mitchell said in a statement yesterday that his ministry “sees this initiative as a means of supporting economic recovery and reducing unemployment rate that developed as a result of the pandemic.” “We continue in our commitment to ensure that those who are trained in areas such as hospitality, food and beverage management, culinary arts or in the field of entertainment are allowed to work with one of the largest cruise lines in the world,” he added.
Applicants must fill out an online application form and upload relevant documents.
The fair recruitment moves to the Southern Academy for Performing Arts in San Fernando today and Tobago tomorrow before returning to NAPA on Friday.
Royal Caribbean has outlined plans to reintroduce Trinidad and Tobago as a destination for its upcoming cruise season, starting in November.
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