Carnival: A Great Place to Work

[sunonfire]

An interesting article -

 

https://www.cruisehive.com/carnival-cruise-line-certified-as-a-great-place-to-work/34567

[Joe817]

13 minutes ago, sunonfire said:

An interesting article -

 

https://www.cruisehive.com/carnival-cruise-line-certified-as-a-great-place-to-work/34567

Fascinating! Thanks for posting!

[jimbo5544]

Carnival recognizes that their best asset is their people.  Sure is different than some views of the ‘over worked’ ‘stressed out’ image some here say is prevalent.  

Edited September 18, 2019 by jimbo5544

[PhillyFan33579]

5 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Carnival recognizes that their best asset is their people.  Sure is different than some views of the ‘over worked’ ‘stressed out’ image some here say is prevalent.  

 

Good point. I find it interesting when people say something similar to the wait staff looked tired, the bartenders were all miserable, etc. I have been on 31 cruises on Carnival and the next crew member that tells me they are miserable will be the first (unfortunately I don’t have the ability to judge how the entire crew feels simply by looking at them). 

 

 

 

[Stick93]

This has been echoed by a few staff member I have met over time that have worked for multiple lines and have said that the atmosphere on Carnival is the best for employees. Overall its interesting because the median income for Carnival employees is 3-4K lower than on both Royal and Norwegian - I guess money isn't everything!

[jimbo5544]

3 hours ago, Stick93 said:

This has been echoed by a few staff member I have met over time that have worked for multiple lines and have said that the atmosphere on Carnival is the best for employees. Overall its interesting because the median income for Carnival employees is 3-4K lower than on both Royal and Norwegian - I guess money isn't everything!

Interesting, where did you find that?

[Organized Chaos]

3 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Good point. I find it interesting when people say something similar to the wait staff looked tired, the bartenders were all miserable, etc. I have been on 31 cruises on Carnival and the next crew member that tells me they are miserable will be the first (unfortunately I don’t have the ability to judge how the entire crew feels simply by looking at them).

 

I don't think any of them will come right out and say they're miserable or that they're overworked. And I think miserable is too strong of a word. Are you and jimbo implying that all of the discussions about overworked crew aren't based in reality? What about the idea of Carnival having reduced the number of wait staff and stewards, for example; therefore, putting a heavier workload on those who are left. Is that not true? Because that's been echoed by long-time cruisers who're able to compare then & now. Is it all made up?

 

One thing I've said in the past is that I've always been impressed with the fact that, no matter how overworked and tired they are, they still manage to put on a smile and treat passengers with kindness and respect. But that's not proof that they aren't overworked. That's proof that they're good people who can set the crap aside and still offer a great customer experience.

[jimbo5544]

5 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

I don't think any of them will come right out and say they're miserable or that they're overworked. And I think miserable is too strong of a word. Are you and jimbo implying that all of the discussions about overworked crew aren't based in reality? What about the idea of Carnival having reduced the number of wait staff and stewards, for example; therefore, putting a heavier workload on those who are left. Is that not true? Because that's been echoed by long-time cruisers who're able to compare then & now. Is it all made up?

 

One thing I've said in the past is that I've always been impressed with the fact that, no matter how overworked and tired they are, they still manage to put on a smile and treat passengers with kindness and respect. But that's not proof that they aren't overworked. That's proof that they're good people who can set the crap aside and still offer a great customer experience.

I think we are saying that a national company that reviews these things, report that Carnival employees are happy.  Seems much easier to believe that than third party outside views of “perceptions” some cruisers have.  I am not surprised at ALL with this report.  I talk to employees all the time, on many ships, and land based and it rings true to me. 

[rvsullivan]

This was a survey of Carnival employees! Who better to say how good/happy they are with their jobs! No one said the jobs haven't changed or got more difficult!

[PhillyFan33579]

18 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

I don't think any of them will come right out and say they're miserable or that they're overworked. And I think miserable is too strong of a word. Are you and jimbo implying that all of the discussions about overworked crew aren't based in reality? What about the idea of Carnival having reduced the number of wait staff and stewards, for example; therefore, putting a heavier workload on those who are left. Is that not true? Because that's been echoed by long-time cruisers who're able to compare then & now. Is it all made up?

 

One thing I've said in the past is that I've always been impressed with the fact that, no matter how overworked and tired they are, they still manage to put on a smile and treat passengers with kindness and respect. But that's not proof that they aren't overworked. That's proof that they're good people who can set the crap aside and still offer a great customer experience.

 

I am friends with a lot of Carnival employees on FB and talk to several of them fairly often. I realize they don’t speak for everyone, but I haven’t heard anything remotely close to the comments I read on this board about how unhappy Carnival employees are these days. A lot of them actually cut their “vacation” short and sign another contract because they miss being on a ship and of course the money too. 

 

As for the cutbacks you mentioned, a lot of the staff are happy with those changes. More cabins or more tables in the MDR means more money, assuming passengers don’t remove gratuities, but that is another topic.  I do agree with your comment that Carnival employees are great at treating passengers well, even when they are treated like crap by passengers, which I seem to witness at least once, and sometimes more, every cruise. 

[Joe817]

After giving this a bit of thought, I'm questioning if any of this survey included any "contract sailing labor".  We know it included "shipboard employees".  But what about the kind of people we see every day: stewards, the serving staff, bartenders, housekeeping, etc, etc?.These would be considered independent contractors and not 'employees'.  And if the survey did not, the results of that survey could be considerably skewed, giving a markedly different impression. Just my thoughts. YMMV

Edited September 18, 2019 by Joe817

[Sauer-kraut]

11 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

After giving this a bit of thought, I'm questioning if any of this survey included any "contract sailing labor".  We know it included "shipboard employees".  But what about the kind of people we see every day: stewards, the serving staff, bartenders, housekeeping, etc, etc?.These would be considered independent contractors and not 'employees'.  And if the survey did not, the results of that survey could be considerably skewed, giving a markedly different impression. Just my thoughts. YMMV

 

I was thinking the same thing, are they interviewing/polling all classes of employees or just those in management.  Of course my employer thinks that most of its employees are well compensated, don't feel the stress of having to do more with less, and don't need more than what they are already giving us. 

[jimbo5544]

56 minutes ago, Sauer-kraut said:

 

I was thinking the same thing, are they interviewing/polling all classes of employees or just those in management.  Of course my employer thinks that most of its employees are well compensated, don't feel the stress of having to do more with less, and don't need more than what they are already giving us. 

So you think the interviewing was done of management ofthe employees that do the work?  Take a look at the website of the company that does the survey, you can believe it or not, but it is real..... maybe they brainwashed them all to give a good answer....or maybe they really are.

Edited September 18, 2019 by jimbo5544

[coevan]

5 hours ago, Stick93 said:

This has been echoed by a few staff member I have met over time that have worked for multiple lines and have said that the atmosphere on Carnival is the best for employees. Overall its interesting because the median income for Carnival employees is 3-4K lower than on both Royal and Norwegian - I guess money isn't everything!

 

 

Please post you sources

 

 

1 hour ago, Sauer-kraut said:

These would be considered independent contractors and not 'employees'.  

 

 

What makes you think Carnival uses contract labor? If you are given time and direction, you are an employee. Don't know about cruise ships but i am only allowed to pay a contract laborer $600 a year. The only time we have used contract labor is when we are stripping the kitchen, we get 4 or 5 work release inmates and pay them cash .

[Joe817]

31 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

So you think the interviewing was done of management ofthe employees that do the work?  Take a look at the website of the company that does the survey, you can believe it or not, but it is real..... maybe they brainwashed them all to give a good answer....or maybe they really are.

I have no doubt of the integrity of the company doing the survey in the least. I'm not attempting nor am I implying in any way that the published survey was a veiled attempt to mislead in any manner what so ever. They interviewed employees of the company. Of that I am convinced. I am merely asking if they also surveyed the independent contractors which comprise the stewards, bartenders, serving staff in the MDR's, housekeeping, etc.   I spoke to our incredible steward, JA, from Malaysia on the last day, mentioning to him I hope to see him on our next cruise. He said his 'contract' expires in 2 months, then he's returning home to Malaysia. Same with our incredible servers in the Scarlet Dining Room on the Dream. They all mentioned when their 'contract' was up they would be returning home. 

 

So, there is a difference between employees, and independent contractors. I'm only wondering if the surveyors interviewed the contractors as well. That's all I'm wondering. Nothing more. I apologize if I put a burr under anyone's saddle. 

[VentureMan_2000]

If you go to Indeed, you will see that these Carnival contractors use to be Carnival employees.  I think that speaks for itself.

[jimbo5544]

31 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

I have no doubt of the integrity of the company doing the survey in the least. I'm not attempting nor am I implying in any way that the published survey was a veiled attempt to mislead in any manner what so ever. They interviewed employees of the company. Of that I am convinced. I am merely asking if they also surveyed the independent contractors which comprise the stewards, bartenders, serving staff in the MDR's, housekeeping, etc.   I spoke to our incredible steward, JA, from Malaysia on the last day, mentioning to him I hope to see him on our next cruise. He said his 'contract' expires in 2 months, then he's returning home to Malaysia. Same with our incredible servers in the Scarlet Dining Room on the Dream. They all mentioned when their 'contract' was up they would be returning home. 

 

So, there is a difference between employees, and independent contractors. I'm only wondering if the surveyors interviewed the contractors as well. That's all I'm wondering. Nothing more. I apologize if I put a burr under anyone's saddle. 

No burr, while they are contract, I cannot say who they interviewed, to me they are exactly the people they would.  I am pretty sure I can find out whom was.  If it were not the 10’s of thousands of ship staff, who would they interview, home office employees only.  That sounds less legit to me. I will shake some trees to find out.  

Edited September 19, 2019 by jimbo5544

[jimbo5544]

Just now, VentureMan_2000 said:

If you go to Indeed, you will see that these Carnival contractors use to be Carnival employees.  I think that speaks for itself.

How so?

[VentureMan_2000]

Why would a overworked, disgruntled Carnival Employee stay with Carnival as a contractor ?  

[Stick93]

1 hour ago, coevan said:

 

Please post you sources

 

I don’t have the source - just like cruise critic sends emails with information at times other companies do the same thing. It was just a few days ago I saw an article that gave the median salaries as 

royal ~20k

norwegian ~19k

carnival ~ 16k 

They actually  were just giving facts and not saying anything else. I was going to make a thread and post the link but I was too lazy and didn’t want to get into any negative reporting.

 

The staff I have met on the ships have been over  99% positive about working for carnival. I have never asked but they have never said anything about money or their salaries. The only person I met who was very negative about Carnival was a photographer who worked on Celebrity who said the conditions were very poor for the photographers on carnival - he could not vouch for others.

 

20 cruises and that was the only report - that’s pretty good. 

[Organized Chaos]

4 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I am friends with a lot of Carnival employees on FB and talk to several of them fairly often. I realize they don’t speak for everyone, but I haven’t heard anything remotely close to the comments I read on this board about how unhappy Carnival employees are these days. A lot of them actually cut their “vacation” short and sign another contract because they miss being on a ship and of course the money too. 

 

As for the cutbacks you mentioned, a lot of the staff are happy with those changes. More cabins or more tables in the MDR means more money, assuming passengers don’t remove gratuities, but that is another topic.  I do agree with your comment that Carnival employees are great at treating passengers well, even when they are treated like crap by passengers, which I seem to witness at least once, and sometimes more, every cruise. 

 

Being "friends" on facebook has a whole different meaning these days, so you'll have to forgive me for not using that as the gold standard of what it means to be close to someone. I haven't seen people on this forum say how unhappy the crew are. They talk about how overworked they are. There's a difference. They were already busting their butts before numbers were reduced...of course it gets worse after numbers are reduced. Not that it's unique to the cruise industry. It happens all the time with companies everywhere. Staff get reduced, which puts a heavier load on remaining employees. It's ok to be unhappy about that, but like I said, I don't see people here speaking of their unhappiness, but how much more they're worked. It's just my take on the matter, but I'd think signing new contracts has more to do with the money than anything. Especially for those with families. That work pays very well for them compared their home countries.

 

Unfortunately, being treated poorly is sometimes part of the customer service industry as a whole. I've been in there with a few jobs and have been treated badly by customers countless times. On many occasions, I was downright berated for things that weren't my fault and I had no control over. But part of the job is to put on a smile, no matter how fake it may be, and be as polite as possible, when all you'd really like to do is smack the person. LOL

[Organized Chaos]

2 hours ago, VentureMan_2000 said:

Why would a overworked, disgruntled Carnival Employee stay with Carnival as a contractor ?  

 

Overworked doesn't necessarily mean disgruntled. If I had to guess, I'd say there's a good chance many of them weren't too happy that they're already demanding workload was increased due to cutting staff, but they deal with it because of the money. So to answer your question, crew members from countries like the Philippines make much more money working for cruise lines than they would back home. That's exactly why many of them would stick with the company even though they're overworked.

[jimbo5544]

Let me try a different tact:

 

1 Carnival Cruise Line certified as a great place to work.  Check, yup a reputable company that does this on a regular basis and has surveyed more than 100 million employees (even my old company so I can verify the process).

2.To address the thoughts that it was only a minor subset and not the entire company, according to the article, it said at least 70 % of the more than 40,000 employees had a consistently positive experience.  I take the 3 most important words as consistently positive experience...but that is just me.  To back into the numbers of whom was surveyed, I went to Wikipedia (I know not the best reference in the world, but as least as good as some of the negative rationalizations..... and they say landslide 3,900 and ship based 33,500.  I doubt they distinguished between contract and other, but my math says...multiply by the  root of Pi..carry the zeros divide by the radius...if they did not count these people the numbers would not add up...so that is a check as well.

3.  It did not say 100% said it it said 70%, so the bashing group have some leverage here, but wait....the Great place to work sets the boundaries not Carnival.  So I get another check.

4. The survey does not say they were asked which job they wanted to do, what their fellow countrymen (and women) did it whether they were happy with how many cabins they had - or the tips they took in for those “extra cabins”.  I have never seen anything in facts of reduced people..not even once.  

5. 80% said they are proud to tell people they work for Carnival. Seems like happy positive people would say that so ....another checkmark

6. According to Great places to work, these insights provide the company with how they are doing and the Quality of their culture.  That does sound like unhappy people....in a company that overloads then with work, and has had many cutbacks.....oh wait it doesn't, does it.  Another check

 

 CONSISTENTLY POSITIVE EXPERIENCE   

 

Think I got it

 

Congrats Carnival!

 

 

[Markmom18]

Hi,

  I've posted here on the Board about our son who is a Carnival Fun Squad Member. Yes, he is tired. Who wouldn't be? But, he also takes naps, as do many of his fellow squad members do.  

 

  His work duties:  On his latest Contract on the Dream and prior to the Dream, the Freedom he was the Comedy Club Manager. He would leave the job around Midnight each night.

 

On Port days with Tenders and Debarking he got up EARLY with the other Fun Squad members to assist cruise guests.  Not much sleep the night before because he needed decompress time after working the Club. 

 

  That's where the naps come in. He usually gulped a meal, and got a cat nap before his next assignment ... Trivia, Games, Hasbro, selling BINGO tickets , Deck Parties with all the dancing & fun. 

 

  He & the other other Squad members worked on 6 month contracts, no days off.  Those contracts have generally gone up to 7 months since he got off the ship July 27th.

 

  Every job on Sea or Land has it's plus & minuses. Overall Mark has enjoyed working for Carnival.  Has made great friends & met awesome guests in general.

 

He's only worked for this one cruise line. His "suggestion":  In the Comedy Club Mgr position, could the powers that be, find a way for these Mgr's to skip doing Debarking & Tenders, due to the lateness of the job.  Just these 2! 🙂🙂

 

🛳🛳

Bobbi 

[VentureMan_2000]

1 hour ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

Overworked doesn't necessarily mean disgruntled. If I had to guess, I'd say there's a good chance many of them weren't too happy that they're already demanding workload was increased due to cutting staff, but they deal with it because of the money. So to answer your question, crew members from countries like the Philippines make much more money working for cruise lines than they would back home. That's exactly why many of them would stick with the company even though they're overworked.

I thought the word 'disgruntled" would send someone for a loop.  It's what I said... but I struggled at the moment to come up with a better word.   

 

How is your assertions any different than working in the USA ?  Your argument that folks can make "Much" more money working for cruise lines than they would back home is not any different than here in the great USA.  We all look for that edge to make "Much" more money than the next guy.  I certainly hope you are not insinuating that folks working on a cruise ship work harder or longer hours than you or I that can afford these cruises !  Or that our standard of living is any better than their living of standard in their home country.