Staffing levels?

[Sunday golf]

We are due to cruise on the Spirit in June following a most enjoyable trip on her last September. Recently have noted service problems on many of the silversea ships. The Dawn, and cloud especially. Are there through out the line major staffing problems as they start to get back to a level of normality or are these reports isolated issues. 

 

 

 

[scottjeanne]

We were on the Cloud for 29 days this winter.  There were more staff than passengers  (272 crew and 68 passengers).  We were the last cruise before they had a month off.  they cancelled the Amazon cruise due to lack of ability to get fuel, so they send some crew home.  No problems in my opinion.

[markham]

As cruise passengers increase to pre-Covid levels there will be a need to ramp up the numbers and quality of service staff. The issue is not limited to Silversea.

 

Any perceived shortage of quality service is a concern. Same for this smoking issue identified on Dawn due to some crew smoking area and/or a ventilation system from it. Who needs to pay top these fares and yet know there may be such problems.

 

These matters can be resolved by Silversea Management and communicated to us. Would someone who is a Facebook friend of CCO Barbara Muckerman get some feedback from her and then bring everyone up to date? I don’t use Facebook…

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[cruiseej]

@markham I can't imagine Silversea management would ever publicly state that they are having trouble hiring enough staff to be at 100% of their normal staffing levels.

 

But it's logical to assume that as SS and other cruise lines attempt to have 100% of their ships sailing again, they may be having difficulty getting up to 100% staffing. Many crew members who lost their jobs during the pandemic got new jobs; some of them will come back to cruise ships, and some won't. And there may be competition among the cruise companies, as there are in other businesses, in recruitment and hiring, as they jockey to fill their vacancies. So it may take awhile to hire and train enough new staff.

[lincslady]

Absolutely right, Markham.  I know of several cruise lines where passengers have found service not to be up to normal levels,  mainly due to the lines taking on new staff, who need time to be trained up to standard, and also - hopefully less so now - staff off duty because of having Covid.

[fudge]

8 hours ago, Sunday golf said:

We are due to cruise on the Spirit in June following a most enjoyable trip on her last September. Recently have noted service problems on many of the silversea ships. The Dawn, and cloud especially. Are there through out the line major staffing problems as they start to get back to a level of normality or are these reports isolated issues. 

 

 

 

Just curious, we are also on the Spirit in June, what date do you embark? We sail on the 24th June.

[Sunday golf]

No we are the 8th June. Hope you have a good trip

 

[Dolcevita Diva]

4 hours ago, fudge said:

Just curious, we are also on the Spirit in June, what date do you embark? We sail on the 24th June.

 

Fudge,  We will be on the same voyage. I am also sailing on the Spirit departing Venice on June 24th.   

[MHF]

On 5/4/2022 at 6:43 AM, scottjeanne said:

We were on the Cloud for 29 days this winter.  There were more staff than passengers  (272 crew and 68 passengers).  We were the last cruise before they had a month off.  they cancelled the Amazon cruise due to lack of ability to get fuel, so they send some crew home.  No problems in my opinion.

In my post ‘SilverCloud observations’ I discussed staffing levels for most recent voyage.  220 passengers (full), do not know how many crew but no where near enough. 

[Mr Luxury]

The service issue is a worldwide problem in the whole of the hospitality industry not just in the cruise sector.

Restaurants on land are struggling as I experienced in London and recently in Madeira and Crete.

Many staff have not returned to the industry after the pandemic and found other jobs with more sociable hours.

The cruise lines are recruiting from many countries that they have not previously considered before.

Training is key and we will all experience some issues as new staff learn the business.

 

[Sunday golf]

It’s interesting. Having run hospitality businesses in many countries of the world over many years, have a slightly differing view.  Many companies are reacting more positively to the situation and coming up with solutions. It  often depends how close the decision makers are to the front line! Looking at comments on CC on a number of cruise companies some are doing a lot better than others . Unfortunately have found that when dealing with Silversea head office you don’t get such a positive picture as onboard but have read a few concerning reviews recently . Went to a very upscale Italian restaurant in London yesterday. Fantastic as good as ever and the staff pleased to be back. 

[saminina]

9 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

The cruise lines are recruiting from many countries that they have not previously considered before.

 

Seabourn had begun this practice prior to Covid-19 being known.

 

Recent crossing on Moon showed that SS had upped their hiring from EU, or close to EU countries.  Confirmed by senior staff.   Best cruise on SS in fourteen years.   Only 200 passengers on board, so that might have influenced the experience.   

 

On land, I quit experimenting with high priced restaurants pre Covid.  On board ship, nobody takes a hit for a lousy meal and it is easily replaced.   

Edited May 10, 2022 by saminina