I found this an interesting video

[excitedofharpenden]

Ok, first of all I do think many of Gary Bembridge's videos a bit sensationalist and click bait (no exception here), but I found this one interesting, given the friendly nature of Azamara and its crew. This might have you thinking twice about some of the things you do that on the face of it would appear to be helpful. Not always the case. And some of them I have wondered about in the past. Stopping short of having intimate relationships with the crew!😉

 

 

 

Phil 

[royallondon]

Agree, a very interesting video Phil.  Not too sure how I feel though.  I am what I am and do what I do.  Actions, gestures etc are all natural and not pre considered.  Having to pause and think of the consequences of my interactions and actions would be detrimental to my own cruise experience.

Regards

[Grandma Cruising]

Thanks for posting that Phil. Certainly is food for thought!

[excitedofharpenden]

1 hour ago, royallondon said:

Agree, a very interesting video Phil.  Not too sure how I feel though.  I am what I am and do what I do.  Actions, gestures etc are all natural and not pre considered.  Having to pause and think of the consequences of my interactions and actions would be detrimental to my own cruise experience.

Regards

I do agree. You can't change the way you are, but there were points made that I'd come across before. One of them was with a waiter I know well. I was off to take my plate and empty glass back and he said "leave that Mr Phil otherwise they think I'm not doing my job".  He was jokey, but quite firm. I knew what he meant. I haven't done it again. Then the bit about feeding back performances to the Cruise Director and others not being the right route. The end of cruise survey is the best place to do it.

 

I've often thought when I'm in friendly chats to one of the crew how that comes across to other crew members if I do it a lot. Taking their time up. They are all so polite that they don't want to brush you off, but they are there to do a job with their colleagues.  Just made me think a bit. I'm friendly, but quite reserved and I think that helps respect the boundaries. Life working on a ship is quite different to land. 

 

Phil 

[uktog]

Very interesting. Although a little OTT should be compulsory pre board viewing. 
One area he touched on which we have noted regularly is a problem on Azamara is some guests are monopolising the serving crew in bars and particularly in Windows café the first day and service really suffers. 
 

Our son worked in a hotel which was a high-end experience and had a lot of Asian staff who joined them. One of the training programs they had was what they called disengagement training.  Azamara needs this.
 

What this related to was explaining to staff whose cultures were to be impeccably polite that there were techniques to use to be able to get away from guests and perform their work duties as part of a team.  Indeed some of the staff reviews were marked down because they spent so long chatting to guests even though the guests reviews might name them as being wonderful.  The feedback they got from the Trainees was they were very grateful for this training because many of them found the level of questioning intrusive and awkward . Dare I say it particularly by some of the American guests who tend to be quite intrusive compared to British European guests would ask  eg asked about number of children family circumstances where they live animals they had at home etc - not realising a line was crossed. The staff found it an intrusion into their personal space unsettling but they answered the question perhaps giving the impression of wanting to share the information. Training practice answering questions like that and give a polite response close down the conversation was so appreciated. 
 

I think also Azamara could also give some of the more Junior crew guidance on how to interact with guests on social media.  Recently, I have seen one member of the staff publicly displaying on their page thank you notes including the names of the guests, their home addresses and gifts received. It’s almost like they are looking for this from others which is totally inappropriate and must annoy some of their fellow crew members.  
 

I also think Azamara should strongly discourage guests from funding crew members at home on an individual basis. It happens and I know it upsets some crew. 

We all have a lot to learn and need to me much more emotionally intelligent around staff and other guests. This video was a timely reminder. 

 

[IslandThyme]

Thanks for posting this. I did this year's World Cruise, and it seemed natural to be very friendly with crew with whom we were spending many months. However, I think he makes some very good points that are especially applicable to shorter cruises, where there's really not time to establish deeper personal relationships.