A Peak at the Inner Workings of the Norwegian Jewel
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Two thirds of the Norwegian Jewel’s crew fall under the command of the Hotel Director, a charming Uruguayan named Rosita Schandy who carries herself as if she was born with sea legs. She started with NCL in 1988, in the days when the S. S. Norway – rechristened from the S. S. France and one of the grand dames of the sea – still sailed the Caribbean and occasional transatlantic route. After working a number of years for NCL, she briefly left to be a manager for Coca-Cola, but soon thereafter returned to the sea as a Hotel Director, one of the top posts of the fleet.
Nearly 1100 people from 62 countries make up the Jewel’s crew. More than 500 of the crew come from the Philippines, where NCL regularly recruits through agencies that provide staff for resorts and cruise lines. India is also well-represented with 112 crew members, although only nine of those are women. At least for women, working on a ship might not be a bad place to find a mate – 791 of the crew on this vessel are men. For other crew members, they may be the only one from their country – the ship’s crew has single representation from Argentina, Belgium, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Finland, Greece, Haiti, Lithuania, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Turkey, Venezuela, and Kiribati (which many would be hard-pressed to find on a map). Schandy is the only crew member from Uruguay. Despite this diversity of languages and cultures, everything seems to fall perfectly in place.
At times, the Jewel seems to be more of a gargantuan hotel and resort than a ship, with a staff of thousands finessing every detail. Schandy somehow must orchestrate it all – from a bowl of peanut M&Ms (my parents’ favorite) that magically appeared one morning to nighttime turn-downs with towels twisted into the shape of animals – romantic swans if it’s a wedding anniversary, or fantastical elephants and sea turtles for the children. Still more hotel staff work behind the scenes, washing towels, dishes, and sheets that appear fluffed, sparkling, or crisp at every turn. Working on a ship gives many of these individuals an opportunity to see the world and the chance to earn a higher wage than they could earn in their home country, and for a lucky few, the job offers the prospect of becoming butlers, concierges, front office staff, or perhaps the hotel director of another NCL vessel.
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Read the other articles:
Days 7-12: St Johns, Halifax and Journey’s End
Chocoholics at Sea
A Peak at the Inner Workings of the Norwegian Jewel (you are here)
How to Pour Champagne in a Moving Vehicle
Day 5 - Golden Waterfalls and Pearls of Architecture
Day 5 - Icelandic Saga
Day 5 - Steam and Snow in the Southwest
Day 5 - Straddling the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
Day 5 – Iceland: Tour, Geology and Saga Museum
Days 0-4 Dover to the Shetlands
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