Posts Tagged ‘cruise ship’
ITC connecting graduates to the exciting cruise ship industry
ITC students working with the cruise ship industry.
This summer season in New Zealand has been the most exciting for the travel and tourism industry in the country in years. For a group of ITC students and graduates, it has been an extra special time thanks to ITC and the cruise ship industry.
That’s because we recently set up a number of students with a fantastic opportunity to gain work experience in the industry.
Read on to learn more about how it happened (and how you could get valuable work experience when you study with ITC, too).
How is ITC helping graduates work in the cruise industry?
Our Employment Consultant Sarndra worked with Akorn Destination Management in Australia to offer our fabulous new ITC students an opportunity to be part of their Auckland cruise turnaround team for the 2022 /2023 summer season.
Akorn enjoyed an amazing 2019 /2020 summer season of cruising, and the ITC students and graduates who worked on those turnarounds loved the first-hand industry experiences. Our students and graduates also found it to be a huge bonus to have on their CVs when they finished their studies and started applying for jobs.
As soon as Sarndra heard Akorn was doing another cruise season she was eager to give current ITC students those same opportunities.
What is a cruise ship turnaround?
A cruise ship turnaround is the interval between cruises. The ship docks, all passengers disembark, the ship is readied for the next cruise, new passengers board and the ship sails.
This is what our students got up to:
- Meet and greet passengers in a wide variety of roles.
- Provide excellent customer service.
- Process passengers during check in.
- Validate passports and documents.
- Use multi cruise brand check-in systems.
- Support, guide and assist passengers and special needs guests.
- Luggage assistance.
- Ensure compliance with safety and security requirements.
- Adhere to Akorn Staff Policies and procedures.
- Adhere to various Cruise Lines Policy & Procedures.
The cruise ships were the Norwegian Spirit, Seven Seas Explorer, Celebrity Eclipse, and the Oceania Regatta.
How were graduates chosen for the job?
Akorn was looking for graduates who were motivated, resilient and respectful. They also wanted students to be quite focused on providing great customer service, and have a real ‘can-do’ attitude. Of course, they had to also hold an ITC travel and tourism qualification, and be reliable and on time.
Here are the full criteria for the job.
- Ability to work flexible hours – weekend, public holidays, and on occasion, evenings during the cruise season
- Be a team player
- Have initiative and excellent communication skills
- Be highly customer focused, helpful and with excellent personal manners
- Prior experience in tourism and/or customer service is highly valued
- Good level of English
- Basic computer skills recommended (training on cruise-line systems provided)
We sent them eight outstanding ITC students who took part in this incredible opportunity; Vironique, Ben, Vianca, Eseta, Ghazal, Serafina, Mele, and Tamzin.
We recently reached out to the students to find out about their experience.
What did everyone have to say about the experience?
“Cruise turnarounds are such a fun day! Early starts! We have to be at the wharf for when the ship arrives, which is usually 7am. Disembarkation is usually about 3 hours as guests come off the ship in staggered groups. Because they were usually arriving into NZ they pass through customs, collect their luggage and then go through MAF – just like the airport but on a wharf!! There would be a team of us in the luggage hall helping passengers to locate their luggage. That’s where I started and by my last shift I was managing the hall.”
“Guests then depart the wharf and go in all different directions, which is where we were mostly involved; guiding the passengers on to taxis, coaches to the airport or hotels, or off on tours. There is an incredible amount of organisation that goes on over the period of just one day. Once all the passengers have left the ship, it’s time to ‘turn around’ and check in the passengers who start their cruise journey from Auckland. This is probably the most exciting part of the day because you meet so many lovely people who are so excited about their cruise. I met a mother and daughter who were close to having been on 100 cruises!! They had cruised every continent except Antarctica, which they had booked to be number 100!”
“The coolest thing was if you were checking a passenger in and a little note came up saying ‘see message’ and when you tapped in to that, it said the passenger had been upgraded! Giving that news was like making all their dreams come true!”
“The downside of these great fun days (which go so fast!) is that the ship departs at 6pm, and we aren’t on it. You spend all day wishing you were going with the passengers (I guess that’s the same as working at the airport!) but it was quite sad when the passengers said, ‘see you onboard!’ and instead we were heading home…”
What did Akorn have to say about working with ITC students and graduates?
Head of Cruise for Akorn Australian and NZ, Anthony Brent had this to say about our ITC students:
“The students/staff I must say have been amazing – I have personally received a lot of great comments from our cruise ship staff and head office executives. Once this season is finished I will be heading back over to Auckland and I would love to set up a meeting to discuss next season and to assist in any way with presentations and talks for your students”
This is one of many ways ITC builds industry relationships and student opportunities. ITC students are sought after when our industry is looking to employ more staff. We continue to strive in offering the best experience so our students stand out from the other candidates, which has significantly contributed to the continuous success of our graduates.
If you’re interested in studying with a provider that ensures you get hands-on learning opportunities so that you’re ready to work in the industry, contact us to find out about our industry-recognised qualifications today.
Campus Study – college@itc.co.nz 0800 TOURISM (0800 868747) or https://www.studyfromhome.co.nz/contact-us/
Posted in News, Student Success | Tagged aviation, cruise ship, cruise ship industry, Employment, study from home, tourism, travel, work experience | Leave a reply