Sunday, July 5, 2009

Inside Emerald Princess --Talking with the Hotel Director


The senior officer with the most direct responsibility for the things that most directly affect a passenger’s cruise experience is the hotel director (also called the hotel manager or passenger services director). He has responsibility for the accommodations, the dining, the entertainment, the activities, the shore excursions and much more. Therefore, the hotel manager is in a unique position to discuss the type of cruise experience that one will encounter on a particular ship.

Tony Becker is a Passenger Services Director for Princess Cruises. He is from Australia and has had experience with major land-based hotels as well as with other cruise lines, NCL being one of them. Thus, he is able to see the style of vacation experience that Princess offers in perspective.

When I spoke with Tony, he was Passenger Services Director of Emerald Princess. She is one of Princess’ newest ships (2007) and is practically identical to Princess’ newest ship. As Tony said, she is “a beautiful piece of hardware.” But a cruise is not just about interacting with the hardware. What type of cruise experience does a passenger encounter on Emerald Princess? Who does the ship attract? What enables Emerald Princess to sail full even in difficult economic times?

Tony is a very straightforward person and he answered these questions. In addition, he pointed out some features of Emerald Princess that often fail to appear on guest’s radar screens. My conversation with Tony Becker appears at: http://beyondships.com/Princess-EP-art-Becker.html

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