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SEPIEIABER
'NIERY'EW:
,NS'DE
GETTINGBETTER
AND BETTER
Coptoin HenrikLoyond Holel DireclorBennyWeidecker
whof hosmode Explorer the Seos
discuss of in
succeesful
o compelilive morket.
by
H.
Richord Wogner
T.t xplorer of the Seas has been the Royal convenient. Within six houn driving, [the guests]all
H Caribbean's ship in New York Harborfor five drive. They do not haveto fly. That'sa big thing these
I-lyears. sailingyear round Fom CapeLiberty in days,"notedCaptainLoy.
Bayonne,New Jersey. During ihis time, severalotier But any ship basedin New York Harbor offers
cruise lines have unsuccessfully tried to break into the arcaresidents similarconvenience. What is uniqueto
New York market on a ye€r-roundbasisbut only Royal Explorerthat differentiatesher fiom the competition?
andNorwegiar Cruise Line havemaragedto male a 8o "l think there ar€ many factors," answered
of it thus far. CaptainLoy. To begin, Explorcr doesnot do the same
"l think it provesthat we ate doing something cruiseeverytime shesailsfiom Bayonne. "we offer l8
right. Every single cruise regardless the season,
of we difrer€nt cniis€s.You have a choic€ betweenthe five-
are sailingtotally full. I think our ptoductis well- day B€muda or the [Bermuda/Caribbean] longer ones,
received by the market," commentedHotel Director or the Canada^ew Englandones," Captain l-oy point-
Benny Weidecker when I sat down with him and ed out. That gives vacationers options and people like
CaptainHenrik Loy to talk aboutExplorels longevity in to havea choice.
a very competitive market. Another factor, Mr Weidecker noted, is "the
Part of lhe reasonfor Explorer'ssuccess pas-
is hardwarewe have is very, very good. We do have a
senger convenience. "lfyou live in the area,it is v€ry Royal Promenade other cruise lines don't have,
that
whichis reallyunique."
Exploreris also well-suited
to hcr itineraries fiom a nautical per-
speclive.r"llte Voyagerclass is a
tremendously excellentclass- - it
hasit all" saidCaptain Loy.
To illustrate, Explorercalls
at Bermuda everycnriseexcept
on
for her Canada,New England cruis-
es. "To get into Bermuda tricky is
and this class,I would say, is the
optimal.Youhave tremendous ship-
handlingand powersoyou cango in
thereevenin severe weather,Even
with the size- - 13E,000 tons.three
timesthe sizeof the Tilanic - - we
can still get up to 15 knotswithin
two or threeshiplengths. Whenit is
blowinghardyou n€edlo be ableto
get up to speed[quickly] and you
needto be ableto makehardtums
withoul devaslating heeling. Other
ships, I
othercompanies.knowthey
sulibr there. When lhey put over
thal wheel,thingsfall off the table.
But this ship is tremendously stable
as well - - so manygoodqualities."
the
Of course, success a of
cruiseshipdepends a greatextent
to
upon what is done with the hard-
ware. "l think we havevery good
food. The guests love our entertain-
ment. They rateus very well. They Cafldin Henrik Loy
love our bands, live music,"said
the
Mt Weidecker
But RoyalCaribbean not content
is just to rest TheAbility ToAdapl
on its laurels.Captain Loy explained: "The focusnow
is on the friendliness, aum.the atmosphere,
that [form- I--t xplorerhasevolred so as to adaptto the chal-
ing] a connection because that,at the end of the day. lenges posedby sailingyear-round from New
H
bringsp€ople back. Wehave average
an offifty percent -l-lYoA. "lt is sometiingthat you become b€ner
repeat guests. They comebackto the Exploreragain at," explained Captain Loy. "We havebeenherenow
and againand they connectwith our crew and form for five seasons we havegot it downto thedetails.
ard
bonds. I think that is preftyspecial. We stayhereall We havebecomeexDe.ts it. The crew and the offi-
on
year-round: don'tgo fiom hereto hereto here. The
we cersthatyouhaveonboard to
herereallyneed beexpe-
guests reallyconnect with us." riencedaboutit. It is really differentthan on other
Mr Weidecker elaborated: "Noljust Explorerof shipsthat are oul of Miami in the Cadbbean year-
thc Seas our wholecompany focused person-
bul is on round.The weather factoris huge.You still providea
alizedservice.How canwe get moreinteractive we so service, keepup to standards, though
still even you are
can build more relationships our guests, make
with to facingenvimnmental challenges."
themhavea reallyrnemorable vacation experience.I "Happycrew:happy guests.
Wintertimeout of
think that through personalized service just the right
is Bayonne,you do not have happy crew automatically.
approach. That is whatwe havedoncthis yearquite Thatreallytakes exfa plarningandextraequipment. I
successfullyaccordingto rcports and benchmarks meanhow manyshipshavesnowshovels, wintersuits,
the
throughout fleel." gloves, and
mittens, hatsfully stocked thateveryone
so
SEPIEMBER I
BEYONDSHIPS.COM/ 20I
is always warm? You really have to look after
the crew herefor their well-b€ing. It takesyears
of experience get to that. For someother ship
to
tojust comein with a new cr€w to takeover what
we are doing that would be hard.It is reslly a
r€sultofysrs ofexperienceherearldwe only get
b€tterand betterat it."
Partof takingcar€ofthe crew is giving
them opportunitiesto grow. "For everyonewho
is on a careerthere is always the opportrnity to
have shoresidetraining, They really identiry,
grow ard build uponthe talent that is identified.'
Mr. weideckeradded: thinkthatis one
"l
of the company's strenglhs becauseour crew
membelsrecognizethat. They se€that we have
a hotel director who startedas a stateroom atten-
dant. Becaus€he was inter€stedand he devel-
opedhimselt the company helped g€tthere.
him
It hotivates others. There is an opportunify for
everybdy to makea careerfor thenselves*ha!
evertle careermay be."
"l dont know if loyaltymeans much m
anymore worldwidebut I think it is something
that we are trying to bring back here - - loyalty
notonly with theguests wilh theemployees,"
but
Captain Loy continued. "lfyou canget someone
in early,crestea greatfirst impression keepbuilding
and Hotel Director RennyWeideckzr
them up from day one,that paysoff in the long run."
Buildinga happycrewalsorequires havingfun.
"The toughest challenge lbalancing]
is between work
and play and lhat goesfor everyMy. You haveto find
that balanc€where you have fun and laugh. We have A Postscriptabout OceanLab
things like sandwichdays, where we make sandwiches
for all of the crew members;we have our barbeque on T T Then Explorer entered in
seavic.e 2000and for
the pier - - to havefun, notjust drive and wort and work severallears she a
thereafler, hosted veryvis-
!!/ project
andwork." V Y ibleoceanographic research knownas
In addition to the challengesfacing lhe oflicers Oceant b- Scientists from the Universityof Miarni
andthe cre% sailingout ofNew York year-round not is saile-donboardExplorer and took measurements theof
easyon the shipeither."lt definitelyimpacts with the
it ocean,gatheringscientific data. They also intemcted
erosion. with the wind- with th€ sall the constants€a with guestswith lecturesand demonstrations.Then it
sprayin combination with the longcruises.Thenin the to as
se€med disappear the Oceanl,ab activitieswerc no
Caribbeanyou have lhe sun, the UV mys, as any other longerin the ship's daily program.
ship has. But basically, is the strongwindsand the
it However,Captain Loy explained,the prcgram
constant spray. In thoseweatherconditions,it is hard
s€a hasnotended. Funding problems pr€vent UniveEity
the
to be out theredoingmaintenance. the vibmtions,
Plus, from stationing scientists onboard but 'we have th€
thefatigue - you see in pipes equipment. will
- this and lt e-quipment we still record-Theycomeonboard
and reg-
definitely lhe shipmorerapidlyihana shipthatis in
tire ularly to maintaintheir equipmentbut they arc not here
calm seasall year-round. " as they were in the beginning. Weare still recordinga
"Butthecompany recognized
has that. lt hasput lot of valuable oceanographic data."
more funds in out budgetsand given us more resources,
They have recognized that we are high mainlenance.
Wehav€gotten lot ofsupportfor that."
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