Cruise line to boost hiring

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Staff Writer

NCL America, recovering from a barrage of passenger complaints regarding service on its Pride of Aloha cruise ship, is boosting recruitment and training for the vessel and its second U.S.-flagged ship, which is expected to arrive in the Islands next year.

Kritzman

In addition to shoring up service on the Pride of Aloha, the increased hiring efforts are focused on preparing for the Pride of America, scheduled to begin interisland cruises in July. NCL's third interisland ship, Pride of Hawai'i, is scheduled to arrive in the Islands in spring 2006. All three are U.S.-flagged cruise ships and must employ U.S. workers and follow U.S. labor laws.

NCL soon will recruit workers in Saipan, part of Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the Western Pacific. NCL also plans another round of hiring in American Samoa and Guam, Kritzman said. The company, which resumed its radio advertisements promoting the benefits of working for the company, also created a new vice president position in charge of recruiting. It also recently filled a new human resources development position to focus solely on recruitment programs with schools and workforce development groups in Hawai'i and elsewhere.

NCL recently opened a recruitment office in Guam to cover U.S. territories in the Pacific and is looking at opening satellite offices in Seattle and another location in the southwestern United States. It also increased its land-based staff from about 30 to 50 people — mostly in human resources positions — with plans to hire more.

Factors such as a shortage of available labor and the unusual conditions of shipboard jobs have made hiring for the Pride of Aloha more difficult than the company expected. Kritzman said he's confident that the increased recruitment efforts will be successful.

"We'll do whatever it takes," he said. "It's a very big, strategic move for us. We'll do what it takes to make it work."

NCL employs about 1,150 workers for the Pride of Aloha, with 820 aboard the ship at any one time. About half of the total are from Hawai'i, with many others hailing from the Pacific Northwest.

Kritzman said NCL will add about 100 more workers to its crew aboard the ship to give them experience as the company gears up for the launch of Pride of America.

"It's for training and, practically speaking, we can't hire 1,000 people in that short a period of time," he said. "So it's a matter of training and, for lack of a better term, housing people in positions. There will be some extra labor costs that we would not otherwise have on an ongoing basis."

About 600 people have accepted jobs with Pride of America, although many of them have yet to go through the required process that includes physical exams, background checks and training, Kritzman said. About a third of that number are expected to drop off before Pride of America is launched, he said.

Passenger complaints about the Pride of Aloha began escalating in August, about a month after the ship was launched. Complaints focused mainly on cleanliness, quality of food and long waits for meals.

Kritzman has said that part of the problem was the lack of experience among crew members, and that at the time about 40 to 50 crew members a week had been taking their previously scheduled monthlong vacations with newer workers filling in.

Since then, NCL brought in a senior management team from its headquarters in Miami, expanded its training program from one week to three, and increased its hiring. It also temporarily allowed customers to cancel their cruises without penalty and is working on a new policy for its $10-a-day service charge, which has been suspended.

"What we've seen as a result of really hitting this hard with staff and training is a tremendous improvement in customer satisfaction scores," Kritzman said, referring to satisfaction surveys distributed to cruise passengers. "We've seen constant improvement since we've hit the low point."

Average evaluations are now at or just below the "very good" rating, the second highest of five ratings, he said.

"We'd like to see it continue to improve, but we're satisfied with the standards (aboard the Pride of Aloha) today," Kritzman said.

Another gauge of service aboard the Pride of Aloha has been comments posted on the Cruise Critic Web site message boards. The comments, which had been critical in the past, have grown more positive in recent weeks.

California resident Laurie Reed, a veteran of more than 30 cruises, said she was expecting the worst before she began her cruise the week of Sept. 26. But she said she was pleasantly surprised by how smooth the cruise operations were and would definitely consider NCL for future cruises.

"My experience was a positive one," she said via e-mail.

While she said she ate only in the ship's cafe and not in the main dining room or specialty restaurants, Reed said the food was good or very good most nights and the wait was usually no longer than 10 minutes. She also praised the service aboard the ship.

But Michigan resident Vita Harbowy, who was on the same cruise, was disappointed and said that although she and her husband are loyal NCL cruisers, she won't recommend the Pride of Aloha "until management brings it up to the standards we are used to on NCL." They have been on nine cruises, six of which were on NCL ships.

Harbowy said the staff was very friendly and hardworking and that the cabin was kept clean. Getting on and off the ship was smooth and quick, and they enjoyed all the shows, she said. But Harbowy also had complaints.

"Pride of Aloha has so many new employees that it's not efficient," she said, adding that she also grew tired of the food menus in the main dining rooms, which changed little each night.

The state of Hawai'i Office of Consumer Protection has received about 10 complaints about the Pride of Aloha's service and food, which were filed in early to mid-September, said Stephen Levins, executive director of the agency. No other complaints have come in since, he said.

The agency is evaluating NCL's response to the complaints "and we're in an ongoing dialogue with them at this point," Levins said. He would not give further details.

Kritzman said the 10 complaints should be weighed with the fact that the ship carries about 2,000 passengers a week.

"But we acknowledge that we went through a period where we had some service issues that we weren't happy with," he said.

From a business standpoint, the Pride of Aloha "has been on plan so far," Kritzman said. "Our costs are higher than we had anticipated. Our revenue numbers are probably a little higher than our conservative plan.

"I think what we're looking at is a lot of startup expenses," he said, noting that it has been three and a half months since the company began operating the cruise.

"We are confident that it will be quite profitable."

Kritzman said bookings have not been affected by negative reviews and cancellations have been minimal and not unusual. Bookings on the Pride of Aloha are at more than 90 percent for the rest of the year, and it is more than 70 percent booked through the first quarter of next year, he said.

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2470.