Holland America Cruise Line Internship
Introduction
As part of my Practicum I participated in an Internship with Holland America Cruise Line and worked a semester onboard separate from the internship. In order to align my experiences with my Global-Intercultural Distinction, I organized crew activities and excursions for my fellow crew members. I did this over a course of one year onboard the ms Nieuw Amsterdam and the ms Maasdam.
Working on a cruise ship automatically puts you in a culturally diverse environment. With an average of 40 various nationalities within our crew members, the opportunity to interact and work with others who are not from your same culture is inevitable. Not only were the crew members culturally diverse, but our clientele is as well. Each voyage/cruise a Guest Global break down was sent out to departments, this way we could see which nationalities were represented onboard and be able to prepare to cater to their needs.
Job Responsibilities
My role during my internship was the Shore Excursions Manager. My job responsibilities were to manage a culturally diverse team of 2-4 individuals. In addition to overseeing them in their responsibilities, my responsibilities included working directly with our tour vendors from the various ports/countries the cruise ship was visiting, creating marketing and informational material for our cruise passengers, and communicating with onboard departments. Should a problem arise with a guest in which my assistants could not resolve, it was my responsibility to work directly with the guest to find a resolution.
As marketing material was my responsibility to create, it would seem suitable to describe what material was created. My department oversaw the ashore tour experiences for our guests. In order to promote our activities, I would create a Tour Booklet with tour descriptions and information inside of it. I would also create various flyers that would be available on our desk and sent to the guests staterooms, in which would promote various tours that were available. Each cruise, I would do a live presentation, with pictures, in which I would talk about the various options that were available in each port.
In addition to my contracted responsibilities, I took on the responsibility to create crew tours and assist in organizing crew events. These were not activities that were required by my employer, but were activities that contributed to the crew culture.
Cultural Definition and Application
Culture can be seen as a very broad term. A person’s culture is not just made up of where they come from, but it is made up from the groups in which they belong to. On a cruise ship, there are a variety of group cultures in which needs to be considered. Of course the first one to consider is the nationality of your clientele. Cruise ships are very diverse in this aspect, as you can have approximately 30 various nationalities among just the passengers alone.
In addition to this variance, you have the culture of age. Holland America’s average age of passengers is 74 years old. However, the location of the cruise in the world will dictate the variety of passengers. Understanding these groups is important as they each speak differently. Being able to connect to both the young and old, without offending either is something that can be challenging.
Another culture in which is apparent on cruise ships is that of financial status. Although Holland America caters to the more financially wealthy clientele, depending on the region of the world in which the ship is traveling to, you may encounter those of varying financial status. Understanding these differences is important, as you know how to address each person’s needs and desires.
The last culture in which is seen on a cruise ship is that of experience. Cruising is becoming more popular in more recent years. Therefore, the number of “First-Time” cruisers is increasing. However, Holland America has one of the highest return rates in the industry, with an average of 40% of guests returning to the same ship. Thus, being aware of the demographic for each voyage is important. Understanding this will help you know what information to provide to each guest.
Cultural Experiences
During my experiences, I have encountered a variety of situations in which either challenged me on a cultural level or assisted in my increase knowledge of a culture. Below are various experiences in which I encountered one of these situations:
Marketing Material
While planning and executing my tour presentations, it was important for me to keep in mind the various cultures in which I would be viewing my presentation. Not only did I need to think about the various nationalities that were onboard, but I also needed to cater to the various age groups. The way in which I organized my material needed to be clear to all cultures.
As I was responsible for creating the onboard promotional material, it was important to keep in mind the various nationalities. As per company policy, if we had more than 10% represented by a particular nationality that spoke a language other than English, we were required to translate all material into that language. During the length of my contracts, we only had this occur on one voyage, in which I needed to have my material translated into Spanish. As I speak very little Spanish, I had to work directly with a Spanish-speaking crew member to accomplish this. There were times in which we had to reword or change our material in order to cater to the language and Spanish culture.
Another experience occurred when we had a charter group for Gas Monkey Garage. As this was a charter, there were special tours in which we added to our program and ones that we took away. Understanding that the clientele was going to be that of a younger generation, very active and many of them military or service men, I designed a booklet in which I changed the tour description wording to appeal more to this generation. In addition, I organized the tours with the active tours listed first and the city tours listed last. In addition to making changes to the booklet, I created “special promotions” for the group in which gave discounts to those who were in the military or servicemen. I also did promotions that gave discounts or promotional items for those who participated in 3 or more tours. Understanding the Gas Monkey culture was important, as they were very different from our typical clientele. For myself, I was more familiar with this group, as I am into classic car restoration. For some of my colleagues, it was more difficult. Therefore, I had the opportunity to share my knowledge with others of what would be expected by this group and things that would be acceptable.
Cultural Interactions with Guests
During my internship, I had the pleasure of being the personal tour manager to the Netherlands Royal Family. Although I worked with many Dutch crew members, I was not very familiar with their traditions and customs. In preparation for their arrival, it was necessary for me to meet with the Dutch crew members and learn how I was to address the Princess and her family. Upon arrival, I met with the private security team for the Royal Family to discuss with them what would be the expectations. I have never worked with anyone who was of such high status before, so understanding this culture was very foreign to myself. During the week that I worked with the Royal Family, I encountered many challenges. Some of which included making changes to their tour itinerary 5-10 minutes prior to departure, accidents while on tour, high demand for quality, and demographic challenges within the group. Not only was the family from a country and culture different than mine, but they had many cultures within their own family. Age ranges within the family ranged from 3-70 years old. Finding activities that all would enjoy at times was challenging. Additionally, some of the family did not speak English, so communicating with them proved to be interesting. One of the sons of the Prince and Princess also had an autistic child, which proved to be another culture in which I had to consider when planning activities for the family. Overall, I had to consider all of the various culture groups in which the Royal Family belonged to. Though it was a challenge, it allowed me to learn and grow immensely!
I also had the experience of working with the Duke and Duchess of Ireland during my internship. Coming from a higher class of society than I am from, it was a learning experience in working with them. They wanted to be treated a particular way and addressed by their titles. I had to learn what was an appropriate way to address them, create itineraries in which they would find entertaining and adjust my own culture characteristics so that I could communicate with them effectively. During this experience, I discovered that the Communication Theory in which I was using was the Communication Accommodation Theory.
Cultural Interactions with Crew Members
Although I had many cultural interactions with the guests, the ones in which I learned the most from were that of the interactions with my fellow crew members. On the Nieuw Amsterdam, I managed a team of two. I had a male assistant who was Serbian from Bosnia and was very outspoken. The other assistant was a female, lesbian, from South Africa who was very soft spoken. On the Maasdam I had a male assistant from Hungary who was very quiet until he got to know you. I had a female assistant from Turkey who was in her early 20’s. I also had a female assistant born in the Philippines and raised in Saudi Arabia who was in her early 40’s with a child who is living in Alaska.
I make these observations, as they all were very different people in which we all had very different cultures. The male assistant from Bosnia struggled with me as his superior for the first part of our contract. This was because in his culture, women were not seen as being able to hold supervisory positions. We had to learn to develop a respect for one another and learn how to work out our cultural differences. In the end, he was one of the best people I have worked with. As for the female from South Africa, her cultural differences were something that I had to keep in mind. She came from a home in which frowned upon homosexuality. She was not able to tell her parents that she was a lesbian, therefore understanding this part of her life was important in how I treated her and assisted her with her personal struggles. The female assistant from Turkey was one that I struggled with. As she was young, she was more concerned about her social life than her work. As she came from a nation who is currently in unrest, I had to be considerate in how I addressed things with her. The male assistant from Hungary was an interesting character. He had worked on ships for 10 years already, which contributed to his culture. He was very stubborn, in which I learned is typical of Hungarian. However, he was very open to talking about his culture and sharing it with the team. The female assistant from the Philippines was the quietest of the group. She was also very strong in her Catholic faith and had been working on cruise ships the longest of any of my assistants, however she was new to the Shore Excursions Department.
During both contracts and will all of my assistants, each day we would have a cultural discussion. During these discussions we would pick a topic in which we could all describe our views and how the society in which we live in views the topic. This was a great way to learn about each other and the places in which we came from. It opened my eyes and helped me gain a greater insight to each of my assistants. It also helped me know better how to interact with them, understand them and be able to communicate with them more effectively.
Service Work
As part of my experience on board the cruise ship, I created Crew Tours for the crew on both ships I sailed on. I also participated in crew activities that were sponsored by the Human Resources Department. The purpose of all of these activities was to encourage our crew members to interact with one another and learn more about each other.
Crew Tours
Seeing how I was responsible to arrange activities in port for our guests, I had the ability to arrange activities for our crew as well. I arranged a variety of activities which included; Scuba Diving, Swimming with the Dolphins, Snorkeling, Wine Tastings, Rum Tastings, Zip-lining, Cultural Shows, Luaus, Hikes, and more. We had an average of 10 crew members that would participate in each activity. Although this doesn’t sound like a lot of crew members, they all came from various departments and cultures. I found that after these tours, crew started to hang out with those that they had met on tour. The culture of the ship also began to change, as the crew became friendlier towards each other.
Crew Activities
Due to my overly friendly nature, I volunteered to assist the Human Resources department in organizing crew activities. They appreciated this, as I talked to many of the crew and was able to persuade them into attending the activities. Some of the activities that we arranged included; BINGO nights, Indonesian Independence Day Celebration & Dinner, Filipino Independence Day Celebration & Dinner, Crew Fun Runs, Dutch Dinner, Crew Thanksgiving Dinner, and Team Dinners. Together we were able to introduce the crew to various cultures and traditions. At the dinners, we would pick meal items that were from various cultures, allowing the crew to taste and learn more about the culture and their peers. For the Independence Day celebrations, we were able to connect each crew member to the customs of each nation. Our fun runs catered to the active crew members, however we discovered that even if a crew member wasn’t a runner, they participated to feel a sense of belonging. BINGO nights also created a sense of bonding among the crew. All activities allowed the crew to mingle with those that they may not have the chance to while working. All were encouraged to talk to someone new each time and the result ended with a crew that were closer and more positive.
Conclusion
My experience on the cruise ship has been one of the most educational experiences I have ever had. Working alongside a variety of cultures and nationalities has provided me with many learning opportunities. During my experience on the Internship and the contract after I have traveled to over 30 different countries. I have had the ability of being able to work on a global scale for an organization who operates around the world. I have interacted with tour operators from around the world and have gained insight as to how culture plays a role in business relations. I have seen how those from varying cultures will ban together at a time of tragedy to support and lift one another up. The experience and knowledge I have gained through this experience has changed me for the better and I feel as if I am more culturally adapt than I ever thought I would be. However, I feel that I still have much more to learn. I feel grateful for this opportunity and for the person it has shaped me to be.
As part of my Practicum I participated in an Internship with Holland America Cruise Line and worked a semester onboard separate from the internship. In order to align my experiences with my Global-Intercultural Distinction, I organized crew activities and excursions for my fellow crew members. I did this over a course of one year onboard the ms Nieuw Amsterdam and the ms Maasdam.
Working on a cruise ship automatically puts you in a culturally diverse environment. With an average of 40 various nationalities within our crew members, the opportunity to interact and work with others who are not from your same culture is inevitable. Not only were the crew members culturally diverse, but our clientele is as well. Each voyage/cruise a Guest Global break down was sent out to departments, this way we could see which nationalities were represented onboard and be able to prepare to cater to their needs.
Job Responsibilities
My role during my internship was the Shore Excursions Manager. My job responsibilities were to manage a culturally diverse team of 2-4 individuals. In addition to overseeing them in their responsibilities, my responsibilities included working directly with our tour vendors from the various ports/countries the cruise ship was visiting, creating marketing and informational material for our cruise passengers, and communicating with onboard departments. Should a problem arise with a guest in which my assistants could not resolve, it was my responsibility to work directly with the guest to find a resolution.
As marketing material was my responsibility to create, it would seem suitable to describe what material was created. My department oversaw the ashore tour experiences for our guests. In order to promote our activities, I would create a Tour Booklet with tour descriptions and information inside of it. I would also create various flyers that would be available on our desk and sent to the guests staterooms, in which would promote various tours that were available. Each cruise, I would do a live presentation, with pictures, in which I would talk about the various options that were available in each port.
In addition to my contracted responsibilities, I took on the responsibility to create crew tours and assist in organizing crew events. These were not activities that were required by my employer, but were activities that contributed to the crew culture.
Cultural Definition and Application
Culture can be seen as a very broad term. A person’s culture is not just made up of where they come from, but it is made up from the groups in which they belong to. On a cruise ship, there are a variety of group cultures in which needs to be considered. Of course the first one to consider is the nationality of your clientele. Cruise ships are very diverse in this aspect, as you can have approximately 30 various nationalities among just the passengers alone.
In addition to this variance, you have the culture of age. Holland America’s average age of passengers is 74 years old. However, the location of the cruise in the world will dictate the variety of passengers. Understanding these groups is important as they each speak differently. Being able to connect to both the young and old, without offending either is something that can be challenging.
Another culture in which is apparent on cruise ships is that of financial status. Although Holland America caters to the more financially wealthy clientele, depending on the region of the world in which the ship is traveling to, you may encounter those of varying financial status. Understanding these differences is important, as you know how to address each person’s needs and desires.
The last culture in which is seen on a cruise ship is that of experience. Cruising is becoming more popular in more recent years. Therefore, the number of “First-Time” cruisers is increasing. However, Holland America has one of the highest return rates in the industry, with an average of 40% of guests returning to the same ship. Thus, being aware of the demographic for each voyage is important. Understanding this will help you know what information to provide to each guest.
Cultural Experiences
During my experiences, I have encountered a variety of situations in which either challenged me on a cultural level or assisted in my increase knowledge of a culture. Below are various experiences in which I encountered one of these situations:
Marketing Material
While planning and executing my tour presentations, it was important for me to keep in mind the various cultures in which I would be viewing my presentation. Not only did I need to think about the various nationalities that were onboard, but I also needed to cater to the various age groups. The way in which I organized my material needed to be clear to all cultures.
As I was responsible for creating the onboard promotional material, it was important to keep in mind the various nationalities. As per company policy, if we had more than 10% represented by a particular nationality that spoke a language other than English, we were required to translate all material into that language. During the length of my contracts, we only had this occur on one voyage, in which I needed to have my material translated into Spanish. As I speak very little Spanish, I had to work directly with a Spanish-speaking crew member to accomplish this. There were times in which we had to reword or change our material in order to cater to the language and Spanish culture.
Another experience occurred when we had a charter group for Gas Monkey Garage. As this was a charter, there were special tours in which we added to our program and ones that we took away. Understanding that the clientele was going to be that of a younger generation, very active and many of them military or service men, I designed a booklet in which I changed the tour description wording to appeal more to this generation. In addition, I organized the tours with the active tours listed first and the city tours listed last. In addition to making changes to the booklet, I created “special promotions” for the group in which gave discounts to those who were in the military or servicemen. I also did promotions that gave discounts or promotional items for those who participated in 3 or more tours. Understanding the Gas Monkey culture was important, as they were very different from our typical clientele. For myself, I was more familiar with this group, as I am into classic car restoration. For some of my colleagues, it was more difficult. Therefore, I had the opportunity to share my knowledge with others of what would be expected by this group and things that would be acceptable.
Cultural Interactions with Guests
During my internship, I had the pleasure of being the personal tour manager to the Netherlands Royal Family. Although I worked with many Dutch crew members, I was not very familiar with their traditions and customs. In preparation for their arrival, it was necessary for me to meet with the Dutch crew members and learn how I was to address the Princess and her family. Upon arrival, I met with the private security team for the Royal Family to discuss with them what would be the expectations. I have never worked with anyone who was of such high status before, so understanding this culture was very foreign to myself. During the week that I worked with the Royal Family, I encountered many challenges. Some of which included making changes to their tour itinerary 5-10 minutes prior to departure, accidents while on tour, high demand for quality, and demographic challenges within the group. Not only was the family from a country and culture different than mine, but they had many cultures within their own family. Age ranges within the family ranged from 3-70 years old. Finding activities that all would enjoy at times was challenging. Additionally, some of the family did not speak English, so communicating with them proved to be interesting. One of the sons of the Prince and Princess also had an autistic child, which proved to be another culture in which I had to consider when planning activities for the family. Overall, I had to consider all of the various culture groups in which the Royal Family belonged to. Though it was a challenge, it allowed me to learn and grow immensely!
I also had the experience of working with the Duke and Duchess of Ireland during my internship. Coming from a higher class of society than I am from, it was a learning experience in working with them. They wanted to be treated a particular way and addressed by their titles. I had to learn what was an appropriate way to address them, create itineraries in which they would find entertaining and adjust my own culture characteristics so that I could communicate with them effectively. During this experience, I discovered that the Communication Theory in which I was using was the Communication Accommodation Theory.
Cultural Interactions with Crew Members
Although I had many cultural interactions with the guests, the ones in which I learned the most from were that of the interactions with my fellow crew members. On the Nieuw Amsterdam, I managed a team of two. I had a male assistant who was Serbian from Bosnia and was very outspoken. The other assistant was a female, lesbian, from South Africa who was very soft spoken. On the Maasdam I had a male assistant from Hungary who was very quiet until he got to know you. I had a female assistant from Turkey who was in her early 20’s. I also had a female assistant born in the Philippines and raised in Saudi Arabia who was in her early 40’s with a child who is living in Alaska.
I make these observations, as they all were very different people in which we all had very different cultures. The male assistant from Bosnia struggled with me as his superior for the first part of our contract. This was because in his culture, women were not seen as being able to hold supervisory positions. We had to learn to develop a respect for one another and learn how to work out our cultural differences. In the end, he was one of the best people I have worked with. As for the female from South Africa, her cultural differences were something that I had to keep in mind. She came from a home in which frowned upon homosexuality. She was not able to tell her parents that she was a lesbian, therefore understanding this part of her life was important in how I treated her and assisted her with her personal struggles. The female assistant from Turkey was one that I struggled with. As she was young, she was more concerned about her social life than her work. As she came from a nation who is currently in unrest, I had to be considerate in how I addressed things with her. The male assistant from Hungary was an interesting character. He had worked on ships for 10 years already, which contributed to his culture. He was very stubborn, in which I learned is typical of Hungarian. However, he was very open to talking about his culture and sharing it with the team. The female assistant from the Philippines was the quietest of the group. She was also very strong in her Catholic faith and had been working on cruise ships the longest of any of my assistants, however she was new to the Shore Excursions Department.
During both contracts and will all of my assistants, each day we would have a cultural discussion. During these discussions we would pick a topic in which we could all describe our views and how the society in which we live in views the topic. This was a great way to learn about each other and the places in which we came from. It opened my eyes and helped me gain a greater insight to each of my assistants. It also helped me know better how to interact with them, understand them and be able to communicate with them more effectively.
Service Work
As part of my experience on board the cruise ship, I created Crew Tours for the crew on both ships I sailed on. I also participated in crew activities that were sponsored by the Human Resources Department. The purpose of all of these activities was to encourage our crew members to interact with one another and learn more about each other.
Crew Tours
Seeing how I was responsible to arrange activities in port for our guests, I had the ability to arrange activities for our crew as well. I arranged a variety of activities which included; Scuba Diving, Swimming with the Dolphins, Snorkeling, Wine Tastings, Rum Tastings, Zip-lining, Cultural Shows, Luaus, Hikes, and more. We had an average of 10 crew members that would participate in each activity. Although this doesn’t sound like a lot of crew members, they all came from various departments and cultures. I found that after these tours, crew started to hang out with those that they had met on tour. The culture of the ship also began to change, as the crew became friendlier towards each other.
Crew Activities
Due to my overly friendly nature, I volunteered to assist the Human Resources department in organizing crew activities. They appreciated this, as I talked to many of the crew and was able to persuade them into attending the activities. Some of the activities that we arranged included; BINGO nights, Indonesian Independence Day Celebration & Dinner, Filipino Independence Day Celebration & Dinner, Crew Fun Runs, Dutch Dinner, Crew Thanksgiving Dinner, and Team Dinners. Together we were able to introduce the crew to various cultures and traditions. At the dinners, we would pick meal items that were from various cultures, allowing the crew to taste and learn more about the culture and their peers. For the Independence Day celebrations, we were able to connect each crew member to the customs of each nation. Our fun runs catered to the active crew members, however we discovered that even if a crew member wasn’t a runner, they participated to feel a sense of belonging. BINGO nights also created a sense of bonding among the crew. All activities allowed the crew to mingle with those that they may not have the chance to while working. All were encouraged to talk to someone new each time and the result ended with a crew that were closer and more positive.
Conclusion
My experience on the cruise ship has been one of the most educational experiences I have ever had. Working alongside a variety of cultures and nationalities has provided me with many learning opportunities. During my experience on the Internship and the contract after I have traveled to over 30 different countries. I have had the ability of being able to work on a global scale for an organization who operates around the world. I have interacted with tour operators from around the world and have gained insight as to how culture plays a role in business relations. I have seen how those from varying cultures will ban together at a time of tragedy to support and lift one another up. The experience and knowledge I have gained through this experience has changed me for the better and I feel as if I am more culturally adapt than I ever thought I would be. However, I feel that I still have much more to learn. I feel grateful for this opportunity and for the person it has shaped me to be.
