A happy crew make dream vacations come true

FRIDAY, JUNE 10: As a young lad growing up in Hampshire, England, Calvin Lodge had dreams of soaring high with the RAF, but academic realities pulled him back to earth.

It’s one of the best things that could have happened to him. He went into the hospitality industry and eventually found his way to the sea.

Mr. Lodge has worked his way up through the ranks and is now the hotel director of the Norwegian Dawn. On an average week he has over 2,000 passengers in his care and more than 900 crew members to help him give them the vacation of a lifetime.

Don Burgess spoke to him about his career.

How did you get your start in the hospitality industry?

When I was 13-years-old I was interested in catering and cooking. I was partly learning about how to be a chef. I was also trying to get into the RAF, but my academic skills were not strong enough. At 16, I left school. There was a hotel management course at the local technical college. I was involved there for three years and gained a national diploma in catering and management. I did very well in that and moved on to a high national diploma and at 21 I came to work in the hospitality industry.

What was your first job after you graduated?

I worked for a leisure company in the UK that ran hotels, catering venues and nightclubs. I started as a trainee manager and moved up to a bar manager.

How did you make the transition from land to sea?

My parents were going on a world cruise on the Canberra. One of my friends was working in one of the bands on the ship and they managed to get me a pass to get onboard. After going on board I thought to myself ‘I have to do this. If I don’t do it, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.’ I applied for a job and within three weeks I was flying out to Acapulco to join the Royal Princess as a junior purser. That was 21 years ago.

How was your first week at sea?

Scary – It’s very daunting to be on a cruise ship if you’ve never been on one before. I thought to myself ‘What have I done?’ There was a lot of terminology to learn and there’s a lot of respect you have to give people like the captain. The first few months is hard, especially being away from home and learning to live in a tiny little cabin, which you may have to share with other people.

When your first rotation was up, how did you feel?

I thought about it carefully — whether I was going to come back or not. I did six months and I left the ship and thought ‘I’ve done it now. I’ve experienced it. It was okay, but it wasn’t me.’ I took a job as a pub manager for a year and became bored very quickly and went back. I haven’t looked back ever since.

What do you enjoy about being at sea?

Initially it was the travelling. I travelled the world and did six or seven world cruises in my career. I love the camaraderie onboard with the crew and the other officers and the friendships you make there. Of course, there’s the meeting with the guests. That’s the hospitality part of the job.

What does being the hotel director aboard the Norwegian Dawn do?

I’m overseeing the biggest department of the ship. We are a floating resort and 85 per cent of the ship’s crew are in the hotel — just around 900 crew.

Those departments include food and beverage, housekeeping, administration and concessions. The main thing is making sure the guests receive the best experience and the most enjoyable vacation they possibly can. We want to make sure they come back to us with a great feeling. To have them say ‘Wow! That was a fantastic vacation.’

How does the crew fit into that?

In keeping the guests happy, we have to make sure the crew are happy. We don’t talk about that much, but that’s an area that falls under my job. If the crew aren’t happy, the guests aren’t happy. If they aren’t happy, it reflects on the service they give. We’re like a big family really.

What sort of issues do you have to deal with to keep the crew happy?

The main issue is family – they’re worried about what is happening at home. We are so far away, especially the crew from the Philippines or India. It’s not so easy to get home so things do sit on their mind. If there’s an issue, they bring it forward and we counsel them. If it’s of concern enough, we’ll arrange for them to go home and resolve their problems.

What’s the most rewarding part of being the hotel director?

Receiving praise about our crewmembers from guests. When a guest comes up and says ‘This crew member went out of their way to make our cruise fantastic.’ Our goal is for the guests to enjoy their cruise, then we know we’ve done it right.

How did you end up as a hotel director?

I’ve been sailing with Norwegian for 11 years and a hotel director for six years. I was an assistant hotel director with Norwegian and I also was the food and beverage manager on another line. I moved up through hard work and experiencing the various jobs.

What does Norwegian do right?

The freestyle cruising is the way to go forward. Other cruise lines have started to follow Norwegian’s lead by adding additional restaurants, but we are way ahead. Our choice of restaurants is way ahead of other cruise lines. We’re taking that concept beyond just dining. We’re adapting our whole product so people have more choice.

We have multiple entertainment going on at the same time. Guests don’t have to go see the one main show then move on to another lounge — freestyle cruising makes it easy.

How has the cruise industry changed since you started?

From an operational point of view, there are more regulations dealing with the environment. Everything has to be very well documented on how we deal with garbage and how things are recycled.

From a guests’ point of view, the ships are much, much bigger. There’s more options for the guest onboard.

Are ships going to continue to get bigger? Or has the industry reached the saturation point on bigger is better?

Some lines will continue to make ships bigger because they want to be the biggest.

Norwegian’s newest ship will be slightly smaller than the Epic. We don’t seem to be building huge ships like other lines. A lot of guests like this size of ship.

We have also had a lot of good feedback about the Epic as well. The problem is if the ships keep getting bigger and bigger, the ports can’t handle them.

What’s special about being in Bermuda for three days rather than a normal port of coming in at 8am and leaving by 5pm?

We regularly have to ask for extra spaces from the operators in Bermuda to take more guests because we have waiting lists.

They have an opportunity to do more excursions in Bermuda – sometimes they can do two in one day because they don’t have to rush back to the ship. They can really see the island and what Bermuda has to offer.

Our freestyle cruising fits in with that – they can come back to the ship when they want rather than having to be on board for 6pm or 6:30pm dinner. They can dine up to 10:30pm.