Hospitality

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about hospitality/the service industry. That is what working for a cruise line ultimately means: serving a unique and unforgettable experience to the guest. My department – entertainment – is considered a part of the larger umbrella of the hotel department. We are encouraged to engage with the guests and to contribute positively to their cruising experience; we as entertainers are often told what a difference it can make to a guest to form a relationship with the staff. I have found that people are particularly eager to engage with the entertainment staff.

I never really thought about my job as a musician as part of the service industry. If anything, I’ve always felt like I’m serving myself – I get paid to play music all day, how self-serving (and awesome) is that? But it has struck me recently that our job is to deliver an experience to the guest. Of course we play for the audience, but usually the music feels so personal that it never feels like work at all. It is an experience that you and the audience share. When I think about the service industry – hotel services, tourism, restaurant staff – I picture a staff member getting paid to serve the customer. We go to restaurants because we want someone to make us food and deliver it to us. We stay at a hotel and pay for the privilege for someone else to make the bed and clean the bathroom. My job never feels like that. Celebrity goes above and beyond to make sure that the guest feels like the crew is at their service. At each and every table on our buffet deck, there is a table card with the server’s name and the following: “It is my pleasure to serve you. We are at your service.” The crew does an amazing job of making the guests feel like royalty. Perhaps I am delivering an experience to the guest – it just happens that it’s also really fun for me, too.

I’m sure that plenty of people find fun work in the service industry. As cliché as it sounds, it is rewarding to be able to deliver that unique experience to the guest. The guests provide feedback each week from as way to show their appreciation and continued support of Celebrity Cruises. The courtesy rubs off on everyone in the environment, I think. We are asked to always smile and greet, and to address guests directly whenever we pass them on the ship. We always say “Good morning/afternoon/evening,” and “How are you?” Sometimes the way we feel is a result of the way we act, and always having to smile and greet people directly never fails to put me in a cheerful mood. I wonder what would happen if I smiled and greeted strangers on the streets of Manhattan…