The rumors of job terminations at Royal Caribbean ended yesterday when multiple news sources announced that the Miami-based cruise lines cut around 100 employees from its payroll.
Seatrade Insider was the first publication I read yesterday about the large scale termination at the cruise line’s headquarters. Its article entitled Royal Caribbean Global EVP Bauer is Leaving, 100 Other Positions are Eliminated showed a photo of a rather somber Ms. Bauer looking tense with her hands clinched. Although the photo was probably a stock photo, the photo to me captured the anxiety and grim nature of mass lay-offs.
Ms. Bauer has been a popular executive for Royal Caribbean and has been one the regulars photographed whenever a new cruise ship comes on line or a new terminal is opened. She has worked for Royal Caribbean for the past 11 years involved in sales, marketing, hotel operations and product development.
The photograph to the right shows Ms. Bauer in happier days when she was discussing the unveiling of the Oasis of the Sea. She is shown with the Royal Caribbean fraternity brothers Chairman Richard Fain, President Adam Goldstein and Captain William Wright.
The Miami Herald published a story on the cruise employees lay-offs as well as Travel Weekly which ran the title Royal Caribbean Cuts 100 Jobs, Including Bauer’s.
In addition to Ms. Bauer, some 100 other level positions were eliminated.
A couple of years ago, Royal Caribbean initiated a similar purge of 400 employees when the vice president of risk management, the head of crew claims, the head of passenger claims and a senior representative in corporate communications were all fired. Like Ms. Bauer, these four senior employees were all women.
The other major mass termination occurred in 2001 when the cruise line eliminated 500 jobs.
I’d like to know how many of the 100 Royal Caribbean employees terminated yesterday were women? Anyone know?
The Seatrade Insider called the most recent mass firings a "drive for greater corporate efficiency."
Hogwash. That’s gobbledygook. The reality is fewer people will now do more work to keep money in the Chairman’s and President’s pockets.
In June, we published a spot-on article about Royal Caribbean cutting the senior officers in its marine operations department while increasing the work and reducing the pay of those officers which survived the cuts. You can read that article here: Cruise Lines Increase Responsibilities & Hours of Officers But Decrease Pay.
These actions call into question whether "Loyal to Royal" is just a publicity slogan.