Barely 2 months into my first season in the River Cruise Operations Team, we were notified that one of our cruise directors was withdrawing from all his scheduled cruise commitments on a ship that I was responsible for. This left several scheduled 8-day cruises without a company representative on board to manage them and despite our best efforts to fill these dates with other cruise directors, there was one date that could not be covered. We therefore needed to find someone with knowledge of the company, the ship, and this particular itinerary to fly out to Portugal to be the Cruise Director for this 7-night cruise.
Although I had no prior experience as a cruise director or tour leader, I immediately seized the opportunity to cover this cruise for the company. Despite my juniority in the River Cruise team, my previous experience in the reservations department meant that I had already worked for the company for approximately one year. Furthermore, this previous experience also meant that I was familiar with the itinerary and the complete client journey. This theoretical knowledge of the itinerary and the ship, combined with my natural character and interpersonal skills, left me confident that I would be able to overcome any challenges I might face. Additionally, I recognised that it would also be an enormously useful opportunity to further my knowledge of the product that I was personally responsible for and our contacts in Portugal.
Approximately 1 week later, I flew out to Oporto to meet the departing cruise director from the previous week's cruise and greet the arriving guests. Whilst clearly not an experienced Cruise Director for this itinerary, I was able to adapt and utilise the ship's crew and local guides to answer any questions that I did not know. My natural interpersonal skills from years of working in the hospitality industry allowed me to connect with many of the clients and crew to successfully overcome any problems that occurred. This included swapping cabins with a couple that were dissatisfied with the level of engine noise in their own and reporting the issue to the main office to follow up on their return to the UK. As the sole company representative on board I was responsible for the overall happiness and wellbeing of the approx. 120 clients on this cruise on the Douro river between Oporto and Salamanca (Spain). In order to achieve this, I had to remain accessible to the clients at all times and as visible as possible throughout the cruise. This tested my adaptability and both my mental and physical resilience as they were long and energetic days on constant call for any problems that might arise.
The cruise was an overall success and I personally received a 97% client approval rating from the clients. I also formed strong connections with many of the crew, while also gaining valuable insight into this cruise itinerary and the challenges that our cruise directors regularly face more broadly. This greater understanding allowed me to operate more effectively for the rest of the season while also lending greater credibility, through first-hand experience, to my suggestions when dealing with cruise directors and fellow office staff.
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