Shore Excursion Manager

Shore Excursions Manager, Worldwide – on-board ship

The Role:

Reporting directly to the General Manager, you will be responsible for delivering contracted shore excursions (developed by the Cruise Product and Planning department) in a manner that exceeds the customer expectations, controls costs and drives revenues.

This role is ideally suited to an outgoing ‘people person’ with a love of travel, touring, adventure and teamwork in a sophisticated cruise environment.

Duties will include operating the shore excursions desk, reviewing the customer journey, monitoring and managing numbers to maintain profit margins, act as airport representative, follow up on customer complaints, conduct public relations with the guests and make public announcements. Responsibilities will include (but not limited to):

Responsibilities:

• To enhance the Shore Excursion experience for each of our valued passengers, ensuring that every related aspect of the Shore Excursion product is executed with superior precision while maintaining the exacting standards of excellence in customer service.
• To man the Shore Excursion Desk in conjunction with the Cruise Assistant.
• Responsible for all aspects of Shore Ex administration (including uploads, ticket runs, booking & cancelling tours etc.)
• Actively participate in and manage the day to day delivery of the Shore Excursion operation (including seeing & back tours, loading coaches/shuttles, confirming numbers with agents etc.).
• To be responsible for the inputting of Shore Ex information in the Daily Programme.
• Responsible for the effective financial management of the on board Shore Excursion programme, meeting budgets and targets and ensuring commercial viability of the Shore Excursion operation.
• Escorting shore excursions to provide a professional and knowledgeable reassuring presence to our passengers and to ensure consistent quality in the delivery of the product. It is expected the Shore Excursion Manager would escort tours at least four times a week.
• To manage and rota Shore Excursion escorts. To identify which ‘sensitive’ tours will require ‘Swan Hellenic Escorts’ (E.g. ‘As & when filled’ returns, tours with large numbers, tours with potential hazards (steps, climbs etc.) To manage and rota Guest Artists and Crew Speakers escorts.
• To deliver tours presentations when required.
• Escort pre & post cruise tours when required.
• Develop, train and maintain an ongoing Training Programme for the Cruise Assistant to continually improve Shore Excursion service and their ability to resolve passenger queries and issues.
• Attend the Cruise Planning meeting with HOD’s to ensure all are comprehensively briefed on port information, the excursion programme and timings and any meal or additional requirements.
• Conduct daily catch-up meeting with GM to inform and update on Shore Excursion product delivery and any potential issues.
• To provide an End of Cruise Report detailing financial performance and any major passenger issues and how these were resolved on board including copies of any letters and correspondence on board.
• Consistently monitor Shore Excursion comment log and ensure follow up action has been taken in a timely manner and that all information contained within the log is accurate and provides enough information for shore-side colleagues to follow up post cruise if required. To meet with passengers regarding any Shore Excursion related issues and to deal with all passenger complaints in the most diplomatic and appropriate way.
• Support and provide information to customer services with regards to any post cruise complaints regarding Shore Excursions issues.
• Review and analyse passenger Customer Service Questionnaire ratings the end of each cruise and take corrective action where necessary to ensure standards are upheld.
• To work with ALG Head Office Product & Planning Department to deliver their goals and objectives (both in terms of customer service and commercial targets)
• Responsible for stock control of Shore Excursion related materials (coach signs, escort lollipops, clips boards, holdalls, yellow polo shirts etc.)
• In conjunction with the GM and Staff Captain assist in the smooth running of passenger tender operation. Produce the dispatch sheet including the number of tender runs required taking into account independent passenger tender services.
• To present a recognisable engaging personality to our passengers by sharing the responsibility of PR opportunities (E.g. to attend Welcome & Farewell Gala’s cocktail parties and dances, hosting tables, Solo Travellers Party, Guest Speakers Party, Group Functions, participating in quiz night and attending deck parties )
• During long sea passages to assist Guest Programme Manager in the running of passenger programme.
• Actively participate in the passenger turnaround process (disembarkation, embarkation, terminal, airport, meet & greet duties). To act as airport representative where required.
• To make public address announcements as and when required (including but not limited to Shore Excursions.)
• To assist in the movement of passengers as and when required (tender operations, shuttles, immigration etc.)
• Carry out any additional duties as required by the General Manager.

The successful candidate will need:

• Previous experience of working on Cruise Ships
• Outgoing personality with good communication skills at all levels
• An ability to speak in public and make PA announcements
• Good geographical knowledge
• High levels of numeracy
• To be well organised
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Packages especially Excel
• The ability to prioritise own workload
• High levels of accuracy
• To build effective working relationships
• To be flexible

This position will be working on a 12 weeks on 6 weeks off rotation.