The First Female General Managers on Oceania

[flaminkokid]

Laurence Barassé and Ludmila Zelkin will be the first women to become General Managers on Oceania ships. If you read this, ladies, please know your accomplishments have not gone unnoticed. Most of Oceania's customers are repeaters, as are we, and it has become more and more important to us to give our business to companies that "do the right thing," that don't discriminate on any basis--race, religion or gender. Everybody knows that working on the ships isn't easy and the crews have endured some great hardships. It's really gratifying to know that Oceania offers its employees upward mobility and training -- particularly those who have been denied those opportunities in the past. Good job. 

[Pizzasteve]

Agree that rewarding high performing women employees with promotion to top management roles, when deserved is essential to modern business success.  Women make excellent executive managers and I applaud these 'firsts.' Long overdue.

 

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. As we board Riviera in a week, bound for Lisbon we will take note of this and toast their success.

Edited March 12, 2022 by Pizzasteve

[mauibabes]

We were with Laurence for 46 days on Riviera’s return to sailing when she was the F&B Director beginning in October. She is outstanding and we had the privilege to meet and talk with her every day.  In fact we even enjoyed lunch with her as her guests and invited her to my wife’s 🎂party in Privee on December 1. We disembarked on the day she had her interview in Miami and received a wonderful note from her advising us of her upcoming promotion as General Manager on Nautica.  
Anyone sailing on Nautica from April on needs to say hello and congratulate her, she is quite deserving of the promotion. 
Mauibabes, Bonnie and Gerry 

[Mentalstrong]

On 3/12/2022 at 2:52 PM, mauibabes said:

We were with Laurence for 46 days on Riviera’s return to sailing when she was the F&B Director beginning in October. She is outstanding and we had the privilege to meet and talk with her every day.  In fact we even enjoyed lunch with her as her guests and invited her to my wife’s 🎂party in Privee on December 1. We disembarked on the day she had her interview in Miami and received a wonderful note from her advising us of her upcoming promotion as General Manager on Nautica.  
Anyone sailing on Nautica from April on needs to say hello and congratulate her, she is quite deserving of the promotion. 
Mauibabes, Bonnie and Gerry 

Thank you for sharing this.  I'm thrilled to hear Oceania has offered her the position and will be on board April 1st.  Looking forward to meeting her and will say "hi".  Lots of changes with Oceania's new President/CEO and now this wonderful news!

[Mentalstrong]

On 3/12/2022 at 12:45 PM, flaminkokid said:

Laurence Barassé and Ludmila Zelkin will be the first women to become General Managers on Oceania ships. If you read this, ladies, please know your accomplishments have not gone unnoticed. Most of Oceania's customers are repeaters, as are we, and it has become more and more important to us to give our business to companies that "do the right thing," that don't discriminate on any basis--race, religion or gender. Everybody knows that working on the ships isn't easy and the crews have endured some great hardships. It's really gratifying to know that Oceania offers its employees upward mobility and training -- particularly those who have been denied those opportunities in the past. Good job. 

How did you find this great news?  We are repeat Oceania passengers (myself Gold and my mother about to reach the next level).  I don't think we received this update?

[RJB]

6 hours ago, Mentalstrong said:

Thank you for sharing this.  I'm thrilled to hear Oceania has offered her the position and will be on board April 1st.  Looking forward to meeting her and will say "hi".  Lots of changes with Oceania's new President/CEO and now this wonderful news!

Very nice to see.  Worked hard to get there.  Best of luck.

[kibutzer]

Congrats will miss her as F&B, but hope to see her on new Vista ship.

[DeanoNorthPerth]

Does anyone know which GMs have retired or resigned?

[clairol]

On 3/12/2022 at 2:52 PM, mauibabes said:

We were with Laurence for 46 days on Riviera’s return to sailing when she was the F&B Director beginning in October. 

We too were on this start up cruise and had the good fortune to interact with her as she graciously, effectively and generously addressed an unfortunate turn of events we encountered. She truly seemed to be invested in her job and it showed in her thoroughness and follow up. And, although we did not socialize with her as you did, she seemed like an incredibly friendly and approachable person. All of these attributes are sure to hold her in good stead for the challenges ahead and are sure to have a positive impact on all of us on board - staff and passengers alike. Congratulations, Laurence! Well deserved.

[Queen of DaNile]

10 hours ago, Mentalstrong said:

How did you find this great news?  We are repeat Oceania passengers (myself Gold and my mother about to reach the next level).  I don't think we received this update?

It was at the bottom of an emailed that we received on Saturday and the whole story is on the Oceania blog. We agree. Laurence is great!

READ OUR BLOG IN CONVERSATION WITH OUR FIRST FEMALE GENERAL MANAGERS As International Women’s Day was celebrated earlier this week, we are very excited to introduce two of our newest General Managers – Laurence Barassé and Ludmila Zelkin. Both of these talented women have a history at Oceania Cruises and are thrilled to be transitioning to a life at sea with our incredible crew and all of our treasured guests.

	READ MORE

[flaminkokid]

19 hours ago, Mentalstrong said:

How did you find this great news?  We are repeat Oceania passengers (myself Gold and my mother about to reach the next level).  I don't think we received this update?

It just happened to be in one of the gazillion marketing emails Oceania sends. I randomly clicked on it and for some reason actually read it. I thought it was news worth sharing.

When we were on Riviera last I asked a young woman how she became a sommelier. She said Oceania offered training for anyone who was interested. I love the fact that they train and they promote from within.  And I'm happy women are finding their way to upper management. It has certainly been a long time coming.