ORIGINALLY from Kerala in India, Anup Haridas’s love for cruise ship tourism has landed him on board the royal -class-vessel, Majestic Princess.
The 40-year-old was on board the vessel as its food and beverage supervisor, with more than 3000 tourists when it made its inaugural visit to our shores last week.
He started his career with Princess Cruises in 2006, as a dishwasher on board one of their cruise liners and later held various key roles before he got his current role in 2014.
However, the Majestic Princess is the company’s latest $760 million vessel built in Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy that was launched in 2017.
“I just joined the Majestic Princess about six months ago because this is one of our latest vessels but I had already visited Fiji on board the Sun Princess in 2014, that’s when I first held this post.
“I chose cruise ship tourism because I love the sea and sailing. I think this is the best profession to see the world without paying, that is the privilege of working on a cruise ship,” he said.
Apart from his love of the sea, Mr Haridas added through the profession he was able to meet people of different nationalities from across the world.
Fiji, he said was like his hometown in India a beautiful place with lush vegetation and has some of the world’s friendliest people.
“I fell in love with this country the first time I came here in 2014, the people are so friendly and the food is so nice even the local beer,” Mr Haridas said with a smile.
He also worked for Hilton Group of Hotels in Mumbai after attaining a diploma in hotel management, before joining cruise ship tourism.
“I always guide my junior staff because some of them have never worked in this kind of environment before; in this working environment it’s hard to find a roommate with the same nationality, the language will always be a barrier,” Mr Haridas added.
