Cruise line inviting 180 more workers on board

By Nov. 28, the Springfield call center will have nearly 600 employees, said Rita Stolze, trade support and services director.

Royal Caribbean is beefing up its Springfield work force in anticipation of “wave season,” January through March — its busiest time of the year for booking cruises, she said. The company also anticipates moving a couple of departments to Springfield from its other call centers, Stolze said.

“We have a fantastic facility (in Springfield), and we certainly want to leverage more,” she said. “It’s state-of-the-art — it has a great working environment, fitness facility and cafeteria.”

Besides Springfield, Royal Caribbean operates call centers in Wichita, Kan., and in Miramar, Fla.

More details about the affected departments will be available after Royal Caribbean shares its plans with employees, she said.

The Springfield center is hiring for full-time cruise representatives, who answer calls from travel agents. The entry-level positions start at $10.08 an hour and include health, dental and life insurance after 90 days of employment, Stolze said.

Also after 90 days, new hires can take advantage of discounted cruises. After their first year of employment, they qualify for an expense-paid “familiarization” cruise.

When the cruise line opened its distinctive facility off Interstate 5 in Springfield’s Gateway area in January 2006, the company anticipated expanding to 1,000 employees by 2009.

That didn’t happen. The deep national recession took hold and consumers reined in their discretionary purchases, including vacation travel.

Royal Caribbean also didn’t meet a hiring benchmark in a loan forgiveness agreement it has with the state. As part of a $1.3 million incentive package to attract Royal Caribbean to Springfield, the company received a $600,000 loan from the Governor’s Strategic Reserve Fund. The loan could be forgiven if the company kept 600 full-time equivalent jobs in Springfield for six consecutive months between July 1, 2004, and Dec. 31, 2009.

On July 6, 2010, the state agreed to extend the deadline by two years to Dec. 31, 2011, said Marc Zolton, spokesman for Business Oregon, the state economic development agency.

“We’re happy to hear that they’re closer to the 600 than previously anticipated,” he said. “We’ll have to assess where they’re at when they reach the end of the agreement and take it from there.”

Zolton said he didn’t know whether the company could request another extension of the deadline.

Stolze, the Royal Caribbean official, said the company hasn’t focused on the terms of the loan forgiveness agreement. But as the Dec. 31 deadline approaches, “it’s probably something we’ll look into,” she said.

“Our focus is leveraging the great employee base in Springfield and the fabulous facility,” Stolze said.