Princess Cruises is advertising for lifeguards to man its onboard pools, however the employees will only work on Asian cruises.
The debate about lifeguards at cruise ship pools has flared again following the death last week of an eight-year-old boy, Prince Adepoju, after an incident aboard Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas. There have been a number of fatalities and near-drownings on cruise ships in recent years. Disney and Princess are the only two cruise lines to employ lifeguards.
Princess is currently advertising with online cruise employment agencies seeking people to work as “Pool Supervisor / Lifeguard”.
One advertisement reads: “Be the Consummate Host and delight our passengers by monitoring and operating all water-based recreation facilities including, opening, closing and monitoring the safety and volume of the swimming pool and general activities around the pool areas including environmental issues. Assist with investigating any medical situations or security matters that may arise, and promptly report to Deck and Medical and work with Security team to correct any Security issues in order to maintain a safe and secure shipboard environment …”
The employee is charged with “monitoring the pool areas” and “keeping pool areas clean”, and “efficiently and calmly reacts to incidents where any individual may be in need of minor first aid or lifesaving actions (prior to the medical team’s attendance)”.
A Princess Cruises spokesperson told Cruise&Travel Asia: “With Princess Cruises’ expansion into China, a decision was made to have swimming pool monitors in Asia where widespread proficiency in swimming is far less likely than in other regions.”
Prince Adepoju was taken to the Staten Island University Hospital on June 30 in a critical condition after nearly drowning in one of Anthem of the Seas’ pools. The ship had launched from Bayonne, New Jersey, earlier on June 30, heading for the Caribbean. The ship was off the coast of Queens, New York, when the boy was found. According to reports he was unresponsive and was treated by the ship’s medical team. The ship then altered course and headed back to Bayonne. The boy was airlifted to Staten Island University Hospital, where he later died.
