Ep. 263 - Have you ever wondered how a manager who started at the bottom and worked their way up did it? Oleksandr Brotsman, who is a food and beverage manager at Azamara Quest cruise talks to us about how he worked his way up in his career. He also talks about his experience at sea and why he would do it again and again.
Oleksandr Brotsman (Alex) is a food and beverage manager at the Azamara Quest cruise ship. His job involves supervising the whole operation, from food storing, cooking, serving, and disposing. In this episode, Alex describes his longtime career journey working at sea and his experience.
Listen in to learn how the pandemic affected the food and beverage industry, especially those working at sea. You will also learn the benefits of starting from the bottom and working your way up in any workspace environment.
Key Takeaways:
- The importance of starting from the bottom and working your way up
- Why you shouldn’t hesitate to pursue a career in a cruise ship if you genuinely desire it
- The importance of being a people person if you want to pursue a career on a cruise ship
"The biggest part of our job is working with people, and not everybody can do it.” - Oleksandr Brotsman
In this episode you will learn:
Alex on how his background and love for travel influenced his career choice as a sailor [1:27]
He describes his career journey from a cleaner to a food and beverage manager [5:28]
How the pandemic affected his job at sea plus the overall experience [9:27]
How starting from the bottom has enabled Alex to become a better and fair manager [11:45]
Alex on his role as a food and beverage manager plus how he handles the challenges of the job [15:09]
He describes his role in preparing and making successful the Azamara’s White Night Party event [18:23]
The challenge of adjusting different crew members to the working ways of Azamara [21:24]
How Azamara has set contracts and system of work throughout the year [24:09]
Why the favorite part of his job is getting to work with different people [25:09]
Why you should pursue a career in a cruise ship if that’s what you genuinely desire [26:02]
CAREER
Oleksandr (Alex) Brotsman was born in the city of Akkerman on the Black Sea coast of Ukraine.
After qualifying with honors from the Nautical School, Alex pursued his education at the Odessa State Academy of Food Technologies with a degree in Manufacturing Engineering.
He boarded his first cruise ship, the Serenade of the Seas, as a housekeeping supervisor in 2003.
Alex has worked on the various cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean, Superfast (Greece), Princess until in 2007 he joined Azamara.
He gained considerable experience and honed his skills in different departments: housekeeping, galley, and restaurant before he became the Food and Beverage Manager.
When at home, together with his family, he travels around the world.