By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

Royal Caribbean's top Bahamas executive says the cruise line is targeting summer's end to fill 150 posts at its Paradise Island beach club with the second round of recruitment currently underway.

Philip Simon, president of Royal Caribbean (Bahamas) and its Royal Beach Club project, said the 150-person recruitment target involves persons who will be directly employed by the cruise line for the project and is not a figure that includes staff who will be hired by third-party vendors.

“We're in the second wave of our recruitment process. We're now moving on to some management, manager and supervisor positions,” said Mr Simon

“I'm hoping at the end of the summer we would have had engaged the target number of about 150 Bahamians in terms of direct employment under the Royal Beach Club Paradise Island. Of course, this does not include the numbers that will come as a part of the partnerships, vendors and third-party services.”

Mr Simon said Bahamian vendors have given a “tremendous” response to Royal Caribbean's request for proposals (RFPs) seeking service providers who will operate at the Royal Beach Club site as well as provide services to the project.

“We've been so encouraged by what we've seen from all of the different RFPs that were listed on our website. We are outsourcing as much of the third-party service operations as possible to third party vendors. And so, there’s a plethora of different items we've seen,” said Mr Simon

“Just to highlight one of them, in particular, the Artist Discovery Programme has been just amazing. The amount of submissions we've had from talented and creative Bahamians straight across The Bahamas, and we hope to be making decisions on that particular programme over the next month or so.

“But again, all of the other vendors, and whether it's medical, F&B (food and beverage), landscaping, pool maintenance, it goes on and on, we're making a hustle to really engage those companies as soon as possible.”

The Royal Beach Club is forecast to generate a $1bn economic impact over its first ten years in operation from a combination of factors such as visitor spending and government taxes. Some 1 percent of the gross profits generated by the project are designated for a tourism levy, the Tourism Enhancement Fund, that will finance improvements to tourism attractions and experiences.

Mr Simon said the Beach Club's construction is now more than 50 percent complete, and Royal Caribbean is moving “1,000 miles an hour” to complete the project by December.

“Obviously, we endeavour to be open in December of this year," he added. "A couple of weeks ago, at the Chamber luncheon, we said we're about 50 percent completed. We're a little north now of 50 percent. I can't give a precise number, but we are really turning the wheels as fast as we can to achieve our goal."

When asked if Royal Caribbean is on target for the December 2025 opening, he responded: "We're not looking for any other month. We're certainly not looking to 2026.”