P&O Cruises sponsors Eden students in first school based traineeship of its kind

On Tuesday March 7, Year 11 students Keely Grebert and Ocea Thiedeman were taken aboard the Pacific Adventure by P&O staff, who went above and beyond in delivering an exciting tour of the ship which included sneak peeks into behind the scenes areas.

The wide-eyed and enthusiastic students were delighted about their two-year traineeship with Cruise Eden, which started with the visit of the ship while it was in port at Snug Cove.

Keely said her visit aboard the cruise ship along with welcoming guests as part of Cruise Eden, had revealed the work that goes into cruise ship visits.

"I didn't realise how many opportunities there were in this industry and I didn't know how many it involves, like this ship has a crew of over 1000, which is crazy," she said.

"This experience has definitely inspired me to choose something within the tourism business be it ship yachting, working on a cruise or joining the Eden Welcome Centre."

Keely added that in the time she's worked with cruise Eden, she'd already noticed how the visits from cruise ships connected local businesses in the area.

"I just thought Eden was a small little town but it's actually so connected, to each other as a community and to our history," she said.

"You can see it in all the old buildings and stories that are told in this town, which shows we are still connected to our past which is something that big cities just don't have anymore."

Ocea said she had found the process of learning all the different roles the P&O staff had on board, as well as the different sections of the ship fascinating.

"Getting to go behind the scenes and see how the staff were working was really cool, we got to see both sides of the cruise ship," she said.

Ocea said prior to getting involved in the traineeship she had always seen her town as a "little bubble" which now had been burst, as she saw the the town opening up to visitors from all around the country and world.

"It has definitely opened my eyes to realizing that there is more than one path to follow which growing up in a small town like this is something I hadn't considered before," she said.

"I feel like most people stay in the area but now I can see so many different career options ahead, which I hadn't thought were possible."

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The Welcome Ambassador SBAT Program which Keely and Ocea have begun, was tailored for cruises and also happened to be the first of its kind for an Australian regional port, providing opportunity for local youth that hasn't been seen before in the Bega Valley.

The program came about after P&O approached Cruise Eden during the pandemic to see if there was anything they could do to support career pathways for youth in Eden and to act as a potential pilot for other regional ports.

This led to the formation of a Steering Committee involving Cruise Eden, Australian Training Company, Regional Industry Education Partnerships (Training Services NSW), Walan-Miya and Port Authority of NSW.

Together the committee formulated a proposal for P&O Cruises that involved sponsorship of a School Based Traineeship (SBAT) in Certificate III Tourism, for two local Bega Valley students.

The aim of the SBAT project was to create a vocational employment and training pathway for young people in the South Coast region interested in a career in the Tourism industry.

Several months of planning later, the Steering Committee had successfully recruited two Year 11 students from Eden Marine High School.

Keely and Ocea will work with the Cruise Eden team and the visitor information centre to assist with operations on cruise days, under the guidance of teacher and Cruise Eden Manager, Debbie Meers.

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During the off season Keely and Ocea will work with other local Tourism businesses to broaden their industry experience and knowledge whilst studying the Certificate III in Tourism.

"They will spend a day a week with other businesses, which exposes the girls not only to cruise operations but gives them a breadth of understanding of the tourism industry in its totality," Cruise Eden Manager, Debbie Meers said.

Ms Meers said the sponsored school traineeship was an "amazing opportunity" for the students.

"Keely and Ocea are fabulous candidates and now successful trainees, I'm really proud of them," she said.

Ms Meers added that she was appreciative to P&O, the Australian Training Company, Port Authority and Regional Industry Education Partnerships, who had all worked together to bring this program about.

"There's been a lot of people working on getting it to happen and now we're the first port to have it and I hope P&O continue to support the program in our port and other regional ports," she said.

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Marguerite Fitzgerald, president of Carnival Australia and P&O Cruises Australia said the partnership with Cruise Eden was the latest initiative from their P&O Pacific Partnerships Program, where generous guest donations were invested back to local communities "that make our guests so welcome".

"We're thrilled to be supporting these local students in their pursuit of a dynamic career in the travel and tourism industry, and further our unwavering support of gender diversity in the cruise industry," she said.

"It was a pleasure welcoming Keely and Ocea onboard Pacific Adventure and showcasing P&O's shipside operations to complement their shoreside experiences."