A total of 3609 Jamaicans were hired from the recent cruise ship recruitment and ~400 applicants were rejected on medical grounds.
Jamaica's Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett said the process was ongoing and the final selections were being made by RCI-Royal Caribbean.
Bartlett shared that some applicants had literacy challenges and had not completed the application form.
Hundreds of Jamaicans turned up on June 23 at the HEART College of Beauty Services on Hope Road in St Andrew to apply for cruise ship jobs, after an announcement by the tourism minister that ~10,000 employment opportunities with several major cruise shipping companies would become available.
Bartlett said it was anticipated that they would have in excess of ~5000 Jamaicans employed when the process was over. There was also another call that was being made for another round from September to November.
According to Bartlett, the preliminary report was an “important development”, adding that in his lifetime he could not recall "the employment of so many people from a single recruitment exercise." He also revealed that Jamaican workers were sought after.
“This is a great statement for not only the work that this government is doing in terms of the recovery but, in fact, it is the confidence that the international marketplace has, and particularly international companies, about the quality and the ability of the Jamaican worker - the assiduity to purpose that they show and their general work ethic. People feel that Jamaicans have hospitality in their DNA.”