Royal Caribbean ramping up Wichita staff level

[Jason]

Royal Caribbean Cruises Lines will be hiring up to 180 full-time employees in Wichita this fall to bring its staff up to more than 750, director of guest sales and services Mike Semler said Wednesday.

The cruise line operates a reservations center at 4729 S. Palisade and its busy season starts in January.

"We need to be prepared," Semler said.

The center now has about 600 employees and uses attrition after the busy season to bring its staff level down during the slower summer months.

It did cut employees shortly after the 9/11 attacks because of a sharp downfall in business, but Semler says that has been its only layoff.

Also, Semler confirmed that the company is looking for another call center site in the Pacific Northwest, one that could bring 1,000 or more jobs to that area.

It would be the business' third reservations center.

An expansion in Wichita is unlikely, Semler says, because the company wants to be on the West Coast, where two of its major competitors also have call centers.

Royal Caribbean is based in Miami and has about 600 employees at its reservations center there.