Celebrity Cruises Snags LR ISO 9002 Certification

Celebrity Cruises has recently been presented with ISO 9002 certification from Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance, becoming the first cruise line to attain this prestigious quality management standard for all aspects of the cruise line's operations. This certification comes shortly after Celebrity attained ISO 14001 certification, covering environmental management, and the Lloyd's Register Environmental Protection class notation (EP), for vessel equipment and systems, which were both achieved during 2000. In a ceremony, attended by Celebrity staff involved with implementation of the quality system, Carlo Pacquee, Lloyd's Register North America, Inc. vice president - passenger ships, presented the certificate to Richard Sasso, president of Celebrity Cruises. Sasso said: "Our employees put tremendous amounts of effort and time into providing our guests with the best cruise experience possible. We can all be very proud of this certification; it is a great accomplishment. It shows that the quality of the cruise experience on Celebrity is amongst the very best in the world." Atul Puri, president for Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance commented: "Celebrity Cruises is showing distinct market leadership by applying an integrated suite of global standards to minimise risk. The staff at Celebrity Cruises has worked diligently to implement these rigorous requirements and our surveyors and auditors have been delighted to work alongside Celebrity personnel in reviewing every aspect of management for the ship and shore operations." The ISO 9002 certification audit focused on customer service related quality management activities for all aspects of the cruise line's operations, including: embarkation; food and beverage; guest relations; housekeeping; and marine and technical operations. Since quality is not a 'destination' and requires the company to continually improve on their already excellent performance, Celebrity Cruises will be subject to regular vetting from LRQA to maintain this certification.