CRUISE Weekly speaks with Holland America Line’s Tihana Glumac. Job title: Cellar Master aboard MS Noordam Home country: Croatia. How long have you been working on cruise ships? More than 20 years across various cruise lines. I joined the Noordam just a month ago. What’s the best thing about working...
CRUISE Weekly speaks with Holland America Line’s Tihana Glumac.
Job title: Cellar Master aboard MS Noordam
Home country: Croatia.
How long have you been working on cruise ships? More than 20 years across various cruise lines. I joined the Noordam just a month ago.
What’s the best thing about working aboard MS Noordam? I think Noordam has the best itineraries, currently it’s the only Holland America Line ship cruising in destinations like Australia and New Zealand as well as Asia. I have a great team and I love seeing them flourish. I also very much appreciate the flexibility of my role; Holland America has only one Cellar Master on each ship and the company is able to extend or shorten contracts depending on each person’s family requirements, which is great.
What is your favourite cruising destination? Anything a little bit out of the ordinary, particularly Asia. Japan in particular is a destination I love very much.
Explain what your job is day-to-day? I’m in charge of anything to do with wines on board, from provisioning from our head office to local purchasing and overseeing the service on board. As well as the global contracts for supply, we have the opportunity to purchase wines locally, which means for example on this voyage we have 16 Australian and New Zealand wines in total. I work closely with the Executive Chef, the restaurant managers, guest services and housekeeping. All of the dining venues are under me regarding beverage supervision, and I have two sommeliers working for me. We also have wine tasting events on sea days. My main job is making sure that everyone is happy.
Who is the most famous person you’ve served? My most famous guests are people I look after in the summer season when I’m not on the ship. I usually work until May on board, and then I go to Dubrovnik where I work in a secret Michelin-starred restaurant. I can’t tell you its name because it’s only for celebrities who don’t want the paparazzi around. I’ve looked after the Djokovic family, Michael Jordan, royal families from around the world, football players like Ronaldo, Messi…we keep them very silently in our hidden place.
How do you spend your time at home? As well as working during the Croatian high season I love to do hiking. I used to be a handball player in the national team, but I’m now keeping my legs safe so I don’t do any sport – even though I’m really good at it!
