Cruise reservationists Jacqui Ridler and Stacie Sherwin were two of 150 employees made redundant following ALG’s failure last week.
The pair of homeworkers, who had worked for the company since August, said they “felt sick” upon hearing the news, which they discovered through social media, rather than officially being told by management. “We were absolutely gutted when we saw the news on social media,” Ridler told TTG.
“We weren’t even told by any All Leisure management and it was very disappointing that we didn’t even get a call.
“[Dealing with the cancelled sailings] made me feel sick. It was quite horrible really as we had customers crying down the phone to us. We really felt for them to have their holiday cancelled so close to the start of it.
“I just feel so sorry for all the staff at Market Harborough as they did very specialist jobs, looking after the cruise entertainment and the excursions. It will be hard to get jobs like that in the local area.”
Ridler subsequently posted on industry Facebook group Travel Gossip asking if there were any jobs available.
Within hours the post had received 40 comments, and three job offers, with members of the trade also offering their support and advice.
“On Wednesday [the day ALG failed], I thought ‘What am I going to do?’. I was worried about where to go next because I thought no one would want to take somebody on during peaks, but [Travel Gossip] and its members turned things around – it’s all down to them,” said Ridler.
Ridler and Sherwin have both now been offered roles with Swansea-based cruise agency Cruise Nation, which they will take up on January 23.
“We didn’t expect this much support – my phone didn’t stop ringing all day,” Sherwin added.
“I never in a million years thought people would help the way they did.”
