Two TUI employees to be Marella Voyager’s godmothers

Chief Purser Tatyana Olkhovska and senior destination services operations manager, Jacqui Nobile, have both been awarded the honorary position, and will carry out the traditional ceremonial duties at Marella Voyager's naming ceremony in Malaga on May 31, ahead of the ship’s June launch.

‘At Marella we love to recognise our own dedicated staff for the important role of godmother,’ explained Chris Hackney, MD, Marella Cruises. ‘We could have found a celebrity, but we believe our own hard working heroes deserve the honour, and we are so proud to have Tatyana and Jacqui as Marella Voyagers godmothers.’ 

Hackney went on to describe the drive and passion of Olkhovska and Nobile as testament to their commitment to Marella Cruises. He said, ‘It’s clear they have both dedicated a large part of their lives to Marella, and both understand and believe in our mission. Our teams have been working extremely hard to prepare for the first sailings in June, and we are delighted to have Tatyana and Jacqui on hand to christen Marella Voyager.’ 

Most deserving staff nominated

Marella put the call out to leaders across TUI to find two of the most deserving staff to be nominated for the roles. The leaders were asked to consider length of service, and to put forward the names of those who had grown with Marella on its journey over the years. 

Tatyana Olkhovska

Olkhovska, who is from Ukraine, joined Marella in 2003 as a receptionist. She came with skills from a previous career in teaching, and was able to help receptionists improve their language abilities as well as support the development of others at the line. She moved into the role of chief purser in 2017.

Her daughter, who had previously lived in Ukraine, was recruited to the destination services team recently resulting in the duo working on Marella Explorer 2 together.

2023 marks Olkhovska’s twentieth year at Marella.

Jacqui Nobile

Nobile first started working for TUI in 1994 as an overseas representative in Menorca, and since moving into cruising in 1996, has worked in a number of roles to become part of the cruise senior leadership team with responsibility for TUI’s shoreside experience program.