Why is a Cruise Director being at you beck-n-call so vital?

[Katie H]

Someone mentioned John Howell. We have cruised with him 2 or 3 times and he does make an effort to walk around the ship and stop and chat with people. Just his personal style - something he enjoys.

 

We are always more interested in who the activities staff will be. We enjoy playing trivia and all the parlor games and the activities staff can make or break that. We once had a conversation with a young woman on activities staff who we had sailed with several times. I mentioned a CD I had read about on the boards who everyone raved about - said he was the best CD ever. She was absolutely shocked to hear it. She had worked for him and said all his employees hated him. Seems he was good with schmoozing with the passengers, but did not manage his department very well causing chaos with the staff.

[Bridge Maven]

There appears to be two different issues being discussed on this thread. One is what the cruise director does behind the scenes to make everything happen, and the other is his visible presence.

 

I agree that a cruise director's ability to successfully coordinate a staff that will provide good entertainment and activities is very important, but a CD's visible presence has no impact on my overall enjoyment of a cruise.

[Formerly known as Seabee]

I believe the demise of the CD was the introduction of the mega-ship. With but one exception, I have never even known the name of the CD and rarely saw him/her...no loss to me. However, I sailed Horizon shortly before she was sold and the CD took an active role in everyday life aboard the ship. I don't remember his name but he made a point of meeting me when I boarded and again later that evening when we bumped into one another. On day 2, he apologized that he couldn't remember my name but by day 3 he called me ( and many others) by name. I don't know if it was just him or if the small ship made this possible. I suspect it was some of each...now if I could just remember his name:o

[legaljen1969]

On my one and only Celebrity Cruise so far, the CD was completely wrapped up in himself and truly a legend in his own mind.

 

Every time I saw him talking to someone he was talking about all of his many accomplishments, not ever giving anyone a chance to talk. Granted, I am sure he was not interested in hearing anyone's life story but acknowledging his appreciation for their willingness to listen to him drone on and on and on might have been nice.

 

These people were no doubt higher up on the loyalty scale. They were dressed in obviously expensive clothes and jewelry and definitely had his attention. My husband and I were sitting and listening to a piano player and he commented to his captive audience, "Now those two look like they might be Carnival cruisers. I bet someone paid for their cruise and they are stuck on here." My husband was wearing a golf shirt and nice khakis. I had on a nice dress. We certainly didn't look out of place compared to anyone else in the bar, other than the people he was with.

Not being the type to take well to someone trying to disparage me, I walked right up and said "This really is a lovely ship. We have met some really wonderful people here. And YES, my parents did give us this cruise as a gift." I think he was a little mortified that I had acknowledged his intended slight. It was that "loud whisper" way he said it.

 

He saw me a couple of days later and tried to apologize. I told him the damage was done. He should probably go back to sucking up to his groupies.

 

The assistant CD was wonderful and confirmed some other information I had received on good places to go in St. Thomas. My employer used to own a house on St. Thomas and had recommended a lot of places to me- more "Where the locals really go." The assistant CD named the exact same places. She was very nice.

 

The main CD? He really needed to get over himself.

[jd1966]

Makes absolutely no difference to us!

[AMTDGT]

To be honest, I don't get it either. We've never seen the need to interact with a cruise director. In the grand scheme of things, they're way secondary to my enjoyment of a cruise. ....... To me, a cruise director just shows up and MC's few things.

 

I agree. We, on any ship have had one good cruise director. We told him so. We said to him he did a fantastic job, that he was inviable. He initial thought it was an insult. Probably still does.

We have yet to give X our review of our recent trip on Infinity, which will be a very good one, except for the cruise director. That jerk walked around figuring he was an A list star. We had a few ice lattes in the Cova when he was there. He expected everyone to recognize him and treat him as something special. Of course I ignored him...suspect it hurt his fragile ego.

 

I suspect some people want people like that on board. We look at them as a waste of space and an extra expense on our cruise bill.

[AMTDGT]

lysolqn, I agree with you completely. I also feel the same way about Bartenders. There seem to be almost as many posts about special relationships between passengers and bartenders as the ones about cruise directors.

 

At least bar tenders provide a service and often a value add to the cruise. CD's don't.....like someone said "leave me alone, I'm on holidays"

[brigittetom]

We once had a conversation with a young woman on activities staff who we had sailed with several times. I mentioned a CD I had read about on the boards who everyone raved about - said he was the best CD ever. She was absolutely shocked to hear it. She had worked for him and said all his employees hated him.

 

That was totally unprofessional on her part. Company loyalty and discretion is also a very large part of their job. Which also explains why most come across as insincere when making small talk with passengers. :D

[Bridge Maven]

On my one and only Celebrity Cruise so far, the CD was completely wrapped up in himself and truly a legend in his own mind.

 

Every time I saw him talking to someone he was talking about all of his many accomplishments, not ever giving anyone a chance to talk. Granted, I am sure he was not interested in hearing anyone's life story but acknowledging his appreciation for their willingness to listen to him drone on and on and on might have been nice.

 

These people were no doubt higher up on the loyalty scale. They were dressed in obviously expensive clothes and jewelry and definitely had his attention. My husband and I were sitting and listening to a piano player and he commented to his captive audience, "Now those two look like they might be Carnival cruisers. I bet someone paid for their cruise and they are stuck on here." My husband was wearing a golf shirt and nice khakis. I had on a nice dress. We certainly didn't look out of place compared to anyone else in the bar, other than the people he was with.

Not being the type to take well to someone trying to disparage me, I walked right up and said "This really is a lovely ship. We have met some really wonderful people here. And YES, my parents did give us this cruise as a gift." I think he was a little mortified that I had acknowledged his intended slight. It was that "loud whisper" way he said it.

 

He saw me a couple of days later and tried to apologize. I told him the damage was done. He should probably go back to sucking up to his groupies.

 

The assistant CD was wonderful and confirmed some other information I had received on good places to go in St. Thomas. My employer used to own a house on St. Thomas and had recommended a lot of places to me- more "Where the locals really go." The assistant CD named the exact same places. She was very nice.

 

The main CD? He really needed to get over himself.

 

legaljen, I am sorry you had this experience and I hope this CD no longer works for Celebrity. Aside from being rude, his logic was flawed. A person who is dressed in very expensive attire might be the poorest person on the ship, while someone who is dressed more casually might be very wealthy. In any event, a CD should either treat all passengers equally or be invisible.

 

I hope you wrote something about this experience on your comment card at the end of the cruise.

[Roboat]

I have never spoken with a Cruise Director, but I suppose ONE of their jobs might be to "take the temperature" of passengers whenever and wherever it's convenient. He would then have some meaningful comments to pass on to upper management.

 

"Hello, I'm Wally. Did you enjoy the Newlywed show? Was the timing convenient for you? ... May I ask if you plan on attending this evening's "Oboes Gone Wild" show? Oh?? Whyever not?"

 

"Excuse me, sir. I overheard you saying, "Some dam fool's gonna kill hisself on that thing..."