Cruise documents for 13th Jan cruise & Officer info

[Hambagahle]

We received, this morning, our cruise documents for our 13th Jan Riviera cruise. I must say they are very impressive - completely personalised...

 

Unlike Regent (or at least, all our cruises on Regent to date...) the senior officers are all listed, with nice photos. Here they are - and I would appreciate any comments about them!!

 

Captain - Gunnar Romtveit

GM - Thierry Tholon

Exec. Concierge - Randal Abrahams

Cruise Director - Nolan Dean

Oceania Club Ambassador (what's that??) . Rosanna de Ria

Executive Chef - Alban Gjoka

 

Great to have all the info these documents provide!!:)

[pacheco18]

I am truly sorry that your first O cruise has to be with Nolan Dean as CD

I cannot say enough bad things about him -- sorry. The other O CDs are so terrific. I am sure you will enjoy the cruise in spite of him.

 

The Oceania Club Ambassador is the staff member who will try to book you on your next cruise while on board. You can book a specific future cruise or get a future cruise certificate for an as yet identified cruise. O used to offer a 5% discount for booking on board but the discount is now cruise and cabin specific. There will be at least one future cruise presentation while you are on board or you can make an appointment to meet with the O club ambassador. If you know you want to sail O again, it is definitely worth booking on board.

 

Re GM - Thierry Tholon -- I doubt his presence will affect you directly but that means it is likely that his girlfriend, Natalie, will be your social hostess and she is wonderful. She makes up for Nolan Dean (unless you are an avid Trivia player)

[LaCroisiereS'amuse]

I am truly sorry that your first O cruise has to be with Nolan Dean as CD

I cannot say enough bad things about him -- sorry. The other O CDs are so terrific. I am sure you will enjoy the cruise in spite of him.

 

The Oceania Club Ambassador is the staff member who will try to book you on your next cruise while on board. You can book a specific future cruise or get a future cruise certificate for an as yet identified cruise. O used to offer a 5% discount for booking on board but the discount is now cruise and cabin specific. There will be at least one future cruise presentation while you are on board or you can make an appointment to meet with the O club ambassador. If you know you want to sail O again, it is definitely worth booking on board.

 

Re GM - Thierry Tholon -- I doubt his presence will affect you directly but that means it is likely that his girlfriend, Natalie, will be your social hostess and she is wonderful. She makes up for Nolan Dean (unless you are an avid Trivia player)

 

The subject of Cruise Directors is always guaranteed to polarise opinions :D

 

I found Nolan Dean to be an excellent CD on Marina last year, and whilst he has a different style to the usual "cardboard cutouts" you get on so many ships, he is still a consummate professional.

 

On the Regatta crossing in September we had Dottie Kulasa as our CD, who again is not your stereotypical CD, but nonetheless professional, inclusive and pitched her approach to changing circumstances, and the on board demographic. I felt quite sorry for her as one couple from San Francisco spent the first half of the cruise openly bitching about her, bemoaning her lack of professionalism etc, to anyone that would listen (not that anyone did after the first few days!). Strange then to see the same couple dining at Dottie's table later in the cruise, and they we all over her......anyone who wasn't avoiding them by this stage certainly was now, and had the opposite effect than intended :D

[Hambagahle]

CD's vary enormously. I shall keep an open mind about Mr Dean until I see him in action!! On our last (Regent) cruise we had a chap called Ray Solaire. Most people rave about him. I much preferred him as a performer and rather wished he had not been the CD as well!! His shows were amazing! But chacun à son goût, I suppose!!

[LaCroisiereS'amuse]

That's funny.....I loved Ray as a CD when he was at Silversea, but couldn't stand his puppet shows which everyone else loved :D.

 

We had a nice surprise in NYC at the end of our Regatta cruise, next to us at the Manhattan pier was a Regent ship and Ray's voice could be heard even on the opposite side of Regatta...he certainly has "presence" :p

 

Rosanna de Ria is fairly new as an Ambassador, having spent many years on Silversea & Crystal.....she's very approachable and doesn't seem to be as "hard sell" as some cruise consultants can be....but then she must be good as I did my first ever book on board through her!

[msn123]

You need to take a whole bunch of Oceania cruises, then you can compare and contrast cruise directors. We leave for #14 next week and have experienced all of these fine folks at some point.

 

All have different personalities, strengths and weaknesses, but all are professional and will do their best to make sure you enjoy your cruise. (And yes, we do enjoy some CD's more than others.)

 

If it is important to you, I would suggest you introduce yourself to Nolan and spend a little bit of time getting to know him. He is very approachable.

[sitraveler]

You should know that just because you get a listing of officers it does not mean they are going to be on your cruise. It can change before and during the voyage. Randall does seem to follow me however.

[globevest]

Sailed with Rosanna de Ria twice. Found her to be very helpful in explaining the pricing system and rolling your deposit (and discount)forward to a different cruise if you so desired. Had dinner with the GM and he was a good host and very willing to discuss many topics including the less obvious parts of running a cruise ship. Enjoy.