Why do people make a big deal about Cruise Directors???

[CruznMooses]

Why do so many people here on CC make such a big deal about who the Cruise Director is on the cruise ship they are about to go on? I don't get it. To me the CD it just the guy I see every morning on the TV wake up show and every now and then in passing on deck.

But on the other hand it is the rest of the cruise staff that as passengers that we deal with day and night in the many many activities around the ship, from bingo, to crafts, dance lessons, games, trivia and too many other activities to name.

On our previous cruises it is the cruise staff that we have made friends with and it was those members of the crew that we had to say goodby to when we left because it was the cruise staff that made our cruise not the CD. Just our opinion...

[cdngrl]

Why do so many people here on CC make such a big deal about who the Cruise Director is on the cruise ship they are about to go on? I don't get it. To me the CD it just the guy I see every morning on the TV wake up show and every now and then in passing on deck.

But on the other hand it is the rest of the cruise staff that as passengers that we deal with day and night in the many many activities around the ship, from bingo, to crafts, dance lessons, games, trivia and too many other activities to name.

On our previous cruises it is the cruise staff that we have made friends with and it was those members of the crew that we had to say goodby to when we left because it was the cruise staff that made our cruise not the CD. Just our opinion...

 

the cruise director sets the tone for the cruise staff. I sailed once with a lazy cruise director, the cruise staff was miserable (though they tried hard), schedules of activities were mixed up, some events no staff showed up. the cd does a lot behind the scenes and if he's not doing his job properly, no one else can.

[hubofhockey]

Better question . . . Do you really establish friendships with cruise staff?

[Colo Cruiser]

Here is a great job description by the one and only Richard Joseph longtime CD from the Island Princess. He posted this a few years ago, enjoy.......

 

 

There seems to be so many posts in regards to Cruise Directors, which I have enjoyed reading over the years. I guess it is normal to want to discuss people in such a high profile position, and I am just thankful that the vast majority of critiques are usually very nice, and the one or two odd ones that are just plain nasty are always self policed by fellow cruise critic members pointing out different opinions and sometimes reminding the poster that perhaps they are being a bit too harsh.

 

While you may see posters trash a particular CD and then the inevitable question as to why the cruise line employs such a person when there are negative comments on the board, it should be kept in mind that the cruise lines look at the Cruise Director’s rating by ALL the passengers each and every cruise. For a CD to keep their job they must maintain a satisfactory rating from the passengers. My point being - because a CD is not well liked by a few people posting on a web site – there are thousands of other passengers each cruise who have given the CD a positive rating in their comment cards. These ratings are the true indicator of the Cruise Director’s performance and actual popularity among the passengers.

 

Cruise Directors, like any other position vary greatly in style. Some passengers like the over the top “A personality” omnipresent CD, while others despise this type of approach and greatly prefer a softer, classier sort. I, after 31 years at sea and 25 years as a CD have experienced many changes as I have matured as a Cruise Director. The younger newly promoted CD may tend to be the omnipresent sort that after a few years of experience will certainly mellow, and become more of a Manager and less of a game show host type. In the last ten years or so I have taken great pleasure in mentoring my teams and training, helping and watching the less experienced team members flourish, and getting them promoted through the ranks. At this stage of my career that is the most satisfying aspect of leading the team. I don’t feel the need to always be the one on the microphone. While I greatly enjoy hosting the major events & shows, I feel the other activities afford excellent training opportunities for the less seasoned team members, after all how will they ever get the experience if the CD never gives them the opportunity. If you don’t see me on stage, have a look you will usually see me or my Deputy in the lounge monitoring how the events are being hosted, with a post activity debrief for training purposes.

 

Over the years as the ships have grown, so have the teams that the CD manages. In the mid-80’s the ships were in the 30,000 ton range, had one show lounge with 800 or so passengers and a Entertainment team of under 30. On today’s 80,000 plus ton ships there is an entertainment team of usually over 130 and over 2000 passengers, with at least 5 or more entertainment venues. So the Cruise Director’s role has become much more administrative. Having said that I do have five managers assisting me in the task of running the entertainment and activity programs and managing the team. They are the Deputy Cruise Director who is my 2nd in charge, the Line Captain who is in charge of the Production Shows, choreography, costume maintenance, and Dancers, a Senior Production Manager, who is responsible for the lighting and sound in the various entertainment venues, the Band Master who manages all the Musicians, and the Youth Activities Coordinator responsible for the kid’s program. These 5 Managers follow the programming as set forth and are directly supervised by the Cruise Director.

 

I have mapped out a sea day for me this season here aboard Island Princess.

 

7:30-7:55am Public Area Walk-through to be certain that all is prepared for the day and that music levels and lighting are at the proper levels

8:00-8:45am Captain’s Executive Committee Meeting

9:00-9:30am Passenger Services Director’s Hotel Meeting

9:45am Morning Rundown announcement

10:00-10:45am Port Talk or Disembarkation Briefing

10:45am Office Session work my way through 30 emails, while meeting with various team members discussing the issues of the day.

11:15am Try and get to Bingo to call the first couple of games and have some fun with the passengers.

11:45am 45 minutes of socializing with the passengers in the high traffic areas just to say hello to as many people as possible and be seen.

12:30pm Entertainment Department Manager’s meeting

1:00-2:30pm Lunch and Afternoon Break.

2:30pm Afternoon Rundown announcement

2:35pm 40 Minutes of socializing

4:00pm Various Administrative Tasks –(These can include safety committee meetings, health and welfare conferences, crew recreation meetings, disciplinary hearings, etc.)

4:30-5:30pm Office Session again trying to wade through the emails which have now grown to 50, and office hours with an open door policy for any team member.

5:30pm Record the Morning TV Show for the next morning

6:00-6:45pm Dinner and change into Evening attire

6:45pm Public Area Walk-through to be certain that all is prepared for the evening and that music levels and lighting are at the proper levels

7:00pm Captain’s Welcome Party or Captain’s Circle Party or Most Traveled Passengers Party, or Private Group Cocktail Party, or Cruise Critic Party, etc.

8:00pm Host first show in Theatre

9:00pm One more attempt at clearing the day’s accumulated emails

9:30 Socializing & another check all venues are operating as directed, lights are set for proper ambience, any game shows are being presented to prescribed standards, etc.

10:00pm Host second show in Theatre

11:00pm A walk around the Lounges for socializing before heading back to the office to conclude any unfinished administrative work

 

A very busy day and I absolutely love most of it!

 

Keep in mind that the above schedule is only on sea days. The port days are significantly less busy and give us the chance to catch up on administration and get some time ashore.

 

I hope this has provided an insight into what your Cruise Director may be doing during the course of the day. What makes the days so special are meeting many wonderful people as we make our way around the ship. We also get to enjoy the same wonderful sights and scenery that our passengers do. And of course the inevitable interaction with someone who may not be so wonderful, which is a good chance to exercise our public relations skills and do our best to put a smile on their faces, or assist them with a problem or issue they may be having.

 

So a huge thanks to all the great friends I have made over the years that have said so many great things here on Cruise Critic. You are the folks who can see the big picture – that the CD is responsible for the presentation of each and every aspect of the entertainment and activity programs – even if not physically hosting the event. I am so proud of the teams that I lead, and I realize without them I could never do it all on my own.

 

 

All the best!

Richard Joseph

Cruise Director

[cdngrl]

I hadn't seen that, thank you for reposting.

[DrivesLikeMario]

I agree with everyone's posts. While the CD is important in setting the mood for the entire CD staff, they are not important to us in other ways. We don't go out of our way to talk with them, follow them like groupies from one activity to the next, try to get to know them or hang out with them. I rarely notice who the CD is but I will notice if trivia isn't run well. :cool:

[canadarocks]

I can answer this with my own experience. We took our very first Princess cruise, a B2B, this past winter on the Emerald Princess. On the first 10 day leg we had a cruise director exactly as the OP described. He introduced the acts in the main theater and hosted the morning show. We never saw him otherwise. I have completely forgotten his name and he was not memorable in any way.

 

At the end of that leg, he left and Kelvin Joy replaced him. It was truly like night and day how different the entire mood of the ship became, including the attitude of the rest of the cruise staff. I won't detail all of the fun things about that second leg, but believe me the cruise director makes a HUGE difference. :D

 

Maybe you just haven't had a good one yet! ;)

[kirnerxubixu]

I rarely notice who the CD is but I will notice if trivia isn't run well.

[Bill B]

I rarely notice who the CD is but I will notice if trivia isn't run well.

 

Please don't become one of those people who start frothing at the mouth when they disagree with the 'correct' answer. ;)

[PunkiC]

We have been on 27 Princess cruises and I can only name three cruise directors--Richard Joseph and David Cole, because they were outstandingly good, and one other because she did not provide decent dance music in any venue. When we discussed it with her (and I know at least ten couples who did) her response was "Oh, I like their music". The Wheelhouse band played 20 minute jazz riffs which were not danceable and during the Captains Party where the orchestra was playing wonderful dance music, dancing was forbidden. Seriously!

 

I don't usually know in advance who the CD will be but if it were Richard or David, I would be excited.

 

Shortly we will be sailing on the Star and the Grand. Does anybody know who the CDs are?

[BrandiGreg]

Please don't become one of those people who start frothing at the mouth when they disagree with the 'correct' answer. ;)

Most all staff running trivia make it very clear that the "correct" answer is what they say is the correct answer. People are free to disagree after the game is over and scored, but in terms of getting the point toward your team score, the only correct answer is what the person running the game says it is. That is made pretty clear, and people who argue are frowned upon by all the other people. Examples of trivia not run properly that I have seen is either a person reading the questions who does not speak English well enough to understand or they arrive late (like 15 min late) or who allows cheating (ie use of internet, teams of greater than 6, etc) or allows people to correct their own answer sheets. The best trivia is when the question reader is entertaining and makes everyone feel like they are having fun, despite the competitive nature. :o

[cruisequeen4ever]

I never used to pay attention to the cruise director. Then we sailed on the Island and had a rather boring, limited selection of activities; I realized that the cruise director sets the lineup of activities and can potentially make or break the entertainment. The irony is that he was one of the funniest we had experienced, just not the best at organizing activities. Thankfully we usually have very good ones.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Shogun]

Hi All

Many folks say can not recall who my CD was and may be that's not a bad thing they should do their job and not be a distraction with loads if annocements but to say they have no affect on your cruise because you do not go to shows etc is wrong. Just think what would happen to that quite bar you like if no one went to the shows

On sea days deck space can be hard to find but add in all those folks below decks playing cards doing dancing etc and you will have real issues

A good CD works hard can help set the onboard feeling your fellow passengers complaining about the things you do not take part in will affect your cruise.

 

Yours Shogun

Edited May 7, 2014 by Shogun

[AE_Collector]

Shortly we will be sailing on the Star and the Grand. Does anybody know who the CDs are?

 

The best place to check would be the Princess Cruise Directors List:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1684269&page=35

 

Last updated list, time for an update:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=42352723&postcount=651

 

Terry

Edited May 7, 2014 by AE_Collector

[caribill]

Why do so many people here on CC make such a big deal about who the Cruise Director is on the cruise ship they are about to go on? I don't get it. To me the CD it just the guy I see every morning on the TV wake up show and every now and then in passing on deck.

But on the other hand it is the rest of the cruise staff that as passengers that we deal with day and night in the many many activities around the ship, from bingo, to crafts, dance lessons, games, trivia and too many other activities to name.

...

 

The reason you had those many, many activities is that you had a good CD as it is the CD who is responsible for scheduling all of them.

[pablo222]

At the end of that leg, he left and Kelvin Joy replaced him. It was truly like night and day how different the entire mood of the ship became, including the attitude of the rest of the cruise staff.

 

I have seen the same when the maitre d', Food-and-Beverage-manager

or the PSD change.

 

I would never had thought that who the PSD was would change

people's demeanor, but it really does.

 

I think you have to sail on the same ship often, to see this happen.

[golfb4cruzing]

I agree with you OP. I don't see any reason for that position. Just put someone in charge at each area and be done. We sail for destinations and couldn't tell you about the ship or any CD. We don't watch the morning show because they are just cheesy. I say run a test for a week and have the CD be invisible and do nothing. Don't think I or others would notice. Same as the Captain. I don't care who is at the helm, just get me from point A to point B.

[Grammyluvs]

While I have only 3 cruises to compare, they were extensive and earned me Platinum status, so I don’t have a lot of experience with different CD’s. However, I found the daily activities on these cruises to be almost the same with the exception of the Port Talks. Of course, those were pertinent to the ports we were visiting. To me, the CD would be more important if he/she could come up with variations to the activities on board, especially sea days. Personality is so important when they do interact with passengers....introductions before shows, etc. To me, the CD is more of a manager and I personally enjoy the cruise staff more.

[atlasali]

David Cole made the LA to Hawaii to LA cruise a memorable experience. He taught passengers, including my DH, how to play the ukulele with daily lessons. He incorporated Hawaiian words and their meanings into daily life.

[AKman2495]

CDs do make a difference. But it is most notable when a great one is compared to a not so great one.

 

Our first CD, Gavin Chandler, was great. He was interactive with the passengers, all over the ship doing many activities. We first boarded the ship in Vancouver. We were sailing to LA before our Panama Canal cruise. We were meeting my mother in LA and the day we arrived there, she had not turned her phone on. We had no idea where she was or even if she was in LA at all. When they started boarding, they has two gangways and we shuttled back and forth a few times. After a while, Gavin stopped us and asked what was going on. We explained it and he said to go back to our room and he would call us when she boarded. They did and everything was great again.

 

Later on in the cruise Gavin saw us and sat down to chat about the cruise. I was happy to see that he was truly interested in what we thought.

 

Our next cruise had Neil Roberts, who was apparently at the end of his contract. He did his job -barely. The patters were late getting out until the middle of the cruise (I guess enough proper complained). But the most striking thing about him was one night when we were waiting by the theater entrance with a few others, he came out of a little office, looked at us like a deer in the headlights. Quickly glanced at his watch and sped off in the opposite direction!.

 

Finally, the last CD we had was Lisa Ball. She was great, high energy and again, all over the place. When the shows were done, she'd be by the exit shaking hands and chatting it up. She led dancing classes in the atrium and Zoomba classes too.

 

She even starred in a show about English pubs. She was a delight.

 

IMHO a good CD makes a cruise better while a bad CD adds nothing of interest.

[geoherb]

Richard Joseph was one of the best CDs we've sailed with.

[Eaglecw]

Why do so many people here on CC make such a big deal about who the Cruise Director is on the cruise ship they are about to go on? I don't get it. To me the CD it just the guy I see every morning on the TV wake up show and every now and then in passing on deck.

But on the other hand it is the rest of the cruise staff that as passengers that we deal with day and night in the many many activities around the ship, from bingo, to crafts, dance lessons, games, trivia and too many other activities to name.

On our previous cruises it is the cruise staff that we have made friends with and it was those members of the crew that we had to say goodby to when we left because it was the cruise staff that made our cruise not the CD. Just our opinion...

 

I couldn't agree more. It seems to me that a large number of people seem to think the CD's are ROCK STARS!! As far as I'm concerned they are just doing their job.

[mr green]

Why do so many people here on CC make such a big deal about who the Cruise Director is on the cruise ship they are about to go on? I don't get it. To me the CD it just the guy I see every morning on the TV wake up show and every now and then in passing on deck.

But on the other hand it is the rest of the cruise staff that as passengers that we deal with day and night in the many many activities around the ship, from bingo, to crafts, dance lessons, games, trivia and too many other activities to name.

On our previous cruises it is the cruise staff that we have made friends with and it was those members of the crew that we had to say goodby to when we left because it was the cruise staff that made our cruise not the CD. Just our opinion...

 

If you cruised with Billy Highgate, you might change your opinion!

 

john

[sammiedawg]

The CD is not important to us and we rarely interact with them. When we have had face to face contact each one was friendly and personable. Activities and shows are on every single ship I've been on. I am thin skinned and I would cringe if I had to read some of the comments on these public forums, we only see snippets of their jobs. I would hate for a random customer to tear me apart on the Internet based on a brief encounter or a petty complaint.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Thanks, Colo Cruiser, for posting Richard Joseph's description of what a typical day is like for the CD. We were on a cruise with him as the CD and we were on a cruise with one CD who was filling in one on vacation. A major difference. I only saw the latter when I was flipping through channels one morning on the TV and found the Wake Show, and then on the last night of our two week cruise when there was a dance party going on in the grand atrium. Many of the CD staff were there dancing with passengers. The CD was spotted looking from above...and then after about 15 minutes, he split. We went to many of the shows and someone from his staff did the intros.

 

I don't try to become friends with them or even try to talk to any of them (ran into the CD on my last cruise on the last day and I said she was a pleasure -- she was everywhere, didn't overdo the activity announcements, had a lot of energy).