Is the Cruise Director THAT important to you?

[nomadron]

There are some I've liked better than others, but none has truly made a difference in my cruising experience. (That is up to me! :D)

 

 

So very true!

 

[bluehenfan]

I spoke with Jen regarding the lack of activities. Jen said that the Entertainment Director onboard is responsible for planning the activities. She said she would pass my comments on to him.

I think the position of Entertainment Director is fairly new position. It's suppose to free up the CD to do other things. I never gave a thought to CDs until I went on the Glory once and had a very non active CD. I attended a Q and A he held and he ended up telling us this would be his last cruise. He was tired of being at sea for months and was going home at the end of our cruise. I personally felt that mentally he had already left. Hardly any activities were planned and he always looked sad !! Like others have said, no CD is going to make or break my cruise, but a good one can add to the fun.

[eponym]

We ae sailing on the legend to Alaska in June and John Heald was to be the CD, but now it appears he will not be on that ship until July. There are some who are very disappointed because he will not be with us, but to me, it's no big deal. We've only been on about 10 cruises, but the CD has never mattered to us. Am I missing something by my lack of interect?

 

I don't really think so.

 

I have never had an engagement/2 way interaction with a CD in 6 prior Carnival floats. I'm sure they are very personable for their positions, and are genuinely nice people.

 

Basically, I had to tolerate all their ads and announcements and saw them periodically running around. There isn't anything we need directed by a 3rd party while on vacation. Seem like a whirlwind around the ship to appease herds for activities. Kind of like cheerleaders.

 

I see them as potentially useful managers IF someone has a big/special issue they can't seem to solve/resolve with staff satisfactorily. Fortunately, we have had no such issues requiring their intervention.

 

Heald has been known by some to be crass, and certainly has a sarcastic style to his communications. He has been doing it a long time, is obviously entertaining at some level, and is the boss of all CD's. It's probably more novel to have him on board, rather than actually better than not having him on board. My guess is that staff from every department are more snap and pop for the cruise when he is on board - it just makes sense to impress the boss.

Edited April 1, 2015 by eponym
added

[eponym]

They could eliminate the position and I would never notice the difference.

 

I'm not sure that's true. Ever cruised a Carnival ship without one on board?

[cruiser fanatic]

CD means ZERO to me when booking a cruise.

We had Matt Mitcham on the Breeze last year, and I was NOT impressed, yet I know others LOVE him. Although, I have to say, he was EASY on the eyes.:o

 

Don't remember who we had the year before on the Breeze, or the Pride.

 

I will tell you, I would love to end up with Jaime or John H one of these days, but I would NOT book a cruise just because they were the CD.

 

We go and make our own fun.:D

 

I felt the same way about Butch, not impressed. Everyone seems to love him. Still makes zero difference when booking a cruise.

[YubaSutter]

I would probably cancel my cruise if I knew John Heald was the CD.

[cruiser fanatic]

I think the position of Entertainment Director is fairly new position. It's suppose to free up the CD to do other things. I never gave a thought to CDs until I went on the Glory once and had a very non active CD. I attended a Q and A he held and he ended up telling us this would be his last cruise. He was tired of being at sea for months and was going home at the end of our cruise. I personally felt that mentally he had already left. Hardly any activities were planned and he always looked sad !! Like others have said, no CD is going to make or break my cruise, but a good one can add to the fun.

 

Right, the ED is a new position. Some of the CD's I have talked too felt like they were demoted by the new position. 1 of the CD's I talked too was mad that an ACD got the ED position over the CD. But, according to Jen on the Freedom the ED plans all the activities.

[KPfromCT]

Why didn't you like Matt? He's really the only CD I ever paid any attention to. Yes, he's very attractive and he flirted with my daughter and I. [emoji39]

 

And we even sailed with Jaimie on the Dream. I DID see her everywhere but didn't think she was all that special. To each his own...

 

Quite honestly, I thought he was a little full of himself.:eek:

Secondly, the only time I saw him was on the morning show, on the big screen.:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Asking people to bring them food for a ship on a stick.

Really?

Just not a fan.

And as your said, to each their own.:rolleyes:

[cruiser fanatic]

I would probably cancel my cruise if I knew John Heald was the CD.

 

Why would you cancel if Heald was the CD?

[Jimmy Geegitz]

A monkey would be an entertaining CD. Other than that could care less.

[nybumpkin]

I have never booked a cruise because someone was scheduled to be CD, nor have I avoided a cruise because someone was scheduled to be CD. (And I have seen posts from people who purposely avoid ships with particular CDs.) Having said that, I find a good CD adds to a cruise. I like sailing with John Heald and Jaime Dee (sailed with them twice each) and I'm looking forward to sailing with Matt Mitcham on Breeze in July. And it is all very subjective - I know people loved sailing with Risa when she was on Fantasy, but I found her rather distant and preoccupied. Maybe it wasn't a great week - we're all entitled to those. It was still a great cruise for us.

[golfb4cruzing]

Zero. Don't watch them on the TV and they simply introduce shows and tell some stale jokes.

[mzloolue]

Some have been annoying and some have been almost like real people.

 

We usually don't go to any of the CD's entertainments, so it really doesn't make a lot of difference.

Except that it is nice to have one who does not have an especially annoying voice as they shill for the fake watch and inches of fake gold "sales". That really ticks me off anyway.

They know it is a pile of crap, but they hype people up like conmen every cruise.

 

I liked Big/Not So Big Tex and the Cruise Director formerly known as Wee Jimmy.

[Lerin]

Don't care one bit, though I can understand why some may be disappointed by the lack of John Heald. With his blog and Facebook, some think of him as a minor celebrity not so much a cruise director.

[cheewiee]

The Cruise Director manages the entertainment staff... so even if you never see the CD themselves, a good CD should have a great Entertainment staff...

 

So far on Carnival I have had 2 good times with the entertainment staff and 1 not so good time. The not so good time, Jamie Dee (I know, she is a VERY popular CD) was the CD, and ALL of the trivia was listed as "Host's Choice" which quite frankly means too lazy to have a game in advance.... Trivia is one of the ships activities I enjoy.. so I didn't really enjoy it that cruise...

[Joaljoe]

We wouldn't book a cruise specifically for a CD but we do like them. Well, not all of them! On our first cruise back in 2006, we didn't even notice the CD. 2nd cruise all we remember is the CD was very annoying but then we had Butch on the Dream and really loved him! We feel he brought such a fun element to the cruise and his personality added enjoyment to the whole cruise. This was also our first cruise as a family and all our kids talked about for months is Butch. He took the time to interact with them and that just made them feel so special.

 

We had him again for the Breeze - kids were SUPER excited! Again, had a great cruise with him!

 

This past February we went on the Sunshine and Jaime Dee was the CD. She was also great with high energy and always interacting with the guests. Our kids also loved her!! She always had a smile and made sure everyone was having a blast.

 

I think it just depends what you're into on the cruise. If you like to join all the activities that go on then I think it's important to have a good CD. However, if I was there to do nothing but relax and lay out in the sun all day sipping on those tasty drinks... then I wouldn't care who the CD was. Just keep bringing those daiquiri's. LOL

[mzloolue]

Don't care one bit, though I can understand why some may be disappointed by the lack of John Heald. With his blog and Facebook, some think of him as a minor celebrity not so much a cruise director.

 

I think that people do think the cruise director is a celebrity and not minor either.

 

It would be interesting to have JH as cruise director just to see what the talk is about.

[TheTexans]

I could care less who the Cruise Director is... however, my four year old and I sailed on the Liberty August 2014. Corey Rogers was the CD and made a huge impression on the 4 year old. She won a "build-a-bear" beaver during the shopping show and named him Corey. We had the best cruise with Drake the entertainment host and she still talks about Grooving for St. Jude with Rylo.

 

My parents did Alaska last year with John. He'd been built up to be "so incredible" that he was just so-so and pretty "run of mill."

[aubreyc1988]

I never would book a cruise or cancel one over a CD - and a bad one doesnt really impact my cruise, but a GREAT one can! I've had some really good CD over the years - one I remember from a Carnival ship was Kevin Noonan :)

[wagtail_syd]

We just got off the Legend last week. Not sure if the CD will stay the same for the repositioning to Alaska if JH does not take over but we had Brian Leavitt. We really liked his energy and thought he made the trip more fun. The kids especially found his cheesiness hilarious.

[Cherrys]

A great CD who is funny and ever-present makes the world of difference for me. My last cruise he was almost non-existent and I really noticed it.

[greggyw]

We just got off the Legend last week. Not sure if the CD will stay the same for the repositioning to Alaska if JH does not take over but we had Brian Leavitt. We really liked his energy and thought he made the trip more fun. The kids especially found his cheesiness hilarious.

 

I have been on a cruise with Brian, thought he was a pain in the neck on the loudspeaker all the time in regard to whats in the daily guide, I would describe his as someone who likes the sound of his own voice and it tends to take over the cruise, no drama with being enthusiastic, but take the ships loudspeaker mic off these people, unless it is really important.

[bjd2]

I hadn't really thought much about the CD until I sailed with John Heald. That cruise stands out as the most fun of all. He had us laughing the entire week. No other CD has done that and there are a couple that I couldn't even describe one way or the other as they were not memorable.

 

I hear Mike, who we'll have this weekend on the Conquest, is great. We shall see. :D

[ilovetexas]

I used to think it made no difference who the CD was on a cruise. I found out it can make a HUGE difference on our February cruise on the Freedom.

 

I was disappointed in the lack of trivia/games during the day time hours on board. I contacted Carnival when I got home and was told they would talk to the CD. Yes, the CD decides what activities you will do on board.

 

I'm crossing my fingers that my up coming cruise in a couple of weeks will have more activities during the morning and early afternoon. Unfortunately, we are booked on the Freedom again and Jen Baxter is probably still there. :(

 

.

 

I find these two quotes "amusing" since the ONLY Carnival CD that I've had a bad cruise with was Jen Baxter. That was before they created the ED position so she's just making excuses. Activity staff was late for every single activity we went to and things were horribly mismanaged. The activity staff reports to the CD and is the responsibility of the CD. Even now, with the ED position, the CD is still the management level between the staff and the ED. Here is a posting of the job description:

 

http://www.carnivalentertainment.com/entertainment-staff

 

For everyone stating the CD doesn't make a difference, yes they do! If you ever have a bad one, you'll know it. I don't cruise specifically for a CD, for the most part I don't pay a lot of attention to them. BUT, if I ever see Jen Baxter's name posted as CD of a ship, I'm booking a different one.

 

 

 

I spoke with Jen regarding the lack of activities. Jen said that the Entertainment Director onboard is responsible for planning the activities. She said she would pass my comments on to him.

 

[golfb4cruzing]

If you cruise for the ship, you might notice. We use the ship to get us to the islands, so if people are late, we don't know. As long as there is food and drinks, the rest is minor.

Edited April 1, 2015 by golfb4cruzing