New Current list of Cruise Directors (CD)

Cruisedafewtimes · February 16, 2017

Well, I hope CLO does not shoot me. I was on the Anthem with her in January. She said that this is the first time in a long time she knows her schedule in advance. If I remember correctly .... on the Anthem until March then taking her boy to Disney World ( not the ship ) for 4 weeks and 4 weeks home I think for a total of 8 weeks then going to the Navigator until November and then back to the Brilliance. Would that answer some questions ? ? ?

DonnaK · February 16, 2017

Donna
Just remembered Mike Hunnerup is replacing Jimmy on ovation in march (sorry no dates) but I think he might be getting on today or on February 20 when the repositioning cruise starts from Sydney to Singapore for a handover!

Adventure OTS - Elvis Pinto February 11 until mid-April, then Casey Pelter mid-April for 4 months

Allure OTS - Tim Connor October 23 until March 12, then Bobby Brown March 12 until sometime in April (need handover date) then Mitch Merucci sometime in April though August. According to his tweet, Mitch will be the new regular CD of Allure

Anthem OTS - Clo O'Connor January 14 until mid-March (need handover date) Then, Dru Pavlov mid-March through mid-July. (Jimmy Rhodes will be covering sometime in September through sometime in November)

Brilliance OTS - Jerome Sueur November 10 until early March (need exact date. Who is covering March and April?) per her FB post, Clo O'Connor will be onboard May through July (need dates)

Empress OTS - Carlos Torres October 21 until mid-February, Who will be covering mid-February through mid-April? (need dates)Elvis Pinto begins mid-April for 2 months.

Enchantment OTS - Michele Scarpato December 16 until mid-April, then who?

Explorer OTS - Rob McNally January 25 through March 19, then Graham returns March 19 through July 28 (then Graham is stepping back from cruise life except for an occasional fill-in)

Freedom OTS - Casey Pelter October 16 until late February (this is Casey's last contract on FR) Then who?

Grandeur OTS - Bobby Broughton October 22 until February 25 (then does Paul Rutter return February 25 for 2 months?) Bobby will return late April/early May for 4 months.

Harmony OTS - Bobby Brown January 7 until March 11, then Abe Hughes returns March 11 for 4 months. Abe returns mid-September until after the New Year.

Independence OTS - John Blair January 9 until mid-March (need exact date), then Drew Devine mid-March until May 27, then Joff Eaton returns May 27 until September 30

Jewel OTS - Dennis Charles November 6 until mid-to-late February, then Simona Ferraiuolo begins mid-to-late February (handover date needed)

Legend OTS - Chris Brown Jan 15 (until mid-March when the ship is handed over to TUI?)

Liberty OTS - Jeff Arpin January 8 until mid-May, then John Blair is covering from mid-May until mid-July (per John's FB post) It was also reported that Drew Devine was doing the May-July coverage - where has he been reassigned?.

Majesty OTS - Susan McColl October 23 until February 17, then Marc Walker returns February 17 until mid-June (per his FB post)

Mariner OTS - Fang Lixin October 17 (until when?)

Navigator OTS - Cuddy Cudsworth November 23 until mid-March (need exact date) then Rob McNally mid-march for 2 months.

Oasis OTS - Patricio Honores January 21 until March 12, then Jimmy Rhodes March 12 until mid-July.

Ovation OTS - Jimmy Rhodes returns February 14 until March 5, then Mike Hunnerup begins March 5 (for 4 months?) Mike is boarding the ship on Feb 20 for a two-week handover.

Quantum OTS - Ricky Matthews end of January (until when? then who?)

Radiance OTS - Joff Eaton January 28 until March 28

Rhapsody OTS - Dan Whitney January 21 (until the TA on April 29? or through the TA on May 13?)

Serenade OTS - Topi Ylonen November 21 until March 20

Vision OTS - Bill Brunkhorst October 29 (until when? then who?) (Marc Walker posted on FB that he will be on Vision out of Texas mid-November 2017 thru mid-January 2018)

Voyager OTS - Ken Jones January 31 until sometime in March (need date) then Jamie Fentiman

Graham Seymour is stepping back from cruise life after July 28, 2017 except for occasional fill-ins.

John Perry has left Royal and is now Operations Manager at Hyatt Hotels (per LinkedIn)

Ken Rush works at corporate in Miami as RCI's Director of Entertainment. He may occasionally fill-in as CD

Rich Edwards is temporarily out due to back issues and will not be returning until at least October 2016

Amy Fickert-Southgate has taken a job shoreside as of June 8

Luke Aerowsmith is working at the corporate office in London

Gordon Whatman is retired, but will be filling-in from time-to-time if needed

Allan Brooks works for Celebrity in their corporate office.

Richard Spacey is a CD with Celebrity

Becky Thompson works for Celebrity Cruises in their corporate offices in Miami.

Dave Chapman is a CD with HAL

James Andrews is a real estate agent in Sydney

Mike Szwajkowski is a Canadian Mountie

Leo Papa is a Product Manager at Tauck Corp in Connecticut

Anna Bass is a make-up artist

João Pereira is studying Portuguese/English education and translation at Faculdades Metropolitanas Unidas in Brazil

Kirk Detweiler is now CD with Silversea cruises.

Simeon Baker - married a dancer, had a baby girl and is a sales exec at a Porsche dealer in Saskatchewan

Matt Baker - Sim's brother - recently married and living in Wales. They bought a pub called the Tiddley

Kieron Buffrey - CD with Holland America

Tom Canosa - teaching 6th grade science in North Carolina

Peter Benfield and Johnny Osborne have emigrated to Thailand

Anthony Richards is living in Miami with his wife, and is working for Royal Media Partners as Manager Port Revenue Operations

Rico du Breil is now a CD with SilverSeas out of Italy

Paul Lancaster is no longer with RCI, and resides in England

Abel Jeney is now with The World - Luxury Residence at Sea

Parker Cristan is living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin - staging/choreographing for local theater

Ashley Kerr - married and living in Vancouver BC, working as a marketing rep for a PR firm

Karen Maybury - has a consultant/pr/entertainment agency

Jannie Cloete - leading expeditions on small ships

Warren Allen (aka Warren Melhuish) lives in Ontario, Canada. He has retired from ship-life but still works on the stage

Thomas DeCell is no longer with RCI

Leigh Xuereb and his AM Frankie Portera are CD's for Carnival

DonnaK · February 16, 2017

Well, I hope CLO does not shoot me. I was on the Anthem with her in January. She said that this is the first time in a long time she knows her schedule in advance. If I remember correctly .... on the Anthem until March then taking her boy to Disney World ( not the ship ) for 4 weeks and 4 weeks home I think for a total of 8 weeks then going to the Navigator until November and then back to the Brilliance. Would that answer some questions ? ? ?

This is confusing because of conflicting information.

Clo posted on FB that she will be on Brilliance in May (after the 4 weeks in Disney and 4 weeks home) until July. I wonder if that has that changed?

Cuddy is the regular CD of Navigator, so he is due back from break in mid-May for 4 months. Unless that has changed? Could Clo be covering his break from mid-Sept through mid-November? (May through November doesn't seem right because 6 month contracts are very unusual - Clo usually does 2 month fill-in contracts)

I'm really not sure how to update the list.... For Clo: Brilliance May through July, then Navigator Sept through Nov makes the most sense.

BRUKREW · February 16, 2017

I have read 2 reviews that indicate Enzo is filling in as temporary CD on Freedom. I can obviously not confirm, but thought I would mention it - in case recent FOS passengers can confirm.

We will be on FOS in a month [emoji846] Can't wait!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We just got off the Freedom and Enzo was the CD..

Cruisedafewtimes · February 16, 2017

This is confusing because of conflicting information.

Clo posted on FB that she will be on Brilliance in May (after the 4 weeks in Disney and 4 weeks home) until July. I wonder if that has that changed?

Cuddy is the regular CD of Navigator, so he is due back from break in mid-May for 4 months. Unless that has changed? Could Clo be covering his break from mid-Sept through mid-November? (May through November doesn't seem right because 6 month contracts are very unusual - Clo usually does 2 month fill-in contracts)

I'm really not sure how to update the list.... For Clo: Brilliance May through July, then Navigator Sept through Nov makes the most sense.

Maybe someone on the Anthem could ask ?

DonnaK · February 18, 2017

We just got off the Freedom and Enzo was the CD..

Was this just to cover during the CD conference, or is it longterm?

Can someone sailing after 2/12 confirm the CD situation on Freedom?

camper51 · February 18, 2017

We are going on the Freedom next week - will let you know what we find. We have had Enzo as an Activity Manager on Enchantment a few years back. He was ok.

racerxspeedy · February 18, 2017

FYI- I just read a Harmony review that said Simeon Kirkiles was the CD onboard. It was a Positive review for Simeon.

DonnaK · February 18, 2017

FYI- I just read a Harmony review that said Simeon Kirkiles was the CD onboard. It was a Positive review for Simeon.

Yes, this was the week of the CD conference. He was just covering as CD for that week only (unless the sailing was after FEB 11?).

DonnaK · February 19, 2017

FYI- I just read a Harmony review that said Simeon Kirkiles was the CD onboard. It was a Positive review for Simeon.

OK - I have confirmed that Simeon was only the CD on Harmony for one week, to cover while Bobby attended the CD conference. Bobby returned on 2/11/17. See the post below from a review of the 2/11 sailing.

Bobby Brown was the cruise director

A&L_Ont · February 19, 2017

Hi Donna. We board Harmony in March, the week that Abe is to take over. If he isn't our CD that week I will let you know, as well as who has filled in for him. Even though it was a one off I hope it would be Simeon. :p

DonnaK · February 19, 2017

Hi Donna. We board Harmony in March, the week that Abe is to take over. If he isn't our CD that week I will let you know, as well as who has filled in for him. Even though it was a one off I hope it would be Simeon. :p

Thank you! I don't think you will be disappointed with Abe. He was awesome on Anthem!

DonnaK · February 19, 2017