Cruise director on Riviera

[laserboi]

Any idea who the CD is on riviera? 

[edgee]

Recent posters say it is Dottie Kulasa. I am sailing on Riviera on  March 6 and hope there is a change as I think she is a nice person, but she talks too much on the P.A. system.

[rheasue38]

Dottie will be on in March!! We love her!

 

[Mura]

We liked her very much too although it's quite a while since we sailed with her.  We never thought she spoke too much on the PA system (I've seen that complaint about her a number of times)  ... then again we are often in our cabin and miss many of those announcements as a result.  But as far as are concerned she's a wonderful CD.

 

Mura

[bigmjh]

I'll second that ... Dottie's one of the best. And, yes, she does seem to be on the PA a lot.

[doowopbob]

We were recently on Riviera.  We have been on a number of cruises with Dottie and her husband Tom.  We consider Dottie the best cruise director we have come across in quite a few cruises. She announces the activities for the day and than later for the evening.  We certainly don't see any problem with that.

[edgee]

49 minutes ago, doowopbob said:

We were recently on Riviera.  We have been on a number of cruises with Dottie and her husband Tom.  We consider Dottie the best cruise director we have come across in quite a few cruises. She announces the activities for the day and than later for the evening.  We certainly don't see any problem with that.

I consider announcements of activities which have already been delivered to passengers in written form and are not directly related to important information from the captain or related to port clearance or other logistical information as noise pollution which disturbs my vacation. We are adults and can read the schedule of events in Currents. Cruise directors hyping events on the P.A. lower the level of a cruising experience. 

[StanandJim]

14 minutes ago, edgee said:

I consider announcements of activities which have already been delivered to passengers in written form and are not directly related to important information from the captain or related to port clearance or other logistical information as noise pollution which disturbs my vacation. We are adults and can read the schedule of events in Currents. Cruise directors hyping events on the P.A. lower the level of a cruising experience. 

Personally, I agree with you 100%.

Human nature being what it is, however, a far greater number need everything spoon fed to them and become enraged that they might have been left out of something to which (here it comes, folks!!!) they are entitled.  

[Noxequifans]

Sorry, but we also found her annoying.

[Paulchili]

I am on the side of those not needing re-enactment of activities over the PA as they are clearly listed in great detail. If a change is made in the program, that’s a different story.

[edgee]

37 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

I am on the side of those not needing re-enactment of activities over the PA as they are clearly listed in great detail. If a change is made in the program, that’s a different story.

Generally the absence if bothersome announcements is a trait of the more luxurious cruise lines. Crystal and Regent come to mind as cruise experiences I have had where I have enjoyed the absence of cruise directors hawking events on the P.A. Celebrity...on the upper end of the mainstream lines has very limited cruise director announcements, if at all. Oceania's yakkity yak cruise directors bring to mind a Carnival like sales experience...not quite in the hairy chest and belly flop contest category of tackiness, but certainly not in a good direction.

[Mura]

Seems to me -- maybe I am wrong -- that Oceania used to keep PA announcements pretty rare.  I don't disagree that we should all be able to read Currents for information, and also that some people like their hands held.  These announcements haven't bothered us on Oceania because we tend not to hear them!  That's to our fault or our credit, I'm not sure which, but again, we haven't been bothered by them.

 

Has there been a change in the frequency of announcements?  If there has been, do we blame the CDs who are making them or management?  An honest question!

 

I have to add that I don't remember complaints about too-frequent announcements in the past, but more recently they have become rather common.

 

Mura

[warburg]

Hello, Everyone. StanandJim  are right. This is the age of entitlement and its twin, grievance. When things don't work according to plan, complain. We've sailed with Dottie and Tom, and enjoyed them very much. It helps that on O, listening to ordinary announcements in state rooms  is voluntary. Good thing.

 

I also agree with Paulchili. Only necessary information not in the program should be announced. O's appeal rests in large part on what doesn't happen. I hope management remembers that. Think of GE, Sears and Macy's. Oops.

Mary

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alangee]

Dottie was the CD on our cruise in February and my wife and I thought she was great - very friendly and extremely funny. As trivia players we enjoyed her running the daily trivia. As for the announcements, no big deal. I remember on other cruise lines the announcements went straight into the cabins. On Riviera they were played in the hallways so if you wanted to listen to them, you just opened your door.

[Mura]

I think that perhaps the people complaining about too many announcements (especially from Dottie but maybe not especially) are hearing them in the public areas.  Like you, we have to open the door when we are in the room and so miss most of them.  If we are "out and about" we pretty much ignore announcements ...

 

And if we are "out and about" we probably aren't on board anyway.

 

Dottie was our CD on Regatta in August 2012 for the Black Sea cruise.  Our arrival in Istanbul was delayed because a Carnival ship refused to leave when it was supposed to.  Eventually we got to our dock. I was impressed with Dottie in particular at that time because when we left the ship and specifically asked about the problem, she was very careful not to say much.  Other than what we already knew. While I would have loved hearing "scuttlebutt", I admired her professional demeanor.

 

Mura

[kitty9]

We were on in Feb and Dottie told us she would be on Riviera for the May 15 cruise and then she will head home for vacation.  

[su-arizona]

I agree with Mura - I rarely hear announcements.  So I couldn't say whether Dottie makes more announcements than others...

 

What I do remember most is that Dottie is one of the only CD's who showed up for the M&G and stayed long enough to meet and greet most of the attendees.  Greatly appreciated, and set a good tone for the rest of the cruise!

[LHT28]

We had Peter Roberts & Julie  show up  & mingle  at the M & G

along  with the GM

Was not always the case

[Paulchili]

1 hour ago, su-arizona said:

What I do remember most is that Dottie is one of the only CD's who showed up for the M&G and stayed long enough to meet and greet most of the attendees.  Greatly appreciated, and set a good tone for the rest of the cruise!

The first time we cruised with Dottie many years ago I was very impressed that she stood by the exit at disembarkation and greeted/said good bye to every single passenger disembarking - very impressive.

Despite that, while she is good, she is not at the top of my list of CDs

[boerneDQ]

I will always remember on one cruise our last port was an overnight in Istanbul.  We arranged to leave for the airport at 5am on the second morning and Dottie was there with a bright smile to wish us well and say goodbye!  It was 3 hours before normal/formal disembarkation.  Definitely left a lasting fond memory with me.

[LaCroisiereS'amuse]

18 hours ago, LHT28 said:

We had Peter Roberts & Julie  show up  & mingle  at the M & G

along  with the GM

Was not always the case

 

I'm amazed you actually saw Peter Roberts.....he's normally conspicuous by his absence & gets his partner the Assistant CD to do everything.....on Marina's May crossing last year we didn't see him once around the ship in 15 days. PA's aside I much prefer Dottie 😀

Edited March 22, 2019 by LaCroisiereS'amuse

[LHT28]

Just now, LaCroisiereS'amuse said:

 

I'm amazed you actually saw Peter Roberts.....he's normally conspicuous by his absence & gets his partner the Assistant CD to do everything.....on Marina's May crossing last year we didn't see him once around the ship in 15 days. PA's aside I much prefer Dottie 😀

We saw him & his  notorious collection of shoes  quite a bit  😉

 

[ORV]

I've cruised with Peter quite a bit and find him very accessible. He's an acquired taste. I also like the Assistant CD Jason that is usually with him. 

[edgee]

1 hour ago, LaCroisiereS'amuse said:

 

I'm amazed you actually saw Peter Roberts.....he's normally conspicuous by his absence & gets his partner the Assistant CD to do everything.....on Marina's May crossing last year we didn't see him once around the ship in 15 days. PA's aside I much prefer Dottie 😀

I would love to have a cruise director who does his or her job without making things about her like Dottie does. Really, I have never seen another CD who is introduced with a drum roll and music and gives a third or fourth reading of events listed in Currents each evening followed by a repetitive joke before each evening's entertainment. 

[golfguyhhi]

Orv,

 

You'll always have Jason as ACD with Peter as CD as they are married and their agreement with O is that they work each cruise together, not unlike Nolan Dean and Elle Atta when they both still worked for O.

I happen to enjoy both Peter and Jason and hope I can cruise with them again soon.

Wish Nolan would find his way back to O, too.