Does the CD really impact your cruise experience that much?

[LMaxwell]

10 hours ago, motheroftwocats814 said:

for us it makes no difference. 

 

I've never cared who it is beforehand, they are not some kind of quasi-celebrity in my eyes; BUT a bad CD does shows right through in poor event planning and unenthusiastic staff.  A good CD has a good team and good variety for guests, even if they are not in your face.  So it does make a difference in the overall product, I think, even if I still don't view them as the quasi-celebrities others seem to.

[atb]

I never paid attention to the CDs until we had a really great one on Celebrity Mercury.  He made the cruise so much more enjoyable.  So now I understand what a really good CD can do for a cruise.  But the bad ones don't wreck the cruise, we're cruising and having a great time. 

[John&LaLa]

26 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

 

I've never cared who it is beforehand, they are not some kind of quasi-celebrity in my eyes; BUT a bad CD does shows right through in poor event planning and unenthusiastic staff.  A good CD has a good team and good variety for guests, even if they are not in your face.  So it does make a difference in the overall product, I think, even if I still don't view them as the quasi-celebrities others seem to.

 

We had a new one on the Serenade TA. He had just come from Cunard a few weeks prior. Everyone on the roll call hated him.

 

I thought he was fine. I think his name was David.

[time4u2go]

Yes.

[HBE4]

52 minutes ago, ILCTCRUISER said:

There was probably a time when a CD was an important part of the cruise experience.  Julie on The Love Boat?  As ships got larger and larger, CDs became more and more "invisible."    

 

100% agree

[Biker19]

Virgin Voyages won’t even have one. 

[HBE4]

2 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

All of the lines have their Captain, CD and lounge entertainment groupies. I don’t get it and would never book a cruise based on that. Also we saw a really good men’s vocal group on Anthem. DW would have purchased a CD but then realized that we no longer have a CD player as we have been streaming music since it began. We didn’t like them so much that we would book a cruise around them but there are people who do that.

 

I've been on several cruises where Matt Yee (Oy, Oy, Oy....hmmmmm) was the piano player in the Schooner Bar.  We enjoy him as it's our kind of humor. So we'll hit the Schooner bar 3 or 4 nights on a 7 night cruise, usually just to catch part of his act as it does get repetitive.  Last cruise, there was several groupies that choose their cruise based on if he is on it. His website has his schedule. You can bet they were the first ones to sit at the piano every night and stayed for the whole show.

 

Hey, to each their own I guess.  Everyone has their  own criteria for picking a cruise.

[CapeGal]

Ack...sometimes we remember their faces, but not their names.  We were on Adventure in May and I don't remember him at all.  He was never around.

[depplep]

14 cruises and counting and I couldn't tell you the name of one of them. But then again, we don't participate in the activities.

[HBE4]

20 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Virgin Voyages won’t even have one. 

 

Based on what I'm reading here, nobody is even going to notice the CD is missing.

 

But who is going to do the morning program on TV?? lol

[fredflint]

I think they can add or detract as we like to watch the morning TV show with them.  One cruise they had "what is in the box" it was really fun.  Another cruise both  people on the show had such heavy accents it was not possible to tell what they are saying.  To me the big thing is how well the staff speaks English, we like trivia but when they cannot pronounce the questions we lose interest.

 

Overall maybe 1 point or so out of 10 could they influence but don't even consider that, it is more ship size #1 then the itinerary.

[JTBCruiser]

DW and I could care less who the CD is.  We go mainly for R&R and avoid most of the scheduled activities.

[ditmar2007]

2 hours ago, JTBCruiser said:

DW and I could care less who the CD is.  We go mainly for R&R and avoid most of the scheduled activities.

Yup. Me too. Lots of down time. Lots of nice food. Lots of knitting.

 

I usually forget to go to the shows. And I move to some other place when some orchestra starts to play if it's too loud (which it usually is). 

I have never seen them on the TV. I just use it to keep an eye on my account. 

Edited July 27, 2019 by ditmar2007

[pam_1024]

I've been on 7 cruises, all on RC and remember all the CD names.  😛. I don't know why, to me, they just make my cruise more enjoyable.  Jimmy Rhodes, Marc Walker, Carly B, Richard Spacey (my absolute favorite), Casey Pelter, Leigh Xuerub, and Tim Connor.  

[Iamcruzin]

4 hours ago, HBE4 said:

 

I've been on several cruises where Matt Yee (Oy, Oy, Oy....hmmmmm) was the piano player in the Schooner Bar.  We enjoy him as it's our kind of humor. So we'll hit the Schooner bar 3 or 4 nights on a 7 night cruise, usually just to catch part of his act as it does get repetitive.  Last cruise, there was several groupies that choose their cruise based on if he is on it. His website has his schedule. You can bet they were the first ones to sit at the piano every night and stayed for the whole show.

 

Hey, to each their own I guess.  Everyone has their  own criteria for picking a cruise.

Bert Stratton had a similar act on Princess and people would follow his schedule. He was replaced with a similar act from someone who worked on Celebrity. I Forgot his name but elite passengers from Celebrity jumped over to Princess to follow him. I guess these people don’t know any entertainment other than cruise ship entertainment. 

[Iamcruzin]

4 hours ago, HBE4 said:

 

Based on what I'm reading here, nobody is even going to notice the CD is missing.

 

But who is going to do the morning program on TV?? lol

Virgin is for Millennials. morning starts at Noon.

[dodgestang]

My only memory of CD is bad jokes whenever they push forward and get the mic.

 

I understand....'someone' has to be MC these things, and make announcements pre and post show, and try to rev up the crowd at the officers vs cruiser volleyball games......

[jsf]

We've been on about 35 cruises and couldn't name one CD, we don't need anyone to show us how to have a good time.

[Iamcruzin]

3 hours ago, dodgestang said:

My only memory of CD is bad jokes whenever they push forward and get the mic.

 

My kids refer to these as Dad Jokes.

[mooseman52b]

We don't choose a cruise based upon the CD, but they can (and usually do) make a difference to us. We typically attend the stage shows and love and marriage event.

 

We just got off Ovation and Joff Eaton was a hoot. We enjoyed Bing Bong "Marc Walker", and Bobby Brown was great on the Symphony TA. For the most part they are entertaining.

 

Only 1 we can recall that irritates us. I can't recall his name and kinda hope he's not the CD again on our upcoming Mariner cruise.

Edited July 27, 2019 by mooseman52b

[CanadaRob]

even after more than a couple if cruises still go to activities as part of my r&r and the bad CDs disappoint.   Won't search out any but do smile or get a little excited if it's one that I like.

[motheroftwocats814]

Wow! Thanks for all your responses. It is very interesting. 

[Hoopster95]

10 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

BUT a bad CD does shows right through in poor event planning and unenthusiastic staff.  A good CD has a good team and good variety for guests, even if they are not in your face.  So it does make a difference in the overall product, I think, 

 

Beautifully said LMaxwell. 100% agree. Been friends with a few staff over the years during a cruise when things were "more lax" than they are today, and this sentiment is totally true.

 

8 hours ago, HBE4 said:

 

Based on what I'm reading here, nobody is even going to notice the CD is missing.

 

Disagree here. So ships/some itineraries yes, some no in my humble opinion. Also, a few people have noted that the larger ships it's tougher for the CD to be in enough public places for everyone to see and talk to. See how some fellow CC'ers speak of Graham Seymour for example.

 

Anyone sailing on Symphony this fall, you are in for a great surprise as far as what a great CD is when you witness Mike Szwajkowski... this guy I still remember to this day years later. The only CD ever to get a standing ovation in the theatre at the finale video before the farwell show started when his picture (not in person) appeared on the screen. The very best CD ever in my opinion. Hope he's as great now as he was 5-6 years ago.

[Paulette3028]

12 hours ago, Big_G said:

Probably not a popular opinion on Cruise Critic but I don't think cruise directors get enough credit for what they do behind the scenes. Yeah, some are memorable because of their great personalities but cruise directors manage all the entertainment on the ship and it's no 9 - 5 job. While I don't remember many of their names, I do appreciate how they sometimes directly but always indirectly make my cruise enjoyable.

Totally agree....and every activity, not just 'the entertainment' is coordinated/scheduled by the CD.  Their staff is a reflection of the CD as well.  The larger the ship, often times the less visible a CD might be around the ship, but the more they have to be in charge of.    We don't plan our cruises around what CD we might have....and we love having new ones....but if we have an opportunity to have a CD on which previously we had a very nice and enjoyable cruise, it gives we have the expectation that we will have another well planned set of activities to consider participating in and a fun staff who enjoys what they do.  

 

[davekathy]

Only during QUEST.