Current Cruise Directors

[Sny]

Is there anywhere that one can access a list of current CD's on the various O ships?  How often do they rotate them?  Anyone have preferences?

[LHT28]

no place I know of

sometimes your TA may be able to get the info

They can change at the drop of  a hat

we have had some cases where  the CD was suppose to be on our cruise  then they were transferred to another ship on turnaround day

[Sny]

More curious than anything.  All have been OK so far; although we hated Dotty's frequent announcements on our Alaskan cruise. Loved Nolan Dean; but I believe he's now with Viking.

[LHT28]

We just go with the flow ..cannot change  who is onboard  😁

 

[Jancruz]

We Leave on Regatta  Tuesday to Alaska with a brand new CD..Will let you know how we like him..

Jancruz1

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, Sny said:

More curious than anything.  All have been OK so far; although we hated Dotty's frequent announcements on our Alaskan cruise. Loved Nolan Dean; but I believe he's now with Viking.

A few years ago, O stopped including pix/bios of  the senior officers and CD in the printed blue book. Often the layout/printing was inaccurate by the time the actual cruise embarked.

 

There are several newer CDs on Oceania. For the most part, they have moved up to O from mass market cruise lines and still need acculturation to O's homogeneous and well-traveled passenger demographic (many of whom are regular repeat customers). 

 

That said, our "far and away" favorite Oceania CD is the long serving and ever irreverent Ray Carr.  Interestingly, Ray is the only Oceania CD ever awarded the status of honorary membership in "The Friends of Johnny Tokyo" (we were fortunate enough to be there when Ray [and his wiener dog, Luigi] were awarded that prestigeous honor).

[clo]

On a line like O - small and not a ton of entertainment options - what does a CD do?

[Jancruz]

My favorite from day one of Oceania on the friends and family cruise ia Leslie Jon..his Fiddler on the Roof is the best I've ever seen and he does the best TRIVIA..

Jancruz1

[Paulchili]

48 minutes ago, Jancruz said:

My favorite from day one of Oceania on the friends and family cruise ia Leslie Jon..his Fiddler on the Roof is the best I've ever seen and he does the best TRIVIA..

Jancruz1

Hear, hear - in full agreement 😁

[Mura]

And then there are people like us who really don't care who the CD is because we don't really use them ... We DID like Dotty on our 2012 Black Sea cruise (haven't been with her since) ... people recently complain that she makes too many announcements but we never noticed that.  Perhaps things have changed.

 

Mura

 

[LHT28]

4 minutes ago, Mura said:

And then there are people like us who really don't care who the CD is because we don't really use them ...

Mura

 

+1 😎

[Paulchili]

25 minutes ago, Mura said:

And then there are people like us who really don't care who the CD is because we don't really use them .

When you really enjoy trivia then the CD DOES make a difference as they are the ones who run it.

[Mura]

Understood.  It's been clear over the years that Trivia lovers value the CD for the way he/she runs the show ... whereas we don't do Trivia, so ...

 

I'm not saying that everyone on board should not care who the CD is ... I'm just saying that we don't!

 

Mura

[LHT28]

34 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

When you really enjoy trivia then the CD DOES make a difference as they are the ones who run it.

Trivia on Oceania  is a blood sport 😉

DH went once  & that was enough for him to never go back

 

Some CD's are better than others 

[clo]

2 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Trivia on Oceania  is a blood sport 😉

 

Thanks so much for that comment.  Won't need to check THAT out.  Sheesh.

[EasyGoingGuy]

Trivia...a 'blood sport' ?  Fascinating. Walked by a few time and saw no blood.  We like trivia, used to be fairly good at it. Sounds more interesting now with your description.

[tvmovielover]

Some of the groups regard Trivia as a blood sport but other groups are just there for fun or until happy hour or dinner or something.  While we take it somewhat seriously, what we have enjoyed most about it is the group that forms (usually by accident) every cruise.  It is another way to make a group of friends on board so worth it to go just once.

[Kate-AHF]

Trivia atmosphere changes with the pax mix.  What may have been really competitive on one cruise (Lyn), or even one session may not be the case the next time.

 

To write off an activity because someone else didn't like it the one time he went makes no sense to me.  It's free, and 95% of the time it's a LOT fun.  And a little competitiveness makes for a good time.  How much fun would the whole thing be if everyone sat around and said "what ev" for every question?

[Toranut97]

8 hours ago, clo said:

Thanks so much for that comment.  Won't need to check THAT out.  Sheesh.

Oh, come on! I love trivia, played on every one of our cruises, saw no blood. The only problem I saw was on our last cruise a team was openly using a cell phone to cheat, which is VERY aggravating. 

 

Sometimes there is some teenager-like cattiness, but overall, fun!

 

Donna 

Edited August 5, 2019 by Toranut97
Typos

[Toranut97]

8 hours ago, clo said:

Thanks so much for that comment.  Won't need to check THAT out.  Sheesh.

 

Edited August 5, 2019 by Toranut97
Trying to delete duplicate post

[Toranut97]

8 hours ago, clo said:

Thanks so much for that comment.  Won't need to check THAT out.  Sheesh.

Oh, come on! I love trivia, played on every one of our cruises, saw no blood. The only problem I saw was on our last cruise a team was openly using a cell phone to cheat, which is VERY aggravating. 

 

Sometimes there is sime teenager-like cattiness, but overall, fun!

 

donna 

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, Toranut97 said:

Oh, come on! I love trivia, played on every one of our cruises, saw no blood. The only problem I saw was on our last cruise a team was openly using a cell phone to cheat, which is VERY aggravating. 

 

Sometimes there is sime teenager-like cattiness, but overall, fun!

 

donna 

We sometimes  would  go to the  one in Martinis  & just listen to the questions

Using a cell phone  is unsportsman like  & they should be thrown out of the game 😁

[Flatbush Flyer]

13 hours ago, clo said:

On a line like O - small and not a ton of entertainment options - what does a CD do?

Besides things like managing the resident entertainment technical and performing crew (BTW, don't forget the string quartet) as well as coordinating appearances by specialized local talent (tango, haka, bagpipers, etc), personally overseeing Trivia, and making standard PA announcements (Muster, pre-port safety, special events), Oceania CDs emcee all major "social events" including Captain and O Club cocktail parties and do intros for the robust lecture and demonstration programming.

 

To that, add the CD's "morning show" on TV, organizing extra activities/experiences on certain longer itineraries (e.g., Country Fair, boatbuilding contest, Equator or IDL crossings) and hosting invited passenger dinner parties in the GDR. (BTW, If you ever get invited to dinner by an officer or CD, remember that there are no doggie bags👀)

 

And that's just the stuff we passengers see.

 

Also, because O ships are relatively small, remember that, when the CD turns around to hand off some assignment to his/her administrative staff, s/he is often looking in the mirror.

Edited August 5, 2019 by Flatbush Flyer

[Mura]

Passenger complements change from sail date to sail date.  You never know what you will get.

 

Sometimes specialty reservations are a cinch, other times they are impossible -- depending on how important those reservations are to others.  Likewise trivia can be a blood sport for some people or just fun for others.

 

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

My husband loves Ray Carr. 

 

I'm in the "doesn't really matter" camp, although if they're too loud (crazy/cheerleader/try too hard to entertain types), I'm not crazy about them.  I can remember only one of those. 

 

I personally liked Dottie.  Announcements are announcements.  All CDs make them.