Do you like the Hotel Director renamed as General Manager?

[Gershep]

I like Hotel Director

[ew101]

33 minutes ago, deliver42 said:

The Hotel Director, in reality, is the general Manager on cruise ships. He's in charge of every department, so the name doesn't change anything.

The Captain/Staff Captain is still though in direct charge of the Engine, Medical, Hotel and Deck departments aboard?  So this is just a renaming of the Hotel Director job?  

Edited August 31, 2019 by ew101

[chengkp75]

8 hours ago, deliver42 said:

The Hotel Director, in reality, is the general Manager on cruise ships. He's in charge of every department, so the name doesn't change anything.

This is not correct. The Chief Engineer is in charge of the engine department, the Staff Captain is in charge of the deck department, which contains the Medical department, and Security. The Chief Engineer, the Staff Captain, and the Hotel Director are all 4 stripe officers, and equal department heads, reporting directly to the Captain. The Captain holds the role of CEO for the ship.

[Birdie And Sue]

On 8/30/2019 at 6:53 PM, casofilia said:

Does anyone really care one iota what title someone else has for his job?

 

Yes as it allows you to clearly see the chain of command.

 

 

LOL obviously it does not! Even if it did it does not make any difference anyway.

[Birdie And Sue]

22 hours ago, don't-use-real-name said:

Gee sorry we can't give you a raise - but we have this new nifty office title for your job.

Yeah the Hotel Director was and maybe still is a 4 striper - a wee thin on stripes compared to the Captain

But in the case of NCL here a General will never outrank a Captain !

 

He isn't a general he is a Manager.

[don't-use-real-name]

1 hour ago, Birdie And Sue said:

 

He isn't a general he is a Manager.

Something is lost in the humor that you do not understand - ah er above your paygrade !

 

The ships command is held by the rank of Captain (4 stripes on sleeve conventionally)

The management of the ships operation is controlled by the now former (Hotel) Director

and when you attend a on board ship party the Captain and the now General Manager

stand side by side or maybe with the Staff Captain in between and all have 4 stripes on

the deck out uniform blouse jackets.

The Captain's being quite wide in structure - the General with 4 stripes much thinner.

In the USA military the rank of (Brigadier) General is one paygrade higher than a Colonel

which is the same rank as a navy Captain (O6).

This leads to Captains command ships - Generals manage on board activities.

Therefore my statement that a General will never outrank a Captain (while on board a ship).

 

OK - pick it apart - so he is not a general but a Manager - shoulda coulda left the ranking

system where it was - nothing was broke that needed fixen - or de-promotion !

 

This unless dealing with the:  Major-General's from The Pirates of Penzance  LOL !

Edited September 1, 2019 by don't-use-real-name

[Birdie And Sue]

6 hours ago, don't-use-real-name said:

Something is lost in the humor that you do not understand - ah er above your paygrade !

 

The ships command is held by the rank of Captain (4 stripes on sleeve conventionally)

The management of the ships operation is controlled by the now former (Hotel) Director

and when you attend a on board ship party the Captain and the now General Manager

stand side by side or maybe with the Staff Captain in between and all have 4 stripes on

the deck out uniform blouse jackets.

The Captain's being quite wide in structure - the General with 4 stripes much thinner.

In the USA military the rank of (Brigadier) General is one paygrade higher than a Colonel

which is the same rank as a navy Captain (O6).

This leads to Captains command ships - Generals manage on board activities.

Therefore my statement that a General will never outrank a Captain (while on board a ship).

 

OK - pick it apart - so he is not a general but a Manager - shoulda coulda left the ranking

system where it was - nothing was broke that needed fixen - or de-promotion !

 

This unless dealing with the:  Major-General's from The Pirates of Penzance  LOL !

 

 

LOL all of that silly diatribe over a meaningless change of title that has zero consequence to anything.  Oh well some people just have way too much free time I guess!

PS the Navy does not have ANY Generals.  They have Admirals.  As such, your whole tirade is moot.

[chengkp75]

8 minutes ago, Birdie And Sue said:

 

 

LOL all of that silly diatribe over a meaningless change of title that has zero consequence to anything.  Oh well some people just have way too much free time I guess!

PS the Navy does not have ANY Generals.  They have Admirals.  As such, your whole tirade is moot.

Not to mention that NCL also uses 3 and a half stripe rank (unknown in the military) for the Staff Chief, Chief Electrical Engineer, and the Food & Beverage Director. So comparing cruise ship ranks to the military is specious.

[PortFees45]

When I hear "general manager" I think of the person in charge of a Lady's Foot Locker at the mall. Hotel Director had more, as a previous poster aptly put it, "panache." 

[ColeThornton]

1 hour ago, PortFees45 said:

When I hear "general manager" I think of the person in charge of a Lady's Foot Locker at the mall. Hotel Director had more, as a previous poster aptly put it, "panache." 

 

 

Interesting.  I think of it as it's used in sports.  The GM is the guy who is overall in charge of running the club and reports to the owner.  A prestigious position and title.

[Crown Vic]

William Shakespeare, in ‘Romeo and Juliet’, wrote “ A rose by any other name...”

[Sauer-kraut]

I still call it the Purser's Desk .... so I'll be very slow to change to General Manager.

(In my defense, my Grandfather was a ship's purser and I honor that title.)

[fstuff1]

On 9/1/2019 at 4:42 PM, Sauer-kraut said:

I still call it the Purser's Desk .... so I'll be very slow to change to General Manager.

(In my defense, my Grandfather was a ship's purser and I honor that title.)

What's a purser?

(Saw a love boat episode from the 1970s and one of them had that title)

Edited September 3, 2019 by fstuff1

[don't-use-real-name]

13 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

What's a purser?

(Saw a love boat episode from the 1970s and one of them had that title)

Why is it called a pursers desk?
Do they hold purses ?

Answer:
The first recorded use of the word "purser" dates back to the early fifteenth century, although Purser was used as a surname in the late thirteenth century. Purser is derived from the word purse and signifies one who is in charge of the purse.

Ship pursers are ship's officers who work as the managers of the on-board shops, casinos, and liquor stores. They monitor the passenger accounts, and they arrange for currency exchange. They are also the people who manage the crew's payroll.

Along with the financial aspect of the job, the ship pursers are responsible for the ship's documentation, customs declarations, and arrange for ship and document inspection by immigration authorities. They ensure the ship's clearance by foreign ports, and they arrange for passenger and crew lists to be prepared and presented to appropriate governmental authorities.

Ship pursers work closely with passengers on cruise ships. They staff the front desk and arrange for room changes, banking, and luggage transport. They answer questions, field complaints, and take suggestions. As well, they sometimes arrange for activities on board the ship, as well as tours and sightseeing trips off the boat at ports of call. They also look after the health of the crew and passengers, and arrange for compensation, first aid, and other comforts in case of an accident or emergency.

 

Modern day reference would be Guest Services.

 

[SeaShark]

There are two reasons that the change was made from "Hotel Director" to "General Manager"

 

1 - To better indicate that this person runs the entire business and is not just responsible for the front of the house

2 - The change is consistent with titles used on Regent and Oceania 

[MotownVoice]

14 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

There are two reasons that the change was made from "Hotel Director" to "General Manager"

 

1 - To better indicate that this person runs the entire business and is not just responsible for the front of the house

2 - The change is consistent with titles used on Regent and Oceania 

Yes, because NCL makes it a policy to do everything Regent and Oceania do.

(eyeroll)

[SeaShark]

12 minutes ago, MotownVoice said:

Yes, because NCL makes it a policy to do everything Regent and Oceania do.

(eyeroll)

 

NCL doesn't make policy. The policies are made by NCLH, which is headed by the guy who ran Regent and Oceania before the merger and who feels that each of the three companies should do things "his way".

 

 

Lots of changes in the NCL product since 2015 have been done simply to bring NCL in line with the practices of Regent and Oceania.

[jskinsd]

This is better than politics.  I just call them Brian, Jovo, Stephen, Rumi, Igor, and Vuk.

[VtMac]

In the Hospitality world a GM of, say a hotel, has numerous directors that report to them.  For instance F&B Director, Director of Housekeeping, Director of Sales, Director of Conferences and Events, Director of Entertainment, etc. The GM is to top dog on property.  So it would seem the title shift fits better.  The why it was done, who knows but from a talent aquisition standpoint, it makes more sense in the industry to name that what the rest of the industry does.

[lhsail]

On 9/27/2019 at 11:03 AM, VtMac said:

In the Hospitality world a GM of, say a hotel, has numerous directors that report to them.  For instance F&B Director, Director of Housekeeping, Director of Sales, Director of Conferences and Events, Director of Entertainment, etc. The GM is to top dog on property.  So it would seem the title shift fits better.  The why it was done, who knows but from a talent aquisition standpoint, it makes more sense in the industry to name that what the rest of the industry does.

Yes, this is the title used in the hospitality industry. DS is in the golf business and at a large club the individual at the top responsible for all aspects of the club is the GM. 

[chengkp75]

On 9/27/2019 at 9:01 AM, SeaShark said:

There are two reasons that the change was made from "Hotel Director" to "General Manager"

 

1 - To better indicate that this person runs the entire business and is not just responsible for the front of the house

2 - The change is consistent with titles used on Regent and Oceania 

Hope you mean the Hotel business as "the entire business" since the Captain runs the "entire business".

[SeaShark]

4 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Hope you mean the Hotel business as "the entire business" since the Captain runs the "entire business".

 

Hope you mean the Ship Operations business as "the entire business" since the CEO runs the "entire business".

 

Which, FWIW, is the reason the job title was changed in the first place. 😉

[chengkp75]

7 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

Hope you mean the Ship Operations business as "the entire business" since the CEO runs the "entire business".

 

Which, FWIW, is the reason the job title was changed in the first place. 😉

Well, since each ship is owned by a separate corporation, the Captain is the CEO.

[fstuff1]

i wish the title cruise director is changed to Entertainment Director.

 

when i first started cruising, I thought Cruise Director meant he's in charge of everything in the hotel side of the ship.

then i found out there was a hotel director and the cruise director works under him.

 

then after seeing what s/he does, i slowly understood that the cruise director is in charge of entertainment.

then i thought why Cruise Director instead of Entertainment Director? is it because of the Love Boat tv series back in the 1970s?

(i had this thought years ago.)

[SeaShark]

51 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Well, since each ship is owned by a separate corporation, the Captain is the CEO.

 

Not really...the best you could claim is that the Captain functions as a COO. However, they have no corporate power and are not listed as an officer of the corporation...even at the "ship as a corporate entity" level. Ultimately, the NCLH CEO is running the entire business...no way that all of those Captains each made an independent decision to rename the job title from Hotel Director to General Manager.