Cruise Directors on “big” vs “small” ships

[Joebucks]

It's a similar model was with most businesses. You don't staff your flagship offerings with anyone but your best performers. Some of you may not care who the person is leading dance on Lido, but the CD is actually responsible for quite a bit aboard the ship. 

[havanadaydreaming]

Ive enjoyed most all CD ive sailed with on 3 lines. 

 

Smaller ships "seem" to have newer CD while the flagships more tenure (for obvious reasons). 

 

Ive only had one that i considered less than ideal but i have long forgotten their name.  

 

Ill be be on a small CCL ship in Dec look forward to meeting its CD team. 

[Itried4498]

We had Christian as our CD on a pair of Panorama cruises earlier this year.  He was definitely more energetic than the average CD, and involved himself in pretty much everything.  Also earlier this year, on RCL, we had the most energetic CD of all-time – she literally did everything.  But on our last cruise with her – several months after our first, and literally days before the completion of her contract – she was farming out a lot of passenger-facing responsibilities (e.g. the activities director lead the sail away).

 

Ultimately, depends on the CD and probably how exhausted they are!

[tcrutchf]

On 9/11/2022 at 4:45 AM, UPNYGuy said:

 

If it was Todd, I didnt much care for him. I found his introduction (T-O-double D on the M-I-C) every time to get irritating and grating.

I completely agree! He was very annoying. It was also the most unorganized debark of any cruise I've been on. 

[UPNYGuy]

11 hours ago, tcrutchf said:

I completely agree! He was very annoying. It was also the most unorganized debark of any cruise I've been on. 

 

I found the debark to go smoothly

[momof3cruisers]

On 9/4/2022 at 6:48 PM, brilliantseas said:

 

 

...and then there is TJ Partida, who is currently on the Sunshine and will take over on Carnival Vista in early 2023. TJ is far and away the most abrasive cruise director I've encountered in 21 cruises across four lines. He earns credit for being high energy, but starting every introduction with "Say Hey TJ-ayyyyyyyyyyyy" and ending every PA announcement with the traditional "ciao for now," followed by a loud ""See yaaaaaaaa!" in his best Jersey Shore frat boy impersonation will quickly wear on your nerves. TJ would have made an excellent MTV host in the late 90s, but not everyone wants Jersey Shore from their cruise director. He actually did a wonderful job hosting shows and leading dance parties; he just needs to tone down the over the top intro and outro a bit. 

That’s interesting. He was CD on my first cruise after the restart on I think Freedom. I actually stopped him in the hall one day to tell him that I appreciated his direct and to the point announcements with no extra fanfare.  When did you sail with him?

[momof3cruisers]

On 9/11/2022 at 8:19 AM, ChC said:

 

 

 

So let us go back the actual article again, the 10 cities it cited: Sunnyvale, Santa Rosa, Cambridge, Vacaville, New York City, Fairfield, San Mateo, Lynn, Anchorage and Baltimore...Where is Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Galveston, Long Beach, New Orleans, San Juan, Jacksonville, Port Canaveral, Tampa, Sydney, London Dover/Southampton, Rome, Barcelona and Lisbon? The article said, cruise company will pay CD more if CD lives in home port, right? So should not Fort Lauderdale and Miami be top of the salary chart? 

 

The article is poorly written and has zero truth in the section you referred. It is not your fault, you took some poorly researched/written article at face value. I don't want to criticise you at all, it is not my intention. However, I do have problem with the author of the article. The whole article is what I would call 'a giant word mince'. It mashed many words together to make an article that has zero value (or zero truth in some cases). It may also have borrowed some sections from a job description then added unknown figures to make it look legit. You would learn more if you have actually saw an advertisement of CD job, or better, talked to CDs in any Q&A session. 

I love how not a single one of the FIVE California cities listed, not a single one even has a cruise port. And as you pointed out, no FL ports? What alternative cruising reality is this? 

[brilliantseas]

On 9/14/2022 at 12:48 AM, momof3cruisers said:

That’s interesting. He was CD on my first cruise after the restart on I think Freedom. I actually stopped him in the hall one day to tell him that I appreciated his direct and to the point announcements with no extra fanfare.  When did you sail with him?

 

We sailed with him on the Sunshine at the end of August. 

[kwokpot]

On 9/5/2022 at 11:55 AM, sunonfire said:

For our April cruise we had Felipe Serrina Do Couto. He was comparable to Frankie. Our  next cruise will be with Frankie.

I thought Felipe was one of the most ineffective CDs I have ever encountered on Carnival. He had no idea what he was doing on the three Europe sailings I was on with him in May/June. 

[GaryWT]

As many are saying they mostly start on smaller ships and the good ones get promoted to the bigger, newer ships.  Those that you don’t see much need to learn to be seen or plan on staying where they are.  That said, we have been on cruises where everyone says the ship has the best CD in the business and we did not like them at all.  Part of it is when they starting believing they are the best it is no fun to listen to them as they are mostly conceded. 

[momof3cruisers]

21 hours ago, brilliantseas said:

 

We sailed with him on the Sunshine at the end of August. 

Well that’s a bummer. Sounds like he changed his style. I wonder if people complained that he wasn’t “fun” enough.