Can anyone tell me what cruise and travel director does

[ExpatBride]

On 7/29/2023 at 5:50 PM, fusion927 said:

 

On our Nieuw Statendam cruise that just ended, Clare was unbelievable as the Cruise & Travel Director

 

 

It's interesting how these things are so subjective. My SO and I found Clare completely annoying 😅

[mawvkysc]

On 7/29/2023 at 11:50 AM, fusion927 said:

 

Could you be thinking of the Entertainment Director?  This is the person managing all of the entertainment and information presentations (including those of the Cruise & Travel Director).  This role is mostly admin & managerial, but some will interact more with the passengers.

 

On our Nieuw Statendam cruise that just ended, Clare was unbelievable as the Cruise & Travel Director, and Amanda (who explained how this all works at one of Clare's Coffee Chats) was out and about almost every evening.

 

This video explains the difference that @fusion927 is referring to. It is a detailed interview of a Cruise & Travel Director but a chart in the beginning shows how they are under the Entertainment Director . It makes me really excited for my first HA cruise. 

 

[Hlitner]

When we recently cruised on the new Explora Journeys (an upscale luxury line) it was interesting to note that they made a big deal over saying, "they do not have a cruise director!"  Instead, they have an "Experience Manager."  What is the difference?  Perhaps semantics, but their philosophy is that nobody "directs" your cruise, they just help it along.  I can honestly say, that having been on more than 100 cruises we can only remember the names of two cruise directors (one of them was on HAL).  These days, many cruise lines also have "Entertainment Directors" who handle the entertainment which used to be a traditional role of cruise directors.  On HAL, I sometimes think the only role of a CD is to make annoying announcements and to read Trivia questions.  

 

And by the way, there is an easy way to separate luxury lines from the mass market lines.  On true luxury cruise lines there are rarely any PA announcements.  Most are limited to a single daily update from the Captain which may (or may not) be followed by a very brief update from the CD.  On those lines it is assumed that the passengers are actually capable of reading a daily schedule.

 

Hank

[happywandering]

On 7/23/2023 at 12:14 AM, Boatdrill said:

I can't remember the last time I knew who the CD was, and I'm out of my stateroom frequently.  It's just not a need to know.   

 

Times have changed. There's no longer a greeting line at the Captain's Welcome Aboard Party.  Dining room tables are no longer hosted by ship's officers. There's no final night dinner parade in the dining room either, announced by the CD. Are the  CD and officers named in the embarkation day Welcome Aboard schedule of events distributed in our rooms?  I don't think so. At least not on 7 or 10 day cruises. 

 

 

I had forgotten about officers hosting tables.  That was really special.  Hope it is resurrected someday.  My favorite was the purser who hosted on the Zuiderdam on my Canada to Ft. Lauderdale cruise.  Don't remember his name but I remember his stories. 

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, happywandering said:

I had forgotten about officers hosting tables.  That was really special.  Hope it is resurrected someday.  My favorite was the purser who hosted on the Zuiderdam on my Canada to Ft. Lauderdale cruise.  Don't remember his name but I remember his stories. 

We fondly remember those days on HAL, Celebrity and some others.  More recently, Seabourn has long had a "hosted table" program which has tables hosted by entertainers, staff, and senior officers.  When they resumed operations, after COVID, the officers no longer hosted tables (we assume it was to minimize contact with the passengers).  We had always volunteered for hosted tables and on one of our SB cruises, over a few weeks, we dined with the Captain, Staff Captain, Chief Engineer, Cruise Director, Hotel Manager, and a few others.  The tables were always interesting, and I found myself missing the days this happened on other lines like HAL.

 

Hank

[USN59-79]

Hank @Hlitner mentioned he only remembered the name of one HAL cruise director.  Having cruised HAL enough to earn 5*, I also only remember one HAL CD.  He was outstanding, managing the onboard entertainment and always available, even helping on the pier when entering or leaving a port.  He was usually on the Amsterdam or Prinsendam, particularly on Grand or World Cruises.  He was Gene Moi Moi Young.  Apparently the job can be very stressful.  He eventually moved to another cruise line and took his own life.  He is missed.

Ray

[Hlitner]

7 minutes ago, USN59-79 said:

Hank @Hlitner mentioned he only remembered the name of one HAL cruise director.  Having cruised HAL enough to earn 5*, I also only remember one HAL CD.  He was outstanding, managing the onboard entertainment and always available, even helping on the pier when entering or leaving a port.  He was usually on the Amsterdam or Prinsendam, particularly on Grand or World Cruises.  He was Gene Moi Moi Young.  Apparently the job can be very stressful.  He eventually moved to another cruise line and took his own life.  He is missed.

Ray

We are also 5* and that one cruise director was Thom Faulkner (Prinsendam).  Thom would also be familiar to many long-time HAL cruisers since both he and his lovely wife later because Future Cruise Consultants and have worked on many HAL cruises.  There is a huge difference between HAL CDs and those we have met on some other cruise lines.  Consider that on MSC, the CD usually has a staff of more than a dozen.  On HAL, CDs may only have 1-3 staff.  

 

Hank

[WriterOnDeck]

On 7/23/2023 at 12:22 PM, Infi said:

 

 It seems HAL is leaning more into the public speaking part of the role, as most of the newer folks in the role seem to have a lot of presentation experience in their backgrounds as journalists etc. 

My understanding is that HAL looks for musical theatre experience for new cruise and travel directors -- people who are good on stage, can memorize lines and seamlessly intergrate the canned presentations (Origin story and the various talks interspersed with video). Last fall ours had never been to the South Pacific, Australia or New Zealand, and she gave incorrect travel information. But this fall Jeremy on the grand South America put in hours on his port presentations, and also recorded a separate version to put on the cabin TVs. (Most presentations aren't broadcast because the graphics are under copyright control.) Obviously it varies.

[Petronillus]

On 7/22/2023 at 3:03 PM, SilvertoGold said:

On our 39 day Noordam cruise the Cruise Director was everywhere. Very busy on sea days and on port day evenings. Introducing evening shows, doing the Coffee Chat with various officers and guest entertainers, doing port talks. She would come early to the evening shows and wander around the Show Lounge talking to guests, even to those, like us, whom she had no involvement with.  We had had her before and noted that she was more present on this cruise. We thought she was definitely earning her keep and I kept wondering when she had time to change her clothes and eat!

We had the same experience on our last cruise. The CD was the universal and ubiquitous emcee. She was the one I dumped my displeasure onto about the loss of the Lincoln Centre Stage. (She parroted back the namby-pamby company line, in desultory fashion.) Suffice it to say that despite her ultra-high visibility I never found a place in my heart for her.

[montythecat]

Erin is wonderful. She fully deserves her relatively recent

promotion to CD.