Cruise Directors

[Cruise or Lose!]

You were asked who your favourite CD was. You were NOT asked, as a former X cruiser, to take potshots at X.

 

But have a nice day yourself :)

[cruiselover20]

If John on the Summit said ALOHA one more time, I would have thought I was in preschool. He was very poor. IMHO.......Then when we had to stand in line for two hours to clear customs, he and most of the staff were no where to be seen.

[ExRockyMountainGal]

We had Julian Bersch on two of our first cruises with X and thought he was very good. I always wondered what had happened to him. I'm sorry to hear that things did not continue to go well.

[flagger]

We too thought John Howell was standoffish on our 09/04 Alaskan trip. Could take him or leave him. Did not add in any way to our enjoyment of our cruise.

 

Jeff Potts was personable and we saw him more on the ship this past January, but his informational tv programmes for the day's events was very hard to watch, almost painful. I even brought it up in my review.

[Kathy130]

I was also on Zenith with Jeff Potts and Natalie this past April 22nd out of Bayonne. Although Jeff certainly was busy and personable, I really became friendlier with Natalie. My group had done the ship-building contest and she was talking a lot with us as we prepared to "showcase" our ship. She's from Ohio and that was HER first trip to Bermuda. She repeatedly made the time to stop and chat during the rest of the cruise. IMHO she went out of her way to be friendly and I'll always remember her for that.

[Buckeye Geo]

She's from Ohio and that was HER first trip to Bermuda. She repeatedly made the time to stop and chat during the rest of the cruise. IMHO she went out of her way to be friendly and I'll always remember her for that.

Kathy:

All us Ohio folks are friendly. (Sorry I can not resist a plug for the Buckeye State.)

[FlyingTiger]

Hi Drew !

 

I am sorry to hear you feel that way about John Howell. I have sailed with him a few times, and he really does a great job. While I cannot offer any excuses for your feelings, it is quite possible that John had a ton of issues to deal with, once the pod problems arose. I dont think any of us can fully understand what a CD has to deal with, once severe problems arise. Perhaps that is why you didnt have a good opinion of him.

 

In my opinion a great job is done, if a CD acts professional in a critical situation. "Happy,Happy" and "Hula Hula" can be done by any of the many entertainment-helpers. If John Howell had to deal with a ton of issues on that particular cruise (May 7/Alaska) than he should better stay away from stage and deal with that ton of issues. I believe, that the captain could very well take care of the meeting and all its aspects. It was not necessary to have someone like John Howell to make all passengers in the audience feel like kids from kindergarten. No one likes that kind of treatment and for me, his behavior makes him the worst CD I have experienced.

Besides that, Cruise Directors seem to always attract only a certain amount of passengers. There are CD´s with all kind of background for all kind of walks. Sometimes it suits me, sometimes not, no big deal. On all my cruises, I did not see too much of them, sometimes at showtimes, sometimes at poolsidegames. Therefor I think, a big part of their job is management and coordination of the entertainment(staff).

The CD´s I like, are sovereign acting, with a sense of humour and hoovering a little above it. The CD´s I do not like, are the ones who act like beeing my best buddy, or giving out a lot of false information about the cruise just to shine (one who prepared for the cruise sometimes knows better) and I don´t like the teachertype.

may happy sailings to all of you

[gillianrose]

Celebrity has outstanding Cruise Directors. Some of my current favorites include Allan King, John Howell, and Don Fluke.

 

One of my all time favorite Cruise Directors was Jim Cannon. He continues to be missed.

 

Funny, but the absolute worst Cruise Director we ever had was named Allan King. BUT, that was 20 years ago. He was conceited, irritable, spent more time SELLING during talks than anything else. (He also said he was a writer on "Mork and Mindy" and that Robin Williams never improvised (uh huh...right), but was following the script HE wrote. He took credit for everything.

 

He was also the oldest Cruise Director I've ever seen, so I doubt that it's the same guy. Fortunately, the name isn't unusual, so I'm hoping the Allan King you mention isn't HIM, or even related to him.

 

By the way, the Allan King who was so awful replaced the best cruise director we ever had. :((

[C 2 C]

 

He was also the oldest Cruise Director I've ever seen, so I doubt that it's the same guy. Fortunately, the name isn't unusual, so I'm hoping the Allan King you mention isn't HIM, or even related to him. (

 

Every time you're aboard a Celebrity cruise, Allan King is the guy sitting in a lounge chair holding a laptop.. as an ad for Celebrity at Sea..

[Andy]

Funny, but the absolute worst Cruise Director we ever had was named Allan King. BUT, that was 20 years ago. He was conceited, irritable, spent more time SELLING during talks than anything else. (He also said he was a writer on "Mork and Mindy" and that Robin Williams never improvised (uh huh...right), but was following the script HE wrote. He took credit for everything.

 

He was also the oldest Cruise Director I've ever seen, so I doubt that it's the same guy. Fortunately, the name isn't unusual, so I'm hoping the Allan King you mention isn't HIM, or even related to him.

 

By the way, the Allan King who was so awful replaced the best cruise director we ever had. :((

 

Hi GillianRose !

 

All I can say, is I highly doubt we are talking about the same person. That does not sound like this Allan King at all.

[easy22]

John Lawrence on Star Princess Baltic itinerary was wonderful. he gave details for independent travelers on how to get to the sites on our own which we followed to a T. this was very much appreciated. we have found in the past that if you don't buy their tour, they don't want to answer your questions.

they do eveything they can to discourage independent touring in ports of call.

[AgSg]

Hi Everyone !

 

IMHO, the Cruise Director is an important element of your Cruise.

 

Celebrity has outstanding Cruise Directors. Some of my current favorites include Allan King, John Howell, and Don Fluke.

 

One of my all time favorite Cruise Directors was Jim Cannon. He continues to be missed.

Don is one heck of a nice guy. We are happy when we get him. Unfortunately, it is the luck of the draw since he goes from ship to ship doing substitutions as needed.

 

Albert

[hcat]

Our Cd on Summit in March was by far the worst--maybe it was the person John mentioned above. He was a talented person in other areas but not as a CD--never even spoke at the large gathering of cc cruisers on board--just dulll & a bit arrogant. A good CD can enhance a trip but I would never let one ruin it--just find other things to do on my own!

[trcori]

after seven X cruises and six cruise directors (had the same one on both our first 2 Century cruises), Dru Pavlov remains our hands-down favorite. Pleasant, entertaining, funny without that fake "DJ gone bad" personality we saw in several of the others. (We sailed with him on Mercury to Alaska last August.) -- TR

[C 2 C]

Cruise director Alan King at sea:

 

http://www.celebrityatsea.com/

 

Not that you can use a laptop on deck...but this is not a "truth in advertising" issue

[Lisa63]

Questions

1. How important are they to your enjoyment of the cruise?

2. Who is/are the one/s you've liked the best?

CDs usually don't make or break a cruise for me -- unless they are very good or very bad.

 

Best one we've ever had, without a doubt, was Tom Dentino of Dolphin Cruise Line in the 1990s. He got to know the pax' names, was highly personable, and seemed to love his job and the ship. I rarely remember the names of the CDs from that far back, but he made a very good impression. We went on the same ship years later when Tom was no longer a CD, and we actually felt that someone was missing.

 

Worst one, sorry to say, was on Celebrity's Infinity this past winter. Keep in mind this is just my opinion, so no flaming please. He was the "lounge lizard" type and would belt out a number before introducing the evening's act, and would tell a corny joke at the end of the show. He'd also implore the audience to "make some noise" several times at the end of the show, which my husband and I thought unbecoming of a so-called premium line. But, that was just annoying. There were other issues, such as constantly comparing Celebrity to HAL (and, making misstatements about HAL, I might add), and giving us the most aggressive comment card pitch I've heard in all of our years of cruising ("If you liked something, rate it 'excellent' as the home office treats 'very good' as a disaster"). It was a good cruise -- don't get me wrong -- but I never thought a cruise director could have such a negative impact.

[C 2 C]

("If you liked something, rate it 'excellent' as the home office treats 'very good' as a disaster"). It was a good cruise -- don't get me wrong -- but I never thought a cruise director could have such a negative impact.

 

I hope you gave him the rating he deserved...

 

Do you remember who he was?

[lkb125]

Questions

1. How important are they to your enjoyment of the cruise?

2. Who is/are the one/s you've liked the best?

3. How can you find out who the CD is on your cruise?

I don't think that C.D's make that much difference in my cruise enjoyment. I have been on many cruises and the ONLY one that I can remember is a woman named Karen on the Jewel of the Sea she did a great job and she was seen at every function and generally seen all over the place. Lorelle

[aznails]

Personally, I think a good Cruise Director can definitely make a cruise. We had Dru Pavlov on the infamous March 27 bleach cruise, and he definitely helped to ease a bad situation. My husband and I were on the panel of the Not-So-Newlywed Game, and Dru made it a joy to be involved in the show! He is personable, witty, entertaining, and handsome!! Nice buns, too!

[jmh928]

On our first cruise with Celebrity to the Caribbean (Summit) in 2003 we had Nick Weir and thought he was wonderful. Very engaging, witty and just a lot of fun. When we planned our next cruise in 2004 (Panama Canal-Infinity) we were wondering how the CD we would get would compare and if we would be disappointed. We had Nick again. Even though he had the same jokes we still enjoyed him. In 2005 we took the Baltic cruise on the Constellation and guess who we had? What were these chances. So it's interesting that we've had him 3 times in 3 different parts of the world but I haven't seen his name in any of these threads. Again, he was great but by now his jokes are wearing thin. We're traveling to the British Isles/Norwegian Fjords on 7/15 on the Constellation and are hoping for a change maybe. His brother, Simon, is also a Celebrity CD so it would be fun to get him and compare.

[chessbriar]

Are you sure you didn't have Simon the 1st 2 cruises? The Summit and Infinity have been Simon's ships for the last 3 years, outside the Millie this year for Infinity's drydock.

 

Nick is a part time and fills in a little here and there. So if you did have Nick all three times, that's amazing.

 

Their father was a CD and they both use his old routine, so they have the same jokes.

[ChoirMom]

I was also on Zenith with Jeff Potts and Natalie this past April 22nd out of Bayonne. Although Jeff certainly was busy and personable, I really became friendlier with Natalie. My group had done the ship-building contest and she was talking a lot with us as we prepared to "showcase" our ship. She's from Ohio and that was HER first trip to Bermuda. She repeatedly made the time to stop and chat during the rest of the cruise. IMHO she went out of her way to be friendly and I'll always remember her for that.

 

I thought that Jeff and Natalie were a terrific team. Jeff was very personable (I don't even remember the name of the CD on our Summit cruise last summer) and we saw him all over the ship (as well as on TV). His humor and enthusiasm really helped get the parties started. Natalie was always charming and friendly.

 

Would I choose a particular cruise because of the CD? Probably not - the itinerary would be the main thing. But, if I discovered that Jeff and/or Natalie were staffing my next cruise, I'd be delighted!

[jmh928]

No, we definitely had Nick. Our timing must just have coincided with his filling in. We'll let you know if we're 4 for 4 next month. :)

[chessbriar]

I thought that Jeff and Natalie were a terrific team. Jeff was very personable (I don't even remember the name of the CD on our Summit cruise last summer) and we saw him all over the ship (as well as on TV). His humor and enthusiasm really helped get the parties started. Natalie was always charming and friendly.

 

Would I choose a particular cruise because of the CD? Probably not - the itinerary would be the main thing. But, if I discovered that Jeff and/or Natalie were staffing my next cruise, I'd be delighted!

 

We sailed twice with Natalie last year on Millie and Century. We still keep in touch now and then. She has a great personality. She gets off the ship July 15. After 6 months onboard and all those 4 & 5 night cruises, I'm sure she's ready.

 

We have sailed a cruise because of the people on the ships. It's because we have become friends with them and want to see them again. Tough thing about friends on the ships is their time is so filled up they are slow getting back to you. When they are on vacation though it's another story.

[cruiser2004]

In my opinion a great job is done, if a CD acts professional in a critical situation. "Happy,Happy" and "Hula Hula" can be done by any of the many entertainment-helpers. If John Howell had to deal with a ton of issues on that particular cruise (May 7/Alaska) than he should better stay away from stage and deal with that ton of issues. I believe, that the captain could very well take care of the meeting and all its aspects. It was not necessary to have someone like John Howell to make all passengers in the audience feel like kids from kindergarten. No one likes that kind of treatment and for me, his behavior makes him the worst CD I have experienced.

Besides that, Cruise Directors seem to always attract only a certain amount of passengers. There are CD´s with all kind of background for all kind of walks. Sometimes it suits me, sometimes not, no big deal. On all my cruises, I did not see too much of them, sometimes at showtimes, sometimes at poolsidegames. Therefor I think, a big part of their job is management and coordination of the entertainment(staff).

The CD´s I like, are sovereign acting, with a sense of humour and hoovering a little above it. The CD´s I do not like, are the ones who act like beeing my best buddy, or giving out a lot of false information about the cruise just to shine (one who prepared for the cruise sometimes knows better) and I don´t like the teachertype.

may happy sailings to all of you

 

FlyingTiger: I think almost everyone on the May 7 Summit felt that John Howell was the wrong man in the wrong job on that cruise. I have been on 25+ cruises and John Howell was the first CD who was truly irritating.