Cruise Directors

[gillianrose]

Julian was let go for poor performance.

 

Hi. I don't know Julian, but I would like to know what Celebrity (or other cruise lines, for that matter) consider "poor performance."

 

The reason I ask is that George Schofield of Sitmar was a wonderful, personable, kind, funny CD who scheduled lots of wonderful activities and social mixers, and yet his "performance" in the sense of "lack of pushing product" was not what they wanted. So Sitmar hired the OLD ALLAN KING (I saw the picture of the NEW ALLAN KING, and it's not the same guy!) to replace him and that jerk pushed and pushed and pushed to get people to certain shops, etc. We made it a point to stay away from any talk he had about ports of call, etc.

 

I agree that the CD is very important to our enjoyment of the cruise. We liked David Cole on Celebrity, but he went to Princess. Was it his own idea?

Is he still with Princess?

[chessbriar]

David is still with Princess and is thought of highly. He is assigned to the Caribbean Princess, what was the flagship of Princess until the Crown came out. He has been there about 2 years now. He continues to remain innovative and fresh. He continues to keep the activies up to date and fresh, coming up with new games and programs.

 

I have seen too much of the same old same old on X. It was a sad day, when Dave signed with Princess.

 

We will be sailing with Dave in October and are looking forward to seeing him again.

[cruiser2004]

David is still with Princess and is thought of highly. He is assigned to the Caribbean Princess, what was the flagship of Princess until the Crown came out. He has been there about 2 years now. He continues to remain innovative and fresh. He continues to keep the activies up to date and fresh, coming up with new games and programs.

 

I have seen too much of the same old same old on X. It was a sad day, when Dave signed with Princess.

 

We will be sailing with Dave in October and are looking forward to seeing him again.

 

Agreed - We sailed with David Cole after he left Celebrity and he was great!

[debjac]

11 Celebrity cruises - some good some bad directors. Does it really matter to me? Not really, I'm going to enjoy my cruise no matter what. I will say that a really good director has greatly enhanced my good time. We have sailed with Simon Weir 3 times and have to say he was probably the best we've had so far. Very personable, funny and always had time for a few words when we ran into him.

[chessbriar]

Simon still owes me a joke. I remind him every now and then.

 

It was a bad crowd one night and he said everyone was so quiet he was going to keep the joke to himself. We approached him later that evening. He said we made enough noise and deserved the joke. Remind him later, he owes us the joke. I think the putting us on hold was the joke.

[Marge Barge 2006]

I love Simon Weir, too. He is a gas. My husband was the pig in his Old McDonald routine. That bit never gets old. I'm surprised that Celebrity allows him to keep doing that. I believe that was one of the reasons why David Cole left the company: No artistic freedom. In fact, one of my first cruises with Celebrity we had a Cruise Director named David Graham (sp?) who did a funny routine where he brought up men and women on the stage and had a beauty contest for the men (the ladies dressed them up!). The next time I cruised Horizon, the show and the CD were no longer onboard the fleet. One of the activities crew had said David left because he was frustrated "professionally" and decided to go to another line to have more fun. That was a long time ago but I wouldn't be surprised if that was the same company philosophy.

[kitty9]

I feel that for the day to day contact with the passengers, the assistant cruise directors are more important than the CD. Those are the people who run the bingo games, trivia, name that tune, pictionary, and all the other daily activities. Celebrity always seem to hire the most friendly and hardest working assistants in the business.

 

I just wish you would take Scott Peterson back. I just finished a cruise on Crystal with SP being the CD and in all my 45 cruises, he was the worst CD I've ever encountered. Rude, unfriendly, and standoffish would be the best things I could say about him.

 

Simon and John Howell were very good, from what we saw of them. On ships as large as the mass markets, I don't think they have nearly as much time to personally interact with passengers, like they do on Crystal.

[C 2 C]

I love Simon Weir, too. He is a gas.

Simon on Infinity Hawaii Dec 2004

[NotAanofCelebrity]

It's a shame that I only got the worst side of John Howell. As the CD on the 5/7/06 Summit sailing, he was (for me at least) the WORST thing about the cruise. Prior to the pod problem acting up, I found him to be cheesy but okay. After the problem, I found him to be a condescending, sullen, petulant jacka--!!!

 

 

Drew,

I could not agree with you more. John Howell was by far the WORST CD I have had the displeasure to sail with. He helped make a bad situation (POD problem and missed ports, glacier distance and night cruise down the Inside Passage) even WORSE. His cheesy the glass is half full routine and tales of his personal disappointment at not going to Seattle only agrivated the already angry mood of the majority of the passengers.

[WooKeef]

Miner:

You were real close the CD was Stewart Turnbull. He was our CD on Mercury 4/17 Mexican Riviera Cruise. I think is scheduled to be back on Galaxy for their Med season. You were right he was very good.

 

Glad to hear that a good CD is gonna be on my Med cruise in Sept. Glad I checked in here:D

[Hebe]

I would put Simon Weir at the top of the list of CDs.

 

We were on the Millie in March in Arica. I not sure if any cruise director has been as tested as he was on this cruise. If you remember, this was the cruise where 12 passingers were killed on a shore excursion. Simon did a fantastic job keeping the ship informed to the situation. He had to balance the grieving of a large group with whom these passingers were members as well as continue to support the "fun" that people expected on a vacation.

 

He did a fantastic job. We would sail with him anytime -- anywhere again.

[graefin]

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.

 

The Cruise Director does have an important roll to play. My personal favorite Celebrity CD is Allan King and my least favorite is John Howell. I think John's background in New York City stage makes him suited for the deck parties, but his arrogance and lack of attention to detail are big negatives. For example on a recent Panama Canal cruise, when addressing the Cruise Critic meeting, he stated that he was from Virginia and New York. He told us that he could be a southern gentleman, but if we P...ed him off he can be a real New Yorker.

 

After one of the shows he spoke about our troops in Iran. (For some of us that should be Iraq, many of the passangers were amazed at this mistake.

On the positive side he is a very good dancer.

[Marge Barge 2006]

John Howell is a very sweet man. Was it John's fault that the shaky Pods broke? Was it John's fault that glaciers were missed? Was it John's fault that you spent the night cruising the Inside Passage? Just becasue he was given the unfortunate task of being onboard with 1300 angry people doesn't make him a terrible Cruise Director. It only makes him the Cruise Director on a terrible cruise. Blame Celebrity, not John. Although it is is always easiest to blame the Cruise Director.

[patster67]

Simon was our CD on Infinity to Alaska and John was our CD on Summit to Hawaii. We really liked Simon - he was great at the cc party and very interactive. John was ok, just kind of poked his head in at the cc party and got on with whatever he was doing. I can see how some would find him irritating. Any way you cut it though, I wouldn't want that job.

[C 2 C]

We really liked Simon - he was great at the cc party and very interactive. John was ok, just kind of poked his head in at the cc party and got on with whatever he was doing. I can see how some would find him irritating.

I would agree. If there were 8 CDs working for Celebrity, I would rate Simon 1st, John 9th... This might not mean that they're not all nice guys but as CDs some stand out and make a cruise memorable, others just don't do justice to the title.

[Andy]

John Howell is a very sweet man. Was it John's fault that the shaky Pods broke? Was it John's fault that glaciers were missed? Was it John's fault that you spent the night cruising the Inside Passage? Just becasue he was given the unfortunate task of being onboard with 1300 angry people doesn't make him a terrible Cruise Director. It only makes him the Cruise Director on a terrible cruise. Blame Celebrity, not John. Although it is is always easiest to blame the Cruise Director.

 

Hi Marge !

 

Perfectly said. Frankly, I am somewhat disappointed by those bashing John for something that was 100% out of his control.

 

I would be thrilled to sail again with John Howell again, in a heartbeat. No matter what others may say, John does a great job.

[patnjohn]

My vote goes to Simon Weir. We had him on the Summit 10/04. He was very personable, funny, approachable. His wife was on board too. They ate together at the buffet for lunch some days. His Old Mc Donald was so funny that we still laugh about it. "Suck it in SIR". I wonder who the CD will be on the Constellation on 11/7. I am looking forward to another fun trip.

 

I do remember those shows in the morning on Princess with the CD & assistant CD. Very funny. I remember he dressed up as Carmen Miranda on one show.

 

Last week we took NCL Spirit. Rickie Matthews was a very good CD. Not quite Simon, but close. Very hands on & always around. A lot of energy!

[DonAndRon]

Hi Marge !

 

Perfectly said. Frankly, I am somewhat disappointed by those bashing John for something that was 100% out of his control.

 

I would be thrilled to sail again with John Howell again, in a heartbeat. No matter what others may say, John does a great job.

WE AGREE!!

[chachabell]

We love Simon as well. Had him on the Summit for 2002 Alaska and on the Millie Jan 06 South American cruise. Since he is not on the Millie now, is he on vacation? Will he be back on the Millie for our 10/29 Med cruise?

[cruiser2004]

It's a shame that I only got the worst side of John Howell. As the CD on the 5/7/06 Summit sailing, he was (for me at least) the WORST thing about the cruise. Prior to the pod problem acting up, I found him to be cheesy but okay. After the problem, I found him to be a condescending, sullen, petulant jacka--!!!

 

We agree 100% on this one Drew. On this cruise John Howell was all of that and more.

I was re-reading all of the posts and could not find any posts saying that John Howell had anything to do with the condition of the Summit or the breakdown, so I guess I don't where that rumor came from.

The problem I had with John Howell was his attitude. In front of an audience of 700, or so, very upset passengers John started off by asking everyone to smile and shake hands with the person next to them. Later he proceded to tell us what a great time he, personally, was having on this cruise. At the evening stage show, the day we missed Hubbard Glacier, John bounced out on the stage an exclaimed what a great day it had been visiting Hubbard Glacier. Treating us as though we were to dumb to have noticed that we never got anywhere near the glacier before we turned around and left.

On a cruise, without a breakdown, John might be OK, but on this cruise his presence just served to inflame an already bad situation. Just MHO from someone who was there.

[Drew B]

John Howell is a very sweet man. Was it John's fault that the shaky Pods broke? Was it John's fault that glaciers were missed? Was it John's fault that you spent the night cruising the Inside Passage? Just becasue he was given the unfortunate task of being onboard with 1300 angry people doesn't make him a terrible Cruise Director. It only makes him the Cruise Director on a terrible cruise. Blame Celebrity, not John. Although it is is always easiest to blame the Cruise Director.

 

You are right about all of those things. However, it WAS his fault that he treated us like children. It WAS his fault that he tried to make us feel bad that we had feelings about the impact on our vacation. It WAS his fault that he tried to turn everything around and make it about himself.

 

The pod problem wasn't the Captain's fault, either, but he handled things better, IMO. He tried to treat us with respect and dignity. As a result, I came out of this thinking very HIGHLY of him just as I felt negatively towards John.

[C 2 C]

I guess it's time to explain why I don't think highly of John Howell.

We cruised Summit B2B November 2005 from FLL to LAX to FLL.. a 28 day cruise. We love trivia and think Celebrity does it better and more often than the other cruise lines... it's one of the reasons we keep on coming back to X. Some of the cruise directors take an active involvement in daily activities and the training of their staff. That's why we like Dru Pavlov, Shawn Cavanah, Allan King and Simon Weir. During the first leg of the cruise our team won more than half of the activities and one of the activities staff got quite snippy and told us we cruised way too often and should just stop coming so that other people could win!!!! .. and if we would stop coming we would be given a collection of the "prizes". We normally gave away our "prizes" to other teams and we were told by the same person that that was just condescending to others. We told John about this incident and he made the activity person apologize and had her make up some more challenging activities for the second leg.... We had a nice little chat and were told that because of budget difficulties there would be no more "prizes" for the rest of the sailing except when noted in the bulletin for special "prize" sessions.

This little incident happened to us .. not to others. It's trivial but it points out a part of John's attitude not visible to others.. and why I rank John at the bottom of CDs working for Celebrity.

[jer_l]

On four Celebrity Cruises we've had three CDs. Don Fluke was on the first two (Mercury then Summit). He was great. Our next cruise was a 12 night rt to Alaska out of SF. The CD was Damian. I honestly don't remember him as well as Don Fluke, but it was the best cruise I ever expect to take. Our last cruise (Mercury) had Robin as the CD. Unfortunately I understand that he is no longer with X. He was our favorite CD thus far.

 

(Cruise #5 in 4 weeks--we could have a new favorite CD.)

 

Jerry

[Joy2]

Anyone know where Simon is now? Or of his brother is still with X? He is certainly at the top of our list.

[Joy2]

Anyone know where Simon is now? Or of his brother is still with X? He is certainly at the top of our list.