Cruise director-what is rci thinking

[ksuds]

OK, everyone always talks about their favorite CD.............but no one mentions the not so good CD's.

I have been on the Monarch several times and I can't figure out how Jimmy Rhoades got that position. He is the "invisible" CD. Passengers from each of the cruises that I have been on have all commented that he is never seen. He does not even introduce all evening shows. Never has showed his face in the Quest, nor attend any pool side activities.

Where is he all day and what does he do we all asked each other. The only time we saw him at a show was the 70's show.

[ckrobyn]

 

OK, everyone always talks about their favorite CD.............but no one mentions the not so good CD's.

 

I have been on the Monarch several times and I can't figure out how Jimmy Rhoades got that position. He is the "invisible" CD. Passengers from each of the cruises that I have been on have all commented that he is never seen. He does not even introduce all evening shows. Never has showed his face in the Quest, nor attend any pool side activities.

 

Where is he all day and what does he do we all asked each other. The only time we saw him at a show was the 70's show.

 

Some CD's are barely visible, and some are always "out there"!

 

I notice that many CD's send in their staff for the less visible activities, and do the more visible one's themselves such as the Love and Marriage Gameshow and The Quest, as well as the Mens International Belly Flop Contest.

 

If a CD does not show their face even at the really visible activities, I would wonder if maybe they are ill or something?:confused:

[cb at sea]

I wouldn't know the CD if I ran over him/her!

[Loyal2RCCL]

Having an invisible CD isn't always a bad thing.. I wished Johnny O and Graham Seymour were invisible but had no such luck! :eek:

[Puffinater]

The only CD I can remember is Ken Rush and it is not because I thought he was any good.

[HB Cruiser]

The only CD I can remember is Ken Rush and it is not because I thought he was any good.

 

Exactly as I feel. If I never run into him on a ship it will be too soon. Never have I had a CD that was so fake. If they were you could not tell it as you can on him..

 

Tim

[critterchick]

I was on Monarch a few weeks ago and I thought Jimmy Rhodes was brilliant. He was present at the shows I attended and at the P/D party. I didn't attend Quest or the pool shows, though. I even forgave him for having once been with Up With People. <shudder>

 

I prefer a low key CD to an over the top one. I think Ken Rush is so full of himself that he'd float into the outer atmosphere if somebody cut the tether. I actually like Johnny O until he pulls out that $($*#@! EWI (it's not his fault that I sailed enough with him to know his schtick by heart).

 

I loved Keith Williams on Vision (think he's on Rhapsody now). Very low key, gets the job done without making you wonder what pills he's on but can raise the energy in the room when needed.

[PhoenixCruiser]

I wouldn't know the CD if I ran over him/her!

 

LOL, same here!

 

###

[KMagz]

Exactly as I feel. If I never run into him on a ship it will be too soon. Never have I had a CD that was so fake. If they were you could not tell it as you can on him..

 

Tim

 

Apparently you never had Becky Thompson as a CD then, huh? :)

[nlcentralchmps03]

I agree. Jimmy was not very good at all.

[yogimax]

Apparently you never had Becky Thompson as a CD then, huh? :)

 

She's the ONLY one I remember.

 

RCCL needs to totally revamp its CD training. They need to be set loose, be imaginative and not stick with the stale jokes and routines that are repeated on every cruise by every CD.

[emdia43]

 

OK, everyone always talks about their favorite CD.............but no one mentions the not so good CD's.

 

I have been on the Monarch several times and I can't figure out how Jimmy Rhoades got that position. He is the "invisible" CD. Passengers from each of the cruises that I have been on have all commented that he is never seen. He does not even introduce all evening shows. Never has showed his face in the Quest, nor attend any pool side activities.

 

Where is he all day and what does he do we all asked each other. The only time we saw him at a show was the 70's show.

I'm glad you said he was on Monarch, I will avoid that ship now.

He was our CD on Majesty and invisible is a good word for him.

He introduced the Welcome Aboard show and was never seen again....

The only reason I knew his name was that it was in the Compass.

[digital_curator]

Apparently you never had Becky Thompson as a CD then, huh? :)

 

We didn't realize HOW important a good CD was until we had Becky. She not only provided lackluster introductions to shows in her overly and obviously fake enthusiastic manner but she and her crew provided almost no entertainment on our 14 night Serenade Alaska cruise. Except for the shows, we NEVER saw her or her staff. It was like they worked for a few hours after dinner each night.

 

At night people would be wandering around looking for something to do before finally giving up and going to bed. We asked Becky about it and she said it was because it was an older crowd and they wouldn't come out for things. We certainly did see an older demographic than on our Caribbean cruises but many were European and seemed to enjoy later dinners/activities. We made sure to register our disappointment on our comment cards.

 

While I can see that people will not always appreciate a CD's personality, we had to commend James Andrews, Alan Brooks, and even Graham Seymore for their endurance- they were EVERYWHERE on the ship at all times of the day, either organizing activities or just chatting with the guests. Do they ever sleep??? Their efforts really enhanced our cruise experience and we greatly appreciated them!

[HB Cruiser]

Apparently you never had Becky Thompson as a CD then, huh? :)

 

Yes, we had Becky as a CD also and yes, while I agree she was somewhat fake, she is very personable unlike Ken. As a matter of fact since Becky could not make our M & M, she came to our dinner table with us for a while that evening.

 

Tim

[I Fly]

We were on the July 3rd sailing of the Monarch of the Seas and thought Jimmy Rhoades was outstanding. We saw him quite a few times all around the ship. He and his team also decorated the Centrum for July 4th, but it was obvious the style of the decorations came from his flashy personality. He really cares about the passengers and makes sure things are handled with the passengers in mind. We are heading back to the Monarch in a couple of weeks and look forward to seeing Jimmy again. I have to be honest, I had read several less than wonderful reviews of Jimmy before we sailed, but I couldn't believe how good he was, even though I was expecting much less because of what I had read.

 

Steve and Steve

[hotrod1954]

we had Jimmy Rhodes in May and he was at most functions. I thought he was going on vacation shortly after we sailed.

[Older Party]

I think Alan Brooks is great but never read much about him here.

 

Richard Spacey always seems to be the fav here, so I found this an interesting post to read with all the differing opinions.

 

Ken Rush is too stuffy for me, however, there are other things the cruise lines consider besides the interpersonal stuff on board. The CD's do all the scheduling of the entertainment, and the entire entertainment staff reports to him/her which means he/she probably counsels, issues warnings, etc. I would imagine Ken Rush is a great administrator because other than that, I just can't for the life of me understand his number one position in the company.

[uksimonusa]

We had Jimmy Rhodes on the Majesty, we had a major problem with one of the guest entertainers and Jimmy took care of it to the whole bars satisfaction

[The Big Booper]

We have had James Andrews and Allen Brooks (2x) on our recent cruises and loved both of them. On our 2nd trip with Brooks, Dave Chapman (Bingo Boy Dave) was the assistant CD and lo and behold we then had Dave as the CD on the Explorer months later. A lot of the stuff Dave did came right out of Allen's playbook, which made him effective right away. In time, they develp their own shtick but we enjoyed all three of them.

 

We were not impressed with Kieron Buffrey on our PC trip on the Radiance in 2006 so are waiting to see if has improved when we do our Navigator TA in Nov.

[Dave85]

Ken Rush annoys the heck out of me but I must say this: I've never seen a better entertainment staff (and better run activities) on any other ship than I have on my two cruises with Ken Rush. So much fun. Basically even though he personally irritates me, I won't begrudge him the fact that he's a very good administrator / head of the entertainment department.

[AMommyof2]

I wouldn't know the CD if I ran over him/her!

 

Me, either, most of the time....nor do I care. I cruise for me, not the CD.

[The Big Booper]

People who go to or participate in the passenger activities, such as The Quest, L & M, Liars Club, Trivia games, Name that tune, pool games, etc. are more likely to notice who is running the event and how good they are at it.

 

Especially, running The Quest in Studio B is difficult because of the physical limitations of the few cutouts to the rink and the steep stairs and crowded aisles. But Brooks, Andrews and Chapman did great jobs.

 

On our Brilliance Med. cruise, Bill Brunkhorst was every bit the suave host, which was what was needed on that trip. More European and elegant.

[IBookHePays]

Ken Rush annoys the heck out of me but I must say this: I've never seen a better entertainment staff (and better run activities) on any other ship than I have on my two cruises with Ken Rush. So much fun. Basically even though he personally irritates me, I won't begrudge him the fact that he's a very good administrator / head of the entertainment department.

 

Couldn't agree with you more...he was everywhere!

 

I cruise for me, not the CD.

 

When you choose a cruise, I would hope the CD wouldn't be the main reason for picking it! That being said, it's nice when the CD is good, or at least not annoying. We had Abe Hughes on the Mariner recently, and although he wasn't as annoying as some, he was just....blah:p:)

[DJan07]

It's funny you mentioned the whole CD hiring and training process. I just got back from the Enchantment and greatly enjoyed the CD, Rico. I have always been interested in working on board a few years after college and thought my personality was similar to Rico's. I then looked up the qualifications for applying to be a CD, and I had to wonder how ANYONE was able to become one. The qualifications were crazy and I'm sure RCI is missing out due to all the restrictions and experience just to start on a CD's staff. While I realized the purpose of some comments they had on the website, others seemed like only a person with a very specific resume could become a CD. If I find that link again I'll post it.

[cassieroll]

Having an invisible CD isn't always a bad thing.. I wished Johnny O and Graham Seymour were invisible but had no such luck! :eek:

OH lord! Johnny O was horrible horrible horrible!