spencerdrivecruiser

There is a bit of luck involved also.

Years back we were in Old S.J. on a Celebrity Ship and by chance we were in the CVS Drug Store and shopping were the Capt and Hotel Director. They were in street clothes but my wife recognized the Capt. We said Hi and that we were on their ship. We chatted very briefly and did our shopping.

THEN, everytime we ran into them on the ship it was like we were longtime pals. It was a longer cruise so we got better aquainted each day. We got invited to the last Capt's Table on formal night by the HD. If we had not run into them at the CVS there is no way we would have been invited not being luminaries with a larger cabin.

It snowballed thru the years, one HD emails another and says so and so will be on your ship, they are my friends, etc. and the meeting process starts again. After 10+ years of X cruising you become like family if things work out and there is mutual respect.

Bottomline: there is no formula to perfect this process, kind of fate and luck for that initial one on one contact.

The HD is the general manager of the ship and is involved in the everything but the bridge and engineering activities.

The Capt gets the vessel from point A to point B in a safe manner but has no authority in the casino operations, F&B, Housekeeping. The HD has the majority of workers on the ship in his organization and a huge challenge in keeping everyone happy.

Knowing and having a good rapport with the HD will have a greater impact on assuring you have a excellent cruise. If one had to choose between the 2, hands down choose the HD as a friend. There is not much they cannot do for you to make your cruise special.

The Hotel Dept can upgrade your cabin, negotiate an upgrade to a suite, comp you wine, specialty restaurant meals, comp you excursions. The Capt has no authority in any of these areas.

Zafer is the new kid on the block and I agree a great guy. We go back to 2004 when he transitioned to an Assistant Maitre'd from a waiter. He and Czajka were always in competition but unfortunately Czajka is a Specialty Maitre'd and not a RM.

How time flies.q

Nikola is the senior RM as far as years in the position. Geo Simones has been with X longer but is not a RM.

Danuta is on the Constellation

Vladimir is on the Millenium

Cemal is on Silhouette

Nikola is on Solstice.

 

 

By far, Nikola is the best Restaurant Manager Celebrity has! We have sailed with him many times and he is a charming man and a true professional. I never saw anyone so visible around the ship. He will always go the extra mile to make sure you are treated like a Celebrity!

In total agreement that Nikola is the best in the business.

A few Pics:

Zafer from Turkey

Nikola from Croatia

Nikola and Cemal (Turkey)

Danuta (Poland)

Sitting are Hakan, ??, George (tuscan Grill maitre d)

Standing are Lorenzo, Cemal and Fabio

Dominique is behind Fabio and Cemal

Merick is a separate entity, he is from Poland

George Simones is a rest maitre'd on EC (Tuscany) not a RM

Hakan ? Not sure where he went

Nikola Havidic (croatia)

Milivoy long gone from X , was a F&B Mgr in his last contracts.

Adrian is no longer a RM. Was on Summit as Blu Maitre'D

Rest Mgs.not named above:

Danuta (female from Poland)

Fahity (turkey)

Merick (poland)

Vladimir Savic (ML)

Nikola (Croatia...the best)

My vote is for the Exec Chef and Rest Mgr

Not into the party bands

Staffy and spencerdrivecruiser thank you very much for the information.

And now that Lisa Richard moved from Summit would it be Justin Nichols that just took over?

 

And some advice needed. I use a wide screen monitor. In order to add two more captains, can the chart be made wider or should each picture be made smaller? And how does the font size show up for people who use tablets?

The chart now fits perfectly on my iPad which is my main medium for the internet. Not sure how you are going to fit the add'l two pics into the chart.

At least we will have a full set of Captains now..

I know the non Greek Captain quit who matered an S class ship. Is that Nikos Frantzis? Not sure on that one but a few months ago the Scandinavian Capt resigned.

Maybe someone can chime in on the intel.

Here is a pic of Capt Michael Sympouras FYI

Here is a pic of Capt Kostas Patsoulas FYI

GREAT NEWS

Chandru will be on the RF commencing 9/26.

Made my day today. Great guy.

I don't say this often or lightly but Juliana has no equals in my opinion.

My wife and I cannot praise her enough to her managers.

One of the nicest human beings we have ever met also.

Andrew and X did not see eye to eye on some ship matters so I imagine he either quit or his contract was not renewed.

Celebrity does not have to jump through hoops to fire someone in management. They just do not renew their contract which is a quick and dirty way to terminate them. So technically no one gets fired from a ship unless there is an egregious event during their contract. Most of the time it is simple without much recourse for the employee. Ship crew and staff including officers work on contracts. You are only as good as your last contract so to speak.

Juliana is the best CC HOSTESS we have ever had.

Chandru was the best HOST.

Juliana was on the ML and management transfered her to the SH do to her outstanding qualities.

Consider yourself lucky to sail with her.

With Chandru's great work ethic and can do attitude I was surprised he was not promoted. What happened to the tenets of work hard and work smartly to get ahead.

I wish him the best of luck. He definitely will be missed. Cannot beat a seasoned knowledgable worker like Chandru. Unfortunately he is not responding to his email anymore which I assume means he is placing his ship life behind him and starting a new work life/career.

Based on my last email with Chandru I think he is finished with Celebrity unfortunately. He did not say it was 100% but alluded to the fact he was not thrilled to be in that position. Lots of politics working for X and sometimes the good hard workers are not the first in line for advancement. Need to read between the lines here.

Lionel worked on the CN in the Shops. He decided he wanted to transition to the ship side and was hired as a CC Host.

As of Aug 10th Capt. Patsoulis is the Master on the ML. This will be his permanent ship sharing the duties with Captain Taramas.

First Officer (Navigation or Deck) to Safety Officer to Staff Captain to Captain.

It is a very long arduous road from First Officer passing the exams for the Masters License and becoming a Master.

Most do not make it all the way.

You will know on Aug 10 th when it is official.

I am not at liberty to discuss this matter but he will NOT be on the CN.

Capt. Patsoulis has been assigned to another ship and will not bee on the CN.

Can anyone tell me where Xenofan Livanios is now? He was Staff Captain and maybe even Master on Century a while back.

In approx 45 days when his vacation is over he will report to the ML as the second in command.

Mr. Harris will no longer be the HD on the ML.

Sheldon T. and Christopher will share the HD duties on the ML.

Periodically they move the brass around to keep things fresh.

IN Capt Margaritis retired after his contract.

Great guy but he wants to enjoy his new life.

It's Top Secret but unfort she is no longer with the company.

All good things eventually come to an end.