Cruise Directors, why?

I'm with the OP. Could care less who the CD is on any of our cruises. We don't partake in a lot of the activities or go to most of the shows. We rarely ever see the CD on our cruises. But, I do realize it's important to some people. Some of the CDs even have a fan club of sorts that follows along with the CD to every thing he/she does.

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I'd like to cruise one day with Matt O'Brien. When he was a deputy CD I told him that he was going to make a fantastic CD and should be promoted. Lo and behold the powers that be agreed and he's now a CD - I think on Royal. He seemed to truly love his job.

 

 

 

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I was fortunate to be on Matt’s first ever cruise as a new CD - on the Royal last December. He was great. He was very visible throughout the cruise leading to fun and the rest of his team followed suit.

 

A good CD can, for some cruisers, make or break a cruise. (As can the ED - in how they lead the entertainment team, bring on board good entertainers, and schedule activities effectively.)

 

BTW - Matt is currently off the Royal. He has been on vacation the last couple of weeks - from his Facebook posts he has been having fun!!

 

If I am lucky his next assignment will be the Caribbean Princess next month. [emoji846]

 

Don from Halifax

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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As Pam said, ED is a reasonably new position. In the past we had a CD - J J Ulrich - who was so incredibly bad that a 15 day cruise to Hawaii could have been a cruise to the moon or to Ethiopia or to anywhere. He was absolutely pathetically worthless. (He is no longer with Princess. YAY!) On our most recent cruise we had a new CD who was OK but his announcements were so LOUD that it bothered pretty much everybody. It was extremely annoying. On our 28 day cruise last October we had a relatively new CD - David Clark - who was funny, personable, and made the cruise more fun. I'd like to cruise one day with Matt O'Brien. When he was a deputy CD I told him that he was going to make a fantastic CD and should be promoted. Lo and behold the powers that be agreed and he's now a CD - I think on Royal. He seemed to truly love his job.

 

The CD doesn't make or break my voyage and I would certainly never book (or fail to book) a cruise based on who the CD was going to be. I've never sailed with Captain Tuvo but, based on comments here on CC, would like to do so one day. Again, I would never base my decision to cruise on who was the captain of the ship. (Unless it was Francesco Shettino! Fortunately that won't be a problem for future cruisers.) I think - but could be wrong - that some folks want to know which movies will be playing in order to make sure they don't watch them before the cruise. I could be wrong. That's the only reason I would care what movies are playing and, like the other things listed, the movies certainly wouldn't affect whether or not I booked a cruise. With Princess, the one thing that would likely affect whether or not I booked would be if Island Princess was the only ship sailing the itinerary. I might well choose another voyage in that case.

Yes, it is fun just to know and doesn't affect what cruise I book. Will tell you I had Matt O. on my recent cruise on the Royal. He is taking a break right now, I believe, but is going to be back on the Royal for our Canada/Ft.Laud. cruise in late October and I am so excited. Good CD's do make a difference especially with nighttime events. With him, I live in Princess Live and enjoy myself. He also helps book good entertainers. He is involved a lot with his events and just is a perfect representation of what a good CD should be. If your CD is just blah, then I understand this thread!!!

Pooh

I can only remember two CDs, one because he was really good and the other because he was really bad. But neither one really made a difference.

We do not care who anyone is one the ship , Most important is the destination then the cruise line . Everything else is means nothing .

I would both agree and disagree with the above. I don't give a rat's backside about who the cruise director is and he/she certainly does not make or break my cruise!

I do care about two people who are on the ship, however. Number one would be me darling wife and number two which runs a close second would be the individual(s) who delivers the luggage to my stateroom. These folks certainly do have the opportunity to make a break a cruise, at least for me!;)

I would both agree and disagree with the above. I don't give a rat's backside about who the cruise director is and he/she certainly does not make or break my cruise!

 

I do care about two people who are on the ship, however. Number one would be me darling wife and number two which runs a close second would be the individual(s) who delivers the luggage to my stateroom. These folks certainly do have the opportunity to make a break a cruise, at least for me!;)

Awwww and :')

On our 28 day cruise last October we had a relatively new CD - David Clark - who was funny, personable, and made the cruise more fun. .

 

The CD doesn't make or break my voyage .

I used to also think that it didn't matter who the CD was but , as someone else said, the more you cruise the more you notice the differences that a good crew make in your experience.

We were on that same 28 day cruise with Thrak last October. I had never heard of Dave before that cruise but I would now go out of my way to cruise with him. We never go to trivias but just chanced to stop by at one of his music trivias early on in the cruise. He is an absolute riot and improvises as he goes along in response to the audience. His shows got more and more full as the cruise went on as his reputation spread.

Those 28 days had about 20 or so sea days so good entertainment became pretty important.

We've had some long cruises with bad CDs who didn't schedule much entertainment in the evening and others with really good ones like Dave who always had lots going on. It makes the difference between a good vacation (they're all good) and a great one.

I used to also think that it didn't matter who the CD was but , as someone else said, the more you cruise the more you notice the differences that a good crew make in your experience.

We were on that same 28 day cruise with Thrak last October. I had never heard of Dave before that cruise but I would now go out of my way to cruise with him. We never go to trivias but just chanced to stop by at one of his music trivias early on in the cruise. He is an absolute riot and improvises as he goes along in response to the audience. His shows got more and more full as the cruise went on as his reputation spread.

Those 28 days had about 20 or so sea days so good entertainment became pretty important.

We've had some long cruises with bad CDs who didn't schedule much entertainment in the evening and others with really good ones like Dave who always had lots going on. It makes the difference between a good vacation (they're all good) and a great one.

We had David as one of the CD's staff a few years ago. Funniest trivia we have ever been to. We were happy for him to hear of his promotion but sad for us as he wouldn't be taking trivia any more and we thought what a loss for the passengers.

So glad that you posted that he is still hosting trivia, he was meant to entertain a crowd.

Can someone please explain why some need to know who the CD will be on a particular voyage. Who the CD is means squat to me, I do not book for a particular CD, nor will I not book because a certain CD is on board. The entertainment director is more important, yet nobody ever asks about them.

Some CD staff stand out from the crowd. Recently Princess promoted some younger employees to the position of CD.

One of these was David Clark.

While I would not travel overseas to go on a cruise that he was on I would if he were sailing out of Sydney choose to sail on the ship that he was on.

Why? We really enjoy going to trivia, we don't take it too seriously but do it for fun. It is a blast when David takes it. He tells the funniest stories about his family and past experiences. He is so entertaining and can really engage with a crowd.

It does make a difference to my enjoyment of the activity and thus my enjoyment of the cruise overall when you have staff members who enjoy their job and are good at it.

Someone like David who makes the effort to remember passengers names and at the end of the cruise stands near the doorway and wishes you a safe journey home addressing you by name does make a difference. To me anyway.

Down here in Australia it feels like when you are a regular cruiser you run out of new ports to vist very quickly so it is important that you enjoy your time on the ship as the ports of call become less important.

I do agree with the OP that the ET is important in terms of scheduling activities (I think this is what they do) and I will pay closer attention to them in the future. As long as I see them out and about on the ship getting feedback from passengers.:)

Have been on over 25 cruises, have no idea who Cruise Director or Maitre d'hotel was on any of them!

They make no difference to my enjoyment, so have no need to 'follow' them!

Appreciate others may feel differently. Their choice.

Different things/ people are important to different people.

Bon voyage.

We had David as one of the CD's staff a few years ago. Funniest trivia we have ever been to. We were happy for him to hear of his promotion but sad for us as he wouldn't be taking trivia any more and we thought what a loss for the passengers.

 

So glad that you posted that he is still hosting trivia, he was meant to entertain a crowd.

I should clarify that the "trivia" Dave hosted wasn't the real trivia (with prizes) that the hard core trivia players go to. His were in the evening in Explorers and there might have been a bottle of "champagne" for the winners but we pretty much scored ourselves and the point of the game was the entertainment, not to win it. Most of them were music trivias and he sang and acted out parts for us.

I totally agree with you Paul.

Tony

Include me too! A CD can make a fantastic voyage even better, but they can't prevent us from having the best time.

If you ever had Kelvin Joy as CD you would understand.[/quote

 

 

"Winner Winner Chicken Dinner "

Have been on over 25 cruises, have no idea who Cruise Director or Maitre d'hotel was on any of them!

 

They make no difference to my enjoyment, so have no need to 'follow' them!

 

Appreciate others may feel differently. Their choice.

 

Different things/ people are important to different people.

 

Bon voyage.

Totally agree....we have been on many cruises too and never know or care who CD or MD is....The activities are always the same on most Princess cruises and CD's come off as pretty silly and not really a necessary to us.....:)

I used to feel the same away about the Captain until I sailed on a ship with Captain Tuvo. He outshined the CD by far! CD isn't a big deal to me and I definitely wouldn't base my bookings on that.

I felt the same way about Captain Tuvo when we were on the Island Princess with him in January!

i remember the 2nd cruise we went on - the EOS way back in 2004. The CD at that time was a guy by the name of Gordon (cant remember his last name) and apart from being a good host in the theatre and so on, you could just tell he ran a really tight ship with his CD staff. They were everywhere! Fast forward a couple of years and we're on another cruise with a CD who seemed only interested in calling bingo games. His staff was noticeably absent at times and seemed uninterested. It really made a very noticeable difference. So while the CD may not appear to work as much as you might think, he/she does a lot of work behind the scenes and can make a difference.

i remember the 2nd cruise we went on - the EOS way back in 2004. The CD at that time was a guy by the name of Gordon (cant remember his last name) and apart from being a good host in the theatre and so on, you could just tell he ran a really tight ship with his CD staff. They were everywhere! Fast forward a couple of years and we're on another cruise with a CD who seemed only interested in calling bingo games. His staff was noticeably absent at times and seemed uninterested. It really made a very noticeable difference. So while the CD may not appear to work as much as you might think, he/she does a lot of work behind the scenes and can make a difference.

I think you nailed it. So many comment about the visibility of the CD, (lacking) then comment how the staff was so engaging and fun. That's the key.. how the staff is and all the entertainment options that are scheduled. If they include an engaging CD, great, but, for me, I look at the entire package. Lucky for me, that package has usually been pretty dang good.

I may be a Matt O’Brien groupie. I have done 6 cruises with him. The first 5 were just lucky, but the last one was planned. I am going on two more this fall. He makes the journey so much fun. I have mostly had good CDs with only a couple that I don’t care to cruise with again. Granted the main purpose dips the itinerary so it wouldn’t stop me if one of “those” was my CD but it would impact my ship experience. Always keep in mind you are in a cruise so it’s all good!

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In reply to the OP, I do understand to some a CD is important, but a great cabin steward and wait staff, to us make a bigger difference. as they are the people you are dealing with directly.

Also we make our own fun, and make the best of it, rough weather, missed ports... whatever.

We just enjoy the fact that we are cruising

Cheers Don

We have found that most CDs are similar. Some are better and more personable than others, & all have some of Bill Murray’s Lounge Lizard in them.

The one CD in our over 40 sailings that set himself apart from all the others is the aforementioned Matt O. We did a b2b on Royal in late January where he was CD on the first leg, but not the 2nd, due to illness. The difference in the 2 sailings was very appparent. Matt is one CD that would be a part of the deciding factor between 2 ships for us.

Couldn’t name any CD Uve sailed with.

Can someone please explain why some need to know who the CD will be on a particular voyage. Who the CD is means squat to me, I do not book for a particular CD, nor will I not book because a certain CD is on board. The entertainment director is more important, yet nobody ever asks about them.

If they announce a lot of cr*p over the speakers it's nice if they have pleasant voices.

If they announce a lot of cr*p over the speakers it's nice if they have pleasant voices.

So why do they just hire a announcer as that is what they really are .

I use to feel the same way about cruise directors until our last cruise on the Island Princess - 19 day round trip Panama. Previous cruises I was not really impressed by the CD or their staff.

This last cruise (#6), we had Calli Smit (sp?) as the cruise director. He was personable, entertaining, full of gusto and it flowed down to his staff. DH and I were like so surprised by him and his staff. They had people laughing, smiling and just having a good 'ole time. This passed on to the whole crew like an infection of happiness.

We do not participate in a lot of activities however did go to a lot of the evening entertainment shows. People of course would stand up to head out as soon as the show was over. As time went on, people stay seated to listen to Callie. That is when you know that they have the attention of the customer. I never talk to CD's however I made a point to let him know that I thought he did an excellent job of being a cruise director and he made our cruise just a bit more fun. His response was that he loved what he does. It showed! :D

Princess use to send "letters" letting us know who was the Captain, Cruise Director and Chef. They do not do that anymore and I wish they would bring that back. Not that its going to change what cruise we are going on, its just nice to know who is doing what.

Can someone please explain why some need to know who the CD will be on a particular voyage. Who the CD is means squat to me, I do not book for a particular CD, nor will I not book because a certain CD is on board. The entertainment director is more important, yet nobody ever asks about them.

Since you’ve heard many responses to your question now it’s time to what you’ve heard from others on CC.

Tom😎