who cares about the CD?

[nybumpkin]

I've been on cruises with forgettable CDs, but I can't tell you how excited I was when I looked at the 1st Fun Times of our last cruise and found out Josh "Big Sexy" Waitzman was the CD. He was the ACD when we sailed the Miracle in 08 and fortunately the promotion hadn't changed him. We reintroduced ourselves and everytime we saw him again he was nothing less than super friendly, like he was hosting a party and was so glad everybody came.

Josh is just a really nice person - and he works hard. We went on a Canada cruise a few years ago where he was CD. It was over July 4 and there was a themed deck party scheduled that night. Josh was in the atrium helping crew members hang up decorations - he really wanted a fun party that night.

 

I have never booked a cruise because a person was scheduled to be CD, nor have I avoided a cruise because a person was scheduled to be CD. A good CD does make a difference, though.

[bury me at sea]

OP has a legitimate question. We had a fantastic cruise on the Carnival Magic in late May. Absolutely no complaints. If there was a cruise director on board couldn't prove it by me.

[mzloolue]

Some people act like a cruise director is a celebrity.

 

I just kind of go on how annoying their continual announcements are.

 

Too cutesy and I start to loathe them.

[mousey]

Neither the best nor the worst CD would have any affect on our cruise because we have no reason or desire to interact with them. We do our own thing so if there wasn't one on our cruise we wouldn't even notice or care.

We don't play bingo, don't do karaoke, don't play any of the games at all.

During the day if we are in port we only come back to the ship when it's ready to sail. If it's a sea day, we will go to a wine tasting and do tea time. We'll sit in the Serenity Deck or go to the Casino for a bit. In the evenings, we'll go to the piano bar, go dancing, and take in a comedy show. We do late seating in the MDR. There's just no need for a CD for the things we like to do. Having said that, I'm glad they're there for the people that do like to interact with them and I understand how a good or bad one could affect their cruises. But in our case...it just doesn't matter.

[BettyPC]

CD is not that important until they aren't amusing... I like one w/a sense of humor

[golfb4cruzing]

We go to a bunch of trivia and other activities so spend more time with social hosts than the cd's.

 

Just back from Princess and so nice how the CD makes such shorter announcements than Carnival.

 

Did you do a review of your Princess trip? I might have missed it but you are one of the stalwarts around here now, imho. We cruise Princess 9.5/10 now having gotten bored with Carnival.

[jimdalva]

We have never cared about the CD, and add to that, we don't care who the Captain is either. As long as it isn't Francesco Schettino !

[golfadj]

Did you do a review of your Princess trip? I might have missed it but you are one of the stalwarts around here now, imho. We cruise Princess 9.5/10 now having gotten bored with Carnival.

 

Yes I set down my thoughts about a month ago. Thanks for your kind words. Princess TA was awesome and hope to do it yearly.

[Rogueperson]

I think cruise directors set the atmosphere of the cruise whether you know it or not. I mean, they're the ones that set the entertainment out for you in a fashion. All the activities that you see, its the cruise director's job to oversee it. Its his staff that runs everything.

 

As for the performance factor of it, that's just icing on the cake. Some CDs are more memorable than others. The worst ones, are the ones who cram themselves onto you and you just want to shut them out, but the really good ones, are the ones that are able to charm you and get you out of your shell without even knowing that they're doing it. Those are the champions. The only one that stands out for me, was Joff Eaton on the Independence of the Seas. I STILL can't get that music video he did out of my head.

[PortSideCruzan]

[quote name='VirtualCEO;43035774

 

 

]is big tex still a CD?

 

 

 

Hi VirtualCEO :)

 

After 12 yrs as cruise director' date=' Jeremy (Big Tex) Mayes, retired.

His last day with Carnival was November 1st, 2013.

 

 

 

:)

 

 

[/size']

[jaylinks]

I totally agree. If you go to all the events..pre-shows, shore talk, etc..a good CD makes it lively and hilarious.

[Greatescapes]

CD's are needed... its amazing to see what all they do in a day behind the seen. I have sailed with many and there are a few that stuck out for good and bad reasons.... I have been fortunate enough to sail with John Heald and I will have to say he does a great job.

[txcharley]

I never gave much thought to the CD until our latest cruise. We were on a 16-day with 9 sea days. Brent Mitchell was the CD and he didn't have a CLUE what to do!! He was evidently used to the 20s and 30s crowd for the 4-and 5-days in California. When he had a 60s+ crowd, he didn't change a thing..... Still the same juvenile games and trivia that many of us had never heard of.

 

I mean, we had 4 sea days to begin and on the SECOND DAY they ran out of playing cards at the guest "services" desk!! People were sitting all over playing cards and there were no more cards available!! Didn't get any more until the second day of the 5 sea days coming back!!

 

Rooms were double-booked, trivia, which was popular most days, was so packed you couldn't get a seat!!

 

TERRIBLE, rambling announcements in his high school cheerleader voice. UGH!!

[The4Cruisers]

Count us in the camp of not caring who the CD is. We've had Risa and Jen a couple of times and they were very nice ladies who do their job well.

 

There have been a few guy CD's on our cruises, but they don't stick out in our memory.

 

Kind of funny though was on our last cruise on Paradise, the CD was the dude that plays the fiddle. When we saw him in the show playing the fiddle, I didn't know he was the CD. I just kept wondering why they wasted a bunk on the ship for this "not so good" fiddler... :)

Edited June 14, 2014 by The4Cruisers

[SMSACE6]

It does not matter to me at all who the CD will be on my cruise.

 

I dont think I have ever known who it would be before any of my cruises. There have been some who I liked more than others, but I have also not disliked any of them either.

[bitemyfly]

After many cruisers I can not tell you one name of a cd we had

After my first cruise I learned the skill which tunes them out

Cd= blah blah blah blah and blah

[hartsnvt]

If you are the type that attends a lot of the activities, then a great CD will make your cruise quite enjoyable. They plan those activities and the funny ones who host them can make a trivia game into a comedy show. I do follow John Heald and he entertains me and also polls us on his FB page to see what we would like to see in the future and more! Some may not like his humor but I find it very funny. I hope to someday cruise on one of his ships so I can get some more laughs. For those who do not attend things will not really care who the CD is because they never see them doing what they do!

[kybluecruiser]

I cruise for the ship experience not the ports. I like just being on a cruise ship no matter if it is a fantasy class or dream class. I see the cd as a part of the ship. I love carnival but i am not sure of thier new cd role. For one i see it as a demotion for many long time CDs. I think it is a shame they have changed them from the person in charge to just an emcee.

[TPFKAH]

I cruise for the ship experience not the ports. I like just being on a cruise ship no matter if it is a fantasy class or dream class. I see the cd as a part of the ship. I love carnival but i am not sure of thier new cd role. For one i see it as a demotion for many long time CDs. I think it is a shame they have changed them from the person in charge to just an emcee.

 

I don't think John Heald is too happy about this change. He seems to have gone off about this thread.

[SkyMaster]

 

Kind of funny though was on our last cruise on Paradise, the CD was the dude that plays the fiddle. When we saw him in the show playing the fiddle, I didn't know he was the CD. I just kept wondering why they wasted a bunk on the ship for this "not so good" fiddler... :)

 

HA! That, of course, was Steve Cassel, the C.D. aboard "Paradise". I'm sure he'll be thrilled to learn what you thought of his fiddle playin'. ;)

He's a little bit hard to "get to know", but once you do, you'll probably agree that he's a very, very nice guy, and IMO, does an excellent job of taking care of business aboard his ship. GOOD JOB STEVE!

 

"SKY"

Ken

[kybluecruiser]

HA! That, of course, was Steve Cassel, the C.D. aboard "Paradise". I'm sure he'll be thrilled to learn what you thought of his fiddle playin'. ;)

He's a little bit hard to "get to know", but once you do, you'll probably agree that he's a very, very nice guy, and IMO, does an excellent job of taking care of business aboard his ship. GOOD JOB STEVE!

 

"SKY"

Ken

 

And if i am not mistaken he is the longest serving cruise director. I believe he was hired before John.

[golfadj]

I don't think John Heald is too happy about this change. He seems to have gone off about this thread.

 

That was also my impression as well.

[golfadj]

If you are the type that attends a lot of the activities, then a great CD will make your cruise quite enjoyable. They plan those activities and the funny ones who host them can make a trivia game into a comedy show. I do follow John Heald and he entertains me and also polls us on his FB page to see what we would like to see in the future and more! Some may not like his humor but I find it very funny. I hope to someday cruise on one of his ships so I can get some more laughs. For those who do not attend things will not really care who the CD is because they never see them doing what they do!

 

Actually other than perhaps scheduling trivia the Cd has nothing to do with it as the social hosts run them.

 

CD's basically act as MC's for production shows and on occasion wander the ship saying hello. With the advent of playlist productions, hasbro and the love and marriage show in the evenings we have less and less to do with CD's as we find ourselves in piano bar or other venues.

[Rock712]

I think the CD is just one part of the overall experience. We've been on cruises where the food , ports , cabins , entertainment , etc were better than others. Those that were good stand out in memory a little better than the one's that were not. Cd 's are the same. We've had two , John Heald on the Glory and Butch B. on the Liberty that did their job in a certain way that for us made the cruise a little more enjoyable. The others I couldn't even tell you who the CD was. Didn't make the cruise any less enjoyable. I certainly would never book a cruise based on the CD

[Ciardasully]

The thing about cruising is that there are so many preferences, there is no "one size fits all." Some people care about their CD, others do not. There is no right or wrong, just different.

 

Our first cruise on the Glory, we had Josh Waitzman and he was great. On the Sunshine we had Butch who was filling in for Jaime. We thought he was mediocre but other people love him. Butch was nice but there was just a lot of empty time on the schedule but that may have been because there were three sea days on that cruise. But it didn't ruin our vacation. We just realized that that a good CD can make your vacation even better, a bad or mediocre CD certainly doesn't ruin it.