Cruise director - enlighten me please.

[chengkp75]

And to set the record completely accurately for a new cruiser, I would take exception with the following duty of the CD:

 

"Conducting and supervising safety briefings or drills for both passengers and crew."

 

While it may seem like the CD is in charge of the drills, since his is the voice over the PA system, that is really all he is; a voice, a person recognizable to the guests and experienced in speaking publicly. The drills are conducted by and supervised by the Safety Manager, the Staff Captain, and the Staff Chief Engineer, who are all experienced in safety training.

Edited January 27, 2015 by chengkp75

[Cruisin' Chick]

Although the CD no longer makes annoujcements. When he does appear you can get a sense of how is team performs. We had an excellent CD on BOS Jan 22 sailing. Coincidently he was from Liverpool, GO REDS!! He was energetic, witty and seem to have a lot of fun with fellow officers. The captain Stig Nielsen was in rare form during the Captains hour or something. He laughed and joked quite a bit.

 

Actually on some cruise lines, the CD might be the one making PAs that are not from the bridge (safety PAs, daily navigation PAs and arrival PAs would be done by the captain or his staff). Some tend to overdo the activities PAs and others hopefully will limit to a special activity (and the "final" bingo match is not a special activity as far as I'm concerned) or one daily summary.

 

And as someone mentioned, the CD is responsible for putting out the daily newsletter (at least with the Princess Patter, so that's definitely would impact those who enjoy the activities if there's one who can't seem to get out the newsletter on time -- and many have mentioned one specific CD as being guilty of this).

 

Usually the CD or someone on his staff will emcee any shows and trivia matches as well as bingo matches, horse races, etc.

 

Some passengers aren't into activities but since I love sea days, I tend to prefer a CD who can come up with a great slate of activities, but isn't intrusive in some ways (such as overdoing the PAs). I've had some great, a few inactive, and some good CDs.

[wassup4565]

My understanding from a "talk" on a recent RCI cruise is that the CD also has a big hand in selecting the various entertainers for the ship. This matters, as what the person should do is arrange for a wide variety. On a cruise a couple of years ago, what we got was a lot of Latin and South American music. Now I like that music just fine, but I don't want to hear it all the time, in almost every venue.

[sail7seas]

We are 'self-entertainers' and make our own plans for our own enjoyment. We don't participate in the games and shows for the most part and aside from most of the CD's being very pleasant and interesting to speak with, they do not play a particular role in our individual cruise enjoyment.

 

[sail7seas]

I am sorry to hear that CD's don't make announcements anymore. I know that the CD (Carlos Torres) on Majesty this past Thanksgiving still did them. For some people maybe they thought they were intrusive, I thought they were helpful, so I did not miss something I wanted to go to.

 

Since you have just completed a cruise on Brilliance, can you tell me who the Activities Manager was? It is fine, if you only remember their first name.

 

Isn't that why they publish the daily program? The list of activities is in the program each day and I'm one who gets annoyed when the CD drones on and on telling us what we can easily read for ourselves. We've had a few that loved the sound of their own voice and never seemed ready to turn off the speaker system. :D

 

I read the program for myself.

 

[Bonnie J.]

CD's do make announcements on the ships we have been on this past year. (Carnival, Princess, NCL & RCCL). They always make muster announcements, fire is biggest hazard, kids must wear bracelets etc. Also have heard them announce what is going on each day but this is in the halls, not in your cabin.

 

They used to be in charge of all entertainment on Carnival but that has changed. Carnival is getting Entertainment Directors. The CD or ACD can apply for this position. When there is an Entertainment director, the CD has no assistant. Only a few Carnival ships have this at the moment though.

 

We got to know one CD VERY well. Every time we were on board she'd have something for us. Once she had a big sign on our cabin door welcoming us back with three red things dropping from her sign. She gave us ship's towels, the fish drink holders, Halloween candy in purple mugs with pumpkins on them, etc. We also exchanged Christmas gifts. She has now retired but we still email each other. Her Christmas card had the dog she adopted wearing a Santa hat. She had been with Carnival 16 years but is very happy as a director of a chamber of commerce now.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Bonnie J.

[Bonnie J.]

CD's do make announcements on the ships we have been on this past year. (Carnival, Princess, NCL & RCCL). They always make muster announcements, fire is biggest hazard, kids must wear bracelets etc. Also have heard them announce what is going on each day.

 

They used to be in charge of all entertainment on Carnival but that has changed. Carnival is getting Entertainment Directors. The CD or ACD can apply for this position. When there is an Entertainment director, the CD has no assistant. Only a few Carnival ships have this at the moment though.

 

We got to know one CD VERY well. Every time we were on board she'd have something for us. Once she had a big sign on our cabin door welcoming us back with three red things dropping from her sign. She gave us ship's towels, the fish drink holders, Halloween candy in purple mugs with pumpkins on them, etc. We also exchanged Christmas gifts. She has now retired but we still email each other. Her Christmas card had the dog adopted wearing a Santa hat. She had been with Carnival 16 years but is very happy as a director of a chamber of commerce now.

[Paulette3028]

CD's do make announcements on the ships we have been on this past year. (Carnival, Princess, NCL & RCCL). They always make muster announcements, fire is biggest hazard, kids must wear bracelets etc. Also have heard them announce what is going on each day.

 

 

From what some cruisers are reporting after their cruise, announcements on many ships seem to becoming less and less. You will always hear the muster drill announcements, yet some people have said that the hourly activity announcements are becoming less, maybe the cruise line is getting comments on their post cruise surveys that cruisers think those announcements are 'more noise' than value.

[Bonnie J.]

Sorry, have no idea why my post appeared twice! Must have hit the wrong button somewhere!

[Cruisin' Chick]

From what some cruisers are reporting after their cruise, announcements on many ships seem to becoming less and less. You will always hear the muster drill announcements, yet some people have said that the hourly activity announcements are becoming less, maybe the cruise line is getting comments on their post cruise surveys that cruisers think those announcements are 'more noise' than value.

 

Hourly activity announcements? Isn't that a bit much? As someone else pointed out, someone who likes activities will check the daily newsletter (I will always have it with me so I can see what's coming up).

[Paulette3028]

Hourly activity announcements? Isn't that a bit much? As someone else pointed out' date=' someone who likes activities will check the daily newsletter (I will always have it with me so I can see what's coming up).[/quote']

 

I don't carry the cruise compass with me around the ship and I don't mind short periodic (once an hour is periodic enough for me) announcements about what is going to be happening onboard. I can live without it, but it is nice (for me). Gee if people fall asleep in the sun, it could wake them before they 'crisp' -- therefore it could be a public service announcement (LOL)

[Folk Singer]

From wikipedia:

 

A cruise director is a high-ranking or senior officer of a cruise ship with responsibility for all onboard hospitality, entertainment and social events, who acts as the public face of the company. The cruise director reports to the hotel director, has a deputy or assistant cruise director, and is supported by a team of entertainment staff.

 

Responsibilities of a cruise director may include:

 

Scheduling of entertainment, activities and social events

Officer in charge of entertainment staff

Public announcements

Conducting and supervising safety briefings or drills for both passengers and crew.

 

Usually very visible around ship and introduces all main shows.

 

 

Good explanation.