Cruise Critic News: Popular Carnival Cruise Director Matt Mitcham Announces Retirement

[mslhb]

Super bummed to read that. He ended up being on vacation for our Vista cruise. Was supposed to be our CD on our cancelled May Panorama cruise. And was going to be our CD on our hopefully sailing Mardi Gras cruise. Sad we weren’t able to experience a sailing with him.

[xDisconnections]

1 hour ago, MeganGC1983 said:

With this movement, can we assume that Carnival is getting the CD schedule together for cruising to resume? 

No.

[outdoors27]

We are very bummed about Matt's departure. He's by far the best CD we've ever cruised with and we have had the luxury to sail with him 5 times, the best being a New Years Eve cruise on the Vista. Hope he stays on with Carnival in some capacity. 

[stellarose]

was excited to have Matt has the CD on MG.  I loooooooved Dr. E on the pride.  the CD on the breeze was not that good. Would love DR. E to be on MG. 

[MRVEGAS711]

Do these men and women qualify for unemployment or are they subject to Panama's rules? The cruise industry is going to lose a lot of talent regardless.

[Purvis1231]

Matt's announcement indicated he was not leaving the cruise industry but "retiring as a cruise director" so it seems he will be in another position.  

Edited August 27, 2020 by Purvis1231
typo

[westview1]

3 hours ago, MRVEGAS711 said:

Do these men and women qualify for unemployment or are they subject to Panama's rules? The cruise industry is going to lose a lot of talent regardless.

Interesting question, I have a friend who is a flight attendant and lives in Florida.  But since her home base was NJ, she was able to claim unemployment from NJ.  With Matt being a British citizen, I'm sure there are different rules and obstacles for him.  If he is paid out of the corporate office in Miami, he might qualify for Florida unemployment which isn't a large payout and the system is abysmal.  

[ProgRockCruiser]

3 hours ago, MRVEGAS711 said:

Do these men and women qualify for unemployment or are they subject to Panama's rules? The cruise industry is going to lose a lot of talent regardless.

John Heald make a side comment recently about "Carnival PLC", which would be a UK-type company name.  Perhaps he and folks like Matt M are paid from that corporate office, and being UK residents (nominally) would qualify for whatever unemployment benefits that are/were offered there.

[Radiioman46]

I don't have a clue who all the CD's I've sailed with over the past 25 or 30 years. Is there a way I can enter in the dates and ships to lookup who the CD was? Just curious now.....

[SmogMonster]

Anyone remember "Wee Jimmy"?  he was from Scott land and had a very heavy scottish brogue accent.  Best CD we ever had.

[stobe1]

The only truly memorable CD that sticks out in my mind (and not in a good way) is Cookie.

 

It was like nails on a chalk board with every PA he began with "This is your cousin C-C-C-Cookie".

[pc_load_letter]

Perhaps I am the only one but I've frankly never cared, nor had a good or bad cruise based on who the CD is.

 

The only two I really remember were on a cruise in the Med where the CD ran an animal sanctuary in Italy. We loved the talk he gave on board and enjoyed his book that raised funds for his rescue.

 

The second was Kyndall Fire when she subbed in on the Splendor. She was very funny and not bad on the eyes. 

[MistyRo76]

59 minutes ago, SmogMonster said:

Anyone remember "Wee Jimmy"?  he was from Scott land and had a very heavy scottish brogue accent.  Best CD we ever had.

We had Wee jimmy on one cruise. We really liked him. I thought he was a hoot! 

[pirate4me2]

1 hour ago, SmogMonster said:

Anyone remember "Wee Jimmy"?  he was from Scott land and had a very heavy scottish brogue accent.  Best CD we ever had.

 

Yes! We loved him! He was hilarious. 

[sarmat1]

36 minutes ago, pc_load_letter said:

Perhaps I am the only one but I've frankly never cared, nor had a good or bad cruise based on who the CD is.

 

The only two I really remember were on a cruise in the Med where the CD ran an animal sanctuary in Italy. We loved the talk he gave on board and enjoyed his book that raised funds for his rescue.

 

The second was Kyndall Fire when she subbed in on the Splendor. She was very funny and not bad on the eyes. 

 

We had Kyndall on the Vista last summer.  She was great.  Pretty much all of our CD's have been great.  Our favorite, though, was definitely MarQ.

[xDisconnections]

15 minutes ago, sarmat1 said:

 

We had Kyndall on the Vista last summer.  She was great.  Pretty much all of our CD's have been great.  Our favorite, though, was definitely MarQ.

I thought MarQ did a very good job and is probably one of my favorite cruise directors on Carnival.

[LHARTWICK]

Oh, I'm just heartbroken.  Matt was simply......AMAZING!  He was the perfect CD - so darn fun and personable.  Others are wonderful, too, but there will never be another Matt.  I wish him nothing but the best! 😞

[TNcruising02]

1 hour ago, sarmat1 said:

 

We had Kyndall on the Vista last summer.  She was great.  Pretty much all of our CD's have been great.  Our favorite, though, was definitely MarQ.

We had MarQ on one of our cruises.  He's definitely one of the best we have ever had.

[ladylyn915]

I have been on many cruises over the past 27 years.  I am not the one playing trivia; I am not on Lido dancing the night away.  I don't do karaoke and I for sure don't play the Newlywed Game ( I would like to STAY married-lol).  I would say I am very low key on my cruises.

 

But there was just something about Matt Mitcham - On out Vista cruise in 2017,  He was everywhere - He had a smile - and always looked sincerely happy to see passengers- young and old, guys and gals etc.  He would stop and take a selfie - always!

 

I have no idea who the cruise directors were one  any other cruises I have taken - on various cruise lines, but  Matt Mitcham is one-of-a-kind!  I wish him nothing but the Best!

 

Lyn

[beerman2]

18 hours ago, SmogMonster said:

Anyone remember "Wee Jimmy"?  he was from Scott land and had a very heavy scottish brogue accent.  Best CD we ever had.

And his kilts!

[beerman2]

Had Matt on the Vista for our 40th Anniversary cruise. If I remember his girlfriend/fiancé was one of the lead dancers.

[Doggielover68]

I wish him the best. I expect we will see more retirements as time goes on. Our favorite CD from RCCL is now working as a bagger at a grocery store to make ends meet. Times are tough! 

[westview1]

On 8/27/2020 at 12:37 PM, Radiioman46 said:

I don't have a clue who all the CD's I've sailed with over the past 25 or 30 years. Is there a way I can enter in the dates and ships to lookup who the CD was? Just curious now.....

You're not the only one.  I usually don't pay attention to the CD but Matt was a step above the others.  The fact that he showed up at the Alchemy Bar one night and bought everyone there a drink probably helps my opinion of him.  😃

Edited August 31, 2020 by nofocruiser
I can't spell. Does anyone read these?

[St.Pete]

On 8/26/2020 at 9:10 AM, jimbo5544 said:

They just lost the best CD there is.   He announced on FB

I guess he sees the writing on the bulkhead.

[St.Pete]

On 8/27/2020 at 1:58 PM, SmogMonster said:

Anyone remember "Wee Jimmy"?  he was from Scott land and had a very heavy scottish brogue accent.  Best CD we ever had.

Both my favorite CD's have passed on.   Corey Schmidt and Dave Armour.  John Heald did most of his shtick copying Dave, including his bedtime story.