Favorite HAL Presenters & Cruise Directors

[T8NCruise]

13 minutes ago, Lido deck main said:

Kainoa did Alaska as well, at least in summer 2015 that I know of. 

Yes he did, we had him twice on Alaska from Vancouver.  I think end of season cruises that then repositioned to Australia.

Edited April 21, 2021 by T8NCruise
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[St Pete Cruiser]

4 hours ago, Storylady said:

No one has mentioned Brett who was the Port Lecturer on the Prinsendam. He and KK were definitely the best Port Lecturers we have had. They were almost as good as Frank Buckingham who was a legend. It was sad that Frank didn’t keep up with technology as I believe that was one of the reasons HAL didn’t renew his contract. Brett’s area of expertise was Europe and he knew it well. He often mentioned little known museums which he obviously had investigated. We actually ran into him while visiting a museum in Copenhagen due to his suggestion. He was shy. But knew his material so well that he didn’t read off this monitor. He was famous for his funny tender photos that he would insert in his talk. KK was the other port lecturer that I like that was as good as Brett. But Kainoa was the best when he was talking about Polynesia.

Brett was on the Nieuw Statendam's transatlantic, my last cruise, Nov 2019.  Yes, he was excellent.  It was his last contract and he was very down as he told us the job classification was being eliminated.

I begged him him to do one last talk, which he did, and touched on several of his favorite places.  Let us hope that when cruising resumes, Brett and/or some of the others mentioned here, return.  The port 

lecturer is something Holland America has done well in the past and that sets it above the other lines

of similar quality.  KK, a very pretty and well spoken lady, is another great presenter. 

[bcummin]

KK took over the Cruise Director responsibilities on our Singapore to Male to Singapore EXC cruise in 2019.  She was spectacular.  She also breathed life back into the changing EXC program.  Brilliant.

Brett also gave port lectures, so it was a great cruise.

Barbara

 

[bcummin]

I have such fond memories of Kathy Ross.

She gave history lectures on the 2012 Grand Mediterranean Voyage.  A joy to listen to.  And she was a lovely lady with whom to travel.

I hope that she is doing well.

Barbara

[00649]

My favorite guest lecturer was a prof from ontario , Jim Macparland   He had a crowd around him at all times , packed house for his lectures. Every night there would a crowd on the top deck with him as he talked about the universe above.

[ger_77]

13 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Who is KK to whom you refer?  Is that the recently passed KK that was a major contributor to HAL's Message Board on CC?  

The KK who recently passed away was Krazy Kruisers, a long time contributor to these boards.  KK the Cruise Director is a pretty blonde woman who is like the Energizer Bunny; she's here, she's there, she's everywhere - and does so in 4" heels all day long.  KK was the CD on our SE Asia cruise on the Maasdam in 2019 and we saw her in action, totally in awe every time we ran into her; she remembered names, and always had a smile for you.  I'm sorry to say I don't even know her last name! (hangs head in shame).

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

Edited April 21, 2021 by ger_77

[Dave from Ont]

We also enjoyed Kainoa on our 2017 HAL South Pacific cruise. His port lectures and port tips were very informative. You had to get to the theatre early or you would not get a seat.

He left us I think in Bora Bora. We saw him that day sitting at the tender dock area.

We too thought he was an amazing ambassador. Not to be forgotten were the Hawaiian ladies and the Tahitian lady who were up in the crows nest most every afternoon teaching ukulele, dancing and drumming.

We enjoyed that cruise so much that we will be doing an expanded version of it in October 2022. Hopefully we will have some great people on board for this cruise.

 

 

Edited April 21, 2021 by Dave from Ont

[whogo]

Patti Honacki gets an honorable mention from me.

 

All cruise directors lose points for their commercial announcements.

[Sir PMP]

Linda Minniken from Newcastle, on Prinsendam, Veendam..

[Storylady]

21 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Who is KK to whom you refer?  Is that the recently passed KK that was a major contributor to HAL's Message Board on CC?  

No, she was a young blond Port lecturer that we had on the Prinsendam on our Around Africa Cruise in 2014. Before she left HAL I believe she took the Cruise Director/ Port Lecturer on the Maasdam. Her name was K.K. Robins. 

Edited April 21, 2021 by Storylady

[Storylady]

19 hours ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

Brett was on the Nieuw Statendam's transatlantic, my last cruise, Nov 2019.  Yes, he was excellent.  It was his last contract and he was very down as he told us the job classification was being eliminated.

I begged him him to do one last talk, which he did, and touched on several of his favorite places.  Let us hope that when cruising resumes, Brett and/or some of the others mentioned here, return.  The port 

lecturer is something Holland America has done well in the past and that sets it above the other lines

of similar quality.  KK, a very pretty and well spoken lady, is another great presenter. 

I don’t believe wither Brett or K.K. Will come back. Brett wasn’t happy with HAL decision to change the position of Port Lecturer to Cruise Director/Port Lecturer. Some Port Lecturers made the transition. K. K. was one, but even she eventually quit. I believe to start her own tour agency in the Mediterranean which was her love. The World Cruise has a designated  Port Lecturer and on the World Cruise in 2020, it was Glenn Michael.

Edited April 21, 2021 by Storylady

[Storylady]

8 hours ago, ger_77 said:

The KK who recently passed away was Krazy Kruisers, a long time contributor to these boards.  KK the Cruise Director is a pretty blonde woman who is like the Energizer Bunny; she's here, she's there, she's everywhere - and does so in 4" heels all day long.  KK was the CD on our SE Asia cruise on the Maasdam in 2019 and we saw her in action, totally in awe every time we ran into her; she remembered names, and always had a smile for you.  I'm sorry to say I don't even know her last name! (hangs head in shame).

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

K.K’s name is Robbins. She was Port Lecturer on the Prinsendam when Brett was on vacation. I do know that she was on the Maasdam as CD/Port Lecturer. She was thin, blond and famous for her heels.

[mcmarya]

Since he hasn't been mentioned, we appreciated Kevin, EXC Guide on 2 Zaandam cruises.  He is from Buenos Aires so was particularly effective in talking about ports in South America.  He was especially helpful in offering information for those wishing to tour independently.  My husband shared guest speaker duties with Jim McParland on 2 cuises and I second appreciation of him.  In addition to giving lots of interesting and informative lectures, Jim shared his knowledge of astronomy up on the top deck on many occasions.  This was particularly interesting when in the southern hemisphere where we were able to observe a night sky very different from our usual northern one.   I wonder if there will be any guest speakers in the future.

 

KK, Hamish, and Bruce are also top notch as others have mentioned.  I am sorry to hear about the passing of Barbara, a fixture on Amsterdam World Cruises.

Edited April 22, 2021 by mcmarya

[rkacruiser]

Would it be appropriate to widen the topic on this thread as to the Hostesses on HAL cruises that are memorable?  They became extinct several years ago, but, their services to us guests deserve to be recognized.  I think.  

[Sue from Canada]

5 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

Would it be appropriate to widen the topic on this thread as to the Hostesses on HAL cruises that are memorable?  They became extinct several years ago, but, their services to us guests deserve to be recognized.  I think.  

Hostesses?  Never heard of them.  What did they do?

[Sir PMP]

8 hours ago, Sue from Canada said:

Hostesses?  Never heard of them.  What did they do?

Dance puppets..

[RuthC]

14 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

Would it be appropriate to widen the topic on this thread as to the Hostesses on HAL cruises that are memorable?  They became extinct several years ago, but, their services to us guests deserve to be recognized.  I think.  

I agree. I'll start by remembering Didi Thatcher. She was the hostess on the Rotterdam on the South Pacific cruise in 1995. I remember her being the most gracious hostess at the Grandmother's Tea one afternoon. It was held the same time as the Grandfather's Beer Blast. 
All I could do was wonder why the men got booze, and all the women got was tea! 

But it was a lovely time, with some nice presents in various categories. 

[KirkNC]

On 4/21/2021 at 5:59 PM, Storylady said:

I don’t believe wither Brett or K.K. Will come back. Brett wasn’t happy with HAL decision to change the position of Port Lecturer to Cruise Director/Port Lecturer. Some Port Lecturers made the transition. K. K. was one, but even she eventually quit. I believe to start her own tour agency in the Mediterranean which was her love. The World Cruise has a designated  Port Lecturer and on the World Cruise in 2020, it was Glenn Michael.

Brett was excellent.  We spent 100 days on the Prinsendam in 2018 with Brett.  We hated to see him leave.

 

I have a different take on Bruce.  I find him efficient but his refusal to enforce his own trivia rules (he allowed a team of 11 even though he would say every day that the limit was 6) was most irritating.

[rkacruiser]

3 hours ago, KirkNC said:

I have a different take on Bruce.  I find him efficient but his refusal to enforce his own trivia rules (he allowed a team of 11 even though he would say every day that the limit was 6) was most irritating.

 

Efficient, he was.  Ought to have been; he had been a CD for a sufficient number of years to learn how the job was to be done.  2008 World Cruise, he did not run trivia, but allowed a new cruise staff member to the job who did it and who did a very poor job.  (The "inmates" were running the "asylum", if you understand what I mean.)

 

A major gripe I had with him was when he requested guests who had expertise in a specific area to present a short program during one day at sea for those guests who would be interested in attending.  A gentleman at my table volunteered to do so.  He asked a couple of us tablemates to assist him, which we did.  Day of presentation:  the event was held in the Piano Bar.  The room was packed and overflowing into the corridor,  No Bruce appeared.  No PA was supplied.  The only thing was a flip chart and a marker.  Totally inadequate; people couldn't see the flip chart; couldn't hear the presenter.  My tablemate took it in stride, but if I had been him, I would have been insulted.  On the end of the cruise survey as well as a letter to Seattle when I returned home, I let my feelings be known about CD Bruce.  

[KirkNC]

5 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Efficient, he was.  Ought to have been; he had been a CD for a sufficient number of years to learn how the job was to be done.  2008 World Cruise, he did not run trivia, but allowed a new cruise staff member to the job who did it and who did a very poor job.  (The "inmates" were running the "asylum", if you understand what I mean.)

 

A major gripe I had with him was when he requested guests who had expertise in a specific area to present a short program during one day at sea for those guests who would be interested in attending.  A gentleman at my table volunteered to do so.  He asked a couple of us tablemates to assist him, which we did.  Day of presentation:  the event was held in the Piano Bar.  The room was packed and overflowing into the corridor,  No Bruce appeared.  No PA was supplied.  The only thing was a flip chart and a marker.  Totally inadequate; people couldn't see the flip chart; couldn't hear the presenter.  My tablemate took it in stride, but if I had been him, I would have been insulted.  On the end of the cruise survey as well as a letter to Seattle when I returned home, I let my feelings be known about CD Bruce.  

Unfortunately it probably did not phase him.  I heard repeatedly how many world cruises he had been CD on as well as his other vast experiences.  He loves to talk about himself.

[rkacruiser]

20 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

Unfortunately it probably did not phase him.  I heard repeatedly how many world cruises he had been CD on as well as his other vast experiences.  He loves to talk about himself.

 

Yes, I remember hearing that as well.  That did not further endear him to me, either.  

[Storylady]

4 hours ago, KirkNC said:

Brett was excellent.  We spent 100 days on the Prinsendam in 2018 with Brett.  We hated to see him leave.

 

I have a different take on Bruce.  I find him efficient but his refusal to enforce his own trivia rules (he allowed a team of 11 even though he would say every day that the limit was 6) was most irritating.

Can’t remember when we first had Brett. But it was usually most summers in Northern Europe. He didn’t do the last Grand Voyage  Around SA on the Prinsendam, but he was onboard in May and June for the last cruises of the Prinsendam  before she was turned over to Phoenix Reisen. He was much better than many of the speakers we had heard over the years. Thought he should go into the speaker route. He may have done another stint on another HAL ship before leaving. He eventually returned to the US and started an air BB. As it turned out, it probably was for the best as 6 months later there was no cruising.

Edited April 24, 2021 by Storylady

[Storylady]

21 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

Would it be appropriate to widen the topic on this thread as to the Hostesses on HAL cruises that are memorable?  They became extinct several years ago, but, their services to us guests deserve to be recognized.  I think.  

Our favorite Hostess was Beth on the Prinsendam. She was on two of our GV and was the host of the Captain who didn’t have a companion to host all the dinners he had to attend. She also hostesses many events. But sadly the position disappeared when they started cutting personnel.

[rkacruiser]

18 hours ago, Sue from Canada said:

Hostesses?  Never heard of them.  What did they do?

 

These were ladies who introduced guests, by name, to the Captain in a reception line on the first formal night.  Any type of formal function, the ladies were present and were mingling with the guests.  Unsure how they "fit" into the organizational chart for a ship, but they were a classy crew member to have aboard.

 

Not on HAL, but, on American Hawaii Cruises, the Independence's Hostess also was a performer at times.  And, she was a darn good one!  When the Independence sailed from Honolulu back to California, as we pulled away from the Aloha Tower, she joined with the CD (whose voice was magnificent) in a rendition of the Hawaiian Wedding Song that brought tears to my eyes.  

 

I hope my memory's hard drive will come up with some names soon!