Matt O has left Princess Cruises

[2Boys1Dog]

The wonderful Matt O, a fantastic cruise director,  has made the decision to disembark the Regal Princess and has left the company. 

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

Oh my, he was popular with many.

[katisdale]

He is my favorite cruise director.

 

[tothemall&beyond]

Yes, he posted a very long and heart-wrenching explanation of his decision on FB. He was the best, and will be sorely missed. This is Princess'  loss. And our loss. Best wishes to Matt O.

 

[azbirdmom]

I thought he was fantastic!  Will try to find the FB post to wish him well.

[nicklesmama]

I hate to hear that. I’ve been following him on IG to stay current on Regal.  I knew he hadn’t posted in several days, will have to check FB.

[Steelers36]

I read his FB missive and I don't profess to know the guy.  Probably had him as an assistant on some past cruise.  Reads like someone higher up is expecting some cookie-cutter behavior from all CD's and he wasn't into that.  If there is some truth to that - and if I interpreted correctly - this seems bad.  Who wants to go on various ships and be fed the same pablum or have cookie-cutter CD's?  Their individual personality needs to continue to shine and I have always appreciated the different members of the CD teams we have encountered. 

 

I think it must be going to be a challenge for Princess to bring back a lot of staff they might want as I imagine many sought out new work since becoming unemployed.  I wonder who his ED was.

[Thrak]

Sad. We never sailed with him as CD but did when he was Assistant CD. At that time we were quite impressed with his enthusiasm. I actually told him that he was going to be a great CD some day. I was pleased when it turned out I was right. I'd look for his post but, as I don't have a FB account, it would do me no good. I have to wonder what caused him to leave as I know he had a pretty huge fan club of folks who had sailed with him.

[Jeter02]

4 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I read his FB missive and I don't profess to know the guy.  Probably had him as an assistant on some past cruise.  Reads like someone higher up is expecting some cookie-cutter behavior from all CD's and he wasn't into that.  If there is some truth to that - and if I interpreted correctly - this seems bad.  Who wants to go on various ships and be fed the same pablum or have cookie-cutter CD's?  Their individual personality needs to continue to shine and I have always appreciated the different members of the CD teams we have encountered. 

 

I think it must be going to be a challenge for Princess to bring back a lot of staff they might want as I imagine many sought out new work since becoming unemployed.  I wonder who his ED was.

ED is Ron Goodman

[azbirdmom]

4 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I read his FB missive and I don't profess to know the guy.  Probably had him as an assistant on some past cruise.  Reads like someone higher up is expecting some cookie-cutter behavior from all CD's and he wasn't into that.  If there is some truth to that - and if I interpreted correctly - this seems bad.  Who wants to go on various ships and be fed the same pablum or have cookie-cutter CD's?  Their individual personality needs to continue to shine and I have always appreciated the different members of the CD teams we have encountered. 

 

I think it must be going to be a challenge for Princess to bring back a lot of staff they might want as I imagine many sought out new work since becoming unemployed.  I wonder who his ED was.

 

I thought the same thing.  He was very unique and lots of fun as a CD.  His ED when we sailed with him on the Royal was Ron Goodman.  Not sure if that was the combo on the Regal too.

[Kay S]

Matt was wonderful.  I sailed with him twice, and he remembered me the second time after three years!  Very sad.

[ceilidh1]

Huge loss for Princess....

[caribill]

4 hours ago, azbirdmom said:

I thought he was fantastic!  Will try to find the FB post to wish him well.

https://www.facebook.com/matt.obrien.98/posts/10159360125207954

[andio2of5]

1 hour ago, ceilidh1 said:

Huge loss for Princess....

I agree....huge loss for Princess and makes me think not quite so highly of them....they had a diamond of an employee and it appears that they didn't value what they had.

[dides]

Oh no! Not been on a cruise with Matt before and had been following his upbeat stories on Insta - we're due to board the Regal in 9 days for her first cruise out of Southampton. Really sad for him and hope he will be ok,

[snoozecrooze]

Oh dear, this is devastating for Princess. Seems like the Matts of the cruise director world were so good to Carnival Corp and have subsequently become big losses (I'm referring to Matt Mitcham who abruptly resigned from Carnival).

 

If anyone could please screengrab his Facebook post for us to read, that would be great, as I do not have an account. Thank you and I really wish him well.

[Esprit]

Did he resign or was he fired I wonder?

 

I know of another Cruise Director who was fired in recent weeks. Held a private party with a lot of people in his cabin drinking alcohol and someone snitched. The Cruise Lines rightly have a "non nonsense" policy and it applies to all crew whatever their level.

[CruisinCouple2010]

We will definitely miss Matt O he was one of the best. 

[alfieisgod]

9 hours ago, Kay S said:

Matt was wonderful.  I sailed with him twice, and he remembered me the second time after three years!  Very sad.

 

I was on Matt's first cruise as CD after sailing with him a few months earlier as he was filling in for the last half of a UK .  My first time entering the Atrium he greeted me - by name - from 30 feet away. 

 

He was the most energetic and "present" CD I have had.  He participated in more activities with his team (or on his own), led Zomba classes, and was generally all over the ship all the time.  I can certainly see how a directive to "stick to the scrip" would not fit with his personality.

 

A great loss for Princess, and for passengers.

 

Edited July 22, 2021 by alfieisgod
space

[ceilidh1]

3 hours ago, snoozecrooze said:

Oh dear, this is devastating for Princess. Seems like the Matts of the cruise director world were so good to Carnival Corp and have subsequently become big losses (I'm referring to Matt Mitcham who abruptly resigned from Carnival).

 

If anyone could please screengrab his Facebook post for us to read, that would be great, as I do not have an account. Thank you and I really wish him well.

Matts' Post:

I want you all to know I have left Princess Cruises & disembarked the Regal.

I was cared for, listened to & looked after kindly whilst being respected for speaking up. I registered concerns, human error, unhealthy patterns & chose to leave on my own terms. This decision was nothing to do with workload, Covid, our department or the ship in general (despite the mess it was left in 17 months ago!) not one any particular “thing” - It was about being honest, not being the right CD for the job & ultimately being completely true to the journey of “Cruise Director Matt ‘O”

The role, or my personal approach has always been my pride, with care, choices & enjoyment that all truly proved the changes of Entertainment Director being introduced was a valid one. To journey through the department, grow with experience, give other Cruise Staff hope, the underdog, I knew & know exactly what our guests wanted & delivered every single cruise.

Unfortunately upon returning there isn’t much room for me to continue my CD approach, my uniqueness just wasn’t fitting properly.

I mentally couldn’t pretend or lie, fake or “just cope” with feeling sculpted & stripped down to a cookie cutter, conveyor belt mould of a Cruise Director, scripts were lengthy & heavily branded with no time to sit and take any of it in, late late nights trying to do it all justice, to the point of physical shakes & crumbling, boxing negative thoughts until I drank with friends & vented, layers of makeup to hide my grey face, plus boxing the energy & joys I know I have given my role, that had not been considered perhaps as much as my scores had. All these boxes were stacking high, my body covered in sores and blisters, losing a stone in weight over 4 weeks, not washing myself properly, I was disliking being “one of the first back” not because I was the CD, but because I wasn’t being utilized or giving enough as CD Matt ‘O does!

If I wanted the money & spotlight, I could have been that guy, I could have not cared and taken the glory of being back to work before many, leaned on a podium, recited a stack of cue cards, for some this is their idea of CD life, **deleted a lot here** ... But, settling for the above has never been me and that’s why I decided my health and mental state is more important. The stack of boxes I kept hiding eventually needed to fall.

My integrity to do the best I could, my skills, humour, witt, uniqueness and all parceled with kindness, were only ever supported by wanting to do the role description & our teams absolute justice. Those who have seen my contributions, my presence on an entire ship not just a stage & fellow teammates I’ve worked with, you will totally get all of this, more than those who think they know. You can’t comment if you’ve not seen my work… But, you still will…

This guy, me, wasn’t anyone or anything, I was a high street retail manager & supervisor who was invited to try for the opportunity of a lifetime, and I took it with both hands, walked a bit faster, stumbled lots, jogged some, bumps, bruises and then I eventually ran… For now I’ve crossed an amazing finish line, rich with realization & memories, I’ve been broken on so many levels, but I’m refusing the glue to fix it all and move on…

… I want to heal naturally, celebrate the foundations I set myself as there is no Doctor for all this, simply put, give me time…

*The greeting card attached was the final moment, I read these words & happily made the many stacked boxes fall around me*

 

 

 

563You, Andrew J Berghout and 561 others

356 Comments

6 Shares

Sad

 

 

 

Comment

 

 

Share

 

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

Celidh1

we sailed with you and Matt a few times and know you were a friend of his.  Any idea what his next move is?

[phoebe2m]

Matt O is the best cruise director we have ever had. He enjoyed his job and the passengers. I hope he goes on to bigger and better things. And I agree Princess has lost an amazing employee. He should be training cruise directors.

[dides]

Andi Sanders has now been appointed as Cruise Director - he was already on Regal as an ACD and had been a CD before the pause.

 

Edited July 22, 2021 by dides

[richsea]

Matt is hands down, the best CD we have sailed with in our 46 sailings. Princess has lost a rare diamond. Here’s hoping that he stays in the industry with another line. Knowing he would be on board would be a big factor in our decision to sail any line; he’s that good.

[TNTLAMB]

I remember Matt O. The job of CD has evolved a lot since we started cruising in the 90's. far less of a "host/entertainer" and Stage personality and much more a manager and requiring a strong staff leadership role and the quirky out front personality more fitting to the ADC's. Reading his post which is a bit disjointed I get the impression this was a situation/example of the Peter Principle at work and difficulty adapting to the administrative responsibilities more than anything. It is indeed a sad loss. Even sadder is he appears to have burned his bridges with the industry.

Edited July 22, 2021 by TNTLAMB