Cruise Directors Review

[wolfcathorse]

5 hours ago, Jasukkie said:

I could not tell you if there even was a CD on my post-restart cruises. Completely invisible. I did find the Canadian captain on Navigator to be endearing, can't remember his name now.

Capt James Nazar. We just had him too, very approachable

[CTCruiser76]

10 hours ago, GEORGIEGIRL said:

Mark "Bing Bong" Walker (currently on Mariner) is awesome.  

Does anyone know how long Mark will be on the Mariner ?

[BND]

2 hours ago, Old Fart Cruisers said:

It's not so much seeing or not seeing them, it's hearing some of the annoying announcements.  Bingo!. . Bingo!. . BINGO!  . . . Don't miss the ART AUCTION!. . .Have we got a deal for you...

Corporate dictates those announcements.  If you ever notice, they all say the same things.  

[Old Fart Cruisers]

14 minutes ago, BND said:

Corporate dictates those announcements.  If you ever notice, they all say the same things.  

 

Some of the announcements are just not as loud and obnoxious as others, especially early in the morning when I am trying to sleep off the previous night's fun.🤪

Edited March 17, 2022 by Old Fart Cruisers

[BND]

21 minutes ago, Old Fart Cruisers said:

 

Some of the announcements are just not as loud and obnoxious as others, especially early in the morning when I am trying to sleep off the previous night's fun.🤪

We're always up by 730, so not an issue.  Even if we've been out late.

Edited March 17, 2022 by BND

[Ocean Boy]

3 minutes ago, BND said:

We're always up by 730, so not an issue.  Even if we've been out late.

I can never figure out how to get announcements in the cabin even when I would like them.

[BND]

12 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

I can never figure out how to get announcements in the cabin even when I would like them.

You can't.  The only announcements that come in the cabin now are emergency ones.  They turned off the ability to get all the announcements in cabins years ago.  Even though there's a control knob in cabins (at least on older ships), they don't work anymore.  People complain they can hear the announcements from the hallway.  While I can hear that something is being said, I have to open the door to actually understand it.  They rarely make announcements before 830 or 9 unless the ship is in a port and has been cleared.

[fonekween]

1 hour ago, CTCruiser76 said:

Does anyone know how long Mark will be on the Mariner ?

Yes - Marc said he leaves for vacay on June 18th, no return date scheduled as of yet.

[Ocean Boy]

10 minutes ago, BND said:

You can't.  The only announcements that come in the cabin now are emergency ones.  They turned off the ability to get all the announcements in cabins years ago.  Even though there's a control knob in cabins (at least on older ships), they don't work anymore.  People complain they can hear the announcements from the hallway.  While I can hear that something is being said, I have to open the door to actually understand it.  They rarely make announcements before 830 or 9 unless the ship is in a port and has been cleared.

I have to do the door thing too in order to understand what is being said. I can't figure their reasoning for not giving us control over it.

[Jingerwoppy]

When we were on LOTS in January we only saw the assistant. He did everything. Never saw the CD herself.

[coaster]

4 hours ago, BND said:

Corporate dictates those announcements.  If you ever notice, they all say the same things.  

I agree. I cringe before they always mention Bingo. You know it is coming!

[chmusar]

Never really been bothered about Cruise Directors but our last cruise on Grandeur in January the CD just reminded me of Jeffrey the Holiday Park Manager from Hi De Hi ( one for the UK posters ) and it made me chuckle every time he made an announcement on the tannoy ( Bing Bong)  😁

[A&L_Ont]

10 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I have to do the door thing too in order to understand what is being said. I can't figure their reasoning for not giving us control over it.

Princess used to have an internal volume control for non emergency messages.  You could have it on or off. It’s been years since we sailed with them so we have no idea if they put them in their new ships or not. 

[shof515]

10 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I have to do the door thing too in order to understand what is being said. I can't figure their reasoning for not giving us control over it.

on the all ships ive been on, there is always a tv channel that has the announcement audio

[gumshoe958]

40 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

Princess used to have an internal volume control for non emergency messages.  You could have it on or off. It’s been years since we sailed with them so we have no idea if they put them in their new ships or not. 

And on Cunard they’re available on a TV channel, which seems a sensible idea.

[time4u2go]

6 minutes ago, shof515 said:

on the all ships ive been on, there is always a tv channel that has the announcement audio

By the time you turn on the TV and get to that channel, the announcement is over.

[dcgrumpy]

10 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I have to do the door thing too in order to understand what is being said. I can't figure their reasoning for not giving us control over it.

I agree. I don't understand why they got rid of the volume knob. 

[SRF]

18 hours ago, mil76 said:

Sat next to a former cruise director at Chops last week on Navigator.  Didn't get his name but he was an English guy from Birmingham, who now lives in Vegas.  He couldn't believe they are still doing the same activities he was doing 10 years ago.

 

Not only the same ones, but with exactly the same questions/quests/details.

 

We have had this discussion in other threads.  But for the Quest, why not have a list of 100 quests, and have the computer randomly choose for each cruise.  This would avoid people having everything they need.  They could be grouped into similar ones and the pick one for column A, one from Column B.

 

Same with trivia.  Same topics, but 100 - 500 possible questions, and random assortment.

[SRF]

There was one CD that irritated me the most.

 

During the Belly Flop contest he bombarded the crowd that no females had entered.  Over and over.

 

Finally a young lady stepped up.  A fairly small and thin one.  But she gave it her all.

 

And she came second.

 

And did not get ANY trinket or even to ask the crowd for a round of applause for her effort.  He basically ignored her. 

[praiser]

Richard Spacey - my all time favorite. High energy, funny, all around amazing. That cruise also played the BEST music. Don't know if the CD determines that!

 

Ken Rush - he does an excellent job, although I don't love him. But he brings energy.

[smeck]

On 3/16/2022 at 8:39 PM, BND said:

You can't.  The only announcements that come in the cabin now are emergency ones.  They turned off the ability to get all the announcements in cabins years ago.  Even though there's a control knob in cabins (at least on older ships), they don't work anymore.  People complain they can hear the announcements from the hallway.  While I can hear that something is being said, I have to open the door to actually understand it.  They rarely make announcements before 830 or 9 unless the ship is in a port and has been cleared.

I just got off the independence and we heard the Captains noon briefing in our cabin. I loved not going out into the hallway proping the door open and listening. 

[gumshoe958]

On 3/15/2022 at 8:58 AM, Ocean Boy said:

Mike Szwajkowski is awesome. He is the best CD I have encountered. Other than him I have found most CDs either full of themselves, annoying, or both.

Yes, Mike is amazing. He just revealed he’s moving to Voyager for the summer before returning to Wonder in September.

 

He also explained that on a standard 7 day cruise he spends about 90% of his time backstage doing management & admin work. On Wonder, 220 people report to him. There’s even a second CD on Wonder right now, Bobby Brown, working entirely behind the scenes.

[OCSC Mike]

On 3/16/2022 at 8:22 AM, GEORGIEGIRL said:

Mark "Bing Bong" Walker (currently on Mariner) is awesome.  

Agreed. Had him on Harmony 3 years ago and my wife had a brief chat with him one night after realizing he lives so close to us that his daughters attend the school my wife teaches at (and were onboard that week).

[GEORGIEGIRL]

Looking forward to seeing him again in 3 weeks when we sail on the "Mariner" that goes to Bermuda.

[sjb317]

On 3/16/2022 at 4:17 PM, time4u2go said:

Sounds like to some people, the ideal cruise director is one they never see, while to others, it's the one they see all the time. 

That would be how I feel, I only remember the annoying ones.  If I don’t remember much about a CD, he or she was not as annoying!😂

 

Sherri🙂