Cruise Directors on “big” vs “small” ships

[DerekLF]

Hi all,

Does Carnival have different roles for cruise directors on big ships vs small ships or are the extra activities some cruise directors do just their personality. 
 

I’ve been on 4 carnival cruises and just booked a 5th. On the smaller ships (Elation, Paradise) the cruise director was rarely seen, and only made announcements for sales opportunities or safety announcements.  I couldn’t even tell you their names except for Pauly. 
 

My one time on a bigger ship (Sunshine) CD Christian De La Rosa was everywhere, hosting atrium dance parties (dancing on the bar himself) after the evening shows, extra pool events/dances and even had things like glow sticks or party favors being tossed out during those events to get everyone involved.

It added a lot of extra entertainment that was missing from the smaller ships.

 

Do you notice the bigger ships having more things like that or is it just Christian’s personality to do that kind of extras?

Booked on the Freedom for mid January and there isn’t a CD assigned yet, but hoping for someone more like Christian. 
I was tempted to book Liberty instead of Freedom since that is where he is heading, but wanted a longer itinerary.  

Edited September 2, 2022 by DerekLF

[Joe817]

Hi Derek, welcome to the Carnival CC forum!  I don't know if this link will help you, but here it is. It list all of the CD's Carnival Cruise Line has scheduled.

 

https://airtable.com/shrxzucqLGHbpDmm8/tblZJCAW6us7UhDmZ

 

I would think that the more experienced cruise directors are are on the bigger ships, while the lesser ones are assigned to the smaller ones. Just my opinion

 

 

[LatinaInTexas]

21 minutes ago, DerekLF said:

Hi all,

Does Carnival have different roles for cruise directors on big ships vs small ships or are the extra activities some cruise directors do just their personality. 
 

I’ve been on 4 carnival cruises and just booked a 5th. On the smaller ships (Elation, Paradise) the cruise director was rarely seen, and only made announcements for sales opportunities or safety announcements.  I couldn’t even tell you their names except for Pauly. 
 

My one time on a bigger ship (Sunshine) CD Christian De La Rosa was everywhere, hosting atrium dance parties (dancing on the bar himself) after the evening shows, extra pool events/dances and even had things like glow sticks or party favors being tossed out during those events to get everyone involved.

It added a lot of extra entertainment that was missing from the smaller ships.

 

Do you notice the bigger ships having more things like that or is it just Christian’s personality to do that kind of extras?

Booked on the Freedom for mid January and there isn’t a CD assigned yet, but hoping for someone more like Christian. 
I was tempted to book Liberty instead of Freedom since that is where he is heading, but wanted a longer itinerary.  

I haven't been on a small ship but all the cruise directors I have had including Christian have been active, all over the place, so much energy and fun. On RC and MSC I basically only saw the cruise director announcing the production shows each night.

The vibe the cruise directors on Carnival provide was what made me love cruising with Carnival.

[DerekLF]

13 minutes ago, LatinaInTexas said:

I haven't been on a small ship but all the cruise directors I have had including Christian have been active, all over the place, so much energy and fun. On RC and MSC I basically only saw the cruise director announcing the production shows each night.

The vibe the cruise directors on Carnival provide was what made me love cruising with Carnival.

Thanks, that gives me hope that Freedom will have an entertaining CD. So far I’ve had 3 that sound like your RC/MSC experience and just Christian that was more involved. But again, those 3 were on smaller, older ships. 

Edited September 2, 2022 by DerekLF

[Elaine5715]

Kinda..the more popular (surveys count) and higher revenue producing CDs get promoted to the newest ships.   

[gazingm42]

I don't know if it is the ship itself or the CD and their own experience.  As we know some CD are OK and some our great.

 

[Guest BasicSailor]

I think if the CD usually is trained on smaller ships, then moving forward to larger ships.

If the energy isn't enough, they get pounced back down to the smaller ships. 

[Honolulu Blue]

18 hours ago, DerekLF said:

Does Carnival have different roles for cruise directors on big ships vs small ships or are the extra activities some cruise directors do just their personality. 

I think the individual CDs have some discretion to do programming that they like.  The ship size has a limited role, other than there being more and bigger facilities on the larger ships.

13 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

the more popular (surveys count) and higher revenue producing CDs get promoted to the newest ships.   

I don't doubt what you're saying, but I thought a bit about how to measure revenue produced by each CD.  Each one seems to be loaded with noise.  CDs don't have anything to do with fares paid, and their influence on crew gratuities seems extremely limited.  They can encourage revenue-producing activities (like specialty dining, the Seuss breakfast, and the casino), but I think it's all but impossible to tease out which CDs are better at teasing out revenue among all the other factors involved.  The most direct link I can see is Groove for St. Jude donations, and it strikes me as being somewhat wrong that CDs could be evaluated on how much they get from us who are supposed to be voluntarily contributing.

[Elaine5715]

12 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

I think the individual CDs have some discretion to do programming that they like.  The ship size has a limited role, other than there being more and bigger facilities on the larger ships.

I don't doubt what you're saying, but I thought a bit about how to measure revenue produced by each CD.  Each one seems to be loaded with noise.  CDs don't have anything to do with fares paid, and their influence on crew gratuities seems extremely limited.  They can encourage revenue-producing activities (like specialty dining, the Seuss breakfast, and the casino), but I think it's all but impossible to tease out which CDs are better at teasing out revenue among all the other factors involved.  The most direct link I can see is Groove for St. Jude donations, and it strikes me as being somewhat wrong that CDs could be evaluated on how much they get from us who are supposed to be voluntarily contributing.

Carnival knows what onboard sales are per ship, per CD especially shore excursions, bingo sales, alcohol sales  at deck/atrium/shows where the top CDs pack them in.  If you have sailed with Matt Mitchum  or Steven Schwartz, you know what difference they make for their events.

[mcgore83]

Love Matt! I am glad he found new opportunities, but will miss him!!!

[Duanerice1]

I'm sure the better jobs are on the bigger ships so you really only see the cream of the crop.  On the smaller ships they are probably new in their career or basically just aren't that good or they'd be promoted.  Just my thoughts.

 

But honestly, other than opening the shows, I really don''t see them or care who's the CD.  But, with that said, they probably do make a difference behind the scenes.  Like the Captain, they set the tone of the cruise.  A good Captain or CD probably also have a good crew.   That's where the difference is to me. 

[Elaine5715]

27 minutes ago, Duanerice1 said:

I'm sure the better jobs are on the bigger ships so you really only see the cream of the crop.  On the smaller ships they are probably new in their career or basically just aren't that good or they'd be promoted.  Just my thoughts.

 

But honestly, other than opening the shows, I really don''t see them or care who's the CD.  But, with that said, they probably do make a difference behind the scenes.  Like the Captain, they set the tone of the cruise.  A good Captain or CD probably also have a good crew.   That's where the difference is to me. 

When you sail with the great CDs, you notice.  The CDs also run debark and you definitely see the difference.  

[brilliantseas]

Would love to know where Leigh Xuereb is these days. He was supposed to be returning to Carnival Legend in July following a vacation, but he went missing from the Carnival schedule and I can only assume he moved on to a new role. 

 

I've had many great cruise directors in 18 cruises with Carnival. Some were very high energy and were seemingly everywhere. Butch Begovitch, Jaime Dee, and Mike Pack come to mind. At the opposite end of the spectrum are cruise directors like "Skippy" and Leigh Xuereb, who were strong, professional cruise directors who had a presence, but more relaxed than their younger counterparts. 

 

...and then there is TJ Partida, who is currently on the Sunshine and will take over on Carnival Vista in early 2023. TJ is far and away the most abrasive cruise director I've encountered in 21 cruises across four lines. He earns credit for being high energy, but starting every introduction with "Say Hey TJ-ayyyyyyyyyyyy" and ending every PA announcement with the traditional "ciao for now," followed by a loud ""See yaaaaaaaa!" in his best Jersey Shore frat boy impersonation will quickly wear on your nerves. TJ would have made an excellent MTV host in the late 90s, but not everyone wants Jersey Shore from their cruise director. He actually did a wonderful job hosting shows and leading dance parties; he just needs to tone down the over the top intro and outro a bit. 

[May1cruiser]

I would also think survey results are a factor. Had a great CD on Paradise this August. Best emb/debark I can recall. Conversely, March on Pride was a disaster emb/debark with a fill in CD. 

 

Big names on big ships seems to be the norm. 

 

 

[sunonfire]

I read an article awhile back that stated that cruise directors are usually selected by their home port (where they call home). Frankie Portera is usually found on the Spirit Class ship- currently the Pride - out of Tampa. Frankie lives in the Tampa Bay Area. We like him for several reasons: he is not annoying, he is very approachable, he is not a phony person, you see him all over the ship. We missed Frankie in January the substitute CD was awful and super annoying. For our April cruise we had Felipe Serrina Do Couto. He was comparable to Frankie. Our  next cruise will be with Frankie.

[vicky3vicky]

I miss schwartz. I will epecially miss his "dirty dancing" leap. we were lucky enough to have him for a full 2 week journey cruise and he had this old lady dancing with moves hadn't thought about since the disco era. so, our next cd is marty andrew on the panorama. i've never heard of him. does anyone know much about him? 

[Elaine5715]

3 hours ago, vicky3vicky said:

I miss schwartz. I will epecially miss his "dirty dancing" leap. we were lucky enough to have him for a full 2 week journey cruise and he had this old lady dancing with moves hadn't thought about since the disco era. so, our next cd is marty andrew on the panorama. i've never heard of him. does anyone know much about him? 

 Steven's atrium parties were the best especially when he had a bar to dance on. 

[Elaine5715]

10 hours ago, sunonfire said:

I read an article awhile back that stated that cruise directors are usually selected by their home port (where they call home). Frankie Portera is usually found on the Spirit Class ship- currently the Pride - out of Tampa. Frankie lives in the Tampa Bay Area. We like him for several reasons: he is not annoying, he is very approachable, he is not a phony person, you see him all over the ship. We missed Frankie in January the substitute CD was awful and super annoying. For our April cruise we had Felipe Serrina Do Couto. He was comparable to Frankie. Our  next cruise will be with Frankie.

Cruise Directors may try to get assigned to ships that port near family but Carnival does not consider "home ports" at all as they promote CDs or when they move ships around.  Only one CD (publicly announced during the Q&A session) has his family in Miami and he sees them just for a couple hours a week.  

[Razor_Poke]

Most of the time I don’t notice a “bad” one because bad usually means disengaged but I don’t think a CD makes or breaks the cruise. I want good comedians, service and food. 
 

However, on our recent Splendor cruise to Alaska, Andy was noticeably good. Maybe because it was the first cruise of the season and it was the last ship to return to service. But he reminded me of the old school  CD’s. — he seemed to be everywhere.  He always had time to chat and he seemed to remember faces. I don’t know if or when he slept😂

[sunonfire]

For any one interested, I found the article. The info is located about 80% down on the article. Here is the link.

 

https://www.cruisehive.com/how-much-does-a-cruise-director-make/65974

[Elaine5715]

3 minutes ago, sunonfire said:

For any one interested, I found the article. The info is located about 80% down on the article. Here is the link.

 

https://www.cruisehive.com/how-much-does-a-cruise-director-make/65974

Information on what?  The article is clickbait.  

[Elaine5715]

10 hours ago, Razor_Poke said:

Most of the time I don’t notice a “bad” one because bad usually means disengaged but I don’t think a CD makes or breaks the cruise. I want good comedians, service and food. 
 

However, on our recent Splendor cruise to Alaska, Andy was noticeably good. Maybe because it was the first cruise of the season and it was the last ship to return to service. But he reminded me of the old school  CD’s. — he seemed to be everywhere.  He always had time to chat and he seemed to remember faces. I don’t know if or when he slept😂

I thought he was delightful especially compared to the Emily, the "Naturalist" who was awful.  She was just reading out of Wikipedia 

[sunonfire]

35 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

Information on what?  The article is clickbait.  

I previously posted that I had read an article about cruise directors sailing from their home port. I was able to locate the article so I posted it.

[Elaine5715]

31 minutes ago, sunonfire said:

I previously posted that I had read an article about cruise directors sailing from their home port. I was able to locate the article so I posted it.

Thanks for the effort but CDS don't have "home ports", most aren't US to start and even fewer have a home base

[UPNYGuy]

On 9/5/2022 at 10:06 AM, May1cruiser said:

I would also think survey results are a factor. Had a great CD on Paradise this August. Best emb/debark I can recall. Conversely, March on Pride was a disaster emb/debark with a fill in CD. 

 

Big names on big ships seems to be the norm. 

 

 

 

If it was Todd, I didnt much care for him. I found his introduction (T-O-double D on the M-I-C) every time to get irritating and grating.