Captains announcements

[jeanlyon]

This is from a friend on an Arcadia World Cruise.   I don't think she is impressed!

 

"First announcement by the new Capt, and I had a vision of a short rotund chap with grey hair.Spot on! I have renamed him The Butlins redcoat.His morning announcements are more to do with daily activities and special offers...20% off handbags etc, than our position on the ocean.No mention of handwashing, sunscreen or sneezing"

[Interestedcruisefan]

We got a mix of messages from the captain and the crew 

 

Some were definitely including things theyve been told to say to promote elements of the cruise. Which I guess is the way the world now works

 

Interestingly at the end of the cruise the captain did a message about hoping everybody has enjoyed Arvia and will consider recommending to friends and re-booking in the future

 

He also said we will all get a survey and when we do 7s or 8s are only considered as average and 9s or 10s are considered good or excellent!!

 

 

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, jeanlyon said:

This is from a friend on an Arcadia World Cruise.   I don't think she is impressed!

 

"First announcement by the new Capt, and I had a vision of a short rotund chap with grey hair.Spot on! I have renamed him The Butlins redcoat.His morning announcements are more to do with daily activities and special offers...20% off handbags etc, than our position on the ocean.No mention of handwashing, sunscreen or sneezing"

Shouldn't the Entertainment Manager be making all those sort of announcements? Or is that not considered in their job remit now they are no longer Cruise Directors... 🙄

[terrierjohn]

18 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Shouldn't the Entertainment Manager be making all those sort of announcements? Or is that not considered in their job remit now they are no longer Cruise Directors... 🙄

The Captains have always included similar "advertising" in their announcements for as long as I can remember.

Although Wesley Dunlop did not seem to do much of it on our recent Iona cruise.

[Interestedcruisefan]

It made me question what exactly is the Captain of the ship responsible for?

 

What are his weekly targets so to speak?

 

Is he the guy who calls all the shots on board. Makes all the big decisions?

 

If not it certainly can't be the entertainment"s manager either?

 

Takes totally different skill sets to run a large resort which these ships have become now than to captain a ship or manage an entertainments team?

 

Surely you need experience overseeing a Center Parts resort type location rather than sailing a ship?

 

So who is the real boss on board ship - responsible for the cruise being a commercial success?

 

There must be someone. What's their job title and who exactly are they?

 

It's one hell of a job whoever and whatever it is called?

Edited March 7, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

There must be someone. What's their job title and who exactly are they?

It's the captain,  at the end of the day,  although obviously the various heads of department have a great deal of autonomy. 

No different to any other commercial enterprise. 

Edited March 7, 2023 by wowzz

[Britboys]

2 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

The Captains have always included similar "advertising" in their announcements for as long as I can remember.

Although Wesley Dunlop did not seem to do much of it on our recent Iona cruise.

Don't recall much of that at all on any of my cruises on Oriana or Aurora over the last 10 years...

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

It made me question what exactly is the Captain of the ship responsible for?

 

What are his weekly targets so to speak?

 

Is he the guy who calls all the shots on board. Makes all the big decisions?

 

If not it certainly can't be the entertainment"s manager either?

 

Takes totally different skill sets to run a large resort which these ships have become now than to captain a ship or manage an entertainments team?

 

Surely you need experience overseeing a Center Parts resort type location rather than sailing a ship?

 

So who is the real boss on board ship - responsible for the cruise being a commercial success?

 

There must be someone. What's their job title and who exactly are they?

 

It's one hell of a job whoever and whatever it is called?

The buck stops with the Captain but in purely commercial terms, the Hotel General Manager and Entertainment Manager are key staff. They of course are in turn supported by roles such as the Food & Beverage Manager and Hotel Ops Retail Manager. There's quite a management team on board these days on both the engineering and HR side of things.

[wowzz]

11 minutes ago, Britboys said:

The buck stops with the Captain but in purely commercial terms, the Hotel General Manager and Entertainment Manager are key staff. They of course are in turn supported by roles such as the Food & Beverage Manager and Hotel Ops Retail Manager. There's quite a management team on board these days on both the engineering and HR side of things.

Totally agree. From a passenger point of view,  the Hotel General Manager is far more important than the captain. 

If you have an issue onboard, the HGM is the one who has the ultimate power to resolve the problem.

[Interestedcruisefan]

1 minute ago, wowzz said:

Totally agree. From a passenger point of view,  the Hotel General Manager is far more important than the captain. 

If you have an issue onboard, the HGM is the one who has the ultimate power to resolve the problem.

That makes sense

 

They never announce themselves or make themselves known do they?

[terrierjohn]

2 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

That makes sense

 

They never announce themselves or make themselves known do they?

And there is no telephone directory now on Iona, and only the 7070 number for reception, which at busy times can take ages before anyone answers.

[Britboys]

2 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

That makes sense

 

They never announce themselves or make themselves known do they?

In the 'good old days', they were known as the Executive Purser. A good EP was often very visible but not always. The HGM's now (in my experience) seem to hide away in their offices and push as much as possible to the Deck Managers.

[Dinglebert]

8 hours ago, Britboys said:

In the 'good old days', they were known as the Executive Purser. A good EP was often very visible but not always. The HGM's now (in my experience) seem to hide away in their offices and push as much as possible to the Deck Managers.

I don't blame them.  They wouldn't be able to get on with their jobs if they were too visible.  Too many people would want to bypass the correct complaint process to go straight to the top.  Their job is not to sort out the minor complaints, their job is to have in place a system to do that and if it fails to resovle the issue then eventually it may end up on their desk.

[lincslady]

I would have thought it a bit demeaning for the Captain to be obliged to make advertising type announcements.  Should not be part of his job description, but if considered necessary more for the Cruise Director or whatever they are called nowadays.

[Britboys]

49 minutes ago, Dinglebert said:

I don't blame them.  They wouldn't be able to get on with their jobs if they were too visible.  Too many people would want to bypass the correct complaint process to go straight to the top.  Their job is not to sort out the minor complaints, their job is to have in place a system to do that and if it fails to resovle the issue then eventually it may end up on their desk.

Yes but maybe when you have had no cold water in your cabin bathroom (only scalding hot in both basin & shower) the HGM could perhaps show just a tiny bit of interest...

[wowzz]

4 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Yes but maybe when you have had no cold water in your cabin bathroom (only scalding hot in both basin & shower) the HGM could perhaps show just a tiny bit of interest...

In all honesty,  not really. 

[Britboys]

6 minutes ago, wowzz said:

In all honesty,  not really. 

Then all I can say is I have different expectations to you. Not being able to use your cabin shower is unacceptable and as the Deck Manager clearly wasn't sorting it, escalation was appropriate. Eventually they moved me to another cabin as they couldn't sort the issue.

[terrierjohn]

15 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Then all I can say is I have different expectations to you. Not being able to use your cabin shower is unacceptable and as the Deck Manager clearly wasn't sorting it, escalation was appropriate. Eventually they moved me to another cabin as they couldn't sort the issue.

The problem on Iona is that the only phone number for everything for those not willing to use the app is 7070, which connects you to reception and are often far too busy to answer. So if you have a real problem that needs urgent attention it becomes very frustrating,you either leave the phone ringing in the hope that eventually it will be answered,or you visit reception and join a queue of hundreds.

Even then its probable that it wont get resolved. We had a problem with our auto door to the bathroom when we checked into the cabin, so I rang reception and after 20 minutes it was answered and I was assured someone would be sent.  However our steward returned to the cabin with a bathroom chair we had requested and we told him our problem with the door and he managed to fix it. On day 3 two maintenance guys arrived to fix our bathroom door???!!!

Edited March 8, 2023 by terrierjohn

[wowzz]

18 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Then all I can say is I have different expectations to you. Not being able to use your cabin shower is unacceptable and as the Deck Manager clearly wasn't sorting it, escalation was appropriate. Eventually they moved me to another cabin as they couldn't sort the issue.

I agree that problems need to be escalated,  but the HGM would be the last resort.

[Host Sharon]

12 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

It made me question what exactly is the Captain of the ship responsible for?

 

What are his weekly targets so to speak?

 

Is he the guy who calls all the shots on board. Makes all the big decisions?

 

If not it certainly can't be the entertainment"s manager either?

 

Takes totally different skill sets to run a large resort which these ships have become now than to captain a ship or manage an entertainments team?

 

Surely you need experience overseeing a Center Parts resort type location rather than sailing a ship?

 

So who is the real boss on board ship - responsible for the cruise being a commercial success?

 

There must be someone. What's their job title and who exactly are they?

 

It's one hell of a job whoever and whatever it is called?

One captain likened it to being the MD of a large company. As for the HGM, I think his or her visibility depends on the size of the ship. I have always seen them around on Aurora and Arcadia.

[Fionboard]

49 minutes ago, Host Sharon said:

One captain likened it to being the MD of a large company. As for the HGM, I think his or her visibility depends on the size of the ship. I have always seen them around on Aurora and Arcadia.

On Arcadia at Xmas, the captain was mixing with passengers a lot. Small ship though, so easer to do.

[daiB]

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

Then all I can say is I have different expectations to you. Not being able to use your cabin shower is unacceptable and as the Deck Manager clearly wasn't sorting it, escalation was appropriate. Eventually they moved me to another cabin as they couldn't sort the issue.

Correct. This has always worked for me. If you have a problem get it sorted.

[daiB]

1 hour ago, Host Sharon said:

One captain likened it to being the MD of a large company. As for the HGM, I think his or her visibility depends on the size of the ship. I have always seen them around on Aurora and Arcadia.

Unfortunately COVID restrictions put an end to a lot of the interactions. However I feel they are slowly coming back

[wowzz]

19 minutes ago, daiB said:

Correct. This has always worked for me. If you have a problem get it sorted.

Which I agree with. Escalate being the appropriate word. You do not immediately try and bypass the entire management structure. 

[Interestedcruisefan]

2 hours ago, daiB said:

Correct. This has always worked for me. If you have a problem get it sorted.

Our overnight noise problem continued for 3 nights at the start of Arvia cruise. The deck manager came to see me twice and told me he had asked the staff to be quieter when moving cleaning equipment overnight. After the third night my wife packed our cases and went to reception as the deck manager had promised us a new cabin if the noise contienued (Reception were surprised she had already packed!). Next minute she's ringing me from a balcony cabin. We were allowed to keep the keys for both cabins for 24 hrs whilst we confirmed the new cabin was ok. 

 

Nobody moved into our previous cabin the next 10 days. Our luggage labels were sent there and we had to retrieve.