Noordams Jason & His Fantastic Four

[grandsix]

A special shout out to the Noordams Fantastic Four activities personnel for doing such an amazing job on the 3/15/06 sailing. Cruise Director Jason Venner recruited a great bunch of young professionals in Assistant CD Billy and his staff, ANA, BRANDON and DAVID. WITHOUT A DOUBT, THEY ARE ALL FUTURE CD MATERIAL. Thanks for making it an enjoyable cruise even though the staff was short handed last week. Future cruisers, make sure you get to meet this fantastic staff. Special recognition to D.J. Jazzy, another fun guy.

[travelgals]

Cannot agree with regard to Jason. Although he certainly is a good cheerleader, I have found his lack of depth of experience and poor people skills is quite evident when faced with any issue that needs resolution. I had a small problem which he acknowleged was the staffs error, but he was inept at solving it and only made it worse. Perhaps with some constructive criticism and more supervised experience he will mature and grow.

[bepsf]

Indeed - Jason is the only CD that doesn't have cruise staff from other ships saying "Tell him 'Hello' for me"

 

While he seems like a nice enough guy and reads his lines well, he's just not a very good manager and isn't particularly engaging.

 

He's lucky that he has a great staff assigned with with him...

[grandsix]

Why jump on Jason, my thread was about his Fantastic Four. Billy, Ana, Brandon and David. Jason did recruit these fine young people.

[Karen112999]

Hi Grandsix and Travelgal.... glad you all got home OK...even though Travelgals only had a few blocks to go. Jason was entertaining, but never got a real chance to interact with him. But David & Brandon were great as "fun guys" and great to be around - made my trip even more enjoyable - my adopted sons (family photos and all)... As for Billy and Ana I had limited exposure to them, but it was all positive. As for handling tricky situations, I am aware of Travelgals situation- and I am glad it was finally resolved no matter who did it - I felt terrible that it was impacting their vacation so. And from my limited knowledge of it, more than Jason dropped the ball on something that should have been dealt with immediately instead of letting it drag on for days. Jazzy seemed to have a slow start, but was excellent by the end of the cruise. Everyone contributed to my best cruise ever....

 

It was great cruising with you all.......hope to see you all on future cruises.

 

Karen

[grandsix]

Ditto Karen......................met so many great people. Helps make for a enjoyable cruise.

[bepsf]

...Jason did recruit these fine young people.

 

Um, no he didn't...

HAL assigned Jason to the ship as well as the others. They all worked for HAL aboard other ships before being assigned to Noordam.

[ekerr19]

We liked Jason. I also liked Chris (who left after our inaugural voyage).

 

We've had non-existent cruise staff on a few cruises and I have to say I thought this staff was one of the better groups we've come across.

 

David and Chris were the first people we met when we got on board and quickly became our favorites. :)

[YankeesFan224]

Like I stated in my review I thought they were ok but to be Honest I only saw Jason at the start of the Show and heard him on the announcements. Not sure where he is the rest of the time. Usually there are pool deck partys and things of that nature but Jazzy did that. I saw all of the others most of the time. I guess it is what it is. Me also being young and pretty far up the ranks at what I do you kind of have to learn as you go sometimes. He looks like he is about my age and has been a CD for I think at least 3 sailings already. Not sure what happen to Jazzy He is pretty good. I guess he was an assistant CD and now is back to being a DJ. I guess they promote based on the surveys and things like that. But if you look at what they have to do compared to a RCL staff they have it much easier in my opion with much less going on. Also certain staff have it pretty good on Hal. They are allowed in just about all the public area's. Not to bad.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Indeed - Jason is the only CD that doesn't have cruise staff from other ships saying "Tell him 'Hello' for me"

 

.............

 

I don't know Jason or the Fab 4:D , but I'm very curious, Brian, how you would know the above fact. I'm honestly not trying to be flip, but it does seem a rather broad statement to make.

[SmileHMB]

Hi guys!!! Yes, there was a bit of a problem early on and not sure if Jason knew what to do or not, but there was a complete change of attitude. Sometimes our guys did seem to have a hormonal imbalance going on, but we woman can understand. Jason is about 26, I know this because Brandon is 28 and Jason is a bit younger, per Brandon. I knew on my other post I forgot some people, Ana and Billy!! Didn't see Billy or Jason much, but Ana..........what a sweet, nice woman. Her and I held some nice conversations............she loved the Belly Shots!! Don't ask! She thought just maybe they could sell more DVD's with that footage! Again, it was a young staff, but I welcomed the change. Karen, you do have a new family and we all have family photos to prove it!! Just ask David or Erik( Northern Lights), Brandon has since moved on. Karen and I live in their photo albums!

[localady]

Poor Jason had to contend with 100+ CCer's on our Veendam cruise last November. I must say he did a fantastic job!!!:D :D

I am truly looking forward to sailing with him on the Noordam in September, should his contract still be in effect!! He is young, enthusiastic and just what HAL needs in a CD, IMHO.

[bepsf]

I don't know Jason or the Fab 4:D , but I'm very curious, Brian, how you would know the above fact. I'm honestly not trying to be flip, but it does seem a rather broad statement to make.

 

Perhaps not "the only", but per a friend that we met aboard Noordam who cruises HAL way more than all of us combined, this is so.

 

I've always been enjoyed chatting w/ cruise staff about how long they've been w/ HAL, how they enjoy their work, where they're from, what other ships they've been on, etc. Bring up certain names, and faces light up and they share how much they enjoyed working with that person or how they've heard good things about a certain person on another ship that they may have never met...

 

...but w/ Jason, none of the staff had anything especially warm to say of him.:(

 

(I probably shoulda kept my gob shut - would hate to get any of the staff in trouble):o

[HeatherInFlorida]

Brian, I honestly don't mean to be critical, but I think that a statement that is third hand to that extent is really not fair, but safe to say it won't get anyone in trouble so you're safe there.

 

As I say I don't know Jason, at least I don't think so. But there's a lot of people right here on this board who couldn't give a hoot whether I ever draw another breath, but that doesn't mean I'm not well thought of in many circles.

 

'Nuff said:o ... off my soapbox (for now;) ).

[travelgals]

If I hadn't had a problem I would probably agree with most of you since Jason is an attractive young man who tries to smile alot. However, when faced with an issue he has to manage, he becomes completely inept and downright rude. Smirky and insolent come to mind. While acknowleging the staff error in my case, he handled it in a manner that made the staff member hostile to us and then promptly disappeared. When approached again to try and solve the problem, he was not responsive at all--all the while admitting we were not treated properly (yes, you're right, but too bad) and confirming that it was his job to solve it. We finally resolved the problem directly with the staff member ourselves, so that we could attempt to enjoy the balance of our vacation, and never heard a word from Jason. In the end I was astounded that we did not even get a little note or call checking in to see that all was well. IMO he is not a good ambassador for HAL as he is lacking basic management skills.

[gsheth]

Although young and a bit tongue in cheek, Jason has become a family friend through our two cruisings with him (Aug. 2004 - Alaska - Oosterdam and April 2005 - Mexican Riviera - Oosterdam). That said, we look forward to seeing him on HAL Chairman H. Lanterman's cruise of the Western Mediterranean on 6/30-7/10/06. He was great to our young family of mariners, including our two young sons (age 5 & 7) who are looking forward to their third HAL cruise. I hope to see many other great Cruise Critics on that cruise. Is there already a roll call for that particular sailing (if you know)?

 

Hope you all are well. I very much appreciate others' valuable comments.

 

GS

 

:D

 

HMS ____? - Cruise of the Greek Islands - summer, 1984

Oosterdam - August 21-28, 2004 - Alaska

Oosterdam - April 2-9, 2005 - Mexican Riviera

Noordam - June 30-July 10, 2005 - Western Mediterranean

[Alzarine]

We loved the guy ...... personable, funny, helpful, great energy ! In our 29 cruises, we found him to be one of the BEST ! :) Sometimes, Cruise Directors can be a bit arrogant and rushed but Jason was not like that at all.

 

So to the execs at HAL, if indeed you read these boards, Jason is tops with us! :D

 

Guess that's why they make vanilla and chocolate !

[longtimecruiser]

I tolo, liked Jason very much. I found him to be quite helpful in a situation. I have been through MANY CD's with over 500 days on Hal and I found Jason to be one of the best. For only 26, I think he is amazing and I told him so the last day. He was funny, always smiling and plesant. He was around quite often, We had a discussion about Susan Wood and how great she was as a CD. He said he idolized her and would like to become the male version of her someday. Adele

[FoxyTerrier]

Special recognition to D.J. Jazzy, another fun guy.

 

Is that DJ Jazzy Jeff? If so I remember him from our first Noordam cruise back in 2001.

[grandsix]

To Foxyterrier: Do not believe this is the Jazzy Jeff you are talking about. Can you remember what he looked like?

[ekerr19]

Poor Jason had to contend with 100+ CCer's on our Veendam cruise last November. I must say he did a fantastic job!!!:D :D

 

localady -

 

This is just one of the things I really liked about Jason. I spent a bit of time talking with him and he has a great respect for CC and really goes out of his way to accomodate requests from CC members for onboard get togethers, etc. Not all CD's are the same way. I have come across a few who do not care a bit about any special interest cruisers or groups.

 

The VIP party had more attendees than any other I've been to - I had the distinct feeling that Captain Scott, Mr. Kuppens and Jason knew quite a few of the passengers and extended a great number of invitations. I also had the feeling that the three worked exceedingly well together and had a great amount of respect for each other, but that was just my opinion. We sure enjoyed sailing with them.

 

Travelgals - I'm really sorry you had such a poor experience with Jason, but I hope it didn't detract from your overall cruise experience. Without knowing the nature of the problem (and I don't want to), I can only comment that I'm sorry you have such strong feelings against Jason, it's a shame imo that he affected you in such a negative manner and I hope your next cruise will be better. :)

 

grandsix - As far as the "recruiting" thing goes- I have heard of Hotel Managers, Captains, Food & Beverage Managers, CD's etc. who have tried to "assemble" teams they work well with - as recently as our Volendam cruise last year, we were surprised to see so many of the same faces as those who were on the final voyage of Noordam III with us, and I asked the H/M and was told that assembling officers and crew that work well together is commonplace. :)

 

gsheth - You are sailing on a cruise I really wanted to take... I had really hoped to be on one of the Lanterman's escorted cruises this summer, but the timing did not work for us - I hope you have a wonderful time.

[grandsix]

Right on EKERR19: Had a long and pleasant conversation with Hotel Director Stan Kuppens who helped put together the Noordam team. Stan has 17 years with HAl and has been involved with at least the last 2 HAL inaugural cruises. I believe he will be doing the same with the next new HAL ship.

[HeatherInFlorida]

You know, this thread got to bothering me ... actually couldn't take my mind off it. Someone comes on to applaud the activities people and Brian decides to take a stab at the CD. A few others follow.

 

The more I think about it, it does seem personal. I'm certainly not going to put any stock in something someone says they "heard" from someone they met onboard who's cruised HAL a gizillion times.

 

And then a lightbulb went off in my head. HAL comes out with a brand spanking new ship. They want everyone to love it. They say to themselves ... "Who should we put on this wonderful ship as CD??" And they decide on Jason.

 

So someone up there likes him:D . There's no way 2000 people on a ship are all going to think the CD (or anyone else) is perfect or wonderful, but even from this thread looks like the votes are in. It looks to me like Jason and his fantastic four kept most people happy.

[localady]

You know, this thread got to bothering me ... actually couldn't take my mind off it. Someone comes on to applaud the activities people and Brian decides to take a stab at the CD. A few others follow.

 

The more I think about it, it does seem personal. I'm certainly not going to put any stock in something someone says they "heard" from someone they met onboard who's cruised HAL a gizillion times.

 

And then a lightbulb went off in my head. HAL comes out with a brand spanking new ship. They want everyone to love it. They say to themselves ... "Who should we put on this wonderful ship as CD??" And they decide on Jason.

 

So someone up there likes him:D . There's no way 2000 people on a ship are all going to think the CD (or anyone else) is perfect or wonderful, but even from this thread looks like the votes are in. It looks to me like Jason and his fantastic four kept most people happy.

 

Thank you Heather!:D

Lots of folks really like him, and think that he does a very good job! Heck we all have an off night or a situation that we could have handled better. :rolleyes: Jason seems dedicated, full of energy and made a point of finding me more than once to offer help for CC events!:D

[ekerr19]

Right on EKERR19: Had a long and pleasant conversation with Hotel Director Stan Kuppens who helped put together the Noordam team. Stan has 17 years with HAl and has been involved with at least the last 2 HAL inaugural cruises. I believe he will be doing the same with the next new HAL ship.

 

He is a wonderful asset to HAL, imo. :)

 

I wonder what the new ship will be named? I'll admit to becoming more curious about this as I've read some of the older ship names.... :confused: