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Cruise Directors


April65
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Do the individual ships always have their own cruise director? I have been reading some very negative reports on Hughie. Is he always the cruise director on Ventura?

 

P&O website has a list of senior officers for each ship and they have at least two who alternate terms of duty.

 

for example Hughie Taylor is cruise director on Ventura until he goes on leave on 27 July and is replaced by Leanne Taylor. Hughie returns from leave on 1 September.

Edited by davecttr
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Hughie is terrible. Been on two cruises with him as CD. His Wife is deputy cruise director and she is just as useless. They make sure they are there at the Captains Gala and get interviewed for the TV show but thats about it. THey dont really get involved in the sailaways and leave all the durty work to the rest of the Ents crew. I have yet to come across a decent P&O CD. Joff Eaton (former P&O) on RCI is fantastic.

Edited by MattyBarlow
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Hughie is terrible. Been on two cruises with him as CD. His Wife is deputy cruise director and she is just as useless. They make sure they are there at the Captains Gala and get interviewed for the TV show but thats about it. THey dont really get involved in the sailaways and leave all the durty work to the rest of the Ents crew. I have yet to come across a decent P&O CD. Joff Eaton (former P&O) on RCI is fantastic.

 

 

I agree. Been on two cruises where he has been CD. Terrible. Mainly invisible and lets his team do all the work. With the number of people who complain about him I really dont know why he us still there.

 

P&O CDs are poor in comparison to RCI. However we have come across Bennie twice and at least she works hard, is very visible and is personable.

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Hughie is terrible. Been on two cruises with him as CD. His Wife is deputy cruise director and she is just as useless. They make sure they are there at the Captains Gala and get interviewed for the TV show but thats about it. THey dont really get involved in the sailaways and leave all the durty work to the rest of the Ents crew. I have yet to come across a decent P&O CD. Joff Eaton (former P&O) on RCI is fantastic.[/quote

 

 

I am afraid that our experience of Hughie has also been very poor on our last two Ventura cruises where he has been CD. On the first trip we were expecting a CD similiar to Neil Oliver who we thought was great and who added so much to our cruise experience. Hughie came as a big disappointment! I am sure he is a nice fellow but his near invisibility, inability to even read his scripted PA jokes competently, awkward Sailaway appearences and avoidence of eye contact with passengers did nothing to endear him to us.

 

It always surprises me that he appears to be considered to be the best CD for Ventura which must be the livilest, youngest ship in the fleet.

 

Perhaps it is reverse psychology- no chance of any fun on Hughies watch therefore no "Butlins at Sea"?

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Last year on Oceana we had Nigel as our CD and he was rubbish. He was never around for any of the sailaways and I think I seen him once at the Captain Gala. Thankfully he was only there for the first week of the cruise and was replaced by Bennie who was brilliant. She took part in everything from sailaways to hosting events in the evenings.

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We had Hughie on Ventura in March and we were very disappointed with him. There were lots of problems with the Entertainment, mainly due to insufficient seats in the Theatre for 10:30 shows and also having Theatre Company shows repeated on the same cruise. There was an incident on one of the last nights when several passengers demanded to see him to sort out the seating problem and he refused to come and see them but agreed to meet them the next day and sent a junior member of his staff in his place - very poor. He is certainly not hands-on, you are very lucky if you see him - never seen at sailaways, totally different approach to every other CD we have had !!

Edited by bee-ess
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I had the pleasure of meeting Neil Oliver (usually on Azura) on the world cruise when he joined Arcadia in Sydney. He came to many of the solo meetings on board and brought other people including the Exec Purser on two ooccasions and produced a couple of bottles of sherry on two occasions for us. I had organised cruise critic get togethers and he came to them and sat and chatted to everyone. He is very much a visible person and is at the forefront at sailaways. He is a total asset to P&O.

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I had the pleasure of meeting Neil Oliver (usually on Azura) on the world cruise when he joined Arcadia in Sydney. He came to many of the solo meetings on board and brought other people including the Exec Purser on two ooccasions and produced a couple of bottles of sherry on two occasions for us. I had organised cruise critic get togethers and he came to them and sat and chatted to everyone. He is very much a visible person and is at the forefront at sailaways. He is a total asset to P&O.

 

I total agree with you Fluffy. Neil is approachable, a true professional, and puts his heart and sole into his work, especially sailaways! I sincerely hope he is back from leave and on Azura in July.

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He is certainly not hands-on, you are very lucky if you see him -

 

Try the prom deck around 6.00pm, he is normally walking off some of the ships supplies :)

 

TBF Hughie and Dee are nice people when you get to speak to them, but I have to say his 'directing' does leave a little to be desired.

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I had the pleasure of meeting Neil Oliver (usually on Azura) on the world cruise when he joined Arcadia in Sydney. He came to many of the solo meetings on board and brought other people including the Exec Purser on two ooccasions and produced a couple of bottles of sherry on two occasions for us. I had organised cruise critic get togethers and he came to them and sat and chatted to everyone. He is very much a visible person and is at the forefront at sailaways. He is a total asset to P&O.

I totally agree with Fluffy. We got off the Azura last week and I can honestly say that Neil Oliver is the best CD we have had in 25 cruises (P&O, Princess and Cunard). He was very visible and led his team really well.

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Last year on Oceana we had Nigel as our CD and he was rubbish. He was never around for any of the sailaways and I think I seen him once at the Captain Gala. Thankfully he was only there for the first week of the cruise and was replaced by Bennie who was brilliant. She took part in everything from sailaways to hosting events in the evenings.

 

I have a photo of Nigel T lurking in a corner at the Great British Sailaway on our Transatlantic in February. He did virtually nothing on that 35 day cruise and the entertainment programme he set up was the poorest we'd been on. I don't Like being personal and name staff so he must have been bad for me to say he was dreadful and even in the interviews he did for TV with the guest entertainers he was absolutely hopeless. He's been around for a few years and it just makes you wonder how P&O decides who'll be CD on which ship

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The only P&O CDs I ever hear good things about are Neil Oliver and Leon De St. Croix, but I don't know if the latter is even still with P&O. Like many others, I thought Hughie was a terrible cruise director, especially on a ship like Ventura which needs a CD who is friendly and energetic, not someone who leaves everything to

 

It is a shame really, since there were some fantastic entertainment staff on Ventura, some of which would make perfect cruise directors.

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Do you know I couldn't care less who the CD is. They make no difference to my cruise or my enjoyment whatsoever. There have been some who I thought were good, and others who were never seen at all. Still made no difference.

 

What is it that you notice about the Cruise Director. I like the ones who don't say at the end of the entertainemnt "Are we having a lovely time?" Drives me nuts.

Edited by jeanlyon
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The only P&O CDs I ever hear good things about are Neil Oliver and Leon De St. Croix, but I don't know if the latter is even still with P&O. Like many others, I thought Hughie was a terrible cruise director, especially on a ship like Ventura which needs a CD who is friendly and energetic, not someone who leaves everything to

 

It is a shame really, since there were some fantastic entertainment staff on Ventura, some of which would make perfect cruise directors.

 

I believe Leon is currently with Cunard.

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Last time I said anything not quite complimentary about a CD my post was removed. How come you can say all that about Hughie (whoever he is)? I didn't like Neil Oliver but I'm obviously in the minority! LOL

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I think it's very unfair to mention names of staff on a public forum. Especially when they cannot reply.How would you feel if it was you or a member of your family or a close friend who was being publicly criticised?

If you have problems with a cruise member of staff then raise it on board and fill in the post cruise survey and if you wish to follow up with a letter then write privately to the cruise company.

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Do you know I couldn't care less who the CD is. They make no difference to my cruise or my enjoyment whatsoever. There have been some who I thought were good, and others who were never seen at all. Still made no difference.

 

What is it that you notice about the Cruise Director. I like the ones who don't say at the end of the entertainemnt "Are we having a lovely time?" Drives me nuts.

 

It depends. I sailed on Ventura after sailing on Independence of the Seas with Joff Eaton as the CD. On Royal Caribbean the cruise director runs a lot of the events, talks at all of the shows, runs sailaway parties and is on the TV for the morning show. They play a very active and hands-on role with the entertainment and engage a lot with the passengers. Joff was outside the theater after every single show talking to passengers, and it does make a difference.

 

When you go from someone who is like that, to a CD on P&O who rarely shows his face, and puts very little effort and enthusiasm into the job, it is a bit disappointing, especially when in the past the cruise director has made a real effort in making the cruise memorable.

 

I find the cruise director is not only just the person who organises the entertainment, but is a link between the passengers and the crew, and plays a kind of liaison role. It is nice to be able to chat with them after they have given a talk on stage, rather than running off behind the scenes until the next show. Small things like talking to passengers on the Royal Promenade when filming the morning show, and reading out jokes and comments they have sent in make all the difference to me.

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I think it's very unfair to mention names of staff on a public forum. Especially when they cannot reply.How would you feel if it was you or a member of your family or a close friend who was being publicly criticised?

If you have problems with a cruise member of staff then raise it on board and fill in the post cruise survey and if you wish to follow up with a letter then write privately to the cruise company.

 

 

I disagree. Our cruise fare pays their wages. They perform a role in the public spotlight and therefore are open to public scrutiny.

 

The survey asks for feedback in the Entertainment, not the CD therefore will not pick up people's issues re the individuals. Ive added notes to mine but clearly go no avail.

 

As a final note, we were on RCI on a transatlantic in April and the cruise director was amazing (Clodagh O'Connor or HelloClo as she is known). She made the cruise! So professional and led so many events herself. Maybe P&O need to poach some CDs from other lines?

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I think it's very unfair to mention names of staff on a public forum. Especially when they cannot reply.How would you feel if it was you or a member of your family or a close friend who was being publicly criticised?

If you have problems with a cruise member of staff then raise it on board and fill in the post cruise survey and if you wish to follow up with a letter then write privately to the cruise company.

 

I agree with you there. If you cannot say anything nice about someone then say nothing. Regards Jo

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