Who's your favorite Holland America cruise director?

Liz Knight gets my vote. left the Statendam and will be on the Maasdam next. Also not a fan of S. Woods ( but will not make a snarky comment)

Mevrouw, Alstublieft.

 

I give you that not everyone can manage foreign phonetics. I could take Zider Dam. But again, this is the cruise director of the ship. He doesn't need to speak Dutch - he should be able to say the same of the ship - IMO.

Mijn excuses Mevrouw/My apologies, Ma'am:o

Susan Wood!!

Go figure. She is my very least favorite. I found her humour sarcastic and belittling. At the Mariners lunch, where many people including myself were excited about our medals, she make jokes about them like the gold was really "a foil covered cheap chocolate candy".

She may have energy but to my mind she doesn't have couth.

We wholeheartedly agree with Kween Karen, Little Brucie Scudder & Henk Mensink are an unbeatable combination. we can only hope that they are on at least one of the next three Holland American cruises that we have booked. As an aside, we also completely enjoyed Savannah Rye in 2008, & also look forward to cruising with her again.

Budd & Dawn

Is this the "Bruce" that was aboard the Prinzendam in 2004?? That "Bruce" was great. I don't recall his last name. We saw him later on one of the "S" class ships when he was hastily moved in to replace a CD who left prematurely. ;)

 

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Yep, Mr. Scudder used to be musical director on the dam ships until switching to cruise director. He and Thom Faulkner have been doing the 'Grand Voyage' cruises

We loved Dane Butcher on Oosterdam in late March, 2004.:)

He was not only very entertaining, personable & approachable, he was so funny and SO CUTE!:D

I'm pretty sure he's not with HAL anymore; he's probably gone on to starring in movies or some crazy thing.

He was just awesome! :eek:

We first met him on board the old Rotterdam V in September of 97 just before the old girl was sold; he really hasn't changed much.

BUDD & DAWN

Returned today from 10-day Southern Caribbean on Noordam. Eric Dowis was charming, funny, gracious and a fine asset for HAL. He is so popular with the older crowd on HAL. We were very impressed.

We have only experienced Jason Venner on the Westerdam...but have enjoyed visiting with him at cruise critic meet and greets and around the ship...could be a little biased as we are also from Oregon!! We Oregonians need to stick togeher you know!! We all have those webbed feet..especially after the last few weeks!!

Susan !

We just experienced Nathan on the Zaandam. The worst we’ve ever had!

We just experienced Nathan on the Zaandam. The worst we’ve ever had!

Wow! This thread is nearly 8 years old and has been bumped!!!

Look at some of these poster names from the past

Erin Duffey!

We just experienced Nathan on the Zaandam. The worst we’ve ever had!

What is Nathan's last name and do you think he will still be on the Zaandam in July? What was so bad about him?

I vote for Mario Vines. It was 2 years ago on the Westerdam. Unforgettable, the best.

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Last post was 7 years ago, my vote is for Taylor on my last Oosterdam Cruise and Simon from my Eurodam Cruise in September 2015

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What is Nathan's last name and do you think he will still be on the Zaandam in July? What was so bad about him?

Don’t remember his last name, but I doubt if HAL has more than one CD with his name. And of course this is all monumentally subjective, and for all I know other cruisers might have felt differently. So please take these thoughts with a grain of salt!

But my wife and I were really disappointed in him. We’ve been on 9 cruises, and all of our other cruise directors, in one way or another, were unique, humorous, lively, genuine, and a fun presence to have on the ship. That’s the job! We just didn’t get any of that with this guy. He wasn’t low on energy, but we never felt like we got to know him, because all of his comments, announcements, introductions/conversations on the main stage were very brief, completely scripted and by rote. It felt sort of weird and robotic. He didn’t seem to have any sort of personality. And we never saw him around the ship.

We still had a wonderful cruise, and we love HA. But, as we all know, these vacations take a lot of planning and are certainly pricey. They’re too special to be marred by someone who just might not be right for the job.

Have no idea if he’ll still be on the Zaandam in July.

I vote for Mario Vines. It was 2 years ago on the Westerdam. Unforgettable, the best.

 

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I second that vote! The combination of Mario Vines and Captain Rens Van Eerten provided us many unforgettable moments during our 2016 Westerdam cruise to the South Pacific.

I second that vote! The combination of Mario Vines and Captain Rens Van Eerten provided us many unforgettable moments during our 2016 Westerdam cruise to the South Pacific.

Agree! :) Love Mario and have sailed a couple of times with him!

Also, Simon and Captain Timmers just awesome! :D

I like every cruise director that does not start out immediately with "Is everyone having a good time?". And then repeats it, when the audience does not go along with this canned intro. Okay, that is always my own finger nails on the black board CD moment.