Captain & Entertainment director

Hi

Does anyone know who the captain & entertainment direct is currently on Britannia?

Thanks

😀

Paul Brown and Neil Oliver respectively. And they are doing a wonderful job this cruise.

Paul Brown and Neil Oliver respectively. And they are doing a wonderful job this cruise.

Fabulous.., they were on our very first cruise! Been hooked on cruising ever since! :)

I have never thought that the Captain or CD make a scrap of difference to my enjoyment of the cruise? As long as the Captain knows what he is doing, have hardly ever seen one out and about, apart from the Captain's gala night.

paul brown is excellent he gets involved I had them both on azura in 2012 both together they are excellent but i had neil oliver on brittania he was only good it's the 2 together that makes the difference.

not been lucky enough to have paul brown since.

Yep, had him on one cruise. Wasn't keen but made no difference to my cruise.

Obviously any number of things make something enjoyable and each to their own! I have seen Paul Brown and Robert Camby out and about on a number of cruises. That said if I hadn’t it wouldn’t have made a difference to my enjoyment. Looking forward to my cruise next week with Paul & Neil in tow.

I feel that the Captain and Cruise Director do make a big difference to the enjoyment of a cruise.

Our favourite Captain was Chris Wells (no longer with P&O). He was a great character and made all the passengers smile every day. When leaving Southampton there was always a lengthy, tuneful and amusing ‘battle of the ships whistles’ with whichever ship (or ships) we passed on the way out. This was often repeated at each port. He made regular and informative announcements, always with a sprinkling of humour. He was regularly seen out and about around the ship and would hold ‘Q&A’s with the Captain’, which were always well attended and very informative.

Some other Captains we have had (I won’t name them) have lacked any personality whatsoever and delegate most daily announcements to more junior officers. Naturally their main role is to be master of the vessel and ensure the safety of the passengers and crew, but they are also in a customer facing role and they should do their part to add to the passengers enjoyment of the cruise, in my view.

As for Cruise Directors, none of them have ever ‘added’ to our cruise experience (although our adult children like Neil Oliver) but some can be extremely irritating, When they walk on stage before a show and start with “Are you all having a good cruise?” it reminds me of the Fawlty Towers sketch when the two old ladies are complaining about everything and then when Basil Fawlty asks them “Is everything OK Ladies?” they smile and say “Yes thank you, Mr Fawlty”. I am always willing someone to shout out “No, I’m not”! On one cruise last year it got even worse, as the Cruise Director followed this with, “introduce yourself and shake hands with the person next to you”. That was just so cringeworthy and not British! After the first few days, we had a ‘How is your cruise so far’ questionnaire and I put a comment that I felt that the Cruise Director had mis-judged the passenger mix and would be more at home in a holiday camp. Much to my surprise, he phoned our cabin and left a message saying that he would take on board the feedback and, to be fair to him, he was far better thereafter!

On our first cruise we were lucky enough to have Commodore Steve Burgoine on Oceana. We had 2 sea days before our first port and being newbies we listened to every announcement and particularly enjoyed his mid-day stories. We also saw him around the ship qiute a few times and he took part in one evenings stage entertainment. On our last cruise last June on Aurora we never saw the Captain once.

His regards to Hughie Taylor, my husband cannot stand him, but you have to laugh at his attempts at jokes, which we were subjected to a couple of times on Ventura when theatre production broke down and he had to stand in for about 15 minutes (twice).

The best cruise director we have had was Joff Eaton on Independence of the Seas. He really did a splendid job.

We liked Chris Wells too. On one Caribbean cruise there was ballroom dancing in the atrium and they were offering passengers the opportunity to fill the champagne fountain at the side. Chris Wells appeared and offered a lady passenger a dance. They were waltzing around when a drunken passenger fell into the champagne fountain sending the glasses smashing all over.

Chris Wells looked over his shoulder then swiftly maneuvered his dancing partner away from the debris and carried on, fully focused on the dance and his guest!

We had a cabin near the bridge on that cruise and saw him often. He always stopped to say hello whenever we saw him in the corridor.

Cheers

Damian

With regards to cruise directors I think that they can make a big difference. This recent thread highlights what appears to be a lack of effort by one particular cruise director and the effect it had:

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2582860

Cheers

Damian

Like the poster above, if I have to listen to "Are we all having a lovely time" again, I will scream. Why do they do that? It's so amateur. Or "did you all enjoy that". Why ask?

Now I think you have to be 'getting in to your cruising' quite seriously before these names mean anything to you!

Captain Chris Wells was hilarious! He was such a pleasure to talk to around the ship. I will NEVER forget the "Sea Shanty" he sang with the First Officer on Oriana in rough seas, nor the observations on rolling, pitching etc as we ploughed up the coast of Portugal in a Force 10.

We had one Cruise Director, as was then, before every show in the theatre at night he would bring a screen down and try to get the audience to sing what were nothing more than "holiday camp" songs it was eye wateringly cringing.