What exactly do cruise directors do?

[tripman]

I know there are alot of behind the scene duties, but from a passengers point of view, they only seem to host the various activities. So my question is, what are all of the duties of the cruise director?

 

On my first cruise, I initially thought that the cruise director basically ran the whole ship...well, it didn't take me long to realize that isn't true because as it is on any ship (or airplane for that matter), the Captain is supreme president-king-ruler-in command of his ship. So just how does the chain of command of a crew work?

 

It seems that there is a definite distinction between ships crew (responsible for actually running the operatings of the ship itself) and the service crew (waiters, bartenders, service desk, cabin steward, etc), so where does the cruise director fall in all of this?

[cruisinqt]

The way I have always understood it was that the Cruise Director was in charge of making sure the passengers were kept happy and enjoyed their cruise. They make sure they know all about each port including where to shop, where to eat, and what excursions there are to choose from. That is why they always give the port info. talks every morning. They are also in charge of the schedule of activities for the day to make sure that no one gets bored. They are constantly on the loud speaker telling people what's going on and when the next bingo game or hairy chest contest is. They keep things lively and hoppin' trying to make sure everyone is happy with their cruise. It doesn't seem like much, but I talked to the cruise director on our last cruise and he had only gotten 5 hours of sleep because he had so much to do. They make it look easy but trying to keep thousands of people happy is not a very easy job.:cool:

 

The cruise director, the Captain, and anyone else in a uniform is a salaried employee that gets paid well. The waiters, cabin stewards, bartenders, and other such employees get paid very little and rely on tips. That's as much as I know, maybe someone else can add some additional info.:)

[Cotton]

I've had conversations with a few cruise directors. In addition to what you see them doing around the ship:

 

They schedule all activites, including the past guest party; they're responsible for the daily newsletter; they hire the entertainment; they're on call to the captain 24 hrs. a day, and they sometimes pop pills to stay awake because there aren't enough hours in a day.:)