Silhouette Eastern Med -- not much info from captain

[ShiploverHH]

We were on the Silhouette recently and had a wonderful time cruising in the Eastern Mediterranean. We were particularly impressed by Blu and the great food and service there. However, we were really disappointed by our captain (Demetrios), who came across more as a wannabe comedian rather than a captain. Granted, most people seemed to enjoy his jokes, and our cruise director Lisa couldn't praise him enough. What we had hoped was that he would provide more "captain appropriate" information, such as what other cruise ships are in port with us (twice, first-generation Celebrity ships were in port with us) or other interesting nautical information. It is entirely possible that we missed his announcements; we heard maybe two during the entire cruise. We did go to his presentation on how to operate the ship, but his constant jokes were almost unbearable to us. I guess it was just not our kind of humor; in our opinion this did him a great disservice for being respected as a captain.

Speaking of providing information: it would have been nice to have the ship's location indicated on the port information sheet, and it sure would have been helpful to have received a warning when we were in Santorini that four other ships will be anchoring with us that day and that long lines at the cable car are to be expected, especially going back down in the afternoon.

But all in all, we really enjoyed the cruise and would choose Celebrity again.

[Keith1010]

Glad you enjoyed the cruise.

 

Keith

[debandbruce]

Have sailed with Captain Dimitrios Kafetzis twice now, last year on a 12 night caribbean and the most recent was a B2B April 14th TA and the following mediterranean cruise. He usually only does his 10:00am report from the bridge on sea days. On the TA he gave a wealth of info including ships position, ocean depth, temperature etc, Captain stuff. I was able to find out what ships would be in port with us before I even left home as many of our fellow posters have been so kind to post links to such websites. I find this Captain enthusiastic, approachable and an absolute pleasure to sail with. I find his humour makes the subject matter fun. I have been to 3 of his ships navigation lectures, the info never changed but he made it so amusing and entertaining I didn't want to miss them. I guess everyone has their own expectations of what a Captain should be like but I would rather have a wanna be comedian than a grumpy Captain I never see or hear from, or worse, a cassanova that isn't paying attention that the ship is to close to shore!

[Petoonya]

We were on the Silhouette recently and had a wonderful time cruising in the Eastern Mediterranean. We were particularly impressed by Blu and the great food and service there. However, we were really disappointed by our captain (Demetrios), who came across more as a wannabe comedian rather than a captain. Granted, most people seemed to enjoy his jokes, and our cruise director Lisa couldn't praise him enough. What we had hoped was that he would provide more "captain appropriate" information, such as what other cruise ships are in port with us (twice, first-generation Celebrity ships were in port with us) or other interesting nautical information. It is entirely possible that we missed his announcements; we heard maybe two during the entire cruise. We did go to his presentation on how to operate the ship, but his constant jokes were almost unbearable to us. I guess it was just not our kind of humor; in our opinion this did him a great disservice for being respected as a captain.

Speaking of providing information: it would have been nice to have the ship's location indicated on the port information sheet, and it sure would have been helpful to have received a warning when we were in Santorini that four other ships will be anchoring with us that day and that long lines at the cable car are to be expected, especially going back down in the afternoon.

But all in all, we really enjoyed the cruise and would choose Celebrity again.

 

We were on the same cruise, and must agree about the Captain's humor. We thought it was on the cornball side, but a lot of people thought he was a hoot. Kudos to him for trying to make everyone's experience fun though. I love it when airline pilots and attendants try to make people smile whilst you know they're repeating the same stuff all day long.

Edited May 19, 2013 by Petoonya

[Karen@Steve]

I guess everyone has their own expectations of what a Captain should be like but I would rather have a wanna be comedian than a grumpy Captain I never see or hear from, or worse, a cassanova that isn't paying attention that the ship is to close to shore!

 

Hmmm...wonder to which captain you are referring to...:cool:

 

I always feel confident that the Celebrity captains take their duties very seriously even when they attempt (and often suceed) to be humorous.

[drarill]

We had Captain Kafetzis last year on the Silhouette and really liked him. I liked his sense of humor, his lectures and his involvement with the crew and passengers. On our sea day there was a SOS and the ship had to change its course, he kept us informed all the time.

ShiploverHH; Glad you enjoyed the cruise. Like debanbruce I would rather have a wanna be comedian than a grumpy captain.

[debandbruce]

We had Captain Kafetzis last year on the Silhouette and really liked him. I liked his sense of humor, his lectures and his involvement with the crew and passengers. On our sea day there was a SOS and the ship had to change its course, he kept us informed all the time.

ShiploverHH; Glad you enjoyed the cruise. Like debanbruce I would rather have a wanna be comedian than a grumpy captain.

 

yes he keeps you posted when there is a need to. We had medical emergencies last year and this year, we were always kept up to date. As he said in his lecture, he likes to be seen about the ship and participating when he can. When you don't see or hear from him then you should be concerned.

[katgio50]

My husband and I just got off of the Silhouette and commented about the lack of announcements being such a good thing. Last year on the Solstice, the captain followed his daily announcements with a long tirade about washing your hands. This was very annoying for 12 days. Also all announcements on that cruise were given in several languages.

[leela14]

We loved him. He cracked me up. Much better entertainer than the Cruise Director which is kind of sad. I think it's fine to be funny and a Captain - we thought it was a breath of fresh air.

[Mines]

We loved him. He cracked me up. Much better entertainer than the Cruise Director which is kind of sad. I think it's fine to be funny and a Captain - we thought it was a breath of fresh air.

I agree with you completely. It may be a cultural thing, but this Captain is playing to the American / British audience and I am sure that 99% love him.

[FTLcruisers]

We were on the Silhouette recently and had a wonderful time cruising in the Eastern Mediterranean. We were particularly impressed by Blu and the great food and service there. However, we were really disappointed by our captain (Demetrios), who came across more as a wannabe comedian rather than a captain. Granted, most people seemed to enjoy his jokes, and our cruise director Lisa couldn't praise him enough. What we had hoped was that he would provide more "captain appropriate" information, such as what other cruise ships are in port with us (twice, first-generation Celebrity ships were in port with us) or other interesting nautical information. It is entirely possible that we missed his announcements; we heard maybe two during the entire cruise. We did go to his presentation on how to operate the ship, but his constant jokes were almost unbearable to us. I guess it was just not our kind of humor; in our opinion this did him a great disservice for being respected as a captain.

Speaking of providing information: it would have been nice to have the ship's location indicated on the port information sheet, and it sure would have been helpful to have received a warning when we were in Santorini that four other ships will be anchoring with us that day and that long lines at the cable car are to be expected, especially going back down in the afternoon.

But all in all, we really enjoyed the cruise and would choose Celebrity again.

 

We have been on more than 50 cruises and I don't ever remember any captain making announcements about long lines at the cable car or how many other ships are in port. Actually if you participated in the thread for your cruise, some of that information probably would have been shared before you sailed.

[TARDIS Toni]

We have been on more than 50 cruises and I don't ever remember any captain making announcements about long lines at the cable car or how many other ships are in port. Actually if you participated in the thread for your cruise, some of that information probably would have been shared before you sailed.

 

Yes, that's right. That kind of information is usually shared by the Shore Excursions Manager on his daily talk the night before arriving in each port. After all, it's not really the Captain's job to know how long the lines for the cable car in any given port are, is it?

 

We recently returned from a sailing with Captain Demetrios Kafetzis on the Reflection, and we absolutely adored him. His sense of humor and interaction with the passengers was a welcome change from the usual (sometimes stuffy) cruise ship captain. I've met at least one other Greek captain who had this more relaxed attitude towards his duties, and we found it very refreshing. We really enjoyed his comedy and jokes. I suspect that he uses humor as a way to make his job less of a drudge, as well as making the passengers' cruise experiences more enjoyable. However, we saw his serious side as well, and when it came right down to business, I'm quite sure the ship's safe and proper operation was of paramount importance to him. It's just a different style of captaining, that's all.

 

Finally, Captain Demetrios DID include current coordinates, along with ship speed, current weather conditions, and anything else that might affect the day's journey, on his daily announcement on this recent (October 2017) cruise. We have met other Captains before who didn't think current coordinates were necessary - one of them, when we asked him why he didn't include this information in his daily announcement, looked at us, puzzled and asked, "Why you want to know that?" Nevertheless, from that day forward, the very same (also Greek) captain always included current coordinates in his daily announcement. It just took someone to request the information. :) Possibly the same thing happened with Captain Demetrios somewhere along the way.

[cruisestitch]

Well, the OP started this thread in 2013. Lots of things could have happened in the meantime😄

[G.M.T.]

TARDIS Toni, I know the Tardis is used by Dr. Who for time travel, but I don't think the Doctor would appreciate it being used for raising the dead.:halo:

 

This is the second thread you have tried to raised dead threads.:o