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What Makes a HAL Cruise Director Excellent?

sail7seas

By sail7seas,
in Holland America Line

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sunsetbeachgal

sunsetbeachgal

Posted
Posted (edited)

As we disembarked the Prinsendam a couple of weeks ago, the CDs Linda Minnekin was standing at the bottom of the stairs thanking everyone for sailing and wishing them a safe trip onward. Now I know the P'Dam is a small ship, but I have never seen that before. We felt she was an excellent CD!i

Edited by sunsetbeachgal
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casamariposa

casamariposa

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As we disembarked the Prinsendam a couple of weeks ago, the CDs Linda Minnekin was standing at the bottom of the stairs thanking everyone for sailing and wishing them a safe trip onward. Now I know the P'Dam is a small ship, but I have never seen that before. We felt she was an excellent CD!i

Isn't she terrific. Some people get turned off by her "toodleoos," but she reaches out and remembers passengers from previous trips. I was on the 49-day Carnaval/Amazon Explorer on the Maasdam with her in early 2013. Then I met up with her on the P-dam's Holiday cruise this past December. She pointed at me and said "Brazil!" I watched her when we were in port. She'd been sitting in a terminal chatting away with fellow passengers. Very refreshing. I can take or leave some of the CD's. However, others have been real people persons and knew how to handle some extremely difficult passengers with grace and patience.

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MaisonRose

MaisonRose

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Last year on the Ryndam we had a CD whose trivia questions were so off the charts that high scores were like...

2 out of 10.

I wonder if he noticed that the Main Trivia attendance fell from about fifty teams to 20.

I called him, privately, SMARTY PANTS.

 

Thanks for those other observations. Don't like to hear too much on the loudspeakers unless it is ship related like a weather issue.

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CruisermanVA

CruisermanVA

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I was on the Veendam this past August 2014 to New England and Canada and our cruise director was terrific. Very friendly, positive, and not the least obnoxious. She was one of the reasons I enjoyed the cruise so much. Problem is I can't remember her name. I know it began with a T and that her nationality was Australian, though she was born in South Africa. She'd recently had a baby and you'd sometimes see the three of them at the Lido. Anyone know who I'm talking about?

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CruisermanVA

CruisermanVA

Posted
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I was on the Veendam this past August 2014 to New England and Canada and our cruise director was terrific. Very friendly, positive, and not the least obnoxious. She was one of the reasons I enjoyed the cruise so much. Problem is I can't remember her name. I know it began with a T and that her nationality was Australian, though she was born in South Africa. She'd recently had a baby and you'd sometimes see the three of them at the Lido. Anyone know who I'm talking about?

 

I remember now. Her name is Tam. Exuberant personality and an excellent dancer.

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PathfinderEss

PathfinderEss

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One of our most memorable cruise directors was on the Maasdam last January for a 21 day Southern Carib. cruise. He was Carlos, Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands! He was funny and very personable. One of our favs.

 

I have to agree with you, he is the only one I remember because of the 'wash your hands, wash you hands, wash your hands..........:D

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windsor26

windsor26

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Being New to HAL I would love to know who is the CD on Oosterdam for December 5th sailing

On the other lines we have sailed we have had some excellent CD's who did make or break the atmosphere of the cruise (not the cruise itself) and I would like to send a titled invitation letter to them for our private meet and greet:):)

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cranethie

cranethie

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We had a new cruise director on Prinsendam. She had a lot of excellent qualities BUT.....she insisted on getting on the P.A. at 9 a.m. with her announcements. Sometimes we like to stay up late and sleep in, on sea days. I don't remember Thom Faulkner or Linda M. being so thoughtless!!

 

Toodle oo for now lol :)

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cranethie

cranethie

Posted
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Being New to HAL I would love to know who is the CD on Oosterdam for December 5th sailing

On the other lines we have sailed we have had some excellent CD's who did make or break the atmosphere of the cruise (not the cruise itself) and I would like to send a titled invitation letter to them for our private meet and greet:):)[/

Wrong post sorry

Edited by cranethie
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  • 1 year later...
ithaca gal

ithaca gal

Posted
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We generally do not care who the cruise director is, nor do we usually remember their names. We do not care who the captain of the ship is and we certainly do not care if we have a chance to sit down and dine with them. That is not the purpose of our cruise.

 

Having said that, we do play trivia every day, so we come into contact with the cruise director. We just returned from 15 days on the Eurodam and we had a lovely experiences with the cruise director, Sarah Koster. she was charming, friendly, witty, and just a pleasure to be around. I understand she will soon be transferring to the Westerdam. Would be happy to sail with Sarah again.

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Sir PMP

Sir PMP

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A post in another thread got me wondering.......

 

What do you think makes an HAL CD more excellent, more to your liking, better at his/her work than another?

 

Cruise directors are the most annoying people on board, especially on the intercom...

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cruz chic

cruz chic

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Carlos Mendoza, cruise director on the Prinsendam, was tops--enthusiastic, warm and caring and his dance classes were much better than "Dancing With the Stars" just fun, easy to follow and NOT competitions.

 

I generally don't notice or care who the cd but if this was the same guy that was on the Veendam a few years ago he gets my vote for most annoying cd.

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ScottishMaid

ScottishMaid

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We loved Tam on the Statendam Hawaii French Polynesia 30 day in April-May 2015! We enjoyed seeing and playing with her 15 month old adorable daughter' date=' too![/quote']

Tam Hurly was our CD on the Volendam from Seattle to Sydney and all around Australia. Her husband looked after their little daughter and Tam showed us a photo of the small cabin where the three of them were housed. Her parents came on for a while at Sydney also.

Tam is full of energy and taught us a popular zumba class on several sea days. She is also very organized. She had the best plan I've ever seen for organizing tender tickets. These were available in both the Atrium and Explorer's Lounge the day before and you could pick a time you'd like to get off.

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