Cruise Director bashes Cruise Critic at Meet & Greet

[Cindy]

That's bizarre...at our Connections Party on the Constellation (May 21st sailing), JC praised the attendance, and mostly spent time making a few positive remarks about Celebrity and loyal cruisers, then provided an opportunity for people to find others from the roll call they were looking for.

 

Neither JC or Captain Tasos stayed very long because they were hosting a gathering of new crew on the Bridge. I enjoyed both of them immensely, and thought they seemed to have an excellent working relationship with each other.

 

I'm sorry to hear this happened...I can see how it would put a real damper on the gathering.

[wwcruisers]

Well, I certainly do not fall into the category of folks who think CD's are rock stars -- so, they don't necessarily "get a pass" with me. I was not there, but I can't imagine that I wouldn't have been offended -- if I heard a CD (or any other X employee) make such remarks about Cruise Critic members. I'm not insulted easily, but when I am -- people hear about it, for a long time. I hope the OP took the time to inform Corporate about what happened. Sounds like that CD needs to be looking for another job! :mad:

[Caroldoll]

First as on Crystal the CC'rs are held in high regard and the entire senior staff come. Never has there been any discussion about tours not organized by the ship. That is a real no-no in my opinion.

 

Generally CCr's are held in high regard. This guy, CD needs an attitude adjustment.

 

Then there are the cruise lines who have horribly high tour prices, but they don't care if people organize privately.

 

For me, I would LOVE to organize privately as my husband is so very, very tall that the bus doesn't work. However, with a small group a person such as he is can't always ask for the seat with the most foot and leg room. We generally do our own.

 

I think this CD needs to get gone! Or over it! LOL

[richstowe]

JC made no such comments to us on Connie but given his manner, this isn't surprising. Oily style.

We've had something similar on a RCI cruise from the activities manager but it wasn't a general announcement. He just told us we couldn't make any announcements about private tours at the M&M. We know a fellow cruiser who was dragged into a interrogation, sorry meeting with the hotel manager when it became known he had organized a private tour for a bus full of CC members. They threatened to put him off the ship amongst other things.

Wow! That is terrible. I can't imagine his sin. Seems like an extreme overreaction.

 

.... there are folks who use a ''Celebrity''-sponsored event ( CC meet'n'Greet) to flaunt their own ''product''/shorex: this is also bad form, questionnable etiquette and discourteous.

I am not sure what constitutes bad form.

I have used M&G's to meet those we have arranged private excursions with.

On one occasion one party had arranged payment and there was money owed.

Other times we have imparted knowledge of a private tour with someone who was interested

in joining our tour. No money was exchanged . Is this soliciting ?

I don't see a problem unless the person is profiting from a tour.

Edited July 16, 2014 by richstowe

[wallie5446]

So is RCCL/ Celebrity fixing to move the Meet an Mingle and Connection party Roll Calls to the Book with a face like Carnival/Princess has done?

 

Why is Miami so upset with CC?

[alcpa1]

I have to the best of my knowledge, never had JC as a cruise director. His comments were out of place. He should have shown his appreciation to those attending for their support and loyalty to his employer.

When RCI or Celebrity or any cruise line can promote the ROCK STAR tour operators then I will consider their tours. When we research private excursions there are always those who stand out. Every now and then you see the name of a RCI/X guide mentioned on the Destinations forum but they are never promoted or even mentioned in the shore excursions listings.

If you want us to book your excursions then give us that extra bonus of knowing we will have the best available guide in the port. If you were to advertise Leo Cuzmar in Valparaiso or Craig in Glasgow or our favorite Mario in Livorno we'd book. Until then we will continue to spend endless hours searching for the best guides and the best tours in groups not exceeding 14 in a vehicle.

Celebrity does offer private excursions but I balk at their pricing...they don't compete very well in that market either.

[goofysmom99]

On my three most recent X cruises (two on the Connie - TA & first Baltic of the season), as soon as the CD finished speaking, organizers took the mike to talk about tours. Someone posted earlier on this thread that when that happens, he leaves. What I noticed was, within seconds of someone beginning to talk about their tour(s), ALL the staff left. I thought it was incredibly rude on OUR part, not management's. Much as I wanted to meet some of the people, I left shortly after too. I don't think JC was right to publicly criticize, but I can imagine a certain level of frustration, too. I have two more cruises coming up in a couple of months and five will get you ten that people get up and talk about tours. There are a lot of them planned. I hope I'm wrong. Sadly, the guilty ones will probably never read this thread (too busy with their tours). ;)

[Scrapnana]

 

The comment is also ridiculous because

 

b) I figure somewhere in the neighborhood of 5-10% max of any cruisers on any given cruise have ever even heard of Cruise Critic so I doubt it could be decimating the cruise industry!

 

Exactly! I met very few people (outside of my roll call) who had ever heard of CC. On our roll call we set up 6 private excursions and about 70 people total participated. At a $100 an excursion (nice, round average cost), the cruise line did not make about $7000. If the line is going belly up over that amount of money, they have more serious issues than CC!

[psujmatt]

Thank you for the civil and informative discussion of this. On our last cruise, I did "buy" an excursion through someone who collected money at the mix and mingle type event sponsored by the cruise line. It had never occurred to me that this was rude to the line and staff; I assumed it was standard and common practice. Thanks to this discussion, I can see that such things should be handled more politely and discretely (meaning less "in your face!" to the cruise line, who is doing something extra/nice for CCs). I remain grateful to the person who organized them, as they were worthwhile and saved us $$$, and I truly believe the person had no intention of being rude, but was perhaps a little ignorant of the situation, as was I.

 

 

Happy cruising!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[HelenREMfan]

Could it be that the professionalism of the CDs is diminishing? On a recent Baltic cruise the Eclipse had seen a change from the excellent Sue Denning. We did not though have any hint of what some here are saying went on. I did suggest in my evaluation of the cruise that Celebrity - if Sue Denning is backing away from hands on work on the line -then she should be be put in charge of training Cruise Director staff as she is a commensurate professional. The actions described by the poster really describe someone who does not understand the remit of the job.

[Can'tstopcruising]

You are all berating the Cruise director. Is it not possible that the captain was standing beside him to make sure he made that announcement? I have never seen the captain at a cruise critic party. Have you?

Perhaps the captain was having the cd take the heat for him! I wouldn't be surprised.

 

One more thought.

 

They both may have been very embarassed about this and the directive may have come from Miami.

Edited July 16, 2014 by Can'tstopcruising

[d4m]

You are all berating the Cruise director. Is it not possible that the captain was standing beside him to make sure he made that announcement? I have never seen the captain at a cruise critic party. Have you?

 

 

The Captain and other officers have always made an appearance at each of the CC parties I have been to

[Gracie115]

You are all berating the Cruise director. Is it not possible that the captain was standing beside him to make sure he made that announcement? I have never seen the captain at a cruise critic party. Have you?

Perhaps the captain was having the cd take the heat for him! I wouldn't be surprised.

 

One more thought.

 

They both may have been very embarassed about this and the directive may have come from Miami.

 

Somehow doubt that since no one else is reporting hearing these statements at their Connections parties....and I've seen the Captain at a few parties.....

[BecciBoo]

Given how I feel about the prices and variety of ship sponsored shore excursions, I might have felt compelled to stand up and say something less than pleasant to the CD in front of everyone.

 

Sent from my Samsung Note 2 on the T-Mobile 4G LTE Network

 

I'm with Vulcan!!!!! Make the excursions better and cheaper and we might bite...of course there is always the issue of crowding! I'd sure rather be in a group of 8 than 100! Duh!:rolleyes: We had the captain at a couple of ours back in the day...not recently though.

Edited July 16, 2014 by BecciBoo

[Ex-Airbalancer]

I find I meet more people at sail way then the connection party, which is always mass confusion on Celebrity ships

I general just stay away now

[C 2 C]

Most Cruise Critic Connections or Meet & Greets on Celebrity now have the captain attending.

When we attend Meet & Greets on RCL, we have not met any senior staff members. .....

 

So far condemnation of JC seems near universal. However does this message now indicate a coming shift in the attitude of the cruise lines towards Cruise Critic?

 

Separate the message from the presentation. Imagine a printed message to remove the messenger from the content.

 

Tours and excursions are not part of the cruise director's responsibilities. I think that there may have been a recent meeting on board or a communique from Miami expressing the impact of the Cruise Critic community on ship sponsored tours.

Many posters so far have given their reasons for joining small tours but last year someone did organize three bus loads of passengers on one of my roll calls. It is a real leap from 10 -15 passenger tours to 150 pax+.

 

Despite the shock of being at the gathering where this message was given, think about why this issue came about. Think about all the heated negative threads that have appeared here over the last six months. Perhaps someone at Celebrity is musing about the impact of this web site and the value of enabling these meetings to take place on board.

[Cindy]

I have never seen the captain at a cruise critic party. Have you?

 

 

Captain Tasos and the other top officers were at our Cruise Critic party on the Constellation in May.

[JRJARS]

I for one love it! You know those employees hate coming to these ridiculous parties - stupid hats, t-shirts, banners, mardi gras beads, bunch of people sitting around bragging about how many cruises they have been on. Then people gripe when they don't have cheese and crackers. Now this is just my opinion which I am entitled to, so for those of you that want to flame me and comment on how few posts I have that is fine, you have your right to an opinion too. But if you are really honest with yourselves you know there is a little part of this that is true. Cheers!

[Esprit]

I for one love it! You know those employees hate coming to these ridiculous parties - stupid hats, t-shirts, banners, mardi gras beads, bunch of people sitting around bragging about how many cruises they have been on. Then people gripe when they don't have cheese and crackers. Now this is just my opinion which I am entitled to, so for those of you that want to flame me and comment on how few posts I have that is fine, you have your right to an opinion too. But if you are really honest with yourselves you know there is a little part of this that is true. Cheers!

 

You get my vote and I commend the CD for having the balls to speak the truth. We only have the OP's word on what he said and how he said it. I'm sure the OP is being truthful but we can all interpret what some one says differently. For instance some people just don't understand irony.

Edited July 16, 2014 by Esprit
typo

[Wine-O]

I find I meet more people at sail way then the connection party, which is always mass confusion on Celebrity ships

I general just stay away now

 

That is precisely right. Sail away is a great place to meet and chat with folks as well as pre-cruise get togethers.

[richstowe]

Is this strictly a Cruise Critic issue for Celebrity ? Do CCers forgo ships tours for private ones

more then experienced cruisers who do not take part in CC Meet & Greets ?

As is often said, CCers are a small % of all cruisers and many experienced cruisers have no desire to

join us or pay for large Celebrity tours which always move at the speed of the slowest guest.

 

Can'tstopcruising has a point and whether it came from the captain, the CD or Miami , I think its foolish

to believe CC is "contributing to the demise of the cruise industry" any more then other experienced passengers .

[Gracie115]

I'm sure the OP is being truthful but we can all interpret what some one says differently. For instance some people just don't understand irony.

 

Don't think that's true as another poster on this thread that was on same cruise confirmed the content of the conversation.

[kahalagirl]

I was at this party and it happened exactly as presented. It was very uncomfortable and pretty shocking. A real mood killer and this party broke up pretty quickly.

[Lazz]

Just got back from a RCCL S. Caribbean cruise, where we took a fantastic tour of Aruba on Trikes-Aruba (we discovered this tour on CC forums). When we asked the guide why the tour is not ship sponsored, he told us that they were too small. They only have 6 trikes, and the cruise lines want the tours to handle large amounts of passengers. He also stated that the cruise lines want a large dollar amount of insurance coverage. I know this is hearsay, but I can see the cruise lines point of view. However, by booking on our own, we felt we went on the best tour of the whole cruise.

 

On a separate note, we walked off the ship in St. Kitts and saved about 30 dollars per person by finding a tour on the dock. Great tour of the island with a great driver. A little competition never hurt.

 

Finally, when talking to the hotel director on another RCCL cruise a couple of years ago, he stated that one of the reasons the cruise lines move their ships away from US shores is because Americans do not spend money. He stated that US citizens will fill cabins, but spend relatively small amounts of money on tours or on board items. Again, hearsay, but interesting

[LauraS]

Hello Everyone:

 

I'd like to thank NYCruiseQueen for bringing this specific issue to our attention. If anyone else has experienced this, please write to me directly at: community@cruisecritic.com.

 

That said, we believe that the sharing of shore excursions in small groups is one of the best features of participating in a Cruise Critic roll call! We do have these rules published in our guidelines:

Cruise Critic's ROLL CALLS are one of the most popular features within our community. In an effort to keep them fair and as safe as possible, the following is in effect:

 

 

SHORE EXCURSIONS

- Sharing shore excursions is fun and can help you save money.

- Get to know the other members in a Roll Call before attempting to get them to tour with you.

- Shore excursions should be arranged so that payment is made directly to the tour operator, do not be the collector of funds for a shore excursion.

- Do not arrange any shore excursions/tours if you are not going to be taking them yourself. In other words NO THIRD-PARTY arrangement of shore excursions are allowed. This includes people who are not participating on the Cruise Critic ROLL CALL *for whatever reason*.

- Travel agents may not arrange shore excursions on ROLL CALLS.

- Anyone attempting to "fill a bus" or making money from the sharing of shore excursions on our forums runs the risk of losing their membership.

- Do not post your email address so that someone can email you information about a shore excursion. If they have important info, they should be willing and able to post this information on the forum. We will remove posts, at our discretion, that are nothing more than requests for emails OR posts providing email addresses.

- Do NOT arrange to collect funds for shore excursion shares at any Meet & Mingle or Meet & Greet so graciously provided by the cruise lines. In the case of Princess Cruises, they have stated you cannot solicit other passengers for any reason once you have booked your cruise. If they observe you arranging tours on board, you run the risk of being asked to debark your cruise at the next port (verified via Princess Cruises March 2013)

***************************

The above shared, I will be contacting Celebrity later today to clear up this issue. Know that we can and do contact individual members who aren't adhering to the above.

 

As with all things, there are always people who just do as they please. We always do our best to ensure Roll Calls and resulting parties/events work well for everyone.

 

Laura