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NCL Well Known Cruise Directors

DreamingBig1

By DreamingBig1,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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rjc2015

rjc2015

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To me, it's not so much about the cruise director themselves as it is about the cruise director staff. I've interacted more with their staff during events.

 

This August on the Jewel, for example, we had Armen from Seattle, who was friendly, but seemed like he was phoning it in. Jovan's (from Serbia) seemingly eternal struggle to find an American wife and Maria Luca's (from Romania) blunt hilarity stood out more to me.

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GoAndHaveFun

GoAndHaveFun

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To me, it's not so much about the cruise director themselves as it is about the cruise director staff. I've interacted more with their staff during events.

 

This August on the Jewel, for example, we had Armen from Seattle, who was friendly, but seemed like he was phoning it in. Jovan's (from Serbia) seemingly eternal struggle to find an American wife and Maria Luca's (from Romania) blunt hilarity stood out more to me.

 

I think it's always nice to see the CD or ACD around on the ship other than at some big event or show. Silas did a nice job of that on the Breakaway while I had Armen as CD on Epic in early January and he was pretty forgettable.

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hpecorari

hpecorari

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Well, if his true personality was a little bit goofy and over the top, then he was "genuine".

 

Does anyone who has met Julie believe that we have seen her "genuine" personality or rather just a fake persona of her impression of what she thinks a CD should look and sound? ( sorry, Julie fans )

 

She opened every new ship so I've had her as a CD a few times. I don't think she knows what the word "genuine" means. Just my opinion, folks, yours may differ!

 

Harriet

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drvalo

drvalo

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My favorite CD and CD staff was on the Sun a couple of years ago. Iain (he was a magician) was the CD. He was always around and his patience with the passengers was very admirable. He had booked wonderful entertainment. The CD staff was also fun and the activities were well organized. The all had cute names, e.g., crazy Hector, Yankee Yoli, Bubbles (that girl could sing!!!!), Sassy Sarah and so on. It was a really, really fun cruise.

 

The worst had to have been Armin on the Epic last year. He was almost always in the atrium, but the activities were poorly organized and the staff seemed to mostly not know what was going on.

 

Next worst was Julie on the Pearl. To us, she had zero personality. I am baffled by those who choose her as a favorite.

 

We have enjoyed JC, Q, and the one whose name I just cannot remember who was on the Majesty right before they sold it. He loved that ship and the passengers. It was small, so we always saw him around. He was at every show and almost every activity. He sang and had a long history with NCL as he started as the singing omelet maker (or something like that). Anyway, I wish I could remember his name and know what happened to him.

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judipa

judipa

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Posted
Well, if his true personality was a little bit goofy and over the top, then he was "genuine".

 

Does anyone who has met Julie believe that we have seen her "genuine" personality or rather just a fake persona of her impression of what she thinks a CD should look and sound? ( sorry, Julie fans )

 

I am in the Love Julie camp - she always remembers people from cruise to cruise and takes time to stop and chat. She even remembers to ask about me when my daughter's family cruises. Also - any CD staff that has ever worked with Julie has only good things to say about her and how much they learned from her. They all say she is great to work with.

Also have cruised with Pedro and he was a terrific CD as was Archie on the Jade!

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GoAndHaveFun

GoAndHaveFun

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My favorite CD and CD staff was on the Sun a couple of years ago. Iain (he was a magician) was the CD. He was always around and his patience with the passengers was very admirable. He had booked wonderful entertainment. The CD staff was also fun and the activities were well organized. The all had cute names, e.g., crazy Hector, Yankee Yoli, Bubbles (that girl could sing!!!!), Sassy Sarah and so on. It was a really, really fun cruise.

 

The worst had to have been Armin on the Epic last year. He was almost always in the atrium, but the activities were poorly organized and the staff seemed to mostly not know what was going on.

 

Next worst was Julie on the Pearl. To us, she had zero personality. I am baffled by those who choose her as a favorite.

 

 

Interestingly, I have chatted with staffers who worked under Armen and they really didn't have positive things to say about him. One said he was super controlling and wouldn't let his staffers host an event (like trivia) with their own emcee styles while another one said he never smiles and comes off as unfriendly. Meanwhile, they had positive things to say about Julie, Jaime, Isolda, and Nacho (last 2 were assistant cruise directors).

 

 

I am in the Love Julie camp - she always remembers people from cruise to cruise and takes time to stop and chat. She even remembers to ask about me when my daughter's family cruises. Also - any CD staff that has ever worked with Julie has only good things to say about her and how much they learned from her. They all say she is great to work with.

Also have cruised with Pedro and he was a terrific CD as was Archie on the Jade!

 

A CD that remembers people from cruise-to-cruise and takes time to stop and chat with people is an awesome CD in my book. I already think a CD (or even assistant cruise director) is awesome if he/she walks around the ship and greets people. If anything, it's nice to be remembered by the CD, ACD or their staffers on the ship.

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Studebaker59

Studebaker59

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My favorite CD and CD staff was on the Sun a couple of years ago. Iain (he was a magician) was the CD. He was always around and his patience with the passengers was very admirable. He had booked wonderful entertainment. The CD staff was also fun and the activities were well organized.

 

Iain was the CD on the Star when we sailed three months ago. He was terrific!

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GoAndHaveFun

GoAndHaveFun

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So many cruises and so many cruise directors!

 

Jaime is retired now, Matt is gone to do bigger and better things in London, and Simon is corporate. Several have left and gone to other ships.

 

Really enjoyed Pedro, JC and a few others but their names escape me at the moment.

 

Interestingly, I only know Jaime retired cuz a staffer told me about how her and her husband (who worked as a cruise staffer but then moved to Nickelodeon staffer as there would be a conflict of interest had he stayed a cruise staffer) weren't sure if working on a ship was gonna fit into their future plans. I do wonder what kind of cool land jobs a former cruise director can find!

 

Did you ever had Sinan as your CD? He was pretty awesome but too bad he left NCL. Funny thing is whenever you see the Deal or Not Deal flyers onboard, you will see Sinan in the background lol.

 

I've never yet known the name of any cruise directors on any of my cruises. I generally don't even know what they look like. I'm going to try to pay more attention.

 

I didn't know who they were either until my 4th cruise. This does make me wonder if I have had guys like Iain (mentioned above), Pedro, DanDan, Ben etc as a cruise director on previous ships. Nowadays, I always look forward to seeing who will be the cruise director and assistant cruise director on a particular ship.

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decemberpsyche

decemberpsyche

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Interesting that the three cd's that I remember from my five Norwegian cruises are mentioned. Gary Glading, by far the best cd I have ever had. My hubby refers to him as the real life "most interesting man in the world". Iain was blah as far as I was concerned, but damn is he cute. Lastly, Sinan irritated the crap out of me. I think, also, that my cruise with Gary Glading was the only time I went to more activities with the actual cruise director instead of staff.

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PyrHeaven

PyrHeaven

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Posted (edited)

I love Julie. I think she has just the right amount of involvement on board. She's not over the top, but she's not non existent either. She's been the CD while I was on the Pearl and the Breakaway. I did meet her and chat with her briefly, and she seems like a genuinely nice person.

 

I was also a fan of Matt Baker! Wiki wiki wah!

Edited by PyrHeaven
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GoAndHaveFun

GoAndHaveFun

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I think, also, that my cruise with Gary Glading was the only time I went to more activities with the actual cruise director instead of staff.

 

Wow that's awesome! Just about every activities I have participated in, it was always one of the staffers hosting instead of the cruise director him/herself. I have had the assistant cruise director host an event once and it was the Thriller dance class. Nothing wrong with the staffers hosting (granted that they are friendly and they typically are) but besides the big game shows or dance parties, we just never really get to see nor interact with the cruise director.

 

Anyone remember a CD by the name of Archie?

 

Harriet

 

He was the cruise director for Jade in early May. He seemed nice but I never had a chance to interact with him. Interestingly, I remember his assistant cruise director more..who was Rodrigo as he was funny (though hard to understand at times as he would mumble and talk too fast).

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luv2swimwdolphins

luv2swimwdolphins

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I have cruised w Big Ken, Dan Dan and Julie. I have actually cruised several times w Julie as the CD. I actually get a kick out of her joie de vivre approach. It cannot be easy dealing w 1000s of people, most who only open their mouths to eat and moan!

 

The little girls on the ship also LOVED her and it was endearing to see them "look up" to her.

 

If NCL is reading, Julie is great.

 

Oh and

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GoAndHaveFun

GoAndHaveFun

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Darn laptop.....

 

was going to ask...Anyone know where Nacho is? Is he still w NCL. I first met him on Epic and then on Gem when he was promoted. Loved him!

 

He was on the Epic as of January 2015 though one staffer (he loved Nacho!) told me Nacho is still on the Epic. In fact, I think I was watching an Epic video on youtube not too long ago and I saw Nacho in the background!

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jenidallas

jenidallas

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Sinan Ulucay, what fantastic cruise director!!!

 

And a real nice guy on top of that

 

Sinan was the only cruise director I've ever had that I adamantly disliked. In Getaway, he yelled into the loudspeaker several times a day with overly lengthy announcements. The schtick was overly corny and clearly scripted.

 

Every time I heard his voice I tensed up - the opposite of relaxing to me. I could not understand why so many other passengers were raving about him but different strokes for different folks. I swore I would never sail NCL again if that was the typical experience.

 

I really liked Julie on Breakaway. She gave me a much better feel for the vibe on most of the ships - enough so that I booked two more NCL sailings (one down, one to go). While the overly cheesy cruise director is not my thing, I could see on Spirit that some people clearly love it and live for the games (which I could do without).

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