New UPDATED Cruise Director (CD) List - starting from April 2018 onwards

[Joe12]

Let's get Chris Hopkins back!!!!!

 

I agree. I should mention that Chris also recycled one of Joff's classic jokes, so learned from him as well.

 

Genuinely, I do want to be a CD myself one day. I would probably be a mix of Abe and Joff. A bit of other CD's that I have had or watched. No John Blair or Bobby in my CD style though.

[ncb106]

Me I'll be Richard Spacey lol

 

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[Joe12]

Me I'll be Richard Spacey lol

 

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Good choice! Get those Evolution of Dance moves ready! :D

[ncb106]

I really miss the old times when rccl had very good cruise director , Richard Spacey,Allan Brooks,Liegh,James Adrew and Dave Chapman

 

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[Joe12]

I really miss the old times when rccl had very good cruise director , Richard Spacey,Allan Brooks,Liegh,James Adrew and Dave Chapman

 

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I agree. Those were the good days! Standards are slipping a bit. Chris would have made a great one, and it was a real shame. They claimed that there was no space on the schedule, but I think that there a few CD's in the fleet who should be dropped from the schedule instead.

 

They should have never fired Leigh and his AM Frankie either. By now, I could guarantee you that Leigh would be on an Oasis Class and Frankie would have made CD.

 

Maybe I should step up to the job myself! ;p

[ncb106]

They loving Leigh at carnival I be reading reviews of him I wish he could come back to Royal

 

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[Joe12]

Has anyone ever had a young Cruise Director? Looking at most of my CD's, it seems as if they have been mid 30's to mid 50's. I would love if they promoted someone in their early/mid 20's to the CD position. It could breathe some new life into the role.

[Clarea]

Has anyone ever had a young Cruise Director? Looking at most of my CD's, it seems as if they have been mid 30's to mid 50's. I would love if they promoted someone in their early/mid 20's to the CD position. It could breathe some new life into the role.

We had Abe Hughes about 8 years ago, he seemed pretty young (to me) then.

[Joe12]

We had Abe Hughes about 8 years ago, he seemed pretty young (to me) then.

 

Yes - he would have been below 30 then. Still on the young side of CD's.

[Joe12]

You may have wondered what the recent questions have been all about.

I have had a change of heart in the past year and actually want to become a Cruise Director myself. Things on land aren't working out and I want to go where I feel my passion truly is.

Therefore, this leads me onto my next point - The reason that I cancelled my plans to do the Symphony Transatlantic was because I had planned that as a perfect opportunity to orientate myself with what the Staff do and essentially gain a better knowledge of the job, and with Bobby running the show, it wouldn't work well. Not because I am a complainer as others claimed.

 

I will continue to run this list and fingers crossed that I am successful! I have got plenty to offer the CD role and some new ideas that I am developing. I also recognize that I have to be CS then AM first, but CD is the goal! :D

Appreciate everything that you all do for the list,

Joe

[Lovetocruise2002]

Good luck Joe! Thanks for running this list. It is a huge job! Much appreciated.

 

 

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[BillOh]

Good luck Joe! Thanks for running this list. It is a huge job! Much appreciated.

 

 

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Mb

 

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[Joe12]

Good luck Joe! Thanks for running this list. It is a huge job! Much appreciated.

 

 

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No problem!

Is there anything that you think I could do to be the perfect CD? I have an idea for a completely new theme night.

[Lovetocruise2002]

No problem!

 

Is there anything that you think I could do to be the perfect CD? I have an idea for a completely new theme night.

 

 

 

Sorry, don't have much advice in the entertainment department. My main objectives when I cruise are to eat and sleep [emoji38]

 

 

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[Joe12]

Sorry, don't have much advice in the entertainment department. My main objectives when I cruise are to eat and sleep [emoji38]

 

 

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So as long as I am not a clone of BB, you will be fine?

[Lovetocruise2002]

So as long as I am not a clone of BB, you will be fine?

 

 

 

Exactly! You already know my favourites!

Tim Connor! And Clo is great too!

 

 

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[Joe12]

Exactly! You already know my favourites!

Tim Connor! And Clo is great too!

 

 

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I hope need to cross paths with Tim or Clo soon. I'll watch for October sailings. Quite frankly working with a BB run team would be a disaster.

[Rogueperson]

No problem!

Is there anything that you think I could do to be the perfect CD? I have an idea for a completely new theme night.

 

I think the best thing as a CD is to be adaptable. My opinion is that CDs start to lose effectiveness when they become comfortable. They find what works for them, and then don't deviate. As a CD, you HAVE to deviate. You have to be fresh and change things up. You also have to realize what doesn't work immediately, and change up, because each cruise is a different demographics EVEN if the numbers remain the same. People are different. What works for one crowd, can tank the next.

 

If we can guess your question at the Love and Marriage show AND the answer people give, then ya know what, you need to change your game.

 

One activity I did on the Grandeur many years back was especially fun, but no one does it anymore. They had an improv activity, which had passenger participation. That was a seriously fun time.

[Joe12]

I think the best thing as a CD is to be adaptable. My opinion is that CDs start to lose effectiveness when they become comfortable. They find what works for them, and then don't deviate. As a CD, you HAVE to deviate. You have to be fresh and change things up. You also have to realize what doesn't work immediately, and change up, because each cruise is a different demographics EVEN if the numbers remain the same. People are different. What works for one crowd, can tank the next.

 

If we can guess your question at the Love and Marriage show AND the answer people give, then ya know what, you need to change your game.

 

One activity I did on the Grandeur many years back was especially fun, but no one does it anymore. They had an improv activity, which had passenger participation. That was a seriously fun time.

 

Adapting to different clientele is important. For instance, what would work with the folks on Grandeur from Baltimore would be very different to what would work with the British crowd on Indy from Southampton. I was thinking of adjusting my style a little for each market.

 

A lot of things that you mention can be learned while CS & AM. As for the L&M questions, observing multiple different CD's will give me a broad range of questions to choose from.

[CruiseDucks]

I think the best thing as a CD is to be adaptable. My opinion is that CDs start to lose effectiveness when they become comfortable. They find what works for them, and then don't deviate. As a CD, you HAVE to deviate. You have to be fresh and change things up. You also have to realize what doesn't work immediately, and change up, because each cruise is a different demographics EVEN if the numbers remain the same. People are different. What works for one crowd, can tank the next.

 

If we can guess your question at the Love and Marriage show AND the answer people give, then ya know what, you need to change your game.

 

One activity I did on the Grandeur many years back was especially fun, but no one does it anymore. They had an improv activity, which had passenger participation. That was a seriously fun time.

 

I second this. Joff Eaton is one of the better cruise directors I've seen, but he seems to do the same, well-honed routine every time. I remember my parents returning from their first sailing with him and saying that the Love and Marriage show was a bit awkward for one of the couples on stage because their children were in the audience. I replied, "And then Joff said, 'Tonight you're going to find out why your middle name is Mondeo'?" And my mum confirmed that yes, that was exactly what Joff had said. Easy to predict - it was at least the 3rd time I'd heard it...

[dolphingirl47]

You may have wondered what the recent questions have been all about.

I have had a change of heart in the past year and actually want to become a Cruise Director myself. Things on land aren't working out and I want to go where I feel my passion truly is.

Therefore, this leads me onto my next point - The reason that I cancelled my plans to do the Symphony Transatlantic was because I had planned that as a perfect opportunity to orientate myself with what the Staff do and essentially gain a better knowledge of the job, and with Bobby running the show, it wouldn't work well. Not because I am a complainer as others claimed.

 

I will continue to run this list and fingers crossed that I am successful! I have got plenty to offer the CD role and some new ideas that I am developing. I also recognize that I have to be CS then AM first, but CD is the goal! :D

Appreciate everything that you all do for the list,

Joe

 

I will keep my fingers crossed for you. I hope you achieve your goal.

 

Corinna

[ncb106]

Joe I'll be your activities manager lol

 

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[Joe12]

Joe I'll be your activities manager lol

 

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Get ready for The Late Night Early Morning Show! ;p

[ncb106]

I think RCL should add a other Cruise director to help Bobby because it a new ship huge it takes a very active staff to run activities on that ship and I think Bobby doesn't has that energy and that mind set to run the ship by himself he need a good activities manager and a very active staff

 

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[Rogueperson]

I second this. Joff Eaton is one of the better cruise directors I've seen, but he seems to do the same, well-honed routine every time. I remember my parents returning from their first sailing with him and saying that the Love and Marriage show was a bit awkward for one of the couples on stage because their children were in the audience. I replied, "And then Joff said, 'Tonight you're going to find out why your middle name is Mondeo'?" And my mum confirmed that yes, that was exactly what Joff had said. Easy to predict - it was at least the 3rd time I'd heard it...

 

I loved Joff Eaton, but I only had him once. His style is quite unique, and therefore I enjoyed him. Will he reuse some of his old stuff. Yeah, sure, but its HIS stuff.

 

I keep harping on him, because he drives me nuts, but I had Paul Rutter last year. He was lame. I've heard his stuff from MULTIPLE different previous cruise directors. Even though it was the first time i've had him, his jokes were drawn from either a bucket of "cruise director stash" or he is just borrowing from other CDs styles. Watching him, you can easily see he scripted himself.