how much effect does a CD have on your cruise fun?

[bmc alabama]

Jamie Dee was probably our most memorable CD.  She was awesome!

[thesmiths]

None.

 

 

[takemetothecruiseship]

22 hours ago, ABQrobin said:

We have had some AMAZING CDs, and some mediocre, and worst is the ones that are just annoying.  Jen is the most annoying ever...

We loved Matt, Mike Pack, Schwartz, Dr E, and our new favorite Kyndall (we had her on Vista last Sept and just found out she is now on the Conquest and so are we in 2 weeks!)

 

CDs can really hurt a cruise but a great one can really be memorable.  

 

here is Matt from last April...

 

 

He was everywhere on ship, all day and all night....and interacted with every person, took photos with everyone, just a real PEOPLE person who loves his job.

 

Mike Pack is awesome!!!!!  We had Leigh Xuereb on our Christmas 2018 cruise on Conquest and he was amazing!!!!

If you do a lot of things the CD is involved in I feel like they can make or break the fun of it 

[takemetothecruiseship]

8 hours ago, sixesandeights said:

Not in the least.  Only three times have I ever even been aware of a CD.  Leigh who was with Royal and was last with Carnival was amazing the two times we sailed with him.  He was present, wild, and made the events he ran outstanding.  The other was the Couple that works for Royal (Cruise Director and Activities Director).  They were TERRIBLE.  The wife was the fakest person I had ever met.  They also ruined the Quest, turning it into a G rated yawn fest.  Other than that on my other......20+ cruises I have been completely unaware of a Cruise Director in either direction....

 

6&8

Leigh is awesome....we had so much fun with him on our Christmas 2018 cruise!!!!

[Nic6318]

On 1/22/2020 at 4:43 PM, FSHLOT said:

Whats a CD? 😁

 

Hi

 

That's what the record companies went to when people who couldn't take care of their records started complaining. CD's were just a fad after all. A few more years and nobody will remember what a CD was. 😃

[ryan_tls]

On 1/22/2020 at 4:00 PM, cbowls30 said:

 

We've had two brilliant ones on vista - Matt mitchem and breeze Schwartz and one fairly dull on magic Simon london and a terrible one on spirit Chloe loddo 

It's funny you say that, because I used to think that CDs didn't make a difference until I cruised with Simon London. We thought he was great, and definitely made our cruise much more enjoyable. 

[dogtaur]

For out first Carnival cruise we had Jase as CD and he was fun and energetic. The while family was quoting him and talking about him for weeks after. Then he left Carnival. The next three CDs we had were duds, especially Ben Lambert. But, it didn't effect our cruise, we still had a great time!

[CarolSW]

I never noticed the CDs UNTIL we started sailing with Carnival.  Most of our cruising experiences up until then were with Royal, with a few scattered sailings with Princess, NCL and Celebrity.  All those CDs were forgettable to us.  Our first Carnival cruise was with Dr. E, and he was a whole different breed of CD that was less an ho-hum emcee, and more of an engaging entertainer.  It was refreshing, and we enjoyed that vibe very much.  It’s one of the reasons we have switched our loyalty from Royal to Carnival.  The only CD since that has reached that same level of excellence that surprised us so much on that first Carnival cruise with Dr. E was Matt Mitchum.  The other Carnival CDs we have had have been enjoyable, and still possess that engaging fun vibe, but Dr. E and MattM set the bar high for personality and engagement.   The cruise director’s staff on Carnival is good too.  I like imagining which ones of the staff would make good CDs.  

[sparks1093]

On 1/22/2020 at 1:42 PM, cbowls30 said:

We've cruised many times mainly on Royal carribbean, norweigan and carnival. We ended up becoming loyal to carnival after our first cruise with them a few years ago. We loved the 'fun' vibe, the interaction with crew and friendly activity staff. Unfortunately our past two carnival cruise's has shown us how much effect on the fun a poor CD/fun squad can have! The past two cruises the entertainment staff and mainly the CD where terrible! Hardly saw the CD around the ship, CD's never taking time to talk to anyone, almost just going through the motions to do what they must, no personality or interest in the guests, and, at times were pretty much rude!. Until recently we never really thought to check who the CD would be before booking a cruise, but in future we will do!

 

Does anybody book a particular ship/itinerary based on who is the CD?

We typically book a year to a year and a half before the cruise so there is no way at that point to know who the CD will be. To answer the subject line question a good CD can make the entertainment a little better and thus enhance that part of the trip, if he or she is a good entertainer themselves. We have had a couple of CD's that don't quite fit that bill but they certainly didn't ruin anything for us, we still had a great time. We have sailed with the same CD before and he was an entertaining one, but his shtick didn't change all that much so I could see that sailing with the same CD over and over again would tend to get old, if the cruises were spaced closer together than a year or so.

Edited January 24, 2020 by sparks1093

[Aplmac]

First few Carnival cruises we did, I was unaware of a Cruise Director!

 

Then came Karl Bird (Karl-wth-a-K?) on Victory

and then Felipe Couto on Valor --they changed everything

those guys were Fun!

 

And as said above, their Trivia Games on Promenade Deck 5
right after the main show after dinner -are The Bomb!

[graphicguy]

Zero affect from whomever the CD is.  Granted, I haven't sailed Carnival in a while, but I'm now looking at some of their newer ships for a cruise.  CD isn't even on my list of things I'll look at when choosing a cruise.

 

I will say the very best CD I've ever experienced wasn't on Carnival, though.  That would be Julie Valeriote on Norwegian.  She was everywhere and tried to talk to everyone on each of the NCL cruises I took where she was the CD.

 

Not sure if she's still with Norwegian or not, though.

 

Wouldn't matter to me while choosing a cruise, though.

 

 

[nissach]

I really could less who the CD is.  Has absolutely no bearing on what cruise I decide to book.

 

[coevan]

after 15 cruises I can only 3 were memorable

[Butterbean1000]

The only CDs I can remember is Matt and Dr E.  As far as the others, I don't remember any of there.

[EBONI325]

In all my Carnival cruises I never knew who the CD's were, never saw them, until I had Emma and then Matt, if you had them you'll remember, they were the best I've ever had.

[EBONI325]

On 1/22/2020 at 6:53 PM, mcgore83 said:

Matt Mitchem.  If you have ever had the opportunity to sail with him, he will set the bar.  All over the ship, interacting with the passengers.  So entertaining, funny, and talk about eye candy.  That is all....

Yes, Matt is awesome, interacts with everyone from seniors to children and yes the children love him also. He's such a friendly and genuine person.

[MontezumasRevenge]

My first cruise ever was John Heald. I thought they were all like this. He set the bar so high that nobody in 11 cruises has even come close.

[cruisinmeme]

Zero effect on my cruise.  Could not tell you their name at the end of the cruise.

[kids1stcruise]

On our last cruise I said —boy this CD isn’t ever around—-lol my 25&23 year old sons said I don’t know what I am talking about🤷‍♀️

hes really good

he was always with the younger age group...on deck and in clubs 

that was good...I was glad they were having a great cruise

i dont book according to CD 

[Happicruzrr]

To me the CD is like salad on the buffet. Nice to know it's there, but I'm never going to use it. That being said we have come to like MarQ who moves around a lot, and our least favorite was Matt Mithchum on the Vista when it was in Europe.  

[Bowman1]

On 1/23/2020 at 12:31 PM, linbobky said:

we have been on 23 carnival cruises and over all carnival has the best cds. also been on 10 ncl cruises. the cds on ncl are really bad.

I agree 100% - the Carnival CDs are one of the prime reasons we consistently sail with Carnival over the other lines that we have tried (RCCL, NCL and HAL)

 

We participate in a lot of the activities (trivia, comedy, deck parties, playlist shows, atrium after shows, Hasboro, Clue, Trivial Pursuit, etc), so the Fun Squad and CD have a big impact on our cruise experience 

 

Our favorites from the current CDs are Mike Pack, Leon and Donkey

 

We are luke warm on Frankie Portera (though to be fair, we sailed with him just as he was shifting off the Miracle for vacation)

 

[Bowman1]

On 1/22/2020 at 5:12 PM, PekingeseLady said:

Emma was our CD on the Panorama, and she was amazing, very visible and always happy and glowing.

This is great to hear - we are sailing Panorama March 14 and we are sssoooo excited for the combination of Emma Nixon and Brittany Boyd

[Cruise-Crazy]

My favorite was Julie, oh, wait..... that was the Love Boat.

 

Some are better than others but I have never booked a cruise based on who the CD was. 

[evandbob]

If the CD has laryngitis, my cruise enjoyment is vastly enhanced.  Carnival has the loudest, most frequent and most long winded and annoying CDs of any cruise line we've sailed.

 

I can easily do without 90% of their announcements.  Only benefit of Carnival CDs was when I realized I knew what they were going to say, I knew it was time to cruise other lines.  What a difference when a CD isn't shilling snake oil every 2 hours or less!

 

Some lines limit a CDs announcements to brief twice a day important announcements.

Edited January 25, 2020 by evandbob

[g-cindy]

I mostly never noticed the CD until my last cruise,  Felipe greatly enhanced my experience.