No more event staff - what next?!?

[SF49erfan]

We just got off the Veendam. Trivia was only held 4 of the 7 days and no other games. Like RevNeal, I am a self-entertainer, but do enjoy the games as well. Have met so many people that way.

 

That hyper, short guy with dark hair was on the Veendam in January. He was horrible. I would rather have no activities than activities run by him:(

 

Terry

[SakeDad]

... and of course the pay doesn't go up for all the extra work they ask(tell) us to do.

 

Does anyone have any ideas as to what they might be doing instead? Will you miss the event staff? What will be the next to go?

 

How many cruise directors will leave because of this?

 

Is this another Bill Prince genius idea?

 

Just some thoughts and vents from a far-too-recent employee :D

 

Did I work with you on EUDM???:rolleyes:

 

All of this and more is what made me quit. And I realized it was going to get alot worse before it ever gets better. Not to mention on the Eurodam there was NO Cruise Director until we reached Malaga, Spain so everything that is supposed to be set up by them wasn't and Shane was not good at hitting the ground running. Poor dear.:cool:

The DJ ran bingo and several other events, Shane ran most of the sporting and trivia events, the Lounge Tech & I (Stage Manager) had to set-up and tear down all the band events and move those big pianos all over the ship, sometimes with 5 minues notice!!!!!:mad: There were 3 girls that worked the Cruise Department but they had to split time between Kids area, Library and all the other events so unless you had kids you might not have ever met them.

The cast will probably have to start helping out. Currently they have the cushiest jobs as unless they are in shows that day they don't do ANY work (some do work for the art auctions) and can have several days in a row when they do NOTHING if there are guest artists in the theatre. I'm sure they will protest it and if Bill Prince doesn't want it, it won't happen!

[iancal]

I just wish the steel band would play more often and stay longer on those warm days when I am sitting by the pool reading a good book and enjoying a cold one. Seems to be the same on most of the cruise lines we have been on in the Carib. We get a 1/2 or 1 hour set and the band is gone-[perhaps to another venue.

[tjcox9]

As for the comments on bingo being a money maker..........

 

Recently on a 21 day Prinsendam voyage, we heard that some bingo activities were cancelled for lack of participation. And then toward the end of the trip, when I would have expected the jackpot for the BIG game to have reached at least $2000, it was announced that the pot was $600. Big money maker, I think not on this trip. But then, the Prinsendam is a smaller ship and probably draws a somewhat different passenger type for a 21 day itinerary than the shorter ones. But, I've been on other 21 - 30 day trips on the same ship when the jackpot did grow to a more substantial amount.

 

Makes no difference to us as we don't play, merely an observation.

[RedmondCruiser]

So I've heard that HAL is phasing out event staff (AKA cruise staff/cruise activities staff/assistant cruise directors). Another in the long line of entertainment cutbacks... from memory some positions that have gone recently which have resulted in more work for the remainder include:

Crows Nest band (Hello HALCats *boo hiss* / showband!)

Explorations Cafe Manager (Hello Event staff!)

Snr Assistant cruise director (hello Event Manager and DJ!)

Youth Program Director (Hello Event Manager!)

Music Director (hello Event Manager!)

 

and now Event staff (Hello Cruise Director!)

 

... and of course the pay doesn't go up for all the extra work they ask(tell) us to do.

 

Does anyone have any ideas as to what they might be doing instead? Will you miss the event staff? What will be the next to go?

 

How many cruise directors will leave because of this?

 

Is this another Bill Prince genius idea?

 

Just some thoughts and vents from a far-too-recent employee :D

Where does this information come from ?? For some reason I have doubts about this type of staff move. Could you please clarify.

[SakeDad]

I do remember one day on the Eurodam maiden voyage that it was canceled because not enough people showed up...but I think we were in port that day. We would just set the machine up in the showroom and leave and the DJ ran it.

[usha]

I do remember one day on the Eurodam maiden voyage that it was canceled because not enough people showed up...but I think we were in port that day. We would just set the machine up in the showroom and leave and the DJ ran it.

Oh, well, why not?

It takes more talent to run a BINGO game than it does to DJ, anyway...:rolleyes:

[vanders]

Hi everyone. To answer some of the questions raised:

 

* I'm not a disgruntled former employee, just a very cynical one, who's glad he got out when he did.

* The info came directly from the Seattle office in an email

* No I didn't work on EUDM, just finished on the SADM - but I could be one of a number of entertainment serfs, couldn't I?

* Bingo Math, total prize grand snowball jackpot is only about 25% of what's raised. (I think, I never did the math...)

 

 

Oh, and Gold Chipping is held in the Neptune lounge for the super deluxe suites ;)

 

Happy to answer any other questions!

[Copper10-8]

...............Happy to answer any other questions!

 

If you don't mind,

1. Are the cut backs to the Cruise Activities staff fleet-wide?

2. What's with the "Party Planner" and the "Techspert"? (both on Eurodam)

3. What part of what used to be done by the CD or his/her staff is now done by the "Event Manager" and are those folks former cruise staff?

4. Did all those former Cruise Activities Staff members lose their jobs?

5. How is Captain Consen doing?

Thanks for your time!

[Copper10-8]

BTW, I remember you now from a year ago here! The sax player and the Wang Wang recipe! Hope you tried at least one and sorry things didn't work out on HAL - Good luck to you in your future endeavours

[vanders]

If you don't mind,

 

1. Are the cut backs to the Cruise Activities staff fleet-wide?

 

2. What's with the "Party Planner" and the "Techspert"? (both on Eurodam)

 

3. What part of what used to be done by the CD or his/her staff is now done by the "Event Manager" and are those folks former cruise staff?

 

4. Did all those former Cruise Activities Staff members lose their jobs?

 

5. How is Captain Consen doing?

 

Thanks for your time!

 

1. I would assume so - the email said "We have experienced a staffing restructure and the Event Staff position is being phased out".

2. Party Planner is supposed to organise/host cooking demos, cocktail parties, VIP parties etc. BUT when I left they were being used as another event staffer as well.

3. Event Manager took over the admin side of the CD's job - schedules/daily program/organising parties etc. Then they had Music director heaped onto them as well. For what they get paid they are way overworked IMHO. They also don't know how to schedule music, since most are not musicians. but that's my little grievance :)

4. Not sure, a few got promoted recently, alot have left the company, and I know a few who weren't even given the courtesy of being told the position was being phased out, they just didn't get any responses from the office. Some are being offered Youth Staff or Librarian.

5. When I left, Captain Konsen was doing Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!!!

 

[Jade13]

As for the comments on bingo being a money maker..........

 

Recently on a 21 day Prinsendam voyage, we heard that some bingo activities were cancelled for lack of participation. And then toward the end of the trip, when I would have expected the jackpot for the BIG game to have reached at least $2000, it was announced that the pot was $600. Big money maker, I think not on this trip. But then, the Prinsendam is a smaller ship and probably draws a somewhat different passenger type for a 21 day itinerary than the shorter ones. But, I've been on other 21 - 30 day trips on the same ship when the jackpot did grow to a more substantial amount.

 

Makes no difference to us as we don't play, merely an observation.

 

What makes a HUGE difference to us is who is running Bingo. A couple of years ago (this was on Veendam) someone named Scotty (not Scott - he did Bingo on another ship) was a lot of fun. We actually came and spent money every day. They also had a traditional Bingo board. Than on the next trip we had someone (Scott was an assistant) who just was plain boring, plus the electronic bingo was very hard to see). HAL lost our money as we did not go as often. I wonder what happened to Scotty? He did other events as well and I think may have been moving on to Ryndam (or another ship) in August 2006.

[SakeDad]

Happy to answer any other questions!

 

Not sure if you followed my saga (played out here on the boards a LITTLE:rolleyes:) but I'd love to talk privately! Email me at VegasPlay at cox dot net when you can! I'd really appreciate it!;)

[Krazy Kruizers]

KK:

Was the Veendam guy rather short with dark hair? Hyper at times? Sounds like our sarcastic trivia leader. He also did 14 day accumulative trivia but did give daily prizes to winners.

 

Never heard of gold chipping...but would be interested in trying it.:eek: DebC.

 

That's him -- DJ Mike!!

He was rather nasty to a couple of teams.

We chose not to join a team as we didn't want to be locked in every day -- some times we did other things.

OHHHHHHHHHH -- I meant to type GOLF chipping.

But over a year ago we did have Bear Droppings -- nothing cute like that any more.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We had the Party Planner on our Westerdam cruise. She was in charge of the cooking demonstrations -- talked about what the chef was doing -- asked him questions about what he was doing something a certain way, etc.

She was in charge of the Napkin folding classes, etc.

We really didn't care for her.

But we did notice that there were a lot less Activities staff members on the Westerdam compared to our cruise on the Veendam just a couple of weeks before.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Hi everyone. To answer some of the questions raised:

 

* I'm not a disgruntled former employee, just a very cynical one, who's glad he got out when he did.

* The info came directly from the Seattle office in an email

* No I didn't work on EUDM, just finished on the SADM - but I could be one of a number of entertainment serfs, couldn't I?

* Bingo Math, total prize grand snowball jackpot is only about 25% of what's raised. (I think, I never did the math...)

 

 

Oh, and Gold Chipping is held in the Neptune lounge for the super deluxe suites ;)

 

Happy to answer any other questions!

 

Thanks -- I think!! ;)

I knew I shouldn't be trying to work outside in the sun -- GOLF!!

[kryos]

On those long cruises, like the Grand voyages, where they still have gentlemen dance hosts, they are assigned to help out. And, of course, the Guest ministers are "asked" (ordered) to help too. On the shorter cruises, were there are no gentlemen dance hosts and where there's only a Catholic Chaplain, I don't know what they do.

On some cruise lines, the entertainers have to work cruise staff duties so many hours a week too. I don't think HAL has had that policy, but Princess and some other lines do. So, maybe that's where HAL will get the extra help ... from the cast. And, in some respects, it's understandable. If they only do two shows in a week, what do they do on the other five days? They could spend a couple hours a day on non-performance nights helping out the cruise director.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Krazy Kruizers]

I can remember when the Explorations Cafe was first introduced -- there was not a full time person working there -- in fact -- the cruise staff and some of the cast members dividied up the hours between them to man the library.

[kryos]

Part of this is more than just cut-backs in cruise staff in an attempt to save money. It's actually cut-backs in cruise staff in order to free up crew cabin/bed space for more dining stewards, etc., for other departments.

And that is the one disadvantage of a smaller ship ... HAL has less crew beds available and thus must allocate them very carefully. The huge ships that are newer probably have a lot more space for crew/staff and therefore can afford to have more people for things like events. But HAL has to double up on staff duties to get the most bang for their buck out of the staff they do bring along.

 

I just got done reading a book ... Permanent Passenger. It was written by a former ACD on Carnival. Man, those guys do have it relatively easy ... at least when you compare them to other positions on the ship, such as the waiters and cabin staff. On port days they have almost nothing to do, so in many cases they jump on tours for free and then "evaluate" them for the shore excursion staff. It is almost like they are passengers ... just paid ones.

 

So, I would imagine HAL is taking a serious look at certain functions on the ship, such as the entertainers and the cruise staff ... and seeing where they can "double up" so as to open more cabins/beds for people who are really needed.

 

I wonder how this change is going to affect stuff like dance hosts, onboard lecturers, etc.? I would imagine on most shorter cruises they will be eliminated entirely? I can just imagine the dance hosts only being offered on formal nights, and then being people from the entertainment department. Lecturers might be people in other functions ... like bridge staff, etc. ... maybe even passengers with a particular expertise who will be "compensated" with some OBC or whatever.

 

I know on my Hawaii/South Pacific cruise back in 2006, the four dance hosts were sleeping in what was basically a converted cabin steward service area. They had two sets of bunk beds in there and a curtain separating the area from the hallway. They were not happy, and I don't blame them. But that cruise was 100% booked and HAL simply didn't have two cabins available to allocate for them. So they got the hallway. I would imagine they used the public restroom on the floor, and maybe a crew shower area. Of course, the "hallway" they were in wasn't air conditioned either.

 

I think the days of "cushy" jobs on HAL may be coming to an end. :(

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[allen.crawford]

That's him -- DJ Mike!!

 

He was rather nasty to a couple of teams.

 

We chose not to join a team as we didn't want to be locked in every day -- some times we did other things.

 

 

Yeah, not only was he nasty to a couple of teams, he was nasty to me. He insulted me before all of the players. I sure hope we don't see him on any of our next cruises.

 

We have had some GREAT CDs. While we may not participate in all of the events, our participation rate has definitely been affected by the spirit of the CD and staff. On some cruises, we went to more of the bingos because the caller and his team were a lot of fun. We also participated in more of the "dam bucks" events because we enjoyed the positive spirit of the event staff.

 

Would we pay more for a cruise with great Event Staff?? YOU BET!!

[Roboat]

These cutbacks are real. I saw this ad in HAL's "Cruise Positions Available" website:

 

Ship's Doctor

Requires 10+ years experience as MD, licensed in US, prefer cruise ship expereince. Must handle a wide variety of medical and non-medical tasks, including

• diagnosis and treatment of injuries and illnesses
  
• coordination with medical personnel at ports, as required
  
• consultation regarding common seaborne virus treatment and containment;
  
• clearing tables between dining seatings;
  
• prefer candidate who is multi-lingual, can play several musical instruments, and is experienced in stand-up comedy.

[RedmondCruiser]

Vanders - Thank you for responding to our questions. We have far too many people come onto these boards, make a bold statement, and then disappear without any clarification. I hope that you stay with this board, we would appreciate your imput.

[hammybee]

These cutbacks are real. I saw this ad in HAL's "Cruise Positions Available" website:

 

Ship's Doctor

Requires 10+ years experience as MD, licensed in US, prefer cruise ship expereince. Must handle a wide variety of medical and non-medical tasks, including

• diagnosis and treatment of injuries and illnesses
  
• coordination with medical personnel at ports, as required
  
• consultation regarding common seaborne virus treatment and containment;
  
• clearing tables between dining seatings;
  
• prefer candidate who is multi-lingual, can play several musical instruments, and is experienced in stand-up comedy.

 

Cute. :D

[JimVrhovac]

Got a good laugh out of that one.

 

Thank you

 

Ruth & Jim

[JimVrhovac]

Rember whenb:

 

-Video labrary was handled by the fron desk staff and did not require another person.

 

_Library was staffed by a performer.

 

-The card games where staffed by an entertainer.

 

When you think back HAL is just going back to the way some things were done before....

 

You hear so much on the board about getting the "cheapest price" and ehern HAL cuts services to keep the prices down we complain. We cannot have it both ways.

 

For us we would rather have the services and a fare increase....

 

 

Ruth & Jim