Current Cruise Directors

[Silly Little Pixie]

Clayton is our VERY favorite!! We love him! what a great guy. Hope he is on our June Alaska (if not I hope it's Christiaan!), or our December 2013 Fantasy for sure. After several cruises with him he knows us and remembers us. I can't imagine how he does that!

 

[wdwishes1990]

We love Peter, but we all have our own faves. He will be on the Magic for Europe leaving in May.

 

[mcd2745]

There's clearly a lot of love for Clayton here, but I wasn't very impressed with him on our 5-nighter on the Dream (CC double-dip) back in August. A big part of that was the (mis)handling of the Pirate Night/fireworks fiasco on our cruise. I actually liked the assistant CD, Trent, a lot more. Was just one of things that, for whatever reason, we kept running into Trent about the ship (hardly ever saw Clayton out and about) and had a few good conversations with him.

 

[mindelmouse]

Peter was on the Magic a couple weeks ago and was pretty clear he was ready to be back in the Mediterranean next summer.

OH YUK!! He's the main cruise director on the Magic, but he's such a dud...has no personality one on one....we got lucky when we did NYC to Bahamas and we had Darren...He was Wonderful

 

[luv2sleep]

Wow. I hope they don't read these threads. They seem to work really hard.

 

[disney1990]

There's clearly a lot of love for Clayton here, but I wasn't very impressed with him on our 5-nighter on the Dream (CC double-dip) back in August. A big part of that was the (mis)handling of the Pirate Night/fireworks fiasco on our cruise. I actually liked the assistant CD, Trent, a lot more. Was just one of things that, for whatever reason, we kept running into Trent about the ship (hardly ever saw Clayton out and about) and had a few good conversations with him.

What kind of problems?

 

[MandyGirl]

Peter was on the Magic a couple weeks ago and was pretty clear he was ready to be back in the Mediterranean next summer.

On our Nov 3 cruise, I asked him if he was going to be on the EBTA (since he was on our 2011 WBTA). He said no, that he would be on vacation then, but would be boarding the Magic when we disembark (June 1) and working the entire Mediterranean season.

 

[mcd2745]

What kind of problems?

The original pirate night, the weather was bad - Tropical Storm Issac was passing to our south. They cancelled the pirate party and fireworks and rescheduled for the next night. That wasn't the problem, of course. Can't blame anyone for the weather.

The next night when they were doing the pirate party/fireworks, they did the whole Jack Sparrow show and when it was time for the fireworks......nothing happened. However, they immediately went into the whole pirate dance party routine. The deejay started with the music, the dancers came out, etc. - immediately. They clearly knew there was some "technical difficulties" and that the fireworks weren't happening. Otherwise, the deejay and dancers and such wouldn't have been at the ready like they were. However, they weren't going to tell anyone beforehand the fireworks weren't going off because they wanted everyone out on deck buying pirate drinks and merchandise. So everyone was left standing around and looking at each other, wondering what was going on. It took about 40 minutes before Clayton showed up to make an announcement about the situation. Waaaaaaaay too long.

People understand that "technical difficulties" and/or other problems can happen. That's not the issue. What's important is how you react and handle the situation. I thought this situation was handled very poorly. And that falls mostly on the CD since it was a problem with the entertainment on the ship.

 

[Disneyof3]

Last March we had Leslie and she was excellent. We always saw her all over the cruise during our 5 night cruise. Now I have no one to campare her to because that was our 1st cruise. We go again in March 2013 and I really do hope she is on it again.

 

[stitchlovestink]

Can I ask why people want to know about the cruise director? Does it change the experience or activities planned on the ship? I've always wondered why people ask about them.

Well we feel that he/she can have the same impact on our vacation as our servers can. They can really psych up the group and all. We noticed a 'big' difference in the 'attitude' of the crowds between the CD's we have had...that is my opinion....

Cruise Directors each have their own personalities - and some people just have Cruise Directors that they prefer.

exactly! Some are just much better and much more personable than others.

Personally, I've always wondered about this also . After 8 cruises on all 4 ships I really couldn't tell you who our cruise directors were. We see them at the shows & various parties, hear them over the intercom etc.. We've had wonderful cruises, usually because of the MDR servers, stateroom hosts & kids counselors. I guess we've just been missing out . Maybe I just need to pay more attention on our January cruise.

it has been our experience that certain CD's are MUCH better about being 'out and about' and mingling with the guests and interacting and showing a GENIUNE interest in whether you are enjoying your cruise. Other CDs just make their speechs and then seem to disappear into the bowels of the ship not to be seen again until they MUST be back on duty... where others show up at the adult venues to mingle, etc... just different personalities, I guess. I just like the ones who are more interactive, like CLAYTON!!

How often do they switch? Christian was our CD on the Fantasy in March and we LOVED him!! We just had Pete and eh...not so much!! I hope Christian is still on the Wonder next August!

And that's how we feel about Christiaan...eehhh, pretty much a dud...he always disappeared never to be seen. Never interacted with anyone. And we weren't alone with that opinion, we talked to other regular cruisers who were there who had the same opinion, he just disappeared and early too!

Clayton is our VERY favorite!! We love him! what a great guy. Hope he is on our June Alaska (if not I hope it's Christiaan!), or our December 2013 Fantasy for sure. After several cruises with him he knows us and remembers us. I can't imagine how he does that!

That is another thing that is really awesome about Clayton is he remembers people and that really means a lot! I know it does to us and it does to DD! He and DD made a pinky promise to take a pic every time she cruises and he is the CD. We already have a progression her with Clayton at age 13, then 16 and then a couple of weeks ago at 17. And last year when Clayton found out she was celebrating her ACTUAL sweet 16 on the Dream, he came and spent about 15 minutes with us at dinner. That really meant TONS to her! Again, I guess each person has their favorite but I really feel like he tries to go above and beyond. Rachel (aka Julie ) was really a sweetie too, but she has since retired from DCL!

 

[kcashner]

They each have their own personalities and obviously their fans, and we certainly have our favorites. However, each does the job to DCL's standards. It is sort of like caring who the captain is--again, we have our favorites, but each is fully able to steer the ship and manage the operation safely.

How much interaction you have with the CD is in part luck and in part up to you. Luck is the "are you around when they are around" or do you happen to run into them in the hall kind of thing. The "up to you" is whether you choose to speak to them at the officer evenings, etc.

Christiaan's back flips are amazing. Peter has the personality of a wet noodle, but he honestly has improved in the last year or so. He's more into being himself and less into trying to imitate Christiaan (which he can't pull off!)

Christiaan was on the Fantasy? We have missed him since he's been "Wondering" on the west coast.

 

[stitchlovestink]

They each have their own personalities and obviously their fans, and we certainly have our favorites. However, each does the job to DCL's standards. It is sort of like caring who the captain is--again, we have our favorites, but each is fully able to steer the ship and manage the operation safely.

How much interaction you have with the CD is in part luck and in part up to you. Luck is the "are you around when they are around" or do you happen to run into them in the hall kind of thing. The "up to you" is whether you choose to speak to them at the officer evenings, etc.

Christiaan's back flips are amazing. Peter has the personality of a wet noodle, but he honestly has improved in the last year or so. He's more into being himself and less into trying to imitate Christiaan (which he can't pull off!)

Christiaan was on the Fantasy? We have missed him since he's been "Wondering" on the west coast.

Interesting! He did one handed cartwheels on our cruise but no backflips. I clearly would have remembered that! They made a big deal of the cartwheels which had they been backflips, well then they would have deserved the bragging of the person introducing him....well imo it would have.....
Well we felt like it was an imposition of his personal time to try to get Christiaan to pose for a picture and this was during the day!! At that point it was like we got the impression he really didnt care about the guest interaction side of his job. Needless to say, it is about the only time I have written a negative comment about a specific CM on the survey card. Honestly, I really thought he was rude. If he had something he needed to take care of, all he had to do was say so. But he had a crappy attitude and it didn't seem to be any better the other times we saw him around the ship that cruise. Maybe it's better now, but IMO it stunk on that cruise. Oh, and we never did get a pic! lol



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[kcashner]

We were on the ship the night that DCL authorized the CMs to announce the first Alaska bookings. Christiaan got up on the stage and made the announcement, then launched into a series of backflips....reclaimed the microphone and said "that was just in case any of you were wondering what the crew thinks of the Alaska cruises." He wasn't even winded.

I can't explain the attitude you experienced. As you said, if he was busy, a simple "I can't right now, but catch me in the lobby tonight" would have handled the situation. We've seen him in port and exchanged a 10 second comment in passing. Sure, he kept walking, but he was appropriate. He's always seemed like one of the friendlier of the CDs.

It could just be me, but in the last few years the CDs seem to be turning into more of "business execs" and less of the friendly, public face of the cruise line. Both are aspects of the job, but it makes me wonder if the business part of it is taking over.

Ah well.....we still miss Jacqui.

 

[tvguy]

Did Rachel Quinn move on? She was like the Senior Cruise Director.

 

[kcashner]

Did Rachel Quinn move on? She was like the Senior Cruise Director.

Rachel was the "Executive Cruise Director" on the Dream. This is the same position held by Christiaan on the Wonder and Brent on the Fantasy. She left DCL to accept a position in entertainment at Animal Kingdom.

 

[woody73]

Just got off the Fantasy yesterday and Ray was the director on that cruise.

We sail on the Fantasy next week. Any thoughts on cruise director Ray?

Woody

 

[kcashner]

We sail on the Fantasy next week. Any thoughts on cruise director Ray?

Woody

Ray is a good guy. We had him with Natalie as the ACD. Natalie is a bit more "Miss Personality," but as a team they were great.

We've also noticed an expanded role for the ACD on the bigger ships; events that were handled by the CD are often turned over to the ACD....or maybe she was just out and about more than we'd seen on the Magic.

 

[Cruisin Castaway]

We sail on the Fantasy on 12/15. Any ideas if Ray will still be the cruise director or if it will be Brent?

 

[mkmommy]

It could just be me, but in the last few years the CDs seem to be turning into more of "business execs" and less of the friendly, public face of the cruise line. Both are aspects of the job, but it makes me wonder if the business part of it is taking over.

Ah well.....we still miss Jacqui.

I think you are correct. There used to always be a thread about the cruise directors, and how everyone loved a certain one, but you just don't seem those threads much anymore.

I guess like any company the bigger you get the more procedures and paperwork take over.

 

[woody73]

Ray is a good guy. We had him with Natalie as the ACD. Natalie is a bit more "Miss Personality," but as a team they were great.

Thanks. Hopefully we'll have "team Ray and Natalie."

Woody