Cruise Directors: A Job as Big as the Ship They Sail In

Some play it straight. Some steal the show. Some are even in the show.

They’re all front and center. It’s tough to ignore your cruise director.

Ever since Julie’s voice penetrated the PA on the “Love Boat,” the cruise director has become a pivotal presence on ships. Part customer service rep, part salesman, part cheerleader, part actor—and even sometimes, part comedian—the cruise director is, undoubtedly, the most visible crew member onboard.

The cruise director tells us what’s going on every day, and what we should spend more money on. “He”—because in 20 cruises+, we’ve only had one “she”—hobnobs with cruise loyalists, and is quick with a handshake and small talk.

He emcees events—indeed, can make or break them. There’s been more than one “Love and Marriage” game show where the CD came to the rescue with a nudge, a tease, an innuendo—anything to liven up the contestants.

Kicking off the aqua show on Allure of the Seas

Yet this is only the part we see. Behind the scenes, they’re organizing, managing and keeping the entertainment running smoothly. This piece from Travel Weekly gives a glimpse into what it’s really like. In short, it’s exhausting!

While some cruise directors are laid back, more often they’re not. They’ve got their own TV shows. They hold the mike and grab the attention.

But when the urge comes to try something different, CDs shift to a corporate job, only to find themselves longing again for the shipboard spotlight. That’s where they’re a celebrity—second only to the captain.

Sometimes they even overshadow the entertainers they’re introducing. Some CDs are so beloved by passengers that they become the attraction themselves. Cruisecritic.com forums praise some of them by name. Some threads even track what ship each CD is sailing on. John Heald’s blog charts the CDs on Carnival ships. Disney too posts a schedule not only for CDs, but captains too.

Whether you like your CD in the foreground or background, making you laugh or just giving directions, you have to admire them for the efforts they put into making sure you—and thousands of your cruise companions—are having a great time.

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