A LIFE IN CRUISING
and we’d go around the likes of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth in a little boat. I thought “One day I want to be on one of those!” not knowing that I would be involved most of my life in cruising. Later on, I had the chance to cruise. I initially worked in TV – my dad was a television agent – so I went on TV as a kid. I had some spots with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, and played guitar in the background of a scene with Roger Moore and Burt Bacharach. I also did some TV with Sid James for about three years. I then started working at Eastbourne’s Kings Country Club. We worked with children while I was also the winter DJ at this spectacular club, introducing the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, The Three Degrees and Tommy Cooper. In the summer, I would take care of families with children – very much like we do on cruise ships these days. My dad worked for Mecca International at that stage and I mentioned I might like to give cruising a try and, in 1978, they gave me the opportunity to interview with P&O and Royal Caribbean. RCI were ready to take my wife and I together, so that’s who we chose and we got on a plane to Miami. They say naivety saves you – we
M
stayed at a Howard Johnson on Biscayne Boulevard and went strolling around that evening. When we told people the next day, they said: “You’re lucky to be alive!” So we went on board the Nordic Prince for the next five years, and also on the Sun Viking when the Prince went in to be ‘stretched’ in dry-dock. We started off as sports directors, teaching shuffleboard and the like, with general hosting duties. In a way, we pioneered the Sports Director po- sition as it was an entry-level position back then but is now very highly thought of.
got to be Assistant Cruise Director by 1983, but then we decided it was time to start a family and went back to Eng- land to run a pub for three years in Lewes. I kept in touch with friends at Royal Carib- bean and we’d meet up from time to time, and I heard how well things were going. So I asked about going back and ended up as Cruise Director from 1986-99. I brought out five of their ships, Nordic Empress, Mon- arch of the Seas, Vision of the Seas, Rhapsody of the Seas and Splendour of the Seas.
I
y interest started when I was six. My dad used to work at Selsey Bill and we used to go to Southampton,
I joined the Wonder and was on there
Jim with wife Tracey in their Royal Caribbean days
for 2 years and then went between the two ships for a while. Then I was offered the chance to come back to the office, and I realised immediately how much I didn’t know about office life! Finding out how much I didn’t know about the product, even on things like the design of a show, is very different from the office perspective. That was a huge learn- ing curve for me. I was really proud of bringing fireworks to the ships, though. It was one of the first things I wanted to do; I pushed a lot of envelopes with the powers that be. Safety is always the number one issue for us and I knew it would be a struggle. I didn’t want to do it unless we could do it in a safe way.
It’s the EMOTIONAL CONNECTIONS that I think set Disney apart. It all has to have a storyline and it should be like WALKING INTO A MOVIE.
I had actually decided to leave cruising then, though. I wanted to get back with my family. I was sitting on the deck of the last ship I brought out and got a call from Disney, who said they wanted a Cruise Director. Now, Disney had always been iconic
for me. We had visited Walt Disney World when we first came to Florida and I just fell in love with the stories they told. We knew a lot of people who worked for Disney and I was always a bit jealous! When they called, it felt like my birthday all over again. I was asked to bring out the Disney
Wonder in Venice, so I did some time on the Magic to see how things worked. Having been in cruising for so long it was a real wake-up call. The culture was so different with the focus on guest experi- ence AND on crew experience; that was the most important thing for me, the fact Disney culture was so much about guest and crew alike. It is such an important part of what makes Disney what it is. You can build beautiful ships but, at the end of the day, it is the guest experience with the crew that makes things for them. From the Captain down, there is a different culture.
e obviously couldn’t do it in harbour as you can’t be sure which way the wind will blow but, as we talked things through with dif- ferent bodies, we realised you can control where it goes when you are at sea. Then we had to do it and make sure it
W
was an environmentally friendly experi- ence, so we had to challenge the makers to come up with an eco-friendly firework. Now, when it goes in the sea, it is made of fish food and the fish can eat it! Having new ships Disney Dream and
Fantasy was another great career opportuni- ty for me and it has been such a privilege in watching the company evolve even further. It’s the emotional connections that I think set Disney apart, though. I got my dad aboard, who is 80 now, and he was drawing away at his character for the Animation Show at the Animator’s Palate restaurant, and just to see him draw and watch his image on the screen, it was like watching him in his teens. He was just gob- smacked by it. And to see my daughter and her family on board, they left in tears at the end as it had been so special to them. I am sure we will continue to push the
envelope. For instance, we had great movie theatres on Magic and Wonder but on the new Dream and Fantasy you won’t get better sound or picture in any cinema on land. The experience the guests have on board means you must reinvent yourself, but you don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water. It’s like walking into a Disney movie
and that’s what we will continue to do. It all has to have a storyline and, when these ships come in to port, you know it is a Disney ship. I can’t imagine wanting to do anything else.
Autumn 2013 I WORLD OF CRUISING 65
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84