Welcome to the third edition of Ten Questions with Royal Caribbean Fan. This edition features Kirk Detweiler, which many of you have seen aboard ships through-out the Royal Caribbean International fleet!
An Ohio native, Kirk graduated from Kent State with a degree in telecommunications and minors in theater and dance. A veteran of two summers at "Cedar Point." It was at the historic amusement park he was recommended for a job with a company casting for cruise ships and dinner theaters. He first entertained aboard the late SS Independence of American-Hawaii Cruises. He became one of the youngest cruise directors when first landing the position with Royal Caribbean at age 27 and has been at it over 20 years now. He's released two self-titled albums, Some Random White Boy, and Shades of Wrong.
1. How much entertainment do you have to book yourself, as opposed to that which Royal Caribbean books for the sailings?
In the literal sense, the CD's do not physically book the acts. The entertainment dept in Miami does the actual booking, headed by a lady by the name of Jackie Grace, who works mainly through talent agents. The CD's do have an opportunity to request specific acts depending on ship, itinerary, etc. plus we can book new acts, depending on guest reaction etc.
2. How many acts aboard ship are people you know personally?
Well after I work with them, I know them all! But it is about 50-50. I am always coming across performers I have known for 20+ years and it is like old home week!
3. Describe the hardest performer to you've had to deal with onboard ship.
I've been lucky but I have heard some horror stories. Without naming names, I did hear about the time we booked a major star (I won't name names but he runs a yearly telethon!) who insisted on having a treadmill in his suite, and was very particular and demanding about his diet and wanted a blender in his cabin--things like that. I have never really had an awful experience and have some great memories of working with the likes of Ben Vereen, Charo, Jerry Van Dyke, Vic Damone, Bobby Rydell, Jim Nabors, to name drop a few!
4. How much sleep do you get on an average night?
5-6 hours is average, but at my age, I HAVE to have a power nap in the afternoon! And I keep the company who makes Red Bull in business!
5. Does working on a ship with the number of options as the Voyager and Freedom classes present unique challenges to cruise directors, or actually make their work easier?
As cliche as it sounds, the bigger the ship, the bigger the job. On the bigger ships, you have more people working for you and the behind the scene stuff involves more, i.e, HR issues, schedules, evaluations, etc. I do at least one thorough walk around every day so the bigger the ship, the more territory to cover, etc. I became CD in 1989 on a ship that held 700 guests and the job has grown exponentially since then. Back then , I only planned and hosted the entertainment and events, maybe attended one meeting a week and now, the behind the scenes is 75% of the job, so getting "face time" with guests is getting more and more challenging. One thing the bigger ships help you with, however, is the WOW factor. The guests are so bowled over by the hardware, that it takes them a couple of days to come off their "high" about their first impression, so in that sense, the new big ships in some ways make our jobs easier.
6. With Oasis of the Seas as you serve on other ships, do you avoid mentioning what will be “the story” in the industry for the next year?
The Oasis IS the story for this year, and to tell you the truth, after the Allure (the second Oasis), I don't think anyone knows what the next big story is. And if they do, they're not telling. Right now, the industry is finding ways to survive the recession, so that is the other big story this year.
7. With the early mornings and late nights, when does a cruise director find time for themselves?
On our vacations! We work 4 months on and two months off, and the off-time is limited to vacations these days, although I do force myself to the gym a few times a week and once or twice a week I will force myself off the ship to have lunch in a port-of-call to keep my sanity. But even when we are on vacation, it takes awhile to realize we don't have to say hello to everyone at the mall! (I have gotten many weird looks over the years!)
8. Do you think that tough economic times drive people to push to enjoy themselves more than in care-free times?
I have found in my day, that some people can have fun in a paper bag and other people, you could perform a human sacrifice on the Royal Promenade and they still aren't happy. I think with the recession, people are a bit more frugal with their onboard spending, but I haven't really detected a change in how much "fun" they're having. The cruise price has bottomed out which changes our demographic a bit, and puts more pressure on us onboard to make up the difference in revenue. Our ships are still full so that tells us that people's vacations are still very important to them and the fact that we are sailing full is a testimony to our company, that people will choose a Royal Caribbean International cruise vacation over other vacations. (Royal Caribbean trivia: we, as employees, are not allowed to use the word cruise, it is always a cruise vacation! And we are not Royal Caribbean, we are Royal Caribbean INTERNATIONAL! You are not passengers, you are guests, you don't live in a cabin, you live in a stateroom. Oh, I could go on!)
9. How quick or easy is it to gauge the “personality/mood” of a new ship full of passengers, and do you ever adjust your plans during a week based on it?
The staff working the gangway will tell me right off what the crowd is like based on their "aura" when they arrive. I can usually tell how good the crowd is going to be at the Welcome Aboard Show. And YES, we print our Cruise Compasses one day in advance, and this gives us flexibility to change day to day based on our guests. We also get a breakdown a couple weeks before each cruise based on nationality which will also affect our programming.
10. How much input from passengers goes into planning your weeks?
Historically, the "guest satisfaction surveys" are very important to us and if you really look at it, our new ships are designed with guest feedback playing a big part. Week to week, a CD will make changes and decisions based on past feedback, but we also try to surprise people with something new, something unexpected.
