Freedom of the Seas Profile
Freedom of the Seas Photo Tour
Freedom of the Seas deck plans
Freedom of the Seas menus
Freedom of the Seas captain interview
Freedom of the Seas cruise director interview
Freedom of the Seas Photo Tour
Freedom of the Seas deck plans
Freedom of the Seas menus
Freedom of the Seas captain interview
Freedom of the Seas cruise director interview
Abe Hughes is well-known to guests on Royal Caribbean ships. He has served as a cruise director on every class of ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet. His recent assignments have included Harmony of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas, both of which he speaks of fondly. However, his favorite is Freedom of the Seas.
“I have always loved this ship. I actually did the take out of this ship back in 2006. I was the assistant cruise director then. This was the first ship that I was promoted to cruise director on. When they talked about me returning to Freedom, I sort of beamed a bit. I love this ship.” The cruise director is the face of the ship. Guests see the cruise director introducing the evening shows, on the television, and at parties and events. Typically, the cruise director is the most readily-identifiable ship's officer and guests often come to regard the cruise director as someone they know. “On day number one, nobody knows who I am. By the final day of the cruise, everyone knows who I am. The very next day, nobody knows who I am again. I gain popularity through the cruise. By the end, everyone is taking selfies, we are all friends and its great and then the very next day, I am back to being some random guy with a name tag.” To reduce this roller coast effect, Mr. Hughes has a Facebook page and has started his own website so that guests can communicate with him before and after their cruises. Mr. Hughes brings a great deal of energy to his time in the spotlight each day. His motivation is straight forward. “It is fun, it is really fun. I suppose when I stop having fun is when I need to hang it up. You see people at their best. You see people on vacation, You see people who have worked incredibly hard to be here. They have saved up for a year and they have had this cruise marked on their calendar. I walk into a room and there are a thousand people who are there to have a good time. It is a positive environment to be in and that is an easy motivation.” Behind the scenes But being in the spotlight is only part of a cruise director's responsibilities. “I have always figured that what the guests see a cruise director do in the public eye is only about 30 or 40 percent of what we do.” A large part of the job is planning and scheduling the entertainment and activities that will be presented aboard the ship. This aspect of the job is called “programming” and the “the idea is to make everybody happy. It is kind of making sure that there are things for people to do. Programming-wise, it is making sure that everyone from the littlest to the eldest enjoys themselves.” Programming for a ship varies depending upon the length of the cruise due to differences in the demographics. “Three or four day cruises generally have more of a party atmosphere. Weekend warriors looking to party, party, party. Longer cruises, much more relaxing. Who can take 14 days away from work? You lean toward the retired. The seven day cruises are the perfect mix in my opinion. You have people looking for getaways, couples, families, mulch-generational families, You just get a wide variety.” Another factor that affects programming is the class of ship. |
“Programming an Oasis class ship, you need to distribute the people throughout the ship and not have them congregate in one area. You need to have shows going on at the same time, you need to have activities on one end of the ship and activities at the other end just to keep the flow moving. On those ships, there is a great amount of choice and decisions that you [the guests] have to make. You can do it all but you have to plan out your cruise. That is why the reservation system has come into play and we are able to help guests manage their experience on that class of ship.”
“On here, it is a little more based around dining. If there are 5:30 and 8 o'clock dinner seatings, you know that half of the ship is going to be in one dining seating or the next. When you know that, you can schedule a 7 o’clock show that will be done by 7:50, which will allow guests to get into the second seating dinner. You do a 9 o'clock show for the guests who eat at 5:30. It is much easier to manage guest flow on this class of ship. It is traditional in a sense that you have dinner and a show or a show and dinner then a big event such as 70s night when everybody is out of dinner and everybody is out of a show.” The cruise director is also the head of a large operation involving numerous crew members. “On board this particular ship, about 110 people report to the cruise director. The production cast; the ice cast; all the sound and light technicians; rigging specialists; stage hands; two production managers; all the Adventure Ocean staff; the sports staff that do the rock climbing wall, the Flowrider etc.; all the cruise director's staff obliviously; broadcast technicians; all the musicians, not just the orchestra but the pub entertainer, the piano entertainer and all the little bands. Anything involved with fun. I have a great set of managers but as a division head [responsibility] inevitably falls into my area.” In addition to providing direction and supervising the work of his division, Mr. Hughes also gets involved with the crew's problems and concerns. “When you have a small city of 1,400 crew members living and working together, there may be a little bit of drama here and there. Royal Caribbean has a great human resources program and a great crew welfare program but often times I will be getting involved. Making sure the crew are having a great experience aboard the ship because happy crew equals happy guests.” Yet another aspect of the cruise director's job involves the safety of the ship. Typically, the cruise director is the one who makes the announces during the passenger emergency drills at the beginning of each cruise and often during the course of a voyage. “It is a familiar voice. Between myself and the captain, we'll get the communication out as needed. Safety is number one.” Above: Hughes (center) leads a dance party in Freedom's Royal Promenade.
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FOR MORE ABOUT CRUISING ON FREEDOM OF THE SEAS
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Cruise ship interview - Royal Caribbean International - Freedom of the Seas - Cruise Director Abe Hughes