guest relations director celebrity cruises

DANIEL THOMAS

Hospitality Professional

A brief introduction...

A driven, proactive and ambitious professional with expertise in the luxury hospitality and cruise industries.   Achieved breakthrough results whilst fast-tracked through finance and operational roles in corporate and front of house environments.   Embedded three new management roles within two luxury cruise brands, paving the way for transformational change whilst achieving revenues in excess of $100M PA. Reputation for having strong interpersonal and management skills including coaching, motivation & developing individuals and future leaders.   Excellent communication and presentation skills in regular face-to-face interactions with executive leadership, HNW clients, plus experience in working with different nationalities and cultures.

Headline Experience

Hotel Manager 

March 2023 to Present 

Guest Relations Director 

September 2021 to March 2023

Project Manager 

Fixed Term Contract: November 2020 to September 2021 

Revenue & Communication Manager

February 2019 to February 2021 

Business Manager: Cunard Onboard Sales & Direct Corporate Partnerships

January 2018 to February 2019

Senior Loyalty & Cruise Sales Manager

May 2017 to January 2018

Loyalty & Cruise Sales Manager

December 2015 to May 2017 

Personal Cruise Expert

September 2013 to December 2015 

For more detailed information on experience, click here

Cardiff Metropolitan University – Business Management 

Peter Symonds College, Winchester U.K. 

September 2011 to June 2013

• Business Studies 

Interview with That Happy Italian: Cruise Director with Celebrity Cruises, Giuseppe Moschella

Giuseppe Moschella is the kind of guy who makes you feel better about yourself, simply by being in his presence. You know radiant energy is real when you’re in his company. You can’t help but laugh, smile, and feel better, lighter, and happier around him (even after a long day of cruising or touring a port). 

He’ll take any passenger’s mood from low to high in a heartbeat, with a joke about his impeccable wardrobe (especially his shoes) or mention of his Sicilian mama. 

It’s impossible not to take note of a Cruise Director when you’re on any ship, big or small. Yet they often don’t make as everlasting an impression as Giuseppe. 

We were blown away by his presence, his happy demeanor, and his natural on-stage showmanship throughout our week-long Celebrity Apex cruise. Yet, it’s not an act: we found that even in one-on-one interactions with Giuseppe, he was the same guy having a personal conversation with us as he was on stage, making a sea of guests giggle in their theater seats. The man is genuine. 

He’s a happy Italian whether on stage, interacting with the crew, or talking to you and your partner as you stop to say hi to him in the ship’s hallways. His former Instagram name “@thathappyitalian” is befitting and not accidental. (His new IG name is @ thatcrazysicilian.)

When we couldn’t stop thinking about our favorite things from our journey on Celebrity Apex after our cruise – from The Retreat to the food, scenery, and crew – a conversation surrounding how impressed we were with Apex’s Cruise Director, Giuseppe, kept coming up.

That’s why we knew we had to sit down with him to dig deeper into his life, career, and thoughts on being a Cruise Director. 

What transpired during our video conference call – while he was on Celebrity Apex, of course – was a conversation with a man anyone would be proud to know. He also makes you fall in love with Celebrity Cruises over and over again. 

Giuseppe is a person who inspires his team and is there for them in more ways than you can imagine, connects with guests in multiple languages while going above and beyond the call of duty, and still manages to keep a smile on his face with his positive attitude and upbeat outlook on the world and life, always. 

Our interview with him will give you a behind-the-scenes look at what a Cruise Director really does versus what the appearance of a Cruise Director to a guest may be. He’ll also peel back the curtain on what it’s like to work for Celebrity Cruises and his personal journey within the company. Let’s dive in. 

P: It seems like you were born to be a Cruise Director with Celebrity Cruises. Can you delve deeper into your journey with Celebrity, from your initial hire?

G: I was hired by Celebrity in 2016. I applied in December 2015, on a night when I didn’t know what to do with my life and I found a job in Miami, thinking I was going to move to Miami and work in Miami. I didn’t know I was going to get on a ship going from Miami back to Italy!  

I was hired by Celebrity Cruises in 2016 and started to work on Celebrity Eclipse in April, where I was the main translator. English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian – the main six languages. And I had just learned Portuguese because Celebrity, at the time, told me they needed someone who spoke Portuguese as well. 

I had just finished university – I had just graduated – living in Germany. And I said, “I guess I’m moving to Portugal next month!” So that’s what I did.

P: So you speak six languages? 

G: I speak six languages, all with an Italian accent.

P: You moved to Lisbon in between the time Celebrity Cruises hired you and you started your job in April 2016? 

G: I took three months to learn Portuguese because I already spoke Spanish, French and Italian so I thought it was going to be easy so I would just get on a ship and be able to provide my service, which is what they were asking for at the time – they were asking for multiple languages. They just didn’t know I had a very thick Italian accent! 

I moved to Lisbon and found a random job, just to be there. I was hanging out and engaging with a lot of locals so I could learn all their words and more about the culture as well. Because Eclipse was going to Lisbon after it left from Florida. 

I boarded the ship in America and went back to Europe. I thought, “Oh, here I am! I’m in America!” Then, “Buh-bye.” 

P: That was your first time in the United States? 

G: First time, ever, in the United States. Before that, I had a dream I wanted to go to New York and I didn’t do it. 

My family bought me tickets when I turned 18 because they knew it was my biggest dream. But I didn’t go because I wanted to get there on a ship. Because all the Sicilians in history – 1890s to 1920s – they all moved to New York, New Jersey and many other places from Sicily on a ship. So I thought, “One day I’m going to get there on a ship or something.” 

I actually did with Celebrity Eclipse, back in 2017 I think it was, when we did Amsterdam to New York. And I got there on a cruise ship and it was just beautiful. For me it was a dream coming true. I have a picture somewhere of me with the New York skyline behind me. “America!”

P: What positions did you previously have before you were offered the role of Cruise Director?

After I was an interpreter and translator, I became Activity Host for five or six months. Then they tried me as Activity Manager for a few weeks. 

I went back home and was waiting to see if I would become Activity Manager or not. Then I went back to the ship and was Activity Manager for a month before I was officially promoted to the position. I held that position for about a year and a half until they promoted me to Cruise Director in 2018.

It was very quick considering I was new to the company in 2016. My first chance as a Cruise Director was in 2018 after only two years. It was GREAT! I still think, today, “Wow, this happened to me.” 

I always looked forward to learning from Cruise Directors, but I didn’t think I was going to be a Cruise Director, myself in such a short time. I thought it was going to take me years. But at the same time I met some people who were telling me, “One day you’re going to be Cruise Director – if not on the Edge, the one coming after the Edge.” 

Sue Denning, who is a huge lady in the business who has been with Celebrity a long time (every guest on the ship knows her) – the first time she met me in 2016, I was an International Host, or a translator and interpreter. 

She told me, “I want you to join the dark side. I want you to be part of the entertainment. I think you can be a Cruise Director opening the new class of ships.” And that’s actually what happened a few years later. 

So I owe my mentors and Celebrity Cruises a lot. 

P: Did you envision yourself as a Cruise Director before Sue planted that seed? 

G: My boss – he wouldn’t like this answer because he was a Cruise Director at the time and now he’s my boss – but when I first saw him, and I went to the theater, I was like, “What’s that job? What does that guy do?” And someone answered, “Oh, he’s the Cruise Director.” He’s in front of stage and does nothing for a living. I want to be that. 

That was my first ever time entering a theater on Celebrity Cruises. 

When I got the job I realized we actually do a lot of things. 

P: So you didn’t know that the position of Cruise Director even existed when you started as an interpreter? 

G: No! No idea! Nothing. 

I didn’t even know what cruises looked like. I read about it in magazines. I had seen some YouTube videos so I knew what they looked like. But all I heard was bad press because I’m Italian and Italian cruises were not going well. 

So in Italy, they weren’t speaking highly of cruises. But when I got to Celebrity it was a completely different world. 

P: One would assume that you pick up languages easily, but do you think you do, or is it hard for you? 

It happens for me very quickly. I had an injury on stage as I was performing about 10 years ago. I tore my meniscus, my cross bone, my tendons – everything that you could break on a leg. And I had to do something because I was laying in a bed for six months. 

I decided to learn English. Then I started learning Spanish. 

Then I started downloading all these apps on the computer, because at the time I didn’t have an iPhone. And that’s when I started learning other languages as well.  I was really interested in languages because I wanted to leave Italy. I love Italy, but I wanted to go somewhere else. I wanted to explore. 

So I was learning a little bit of German, because I thought, “Oh Germany looks so cool! They have these huge concerts, and have these amazing DJs – maybe I want to be a DJ in Germany.” 

Then I was learning Spanish ‘cause I was like, “Oooh, Spanish is the most spoken language all around the world.” There’s Mandarin, Spanish, and then English. 

And I was learning English because I wanted to live in America. It was my dream. I thought, “One day I’m just going to move to the states to live and work there.” This is one of the reasons I started working for Celebrity because I wanted to start working for an American company. 

P: So you spoke German before you applied to school in Berlin? 

G: I had to. They are very, very rigid. So I had to pass an interview but the interview was with three wise guys who were not as wise but they looked wise. And they spoke very high German to me. I had to sit through it on Skype and I thought, “Oh my god this is so hard. Why are they using these words that nobody uses? This is archaic German.” But I had to. 

My university was in Potsdam, which is 20 minutes from Berlin. It’s a very high-end university. 

It’s where the movie studio is where they filmed Inglorious Bastards and some of the most amazing films, filmed in Germany. So I really wanted to get to that area so I could get into the cinema world in Germany and learn more about journalism, TV, and all the communication and media they had in Germany. 

It was tough but I made it. I was the first one to graduate from my class, actually. I was 21 when I graduated and my colleagues who made it, who were in the same course with me, graduated when they were 22 or something. 

P: Speaking of languages, is there a time when speaking six languages helped you connect with guests in a special way? 

G: Always. Every single day. 

I was talking to a friend yesterday and we were in France. We went off the ship, and as we were out, there was a guest who saw me. He said, “Giuseppe, do you speak French by any chance?” I’m like, “Yes.” 

And he was buying stuff so I helped the guest speak French. And then I connected with the guest on a different level ‘cause I gave him a hand outside of the ship and he was like, “Thank you so much for offering me a hand outside, on free time.” 

So I was speaking English and French already that day.  

Then there was this couple from Germany. They didn’t speak much English and they knew I studied in Germany. So we always chat in German, so that day I was talking in German to them as well. 

And I didn’t notice. I didn’t think of how many languages I was speaking on the same day until later, I went to join the Brazilians on the ship. 

And one Brazilian told me, “Giuseppe, I want to apply for Activity Host. I want to work on your team in the future. Can you help me out?” So we were speaking Portuguese as I was coaching him what to say in English for the interview that I was going to give him later and film it. So I was already using a fourth language. 

Plus, on the ship, I speak Spanish to some crew as a joke. Every now and then I walk by the crew mess and just yell something in Spanish and they laugh about it. Because there’s a lot of Latinos on the ship. 

And that day, since I was always hanging out with my best friend, he said, “You always complain you never get to speak all the languages you know on the ship,” because most of the guests are Americans, “But today you just spoke all the language as you were with me.” 

And I was like, “Oh yes, you’re actually right. I forgot about it.” I do it every day but complain because I will sometimes say, “Oh maybe I should be working for another company because on Celebrity I only speak English when I can speak all these other languages,” and the guy was like, “You actually did speak all the languages. Sometimes you speak it with crew but you’re still using it.” 

The crew connects with you on a different level. If there’s some new crew member that has a problem – because at the end of the day I’m the head of the department – so there might be a guy who has to go home because something happened in the family. And he will come to me and if he can speak his own language he connects with me on a different level. He feels more comfortable and confident. 

And it happens. Especially today, you never know. Something may arise last minute and you want to be there for your own crew. 

P: Is there a language you want to learn next? 

G: Before I joined Celebrity Cruises I really wanted to learn Mandarin. Then I realized I didn’t have time because I was always on a ship and exploring the world discovering everything. I want to learn American from “WISCONSIN!”

P: Ha! We like your American accent and desire to learn different dialects. 

G: I definitely want to learn different dialects from the states ‘cause I can playfully make fun of Germans by using their own dialects depending on the area or the region of Germany. I can make fun of Italians in that way too, by using different dialects depending on the region. But I’m not that familiar with American dialects. 

I hear so many on the ship – like sometimes I’m talking to people from Alabama or New Jersey – but I think it would be so funny if I’m talking to a guest who tells me, “I’m from Minnesota,” and I can say a few words like I was from Minnesota but with an Italian accent.

P: Can you speak to how your role as Cruise Director extends beyond someone’s impression of what a Cruise Director does on paper? 

G: I have different duties on the ship. A lot of people think that a Cruise Director is just a person on stage who hosts the shows. 

But right now, at the moment, I have 92 entertainers on the ship – singers, dancers, acrobats, musicians. I’m their manager. I’m the supervisor. 

I’m the one who makes their schedules, approves, confirms, books ship venues, and does a lot of things with them. That’s the side that nobody sees but I really enjoy it and I love being in the preparation and the making of it. 

I’m proud of the process when it works well and then I see the ratings and I see guests happy about it. And they say, “Oh my god, that was fantastic!” and I say, “Yes, me and my team did that together.” It’s a lot of little satisfactions that we get. 

I love the communication with the shoreside office. A lot of people don’t know about this – they don’t even know we have a “shoreside.” Because for them, Celebrity is just a phone line that they call to book a cruise and get some information. They don’t know we have people we are in contact with every single day. 

People where we share our experiences and say, “This is happening on the ship, and we’re going to have many Latino guests on the ship. Can we get a guest entertainer who speaks some Spanish?” There is a lot of planning that the guests don’t know about. And that’s very interesting to see the planning operating on the ship across the whole ship, with every single venue. 

Seeing the guests’ reactions is very beautiful. I love people around me because I just love people. 

And I’m the same in my town when I’m home. I’m home in my town, and I just go in the morning to have coffee in one place. Then I get another coffee in another place because the other coffee guy may get offended if I don’t have coffee in his place. 

And then I just go and talk around…and everybody knows me. Like, they know Giuseppe’s coming! They know around what time I’ll show up – but they know I’m always late because I end up talking to everybody. It’s always been the same in my town. 

It was the same in university because I would always go around and talk to everybody. I’ve been entertaining people since I was born. At school, I was the guy who was famous for telling jokes to the teacher, even if the teacher didn’t like them. I was famous for being the first guy who created some videos to promote student activities. I was the president of the school who would organize all the activities and do everything for the school for the students. 

So I’ve always been that type of guy. Here, I just do it on a more elevated level. A more professional level and I do it in a way that I connect with so many people around the world and it’s beautiful. 

P: Can you give us an example of when a time you know you’ve impacted a guest’s life, as Cruise Director? 

G: I’ll give you a quick example: somebody – today – on the ship approached me at the end of Crystallize, which was our final show and I thanked everybody. 

He said, “Giuseppe, I never told you this but we met on Reflection back in 2019, when you were just promoted to Cruise Director and it was one of your first official cruises as Cruise Director. I really liked you and really enjoyed you. I didn’t feel like cruising anymore because of COVID and everything that happened. But then I saw your IG post on how you promote the brand and how you promote the shows and everything. I booked a cruise. I met you the first day and you gave me confidence in cruising again.” 

He wanted to know where I was going to be next so he could book another cruise. 

P: Do people stop you all the time to take photos with you and talk to you?

G: Yes, especially on the final night. 

P: Do people ask for your autograph? 

G: I was asked for more autographs when I was Activities Manager because people expected me to get promoted to CD. Just in case one day I became famous!

I actually did more autographs when I was Activities Manager than Cruise Director because all of the people were like, “You’re going to be Cruise Director, and one day we’re going to tell everybody that we had your first autograph before you were even Cruise Director.”

P: We know that you have an office on the ship…

G: Which I’m in right now!

P: Oh look, there you are!  G: I have motivational quotes all over! 

[We all laugh as Giuseppe begins to read the quotes surrounding him that he’s hung up around his office…]  

“It takes one person to change your life: YOU!”

“Positive mind, positive life.”

“Your attitude determines your direction.” 

I bought them on Amazon! I put them in all of my managers’ offices because they know I’m the motivational guy. 

P: How often are you really in your office? 

G: True story, that you’ve probably seen on my Instagram: I have musicals on my TV as I am working in my office. So sometimes I play “Mama Mia!” and I’m watching it as I’m working in my office. And people walk by and they’re like, “What’s going on?” And it’s me singing to Mama Mia while sending very important emails. 

I do spend quite a long time in the office because I wake up every morning around 6/7:15, do a quick workout, take a shower, be in the office by 9:00, because we usually have a Director’s Meeting then. It’s myself, Hotel Director, Revenue Director, Guest Relations Director, and HR, Housekeeping Director – all the directors meet together. 

We talk about the challenges we had the day before, what we can do to fix them, what challenges we foresee, and what should we do for the current cruise, the next cruise, and sometimes even a cruise two months from now. 

We all talk and interact and that’s pretty much daily. If it doesn’t happen it’s because we have an early arrival in port so Housekeeping has to be there super early and so does Guest Relations because it’s just a busy day. 

So I get to the office, I check my emails first before I get to the Director’s Meeting. And the emails could be anything. Let me check my last email, so it’s easier!

Okay, so the last email here is “Emergency numbers assigned for crew members” because we have muster stations. So we have crew members and assign them emergency numbers so in case of a real emergency. We know where they’re supposed to go. 

So here I need to approve the fact that they’re assigning some numbers to some other team members because I had changes in my team. 

Another email is I’m rewriting an SOP, because of course it’s a new ship so we are adding a lot of value to the events and improving them to make them more efficient for the guests. So we’re learning from the clientele. 

Now, since this is the first time the ship is in Europe, and we’ve always done seven-day cruises aside from the Transatlantic Crossing – we were in Europe but not northern Europe. 

We’ve always done Athens to Athens, seven days. So now we are rewriting the schedule for what it will be like for a 12-day cruise in the UK. Or 12-day cruise in Scandinavia, going to places like Stockholm where the ship has never been. Places like Helsinki and all that stuff. 

I have the knowledge because I was on another ship and we did that itinerary. This is a different ship with different products and different offerings. 

I have another email about guest entertainers coming on the ship: singers, dancers, magicians. Who else? Comedians. They are all coming on the ship staying for a week or two to perform in the main theater. 

So I’m checking their cabin numbers. Together with the Station Production Manager, we’re assigning them a cabin, we’re telling them when their show is going to be, how many shows are required from them. What’s the nationality count: how many people do we have from a certain country just in case they want to say something in their language, you know? And also for them to be able to appeal to all audiences. 

So there is a lot of communications that we do in the office that guests don’t see but it does make a huge difference in the whole experience. 

P: Are you booking the talent and sending them contracts? 

G: Oh no, no. Not me. 

[We learn Shoreside Entertainment does that. He explains he works with multiple people who all work through the online Entertainment Management System.] 

P: So the entertainers get transferred to you once they’ll physically be on the ship? 

G: Yes, because they go from ship to ship. They don’t only work on Apex. They come for “Celebrity.” 

So let’s say that one guest is performing on my ship for five days. Then the same person is sent to another ship, to go to Beyond to do another five days. He may be performing the same exact show but there may be different requirements. 

For example, we’re celebrating Pride Month in a few days. So we have a person who I know is a huge supporter of the LGBT community and I would ask specifically on this ship, “Can you do a Pride Show and host a Pride Party?” 

So that’s something that we may be doing here but they may not be doing on the other ship because they already have something in mind. 

Entertainment is a huge puzzle (people don’t realize it but Entertainment is very big) and we’re all connected to each other and make everything look shiny, and sparkly, and perfect so that everybody can have a great vacation. 

P: How do you think your theater background has helped you be successful in your Cruise Director role? 

G: I have to say my theater background is not as big as it can get on a ship. Because on a ship it’s a fast-paced world. And even people who have been in theater for years will tell you on a ship it’s so different. It’s just unique. 

‘Cause the performer doesn’t perform and then go home. Performs…then stays on the ship. So gets to interact with the guests. And we’re all about the guests! 

What makes the difference is not about the performance but how we connect with the guests outside of the stage. 

So a theater background helped me because it’s instilled a love for entertainment. A passion. 

Because everything I did could never be compared to the level we have on the ship. And all the hosting I did – even for a way bigger audience because I hosted some events with 20,000 people. But it’s not the same as hosting on a ship. 

When you host on a ship you know they’re going to be seeing you every single day. You know that you’re representing a huge company, which is Celebrity Cruises. 

So you have to deliver information but for the correct channels and in a way where you will appeal to any person on the ship because you have so many different people. 

You may get a person who will get offended if you get a little too edgy. You may get a person who will love you if you get a little bit too edgy! So you have to know how to find balance so that you can make everyone feel appreciated under the same roof. We’re all on the same boat! 

P: You’re really striking a delicate balance with all the guests. It’s a special talent for sure. 

G: I appreciate it. 

P: Speaking of theater, your “sets,” – your bits before a show and after – are incredible! How much are you planning beforehand? Real question: do you have a team of writers who help with that? Are you brainstorming around the dinner table? Are you in front of a mirror kicking your foot up to see if your shoe comes off onstage? What are you doing to prepare for these or are they all improvised? 

G: My theater production manager loves me and hates me for this because she knows that I show up at 6:58pm, two minutes prior to the performance, and I go like, “I just had an idea. We’re going to get started this way. I’m going to do that and we’re going to start the show this way.” 

But she knows and loves me for it. She’s like, “Giuseppe’s always going to come up with something new…last minute. It’s going to be funny. It’s going to be great. But it’s always going to be last minute.” 

But I give her detailed direction, “I’m going to enter from this way, the light is going to go there.” So I have a plan. 

Which is mostly happening in my head as I’m walking around the ship or doing something in the office and typing an email. 

I like changing every cruise. So I change my jokes. I change my bits. I change my clothes. I change everything because it keeps me more motivated. 

In the past, there was a time when I wore the same clothes and same jokes for a seven-day cruise. Then I realized I was getting bored of it. I was like, “Okay, I’m going to change every cruise. I’m going to switch it around and make it more interesting for myself.” Because if it’s more interesting for myself it’s more interesting for the people as well. 

I don’t rehearse in front of a mirror. I don’t have a mirror in my room. 

The 7:00pm show I improvise a lot. Then at the 9:00pm I see what the reaction was from the earlier show and I polish it. I add some extra things and make it better. But don’t tell the guests at the 7 o’clock show they’re my rehearsal studio! 

P: Giuseppe, why Celebrity? What’s special about Celebrity Cruises, in particular, that keeps you coming back and renewing each contract? 

I know the people that run everything and I know that they’re actual people. It’s nice to know that behind an email address, there is a face and you’ve spoken to that face. And you may be remembering the last words they said. You may be remembering the conversation you had at a cafe. 

I remember when the Vice President of Entertainment spoke to me before we launched the show. I was on the Apex and she was inspiring me. She was like, “You can do this! You got this! You got this!” and it was the opening. We had 500 people on the ship and I’m used to having 1,000 when I’m on stage, if not more. 

I was very much not myself ‘cause I’m used to entertaining huge crowds and there were 100 people in the audience. And I thought, “How am I going to do this?” And she was like, “You got this! You got this! Go on stage. They’re gonna love you. They haven’t seen live entertainment in forever. They’ve only watched Netflix. You can do this!” 

It was beautiful. You connect with people on a different level. And Celebrity is a pioneer in the industry. They are very much like, “We want to be the first ones doing this! We really want to show the world that the world is great.”

And I do something when I talk on Celebrity – I do a presentation where I talk about diversity and inclusion. I’m an advocate for this because I have many friends who have struggled in the past, ya know? 

It wasn’t easy in Sicily in a small town, where I’m from, for some of my friends to come out. And for some of my best friends to be able to express themselves. And Celebrity allows people to do that. And by allowing them – it’s not just allowing them, but it’s encouraging them to do it – and I find this beautiful. 

At such a huge company it’s taking a sort of risk. In a world where everyone judges you for wearing the wrong pair of socks (that’s why I don’t wear any socks) they are just really pushing for change in the world. 

International Women’s Day for me was huge in 2020. I’m never gonna forget it, when they had all women on the bridge – female officers leading the bridge. I came from a family where we lived near the port and the captain was always a man. ALWAYS a man. You didn’t even think about a girl being a captain. 

And then you have Captain Kate, who by the way is super close to me especially when we were working together on the Edge and sailed together on the Apex, and I remember me and her just connecting more on a human level, and getting to know her as a human. And then getting to know other people as humans. 

It’s a nice company. They’ve given me so much. 

The first time I got promoted to Celebrity Cruises Cruise Director, I just turned 25. I was 25 years old and five hours. Something like that. 

The first time I stepped up officially but temporarily, was my birthday: fourth of August, 2018. I just turned 25 the same day. So I have a lot of nice memories and it’s great. 

P: Is there anything else you want people to know about your job or Celebrity Cruises? 

G: I just think that cruising is really beautiful. And I was very unaware of this world – I didn’t know what it was – until I tried it myself. So people in the world may not think cruising is a great way of vacationing because they never tried it. 

They like going to just one place, seeing one thing, go to the same restaurant; they don’t realize they can actually do the same thing on the ship because the one place – the “destination” – becomes the ship. 

They can still go to the same restaurant, the same hotel room. But they will have different ports if they want to get off the ship. Different people to mingle with. And they will share a vacation experience with different people. 

But you don’t do that when you go to resorts on land, or just traveling by yourself around Paris. 

It’s beautiful because on a cruise you get to meet people. Cruising isn’t addictive because of the ports you visit. Sometimes you don’t even know where you’re going! Cruising is addictive because of how you’re all sharing the same experience for seven days. 

If something great happens you’re sharing the same great thing. If something bad happens – because it’s life – you’re all sharing the same bad thing together. So it’s a different level of experience. 

These people may change your life. You can meet someone on the ship who is from Florida, like you, and you’re going to see them in Florida somewhere else. 

There are a lot of people who come cruising for the first time as a couple and they get to meet other people. Then they have “cruise friends” and then go on a cruise together. And they book it in advance together on the ship! They say, “Let’s make a commitment right now. We’re going in December on this ship – when are you on vacation and going to be off from work?” 

I find that very interesting. Because you really connect on a friend level that you can never connect on land, by meeting someone at a bar or a restaurant. 

We weren’t surprised Giuseppe’s last sentiments during our Q&A were about people and the interactions between them. He is a people-person through and through if we’ve ever met one, which certainly helps him find success in his career as a Cruise Director. 

Celebrity Cruises is a family that you could, perhaps, argue Giuseppe is the Italian “papa” of when he’s Cruise Director of a ship. His likeability and interactions – with the crew and guests – span many cultures and languages, literally and figuratively. 

Next time you’re considering a cruise we promise you’ll be in for a treat if you cruise with Celebrity. If for no other reason, to spend time with Giuseppe.

Dan and Mikkel Woodruff

Mikkel Woodruff co-owns Sometimes Sailing and Sometimes Home travel websites with her husband, Dan, focusing on small format cruises and couples travel, respectively. They call the east coast of the United States home and travel domestically and internationally, motivating people to seek new experiences and explore new places through inspirational content.

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• Celebrity Cruises

Email address for head of Guest Relations and executive offices

By clojacks , September 26, 2023 in Celebrity Cruises

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We recently had a terrible experience with multiple personnel on board the Silhouette that became so frustrating that we cancelled a future cruise to Japan, even though we will never be able to touch the price we were booked at again. Our situation onboard played right up until disembarkation, when it was finally resolved. At that point, we didn't have time to address our dissatisfaction with high enough staff on board, and decided I would follow up once we got home. I would like to contact the proper offices shoreside, that probably being Guest Relations oversight, and Executive Offices to pass on my treatment and concerns. Does anyone have appropriate email address to contact?

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[email protected]   I have used it for various things, depending on the severity of the issue I have been contacted pretty quickly overall.  

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The Best of Bob Pool: An L.A. storytelling original

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It’s a risky proposition to create a “best of list” for Bob Pool stories in the Los Angeles Times.

Not only are there too many to choose from — more than 4,000 — but there are few shortcuts for finding the true gems. That’s because Pool hated writing for Page 1. He favored economy over length. And the headlines rarely did justice to tales he could weave way inside the old Times Valley Edition, say, on a page next to GE refrigerator ads.

Readers could chuckle at one story Pool wrote for inside the Metro section in 1984, then notice that was one of three bylines he had on the page and that the real winner was at the bottom. In this case, the tale of a Canoga Park homeowner named Jeanette Kohane, whose discovery of chocolate cake smeared on her home (she assumed it was vandalism) led police to a ring that was stealing food from the local school’s cafeteria.

Bob Pool, veteran L.A. Times newsman and observer of the human condition, dies at 79

Pool was beloved by readers for his empathy, humor and wit, and his ability to tell tales about Los Angeles that made the metropolis feel like a small town.

April 28, 2024

Pool, who died Sunday, was a legend in The Times newsroom for three decades. Most of that time, he did not have a defined assignment. His beat was “the Bob Pool story,” a perfect slice of the Los Angeles human condition that many days made reading a newspaper chronicling wars, sleazy politicians, economic distress and environment degradation somewhat bearable.

He had an eye for stories you would want to read. He found people you wanted to know. He respected your time. And he knew how to make you smile (during his early days at the Thousand Oaks News-Chronicle, he knew how to get you interested in a municipal government piece: “Although they’re already up to their knees in sewage effluent, Las Virgenes Municipal Water District leaders agreed Monday night to consider expanding their sewer system to Topanga Canyon.”)

Bob had a desk in the newsroom, but he was most likely out in the field, discovering the unexpected, the surprising and the slightly absurd. In West L.A., he caught up with the head of the Early Typewriter Collectors Assn. — a man in possession of more than 70 machines. But Bob didn’t write it as a nostalgia piece. It turned out he produced the group’s newsletter on a Mac.

“A computer is so much better,” said the Typewriter King.

As Times columnist Steve Lopez wrote of Pool on his 2014 retirement: He’s the ultimate reminder to reporters that “good things happen when you blow off news conferences, set fire to press releases, get out of the office and celebrate the daily drama on what might be the world’s greatest stage.”

Bob, meet Bob. And another Bob

Pool had a knack for orchestrating a story into something more magical. So in 1991, he had an idea when David Rensin and Bill Zehme published the “The Bob Book,” which Pool described as a paperback that aimed to explore the “name Bob backward and forward.”

He arranged to have Times photographer Bob Chamberlin take the pictures and editor Bob Welkos edited the story.

As for the name, Pool found merit.

There has never been a President named Bob or a King Bob or a Pope Bob, of course. But Rensin and Zehme have decided that men named Bob are men who get things done.

True, Bobs do “enjoy a solid sense of sameness.” But they are decent, dependable types who instinctively make the most of a bad situation, according to the book. Bobs are sensible, approachable, likable and reliable. Not to mention predictable.

Nobody named Bob could have ever written “The Bob Book,” said Rensin, 41, of Sherman Oaks. That’s because Bobs are too pragmatic and unpretentious. Bobs don’t wear berets or quote Nietzsche or hang out at Renaissance fairs, he said. “They don’t take themselves seriously.”

Pool used to tell colleagues he was grateful for being named “Bob.”

What would have happened if his parents named him Seth, he joked.

The bellman from Bell who became a bellwether in Bel-Air

Pool always preferred the little guy over the big name. That is why he was drawn to the story of Tony Marquez:

Once the packages went in the box, Tony Marquez’s award was in the bag.

That’s the short version of how a Los Angeles bellhop has won the title of best hotel worker in America.

Marquez is bell captain at the Hotel Bel-Air. It’s the sprawling hideaway in Stone Canyon north of Westwood where cottage-like suites can go for $3,000 a night — and celebrity guests can come with a truckload of luggage.

But schlepping heavy suitcases and trunks around the Bel-Air’s 12-acre grounds isn’t what earned Marquez a national hotel-rating service’s only individual five-star ranking.

Pool ended the 2004 piece with one of his more beloved kickers: “So says the bellman from Bell who became a bellwether in Bel-Air.”

In 1990, Pool spent weeks undercover as a retail Santa Claus, reporting a series of stories that would become Times Christmas classics:

By last weekend, I’d spent three weeks portraying Santa in shopping centers and elsewhere around town. I figured I had the slow-gaited Santa walk down pat. Ditto the Santa talk — the patter about what children want for Christmas, the milk and cookies they plan to leave out for me and the importance of brushing teeth and going to bed on time.

“Santas always wonder about it, but I don’t think you should have any fears about being recognized,” said Jenny Zink, head of the Santa Division for Western Temporary Services, who has hired 3,500 St. Nicks across the country this month. Costumed Santas even go unrecognized by their own children, she said.

But Mrs. Claus was not a believer. “Rachel will know who you are,” she fretted. “You’ll destroy her.”

I was undeterred. To make the test complete, I arranged for several of my nieces and nephews from Valencia to also visit with Santa. Mrs. Claus threw up her hands when she heard that.

Pool closed another in the series this way: “At the end of my shift, I took my aching back home for a long, steaming shower. My beard went for a soak in a bath of lukewarm water and Woolite.”

The guest who never checked out

It’s no surprise Pool was drawn to Thelma Becker, who as he reported in 1988, checked into downtown L.A.’s Biltmore Hotel “on Jan. 7, 1940, and never checked out.”

These days, hotel staff members look after the 5-foot-tall Becker as if she was each one’s mother. She is a guest at the hotel’s annual employee Christmas party. She has her own mail box at the employee mail center.

She was invited into a heavily guarded ballroom for a peek at the silver table settings before the Duke and Duchess of York arrived for a recent formal dinner.

“She knows everything about the hotel,” said Evelyne Gibert, manager of the Biltmore’s pastry shop. “If we do the pastry wrong, she’s not afraid to let us know. She knows the ingredients I put in the pastry. She even knows my husband.”

Becker remembers employees’ birthdays with gifts or, in the case of Biltmore public relations director Victoria King, with a surprise party on Tuesday night at a Mexican restaurant.

“She gives me the funnies from her paper every Sunday,” said front desk clerk Teina Tahauri.

More to Read

I’m an ex-game show writer. Here’s how I make the Los Angeles Times News Quiz fun

March 27, 2024

Letters to the Editor: As The Times’ Olympic press shuts down, readers give thanks for print journalism

March 11, 2024

Letters to the Editor: The L.A. Times publishes top-notch journalism. Let’s hope it can continue

Jan. 30, 2024

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As deputy managing editor for news, Shelby Grad supervises the Los Angeles Times’ daily report on all platforms. He manages a team that includes the Fast Break Desk, the Multiplatform Editing Desk, and editors overseeing A1 and the weekend edition.

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