“What does a cruise director do?” was the question I got asked when I told friends and colleagues that I’d be shadowing one for a day.

Truthfully, I wasn’t really sure. 20 years ago, a cruise director was in charge of pretty much everything on board, including meeting almost every guest. Nowadays bigger ships mean thousands of passengers, hundreds of crew members and entire operations, so it’s fair to say the role had to evolve.

It’s something that Scott Sanders, Cruise Director at Marella Cruises, knows all too well. Scott has been working in cruises for 14 years, and I spend the day with him while he’s onboard Marella Voyager at the start of its summer season in the Mediterranean.

To passengers, Scott is the director they see who puts together the entertainment, does announcements over the PA, appears on the ship’s Cruise Director TV, and introduces the dazzling shows in the 600-person theatre.

Within less than an hour, it’s clear that there’s a lot, lot more to Scott’s job. On the day I spend with him, he’s talking to heaps of different staff members from theatre production teams to musicians, quiz hosts and, of course, passengers.

That’s when he’s not managing the various admin that’s part of the role, including planning the entire entertainment programme and schedule for Marella Voyager’s upcoming sailings in the Caribbean in November.

Our day starts off in his office where he runs over that particular day’s schedule, including calling in a guest act to do an extra performance by the pool for those who’ve stayed on deck during a port day.

It’s a port day, but even with some of the passengers off the ship, there are still game shows, quizzes and live performances to be managed.

“I think the biggest challenge with this job is finding the balance of being sat in the office doing your admin, and being out front with the guests,” Scott admits. “Sometimes you’ll get comments like, ‘We’ve not seen the Cruise Director’ and if that comes in, I don’t sleep for a week, I panic! Now I’ve been Cruise Director with Marella for 14 years, but I think it took me a good year and a half to find that nice balance.”

Later that morning we head over to the theatre where Scott talks me through the logistics of running 12 shows onboard from the popular Glitterball. Performers take to the stage for two shows every night, so Scott works with the stage manager to ensure everything’s ready. Crew will do a dress rehearsal every day before the shows, and if there’s any technical issue or someone’s off sick, Scott is ultimately the person to go to for a solution.

Backstage at the theatre, the 12 performers have their own dressing room complete with a laundrette, as they’re responsible for looking after their own costumes, from washing them to repairs if needed.

The shows themselves are created by RWS Global, who also work with the likes of MSC Cruises and Holland America Line. Crew will spend three months learning the 12 productions before they step onboard the ship, at which point there’s around a 6-week ‘changeover’ period.

They’re clearly a huge highlight onboard, with up to 600 passengers filling the theatre when the ship is busier. “They are the celebrities on board,” Scott says, describing the singers and musicians. “They’re like the West End performers on board, so a lot of guests get quite infatuated. They see the cast, especially the kids - and I always tell the show cast to make a massive fuss of the kids!”

But it’s not just about the people that passengers do see. “My technical team, I call them my Men in Black,” Scott quips. “They look after all of the lighting and sound. Without them, I wouldn't have production shows, I wouldn't have game shows, I wouldn't have quizzes. Those are the people the guests don't see, because they're tucked behind the scenes, but yeah, they run the whole ship!”

In the afternoon, we head over to the Captain’s Bridge. It’s not an area that’s open to guests although you can request tours at reception, but for Scott it’s just another office where he can do his PA announcements across the ship whether that’s updates for crew-only areas, or general news about the entertainment programme that he thinks passengers will need to know.

Those announcements make him extra popular with guests, who often ask for special shout outs - but unfortunately, it’s something that Scott has had to stop doing. “If I do that in front of 600 people, reception then get inundated with guest requests!” he explains. However, he still tries to go that extra mile, for example by adding a special mention in the daily ‘Cruise News’ newsletter all passengers receive, or “sending a nice little goodwill gesture to cabins”.

Of course I couldn't be on the Bridge without sheepishly asking if I could pretend to be Captain, and Scott/the Bridge team kindly obliged. Ultimately, it sums up Scott's job quite nicely; he's keen to make sure that people are having the best time!

It's clearly a responsibility he doesn’t take lightly. He adds: “I get a lot of first-time cruisers saying, 'I can't get over the service, and the food, and the entertainment on Marella,' and I always say, 'You won't find this level of service anywhere else at a resort’.”

What I didn’t realise is just how seriously that passenger feedback is taken. Like most people, I assume that if I fill out a survey it’s given a cursory glance by some customer team in a head office. However, Scott himself actually combs through all of the surveys that passengers fill out, and prides himself on tweaking the programme or entertainment to continue to raise the bar.

“I keep notes on my phone!” he admits, adding that he asks passengers to fill out the forms or leave instant feedback through the onboard app Navigate. “I check that at least 10 times a day,” he adds. Negative feedback gets addressed, but so does positive feedback; in fact, crew will type out thank you letters personally to guests who’ve given them a shoutout.

As for a common mistake people make on a cruise, whether it’s their first sailing or not? “Not asking the right questions early enough in the cruise,” Scott says. To help, he created a ‘New to Cruise’ welcome presentation for Marella guests - it’s been so successful that it’s been rolled out across the rest of the TUI-owned fleet. “[Passengers] get to ask questions and we give them top tips such as explaining that the front of the ship has blue carpet, the middle has red carpet, and the back has green carpet!”

In recent years, feedback has changed as cruises have become increasingly popular with families and younger generations. According to Scott, the more laidback feel of these holidays is playing a key role. “[Cruises are] much less formal,” he tells me. “You don't see many bow ties or ball gown dresses anymore, and I think cruising has now turned into a holiday instead of a cruise.”

Oh, and if there’s one place you want to go for a guaranteed holiday vibe? “The onboard pub is always busy!” he jokes.