Graham Seymour, cruise director on Dawn Princess, Princess Cruises
Education: eight ‘O’ levels. He has no formal training for the post of cruise director but believes that personality has been all-important in getting him jobs in the travel industry.
First Travel Job: worked as a RedCoat at Butlins for a season in 1988.
Career Path: contacted Carnival Cruise Lines to find out if any jobs were available in 1991 and was given an interview after managing to make the person in charge of recruitment laugh over the phone. Within a fortnight he had been appointed assistant cruise director on Jubilee. The company promoted him to cruise director on Mardi Gras in February 1993, after which he worked on virtually all of its vessels in turn. Graham was then recruited by Princess Cruises in September 1998. On Dawn Princess, he is in charge of managing all on-board entertainment. He also does a regular stand-up comedy routine himself. Graham has overall responsibility for 98 staff, and is on call seven days a week.
Advice for people wishing to develop a career in travel: “You need to have a bit of personality for this job. I would say that if an opportunity comes your way, you shouldn’t miss it. My goal now is to work in television as a game show host.”