Ireland’s favourite hotelier, Francis Brennan, hits the high seas in a new three-part series as he puts his hotel experience to the test as he steps into senior roles on a Baltic cruise.
The series will follow Francis as he sails into the Baltic capitals onboard Regal Princess, a Princess Cruises ship. During each hour-long episode he will gain an insight into what life is like for the ship’s 1,400 crew members by stepping into the shoes of three of the most senior onboard roles: Entertainment Director, Hotel General Manager and Maitre’ D.
Under the watchful eye of each crew member, Francis will see if he has what it takes to give the ship’s guests the holiday of a lifetime. Francis will try and meet a wide range of challenges, from learning first-hand what it takes to be Maitre’ D and ensuring a smooth service in the ship’s seven restaurants and numerous eateries; to arranging onboard activities for guests with the Entertainment Director; to overseeing the entire ship with its 5,000 guests and crew alongside the Hotel General Manager.
Francis Brennan said: “I really enjoyed making this series. I was very nervous but I just got stuck in. My approach was that I was simply working on a floating hotel so I did it all – room service, made attempts at cooking pizza and I started off by bringing passengers on an orientation tour. There’s just so much going on all the time, from early morning to late night entertainment. Of course I had a few obstacles to overcome and at one point, for the first time in my life, I was actually speechless.”
In keeping with Francis Brennan’s Grand Tour, this new series will see Francis host a number of guided shore excursions, exploring all that the Baltics have to offer. The ship will sail from Copenhagen as guests take in Stockholm, Helsinki, St Petersburg, Tallinn, Berlin and Oslo.
