Phil Dargan

I live near the historic town of Stratford upon Avon which is well known throughout the world as the birthplace of William Shakespeare. I have been happily married to my wife Susie for thirty three years and have one son James who is a Doctor at St Thomas's hospital in London.

I started my career with British Telecommunications in the early 80’s and spent many happy & successful years in the industry allowing me and my family to holiday in wonderful destinations all over the world including Europe, North & South America, Africa, the Far East and Australia & New Zealand.

With a desire to work within an industry that would really light my fire I left BT in 2004 and opened my own travel agency in Stratford upon Avon. I spent six happy and successful years as an agent including offering and managing my own cruise tours for my loyal clients in the area. I was offered a once in a lifetime opportunity in 2010 when Cunard invited me to join the crew of the Queen Mary Two as an officer on board managing the on board sales and Cunard World loyalty programme. I literally saw the world during his time on board and spent my days off escorting day excursions for the passengers when in port.

I had a fantastic time on board the QM2 but knew as a family man it could not be a long term career for me so now equipped with extensive travel experience, my love of people and the amount of job satisfaction obtained from seeing people having the time of their lives I decided to try my hand as a Program Director and have not looked back since.

This will be my third year working with Grand Circle & I love nothing more than sharing the delights of the British Isles with Grand Circle passengers. If you do decide to visit us and find you have me as your Program Director I promise I will do everything within my power to give you a true insight in our way of life here & share when ever possible the knowledge that only a local can provide!

As advice my top three items to bring with you to the British Isles are as follows

1. Plenty of layers as we can have all four seasons in on day!

2. An Umbrella as you just never know when to expect a downpour.

3. A good sense of humour – As you can’t beat a good laugh!

I look forward to meeting you