LETTERS Get YOUR cruise views in print NO CHRISTMAS CHEER
Dear WoC We sailed on the new Queen Elizabeth’s recent Christmas and New Year cruise thinking it would be wonderful, with all the hype about Cunard being British and its high standards. Yet the food was poor – very poor in the main Britannia restaurant. Frozen yogurt tasted bland, ice cream tasteless, Crepe Suzette like leather. Some foreign guests sat near us said ‘What a poor menu.’ I think Cunard do their Christmas cruises on the cheap, knowing most of the guests are elderly. The main disappointment, though, was the so-called entertainment – rubbish. It was the 10th day before we got a laugh in the theatre. I wrote the Entertainment Director a note and it took two days to get a reply and all she could say was how wonderful things were going to be – this was 10 days into a 17-day cruise. For the Pantomime, the entire props on stage were a settee and one armchair; pathetic. The ship’s dancers did a dance – good costumes but stage props consisted of a stool for a dancer to cock her leg on and one sword. In all the cruises we have done, we’ve never seen so many guests walk out. One night we were shown two 25-minute episodes of The Odd Couple and Planet Spirit. Guests just looked at each other in bewilderment and walked out. What a shock, what a great disappointment. We
wrote to Cunard afterwards and it took a month to get a reply. When we did finally get a reply, it was an insult. We were offered £100 each off a future Cunard Cruise. Who would wish to travel with them again? Reg Briggs, Peterborough, UK
Write to us at: Editor’s Postbox Cruise Line House 109-111 High Street Hurstpierpoint West Sussex BN6 9PU
Or email:
woc@cruiseline.co.uk
PLACES, PLEASE! Dear WoC
My husband and I have subscribed to your magazine for some years and love it. However, if you could please put some identification with the fabulous photographs, we would enjoy it even more. Identifying places we have been is all part of the pleasure. Mrs Joan Leyden, via email
The Editor Says: it is our magazine style to try to place pictures with the relevant text in stories so they don’t need captions in many instances. However, we will definitely take your comments on board.
DOWN UNDER INFO
Dear WoC In your Winter edition, you questioned what readers would like to read. First of all, congratulations for a great informative magazine, which is always read cover to cover. I would like to read something of the experience of cruising with P&O Australia on cruises visiting the Pacific Islands, both the ship and the island experiences. We are considering including one in 2013 when we intend to visit Oz. Keep up the great magazine. Graham Westbrook, via email
STAR LETTER STAR LETTER TRAGEDY IN HINDSIGHT
We asked Cunard for a response to Mr Briggs’ complaints and received the following reply: “We are naturally very sorry Mr and Mrs Briggs did not enjoy their voyage on Queen Elizabeth. It is fair to say guest expectations on Christmas and New Year voyages do tend to be higher than normal but that particular voyage received very good ratings for both food and entertainment. We do appreciate comments on entertainment can be subjective, which is why we made what we think is a fair gesture in terms of compensation. Extra activities were scheduled throughout and these were well attended and the various celebrations went well. We apologise for not responding to Mr Briggs sooner but the holiday period did delay correspondence. We did manage to respond just 21 days later when ABTA guidelines set a 28-day limit for response.”
8 WORLD OF CRUISING I Spring 2012
Dear WoC With reference to my letter in your Issue of 24 (May 2004), telling you about our time on the Costa Atlantica, this now goes to show this sort of incident would happen one day. We also did not have the compulsory boat and muster station drill until after we had been at sea for two days and, as this is an Italian ship, broadcasts in English were always last, and we could not hear the announcements due to the loud chatter of people who had already heard theirs. No wonder passengers can get confused. There are many other bad points but it would take too long to go through them all. We do enjoy your magazine and look forward to when it comes out. Peter Levett, via email
The Editor Says: the Costa Concordia tragedy in January has given the cruise industry much cause for thought. It remains a very safe business, by and large, but there are safety procedures that need reviewing in general terms and more specifically with Costa Cruises. We are delighted to see many lines taking their own decisions to have safety drills before a ship sails but clearly we also need a full enquiry on Concordia to learn all the lessons involved.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100