Crasiest or Dumbest things you have heard people complain about

I got some giggles - last Cruise Panama - in my favorite spot - smoking area - we had Miss Texas (that's what my daughter and I called her and she was from Texas) - she complained about anything and everything. It was amusing - gave us a lot of giggles and made us ever so grateful that we were not like that. I really do feel bad for the staff that have to put up with whiners but from what I have seen on my many cruises is that the staff have creative ways in dealing with the negative people - and just watching the staff causes me to slide that extra tip their way - going on a Japan cruise in July - cant wait to remember the stupid complaints so I can post and give you all a giggle or two

We were on a cruise and my friend started chatting to a lady who was trying to find a table to sit down at. There were tables available, but not any window ones. The lady turned to my friend and complained to her "It must be all those cheap interior room people who can't afford a balcony taking all the window seats!". My friend quickly had to refrain from answering because firstly, we were one of those so-called "cheap interior room people", and secondly, she was thinking to herself since the lady had her own private balcony to enjoy the scenery from, why didn't she just stay there instead of complaining about people taking up the window seats!

On an Oceania cruise to northern European ports last year, we were subjected to the most miserable woman and her poor husband, Donald. This witch berated Donald for everything, constantly: the excursion coach seat, the water puddle near the restroom at an historic site, the rain as we re-boarded. Every sentence began with, "DONALD!" OMG.

We were amused the last night of the cruise as the crew repeatedly paged missing passengers "Mr & Mrs Donald <surname>, please contact guest services". We dreamed aloud that Donald had snapped while ashore and done her in and that he was at a local pub celebrating!

To this day, when we hear someone whining, we text to each other, DONALD! And we giggle uncontrollably.

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Forums mobile app

Every sentence began with' date=' "DONALD!" OMG. [/quote']

 

 

Feel sorry for DONALD! :rolleyes:

My wife and I have been traveling for almost a decade together. We met in our late 20's and have been all over the US and Europe. Sometimes I am embarrassed to be an American. I feel that our country has afforded us such a high standard of living, that when Americans do not get what they want or feel they deserve, they often complain the loudest. My wife and I often read hotel reviews before we leave for any destination that we are staying at the hotel reviews from Americans for European hotels has to be some of the funniest things I have ever read. We chuckle when Americans complain about a lack of bacon, omelette bar, etc. Helloooooooo, it's a European hotel. Sorry if you have to eat a cup of yogurt or granola.

Sorry, rant off. As far as cruise complaints...we we're chatting with a couple on a cruise once and my wife told them about all the upgrades we received for free....wifi, drink package, some other stuff. They were pissed they paid more for their cruise and did not receive any of the same stuff. They went off to the customer service to complain.

I guess we're lucky, we've never encountered any of the complaints that are described here. Knock on wood.

My husband and I were on Carnival Magic in February 2018 for our honeymoon and we overheard a woman complaining about 2 things. 1 that there werent any paper napkins onboard lol! and there was no lobster every day on the ship. We just started laughing to ourselves. We thought that was pretty lame to complain about lol!

My wife and I often read hotel reviews before we leave for any destination that we are staying at the hotel reviews from Americans for European hotels has to be some of the funniest things I have ever read. We chuckle when Americans complain about a lack of bacon, omelette bar, etc. Helloooooooo, it's a European hotel.

Yes... crazy what you hear complaints about. I've read a couple where the complaint is that the hotel uses a duvet (which are commonly used in Britain), and that these are "unsanitary" (the covers are changed, just like sheets. The other complaint which I read is that the soap and shampoo are provided in dispensers rather than in small bottles.

Have enjoyed reading many of these comments this afternoon and decided to share an experience from several years ago. My husband and I were on a 2 week Eastern Med cruise and were seated at a table with 3 couples from Britain and 1 other couple from the US. One of the British couples complained about everything. The food was always terrible. Each of them returned something every night, because it wasn't cooked right, and one night the husband sent his entree back 5 times. They also said service was terrible, and their cabin was terrible, and they were going to complain to guest services. And on and on. They also indicated without actually saying it how well off they were, and I think that was true, but as they talked we all decided they did not come from wealth but had done well which was fine if they hadn't talked about it so much. The couple was simply obnoxious in general and rude to all the staff but especially our head waiter. They were first class snobs in every way. All of the rest of us made sure our head waiter knew we thought he was great, and we talked about this couple among ourselves when we met on the ship.

Now, I wouldn't normally mention that this couple was British except that one of the other British couples was delightful. The husband told great jokes, and we enjoyed their company a lot. They were as down to earth as anyone I've ever met. Then we learned that due to the husband's previous job/position they knew the Queen and Prince Phillip, had actually had dinner with them, had been invited to Charles and Camilla's wedding, and the husband was a board member of one of Prince Phillip's charitable organizations. The contrast between the two couples was just incredible. The ones could could have been snobs weren't, and the others were. Finally the husband of this second couple privately said something to the snobs, but it didn't do any good.

And then....guess who wound up invited to dine with the Captain? Yep, the snobs. We had the best dinner of the cruise without them.

And then....guess who wound up invited to dine with the Captain? Yep, the snobs. We had the best dinner of the cruise without them.

Pity the poor Captain!!

keep them coming !!

On a Disney Cruise, in the Caribbean, a gentleman says . . .  ."This ship is too noisy. Why do the kids have to be so loud? Why do there have to be so many kids?" Then he proceeded to find a staff member to ask him if there was any way that the staff could have the kids settle down. The staff member told him that there is an adult only section of the ship and he could go there. But he grumbled that he would still be able to hear the kids, and he stalked off.

On the Costa Mediterranea in 2006 we were in line to board the tenders (I forget which Island). While we were waiting in line, two crew members were chatting with each other and one was complaining the we stupid Americans couldn't tell the difference between his English accent and an Australian accent. He went on and on about it for what seemed to be 20 mins. The line starts moving and as I went by I looked at him and loudly said "G'day mate, throw another shrimp on the barbie"!! LOL if looks could kill.

I used to work in what I affectionately called "the complaint department" on a few ships with one cruise line about 15 years ago. I was a Purser. Man oh man, could I tell you stories! There was a Guest Resolutions log each cruise, which made for very entertaining reading each week. 

But I have to say, with my experience, I noticed that complainers are rewarded for bad behaviour and ridiculousness by the cruise lines generally based on how much of a scene they make. I'm Canadian, and was unaccustomed to this tactic (and response) when I started working with them. It wasn't something I could get on board with... so I would go out of my way to help those people with issues who came politely, with respect, and with reasonable expectations. The obnoxious ones I sent up the chain of command LOL.

Here are a few unique (some funny) complaints that I still recall:

1. Their microwave in their room wasn't working... (it was their in room safe). Almost every week this complaint came in LOL

2. They purchased an ocean view room, and were deeply unhappy having to look at the parking lot (because we hadn't set sail yet).

3. One woman demanded rudely, a new room, away from her husband, because they had suddenly decided they were going to get a divorce (1 hour after setting sail). 

4. Sailing from SanJuan, you get a lot of locals, plus a lot of people from New York (discounted flights).... I had no idea, but apparently the two groups generally don't get along well. There were always tons of complaints about each other. 

5. A lady insisted on only speaking with me about a complaint she had..."I want to speak with someone who speaks english".... while giving a glare to my colleague from Trinidad.... Well, that's the only language that my colleague spoke.... we suspected either her accent or skin color had something to do with it....sigh...

Fun times. 

So great to see this thread is still going strong.  Thanks for sharing those crazy complaints!  😉

A friend and I took a cruise with a knitting group a few years ago. We each paid additional money to be part of  that group. Never again. There were 3 designers running the knit part of the cruise. They had 150 of us stuffed into a meeting room for 100. The meetings ran from 7:30 to 9:30. It was basically a make a big fuss over each other, and their very vocal, loyal fans (they each had groupies believe or not). As you can imagine we were all forced to eat at first seating and if we wanted to see a show not go to the meeting.  The second night of our cruise our waiter seemed rather agitated and seemed rushed. We all commented on it and asked our waiters as they were serving our entrees what was going on. The designers had complained to the cruise line that we had been late to the meeting on the first night because the dining room service was slow. The whole table assured them thst we were very happy with speed of the service the night before,  were not the least bit concerned with being late as we were paying the designers they were not paying us. They relaxed, slowed the service down and the rest of the dinner was lovely. The maitre'd  came over later to apologize for our being late the night before, the poor man had  no idea what he had stepped in as 7 women all hit him  with some variation of " I'm paying them, they are not paying me." The expression on his face was priceless. We were late to every meeting we went to or skipped it entirely for the rest of the cruise. 

I was in the Irish linen shop on Government in Victoria B.C., on hearing the price, the customer in from of asks, in a Rude voice, “is that Canadian or real money?” The clerk replied Canadian, the woman paid in USD, getting CAD back. I told the clerk she should have US. The woman was the perfect ugly American Tourist  

15 minutes ago, DaveB42 said:

I was in the Irish linen shop on Government in Victoria B.C., on hearing the price, the customer in from of asks, in a Rude voice, “is that Canadian or real money?” The clerk replied Canadian, the woman paid in USD, getting CAD back. I told the clerk she should have US. The woman was the perfect ugly American Tourist  

It just makes you hope that they really messed with her on the exchange rate.  
You do wonder why some people bother to travel.  It seems they would be so much happier at home!

I used to be married to a complainer.  After reading this board, I'm reminded why we're no longer married.

My favorite was on my first cruise, May 2005.  All the NCL ships now have the same, or similar, menus, but then I think each ship had its own head chef.  One night at dinner, the soup was a lobster pumpkin bisque, which I'm still lusting over.  Two ladies sat at the table right next to us, one ordered the bisque.  I told her that was a good choice, it was great.  She replied "I hope so, it's so hard to find a decent meal on this ship."  Maybe her taste was more refined than mine, but the head chef on the ship had been head chef at the White House.  As I told the Maitre' D on the last night, we had planned to eat at one of the specialty restaurants and never did, and I didn't feel that we had missed anything.  It was all great!

On a Carnival sailing where we had a group of 30 or so Deaf passengers and six ASL interpreters, a few of us went to the evening show. Knowing how the crowd would snag seats early, the interpreters went even earlier to reserve a group of seats near the front, on one side so we could have good sight-lines of the interpreters when the show started. 

One woman ignored the "reserved for Deaf" paper signs on the seats and parked herself in the middle of the front row of reserved seats. Deaf folks showed up, and many people will attest to the fact that we are HIGHY visible due to our flying fingers and animated conversations. Two folks (obviously a couple) were late to the seating and not having any option, sat on either side of this woman and continued to chat over her. No idea what the woman was complaining about, but one of the interpreters standing in front of us approached her and kindly suggested that she might be more comfortable in a seat elsewhere in the theater as this area was reserved for Deaf so they could see the interpreter. 

Normal people would have taken the hint and moved elsewhere but not her. She refused to move, saying she was there first (technically the interpreters were there first, but I digress). Okay now what? 

The show begins, the interpreters stand directly in front of her and block her view of the stage (remember? She was sitting in the middle of the roped off area) and tried to stretch their arms to interpret around her profile as we Deaf folks were craning our heads trying to see around her. (Not easy as the woman was a seat wiggler - turning around and bending over and throwing head and whatsover, which necessitated constant movement on our part to maintain a unbroken sightline to see the interpreter. I know the lady continued to complain as I could see her mouth moving, and the hearing CODAs getting annoyed with her (they were sitting with family members who were Deaf). 

Finally the lady had enough and summoned a staff and yelled at them to "move the finger lady somewhere else!" The staff, bless them, shook their head and explained that she was sitting in the Deaf section for access and made the same suggestion to relocate elsewhere. Lady stood up and threw a scene (something about having the right to sit wherever she wanted to and that "those deaf and dumb people" should move, not her. Why should 10 people and 6 interpreters move for one person? I was impressed at how the interpreter continued to work and maintain their cool even though they were ready to strangle the lady.

A hearing person seated nearby (not Deaf, not part of the Deaf community, just a regular passenger) leaned over and told the lady "You have 500 other seats to choose from. They have 10. Do the math." That shut her up, and she huffed and packed up her stuff while sending us Deaf the death glare and made a racket moving up the aisle in search of better seats. 

(The other passengers were wonderful - they'd walk up, see the signs, nod, and move on elsewhere.)

4 minutes ago, PromenadeDeckWriter said:

 

Some people can be real idiots.  Glad the crew and interpreters handled this with grace and dignity.  

Some years ago while doing a transatlantic on the Epic, a lady on the table next to us was complaining to her husband that the ice tea she had got herself was too cold....... It was full of ice.

One of the most regular incidents that happen at show time is the famous "Holding Seats for Others".

You even experience on deck by pool side with deck chair hogs. Leaving towels, books, bags and walking away for quite sometime to assure space to return to.

Some vessels do have policies where deck staff will move items, secure them till passengers return and give them back.

I've seen passengers angry rise for the deck staff nerve to move their personal items. Why angry when the items laid there for 2 hours.

Didn't know Passage Ticket assured certain deck chair ownership. Or seats in the theater.

Between the time I booked my first cruise and when I went on it, I found Cruise Critic.  Since I'd never been on a cruise before, I didn't know what to expect, so when I read the reviews of the ship I was appalled, wondering what I had put my hard earned money on.  We got a ride to the port, when we pulled up to the curb a porter came running out to get our luggage.  My wife was talking to the man checking us in, he worked for the port, not the cruise line, and he told us how so many people liked the Freestyle cruising on NCL.  So before we even got on the ship, I was getting relieved that the bad reviews were wrong.  The rest of the cruise went just as smoothly, and we had the time of our lives.  As we were getting off the ship, my wife told me two things.  "Can we do this every year?" and "I only want to go on Norwegian."  Now that I have more cruises under my belt, I've concluded that some people aren't happy unless they're complaining, and many of them write cruise reviews.  It's not just Cruise Critic, it happens on every cruise review web site.  No matter how wonderful the cruise, someone will write a one star review vowing "I'm never going on XXXX Cruise Line again!" and it's always over something very minor.

16 hours ago, AlanRRT said:

Between the time I booked my first cruise and when I went on it, I found Cruise Critic.  Since I'd never been on a cruise before, I didn't know what to expect, so when I read the reviews of the ship I was appalled, wondering what I had put my hard earned money on.  We got a ride to the port, when we pulled up to the curb a porter came running out to get our luggage.  My wife was talking to the man checking us in, he worked for the port, not the cruise line, and he told us how so many people liked the Freestyle cruising on NCL.  So before we even got on the ship, I was getting relieved that the bad reviews were wrong.  The rest of the cruise went just as smoothly, and we had the time of our lives.  As we were getting off the ship, my wife told me two things.  "Can we do this every year?" and "I only want to go on Norwegian."  Now that I have more cruises under my belt, I've concluded that some people aren't happy unless they're complaining, and many of them write cruise reviews.  It's not just Cruise Critic, it happens on every cruise review web site.  No matter how wonderful the cruise, someone will write a one star review vowing "I'm never going on XXXX Cruise Line again!" and it's always over something very minor.

We have found with restaurants, resorts, hotels, cruises, etc... there will be the 1 Stars & 5 Stars that will aire their opportunities.

Sometimes or most it is because of a disappointment that they did not understand what they were reading. We go to a resort in NY State and many wrong predictions and many love the place and return for over the 30+ years. 

Without reading the many posts, forgive me if I am repeating "complaints".

The best that I can remember is the guest that complained about the noise the helicopter made when it nightly arrived above the ship to take some of the crew ashore for the evening.