Voyages to Antiquity Pompeii etc. May31

[cruisemom42]

You're kidding me, right? I suggest you have a look on at least five other forums that I have posted on since I returned to the UK on 16 June. I won't list them here since they'll probably only get redacted, but web-savvy browsers will know which they are. As well as posting on the forums I have also put up a webpage on my trencherman.org website describing my experiences in more detail than is practical on a forum. Clearly people seem keen to read this, since this page has had 1,366 hits.

 

Regarding your rather fatuous point to Lynn that "perhaps a little research here at Cruise Critic before your cruise might have helped avoid your situation" there was NO information from other passengers before I (and probably Lyn) booked that might have alerted us to how bad the experience would be.

 

Just out of interest, which V2A cruise have you been on, or what else is it that makes you such an authority?

 

 

Sorry if I was unclear; although it almost seems you are purposely misunderstanding me. :rolleyes:

 

I was referring to cruises in general, not to VtoA in particular. Many, many cruiselines have had problems with new ships and have ended up offering passengers a credit on a future cruise (in line with what Lynn mentioned above) or even a partial refund. You and Lynn both seem so surprised that a new ship would have issues. Again, I say that if you are very familiar with cruises and cruising, you will have heard quite similar stories from other lines and might not be too surprised when something like that occurs on any new ship in its first month of operations.

 

I am well aware of your posts on other boards. I'm just saying I find it a little questionable that you appear to have joined Cruise Critic's community solely to complain about your VtoA cruise. Every single one of your posts (including several that have been removed) are criticisms of VtoA. From someone who's been around travel boards a long while (and have been a cruiser for around 30 years), let's just say it does raise suspicions.

[bullshead]

I find it a little questionable that you appear to have joined Cruise Critic's community solely to complain about your VtoA cruise. Every single one of your posts (including several that have been removed) are criticisms of VtoA. From someone who's been around travel boards a long while (and have been a cruiser for around 30 years), let's just say it does raise suspicions.

 

Since it clearly isn't obvious to you, I joined cruisecritic to alert my fellow cruisers to my disappointing experiences on a cruise that not only failed to live up to my (reasonable) expectations but failed to meet a wide range of very basic criteria. Have you not actually read what I've posted?

 

What else would you like me to blog about on a thread that is solely about V2A? And don't be coy, what exactly are you suspicious about?

[Ontariotrekker]

Okay, enough already, please. All this constant bickering and general childishness is going to scare away any new cruisers to this blog and I, for one, would like to know about improvements. I was on the June 1 cruise too. Far from perfect yes, complain to V2A if you want a refund or discount. CC cannot help you guys with that. Everyone has now beat that particular cruise to death. Let's move on.

[SwissMyst]

Okay, enough already, please. All this constant bickering and general childishness is going to scare away any new cruisers to this blog and I, for one, would like to know about improvements. I was on the June 1 cruise too. Far from perfect yes, complain to V2A if you want a refund or discount. CC cannot help you guys with that. Everyone has now beat that particular cruise to death. Let's move on.

 

Well said. Let's do make this thread a hissy-fit free zone. No webstalkers welcome either. Looking forward to future reports. We can now bury the past ones. VTA is responding responsibly and admirably.

[Caroleh123]

Honestly I cannot believe what I've just read. This company should have got it right in the first place. They are not acting responsibly and admirably they are putting right (allegedly) a whole load of problems that should have never been there in the first place. Why are they doing that (if indeed they are after all we only have their word for it) and why are they offering discounts because they want and need repeat business.

Secondly, the only reviews of this line that were available when I booked were press releases from VtA which indeed are on this site but hardly useful.

Thirdly CruiseCritic writer Kelly Ranson went on a cruise in May and has yet to publish a report, however I did find this review on this site about a cruise after mine and written by someone who has not posted on the forum.

Voyage to Unhappiness We have just completed a cruise with Voyage to Antiquity from Istanbul to Venice called " The Holly City of Byzantium". Having done two Orient Line, and one Voyage of Discovery cruises over the last 4 years we were excited to try this new venture by Gerry Harrod. As this was a new product being marketed as a "premium" ship which provided at least the same standard as past ships as mentioned. The Ship, Aegean Odyssey, had completed 4 cruises following a total strip down and refit in Greece. The interior was very Spartan and hospital in decoration. Although there has been a reduction in the number of passengers to 380 the cabin we had was one of the smallest we have ever had. Clean but very basic as was the whole ship. There was a strong sewerage smell throughout the whole cruise and the air conditioning failed early in the cruise which made it uncomfortable. There was a choice of two restaurants ,one the formal Marco Polo and the Bistro. The standard of food was poor to start with but improved in the Marco Polo but remained poor in the Bistro which offered little choice and variety. The service although friendly was slow and disorganised. Average sitting in the Marco Polo would last an average of 1 1/2 to 2 hours. There was now 24 hour coffee or ice water available outside of dining hours. There was coffee available at the bar for a price. Wine was provided as included in the cruise price although no choice apart from white or red wine.

Entertainment was mainly around lecture based on the cruise theme which was popular and well attended. There was a female piano player and vocalist as well as a musical trio. Tours provided as part of the cruise was first class in standard and focused on the theme of the cruise.

Overall it was not a happy ship for passengers or crew as many problems seemed to occur regularly. We were disappointed overall with this product and would not rate this ship near what we had experienced in past cruises, at best 2 star if that. It failed in most areas and we would not recommend it even with the inclusions provided in the price.

[Caroleh123]

Lynn - Can you please tell me which sailing you were on that you have reported your experience on? Also, what cruise were you on when you saw VTA come into Valletta?

 

June 1st- June 15th

 

I watched the ship arrive in Valletta via the harbour's webcams. Saw the same thing in Piraeus a few days later - lots of black smoke.

 

Can you ask your contact at VtA what the ship has been doing for the last fortnight?

[Ontariotrekker]

Okay Lynn, I'm really really trying to be polite here. Sorry your last trip was still not good. ..but find a dead horse and find a big stick, okay. Once again, bad news about the lack of improvements. If unhappy with the first cruise, why did you not cancel the second???

[bullshead]

Looking forward to future reports. We can now bury the past ones. VTA is responding responsibly and admirably.

Bring on the more recent reports I say. Try this one:

====

Not premium ship or service by any stretch of the imagination Days before taking the June 29 Istanbul to Venice Agean Odyssey cruise I read here of some problems on the previous itinerary and was hoping management would correct them. They didn't. It got much worse.

 

I'll try to be factual.

My travel agent friend and I were upgraded to a concierge balcony room,

#807, supposedly the best floor of the sip

1) The A/C was not working most of the trip. Management seemed to

ignore it; not fess-up to it. Once they promised over the PA system to get it fixed in Athens,but that did not happen. All they would say up until the day of disembarking is that "we are working on it". Many cabins were much

worse than ours. At least we had the balcony for some night air.

 

2) Our bathroom always had a horrible sewer smell, at its worse the first and last few days of the trip. Same smell in the computer room on 5th

floor and other places.

 

3) Terrace restaurant. Service at breakfast, lunch and dinner of water, tea, coffee, wine was

outrageously slow. Wait staff was nice and trying hard. When we tried to

self-serve our drinks we were told they would get in trouble. It never

improved, so we helped outselves when we could.

 

4) The Marco Polo restaurant. Every time I visited, 4 total, I said it would be the last time. The heat was incredible; the service slow, drink service slower.The first day an item I left in the dining room(closing 5 minutes after we left) was never turned in to "Lost and found". I overheard another person at the Front Desk with the same story. The kitchen staff and waiters

were drenched in perspiration because of the heat.

 

5) Management, almost daily, sent out changes to our daily schedule.

This was very disconcerting.

 

6) Nice Front Desk staff did not always have the correct information--

e.g. last minute changes to dining room hours

 

7) Not sure we were told the truth about why we were not going to

Delphi (because of a landslide at the Corinth Canal).

 

8) The destinations were very good. The tours were quite good.

Alex, the Tour Director, seemed to be on top of everything and handled

changes needed very well. Her staff, however, was clueless, and when

accompanying our group on shore, they did nothing but act like another

passenger. A smile, a greeting, a helpful hand, would have been nice.

 

9) Water given out at each destination was a nice touch.

 

10) Food was very mediocre and rationed at the end of the cruise.

 

10) I heard many people talk of wanting refunds/discounts as compensation.

I understand and feel I deserve one.

 

11) I heard many people say what a great cruise it was. Go figure.

 

 

The Aegean Odyssey certainly is not a premium ship, nor does it have premium service. Our concierge service......well, I had to ask for restocking items daily....something you don't have to do in even non-concierge service on most ships.

 

FYI, I have been on a RCCL, 3 Celebrity ships, 2 Carnivals, an Oceania,

and a bare-bones Yantze River cruise line.

====

 

Re "VTA is responding responsibly and admirably" I'm not sure what you're basing this on, apart from some people putting into the public domain what they've been told (or told to say) by V2A. Until we have some corroboration that anything has actually been fixed, I suggest we stick to what we actually know.

[patseacruiser]

Lynn - All I can tell you about the last 2 weeks is that I had a client on that scheduled cruise and in April I was notified that the ship was chartered and she was offered other sailings. That was April so I'm going to assume that is where she has been the last 14 days.

[SwissMyst]

Lyn, it sounds like your worst problem is you got upgraded for free. You would have been a lot happier down in steerage because you would have had more realistic expectations about value expected. None of your complaints did not also happen on our recent MV Discovery trip. We adapted and moved on. Travel is an adventure. You should have stayed home. But please stop complaining about what you got for free with your travel agent friend.

[Caroleh123]

Lyn, it sounds like your worst problem is you got upgraded for free. You would have been a lot happier down in steerage because you would have had more realistic expectations about value expected. None of your complaints did not also happen on our recent MV Discovery trip. We adapted and moved on. Travel is an adventure. You should have stayed home. But please stop complaining about what you got for free with your travel agent friend.

Please note the following:

1. I booked this holiday direct with VtA in the UK not through a "travel agent friend".

2. I paid to go Concierge Class at a sum of circa $8500 ex tax @ 17.5%.

3. I have no idea from whence you are getting your incorrect information.

but I recommend that you stop posting comments that are factually incorrect before somebody really takes offence and starts reaching for the definition of libel.

[Caroleh123]

Please note that I have only been on one cruise and I have no idea why you think that I went on two with VtA this summer.

That would have made me a real glutton for punishment. LOL

[SwissMyst]

If I paid almost $9000 dollars for this VTA trip, I would be mad too. And mad at my friend who suggested you pay for the pricey upgrade, under those circumstances. Bad choice to spend that kind of money on an unproven product. But this is how one learns lesson in life so it can be money well spent in the larger picture. You are now on your way to becoming a discerning traveller rather than a bargain hunting tourist.

 

Glad there were parts of it you enjoyed and that your memory begins to cancel out the deficiencies and lets you concentrate on the travel and exploration opportunities it also provided. With cruises, it is better if you put the destinations first and the travel comforts a little bit behind. It is a ship and this one was an older ship on its first voyage. Things happen. And they did, but the ports did not change. You got full value out of those. Net score: good.

[Caroleh123]

If I paid almost $9000 dollars for this VTA trip, I would be mad too. And mad at my friend who suggested you pay for the pricey upgrade, under those circumstances. Bad choice to spend that kind of money on an unproven product. But this is how one learns lesson in life so it can be money well spent in the larger picture. You are now on your way to becoming a discerning traveller rather than a bargain hunting tourist.

 

Glad there were parts of it you enjoyed and that your memory begins to cancel out the deficiencies and lets you concentrate on the travel and exploration opportunities it also provided. With cruises, it is better if you put the destinations first and the travel comforts a little bit behind. It is a ship and this one was an older ship on its first voyage. Things happen. And they did, but the ports did not change. You got full value out of those. Net score: good.

 

What friend? What pricey upgrade? What are you on about?

I would really suggest strongly that you refrain from making these sort of statements which have no foundation whatsoever.

One of the most disappointing things about this cruise is that I did not get full value out the destinations whcih is why I chose to book.

Please note that this wasn't the first voyage of the ship either...and as for charming sentence "You are now on your way to becoming a discerning traveller rather than a bargain hunting tourist." You have know absolutely nothing about me, so could you cut the rudeness and insults and please either get your facts straight or just keep your nasty and yet boring comments to yourself.

[Caroleh123]

Lynn - All I can tell you about the last 2 weeks is that I had a client on that scheduled cruise and in April I was notified that the ship was chartered and she was offered other sailings. That was April so I'm going to assume that is where she has been the last 14 days.

 

Thanks.

[cruisemom42]

Can you ask your contact at VtA what the ship has been doing for the last fortnight?

 

There's quite an interesting thread on another website (you've probably seen it), following the movements of the Aegean Odyssey over the last couple of weeks by using the ship's AIS transmission. Quite the read, with a lot of editorial comment thrown in about the company's operations to date. I'm probably not allowed to post the site, as I think it's against CC rules to link to other cruise boards.....

 

It seems that Aegean Odyssey made a few ports during this cruise, but there were also unconfirmed reports that most staff were off duty and that perhaps some repairs and refits were being done. On the other hand, there is no real evidence of this being the case, as their port visits were brief. Any work would've had to have been done on the fly, if at all. And I suppose, if someone important had chartered the ship, it could well be that they have quite a substantial staff of their own, so a full complement of ship's staff were not needed.

 

It will be interesting to see what the actual explanation is, if we ever get one.

 

Personally, I would like to know that the ship has had another inspection before my final payment date.

[patseacruiser]

Cynthia - I can not swear but I was told there was another inspection so I too await the report of that. Now I can prove by email dated April 6, 2010 that I was informed that the ship was chartered. I doubt they would have been scheduling repairs that they didn't know about yet but they well could have been doing some of them I guess while they were out on charter.

[Ontariotrekker]

Okay Lynn, I'm really really trying to be polite here. Sorry your last trip was still not good. ..but find a dead horse and find a big stick, okay. Once again, bad news about the lack of improvements. If unhappy with the first cruise, why did you not cancel the second???

 

Lynn - sorry about the question re your second cruise - I quickly read the post from another passenger that you had posted and thought it was yours. - Shar

[Ontariotrekker]

Please note that I have only been on one cruise and I have no idea why you think that I went on two with VtA this summer.

That would have made me a real glutton for punishment. LOL

 

Lynn - sorry, I misunderstood one of your posts because I read it too quickly. I thought the comments about a cruise were yours but you had quoted another passenger fronm another website. - Shar

 

So sorry that it posted twice.. a flying wizzard just went over my computer and thought I needed to re-do it. Shar

[Caroleh123]

Lynn - sorry, I misunderstood one of your posts because I read it too quickly. I thought the comments about a cruise were yours but you had quoted another passenger fronm another website. - Shar

 

So sorry that it posted twice.. a flying wizzard just went over my computer and thought I needed to re-do it. Shar

 

Don't you just hate it when that happens?

No problem about the misunderstanding and thanks for the apology.

[patseacruiser]

Usually it tells me I'm double posting. Now if I could only get those flying wizzards to stop - or is that just code for senior moments? LOL

[Ontariotrekker]

Usually it tells me I'm double posting. Now if I could only get those flying wizzards to stop - or is that just code for senior moments? LOL

 

Normally it would have been a senior's moment but I live in the sticks and the internet is iffy at the best of times. Add the 35 degree weather.. that's 90 + in F.. that impacts negatively on the connection, it makes for frustrating times.:)

[patseacruiser]

OK then I have to admit - for me it's senior moments.

[Caroleh123]

Have no idea how senior you ladies are but I wish that I could persuade my

parents to get online!

[Livestotravel]

I go away for a long weekend, and look what happens! Glad you kids have made up. My friend and I have mailed in our customs info and our choices for the optional excursions. I guess unless someone posts from the ship we won't know if the July 27th improvements happen, but we will forge ahead with our plans, and optimistically head across the Pond on August 9th.