Talking about bad reviews for Pride.....

[conchyjoe]

I resent that.

Especially the Europe remark.

Troll post.

 

We the crew do not care when we have our meals, as long as we get them.

 

Sometimes the ships have bunker barges alongside (Russia, etc), and the fumes come in through the ventilation.

This sometimes happens in the evening, because the ship has no control when the locals bother to send the barge.

 

I'm ex-crew too and come from Europe as well and I certainly cared about when I was fed (and slept).

My comment was not intended to be derogatory to Europeans it was simply the syntax of the original post suggested, IMO, that the poster was probably European.

[margatecruiser]

That when Seabourn was Seabourn and not run by Holland America. Even there web sight is a bait and switch. I got a piece of mail for a Feb cruise stating the price for a cabin was 2199.00 called my agent ant his surprise was 3600.00 so be careful for there advertising I call it a bait and switch. I sent the ad to the FTC.for clarification. we have over 300 days on Seabourn never have I see such desptive advertising. There other ships that give the full prices with no gimmicks. Pardon my spelling I am no youngster.

[conchyjoe]

Im curious as to why that's a giveaway.

 

Good question.

It's just the way it's phrased. As a passenger, would you use the term "bunkered" ?

(Now that you know what a "hawsepipe" is ;-). )

 

In over 38 years in the shipping industry I have never seen that term used by anybody other than seafarers or those directly involved in shipping. Variations, yes, like "the ship took on bunker fuel three times" or something similar but not "bunkered".

[lincslady]

I own up to making the original remark about the language on the original post - to me it read as though written by someone whose first language was English, but by a British person rather than someone from the USA, Canada, etc.

 

As to whether they were a disgruntled and peculiar passenger or possibly a disgruntled ex member of crew, I would not dream of passing an opinion, but obviously it could be either - or someone who had never even been on Seabourn but just wanted to cause trouble.

[bahrain_not_dubai!]

While some of his concerns may be true, the manner in which he writes the review, and how everything was apparently awful, completely makes this review both unbelievable as well as laughable. On the other hand, reviews that take the time to highlight both the good as well as the bad tend to get much further in people's minds.

[Host Dan]

While some of his concerns may be true, the manner in which he writes the review, and how everything was apparently awful, completely makes this review both unbelievable as well as laughable. On the other hand, reviews that take the time to highlight both the good as well as the bad tend to get much further in people's minds.

I think this is the type of post that causes many to not even bother to share their experience on the boards. I recently received an email from a trusted friend (and SB enthusiast) that just disembarked the Pride. She went into detail the (horrid) experience she had. I asked her to post here, and she refused because of back-lash from SB die hards. Its too bad that we can't enjoy the good AND the not-so-good reviews. I'm sure the cruise lines LOVE the fact that many CC members are afraid to post anything but stellar experiences. Really too bad.

Edited December 3, 2013 by Host Dan

[Love transatlantics]

I agree with you 100% Dan

[lincslady]

Dan - I think it is a pity if your friend is not prepared to post - if these comments (I have just re-read them) are true, or even some of them, it would be good to have her corroboration. Some - even most - of them just sound unbelievable to me and others.

 

Pride must have really gone off completely if even 50% of them are true.

[wripro]

Anyone should feel free to post whatever they like as long s they do so without vitriol. Obviously, we each have our own individual experiences and they are all worth posting about.

[rl787]

I do agree that people should feel entitled to say how they feel about a trip, however I do think that sometimes some reviewers exaggerate a problem. This quite often happens when guests staying on cruise ships, hotels, restaurants etc do not get their own way. Sometimes, not always their idea of retribution is to shout about how badly they were treated when probably what happened was that their complaint was not upheld. A good example of this I feel is Tripadvisor, so often I read the usual....I will never go there again rubbish........

Constructive criticism is fair and reasonable but I do feel that the criticism levelled is not always a fair representation of the facts.

[Host Dan]

I do agree that people should feel entitled to say how they feel about a trip, however I do think that sometimes some reviewers exaggerate a problem. This quite often happens when guests staying on cruise ships, hotels, restaurants etc do not get their own way. Sometimes, not always their idea of retribution is to shout about how badly they were treated when probably what happened was that their complaint was not upheld. A good example of this I feel is Tripadvisor, so often I read the usual....I will never go there again rubbish........

Constructive criticism is fair and reasonable but I do feel that the criticism levelled is not always a fair representation of the facts.

I agree, but I think the problem is other people who were not on the same cruise, trip, whatever, argue that the reviewer is lying, even though they were not there.

[rols]

The phrase "the ship bunkered 3 times during mealtimes" is a giveaway. Sounds like a former disgruntled crew member, probably an officer from Europe (that includes the UK) and most probably an Engineer.

 

Why? Because of the use of the words 'bunkered' and 'mealtimes'? If that's it then I certainly wouldn't read that into it, they are fairly common words (especially among regular cruisers).

 

Three bunkers on one cruise sounds .. odd. That should be something verifiable, I don't think I've had a ship bunker more than once on any cruise I've been on (and yes it was at a mealtime, lunch, on a land day, and the staff were very aware and helped passengers to move as far away from the smell as they could).

[lincslady]

I agree, but I think the problem is other people who were not on the same cruise, trip, whatever, argue that the reviewer is lying, even though they were not there.

 

Dan - I wish you could persuade your friend to do her own review of this cruise - maybe under a new name (I think others do this!!) just for this particular thread, so that we have more evidence of any problems there were - or that anyone else on the Pride recently would come forward, whether they agree or disagree with any of the complaints. I was surprised to read that the ship was now owned by Windstar, and only leased to Seabourn; wonder if this could make a difference?

[Miss Jet Set]

Kathy this is for you. We spent 18 days on the Pride in April and we gave it 10+10. We did not find any complaints the staff, food and the condition of the ship (which they

were painting daily) we do not recall it was falling apart. We were on the Spirit in

August and once again they were no better than the Pride We will soon be stepping

aboard the Legend for Christmas and we already anticipate A Very Merry Christmas

so do not pay any attention to what you have been reading and judge for yourself.

[Guest superradiationboy]

I usually just stay in the background reading, but I will try to say a thing or two about our recent Pride experience in the Caribbean.

 

In the past couple of years, we have been cruising with Silversea, we wanted to give Seabourn a try and see if they are also suitable for us.

 

On our sailing, we did have to wait in the lounge for over an hour. Not because of the check-in process being slow. But the fact that we arrived around noon, and, as with most other lines, suites would not be ready until 2 or so. They wanted us to stay in the lounge, and were provided with some sandwiches and desserts. That made some unhappy. It’s true that other lines largely let their passengers browse around the ship, and offer a lunch at the casual restaurant, if not also the main dining room.

 

Regarding the décor in the suite. I actually made a comment in the room one day that I could tell the 80s décor from the furniture, but their style is not that outdated even to this day. You might find a coffee/caviar stain or two, but nothing was shabby or dirty, at least in my room. My room didn’t stink either.

 

Bathroom: Yes, if you look under the sink, you will find a tad of rust around the pipe connections. I wasn’t going to touch it or lick it; didn’t bother me. And yes, there is a black ring in our toilet as well, marking where the normal level of water is. It cannot be removed by brushing, so I didn’t care much either. I kind of wish it had more graduated lines, so I could measure how much my bladder had emptied.

 

The towels were not the best and fluffiest; but adequate. It was very obvious that some of them were grey, when they were all hung together on the wall. Sheets on the bed were just okay as well. No holes though.

 

All the taps I have used onboard were of adequate pressure. I splashed myself a few times. Tub may take a while to drain; I love watching water sloshing in the tub by the way. Shower curtain is long enough to close securely, but not too much in extra length.

 

Our window was cleaned halfway into the cruise. But the ocean sprays just kept making it dirty again, and I expected that.

 

Noisy room door… yes, it could be, and I am sure most of you knew about it. We were lucky that our neighbours were very considerate, and we reciprocated. Some of the public area doors would not shut by themselves because of the higher pressure inside the ship (fire safety measure?). That’s all I can think of.

 

We didn’t watch TV.

 

We did have some service issues, but I wouldn’t blame it all on the lack of English skills. Once we ordered something at breakfast (Veranda Café) and it never came, we left after 1.5 hours. Once our tablemates got extra things that they didn’t order in their omelets. 45mins wait for tea once and 20mins wait for espresso every time in Veranda. There was one night that they messed up our table's orders in The Restaurant too (one had her salad missing, one had an extra course, one had 2 courses served at the same time). We had great friends that we made onboard to share our meals with, we still enjoyed our time.

 

We also had raw meat, raw fish, overcooked meat and fish. They were beef carpaccio, sashimi tuna, a meat stew and the fish soup.

 

I don’t know if that was soot or grease or paint, the back of the ship, near Veranda Café (but not inside the covered area), has some black marks on the deck. So I avoided laughing and rolling on the floor. We put towels on the loungers before using, no soot on my clothes.

 

We didn’t go for the entertainment, so can’t comment on that.

 

I didn’t see any heavy hoses draped across the lift lobby. If there was such a big and heavy hose, I would have seen it and wouldn’t step on it, regardless of the presence of safety signs.

 

They are still maintaining the ship as much as I saw on other lines. Painting was done here and there during the voyage, and she is now in drydock. We did have a power failure once on a sea day. All engines stopped and the emergency generator kicked in. Some were a bit concerned, until the cocktail blender started making noise again. Within 45mins we were back on our way.

 

Anyway, there were unpolished moments on this cruise, but we still enjoyed our time. Even though we like Silversea better, we will not cross Seabourn off our list… unless they turn themselves into Holland America (I hope not).

 

That’s all I can ramble for now.

[lincslady]

superradiationboy - thanks for your report. This sounds objective, and does raise some problems, some of which I am aware of. However I was sorry to read that you had more poor service in the food area than I would have expected. We have rarely on any of the 6 ships had more than 1 or 2 glitches during a cruise, and have had similar on the other 'luxury' lines, and can forgive them if they are infrequent.

[bahrain_not_dubai!]

I think this is the type of post that causes many to not even bother to share their experience on the boards. I recently received an email from a trusted friend (and SB enthusiast) that just disembarked the Pride. She went into detail the (horrid) experience she had. I asked her to post here, and she refused because of back-lash from SB die hards. Its too bad that we can't enjoy the good AND the not-so-good reviews. I'm sure the cruise lines LOVE the fact that many CC members are afraid to post anything but stellar experiences. Really too bad.

 

Dear Host Dan,

 

I maybe have not made my views clear- I have read many reviews that have one or two things go amiss and the reviewer rates everything as 'one star', or allows one issue to tar everything. For example an issue with the food suddenly makes the room awful, that type of thing. What I meant is such reviews are usually negative, and unbelievable due to just how bad they are. On the other hand, reviews highlighting the good and the bad in an educated manner are far more believable. If I go onto any cruise review and see everything rated at '1 or 2 stars' I turn away, because I do not find it conceivable that everything could be that bad. Now it would appear from your comments that things on the Pride are really horrid, in which case I apologise, but I hope you understand were I am coming from when I say that reviews that try and paint absolutely everything in a bad light are not very believable. As you can see from the cruises I have undertaken I am not devoted to any cruise line and move around the brands (as well as categories) quite freely.

 

My Crystal cruise that I undertook last year was quite negative and I did not bother writing a review of fear of the same backlash you mentioned, so I understand that and we certainly should hear the bad as much (if not more so) than the good. It is Cruise 'Critic' after all!

[Able Seaman H]

My first venture on to Cruise Critic was to complain about a poor experience we had on Royal Caribbean Explorer of the seas. I suspect I am not alone in that being the catalyst which brought me here. So negative points are most certainly valid on here.

 

Since that first post I have gone on to use Cruise Critic to glean information. Our impending Sojourn cruise has roots back to last year when I debated the possibility in this section. I have subsequently come back from time to time and the net result is I hit the ground wiser than most first time SB cruisers.

 

Gleaning information requires a balanced pair of third party eyes to post their experiences. The problem is what is normal? Were I to believe everything I read on here it would appear Seabourn serve vinegar instead of wine. I'm sure that isn't the case, I just have to remember some people take their wine more seriously than others. Similarly with food.

 

A cruise line such as Seabourn will attract clients from very different walks of life. To some it is a once in a lifetime luxury or the highlight of an otherwise frugal existence. To others it is small change compared to the cost of chartering a 150 foot motor yacht. They think nothing of spending several thousand dollars on a handbag or an outfit, only eat in Michelin star kitchens and can tell you to within a few miles where a particular caviar comes from.

 

Don't even start on about personal thoughts, feelings and rituals. To some a friendly gathering in the corridor outside your cabin is vulgar, embarrassing and to be avoided at all cost, to others it's a way to say hello and meet people.

 

The fact is you have to make judgements when reading a review. Not everyone is a budding Shakespeare, not everyone handles adversity calmly, and some people just never seem to get the best out of people or a situation.

 

Take a balanced view. If it's a one off then put it down to a clash of personality or a glitch in the machine. If there is a common theme running through a number of reviews then possibly something is amiss. But don't shoot someone down for airing their thoughts.

 

You never know, you might want to call upon us yourself one day to vent dissatisfaction.

 

Henry :)

Edited December 5, 2013 by Able Seaman H

[Guest superradiationboy]

We still enjoyed very very much of the cruise and was glad that we got the chance to sail on the Pride before she leaves.

 

We rarely complain. With all those sort of “issues” we had throughout the trip, we still thanked everyone we encountered with a smile. My take is that, we were on the ship for 10 days, there were 30 meals (if not more), each with multiple courses. Messing up only a few of those wasn’t at all bad. Plus I wasn’t the only guest they have.

 

During the trip, I heard a comment from another cruiser: “For regulars on the luxury lines, this cruise is lacking luster. But for a first timer, they would have been wowed.” I couldn’t agree more. We were still eating some very good food, enjoying a variety of decent wines (I liked their wines much better than that on Silversea!) and champagne, service was still way more attentive and sophisticated than any of the mass market lines, and we were still often being addressed by our names. Have we had better? Yes, sometimes. But when we weigh all the goods and bads, Seabourn remains one of the lines that we will cruise with. There were certainly many memorable moments that are exclusively Seabourn.

 

They are very good, with some minor problems. That’s what we have been telling our family and friends.

[Emperor Norton]

Good question.

It's just the way it's phrased. As a passenger, would you use the term "bunkered" ?

(Now that you know what a "hawsepipe" is ;-). )

 

In over 38 years in the shipping industry I have never seen that term used by anybody other than seafarers or those directly involved in shipping. Variations, yes, like "the ship took on bunker fuel three times" or something similar but not "bunkered".

 

I've used the term bunkering to try to explain to a now no longer with the company bartender why he shouldn't allow people to smoke at that time (we were at the time bunkering and the person was of course smoking on the side nearest the flammable bits).

 

 

Im still unsure I'll use hawsepipe in conversation. Scrabble however;)

[Emperor Norton]

I think this is the type of post that causes many to not even bother to share their experience on the boards. I recently received an email from a trusted friend (and SB enthusiast) that just disembarked the Pride. She went into detail the (horrid) experience she had. I asked her to post here, and she refused because of back-lash from SB die hards. Its too bad that we can't enjoy the good AND the not-so-good reviews. I'm sure the cruise lines LOVE the fact that many CC members are afraid to post anything but stellar experiences. Really too bad.

 

That oddly sounds like my first live from and photo review. Except I put on my teflon/nomex mix and posted anyways:D

 

I'd like to read that review, especially if some of those that made it a horrid experience are going to stay with Seabourn. I'd like to know who to avoid.

[Capri73]

I understand completely.We had an awful experience on Paul Gauguin.We were taken apart every step of the way.It was probably the worse cruise we have ever been on but the royals would not hear it.

The worse part was that PG never addressed the issues.SB always does good or bad.

Keep reporting good or bad.Some people will understand what you are saying. Nothing is perfect not all is bad it is all what you are expecting.

PG WAS the worse maybe because they never addressee the issues.

[kiawahdon]

I understand completely.We had an awful experience on Paul Gauguin.We were taken apart every step of the way.It was probably the worse cruise we have ever been on but the royals would not hear it..

 

I have no clue as to what your point is. Posting a rant without any facts or details doesn't really get much credence or attention.

[jagi]

I think the poster is saying even negative reviews should be reported; especially on the Seabourn blog, because SB pays attention and makes necessary changes,

[shipcamein]

Minor point, but I think the poster is saying PG did not address the issues at the moment while they were still on board, while Seabourn did. Or maybe I misunderstood.

 

Either way, though, I think it's overly...optimistic(?)... to assume that Seabourn acts on bad reviews on this forum. There are just 257 Seabourn reviews over 10 years. That's a teeny tiny fraction of all the possible reviewers.

 

Let's estimate the number of cruisers in 10 years - for the past few, it's been about 2000 passengers at any given moment, and assume most go for two weeks or less...let's just say it's conservatively 100,000 over the 10 years. That's 0.257% of all cruisers bothered to post a review. And only a few of those, say, less than 10% - have extremely negative things to say.\

 

(nitpickers, I'm sure seabourn has this info posted somewhere - I am too lazy to look!)

 

If you are keeping 99975 people happy, and 25 don't like the food - it seems unwise to change your recipes (or anything else) based on the 25.