Doing things differently on Pursuit - a reflection

[aussie travel bird]

Following with interest, we too will go with an open mind but certainly hope to get the experiences that we have enjoyed both on the Quest and the Journey.  Let's hope that it's all teething problems and she'll settle into the family soon enough.  Appreciate everyone's thoughts.

[Shawnino]

12 hours ago, alfredo1 said:

Dress code on Pursuit.

 

Something not mentioned earlier, but prompted by a recent post re dress code on Azamara, while one of the attractions of Azamara is the relaxed dress code, on the Pursuit Lima to BA there were passengers dining in Discoveries with grubby t-shirts/vests/jeans/trainers/shoes that quite frankly were unfit to be used while gardening,  something we have never encountered before on Azamara, and something which really should be better managed. 

 

Understood.

 

Putting your comments together with NSL's, the Lima--BA leg seemed to attract a lot of the Expedition Cruise set.

 

We have done these on Lindblad. Whilst nobody was utterly dirty, the dress code was (happily for us) exceedingly informal. After a day revelling in stomping about in penguin guano, I was in no mood for jacket and tie.

 

Do agree with you that something 'frankly unfit for gardening'  is OTT, however!

[marinaro44]

On 1/21/2019 at 8:23 PM, marinaro44 said:

Having been on Pursuit since the day uktog disembarked I will say there have been none of the issues described above, and our two cruises have easily been up to the standard of our earlier 36 Quest and Journey cruises.  Specifics to come when I get home to a decent keyboard.

As promised, though a bit tardy, here is our Pursuit experience after 32 nights on board:  the holiday and Antarctica cruises.  Sorry, this will be long.

 

With one exception, we had no issues with officer visibility.  Carl came on board with us, and Carl is Carl.  We spoke with him often, and were surprised when he stopped at our breakfast table in Windows to show us videos and pictures of the apartment he and Petra are looking to buy in a city near their farm.  Reason for the move:  more education choices for the three boys and the expected little girl due later this spring.  When he learned that the couple we were traveling with were going to spend four days on the Isle of Man this summer,  he called their stateroom and invited them to join him for coffee to give them suggestions for their visit.  I did note Phil's (and it was a treat to meet and spend time with him on these cruises) comment about not seeing much of Carl on the Antarctica cruise, and would attribute that to the need (and excitement!) for Carl to be on the bridge as we cruised through icebergs, etc., for three or four days.

 

We were delighted to meet Elisabeth, who was stepping up from F&B manager to hotel director as Ryszard vacationed.  She was surprisingly visible given that this was her first tour as hotel director and the F&B manager who was supposed to come on board to work with her abruptly resigned from Azamara the day she stepped up.  We had many conversations with her during our month on board and she was even able to join the four of us at a sea day brunch in Discoveries.  I have to say she seemed more relaxed as the days passed and was very complimentary of the staff below F&B manager for pitching in to help her in the absence of a F&B manager.

 

Agnello, chief housekeeper, and Nikolay, restaurant manager, stopped us often to check on things and Nikolay was happy to show us pictures of the apartment he is buying in Varna...spectacular.  I was a bit surprised that an officer with "guest" in his title did not seem to show much interest in getting to know passengers, not even those with a high number of Azamara cruises.

 

Perhaps we did not have the right (or maybe wrong) kinds of issues but we did not experience the lack of customer-centric behavior that uktog did.  Our Owner's Suite (thanks, upgrade fairy) had a wall of glass with two sliders and it was difficult for the ship's HVAC system to keep it warm in Antarctica waters.  Elisabeth, Agnello, our deck's head housekeeper, et al, all came to see what could be done.  The ship's joiner (I think) finally taped up the living room slider and that eliminated much of the cold air penetration.  We had one instance in Discoveries where our friend asked for a certain included white wine and, when it was not available, the head waiter came by to offer suggested alternatives.  All waiters, room stewards, and Padam, our mind-reading butler, treated us just wonderfully.  When Darell (waiter in Aqualina) overheard my comment that it was White Night and we could skip dessert and get crepes suzettes on deck 9, he immediately volunteered to go down to get them for us.  As we sat silent for a few seconds thinking whether this would be an imposition, he just zipped away before we could answer and minutes later we had four plates of crepes.

 

We probably had fourteen or fifteen meals in the specialty restaurants, equally split between Prime C and Aqualina.  Meals were uniformly good as was service, with one exception I'll mention later.  We were pleased with Aqualina specials.  Three of us had skate wing, a favorite of all three.  I enjoyed black squid ink pasta with a garlic cream sauce, red pepper shells with the same sauce, and saffron tagliatelle with a lobster cream sauce.  Depending on whim, I'd add lobster tail, garlic shimp, or whatever suited my fancy to the pasta.  Can't comment on the sole as no one in our group ordered it.  The one issue?  We were seated at a table for two by a window in Aqualina when there were only four other couples in the room and they seated the fourth at the table right next to ours.  That's not an issue when the room is crowded but with so few there, there was no reason to crowd us, or the other couple.

 

Executive Chef Robert from Miami was onboard for the Antarctica cruise and said he was working with the specialty restaurant chefs on a new menu for Aqualina.  We didn't get to experience it but in our brief conversation with Ryszard as he came aboard the day we disembarked, he said it would be introduced in February.  Should be welcome news for everyone (including the chefs).

 

Very unfortunate situation with the speakers, apparently, as described by uktog above.  I guess we were lucky.  Ronald Orenstein, a legitimate wildlife expert, stayed on for the holiday cruise and was just excellent.  I won't remember all of his topics but especially enjoyed his talks on hummingbirds (many species in South America unlike North America or Europe), butterflies/moths, and unusual animals of South America.  And I finally understand what's different about hummingbirds that allows them to maneuver in the air as they do.  Our destination speaker was quite good but did not stand out from others on other cruises.

 

On the Antarctica cruise we were very fortunate to have John Rennie Short from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, as our destination speaker.  He was simply brilliant and all seven of his talks played to packed, SRO houses.  He made clear at his first talk that he was going to focus on the economic, political, and social development of the cities we'd be visiting, and not telling us where to get the best empanadas or cappucinos.  He also did a Q&A session where audience questions would have gone on long after his allotted 50 minutes, but bingo is bingo.  Our wildlife speaker was Mariano Aguas from the World Wildlife Foundation.  He's very involved in the multi-nation organizations that participate in the governance of Antarctica, and made clear the difficulty in getting twenty-plus nations (including Russia, China and the US) to agree on rules and regulations, given that each country has veto power.  Mariano also talked about the importance of krill to Antarctica wildlife, and how krill is now being swept up by large, specialized ships to be used as feed for salmon farms and to make fish oil.  Tony and Lee scheduled Mariano to do frequent chats over coffee in Mosaic with interested passengers.

 

Our third enrichment speaker came as a surprise.  The day before the lunar eclipse it was announced that Greg Redfern, a NASA solar system ambassador, would be coming onboard in Puerto Madryn to lead an eclipse-watching session on deck 11 (with, of course, Captain Carl).  Some hundreds of passengers joined them in the wee hours to see the eclipse.  Redfern then gave two talks on the two final sea days heading back to Buenos Aires.

 

Lastly, I share uktog's enthusiasm with what has been done to create The Den.  It's become a large, welcoming place for socialization.  Alberto was our pianist and he was to our liking.  He did not supplement his playing with artificial, electronically-generated background stuff, and played as we would like in a place intended for relaxing over drinks with friends.  Again, don't know just what happened on the prior cruise(s) but we were fine with Alberto.  The Den was also used for a Christmas-eve carol sing-a-long, a piano recital by ship's bandmaster Sasha Kovalov (Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Scarlatti, and others), and, later that same night, a jazz concert with the Pursuit band and Tony's wife Christine.  All very nice.

[uktog]

Thanks for your perspective.

 

Goodness me your description of your cruise is so different to our experiences in so many fronts -  maybe being in a big suite helps for some of the interactions.   I am glad that maybe things were being sorted out for you.  How fortunate you were to have all those the guest speakers onboard, probably they were going overboard given how awful it was for the earlier South America cruises.  Had we had that obvious quality we would have had no issues!

 

There was no F and B on for most of our cruises either so Elisabeth had a tough run which would be a baptism of fire for sure.  I am not sure exactly when Thomas left but it was somewhere between Barcelona and Buenos Aires

 

Funny our first cruise of the three had Robert onboard and Specialities were fine, but then......so perhaps he is the common denominator in that good experience, as would be the case if Darrel was serving.  Glad they have moved him over to Aqualina as it sure needed help.  I totally get your comment about the seating arrangement the night the restaurant was quiet, that was happening all the time (the restaurants were quiet every night) and despite feedback they still kept on with it.  

Edited January 31, 2019 by uktog

[excitedofharpenden]

I wanted to add my thoughts to this open and honest thread, having recently come back from 52 nights onboard Pursuit.  This consisted of 21 nights, Lima to Buenos Aires, 15 nights holiday cruise round trip Buenos Aires up to Rio and 17 nights Buenos Aires round trip to Antarctica.  I'm not going to go into great detail because will be here all day, but did want to summarise my experience.

 

Aside from a trip to Quito and the Galapagos, I have never been to South America so it was all new and exciting. None of the itineraries disappointed.  There were of course some parts that were better than others.  Antarctica on the final leg was a highlight for me.  Ushuaia too.

 

Overall I was left somewhat disappointed in Pursuit.  It just didn't have the feeling of a well run hotel at sea like Journey or Quest.  Whether this is because they are trying to do things differently I don't know.  The Azamara way that I've experienced before was missing somehow.  It has always been putting the  guest  at the centre of everything.  Not this time so much.  I could go on for ages (and probably get personal on this board which I have no intention of doing) with examples of this. But I was pretty firm in my post cruise questionnaire.  I will see if I get a response to it. It will be interesting to see if I do..

 

I felt the officers and some of the supervising staff were not at all visible.  From the Captain down (save for Captain Antonio who was great on the first leg, but who left after that cruise).  I know some won't appreciate me saying this, but there seem a few too many egos on the ship and this may go a long way towards explaining my earlier comment about putting the guest at the centre of everything.  

 

The specialties were a real disappointment. And it wasn't just me who felt that way.  All my dinner companions when we went there felt the same.  I did speak to the Hotel Director about it on the first cruise and she noted my comments were not unique.  I wasn't eating there every night, but did persevere on the second and third cruises and it improved, before falling back.  We had a really poor meal again in Prime C late on in the trip and were kindly comped in Aqualina the following night and it was better.  A try of Prime C with friends on the last night was poor service again.  We had no F and B Manager for pretty much the whole 52 days and I think it showed and was a hindrance to the Hotel Director.  

 

I just didn't feel the love and warmth on the ship.  Those who know me understand that I'm not into status, but I'll give this example because it's a demonstration of how aloof I felt the experience was.  I was top cruiser on all three cruises and turned double Platinum on the final cruise.  Apart from one invite to dine with the HD with other friends on about night three (which was great fun BTW), I didn't have another invite to dine with the Captain or officer the whole 52 days.  I was a bit flabbergasted to be honest.  Just not the way to treat one of your loyal guests and totally out of character for Azamara. 

 

I do want to end on a positive note.  There are some truly great crew on the ship. Waiters Adrian, Benjamin and Junior Waiter Joe were three that immediately spring to mind that were so helpful and good fun.  Bar tenders Amadeo, Aldrien, Igor, Vadim and a couple of Alexs.  Of course Ruby who is a star and looks after everyone.  We had the Aces Trio onboard playing nightly in Living Room.  They were really excellent.  So it wasn't all disappointing.  I mentioned these crew a number of times and hopefully they will get the recognition they deserve and train those that aren't so stellar.

 

I'm hoping for better on the ta in March, but I have no plans to book Pursuit again at present.  I'll stick to Journey and Quest.  My advice to Pursuit would be lose the egos, gain some more discipline with your crew and think more about putting the guest at the centre of everything you do once more..

 

Phil

 

 

 

 

[BBMacLaird]

Dear Phil, 

Let me be the first to apologize for a less than usual cruise experience with us. 

I’ve been thinking about your post all day, and feel awful about it; but mostly I feel awful for you. I know you to be fair in your opinions and I sense your disappointment must have been hard to voice. 

Please know senior management is taking this report very seriously. 

I hope you won’t give up on the staff of the Pursuit.

Sincerely,

Bonnie 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thanks Phil for your honest post.  I know that you have loved so many past Azamara cruises, so I take your opinion very seriously.

 

And also thank you Bonnie for your response.  This is what we all love about Azamara!

[uktog]

I am so sorry to read Phil that your experience was so similar to ours. Knowing how much you look forward to your time with Azamara and how you seek to see good in everything  it must have been such a blow especially given how loyal you have been but how quiet you keep your status onboard. 

 

You summed up our experiences so much better than we did, thanks.

 

i hope you get a response to your survey, we did not but rather hoped this was because changes were happening which is all we wanted to see.  Sounds like they did not in the short term so fingers crossed for the long term.  

 

Hope to see you on Journey or Quest soon, we now have nothing booked on Pursuit and we will leave it to let it shake out which I really hope it does.  In the meantime our choices are as we had before August 2018 and we are lucky to have that.

 

Best wishes. 

[ellbon]

Phil, first off Congrats on Top Cruiser  for all52 days. 

 

Second I do feel loyal guests should get some invites.

 

so what did you think of the TP gift. I asked. I asked nicely to,ship it home. As of now still waiting.friends say it is not there yet. Mention smaller gifts would be better. Today in Auckland  I saw a lovely card holder about the size of AZ which would work everywhere .

 

again congrats

 

Robin

[Grandma Cruising]

So sorry to hear about your experience, Phil.  In particular the lack of recognition of your loyalty seems very poor to me.  Your statement that you ‘didn’t feel the love or the warmth on the ship’ is concerning.  That’s exactly what has kept us coming back to Azamara - it’s difficult to describe, but you’re right that you can (or should be able to) feel it.  

We are booked on the Pursuit TA in November - I hope things have improved to the extent that we get that ‘feeling’.  I also hope Prime C has improved - we’ve always had excellent meals there and would be very disappointed if this was below par.

 

 

[Mrs Miggins]

Thanks Phil for the thoughts you have posted about Pursuit.  We have booked for May 28th and really hope they get their act together as the things you are describing as missing are the very ones we so look forward to.

 

We were on Viking over New Year and their beautiful ships really show up Azamara.  Plus Vikings shuttles and shoreside excursions are considerably better.  That only leaves the 'Azamara' feeling as their standout benefit.  If they lose that then repeat bookings will certainly decrease.

[excitedofharpenden]

10 hours ago, BBMacLaird said:

Dear Phil, 

Let me be the first to apologize for a less than usual cruise experience with us. 

I’ve been thinking about your post all day, and feel awful about it; but mostly I feel awful for you. I know you to be fair in your opinions and I sense your disappointment must have been hard to voice. 

Please know senior management is taking this report very seriously. 

I hope you won’t give up on the staff of the Pursuit.

Sincerely,

Bonnie 

Bonnie, please don't worry.  I am broad shouldered enough and will chalk it down to experience.  

 

I thought long and hard about posting my trip here, but feel strongly that things aren't right on Pursuit and wanted to give my honest critique because of the love that I have for the Azamara product.  I have seen prices rise substantially over the past couple of years.  What keeps me coming back is the way I am made to feel a part of the voyage with great interactions from the officers and crew.  It was somehow lacking on this trip and Pursuit I feel needs to get back to the fundamentals of what makes Azamara attractive.  Not to try and do things differently as the new flagship of the fleet.

 

Phil

[Riocca]

We have followed this thread with much interest especially as it’s the thoughts of  such well respected Azamara cruisers.

Whilst not as prolific Azamara cruisers as some we did cruise on all three ships in 2018 including Pursuit’s Maiden, certainly some of the comments resonate. We thought 2018 was going to be a difficult year for Azamara increasing capacity by 50% and integrating so many new staff, so some of the issues we encountered were expected some others not.

Our Journey cruise was the Monaco GP cruise and part of the “World Cruise” so did have a different vibe about it and as Phil thought with Pursuit we felt loyal cruisers were sidelined.  Whilst we enjoyed all three cruises this was probably the cruise with the least Azamara feeling.

Pursuits Maiden was always going to be challenging  and although we had a great time we were aware that once again there seemed to be little extra for those at the higher LCV levels, probably it didn’t impact us as much as we had a LCV upgrade to a CW.

Quest in September was by far our best Azamara experience of the year although there still seemed to be something missing.

All three cruises were port intensive but this is not unusual for Azamara so we can’t see that this would make the difference we felt in 2018.

Two things in common to all three cruises were that we didn’t see many Officer hosted tables for Dinner and certainly didn’t experience any. We also missed the LCV Discoverer Breakfast/Brunch as this was replaced by a 5pm cocktail party with a canopies, although the food looked fabulous the last thing we want is something like this before dinner, others must have agreed as most of the food went back untouched. In fact on Quest we didn’t even bother going as it was too nice an afternoon to be inside.

This year we only have one Azamara cruise (Quest in October) and shortly will have our first Viking Oceans experience so it will be interesting to see the comparison. In 2020 we have 4 Azamara cruises, one on Quest and three on Pursuit, although we don’t have any real concerns about this at the moment.

[excitedofharpenden]

3 hours ago, ellbon said:

Phil, first off Congrats on Top Cruiser  for all52 days. 

 

Second I do feel loyal guests should get some invites.

 

so what did you think of the TP gift. I asked. I asked nicely to,ship it home. As of now still waiting.friends say it is not there yet. Mention smaller gifts would be better. Today in Auckland  I saw a lovely card holder about the size of AZ which would work everywhere .

 

again congrats

 

Robin

Robin, I'll be totally honest.  I really dislike the presentations.  I feel like a right prune at them, but do them as a support for the LCV Manager more than anything (Gian on Pursuit along with Richard, two lovely guys).  To be wheeled up, for want of a better phrase, have a photo taken with the Captain and Cruise Director and then summarily dropped as far as other events was just weird.  I've never experienced that, even at the start of cruising with Azamara.  It's not sour grapes or attempting to be elitist because I hate that attitude.  More mentioned because it was so indicative of the feeling I had that prevailed on the ship.

 

I will say that I wasn't going to go to the top cruiser presentation, but Al and Donna (marinaro on the boards) kindly came and supported me as number two cruisers.  That was very nice of them and in spite of my pretty robust discussions with Al on these boards over the years, it was a delight to meet them and we  had lunch in the MDR one day.

 

As regards the present, not sure because as you say it's not on the ship yet.  I'll get it in March hopefully when I'm back.  The gifts are immaterial to me though. It's what backs it up that counts.

 

Phil 

[excitedofharpenden]

4 hours ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

So sorry to hear about your experience, Phil.  In particular the lack of recognition of your loyalty seems very poor to me.  Your statement that you ‘didn’t feel the love or the warmth on the ship’ is concerning.  That’s exactly what has kept us coming back to Azamara - it’s difficult to describe, but you’re right that you can (or should be able to) feel it.  

We are booked on the Pursuit TA in November - I hope things have improved to the extent that we get that ‘feeling’.  I also hope Prime C has improved - we’ve always had excellent meals there and would be very disappointed if this was below par.

 

 

We went to The Patio toward the end of the Antarctic cruise once the weather had warmed up, just for a change as we like it there.  Shouldn't have bothered. It was awful.  Food was slow and when it arrived it was poorly cooked.  I had the chicken cordon blue which I've enjoyed before and it was dry and the chicken overcooked.  We had ordered fries as we had really enjoyed them there at lunchtime.  They didn't arrive so we reminded them.  They brought us the fries, piping hot, but not cooked enough.  They'd just been flash fried as an afterthought.  Not good.  This is one area where supervision was lacking and they were missing the input of the F & B Manager on the ship.  Which of course meant no conduit for feedback by us.  It was just something else that shouldn't have happened on a cruise costing as much as it did.

 

Hopefully they will have their act together on the ship in November for you.

 

Phil 

[ellbon]

Ok here Phil.i should be sleeping. The highlight to me  is the flowers in cabin.i never drink the wine. I like wining  with another captain but I no  longer care if I win. I am ready to hand it over , I got off the Cmas cruise and if that family who won was on mine I hand it off for flowers.

 

the gift is heavy over sized glasses.lovely cut ..but I had no space I was giving or fly with. I saw a card  from their store which would sense.

 

it is sad that I never saw the captain around. Saw Fred and Cd daily.heike everywhere

[uktog]

Another vote for ditch the recognition event here.  I too would rather have much lower key subtle recognition and consistent good service across the ship.

[marinaro44]

No question that not inviting Phil, as top cruiser, to a senior officer-hosted dinner in 50+ nights on ship was wrong.  We were #2 cruisers on Phil's last two cruises and had no dinner invitations, either, but did get to go to two Best of the Bests as a result of paid upgrades to big suites.  I view that as a big suite perq, not an invitation, paid for in our case by the upgrade charge plus hundreds of thousands of dollars spent booking the prior cruises that earned us the upgrade offer.

 

I'll use this opportunity to suggest that Azamara consider a standing invitation to the top cruiser(s) to Best of the Best, as I don't think anyone on board is more deserving of that special treat.  On the Antarctica cruise I did suggest to a senior officer that an invitation for Phil to BOB be considered, as he had been top cruiser three cruises straight, but was told there were strict rules as to who could be invited, blah blah blah.

 

I understand Phil's feeling of walking out of the LCV cocktail party after being feted as top cruiser and then feeling kind of ignored, as we've been in the same position several times.

[Riocca]

We are Discoverer Plus so have real expectations of invitations to anything special but noticed a big difference in our 2018 cruises compared to 2017. In 2018 the emphasis seemed to be on looking after those who had spent top $ on that specific cruise rather than those who had shown long term loyalty. For example on Pursuit no higher level LCV members, including some who were double Platinum, were invited onto “bus 1” for the AzAmazing Evening only those in CO & CW suites. On Quest however the top four cruisers were included, we were fifth or sixth, it’s this sort of inconsistency that needs addressing.

However other than a couple of new staff who were obviously not going to make the grade we didn’t experience any problems with quality of food or service. In fact we came away from Pursuit very impressed with how well such a high percentage of new staff had integrated into the Azamara way.

[iata]

We are open minded, but what i just read leave me with ???. We are on the march 09 cruising.  Because of Azamara pricing is so expensive now we decided to do a cruise every two years with azamara instead of two a  year with other cruise lines. We loved our three cruises so much with Azamara, that's why we decided to sacrify some cruising to be onboard those friendly ships.  We love the interaction with crew and officiers, the warmth and happiness, we love the size of the ships, the all inclusive. The special touch. I really hoped for the best .  (Sorry english is not my first language, hope not too much mistakes :))

[teamflames]

We are also joining the Pursuit on March 9 and staying for the TA. I appreciate the honest feedback of regulars on this thread and sincerely hope it leads to improved service.

We are in the process of trying a variety of the more luxurious brands and in the last 3 months have sailed on Viking, Seabourn and Crystal. Crystal so far has suited us most, although the ship was more mature and the cabins modest the service and quality of food and beverages was outstanding and the quality of lectures and entertainment very high. We felt the element that took service to the highest level was what uktog referred to and that is middle management. Maître d’s, bar managers etc  attentive of passengers and also seemed to be diligent in both oversight and support of their staff.

We sailed on Seabourn latest ship and while it was gorgeous with amazing suites it suffered from many of the problems mentioned in this post so maybe there is something to be said for managements ability to introduce new ships and maintain quality of service.

As someone else mentioned, Azamara needs to be very strong in F&B and service considering the quality of ship that Viking and others are providing. We will definitely join the ship with an open mind but hope we do not encounter similar issues as at this point we have no brand loyalty to fall back on and use as apologies for an inferior experience.

[Trend]

I was with my husband on the holiday BA cruise and I do understand some of Phil’s comments as that something special of family was off.

Staff just seemed to not get what sets this line apart. On the contrary at both specialty restaurants through the entire voyage we had excellent food and service, never saw any person enter dressed inappropriately.

We happened to have the same butler as we had last year on the Journey and again Elos was outstanding.

My complaints were changes to the set up and loungers on the Thalotherapy deck for suite guests or spa guests.

The few tours using AZ were run very well.

We did attend the LCV brunch and it was lovely but noticed a small turn out.

Officers were all there serving up the food and talking with guests.

The New Years brunch was also excellent as was New Years Eve/ White night, the food,music, fireworks, champagne all great but some come on this board still complained.

I watched a guest insult and raise their voice to a server in Aquilinia because he did not want anyone to sit near him. It was disgusting and his poor wife sat there as he stormed out. Yes there were many people in the restaurant at that time but not full.( no excuse for poor behaviour)

Many of us went to the server to make sure she was ok.

The entertainment was terrible no other word to describe it.

 

[iata]

I have seen many guests on different ships acting like this. This is not OK for any reason, big big no no.  I did the same on another cruiseline. I ask the guest to speak nice and ot shout at that poor chineese girl.  Every night it was the same scenario. She was shaking as soon that table arrive. She looked at me and i smile to her to give her confidence. She show me thumbs up but one night that man went in rage after her. So i walk to her took her in my arm and tell in her ear that's it's not her fault, that man is abusive. During that time my husband got the maitre d' and he try with is little english to explain what just happen.  I still have that sweet girl in my arm crying. maitre d' talk to the gentleman outside. We never saw that man again in the dining room.  For the rest of the cruise that sweet girl came every night to my table (she was not our server) just to say hello, thanks, bring me paper flower that she made.  I just want the abuse to stop for her, and it stops.  So if you see somebody not nice to a crew member, please talk to a superior and take care of the crew member.

[Grandma Cruising]

You are quite right - there is never any excuse for behaviour like this. 

[tgg]

4 hours ago, iata said:

I have seen many guests on different ships acting like this. This is not OK for any reason, big big no no.  I did the same on another cruiseline. I ask the guest to speak nice and ot shout at that poor chineese girl.  Every night it was the same scenario. She was shaking as soon that table arrive. She looked at me and i smile to her to give her confidence. She show me thumbs up but one night that man went in rage after her. So i walk to her took her in my arm and tell in her ear that's it's not her fault, that man is abusive. During that time my husband got the maitre d' and he try with is little english to explain what just happen.  I still have that sweet girl in my arm crying. maitre d' talk to the gentleman outside. We never saw that man again in the dining room.  For the rest of the cruise that sweet girl came every night to my table (she was not our server) just to say hello, thanks, bring me paper flower that she made.  I just want the abuse to stop for her, and it stops.  So if you see somebody not nice to a crew member, please talk to a superior and take care of the crew member.

 

You were a blessing in her life and I'm sure she will never forget your kindness.