What Nice Things Have You Seen Or Heard?

[QueSeraSera]

I appreciate this topic.  We've just retired and are about to go on our first cruise this September to Alaska, and some of the negative threads here can be discouraging.  Thanks to the posters above (and future I hope) for rekindling excitement to be "on board"!

 

On 8/18/2019 at 4:39 AM, babs135 said:

I sometimes wonder what 'newbies' to this site/cruising think when they read some of the topics.

 

In my case, fear that something so looked forward to might be an expensive mistake.

 

[clo]

2 hours ago, QueSeraSera said:

some of the negative threads here can be discouraging.

I don't know if I made this up 🙂 or not but I say that "people are quick to criticize and slow to praise."  I try really hard to be the opposite.  Try.

[QueSeraSera]

22 minutes ago, clo said:

I try really hard to be the opposite.

 

Clo, you do really well at being positive, I've seen it.  (and I've seen grumpy comments after you - unwarranted IMHO)  Do you have a happy story you might like to add to this thread?

[clo]

13 minutes ago, QueSeraSera said:

 

Clo, you do really well at being positive, I've seen it.  (and I've seen grumpy comments after you - unwarranted IMHO)  Do you have a happy story you might like to add to this thread?

LOL.  I have a thick skin 🙂

 

Hmm.  We did a Norwegian coastal cruise in March.  (On Hurtigruten)  I'd had a really bad fall, xrays, nothing broken, but so much pain.  One night I just could not bring myself to go to dinner.  I ask Bob to bring me a bowl of soup (their soup is life-changing - lol.)  When he came back, one of our servers (probably the youngest) was with him with tray with soup, bread, butter, cutlery, clothe napkin.  Far more than I expected.  I almost cried.  She got a big hug 🙂  And Bob told me that she insisted on bringing it.  (There's no room service on this ship.)

[babs135]

Remembered another nice thing.

 

One night on the Queen Elizabeth I was feeling very queasy and decided to pass on the evening meal.  I did go down to the MDR with DH and when the waiter asked why I wasn't ordering anything and I told him he disappeared and came back with a pot of lemon and ginger tea!  

It helped.

[debs246]

We were just wandering around Valletta in Malta and stopped to take some photographs near the cannons. I sat on a bench and thought I had returned the camera to my bag. After a short rest off we wandered till we reached a lovely church, I went into my bag so I could take a photo of the outside and you’ve guessed it no camera! We madly retraced our steps back towards the cannons and there sitting on the bench was a lovely couple who had found it and waited for about twenty minutes to see if anyone would returned. We obviously thanked them and found out that they were actually on our ship so I said to my husband we must buy them a drink when we see them and again you’ve guessed it, we never saw them again.

It’s just so good to know there are kind, thoughtful people in the world still.

 

[awhcruiser]

1 hour ago, debs246 said:

We were just wandering around Valletta in Malta and stopped to take some photographs near the cannons. I sat on a bench and thought I had returned the camera to my bag. After a short rest off we wandered till we reached a lovely church, I went into my bag so I could take a photo of the outside and you’ve guessed it no camera! We madly retraced our steps back towards the cannons and there sitting on the bench was a lovely couple who had found it and waited for about twenty minutes to see if anyone would returned. We obviously thanked them and found out that they were actually on our ship so I said to my husband we must buy them a drink when we see them and again you’ve guessed it, we never saw them again.

It’s just so good to know there are kind, thoughtful people in the world still.

 

Lovely story!

[BlueCO102]

My wife and I were seated in Belini’s on the Regal Princess. Our table was at the rail overlooking the bottom level of the piazza where the Beatles tribute band was playing. A crowd had gathered with many fellow passengers squeezing up to the rail for a view, including standing over the two of us. Our waiter delivered a round of drinks saying it was from one of those passengers who were crowding our personal space. 

 

I was was able to figure out which fellow traveler had bestowed this small kindness and thank them for their gracious gesture.

[Chanman76]

We were on our honeymoon in the Caribbean on a sea day when we got a message to call home, The mobile signal was patchy to say the least but we heard enough to discover my wife's grandmother had suddenly passed away. We gave up on the mobile option and attempted to call home from the cabin but the cabin phone was unable to make a call either! So we headed to guest services and explained the situation, Guest services was really busy and noisy but the girl who we were dealing with took us straight through to the back office, sat us down and said she would make the call on there own lines. She really went the extra step to make sure we were OK and asked if we needed to leave the cruise to head home. In this case the funeral was not until we were back and the rest of the family stated we should stay as granny would want it that way. The customer services girl then sat down with us and brought my wife tissues and a cup of tea and sat with us making sure we were both OK. She handed us her card with direct line and said if we needed anything at anytime night or day to call her and she would help us in anyway we can. It was later in the day we discovered a bunch of flowers and card had been left in our room from guest services saying they were sorry for the passing of the wife's grandmother. 

 

As the day went on and the shock had worn off a little bit the wife and I got talking about the other guest we heard while we were waiting at guest services and how awful some of them were treating the staff. We decided to do what we could and the next day proceeded to buy a few little things - a card, sweets, biscuits and other little items to give to the guest services team. We also had a little teddy bear who was at our wedding  who was travelling with us which the wife decided to donate to the gift pile. We wrote a long thank you on the card and how much we appreciated their support and how much of a great job they were doing and we left the goodie hamper with the guest services. 

 

The next time we walked past guest services the girl who helped us ran over and gave us both a hug and was in tears that we had thought of her and the team she was really appreciative of our gesture, In fact anytime she spotted us over the next week she always stopped and chatted to us, not as a staff member but as a friend. In fact all the guest services team always stopped and chatted to us and made a point in saying thank you, I am guessing other guest must have wondered how on earth we were on such good terms with them.  It was the last evening of the cruise we got back to our cabin late afternoon to a bottle of champagne on ice, snacks a reservation to one of the restaurant's on board along with the wife's wedding teddy with a note from our girl and the guest services team saying they would  love to look after the bear but he was missing home and sadly wanted to go back home with us.

 

We felt the original help we received was wonderful when we needed to contact home,  The hamper we made up was a simple thank you to the team for helping us (I know it is there job, but to give a sign of appreciation was the least my wife and I could do ). We had no idea that it would actually have that much impact on the guest services team.  We did not expect anything in return nor wanted thanks for the hamper but to simply to say thank you to them in anyway we could for there help that morning. 

[ldubs]

Hey Chanman.  A little kindness goes a long way.  Well done!  

[simplelife]

As a university professor, spring break for college kids is my spring break, too. Last year DH and I shared a ship with many college students who were having a blast enjoying all the ship had to offer. They brought fun and energy to the ship/ I never once saw inappropriate  behavior from any of these young people.  They were courteous and friendly. They invited us to sit with them when pool-deck table were in short supply. Almost every time I approached a bar to order a drink. a young man waiting in line would insist I go ahead of him (something I rarely experience on most cruises  - it's everyone for themselves). With all the complaints we hear about spring breakers,  I thought this worthy of mention (though I have found from working with university students every day, courtesy  and consideration are the norm. There might  be a few isolated incidents of boorish behavior but we see those among groups of all ages)

[simplelife]

On 8/18/2019 at 2:32 PM, LandlockedCruiser01 said:

My own example was just a few of encouragement that saved my day in port.  I remember it very clearly.  

 

It was my second day on my Imagination cruise.  The ship just pulled into Key West.  That's where I found a note slipped under my cabin door: my pre-booked Hemingway Museum excursion was canceled.  I got really bummed out, because I was looking forward to it for months.  I still SS&S, and went to the Lido buffet for breakfast, looking really bummed out.  As I stood in line to get food, a woman recognized me.  (I possibly talked to her the night before, or maybe even danced with her, but my memory for faces and names was never very good.)

She said: "You looked down in the dumps.  On a cruise, of all places.  What happened?"

Me: Blah-blah-blah, excursion, Hemingway, canceled.

Her: "So what do you plan to do?"

Me: (apathetic) "Don't know.  Stay on the ship, I guess."

Her: (shocked) "What?  Hell no!  That museum is very easy to walk to, and Key West is very safe.  Just pick up a map at Guest Services, then follow it."  (She explained how Key West is laid out on a grid and easy to navigate; maybe she knew the town.)

 

I thanked her, and decided to take her advice, purely out of the "it can't be worse than staying on the ship" mindset, even if I don't find the museum.  Sure enough, I found the museum.  The history and the friendly cats were awesome.  I even checked out quirky shops and tried frozen key lime pie on the way over.  I also stopped at Sloppy Joe's  for a beer on the way back.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't run into that woman again.  Which is kind of a shame.  I would have liked to personally thank her for saving my day.

Just pay it forward.