Noble Caledonia - Blacklisted After 39 Trips

[Charles2108]

We are possibly one of Noble Caledonia's most loyal customers. At the time of taking our last cruise on MV Elixir we had four more already booked and this was our 39th trip with them. The have had over £600,000 of our money over the years and yet with no explanation they have decided that our custom is no longer required... 

We suspect that the reason for this is that the cruise director was completely useless. Specifically the Zodiac procedures on this whip were, in my opinion, dangerous. Despite a safety briefing lasting less than 5 minutes, the crew made no attempt to follow their own procedures. 

On the first return to the ship, the zodiac was not secured to the ship, there was nobody on the landing platform, the two crew on the zodiac were holding onto the landing stage, no two handed grips were used - you get the picture. The cruise director was at the top of the ladder and when I tried to tell him about the potential dangers, he completely blanked me. 

I tackled his later over lunch. He was dismissive and said he had no control over the procedures as these were down to the ship. When I pressed him, he accused me of shouting at him and said that he deserved respect. I was not shouting at him and walked away to get a drink to defuse the situation. When I returned he said he would arrange for me to speak to the captain. It never happened. 

At Delos the crew of the zodiac were literally hanging on by their fingertips to the tread of the old tyres on the dock. They overloaded the zodiac. I did remark that it felt like a cross channel migrant crossing. 

Again when we returned to the ship, it was not secured. I was the first passenger off and refused to move until the zodiac was secured, one member of crew and got onto the landing platform, and the proper two handed safety grips were used. 

I tackled the cruise director again at a briefing meeting. He said he was talk to me separately afterwards. It never happened. 

So I wrote a long letter of complaint to Noble Caledonia. Rather than a response, I received a cursory letter from Noble informing me that they had received reports of rude and abusive behaviour (after 39 trips this was never commented on previously?) and that they had decided to cancelled all future bookings. 

I suspect that knowing that I was going to complain about the completely useless cruise director, he'd managed to put the boot in first. Needless to say I don't expect they'll be bothering to read my complaint letter. 

This is an appalling way to treat loyal and long standing repeat customers. No discussion. No attempt to establish my viewpoint. 

There are plenty of other cruise companies offering the same trips, especially bearing in mind that Noble have only 2 ships of their own. I've already re-booked two of my banned journeys with other companies. 

My advise - don't use them. They don't care about you. 
 

[LandC]

On 11/20/2023 at 6:42 PM, Charles2108 said:

We are possibly one of Noble Caledonia's most loyal customers. At the time of taking our last cruise on MV Elixir we had four more already booked and this was our 39th trip with them. The have had over £600,000 of our money over the years and yet with no explanation they have decided that our custom is no longer required... 

We suspect that the reason for this is that the cruise director was completely useless. Specifically the Zodiac procedures on this whip were, in my opinion, dangerous. Despite a safety briefing lasting less than 5 minutes, the crew made no attempt to follow their own procedures. 

On the first return to the ship, the zodiac was not secured to the ship, there was nobody on the landing platform, the two crew on the zodiac were holding onto the landing stage, no two handed grips were used - you get the picture. The cruise director was at the top of the ladder and when I tried to tell him about the potential dangers, he completely blanked me. 

I tackled his later over lunch. He was dismissive and said he had no control over the procedures as these were down to the ship. When I pressed him, he accused me of shouting at him and said that he deserved respect. I was not shouting at him and walked away to get a drink to defuse the situation. When I returned he said he would arrange for me to speak to the captain. It never happened. 

At Delos the crew of the zodiac were literally hanging on by their fingertips to the tread of the old tyres on the dock. They overloaded the zodiac. I did remark that it felt like a cross channel migrant crossing. 

Again when we returned to the ship, it was not secured. I was the first passenger off and refused to move until the zodiac was secured, one member of crew and got onto the landing platform, and the proper two handed safety grips were used. 

I tackled the cruise director again at a briefing meeting. He said he was talk to me separately afterwards. It never happened. 

So I wrote a long letter of complaint to Noble Caledonia. Rather than a response, I received a cursory letter from Noble informing me that they had received reports of rude and abusive behaviour (after 39 trips this was never commented on previously?) and that they had decided to cancelled all future bookings. 

I suspect that knowing that I was going to complain about the completely useless cruise director, he'd managed to put the boot in first. Needless to say I don't expect they'll be bothering to read my complaint letter. 

This is an appalling way to treat loyal and long standing repeat customers. No discussion. No attempt to establish my viewpoint. 

There are plenty of other cruise companies offering the same trips, especially bearing in mind that Noble have only 2 ships of their own. I've already re-booked two of my banned journeys with other companies. 

My advise - don't use them. They don't care about you. 
 

Charles2108 I have just found your post in the Roll Call section of this website, and was very concerned to read it, as we have a cruise booked on one of the Sky vessels.  Was your cruise on MV Elysium?  
I haven’t been on that vessel, and wondered whether the Cruise Director is employed by NC, or by the ship?  I would hate to think that he might be on our cruise later this year!

[Charles2108]

Yes it was. He was a freelancer. 

Could well be on that cruise (it's pot luck who you get) , but I have to say that the Sky vessels are much better re the zodiac procedures as they are performed by a Philipino crew who know what they are doing so you won't have that specific problem. 

[LandC]

16 minutes ago, Charles2108 said:

Yes it was. He was a freelancer. 

Could well be on that cruise (it's pot luck who you get) , but I have to say that the Sky vessels are much better re the zodiac procedures as they are performed by a Philipino crew who know what they are doing so you won't have that specific problem. 

Thanks for your reply Charles2108.  I hope you enjoy your future cruises.

[Fletcher]

Sounds familiar . . . @Charles2108.   I had done about a dozen NC cruises and most of them went swimmingly and when one went badly wrong they gave us a massive discount on our next cruise and when that was cancelled they gave us a free cruise.  Then we went on the Serenissima to the Caribbean - the ship was shockingly awful, the cruise director hadn't a clue and we missed several stops for no apparent reason.  I wrote about that cruise on TripAdvisor's Cruise Forum, on a largely positive thread that I started several years before, and got a letter from NC's Managing Director banning me for life.   I was told they absolutely hate being written about on the internet.  This was about 12 years ago so nothing's changed and they still have virtually no footprint on the web.  

 

I still look at their website.  They have some fabulous itineraries, I'm sure the passengers are just as nice as ever, but the ships are old and cramped and I don't miss them.

[Charles2108]

Thanks for your comments Fletcher. I hadn't put anything on the web until after I was banned. Serenissima is a cr*p boat. A floating sardine tin. I went on it once and told people to avoid it afterwards. It's now academic as it is impounded due to Russian ownership. The Caledonia Sky had been sold a APT so effectively they only have two ships of their own. After being banned we successfully re-booked on the same ships with different companies. Seems they have lost their USP so why use people who are arrogant and heavy handed and treat you with so little respect? 

[TRLD]

On 1/11/2024 at 6:55 AM, LandC said:

Charles2108 I have just found your post in the Roll Call section of this website, and was very concerned to read it, as we have a cruise booked on one of the Sky vessels.  Was your cruise on MV Elysium?  
I haven’t been on that vessel, and wondered whether the Cruise Director is employed by NC, or by the ship?  I would hate to think that he might be on our cruise later this year!

Are you talking about the Elysium, a 50 passenger ship owned by Elixir cruises?

 

We were on that ship booking directly with Elixir. On our cruise the entire crew were Elixir employees. Had a wonderful cruise. No problems at all with the ship or crew. Including multiple zodiac trips. The Captain and CD were both Greek on the trip we were on.

 

Perfectly happy to book another trip on Elysium.

 

The troubles in the middle east disrupted their normal winter schedule in the Red Sea between Egypt and Jordan.

[Charles2108]

The main problem I had was with the NC cruise director who was useless and put the boot in first as he'd obviously worked out that I was going to complain. 

The Concierge on the ship was excellent. I did have a problem with their safety procedures on Zodiacs but other than that the Elysium staff were fine. 

 

I think it would have been a lot better if I had booked direct. The NC staff are frankly not what they used to be. They seem to have worked out that employees - who are useless - are cheaper than freelancers. Let's face it, if you're any good you're going to go freelance as the money's better... 

Edited April 19 by Charles2108
Added comment

[TRLD]

19 hours ago, Charles2108 said:

The main problem I had was with the NC cruise director who was useless and put the boot in first as he'd obviously worked out that I was going to complain. 

The Concierge on the ship was excellent. I did have a problem with their safety procedures on Zodiacs but other than that the Elysium staff were fine. 

 

I think it would have been a lot better if I had booked direct. The NC staff are frankly not what they used to be. They seem to have worked out that employees - who are useless - are cheaper than freelancers. Let's face it, if you're any good you're going to go freelance as the money's better... 

When we were on board the platform where the zodiacs loaded and unloaded had 2 vertical pipes at each end. The two people in the zodiac would stand, brace their legs against the side of the Zodiac the grab the vertical hold with their outside hands using their inside free hands to help steady passengers entering and exiting from the zodiac.

 

The shore side varied a bit more because each stop was different. Sometimes the CD would help on shoreline during loading and unloading by holding a rope if there were no handholds.