Complimentary wines

[SLSD]

49 minutes ago, stan01 said:

Dietary notes and photos are definitely on the server's tablet.  As a male couple they can tell us apart, and a few address us by name which they would only be able to do by looking at a photo.

 

For people with dietary restrictions, it helps the server alert you quickly if there might be an issue.

 

I think they also designate people for "special attention".  Years ago we were told that our photos were on a bulletin board in the crew quarters after several people we passed in the halls called out to us by name.  We do miss Legend and her crew having spent 6 weeks on her on three different occasions.

 

I once was called by name by a crew member who came out of the kitchen (not a waiter) that I had never seen in my life.  He laughed when I looked surprised.  It was surprising when a waiter knew which wine I drank at lunch on the first day of a cruise.  He was a waiter I had never met.  

[Vineyard View]

When we were on Quest last year, after finding a couple of wines that we preferred at dinner, our servers seemed to know this. The added bonus was that when they took on new wines in power, they asked if we wanted to try any of them prior. It was impressive and delightful. 
I sincerely hope that the ability to bring wines on board in ports will resume. It was part of our memories that we enjoyed. 

[lincslady]

Tony UK - I  imagine you had actually asked for special recognition of your anniversary?  

[Vineyard View]

3 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

The added bonus was that when they took on new wines in power, they asked if we wanted to try any of them prior. It was impressive and delightful. 
I sincerely hope that the ability to bring wines on board in ports will resume. It was part of our memories that we enjoyed. 

The new wines in port. Not power. Ugh. 

[Tony UK]

11 hours ago, SLSD said:

Tony, which ship were you sailing on and when?

Ovation out of Monte Carlo Sept 2024

[Tony UK]

3 hours ago, lincslady said:

Tony UK - I  imagine you had actually asked for special recognition of your anniversary?  

Yes, and my husband reminded them on embarkation that it was that day. Nothing.... the room ladies said they were sorry they had been given extra rooms so didnt have time to do anything as they were late finishing that night.

I felt so sorry for my husband I went to SSQ the next morning and the response I got was I'll send a cake to your room! I said not at 8.30 in the morning...anyway its really about the occasion, not the cake! They did try to make up for it delivering a cake later in the cruise, but no apology or anything from guest relations. It was too late by then. After that there were more problems with Solis reservation when I was made to feel awkward, incompetant or stupid in SSQ. It was embarassing in a public place. I had confirmation on my phone of a reservation and had confirmed it on embarkation. I wished I had filmed or recorded our embarkation visit. The lady said I had never made a reservation. She said there was nothing on the system, I was wrong or I must have cancelled it and then changed my mind!  We were mystified... but wiithin minutes of returning to our room we got a phonecall saying we had a reservation all along....what was all that about. I think she was trying to bump us in favour of a regular client!

At this point we were almost ready to get off, A small handful of staff, and finding earth and ocean and the fabulous Bruno in the Solis bar kept us on board. 

We had other issues along the way like booking the retreat where staff were setting up for the evening event, moving chairs bring up supplies etc. We should really have been informed in advance. Our room blow the retreat was disturbed up to 11pm by all the furniture above being moved on night, chairs scraped accross the floor. Again we should have been informed.

Not at all impressed by the whole experiece

[SLSD]

2 minutes ago, Tony UK said:

Yes, and my husband reminded them on embarkation that it was that day. Nothing.... the room ladies said they were sorry they had been given extra rooms so didnt have time to do anything as they were late finishing that night.

I felt so sorry for my husband I went to SSQ the next morning and the response I got was I'll send a cake to your room! I said not at 8.30 in the morning...anyway its really about the occasion, not the cake! They did try to make up for it delivering a cake later in the cruise, but no apology or anything from guest relations. It was too late by then. After that there were more problems with Solis reservation when I was made to feel awkward, incompetant or stupid in SSQ. It was embarassing in a public place. I had confirmation on my phone of a reservation and had confirmed it on embarkation. I wished I had filmed or recorded our embarkation visit. The lady said I had never made a reservation. She said there was nothing on the system, I was wrong or I must have cancelled it and then changed my mind!  We were mystified... but wiithin minutes of returning to our room we got a phonecall saying we had a reservation all along....what was all that about. I think she was trying to bump us in favour of a regular client!

At this point we were almost ready to get off, A small handful of staff, and finding earth and ocean and the fabulous Bruno in the Solis bar kept us on board. 

We had other issues along the way like booking the retreat where staff were setting up for the evening event, moving chairs bring up supplies etc. We should really have been informed in advance. Our room blow the retreat was disturbed up to 11pm by all the furniture above being moved on night, chairs scraped accross the floor. Again we should have been informed.

Not at all impressed by the whole experiece

It sounds like you had a series of unfortunate events.  I don't think that is usual.  I think the reservations in Solis can seem a bit haphazard at times--with no real rhyme or reason for how it is being done.  Was this your first Seabourn cruise?

[Tony UK]

4 minutes ago, SLSD said:

It sounds like you had a series of unfortunate events.  I don't think that is usual.  I think the reservations in Solis can seem a bit haphazard at times--with no real rhyme or reason for how it is being done.  Was this your first Seabourn cruise?

We have been cruising over 30 years various lines from balconies to Edge villas and Penthouses. It was our 1st Seabourn. We were so looking forward to this as it was a special anniversary for us. It was ruined on the day and the coninuing issues completely ruined the cruise experience.

Apart from anything else our accounts were a mess. Couldnt reconcile / balance them at all. They couldnt explain it to us. They kept putting in corrections. We reached the point where we were close  to their figures and wouldnt spend anything as we couldnt trust the system by then! The account then went haywire. I have pages and pages of accounts etc I brought home as evidence. Even so we were assured on the last evening we had around 100 usd obc to spend and 100 spa credit. We didnt spend anything, so owed nothing but amazed to find a debit on our credit card when we got home which we are disputing through amex and direct with Seaborn. 

We just felt it was a series of wholly unprofessional events. We asked to see the guest relations manager who repeatedly dodged us. He sent a letter of apology and $37...an insult! It sent our account haywire again !

I am giving Seabourn an opportunity to respond and to correct our account. Thats only reasonable. 

In time I'll be writing a full review

[lincslady]

In that case, you certainly had a raw deal over several things and IMO most unusual. I am sorry this happened on your first  and probably only  Seabourn cruise.

[SLSD]

6 hours ago, Tony UK said:

We have been cruising over 30 years various lines from balconies to Edge villas and Penthouses. It was our 1st Seabourn. We were so looking forward to this as it was a special anniversary for us. It was ruined on the day and the coninuing issues completely ruined the cruise experience.

Apart from anything else our accounts were a mess. Couldnt reconcile / balance them at all. They couldnt explain it to us. They kept putting in corrections. We reached the point where we were close  to their figures and wouldnt spend anything as we couldnt trust the system by then! The account then went haywire. I have pages and pages of accounts etc I brought home as evidence. Even so we were assured on the last evening we had around 100 usd obc to spend and 100 spa credit. We didnt spend anything, so owed nothing but amazed to find a debit on our credit card when we got home which we are disputing through amex and direct with Seaborn. 

We just felt it was a series of wholly unprofessional events. We asked to see the guest relations manager who repeatedly dodged us. He sent a letter of apology and $37...an insult! It sent our account haywire again !

I am giving Seabourn an opportunity to respond and to correct our account. Thats only reasonable. 

In time I'll be writing a full review

Wow,  I'm sure the account mess really made all the other smaller things seem worse.  As far as anniversaries go, the gesture on the part of Sojourn for our 48th anniversary was minimal.  It was  a dessert on a plate that said Happy Anniversary--not a huge gesture--but a nice one.  There was also a plain white card in our suite that said Happy Annniversary.  So--it appears that you didn't miss out on a great deal.  

Edited Monday at 02:19 PM by SLSD

[Tony UK]

47 minutes ago, SLSD said:

Wow,  I'm sure the account mess really made all the other smaller things seem worse.  As far as anniversaries go, the gesture on the part of Sojourn for our 48th anniversary was minimal.  It was  a dessert on a plate that said Happy Anniversary--not a huge gesture--but a nice one.  There was also a plain white card in our suite that said Happy Annniversary.  So--it appears that you didn't miss out on a great deal.  

Its kind of a long story....but we were celebrating our golden wedding so booked Seabourn for something more special! On our actual anniversary our daughter was admitted to hospital and we nearly lost her. We didnt even open cards or greetings and put everything on hold till she recovered. We took them with us and displayed them, husband bought a huge floral display through seabourn, others bought us gifts. It was a very big deal for us! 

It isnt the cake or card, that mattered, it was the lack of care or attention to detail. We kept trying to move on from a very disappointing start, however every time we tried there was something else. 

We are hoping Seabourn will reach out to us with an acknowledgement of the issues and apology.....if they dont then we will move on and they'll be toast!

[SLSD]

46 minutes ago, Tony UK said:

Its kind of a long story....but we were celebrating our golden wedding so booked Seabourn for something more special! On our actual anniversary our daughter was admitted to hospital and we nearly lost her. We didnt even open cards or greetings and put everything on hold till she recovered. We took them with us and displayed them, husband bought a huge floral display through seabourn, others bought us gifts. It was a very big deal for us! 

It isnt the cake or card, that mattered, it was the lack of care or attention to detail. We kept trying to move on from a very disappointing start, however every time we tried there was something else. 

We are hoping Seabourn will reach out to us with an acknowledgement of the issues and apology.....if they dont then we will move on and they'll be toast!

Wow--quite a disappointment.  I am so sorry that it happened that way.  

 

I wasn't going to mention this, but because of your story, I will.  On the day of our anniversary, very good friends who were onboard Sojourn with us sent a lovely arrangement of flowers, sent through Seabourn  of course.  It came with a card.  It was such an unexpected and appreciated acknowledgement of our 48th anniversary.  Later in the day, we came back to our suite and the flowers had been moved from where we had placed them and a card from Seabourn, congratulating us for our anniversary had been placed by the flowers.  At the time, Mr. SLSD and I laughed as we wondered if Seabourn/Sojourn thought that THEY had sent us the flowers!  It certainly looked that way as they had moved the flowers and put their own card next to them.  We never mentioned this to our generous friends, but found it a bit odd.  I mention this wondering if the staff on your ship thought the same thing--that the lovely floral arrangement that your husband had delivered to your suite was actually from them.  Just a thought---and only because of what happened in our suite.  

Edited Monday at 04:06 PM by SLSD

[nancygp]

@SLSD…It was our pleasure to send you the flowers in honor of your anniversary!   It would have been ok if you mentioned what happened…weird but humorous!  One of the wonderful people in guest services took care of the card and showed it to me before the flowers were sent to your suite!

 

Nancy

[margbem]

9 hours ago, Tony UK said:

We have been cruising over 30 years various lines from balconies to Edge villas and Penthouses. It was our 1st Seabourn. We were so looking forward to this as it was a special anniversary for us. It was ruined on the day and the coninuing issues completely ruined the cruise experience.

Apart from anything else our accounts were a mess. Couldnt reconcile / balance them at all. They couldnt explain it to us. They kept putting in corrections. We reached the point where we were close  to their figures and wouldnt spend anything as we couldnt trust the system by then! The account then went haywire. I have pages and pages of accounts etc I brought home as evidence. Even so we were assured on the last evening we had around 100 usd obc to spend and 100 spa credit. We didnt spend anything, so owed nothing but amazed to find a debit on our credit card when we got home which we are disputing through amex and direct with Seaborn. 

We just felt it was a series of wholly unprofessional events. We asked to see the guest relations manager who repeatedly dodged us. He sent a letter of apology and $37...an insult! It sent our account haywire again !

I am giving Seabourn an opportunity to respond and to correct our account. Thats only reasonable. 

In time I'll be writing a full review

Tony UK - reach out directly to Natalya Leahy: NLeahy@hollandamericagroup.com

 

We had an unresolved issue that we were very unhappy with so we contacted her direct. She acted speedily to rectify matters. We were very impressed with her.

[SLSD]

2 minutes ago, nancygp said:

@SLSD…It was our pleasure to send you the flowers in honor of your anniversary!   It would have been ok if you mentioned what happened…weird but humorous!  One of the wonderful people in guest services took care of the card and showed it to me before the flowers were sent to your suite!

 

Nancy

And yes, there was a card from you and Mr. Nancygp.  They left that card behind when they moved the flowers and substituted their own card.  So weird.  

[Tony UK]

29 minutes ago, margbem said:

Tony UK - reach out directly to Natalya Leahy: NLeahy@hollandamericagroup.com

 

We had an unresolved issue that we were very unhappy with so we contacted her direct. She acted speedily to rectify matters. We were very impressed with her.

thank you so much....I was hoping they would reach out to me. I think I'll write in as you suggest. At least it will get it out of our system. xx

[Covepointcruiser]

We have been cruising for many, many years and have never expected an anniversary or birthday to be recognized on boarding day.   Stick with Celebrity if they will do that.

[docmark]

Whatever happened to the TOPIC of this thread? Am I the only one who is "bothered" by this amazing change of discussion/posts not related to topic? 

[SLSD]

5 minutes ago, docmark said:

Whatever happened to the TOPIC of this thread? Am I the only one who is "bothered" by this amazing change of discussion/posts not related to topic? 

How about this---for an anniversary SB could at least send a complimentary bottle of wine.   

[nancygp]

19 minutes ago, docmark said:

Whatever happened to the TOPIC of this thread? Am I the only one who is "bothered" by this amazing change of discussion/posts not related to topic? 

Going off topic happens many, many times per day on Cruisecritic! 🤣

 

Nancy

[Vineyard View]

Has anyone else heard back from emails that they sent into SB regarding the wines? 
I responded to my cut and paste email - quite a while back - and have not heard another word. Maybe this direct email for Natalya is a better avenue than the ‘office of the president’ address?

Edited Tuesday at 01:56 AM by Vineyard View

[Robisan]

2 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

I responded to my cut and paste email - quite a while back - and have not heard another word.

Same.

[galeforce9]

8 hours ago, nancygp said:

Going off topic happens many, many times per day on Cruisecritic! 🤣

 

Nancy

I think we’re all friends here! 😀

[Tony UK]

19 hours ago, margbem said:

Tony UK - reach out directly to Natalya Leahy: NLeahy@hollandamericagroup.com

 

We had an unresolved issue that we were very unhappy with so we contacted her direct. She acted speedily to rectify matters. We were very impressed with her.

Thank you so much. Letter and files sent today and copied to our travel agent. It might be like sending a note to Father Christmas, but we'll see! 

It did allow us to shake it all out of our system so we can forget it and move onto our next cruise......it really isnt a great thing to say is it lol

 

[SFTraveler53]

Complimentary wine list currently on Venture. So far we’ve enjoyed them.