Excuse me but I don’t like this cruise, the waiters are too kind and helpful

//Excuse me but I don’t like this cruise, the waiters are too kind and helpful

waiters.jpgWould you complain if the service you received on a cruise ship was better than expected? One Yorkshire couple did, unhappy that the unexpected kindness led them to hand out more in tips than they had expected.
That’s just one of the bizarre complaints from cruise passengers received by online travel agency bonvoyage.co.uk over the past year. The company has compiled a Top 10 of the craziest – and none of them include ships breaking down, or having to miss ports of call because of bad weather.

  • 1. A lady on a Mediterranean cruise – it must have been her first – was unhappy with the sound of the sea, claiming it was too loud and had stopped her having a good night’s sleep. She wanted her cabin to be “better soundproofed against the sounds of the sea.”
  • 2. On a two-week Caribbean cruise to celebrate his honeymoon, a man was unhappy about the “lack of ceremony” accorded him and his new bride. Why wasn’t their cabin dressed in white and strewn with fresh rose petals every morning, he demanded to know. Why no Champagne and strawberries for breakfast in bed? He admitted he had not requested any special treatment, but thought the crew would have known about the honeymoon and would have offered special treatment accordingly, at no extra cost.
  • 3. A woman on a cruise departing from Southampton informed the bonvoyage.co.uk team that she had to re-schedule her whole holiday, as she claimed she was not aware of the fact that she was supposed to take her passport with her on the cruise. She blamed the cruise company for not texting her the day before to remind her to take her passport.
  • 4. A couple on a Mediterranean cruise complained that their captain was “rude”, and had failed to comply with their plans. They had left a note for him in the morning to let him know they would be returning on-board two hours later than the planned departure time due to having “too much to do in-port”, but the Captain departed on-time without waiting for them. The couple then had to catch the ship at another port the day after, and wanted compensation for their accrued travel costs.
  • 5. A young woman on a Hawaiian cruise told the customer service team that she had heard that Gary Barlow was once on the same cruise she had ventured on, but failed to see him on the ship this time. She demanded a clear explanation as to why he wasn’t on the same cruise again this time.
  • 6. A man who on a summer cruise in Alaska complained about the weather as it wasn’t as warm as he expected, stating that he expected to be able to “swim in the swimming pool each day” and “get an impressive tan.” He stated that “all cruises are meant to be hot”, and so sought compensation for having to buy warmer clothing as he “had only packed minimal clothing for the expected hot weather.”
  • 7. An elderly couple who went on a cruise around France and Spain asked for a refund because the team on board did not provide them with a packed lunch to take with them when leaving the ship in each port. They expected it to be provided, despite never discussing the option.
  • 8. A woman on a Celebrity Cruises ship demanded a full refund in June last year, simply because she didn’t see any celebrities on board. According to her comments, the company was guilty of “false advertising” due to the lack of actual celebrities on the ship.
  • 9. The Yorkshire couple contacted bonvoyage.co.uk to complain about the kindness of the staff on board a cruise they travelled on in October, explaining that they had to spend “a lot more money than planned in tips” due to the excellent service.
  • 10. Last but not least a woman expressed her disappointment with her inside cabin not having a window to the sea. Furthermore, she claimed, nobody on board was able to install a window for her so she could enjoy the view, and she expected “better service next time.”
  • By | 2017-06-15T15:59:35+00:00 29 March 2013|Cruise Entertainment|3 Comments

    About the Author:

    John Honeywell is a travel writer specialising in cruise ships and cruise travel. Winner of CLIA UK's Contribution to Cruise award 2017.

    3 Comments

    1. Scott Lara 29 March 2013 at 5:30 pm - Reply

      Love it!

    2. Nice piece, John (and Bon Voyage!) You gotta love Joe Public in general – and No.8 in particular!

    3. sally dillon 3 April 2013 at 3:54 am - Reply

      I just got back from the WORST cruise experience of a lifetime aboard MSC. They booked a half charter to a group called “Cruise To the Edge” that included entertainment by rock groups including heavy metal Zebra. The ship had over 400 children on board for spring break but they CANCELLED all regular evening theatre entertainment so the charter group could have exclusive use of the theatre. The rock groups took up precious deck space, had private parties in the main lounges… we were forever wandering with nothing to do, only to find signs forbidding us entrance to this and that. 130 decibel music practically making your ears bleed even when they wouldnt let you in! No rest for the weary aboard that ship.Over-crowding in the accessible areas. They had one of 2 pools closed off and hundreds of square feet taken up by stages and speakers. Very hairy old rockers gawked at the teenage girls and the pot smoking aboard was very evident. The cruise line allowed them to smoke cigarettes everywhere – there was no escaping it. For us with 4 children? It was the Cruise to the edge of HELL. What kind of soulless suit at the corporate offices of MSC would cancel the entertainment and restrict access when the ship had 400 kids on board? Complaints abounded but no word on restitution from MSC so far. They ruined our vacation. They owe everyone that was not part of that charter a redo and I am not kidding – it was that bad…. although I don’t know I would trust them to go out again; even our children wanted off the ship from the first day 🙁 . We felt like the steerage passengers locked out of the lifeboats on the Titanic!

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