Cruise Ship Blues: The Underside of the Cruise Ship Industry Read Online Free PDF Page B

cruise lines in the ultraluxury category, Seabourn provides passengers complimentary wines at meals — although, also like other cruise lines, some of these wines are unpalatable to even the most basic of tastes. Silversea Cruises, reputed to be the ultimate in cruising, at one point limited the complimentary wines to those with a wholesale cost of no more than $2 a bottle. Based on its December 2001 offerings, Seabourn has a similar budget. Curiously, the company doesn’t offer wines comparable to what their upscale clientele might drink at home. 6 On a cruise aboard the Seabourn Goddess I , a passenger remarked that the brand of Rioja wine served one night was the same one his mother bought in milk cartons to use as a cooking wine.
    uncompromising service is another promise made in advertising by ultraluxury cruise lines. The reality can fall very short. In Chapter 6 I describe an experience on the Radisson Diamond that is best summarized as Radisson’s “no, I can’t” attitude rather than its promised “yes, I can” attitude. Music was played at a bar, apparently for the entertainment of staff rather than passengers — these particular passengers were unlikely to regularly listen to rap. Attempts to change the situation led to increasingly passive-aggressive behavior by a bar waiter toward the passengers who complained. Similarly, on the Seabourn Goddess I, I advised the hotel manager of several lapses in service. He spoke to the staff, but also told them who had made the comments. Several waiters provided my partner and me with poor service thereafter, and one refused to provide any service at all.
    The promise of quality service by ultraluxury companies can be compromised by the ship’s small size. Many of these ships accommodate as few as 200 to 400 passengers. The small size of the ship results in the impression that passengers are essentially coming into the staff’s home. And just as it is considered poor manners to complain when invited to a friend’s house for dinner, the service providers in these small settings are offended if passengers are not appreciative of everything they do. They resent passengers who complain and will collectively sanction anyone who is not unconditionally appreciative. Trust me, the ship is small enough for this to happen. Corporate management appears to support this behavior, despite its stark contrast to the advertised promises.
    HERE’S A QUARTER SO YOU CAN CALL SOMEONE WHO CARES
    If you believe the advertising by cruise lines, you’re bound to be disappointed. Some cruise industry insiders confess that they expect from 5 to 10 percent of passengers to leave a cruise dissatisfied — but few of those people express their disappointment. Many passengers simply assume their expectations were too high
    — forgetting that it was the cruise line’s own advertising that shaped those expectations.
    My partner and I meet many “cruise apologists” — people who at sea are willing to accept reduced service and reduced quality, yet on land are inflexible and demanding. The cruise ship is a unique entity that effectively stifles dissatisfaction, and that skillfully turns problems around so passengers are made to feel that the problem is them rather than the situation or service.
    Another way that the cruise industry deals with customer complaints is through its cruise contract or “Terms of Passage,” a standard form which is provided to passengers after they’ve paid for their cruise. The contract states that acceptance of the ticket — which at that point, is nonrefundable — constitutes acceptance of the terms of the contract.
    The contract absolves the cruise line of responsibility for the actions of concessionaires — another little-known fact is that most ships have many concessionaires who provide specific onboard services, such as photography or medical care — and, except within very tight guidelines, for its own actions.
    This fact was driven home quite