FlyerTalker

Always remember....Blacklane is NOT a transportation provider. They are only a front-end booking service. Everything you can get through Blacklane you can get directly from providers. Think of them as Viator for cars.

Did you pre-request that they have this? If not, then this come down to a simple question of "just how extensively must a ship stock their larder to be able to cater to non-standard requests from guests?" I guess they didn't anticipate your unspoken needs until the ship was sailing and already provisioned. How dare they not FedEx in a supply at the next port. And FWIW, this is the first time I've ever heard of a guest wanting pomegranate juice. So maybe it's not as desired as you might wish.

Well said. There is just something you feel different on a luxury line. It's not just about cabin size, or all inclusive, or butlers or whatever. The atmosphere is different, sometimes quite significantly. And, I will concede that some probably don't notice or care. It's all about the hard quantifiable for them. NOTHING wrong with that. But, no reason to continue this kind of differentiation in that case.

Even when promised something, perhaps having backup contingency planning is in order? As you now well know.

Never said that. You are projecting, IMO. What is important is that Seabourn understand the preferences of their DIFFERENT market segments. It's not one monolithic lock-step group. A smart company knows how to recognize market segment differences and how to address each of those in a unique fashion. They may or may not feel the need to send out surveys to other demographics. Or they may take a different research approach. The presence of, or lack of, surveys does not indicate how much they "care". Obviously.

Completely concur. Somebody put some time into crafting this. And it was crafted, not just thrown together. As for the folks that wanted to list their own separate opinions....that's not what this was for. Send in a letter to express your feelings.

Did it ever cross your mind that, for this specific survey, they may have only wanted the opinions of USA customers? And that they were fully aware of this, going in? Or are things automatically flawed if they don't include your geographical demographic? Example: A survey is sent out, but only to those who are under 50 years of age. Is that necessarily flawed? Or is it a way to determine opinions OF THAT SURVEY TARGET? Why should it matter to anyone outside Seabourn what their survey goals and parameters are? It only matters that THEY know that when evaluating responses.

They were part of an initial "ranking" of various cruise features that you started off the survey with. Later questions with them being an important variable serve as a check-value to measure the internal consistency of participants answers. Further, surveys often include irrelevant questions to test the validity of the overall responses. This survey was a combination of ranking and A/B questions. Running a number of A/B questions can be used to develop preference matrices, which can be cross-tabbed with the ranking results.

Not silly. I've been involved with a number of survey/group sessions where non-disclosure agreements were part of the package. They obviously didn't want to have wide dissemination of what they were asking, and yet when their "loyal" customers ignore the company's wishes, it isn't far fetched for the reciprocal feeling to be "who needs these people that can't respect our wishes". IMO, there were a number of well-placed red herrings in these scenarios. Some were put in to test for response consistency, some to measure against the initial "ranking" of features. Anyone who believes that all were being seriously considered is unlikely to have ever been on the drafting/evaluating side of customer research.

And someone at HQ will likely say "See, they won't keep a confidence. Why bother running options past them."

You get the Flybus+ service to your hotel. Or, a taxi if you wish. All explained at their website. Research. Which we all should do before every trip we take. Not at all difficult with internet resources at hand.

In January, it's almost always pitch dark. 😀 Some hotels are continuations of the bus from the airport. And I have always been able to find someone who will help with luggage if needed.

It seemed to me that they were floating ideas that seems to reflect approaches that Regent, Viking and Oceania use. Since they requested that we not discuss the substance and specifics of the questions, I will honor their wishes and say no more.

99.99% that you will be flying through Hamburg (HAM). There is no commercial airport in Kiel.

KEF is super easy for getting to town. Almost everyone uses the Flybus or Flybus+ service. Private transfers at KEF are mostly used by folks who enjoy setting Benjamins on fire. (Meaning you'll pay about 10x the Flybus) With both the SS transfer or the Flybus, you'll be on a nice bus for a comfortable ride. One nice thing about Flybus is that they run pretty much continuously, plus they have excellent wifi onboard.