Review of RSSC Navigator - Never Again!!!

My husband and I just returned from our first RSSC cruise January 7th to 17th on the Navigator and were thoroughly disappointed. First our background - we are 37 and 39 respectively and have sailed on Silversea and Seabourn having 6 cruises within the last 3 years on both lines.

We chose RSSC because my husband is an avid scuba diver and noticed that RSSC always had a shore excursion on all ports that included diving. We normally have to book our own private excursions on Seabourn and Silversea because they just don't offer it. So we thought it would be great not to have to spend a significant amount of time planning it on our own, just let the ship do it. We also chose this particular cruise because of the ports which were a divers heaven.

About one month before the cruise we received our cruise documents and noticed that some of the ports were no longer offering any scuba or as a matter of fact - no excursions at all. They had been changed to either a beach party or nothing. This then forced us to scramble to find our own private arrangements. This was the very reason we had signed up in the first place. To makes matter so much worse, when we did get on the ship we at least still had 2 diving excursions set up with the ship - but the night before we were to go - guess what? they called and canceled them. They did not even offer to help arrange another trip for us until my husband complained.

Now I want to start at the beginning of our cruise. When we arrived at the port embarkation was very speedy and we were impressed. Then when we got on the ship we were not met by anyone who asked us to show us to our room. Since we had been on Silversea and Seabourn before we naturally figured it out and found our room on our own.

Our room was well laid out and very similar to Silversea and we were pleased. However, within a moment I noticed that the king size bed had one side considerably lower and on a slant then the other side of the bed and this with the bedspread on. I immediately removed the spread and sat down on one side and almost rolled off the bed. I am not kidding!!!! This matress was deplorable. At the same time I noticed that I was hearing conversations from both opposite walls of our suite, meaning I could hear our neighbors ( and not just muffled sounds - but full blown conversations). We called our housekeeper. We told her about the mattress and she offered us an egg carton mattress - I of course said no that we wanted a real mattress but I would wait until the next day as I really did not want to put anyone out that evening. Then I asked her about the noise from the neighbors and she told me the walls were very thin and if they insisted to talk loud then someone at reception could call them and tell them to lower thier voices. You can imagine my shock - this was not about people talking loud - this was about poor insulation.

It only got worse from this point on. I have heard many RSSC cruise critic members talk about the vibration problems of the ship - but not once did I read about the serious LISTING problem of the ship. It was never straight - either it listed to the right or the left all during the cruise. This is a defect of the ship along with the vibration problem. It was not only at the back of the ship but also in our cabin 1013. On many occasions our front door began to rattle so much so that we had to put our door stopper inside the door to stop the problem. When we addressed the Hotel Director about the listing and vibration his response was "oh you should have seen it before it was fixed about four years ago" then immediatley changed the subject and asked us how the food and service was - as if this was the remedy to serious design flaws.

We were also shocked to learn that of all the passengers we spoke to that had taken RSSC before no one had ever been on a Silversea or Seabourn - in fact nobody had even seemed to hear of them. Having just paid close to $10k for this trip I was really surprised that for a little more those passengers would have truly seen what a true six star luxury cruiseline really is and not an imiatation.

In RSSC defense the food and service were very good. Not as great as Silversea or Seabourn but close. Also, the entertainment was absolutely fantastic on RSSC. This exceeded Silversea and Seabourn.

I for one will never even consider RSSC again and I am sure to offend those RSSC cruisers who love this line. But one cannot just ignore the fact that there are serious problems with this particular ship and that there is not immediate plans to fix them. Also once you have traveled with the ultimate luxury lines you just cannot settle for what others cruisers thought was normal. Shame Shame.

While I do not dive anymore, on my last Feb Mariner cruise they had a number of dive trips. BUT they had min divers. One night dive required 2 and they only had one. They are also having ppl from Jean-Michel Cousteau Ocean's Futures Society on some cruises.

But the bed should have been replaced long ago...

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I for one will never even consider RSSC again and I am sure to offend those RSSC cruisers who love this line.

You have not offended me and I do love Radisson. However, I would have been very disappointed if I'd found myself in your situation. I have not been on the Navigator so cannot comment about the ship. We have been on Diamond, Mariner and Voyager. All cruises were perfect. We won't cruise Seabourn as we like full balconies. Have several friends who have cruised SS and Radisson and they seem to enjoy both lines and have given me indepth reviews of SS. I will try SS soon , I hope. Again, I guess we just were lucky but spending 34 days on the Voyager in Asia and Australia just made us fall in love with Radisson. Sorry this was not a good trip for you - I sympathize with you and think I'd go back to the other lines based on your experience -

That really is terrible, we all live for these trips and to be disapointed is just awful. I've been on both SS and Seabourn and both were wonderful. We have also had marvelous times on 2 Radisson trips leaving for the PG in one week 19 days. There has been alot of talk on boards about SS coming close in price to Radisson, and I"m sure we've not heard the end of it. Sorry you had a bad time, live for the next one!!

I agree with your review completely. My husband and I sailed in August on her to Bermuda. NEVER AGAIN! We have never had bedding as bad as what RSSC presented. Like you we were offered the egg crates for the top of the mattresses - a total joke. We cruise at least 3x a yr and have spent over 250 days at sea. BUT, the rock n roll felt on this ship is just horrific. Some folks never saw the restaurant until we docked in Bermuda. At the prices they charge it truly amazed us that they have a loyal following. We recently sailed on Holland America in a Suite (575 sq ft) with a huge veranda r/t from San Diego to the Hawaiian Islands for 16 nts. Not once did I experience that horrible listing that was on the Navigator. We also had a fabulous new king sized bed from Sealy that was just wonderful. This 16nt cruise was less than the 7 nt cruise on the Navigator and there was no comparison for overall comfort, food and service.

joannapvb & all:

Many of us who are "old Radisson cheerleaders" are booking Silversea and Seabourn now instead, as Radisson just "ain't what it used to be", and there is no use in pretending that it is. Radisson's new higher fares, scarcity of discounted specials, gutted benefits for past cruisers, and doubled drink prices over the past couple of years make it scarcely the value for the money it once was. Crew cutbacks have adversely effected service. Equipment-wise, the Navigator has vibrated from "day one" with the worst of it being in the show lounge where it can be so bad one can't hear the show. It's been that way for three to four years, and no "fix." Then the Voyager, which originally sailed smoothly, had one of her screws hit a rock, and her stern has shaken at higher speeds ever since, with no "fix." Now the PG, which didn't vibrate a few years ago, has joined the "vibration club" with the worst being thward the stern on deck 7. On our recent PG cruise, the captian tried to pass this off as "cavitation" (air bubbles on the screws). As one with some auto mechanical savy, this does not "wash." The PG didn't vibrate 3 and 4 years ago --- and I was there. Cavitation is a design defect that does not just "show up" after a ship has been sailing smoothly for 8 years. Rather, what I felt was more like a bent or unbalanced screw shaft. Yet, it was announced that no attempts to repair this problem will be made at the PG's dry dock in the near future. Instead, the lounge on deck 7, where the vibration is worse, will be converted to suites, where glasses will surely vibrate off tables! All in the name of increased revenues.

Indeed, Radisson's only ship now that is not seriously defective to my information is the Mariner. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Radisson ships are sailing full, fat, and happy (for RSSC) now, partially as a result of favorable recommendations by those of us who had great experiences and value for the money just a few years ago. I feel that Radisson betrayed its formerly loyal repeat customer base by lowering standards, raising prices, cutting benefits, and allowing its ships to go unrepaired.

I used to write glowing reviews of my Radisson cruises of just a few years ago. I hope those with recent unfortunate experiences will know that Radisson REALLY used to be that good, and that good a value. So I and others were not liars when we wrote those reviews. But I also know from recent experience that Radisson is not the line it once was, but has allowed itself to go down hill while relying on its past reputation.

So, our next cruise is booked on Silversea.

Thanks,

Richard

Richard, I have to agree with all your comments regarding RSSC. We are relatively new cruisers, and our first experience on RSSC was magical. From the moment we stepped on the ship in Monte Carlo to the finish in Venice, it was a wonderful adventure. Last year, while our cruise was nice, something was missing.... However, we booked three trips for the coming year and my first is in March on the Mariner in the Caribbean. (a two for one with my daughter). I will report back on our experience. My husband and I do plan to try one of the all inclusive lines in the near future. We may cancel our fall RSSC cruise and try Silverseas or Seabourn at that time.

Cheers, Pam

My husband and I were also on Navigator Jan 7-17th. We sailed with four other people (all of whom had four previous Navigator sailings under their belts), and had a wonderful time. That being said, this was certainly not an ideal itinerary for someone who wanted to dive. Navigator had never taken that itinerary before (if I understood what the captain said in his Welcome Aboard speech), so there weren't a lot of inviting excursions offered, in our opinion. The beach party on Coral Cay when we docked at Roatan was the best one I've ever seen, but it wasn't a diving experience.

We noticed the listing of the ship on a couple of occasions, but that was when the winds were really strong and the swells were up. It was unusual enough to be a topic of conversation at the dinner table. We did have some squally weather early in the cruise, and a day of BAD rough seas. But that's possible this time of year.

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your trip, it's terrible to anticipate something wonderful and then have it actually be less than it should have been.

Cindy,

Sorry to hear you did not have the most enjoyable experience on Navigator. As you know we had a great cruise on Mariner 2 years ago which ranks right up there with the SS cruise we were all on and we also enjoyed our Voyager cruise about a year ago. We had planned on doing Navigator this spring but business has caused us to cancel that one. Maybe that is not such a bad thing given your review. I know you demand high but not unreasonable standards so I appreciate your review. May all your and Charles future sailings be much more enjoyable.

Keith

I just got off the Paul Gauguine and I have also sailed on the Diamond and while I loved both cruises, my cruise on Seabourn was certainly superior to either on Radisson. But, Seabourn is a little too small for me and scales a little bit too much older so I've been very pleased with Radisson. The beds, however, on the two ships I sailed on, were atrocious. Bad news when you want to leave Tahiti just to get to sleep on your own bed again. This is a problem I really wish they'd fix.

Keith

I was waiting to hear from you. You know having been on Silversea with us in November how wonderful that cruise was. At least I remember it was for you and Anne.

I thank all those who have responded to my post and not pummeled me to the ground for my negative review. Sometimes good things change and sometimes if this is all you know and you don't know anything different and only travel this line than you would not have anything to compare it to.

I beg to differ with the cruiser who was on this ship with us that this was not a diving trip. Anyone who knows anything about diving knows that Roatan and Belize and Cozumel are some of the best diving spots in the world, especially because Roatan and Belize sit on the 2nd largest barrier reef next to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. RSSC is not a novice to cruising and so they had diving excursions planned originally on this cruise as they do all of their cruises. The problem is they changed and cancelled them with no warning except the night before. Also as far as the Beach Party goes - again for close to $1000 per day - I thought it was outrageous to charge for an alcholic drink. You invite me to a party and then you ask me to pay for the drinks. It was tacky beyond reason. I would certainly understand if the cruise price had been considerably less than an all inclusive line, but in fact it cost us more than our last Silversea.

I do agree with the cruiser that sailed on the Navigator to Bermuda that there were alot of people who had room service and were seasick more than one occasion. Having been one to sail many times in the Caribbean inlcuding in November - the seas were NOT ROUGH. They were in fact pretty calm - it was the SHIP. One night it rolled so bad I really thought the ship was going to keel over. I have NEVER had to stay in my room during any of our cruises - including those in the Meditterean where the seas do get rough but I did on this cruise. But both Silversea and Seabourn have well made ships and use their stabilizers - so the effect is no effect at all.

Cindy

Goofyisme & all:

First, of the remaining Radisson fleet, the Mariner may well be the best ship. We encountered no vibration there a couple of years go, great service, and the best food we have experienced on this line.

We all must acknowlege, however, that the Radisson of a couple of years ago was quite different than the Radisson of today. Sad, but true. Fares and other prices are WAY up --- even compared to competing lines. Maintanence appears to be slipping. Some food quality down. And a couple of years ago these ships were far from full, and had a full compliment of staff. On many cruises then, the actual passenger to crew ratio was probably one crew per guest --- possibly more on some cruises --- wherein the ratio was 1 crew per 1.6 guests with a full ship. Since then, there have been staff reductions, and I will just bet that the ratio is more like 1 crew per 2 or more guests. As the ships are now sailing full (due to their great reputation honestly earned a few years back) the ACTUAL passenger to crew ratio you experience is i to 2 or so, compared to the ACTUAL ratio of 1 to 1 a few years ago. Naturally, the service used to be better! And some of the staffing cuts have been in the area of maintanence, and it is showing up in the form of vibrations, tilting ships, and bad beds.

Radisson sort of reminds me of General Motors. Fifty years ago, GM made some great cars, and thereby captured around 50% of the US vehicle market. GM let success "go to its head" and quality, features, and value fell. Now GM is nearly bankrupt. Just a few years ago, Radisson offered the best deals on the best cruises around, but was relatively undiscovered, and ships sailed far from full. The "word got around" and people started flocking to Radisson. I fear Radisson is letting this go "to its head" and allowing quality to slip and prices to climb I hope Radisson will wake up, look at GM's example, realize that the "word that is getting out" now isn't good, and realize what will be in store if they do not clean up their act.

I wouldn't be writing this if I didn't actually like Radisson. I'd just shut up and book Silversea. Rather, I write this because I want "the old Radisson" back.

Thanks,

Richard

I apologize for my obvious ignorance of diving; I do remember now that Belize has diving because my stepson is going with a group later this Spring. The other ports, I didn't know anything about and still don't.

As I mentioned earlier, we have only sailed once with RSSC. But, maybe some regular Radisson cruisers can tell me what's up with the housekeeping carts being left in the hallways 24/7? It truly was like an obstacle course getting around these carts. Between the listing and the carts in the halls it became very tricky trying to navigate your way to the elevators. In all of my cruising experience I have never seen housekeeping carts left out in the hallway all day and night.

I agree with you all. I gave Radisson two chances, and I was disappointed in both. Never again!

It is most unfortunate that my less than stellar review of my cruise on the Mariner last August was met with some less than kind posts, but now it seems that the problems are throughout the cruise line.

Radisson used to be one of the few lines that actually to an active interest in this board. Now, it seems, it is not terribly interested in what any of its passengers is saying.

While I think we believe otherwise, let's hope that Radisson is going to quickly learn that its missteps are not helping it in the long run as passengers start putting their deposits down on cruises with other lines.

helenp2:

As Radisson cruisers with 77 nights in the past four years, I think I can answer your question about the cleaning carts --- at least as to one RSSC ship -- the Paul Gauguin. We sailed her several times in years past, and again in 09/05. On the recent cruise, we found that the traditional two-person room steward/stewardess crew had been cut to one person. The number of rooms assigned had aslo been cut by some number ---I do not know exactly. But we all know that many jobs can be done in LESS THAN HALF THE TIME by two than by one. We found room steward service to be slow, compared with previous RSSC cruises. As a result, the cleaning carts were about in the halls much more of the time. This, we understand, was done on the PG as a result of RSSC's strange new relationship with Grand Circle Travel, which is an organization that certainly knows nothing about providing luxury traveland (IMO) has no business being connected with an organization like RSSC used to be. I wonder if the two-person crew has been abolished on all RSSC ships. Perhaps, as the GCT connection seem to extend beyond GCT's ownership of the PG, which is leased to RSSC. GCT is selling cruises on other RSSC ships now. As both RSSC and GCT are private corporations whose stock I cannot buy, I am precluded from buying 100 shares or so of RSSC and then demanding a copy of the RSSC/GCT agreement to see "how far it goes" into the hotel function of the PG and the other ships --- and filing a stockholders' derivitive suite if the agreement copy were not sent to me. But if I could, I suspect I would not be pleased by what I would read there!

Iamaboatman:

Some of the unfriendly responses to your negative review undoubtedly came from Radisson regulars or "cheerleaders" who simply have not cruised Radisson very recently, and are defending Radisson quality based on what Radisson USED TO BE. And RSSC cruises used to be absolutely great, no doubt about it. On the other hand, I am a Radisson regular and cheerleader (or rather a former one) who HAS taken a very recent Radisson cruise. There has clearly been significant "slippage" in cruise quality, of which some may be in blissful ignorance. We got a VERY good price on this cruise, as we used a bunch of accumulated credits on it, and I definitely tink it was worth what WE paid for it. And when we returned, I wrote here that it was pretty much the same as our PG experiences of a few years ago. But as I settled in at home, and more differences between Radisson then and now came to mind. And there are a bunch! So I think those who attacked your negative review were thinking of the "old Radisson", not the one we have now.

Thanks,

Richard

Cruise Critic is slow to load for me today, and I had a mountain of laundry to do (Geesh, how DID we wear all those clothes?), so I'm just now getting back here.

I guess I formed the (incorrect) opinion about the diving because of there being so many quite elderly people onboard. I would have edited to say that if I could have gotten back to the board.

While we did have a good time, I also noticed things that I thought had "slipped" since our last cruise. I had a definite problem making myself understood to our stewardess; I had to teach her the difference between feather pillows and non-feather by showing her how to feel for the feathers. I had asked for "foam" pillows, she understood "four" pillows (yes, we had eight until I sent most of them away). She was SO very, very young, and she worked SO hard, but we missed the two-person teams that were always so efficient. The cushions on our balcony furniture wasn't ever brought in at night, although our friends' were, so that might have been an isolated thing.

What Pam and Rich experienced is exactly what I experienced on the Mariner.

One young woman, who was pleasant but inept and could not communicate well, was singularly handling our suites. I had problems with simple things like, "Please take the beer from my children's suite and put them in my suite" which resulted in the beers being removed from both suites. I had some of the prior occupant's possessions left in our bathroom. We were regularly short on towels. An ashtray and glass left on the balcony from a late night drink was still there the next afternoon.

These things do not ruin my cruise - far from it - but they grow on you. And, as Pam says, as you think back they actually grow on your more.

Honestly, if the service was top notch I probably could care less what I was paying for drinks. But when my cabin is not cleaned and I feel like I am getting NCL service...

Yes, for those of us with Radisson experience, "slippage" does grow on one after the cruise is over. I can't tell you how much drinks were on our recent PG cruise, as there were plenty of drinks for me at dinner and in my mini bar --- though the drink charges in the bar seemed to keep them totally empty! Sad. It would have been a nice place to socialize. But it has grown on me that our single room steward was just too busy to do his work to accomodate our schedule -- as had been the case on prior RSSC cruises. While I can't actually recall if the food quality had slipped, all fellow guests I spoke with did think so. As this was an itinerary RSSC had never done before, some of the excursions were fouled up or not to Radisson's standards. I understand the reason for this was that the "head office" had denied the PG excursion personnel's request to make "exploratory trips" to those islands to properly set up excursions. And the Les Gauguines (a group of young women who sing, dance, and entertain on the PG) were actually "lip sinking" this time, whereas their performances had been totally live before. The cruise director, while a nice guy and competent, was not an entertainer. In contrast, the PG's former cruise director, Michael (?, somebody help me out on the last name) was IMO a Vegas quality singer and entertainer who sounded a lot like Barry Manilow. And maybe worst of all, we booked air through Radisson, which for us meant an overnight at LAX Hilton and a transfer from LAX to the hotel. At LAX we were met by ---- NO ONE! We could find no one from Radisson at the airport. We finally took the Hilton's overcrowded shuttle bus where we had to stand and have luggage fall out of the racks on our feet. This stood out in stark contrast with our past experiences with Radisson-booked air and hotel and transfers. In Rome just three years before, we were taken from the hotel in Rome to the airport in a Mercedes E class sedan, with a driver and a translator, and our luggage was never carried by us! Now that was Radisson style. What we experienced at LAX last September would have been a disgrace to NCL.

Excuse me for my griping here. But when I read that Iamboatman was attacked by "Radisson fans" (in which group I used to be a Field Marshall!), and when I too know that Radisson "just ain't right" anymore, I can't resist the urge to speak up.

Thanks,

Richard

A couple comments:

I'm very sorry you had a bad experience. I too would have been upset about the canceling of the diving excursions, especially since that's the primary reason you selected this cruise.

But I'd like to point out a couple things. You seem rather upset at the response of the people on board that you spoke to about your dissatisfactions:

We called our housekeeper. We told her about the mattress and she offered us an egg carton mattress - I of course said no that we wanted a real mattress but I would wait until the next day as I really did not want to put anyone out that evening. Then I asked her about the noise from the neighbors and she told me the walls were very thin and if they insisted to talk loud then someone at reception could call them and tell them to lower thier voices. You can imagine my shock - this was not about people talking loud - this was about poor insulation.

You might want to consider that the housekeeper can't exactly do anything about the insulation in the walls, so I'm not sure why you called her about that. It is what it is -- what could she have done? I haven't been on the Navigator, only the Voyager, so I can't comment on how bad it is. But I'm happy to say I never heard a single thing from either side of me on Voyager, so I guess I'm lucky.

As for the mattress, I highly doubt that the housekeeper can actually replace your mattress. It's unfortunate you ended up with a bad one, but perhaps the egg crate on top would have helped a bit.

You also wrote:

When we addressed the Hotel Director about the listing and vibration his response was "oh you should have seen it before it was fixed about four years ago" then immediatley changed the subject and asked us how the food and service was - as if this was the remedy to serious design flaws.

Again, I wonder why you asked him about it, and what you thought he might be able to do. It's not like he can go out and fix serious design flaws! His response sounds like he was just trying to deal with unhappy customers in the most positive and upbeat way possible.

I for one will never even consider RSSC again and I am sure to offend those RSSC cruisers who love this line. But one cannot just ignore the fact that there are serious problems with this particular ship and that there is not immediate plans to fix them. Also once you have traveled with the ultimate luxury lines you just cannot settle for what others cruisers thought was normal. Shame Shame.

I think it's unfortunate that you won't try RSSC again because of what amounts to problems with one specific ship. I also find it a bit distasteful that you assume those of us who haven't traveled on the other luxury lines would consider these problems "normal". I wouldn't be happy with a warped mattress or horrible vibration either. I certainly didn't experience that on Voyager, but then we had a forward cabin, whereas I've read the ones at the aft do have some vibration problems. We're currently booked for our next RSSC cruise on Mariner, and I'm delighted to read that she seems to be the one ship with NO problems!

I'm not an RSSC apologist or cheerleader -- I'm unhappy with a number of things as well. I'm very displeased with their butchering of the SSS plan, which seems disingenuous at best. I'm also dismayed at their increased prices, which may very well lead me to the other luxury lines in the future, as the price advantages of RSSC have disappeared. In fact, my very next cruise, coming up in 6 weeks, is on Windstar. And I REALLY wish they would go all-inclusive, especially if they are now going to be pricing themselves at or higher than the all-inclusive lines. I think that's a huge mistake on their part.

But for now I'm continuing to read glowing reviews of the things that are important to me -- service, food, and overall luxury experience. Little things don't bother me -- I don't find it too big a deal to have to find my own room, in fact I find over-solicitous service to be uncomfortable. So for now, provided price and itinerary are right, I'll continue to cruise with them.

Oh, regarding room attendants, I was surprised on our Voyager Med cruise that we had just one gal -- a sweetheard from the Ukraine named Rosemarie, who was just a doll and did a fabulous job. But we've had two attendants on other cruises, including on Celebrity, so I thought that was a bit odd. Thankfully she did a fabulous job.

LeeAnne

Richard, I think you are referring to Michael Lewis. He was on our 5/21/05 B2B PG cruise. Left the ship when we did. Good singer, but not my type. We found him a bit cold and distant as a CD. But a good entertainer he was!

Although there were many aspects of our PG trip that were wonderful, we found the quality of the service and particularly the food very disappointing in comparison to our two previous trips on the Voyager. And we weren't alone. One of our friends, who sailed the PG for the second time about six weeks after we did, opined "this is no longer a luxury cruise."

Fortunately, Radisson made the switch to solo cabin attendants after our cruise. The pair servicing our cabin were superb!

We are booked on the Voyager and the Mariner this year. We do so hope we will not have a PG experience on those two ships. There are special personal reasons why we want to take these two trips or we would try to grab one of the good Silversea deals like you did. There is definitely a Silversea experience in our future.

Patrick

LeeAnne:

I fully agree with you that a guest must take a problem to the proper crew or staff member before complaining here about same. But here's one from our 9/05 PG cruise in the Cook Islands. RSSC had not properly communicated times with their tour operator. As a result, we had to wait in a rather nondescript area for about an hour. The excursion was suposed to include snorkeling and a lunch. Becuause of the foul-up, there was no time for snorkeling (our primary reason for going on this excursion), only the lunch (which, in itself, was fine). So I spoke with the Tour Desk MANAGER, and requested a 50% refund --- as about 50% of the time for this tour was lost. All I could get was 27% -- supposedly the ship's "take" of the cost. As the difference was only about $40 for two, I took the matter no further. The Tour MANAGER should have been far enough! But do I think the handling of this matter was true "Radisson style"? NO!

Thanks,

Richard

Cindy

I join others in saying I'm sorry that you had a negative experience on the Navigator. I will tell you that my first RSSC cruise was less than stellar, but after a number of communications back and forth with FLL and with so many others reporting great cruises, I gave them another try. As a result, I had some great experiences. Like Richard I've seen the RSSC experience slide over the ensuing years. I noticed a lot of little grating slipups on my last Voyager cruise, which I've posted before. Nothing huge, just little things where you think, "this was better before". Unlike previous cruises, staff made virtually no effort to learn our names or indicate in any way that they remembered us. Before, we were always recognized from previous cruises and greeted like old friends. Food is never spectacular, but in fairness, I prefer more robust seasoning than most. I still manage to gain a few more pounds than I should. And the two-person room steward teams who swept through so quickly were far superior to the single stewardess concept. Previously they were in and out while we were at breakfast. While pleasant and thorough, our Voyager stewardess never got to us until we were wanting to be back in the cabin after morning activities. The line seems to be drifting without leadership. Prices are up, and there are too many little (and big) screwups. The SSS when it was announced was a real letdown. Management seems oblivious to feedback or to the psychology of keeping loyal customers happy.

I'm booked on three Navigator cruises this year, and your review is a real concern. I choose based on ports, and RSSC has always been the most convenient for me. Plus I often travel single, and RSSC has some terrific supplements compared to other lines. I hope this isn't the next benefit to go. I was even thinking about adding the Funchal-Monte Carlo leg to my spring crossing, now I'm not so sure. I was hoping that the Navigator would take the place of the smaller Diamond for crossings. But they cut the cruise by one night and kept the price the same. That alone is a pretty hefty price increase. They're finally adding some big name entertainment, so that's a positive. However, I'm not keen on taking a listing, unstable transatlantic cruise. Regardless, if the April Navigator crossing is not up to expectations, I'll be looking elsewhere.

Richard,

It sounds like Radisson fouled up your excursion, and I'm disappointed (and surprised!) they wouldn't give you a better refund. You are right in saying that doesn't sound like the type of response I would have expected from them. Mistakes happen, but good customer service means they should own up to their errors and do what's appropriate to fix or mitigate them. Any customer is entitled to receive what they paid for, and if half the excursion was lost, half should have been reimbursed.

I'm not sure what your point is, though, relevant to my post, regarding taking matters to the proper crew or staff member. My point to the OP was more that taking their concerns about insufficient insulation, ship listing and vibration to housekeeping and the hotel director was an exercise in futility if the hope was to actually find a solution. The housekeeper can't re-insulate the walls, and the hotel director can't fix the ship's stabilizers. Of course, if the intention was simply to have an ear to listen, that's understandable -- but what I found troubling was that she sounded so unhappy with their response, as if that compounded the problems and made the experience that much more inexcusable. I would be curious to know what response they WOULD have considered satisfactory from the two individuals to whom they complained. I can't help but feel for the Hotel Director, who clearly was trying to refocus them onto things that he himself actually has some control over!

I'm glad she posted her experience with the ship, however, and I'd very much like to hear more feedback from other cruisers on Navigator, to find out if they felt the same about the ship. That would certainly impact my likelihood of cruising on this ship.

LeeAnne