UKCruiseJeff

Lirio, Such a shame to hear about the cancellation. Reading what happened it sounds like you have had a narrow escape to what sounds like almost certain disappointment Those platters are impressive particularly with the cheese knife set and is that walnut loaf … with a touch of honey perhaps? Tonight’s supper was Mortadella and salad with mayo in focaccia panini and a mug of house white.

Mange tout mon cher petit pois.

Love your humour Fletch. Do keep it up. The humour that is. 😀

Thanks so much for the kind comments! She was right about 801. We had most of our meals there and in those days you could order what you wanted and everything was wonderful. It was like having your own boat without any of the palaver. Or cost. Or noisy neighbours! No one passes 801. For a couple of ports we were able to grab 802 which was vacant and had it set out boardroom style and in those days you could easily invite guests on board for the day. And to my surprise, no charges. SS considered it marketing. We had clients and friends who joined us in Barcelona, Monaco etc etc and SS put up a great seafood table and manned our private bar for us on each day and never has our client meetings gone so exceptionally well and so fluidly. I think the cruise more than paid for itself a few times over. Not many people have gone to work in 801/2. It certainly killed the idea of my own boat. To salivate, here is “wife on a shelf” and some more. Thanks again. Jeff

One thing I have learned, is that sometimes “Less is More” 😄 Jeff

Good afternoon Coolers, Today was chicken in white wine sauce with mash and peas! As an aside. My memory just sparked up. Did someone use to pop up in Cooler history and shout out “PEAS!” every time I posted a piccy of peas? 🤔 Anyway, in sympathy with Rojaan19 we have smaller portions for the dietary compromised. 😦 I’m proud of the parsley because a year or so back I was bored and we got heavily into hydroponics for fresh stuff and as a result we have been overtaken by stuff including parsley. Hydroponics is a wonderful thing. Today it was house wine. Jeff

Hi, The issue that might be factored into your thoughts is that an entrant into the uber-luxury game needs to be clear what it wishes to achieve. I’m so distant from the innards that I can only go on my instinct. It seems to me that the general upscale opportunity in cruising isn’t in expedition. I say this because it seems to me that the opportunity for even higher diems is low - it’s already quite high and the limiting factor of the size of ship is inevitably small’ish so there are no scale savings and the opportunity for quality improvement therefore is limited because there might not be so much revenue increase opportunity. It seems to me that the opportunity is the larger opportunity of mainstream ocean cruising. You mention upgraders and to me that implies something “a bit better”. I think the opportunity is in way more. I think it is for what is now currently routinely promised and not provided by anything I read about. It is where SS started. I mean genuinely exceptional in all respects. There is also a ship size sweetspot which seems to increase each year and I believe there is a growing pent-up demand for something better than what’s currently on offer. Your point seems if I have understood you predicated on the idea that a luxury line needs a high volume of defectors from cheaper lines. In fact it seems to me that it needs a much smaller number of people looking for exceptional product and aren’t too bothered about the cost within justifiable reason. For example our move to our first cruise with SS was my wife’s insistence that I should stop nagging about having my own cruiser but instead have a better experience and save money by booking 801 on Whisper for our first trial cruise. She was right. It was a stunning experience. Re expeditions. I’m lucky, I’m not nimble and the idea of getting off of a ship into a dingy so I can see some penguins seems a daft idea when I can stay at home and watch them on youtube with some cake and some booze and my own bed at nights. But I’m just a lethargic. Jeff

Hi Spins, You may recall as we've both been here for a while that we worked with Manfredi and SS for a while on this very topic ie CS and how to best "harvest" high-value relationships ie us punters for the longer-term. He was incredibly proud of his line and I wonder how many of the senior people that were appointed over time supported his visceral motivations. I was thrilled that we worked with them for a while. What I can say is that he was totally 100% emotionally committed to expanding and growing his line whilst preserving exceptional quality. To remind you with the contemporary context, this was at a time when the only viable competitor too SS's first few ships was SB, but they didn't have balconies. I think in those days it was Wind, Cloud, Whisper and Shadow but my memory isn't what it was. These were great days to be an SS customer. I saw the long-term opportunity as an open goal. I believed then that SS had an extraordinary opportunity. However there is a difference in the way that you can grow. You can grow organically and grow in line with your customer growth ie only building ships when you believe you can fill them at a viable diem and therefore can guarantee you can afford to protect the high level of quality you need. This is the best way of growing ie in sync with your growing customer base and therefore gives you the best long-term shot IMHO. It is slower but self-sustaining. Or you can make your aspiration for say 11 ships as quickly as possible being your guiding impetus. This implies you running after the volume you need to underpin the growth which inevitably (and in my view invariably) compromises quality. It has always seemed to me that this inevitably means moving down market. The problem is that as you crawl down market to sustain your debt-base and you inevitably increasingly disappoint and lose your existing loyal customer base. This is where I think following growth overly aggressively will almost always compromise your long-term goals. I remember very clearly expressing it at the time as being. "You have a choice. You can grow aggressively and force yourself to compete below the clouds with all the lower cost lines to steal some of their volume or you can go above the clouds where there is currently no competition and grow more slowly but more certainly - but with the advantage of little or no competition". It was this exact philosophy that won us the relationship. It was clearly accelerated growth rather than organic growth that was the strategy that was pursued and you and I and others have therefore been left as orphans and deprived of somewhere to spend our hard-earned cash. I remain sadly and pathetically upset that such an enormous opportunity has still yet to be grasped permanently by any line. But what do I know. Jeff

Thanks Spins, FWIW, as a result of some lines too aggressively “making hay whilst the sun shines” I have no doubt at all that the extraordinary surge in cruisers converging with the overly compromised quality issues will inevitably open up in time an enormously attractive and highly profitable opportunity for a cruise-line to fill the vacuum with a top-notch product roughly where SS was when it started. There is an enormously lucrative market for the taking, This is inevitable, When is the question. Good luck with your plans. Jeff

Only recently (it turns out that I am a very slow learner …..) had I decided to write down exactly what I do when making stuff so that I can then make adjustments for “next time” rather than relearn from scratch every time. So what I did was: 1. Boil two whole extra large oranges for one hour, then cut open and de-pip and then blend it all to a fine pulp. 2. Blend 5 eggs with 250gms of ground almond and 250 gms caster sugar with a squirt of honey and a teaspoon of baking powder - and add the orange pulp and bake. I’d not adjust this recipe when I make it next. I don’t think the baking powder will harm you. This makes two loaf cakes. Jeff

It’s a real shame that you need GF. Can you tolerate a small amount of gluten? By coincidence yesterday I made some lovely orange almond cake that was very good. It is gluten free and although it is unphotogenic it is extraordinary. It seemed a waste to have it with tea and so Amaretto is a proper substitute.

That dough edge is something you should be proud of. A very nice pie! 🙂 Jeff

Supper was rusticly simple.

Hello Spins. Your question isn't directed at me but I wanted to be helpful because I've been thinking about this topic for a while and simply wanted to help by suggesting some opinion that I haven't seen fleshed out and which you might wish to factor into your decision making. You have an extremely tough decision and actually I don't believe anyone can provide you with the degree of reassurance you seek in order to rationally decide. FWIW, I don't think this issue is about WHETHER RCI or any line are listening. I think they certainly listen but at the moment they might not be responsive in the way you hope. I think your question might not be IF they are listening but WHEN (if ever) they might respond and change in the way you need to be confident about future bookings. I think your question might better be "Will RCI upgrade my experience to my level of aspiration within the time-frame I need". I can't answer that but offer a summary of my take on what is going on and the factors you need to resolve for yourself. The Covid issue has provided two converging factors that to me seem to be pertinent. Firstly there is a compelling need for all lines to make up for lost ground. This isn't a "nice to have" but existential for all players to manage extraordinary debt as well as financing future plans. This issue is enormous. This means making as much money as they can to refill their heavily depleted coffers as quickly as possible. Secondly, at the same time there has been a post-Covid surge in bookings from the pent-up demand from existing cruisers who have had a couple of years plus of no cruising opportunity and "cruise bereavement" plus the unprecedented extraordinary demand from first time cruisers who are entering the pool for the first time. This is a (probably) unrepeatable opportunity for the industry. These factors mean that the lines currently do not consider the need for nurturing loyalty from their base because they can both fill the ships at premium rates and reduce costs at the same time. I don't think that from their point of view there is a downside to this approach for a while. What "a while" means is unknown. What you need to calibrate is at what point in the future do you believe that the quality of the product will be brought into high focus because that initial avalanche of loyal and new customers post-covid is reducing and makes delighting earlier customers and new customers who might not even have experience the quality that you have - important for their future business. It's my sense that this is not imminent. In summary I don't think at the moment any line needs to look after long-term loyal customers. In fact it is more profitable to let them go for the time being. They can ride the wave of the inexperienced and gullible for some time yet. Your question is for how long and might I have better value if I go down market for a while, If you get my drift. I have no idea whether what I've said is helpful or intelligible or founded on sound thinking. I just felt your pain and hoped I might offer some considerations for you to discard. Bestest wishes and good luck with your thoughts. Jeff

Good afternoon L. The very short answer is that as you know we use to go two or three times a year for a few weeks at a time and it was a really important core part of our lives. However for several reasons post-covid we have reluctantly decided that these trips probably have ended for us and any more are unlikely. There are many reasons that all converge to a “no”. We’ve been extremely fortunate to have experienced what we did, as is true of so much of our lovely travels and I suspect that for example your memories of an earlier Singapore is something we’d have loved to experience. Many of us I fear have might have to reluctantly come to terms with the idea that so much of the joys of travel and the destinations aren’t where we left them and it is sometimes better to shrug and move on and simply enjoy the memories. We are probably very much a minority in these ideas. Jeff