JNJATSEA

Anyone joining us on Crystal Mozart Nov 10 cruise?

Thx

J

CRYSTAL MOZART has no ship to swap to....anyone onboard Crystal now or the pat cruise

Crystal Mozart Nov 10 - 20

Received Crystal letter about the passage between Bratislava & Budapest. Has anyone received the same form letter and if so...any more information? Crystal will say nothing, rather like "watching water boil" - representative on telephone did not know what country Budapest was in so calling is a lost cause.   Anyone joining this cruise? Looking forward to Crystal top notch service, though have never sailed a river cruise with the line - Danke James

Flygod & M.

Happy to say at least for the moment my post on another "string" here in the Seadream section was forwarded to Seadream VP Hotel Operations, Thomas Carlson....we keep you up to date with any response. By the way, your essay was spot on and in fact I was the 2am internet fellow and patiently watched your wife walk miles every morning - shame we were all not able to "rock n roll" at the Top of the Yacht. I am however, still waiting, for Gareth to book the Indian crossing that has been in the works for over 14 days.

J

My comment is in the following link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=41353283#post41353283

I am just letting you all know that my letter of late was sent to Thomas Carlson, VP Hotel Operations in Oslo. Will let you know what comes from it

J

Suzanne,

We were sent an email [ see JANIEAB post ] on Dec 24th for the expected problems on the Jan 4 - 11th cruise due to "maintenance" - the discount was 35% & 15% on all future SD cruise bookings - we booked 3 but are unsure if we will hold them since the SD mgmt. has not responded to any requests. We left the ship in San Juan. How was the cruise Jan 11 - 18th?

To all SD lovers,

Having sailed SD2 20+ voyages, our first on SD1 and the old and elegant Sea Goddess prior to Cunard destroying them.... we are very familiar to the excellent product SD is capable of.

The SD1 voyage was unlike anything we can remember. Fond memories of the original "cross-over" cruise when Mr. Brynstad and his team when they purchased Sea Goddess from Cunard.....we were on that sailing - crew was stressed, food atypically mediocre but the memories of the birth of a new line, the new spa, the absence of the green astroturf on the upper decks, the loss of the sauna wrapped around the funnel, real candles in the dining room, whote gloved service at the jacuzzi at 2am....how decadent, now all but a memory albeit a fine one!

As JANIEAB & JES4845 have stated, it is perplexing why management has all but ignored any questions, complaints, compliments etc. It was my understanding that Pamela Connover [ the brainchild of Seabourn ] left after only 9 months with SD. All executive decisions were moved to Oslo and Mr. Bynstad's office. An email to Bob Lepisto, "who was the easiest CEO to talk to and had lightning fast email responses" went unanswered.

Now to my cruise review:

Ship was lovely and felt as it always has an elegant ship without all the people, changes of fabric or bedding, a little worn here and there, but who was to complain - the crew & officers easily made up for the lack of glitz and glam of bigger ships.

Pierre & Ennis worked their magic during the "salad spinner" week we were aboard, the Captain "I forget his name" was courteous, though affected by his need to leave the ship and go home to Spain to work on his sports cars, the new Captain " I forget his name also" all but hid somewhere on the ship, engaging nobody in conversation waiting with baited breath for us all to disembark in San Juan.

Any conversation about the "engine issue" with the other officers was returned with an abrubt change is conversation [ full stop ]

The best part of SD1: the spa services, the crews eager desire to try to fix the mess of management with good food and an eager desire to please.

The middle ground: the seemingly lack of crew in other areas, I even tried to find out if there were indeed 95 crew on the ship ... dining room waiters seemed stretched, housekeepers overworked and bar staff with little or no knowledge of mixology. Asking for a San Pellegrino often was often met with a glass of Pinot Grigio or a Manhattan met with a Gin Martini, a scotch whiskey with a bourbon, all delivered with love and care and a desire to please - language may be an issue and I am certainly patient, I guess this is simply a training issue or my lack of the use of the english language.

The opposite end of the spectrum [ at least for me ] was the bottom of the barrel wines and standard liquor on offer. Crane Lake Merlot [ purchased this for my staff party and was $3.50 a bottle at BevMo ] an Albarinho form Spain that was listed as a below 70 point wine for $4.40 a bottle at Vons, Absolute Vodka and Johnny Walker Red Label was the best available, mind you Grey Goose could be had for $10.00 and ounce [ the 4 seasons hotel in NYC for $20.00 throws in a silver platter with enough fixings it could be called a "light lunch" ] SD website calls this "five star offerings" ...

[ Open Bar with selected premium brands ]

The quandary: 3 half kilograms of Caviar [ at NYC prices a whopping $7,500.00 at the low end ] spooned out over the course of 6 days, lovely and very expensive - perhaps this $$$ could have benefited the bars and menus in a more positive way. I am a fan of caviar and love every spoon, though, times have changed .... move with the groove, buy USA caviar or import perfect smoked salmon, King Crab legs on every lunch buffet, filet/rib steak instead of strip loin....

The bottom line: no more room service of anything hot, the lack of the little things that we all loved about SD [ an engaging Captain, an open bridge, an unexpected stop at an unexpected port due to poor weather the day of arrival, a head office that sends more than a chain letter to concerned guests many of whom were the bread and butter of this line in its infancy

Indeed, it seems as though and dare I say it, SD is in financial turmoil [ maybe its the caviar ] or being run by an owner who has lost his way?

The 15% plus 35% discount on future cruises was a nice offer, however, that discount is now being calculated at 35% and then 15% which is in fact only 43%. SD Club director, a hard working, eager & courteous young fellow named Garreth, had his hands tied trying to get answers from that "black hole" known as head office. Our future cruises we tried to book on-board are still unconfirmed and perpetual requests go unanswered, none the fault of this young man.

------

It is with a heavy heart that we will bid farewell to Christophe, Pierre, Ennis, Werner and all those other very special people that we have grown to love over our many years with SD 1 & 2. The fond and funny memories like the day we were in NYC on SD and Ivana Trump visited the ship and fell out of the hammock that was once on the "top deck", all that blond hair and makeup face down on the teak decking....a media nightmare but a fond memory for a nobody like myself or Mr. Brynstad engaging guests with his beautiful wife and 2 very well behaved children, asking what SD could do better than what Cunard has so undone. I felt "listened to" if that is the correct grammar?

The new Seabourn Sisters, Odyssey, Sojourn, Quest will be our new home at sea....at least until SD figures themselves out and management can step up to the plate & take some responsibility for their companies promises.

Having just completed a 14 day Seabourn Legend trip, these little ones have their own issues too [ on the Seabourn forum ]

Engines break, things fall apart, management changes... we get that - but this indignant silence is unacceptable.

If SD does come to the plate or builds a new hull...we will be back in a nano-second because after all "its the people that make the company and that company the experience"!

JNJATSEA