Cabansail

At no point did P@O have ownership of the OP's flowers , what quite clearly happened here is that the OP's flowers were Stolen in transit between the Brisbane Florest here he brought them and delivery to the PO's wife on board the ship, the OP tells us in his original post the the ships people tell his they have given his flowers to someone else , they have no mandate to do this ...

I do have sympathy for the problems but what I dispute is the accusation of theft.

It sounds more like the flowers were mislaid and there was a cock up in the delivery. Two recipients, one bunch of flowers, wrong destination.

As has been pointed out the embarkation is the busiest time for the staff and so it would increase the chances of errors occurring.

I think that cruise lines do offer a florist service. It is at a much higher cost than if you organise it yourself. One of the advantages is that if there is a problem you have recourse. In this situation they were trying to assist by delivering the flowers, I assume for no fee, just as a part of the service. It went wrong. They still offered an apology and some recompense.

If it were me I would have accepted the apology and thanked them for looking into the matter as it would have taken some time. I would probably have taken the offer of the meal. Sure I would have felt some disappointment but in the end my wife would have known I did make the effort and we would have enjoyed the meal.

So while I do understand your issue, trying to make out that they were stolen is going a bit far. No cruise line would risk their reputation to steal a bouquet of flowers.

I must have missed the announcement where P&O were moving into the International Florist Industry. That now makes sense.

One bunch of flowers, two cabin to send them. Stealing from one for other will solve that problem. Occam's Razor falls on the side of error rather than conspiracy.

I agree it was unfortunate, but to go beyond that is a bit much. It was more like an Elevated Rooster.

You were relying on a chain of people who would be close to minimum wage employees. The person at the florist, the delivery driver and the delivery staff on the ship. You only need one of those to mess up and you will be disappointed. It would seem that your chain went OK until it reached the ship. Some other passengers chain broke before that and their flowers did not arrive. Then the two crossed. It was probably a communication problem with instruction being left to a junior employee to deliver flowers, but they got it wrong. It happens.

Good on you for making the effort, but in the end it's the thought that counts (which is the excuse I use "I thought about buying you flowers") and I am sure that was still appreciated by your wife. The pleasure is also in the giving and you can know you made someone else on board happy.

The fact that the matter was looked into and you were given an explanation as well as an offer of some compensation shows they were not covering it up.

I know that we were sent lots of offers of things like romance packages and stuff like that. They were completely over priced but I assume they are reliable. If this was such a big issue maybe you would have been better to pay the extra and book it that way?

So more of an Elevated Rooster than Grand Theft.

I think in part it is the small population and isolation that makes us such friendly nations,

It also gives you more time to nick their wallets ;)

@Sarze2591 - Get a Taxi with a roofrack. There will be plenty of room inside for you and your luggage. The kids get great views, fresh air when they are secured tied down on top. If it's raining they even get washed. No need to worry about dodgy car seats. Everyone is a winner.

Golden Princess is in Sydney today.

Shame they have not heard of spell check on the bridge.

Hope Sidney enjoyed it!

Wonder if they will visit Augland sometime?

On it's way to Hang King.

Hehe...Would we get C&A points?

No - These would get G&D Points* instead.

*Gluttony and Diarrhea

'Cabansail' - no, we don't plan to cuddle a koala. Your comment makes me concerned that we should maybe reconsider a visit to Lone Pine...?

 

More comments and suggestions welcome!

Tourists cuddling koalas used to be widespread. It was then found that doing this was very stressful to the animals and their lifespans were shortened.

The practice was made illegal in all states except Queensland. They put the tourist trade before animal welfare.

God bless this handbag and all who sail on her.

Hmmmmm the word "Fruitcake" springs to mind for some reason.

With extra nuts!

Such a well thought out plan, it's amazing it failed. She could, of course, swim as fast as the ship and would have been easily seen when she got along side late at night.

Cannot see a regular ferry service to Lone Pine. There should be cabs available.

Are you going there to see the zoo or torture (cuddle) a koala?

We had a day in Geraldton. Hire a car and took a drive to Greenough. It was a pleasant trip and we arrived before the organised tour from the ship. I liked it as I got some good photo's. Also had a look at the leaning trees. We then went back to town and had a look through war memorial. All up it cost about AU$90 for two. Have been using some of the images in competitions so it was all good.

When she goes to Italy/Greece get her a local SIM. The phone packages in Europe are far better than those here. When I go to Ireland they complain that their phone packages are the most expensive in Europe and feel ripped off. I pay €20 pre-paid and get unlimited texts, unlimited calls within Ireland and 7Gb of data. Calls to the EU region were fairly cheap too. With some research you will find a SIM that will work for her trip and can probably have it posted to you ready before departure, that way you will know her number in advance.

When sailing from Perth to Sydney (clockwise) I found that I had Telstra coverage for about half the time when off the coast. I was able to tether my laptop. In the 21 days we were away I ended up using 5Gb at a cost of $40, including some facetime calls. Much more reasonable than the ships service.

Tipping has, in many cases, gone from a reward for good service to an extortion to stop inappropriate behaviour.

You are obviously mixing with the wrong crowd!! Come up to the Gym -- not many drunks there!!!

I did spend some time in the Gym. You are right, there were no drunks in there. The problem is that they do not serve meals in there, nor do they have shows, trivia, etc. When you go to those places the drunks were there.

It amazes me that they would let a dispute over "Loyalty Points" lose them a "Loyal Customer" Surely these points are trinkets so you will book more cruises with them. It was not like the request was unfair. The OP was just asking to not lose anything from the changes they made.

I have points that I will probably never be of any use to me. You are welcome to a couple of them.

If they could source some environmentally safe streamers it would be great to do this occasionally. Maybe for significant anniversaries of a ship or the first departure from a new port.

a gentleman never tells.;)

So true. However how does that stop you? :)

OMG! That movie was soooo funny. ROTFLMAO!

Shirley you're not serious?

I keep fit online.

Running off at the mouth, Jumping in and Leaping to conclusions.

Is it my imagination or did ship have more romance about them back then?

Sure they now have many facilities which were not dreamed of then but that is the same for our normal lives. Back then it would seem that going aboard a ship was a real adventure.

I wonder if there would be a market for nostalgia cruises?

she ran interference on other passengers when our teens chose to eat in the MDR at our usual reserved table without us one night. She politely saw off those who suggested to them that the Cafe was still open and they should not be taking up a table themselves!

That is weird. Surely it was none of their concern. Well done to her for doing the right thing.

When you are staying in The Rocks think about the "Communist Scum" that saved it.

It is now one of the most capitalist parts of Sydney but the area was to be demolished to allow the construction of yet more concrete and glass towers. Back in the 70's one of the more radical unions placed Green Bans on the area to stop the demolition. They were concerned that we were losing our heritage. They won and The Rocks was preserved.

I have only been on one cruise. It was in Australian waters. We pre-paid tips as part of the fare. Had no problem with service but we are not demanding and actually do not enjoy it when people try too much to get a tip. I did hear one person say she was going to have the auto gratuities removed from her account to save money. I saw it as part of the fare.

I am unlikely to cruise again either. Nothing to do with the staff or us having restrictions due to Norovirus. The thing that put me off was being in the company of too many drunks. It seems that getting legless every day is part of the cruising lifestyle. Then again if I came across another bargain I may go.

I think Leave Loading was to take into account that when on holidays there would be no shift penalties or overtime.

Teachers made up for the peak holidays by getting 12 weeks a year, which is another historic anomaly which goes back much further. The long school holidays were not meant for the children or teachers to have a break, rather it was to allow them to work. One of the main objections to compulsory education is that the children would not be able to work on the farms. The schools would break for summer to let them work and then study in the quieter months.

I remember waving farewell to my grandparents who were sailing back to England. Air travel was not common then so most went by sea.

I am not sure where the ship departed but I recall going on board before they left and then leaving before they departed. Then we lined the wharf to wave goodbye. The passengers threw paper streamers which we caught. There were hundreds of them. As the ship pulled away they would break one by one. It is an enduring memory from my childhood. This would have been in the mid sixties. When did this tradition end and why?

On another point. Many may not know why we have Long Service Leave in Australia. I believe the origin was in the 19th century and due to our ties to Britain and the time it took to travel by sea. A worker who had emigrated would not have enough leave to travel back to the Britain to see their family. The solution to this was to give extra leave after ten years service which would allow time to travel and still have their leave.

I really do not like the whole tipping thing. I think it started as a thank you for good service and then slowly came to be expected. It seems that employers take the tips into account and pay their employees less, so they rely on the tips. You are obliged to add the xx% on just for ordinary service and you cop it if you don't pay.

It would just be easier to pay people the correct wage in the first place as they do in the civilised world.

$50 for every drink I bought .... why not :D