Minerva II - 1 January to Seychelles

Is anyone else booked on this cruise. Tickets arrived now and very excited.

Hi Angela, not going on yours as you know, but maybe someone else is. No wonder you are getting excited as only a few days to go before you leave.

Our Indian visas arrived today so we are relieved to say the least. On the website there is absolutely no indication that the Edinburgh High Commission is different in any way from London and Birmingham. Knowing that you got your visa and Port Blair permit as "walk ins" in Birmingham seemed to just confirm this.

We went to the Edinburgh one which was very busy and stood in line for almost a full hour. We were then told that because of Port Blair we would need to send everything to London as Edinburgh "would take a few months" to issue the permit. Had some difficulty understanding this based on available info and in fact queried why it was same day in London AND Birminham but not Edinburgh. Just got told the same thing..send to London. Had to go home, look up the website for postal applications, then go to the Post Office to exchange the cash we had got from the bank for postal orders. These of course didnt come free. Then had to pay for 2 lots of Special Delivery. On top of that, the site indicated a minimum of 15 WORKING days, and longer at this time of year as it was the "busy" time. These estimates naturally didnt take into account Christmas/New Year holidays or delays in postal delivery at this time of year. Calculations then indicated that we would be lucky to see the passports and visas back with us before early January at best, later at worst. By that time of course, we would have been struggling to replace passports and get new visas if they had got lost or stolen in the post in either direction...hence our anxiety.

They arrived today, earlier than we had dared hope, so we can stop worrying now. But...what a palavar! And it cost around £15/£16 more, but at least nothing got lost. As you said previously....Port Blair better be worth it.....you can let me know about that also. :0) Considering we are not leaving until late in January and we thought it was a same day issue, its just as well we called into the Edinburgh office when we did. We might just as easily have left it until just a few days before!!

I will put my email address on my profile if you want to contact me direct. Will do this around your return date. Alternatively, just advise me on email costs/duty free and so on, on the ORIGINAL Minerva 11 thread, (on which we chatted) which is easily found using the search box. I dont understand why the private message facility doesnt work on this forum. I am a regular on Lonely Planets Thorn Tree forum and its an excellent way of communicating without using non forum emails. (with their risk of virus transference)

Our biggest worry now is that bad weather or strikes of some kind will delay us flying to Gatwick the afternoon before our SH charter!! Fingers crossed there wont be a BA strike, or snow, or fog or........

Have a great Christmas, and enjoy your trip.

Sorry you had such a bad time. I suppose except for the fact we had to stay around Birmingham on a very wet day ours was fairly straightforward - and they provided seats and had tickets like at the cheese counter of the supermarket so it was quite orderly. When Peter phoned Swan Hellenic to say we were going for our own visas at Birmingham and mainly to ask what to do with the Port Blair forms the man there said he hoped we would be better off at Birmingham than London. Apparently someone from Swan Hellenic had been the previous day and the queue was so long they had had to go back that day.

Have a good christmas and a happy new year. I will look for your E-mail address when I get back on the 17th.

Angela

Angela,

Just watching yet more of this tsunami disaster unfolding on tv. Whilst I am sure that you are thinking of all those who have suffered loss, I expect you are also wondering whats going to happen with your trip.

I was looking at your itinerary because I knew you were heading for Malaysia and the Andamans, (both of which are mentioned in the news) and only then did I realise that you are also scheduled to travel to the Maldives and part of Sri Lanka. If you have not already heard from SH, I suppose you are half expecting a call from them! Just watching the news, it would appear that sadly, the timing of your visits to these ports is not good...an understatement really.

Is it still going ahead as planned, or is it going ahead with changes to the original itinerary, or have you been given the option of cancelling...........or have you so far heard nothing?

Fiona.

i was with angela and peter on black watch last week. i hear on liners list a clive harveyt is also going on the trip and sh told him she will sail as scheduled from mahe anbd will advise him of any changes?

which i suspect there will be many. i wis i had beenon this trip. my thoughts are prayers are with all. i do security inhounslow which have sri lankan airlines there they were very busy today.

clive uis an ols member like me

I feel wondering whether we are going or not seems pretty bad considering all the people who have lost their lives. However, inevitably with four days to go we would like to know. We phoned Swan Hellenic this morning - waited until then a) because of Christmas and b) a lot for them to sort out. They said they thought we were and were contacting foreign office and ports all today and hoped to know definitely tomorrow noon when they should have an alternative itinerary worked out. To be honest I cannot imagine what that could be wih the devastation everywhere. The west coast of India springs to mind but the ship has to get to Singapore on time. Possibly they are hoping that Malaysia will sort itself out quicker than most. By the time we got there it would be getting on for three weeks post disaster. If it was India and Malaysia that would be OK except my husband (gloomily) predicts the days at sea will all come together. At least if it is India we have our visa! I'll post again tomorrow when we get the news. Meanwhile do I go on preparing or not.

With your departure so close its perfectly natural to want to know one way or another. I suppose you just make preparations as normal untiil (or if) you hear otherwise?

We are also heading for several of the affected areas, including the Andamans, Southern India, Chennai (Madras), Phuket, Penang. In fact its the last 2 weeks of Feb for us on the itinerary which takes in these places, so we dont think there will be major changes. Our first itinerary is mostly to places unaffected.

Will be interested to hear what SH come up with. Do please post. Difficult for them as its not really their decision to make. Expect they will be relying on others for up to date info, and its entirely possible that your itinerary will remain "fluid" while you are actually on board, as they will want to try to get back on schedule if at all possible.

Heard from Swan Hellenic at 4 pm today that cruise is going ahead with three port changes. The Maldives has been replaced by an extra day in the Seychelles so we are now also going to Praslin. Sri Lanka has been replaced by Cochin (so we will use Indian visa) and the Andeman's by Malacca. We have been to Malacca before but no matter - we liked it there.

We have had no enthusiasm at all for getting things out ready because quite honestly I think deep down we were hoping they would cancel the whole thing. It felt very wrong to go into an area of such mourning. However, they have worked hard and the places we are now going to have not had too much of a problem so I think we are now back on track to looking forward to it. The strange thing is that on our previous trip on Crown Odyssey to the Far East the highlight to me was Bali and of course it was just after the bombing and we did not go. The highlight this time was Sri Lanka. I must not allow myself to have highlights on future cruises.

Angela,

You have my sympathy. Its very unsettling to be going when there is so much suffering. However, I am pretty sure that once underway you will relax and probably start to enjoy it. There is after all, nothing that you can do to help apart from staying out of the way right now so that the relief work can carry on, and making a donation which will surely help somebody somewhere in the affected area.

Looked at the SH website today. Cruises 501 to 505 are all under ongoing review, at least in the meantime. As we are on 503/504 it may be that we too will have itinerary changes, although its much too early to tell. We should be OK on 503 as its all clear as far as we know, but 504 could be subject to change because of Phuket, Port Blair, Chennai and the other Southern India ports, all of which are badly affected right now. We shall see.

Like you, not too happy about going to these places unless everything is OK. On the other hand, money from tourists is going to be needed more than ever as this time of year is the start of their high season and many people are totally dependant on tourists for their income. Its also good for their tourist industries as a whole, as many who rely on tourists for income are afraid that tourists will stay away (as in Bali) and that they will lose their income. My guess is that by the time we are scheduled to be there, we will be welcome visitors. The Thais in particular are trying to get things back as near to normal as soon as possible.

Please post your reply re email costs and the Gatwick Duty Free (yes/no) on either this post or the original one. My husband is not too happy about having our email address on public display. He is always wary of virus transference. (not meant personally!)

Fiona

hi iam good friend of angela and peter having been on both black price and black watch with them this year.

i saw their ship leave mahe this afternnonn onn the webcam for praslin. do you have their exact iternary as its not on the website now just like to foollow them along/ i went on the minerva 2 in 2003 on mini cruise. was not overly impressed but hoping to hear better things from them. iam enquiring about 1st dec omn minerva 2 buenos aires to punta aries. interested in the pre cruise/post cruise trips bu6t they are so expensive. do yiou thing they could be done yourself any cheaper?

david

Sorry Seabourndt but I just logged on for the first time since 501 left. To be honest, I dont think you would have had much chance of keeping tabs on them due to the number of changes they had.

Angela, by coincidence, we just got a letter in the post this am from SH. It tells us that there is only to be one change to the itinerary.....guess where......yes......Port Blair has been dropped. Cant say we are overly surprised as parts of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have been badly damaged. We have (from the media) been given the impression that Port B itself was not bad, but is being used as the centre of the relief operations and its probably busy busy. They also seem to have been turning away several aid and medical organisations. Still, it means that that special permit we had to send to London for (and at extra expense) was all for nothing. Never mind. Its very minor all things considered.

The extra time is to be made up in Phuket and Paradip with longer in each. Extra excursion offers in Phuket and extended ones in Paradip. I think that we might also have 2 days together at sea, will need to look.

As only the single page letter arrived, I actually gave into temptation today and phoned SH as we still have NOTHING for 504 and we leave a week on Thursday for 503. I find it worrying that we have no cruise voucher or return flight ticket so near to travel. Have been told we should have them by the end of the week. I hope so. I feel its cutting things a bit fine.

I hope you both really enjoyed your trip despite your understandable misgivings before you left. If its any consolation, while you were away we have read several articles (both news and travel/tourism) in which tourists are being asked to please return asap to the places which have been affected as so many of the local people totally depend on tourists for their family income. The Thais in particular seem to be trying to get back to as near as normal as quickly as they can.

Look forward to reading your "report". We are getting worried about potential weight gain. Even although we dont make pigs of ourselves, we inevitably eat more than we would at home!!

Angela. Random thoughts as we turn our attention to the packing nightmare. and we try to decide whats essential and whats a maybe or a not necessary.

Are there tissues in the cabins/bathrooms?

Also wondering about our eyeshades and airline socks for the flights. (not the elastic socks which we will wear anyway, the ones for just padding about the cabin) Did you get complimentary shades/socks each way or not at all?

What was the seat pitch like on the flight? We are of the tall variety and beginning to dread that we might be squished in as tightly as BA economy....or worse! We flew them 4 times to Florida and longest and therefore worst of all, Bangkok.

Meals/drinks on the flight?

As usual, thanks for your patience.

Fiona

Hi Fiona

Yes we are back in the cold, cold weather. Seems odd it was 90 on the day we left. On balance things did not turn out so badly though I guess it was not our most successful cruise. About 180 passengers did not go so the ship was fairly quiet. A very large proportion of passengers - us included - would have preferred to have had the cruise cancelled but the very best offer was for them to keep your money to be used on a cruise in 2005 but this would cost more. Actually we were never given this option presumably because we were one of the later bookings (booked September). However that does not matter because we would not have wanted to pay more. People felt some resentment at Swan Hellenic who were slightly economical with the truth when they phoned and said there were three new places to replace Sri Lanka, Maldives and Andaman Islands but that we had the same number of days at sea. Until on the ship we did not realise that the morning, afternoon and evening we were supposed to have in both the Maldives and Sri Lanka and the full day in the Andamans was being replaced with half a day in Praslin, a day in Cochin and just over a morning in Malacca which gave an extra two half days at sea plus the 7 full days - which had not seemed so bad separated but as four whole days from Cochin to Penang were quite a lot following three full days from Seychelles to Cochin. We also inevitably missed out on excursions, particulary and as the Sri Lanka one was the star of the cruise - yes I know they are included but you have paid for them in your fare. Most people on the cruise felt there could have been a gesture of goodwill somewhere. Oh well!

In answer to your queries

Laundry room. Washers, driers and ironing facilities - free washing liquid.

E-mails. 25p per minute to send. You must put on your name and cabin number in the subject area as replies are delivered in an envelope to your cabin and you are charged £1. This was really quite reasonable compared with some other ships. Unfortunately we had rather a lot of use in both directions as on day 2 our son was rushed into hospital.

Bar prices. Wine started at £10 per bottle. Gin and whisky around £2 a shot, cocktails £2.50 to £3.25.

Duty free. They did have one of the tunnel X-ray machines but at no point was it ever used. I suppose this is great for duty free but does not leave you very happy about security.

The food was good. If you like peace and quiet at lunchtime you can go in the main dining room and have the salad buffet lunch, you don't have to have the main menu.

Advice for the captain's dinner. All restaurants serve the same menu on this evening. After the cocktail party hotfoot it up to the Swan or Grill restaurant. The main dining room cannot cope with everyone arriving at once - very noisy and poor service.

Tissues. Yes in both bathroom and cabin though they are pretty thin if you get a cold.

Hairdrier is in the bathroom. I am sure it was not last time we went and if I had known this I would have taken my own - I hate drying my hair in a steamy atmosphere much preferring the dressing table.

Your questions on the flight are tricky. You have not said from where and with whom you are flying with. The whole question was the other great grievance with many people. Going out they had two charter flights - one from Heathrow with BA on a jumbo jet standard aircraft, one from Gatwick with LTU who I believe is the charter company of Lufthansa. This was a charter aircraft configuration and was also a smaller aircraft and this had very varying comments. The people at the back were fine because with so many people not going they spread out. The people at the front said it was very cramped. We were on the BA charter going and the BA scheduled to Heathrow coming back. Socks etc provided coming back but not going. I don't know about LTU.

Coming back was the really contentious issue. They only had one charter coming back - LTU from Singapore to Gatwick, the rest travelling on scheduled flights with either BA, Singapore Airlines or Lufthansa. Because the LTU aircraft was not a jumbo it had to stop twice coming back - once somewhere in the India area I think for fuel and then Germany for crew change. This meant they flew 2.5 hours earlier than us but got back two hours later. On top of this a large number of passengers who travelled out from Gatwick were flown back to Heathrow and vice versa. I know the numbers going out and coming back did not match because you had people on double cruises from Capetown going back with a greater number going on to Hong Kong. However, we could not understand how you could have a deficit of places for BOTH airports. This as you can imagine was not well received by the many affected. We were lucky I know. On both BA flights the food and drink pattern was similar. pre-dinner drinks, wine with dinner (at 1 am in the morning coming back), and breakfast. In addition they brought round water and orange juice regularly, and coming back you could go into the kitchen and collect tea or coffee during the night.

I am not sure if there was anything else you have asked over our various communications. If so feel free to ask.

Angela

Angela, I will do this in bits as I need to keep referring back to your reply and could lose my part typed response!

First of all we are sorry that it wasnt one of your better trips. I would agree that it might have been better to scrap the whole trip but I guess the amount of money it would have cost them in compensation would have made this an absolute last resort. (See the news reports re compensation estimates of minimum £25 million for Auroras current cancellation)

What it did mean of course, was that the itinerary was not the one you had anticipated when you booked, and if you are like us, the kind of people who choose by itinerary with the actual ship of secondary importance, then thats a big disappointment. You had also had to endure all the news coverage of the tsunami before you left, and that was sad and depressing, especially as you were supposed to be there right after. Also, as you say, the excursions are "pre paid" in the fare so less time ashore means less value for money. You also already had a big percentage of your itinerary as "days at sea" so the changes made it worse when they ran together.

P and O seem to work in mysterious ways.......more of that later, because you are saying that some passengers were given the option of cancelling and some (including yourselves) were not. How do they decide this? What criteria do they use? Is it by location, by cabin grade, what? Who knows. Still it is interesting to see what they do and do not offer when things go wrong.

I can understand how you must feel a vague sense of disappointment overall, but I hope that you both enjoyed at least some of it.

I just lost my part 2 reply......it didnt post then vanished. Now retyping.

I completely forgot to mention your son. How worrying for you both to be so far away when he took ill. I hope he has recovered now. I guess it was yet another negative aspect to this trip. At least with modern communications you were able to stay in touch.....think what it must have been like in the past without these benefits.

Again, a huge THANK YOU for the time and effort you put into your posts. We really appreciate it as you give us so much more than we asked for. You also write a good story...we "oohed and aahed" we exclaimed, discussed, smiled and sympathised throughout. We also groaned........more later.

The info and tips were great. Just what we wanted. I too hate hairdriers in the bathroom. The mirrors is often steamed up. You get that in some hotels also...we did in Toronto late Sept. The email cost isnt terrible but not cheap either, especially if the connection is slow (or gets lost) and as I type with just one finger (husband with 2)....we will send with typos. We knew about incoming ones as the details were in the Travel Info booklet sent to us. We think £1 for delivery is very reasonable. I wont take any liquid or washing powder for the washer, so saving space and weight. The duty free is a potential bonus especially if you didnt hear of confiscations.

We will try for the swan or grill on Captains reception evenings as these must be prebooked. If not we will lead the stampede to the dining room......the extra speed might burn off a few calories. My husband hopes for a sauna and/or steam room on board. He loves these, but not if "Spa prices" get charged as anything "Spa" can be expensive.

The flight.......how we groaned when we read what you wrote.

We are the dreaded LTU Gatwick out AND LTU Gatwick back. We were never given any choice in the matter, as we were not offered any alternatives even at a supplement. We read it on our confirmation letter and tickets and stupidly assumed everyone else was exactly the same. As it turns out, it seems likely that we have drawn the short straw. It will be interesting to compare it with BA though, as its not our favourite airline. We do however like Lufthansa who have lovely comfy wide leather type seats with plenty legroom. We have done short haul with them and would definately do long haul. (from Edin we often have to travel via KLM/Air France or Lufthansa hubs to get anywhere) Anyway, I digress....

Amongst the info we received for 503 was a Day 1 ships programme. This is our arrival in Hong Kong day. We noted our flight HK 07-30 arrival, ship arrival by approx 09-30, cabins maybe not available until 14-00 (!) We were puzzled to note the arrival on board of passengers from a flight prefixed CX at 15-45, yet another at 19-30 with a BA prefix, and yet another (pre cruise trip passengers) at 22-15.

Now the precruise we could understand, but the other 2 (CX and BA) we could not. Where, we wondered, were they coming from? Who was onboard? What were these flights which were a total mystery to us? I guess one is BA, the other (CX) I am not personally familiar with but could no doubt find out on the internet.

So yes, P and O do work in mysterious ways. What criteria do they use to decide who goes on which flight? Do we get the worst because we are not in an expensive cabin but in a standard outside (GE)? Was it because we booked through Thos Cook? Who knows?

Maybe we will find out more onboard. If not and we book another SH cruise then I might ask SH directly. The thing is, my husband not too pleased with me. The air credit amount would have given us a scheduled flight from Glasgow with Emirates to Honk Kong via Dubai and bck from Chennai. We could have had a stop over in Dubai and 2 or 3 days precruise in Hong Kong which we have never before visited. We would have had the benefit of schedule on a well praised carrier.

But no...silly me decided it might be a bit risky. Ships are moveable objects and something just might go wrong. I was afraid that the port might be moved for some catastrophic reason and we would be left in Hong Kong trying to get to wherever it might have been located. (active imagination) So, just to please me we booked the schlep with BA before and after the cruise and 2 overnight hotels at Gatwick, one before one after. More expensive, more time, more inconvenient and now possibly more uncomfortable!

Actually, being 100% honest, we did read that post tsunami, one of the Far East lines moved its cruise hub from Phuket to someplace else. Might even have been HK or Singapore. It was on this site/forum actually, as there was quite a bit of news re itinerary changes and so on. I also read a post on here by someone who arrived independantly at Laem Prabang (for Bangkok but 170 K away) to join a Princess cruise only to find the ship was not there but elsewhere.....Princess forgot to tell him. He only found it by remembering that one of the people on here was on the same cruise and had a precruise stay at a hotel in Bangkok. He phoned the hotel and got a Princess rep who told him where to find the ship.....hours away.

Husband now realises that my imagined worse case scenarios could actually happen.

Starting to pack and make preparations. Having to pack differently as many temples and religious sites, also day and night mosquitoes in Vietnam and Cambodia. Looking out more long sleeved shirts and lightweight trousers than I would normally.

Hi Fiona

Thanks for the reply. One or two things spring to mind from this.

Yes we did enjoy the cruise and met some very nice people but underlying it there was an unreal sense somehow of what are we doing here. I think SH could have done more - perhaps if they had say given £50 a head on board credit against disappointment, changed itinerary, cancelled excursions it would have cut down some of the ill feeling. I am sure the people who were upset about flights reacted more badly because of the itinerary changes. Hopefully all that will be over by your cruise.

Yes thanks our son is now home and much better. It was very worrying however. This is the third time he has been admitted with acute pancreatitis and they don't know why. No gall bladder or alcohol problem and after that it gets vague. I was just saying that the E-mail cost is less than other ships but can understand the problem of typing. The connection is very quick though. Fortunately we don't have problems with one finger as I taught business studies and office skills so have a good typing speed. We just set a limit of 5 minutes (£1.25) husband mans watch and I type like mad - no proof reading. Our daughter then sends the E-mail on to other family members.

The question of the captain's dinner. I think I worded this badly. You don't have to book for the Grill or the Swan on those nights - you just turn up. The dinner is exactly the same everywhere but I think you will find it well worthwhile to go up there.

Sorry about LTU. I obviously did not realise that was your carrier but I think it will probably be better for you. Coming back you have a shorter flight so stops will probably not arise. LTU is SH's chosen carrier and I think that going out they do it by putting people with LTU until full then the other options. I suspect it gets complicated coming back because you are placing people from two cruises - I don't know. The scheduled flights going with you will be CX (Cathay Pacific) and BA. I guess they are both scheduled by the time of arrival. I suppose this is an occasion when the scheduleds lose out because they arrive so much later. I don't think your cabin has anything to do with this. We were in the same grade as you. I think you were right to fly with SH. The trouble is that if anything goes wrong with your flight and you have booked it yourselves it is your problem. If you fly with the cruise company it is theirs.

The GE outsides are very nice. We don't think the balcony cabins are worth it. They just have white plastic chairs and a small table - no loungers because they are so small. I suppose it is nice to have the door open but then it messes up your air conditioning. When at sea the loungers on deck 5 are great - nice quiet area looking at the sea not inwards.

Our arrival time was much the same as yours. We would have reached the ship by 8.30 am but of course at this time they were still unloading passengers so we were taken to a local hostelry (The Pirate's Lair) and given coffee. We went to the ship midmorning and could sit in the lounge or on deck. Lunch was at 12 noon just after the Gatwick LTU people arrived. We got our cabins shortly after this. I think 2 pm is the deadline - it will probably be earlier.

Angela

Angela...again, thanks for all that........bur we are still dreading the flight. Memories of the Bangkok flight still haint us and BA are not the best for legroom. This is probably worse and we are tall. I will try to sleep as much as possible in the hope it passes at least some of the time.

Our absolute best charter flight was to Toronto late Sept. We went with Canadian Affair and it was a Thos. Cook plane. The legroom was an incredible 35ins which is almost like club/business class. They make a big thing of it on the CA website and the captain announced their pride in the comfort they offered. People were astonished and really pleased. It was an excellent flight.

We finally got our tickets and cruise voucher for the second leg.......on Saturday!!! I phoned SH on Thursday after the post had been delivered and still nothing with one week to go. They told me sent just that morning....to our travel agent. Phoned the agent and they said they would look out for it and forward to us as a matter of urgency. They did, we got it with 5 days to go but I think its cutting it a bit fine. They treat 2 back-to-backs as 2 separate cruises and stick to the "send out" timings for each. Its not a great way to do it, and eg at the changeover port(Bangkok) where we have 3 days, we had to pre choose/book our excursion for the start of cruise 2 without knowing what the choices were for the 2 days before (end of cruise1) Sat down Sat evening to read through the excursions referring to guide books. There are a couple of supplementaries we will do as rather disappointingly (in Penang at least) the best are not included in the free ones. Also Phuket. The one we want to do there is also supplementary.

Anyway, things getting busy here now and we are working through our "to do" list. Starting to get excited but the thought of the dreadful day we will have on Friday is overshadowing it. Once we arrive at HK should be fine. We look forward to it and hope it lives up to our expectations. Would you like me to let you know how it went when we get back? If so, on here? I might even do a review.

Thanks again for everything.

Fiona

Have a great time. I am sure you will. Just don't think about Friday. Glad you have now got your tickets.

I would love to hear how you get on. I have put my E-mail address in my profile details. Can you copy it down as I will remove it later in the week.

Angela

My wife and I were also booked on the above Swan Hellenic Cruise (see message posted by Angela Mathews.) When the Tsunami struck on Boxing Day. On the following Wednesday 28th Dec Swan Hellenic phoned and informed us that the cruise was still going ahead but with major changes to the itinery. Like Angela we had hoped the cruise would be cancelled. When we were informed of the new itinery which included 7 days at sea with only 1 port of call we stated we did not wish to go. Like Angela we were told if we cancelled we would lose our money. I pointed out to SH that in thier terms and conditions it stated that if they made a significant change to the itinery (for whatever reason) we were entitled to cancel and recieve a full refund Plus 25 per cent discount of the net cost of another cruise. They replied that they did not consider the change to be significant (they had to be joking) for the next 8 days they refused to budge, during this time I sent 3 emails setting out my reasons for canceling and had numerous telephone conversations with a member of their managemnt. In my last e mail I informed them I intended to commence proceeding in the small claims court to recover my money after this they changed their tune and gave me a full refund. I was not impressed with the way they handled the matter and even now I have had nothing in writing from them, the refund cheque was sent to me in an envelope which did not even contain a compliments slip Hope this may be of interest to anyone else who had problems with the same cruise.

Jeff.

Angela, that was really good of you. I hadnt logged on since you posted your email, and now it isnt there. I think you must have removed it when you last logged in last night. I am sorry I missed it. I will check on here again before bed tonight and also tomorrow by 11-30 am latest to see if you have reposted it. Thats the absolute latest I would look for it as we leave for the airport approx 1.30pm. Otherwise, I will try to find this thread again on return. We have an o/night again at Gatwick coming back so home on Feb 27th. Might be a few days though before I can catch my breath sufficiently to log on, especially if theres a review or tale or two to tell. Its a great pity theres no private message facility on this site as there is on lonelyplanet.com (the thorn tree) Its usued quite a bit there and no need to risk posting a private email.

Well, after a few hectic days, for better or worse, thats us more or less ready. Looking forward to it and hoping it meets our expectations. Bye.

JBDAY......that was an interesting read for me and I wasnt even involved!! I am sure that Angela and Peter will find it even more interesting.

I felt really bad for everyone involved. Its a real pest to have to decide yes/no just like that, especially so near to departure when packing almost done, arrangements made for your home etc etc. It must be a huge letdown to decide not to go. Thereagain, going ahead isnt the easy option either...ask Angela!

You might find it interesting to read the posts on P and O's Aurora world cruise cancellation. Theres a very big thread on this site. Last time I looked, at least 70 replies. Its helpful to others to know what gets offered and what doesnt in a cancellation or major change situation.......just in case.P and O seem to offer the same throughout the fleet. I think they got the same as you. Read it to check.

Are you a SH regular or was 501 meant to be your first? This is our first. I am a wee bit nervous. 4 weeks is quite a lot for a first on any ship. (we have used other lines for 4 previous cruises. We are relative "beginners". :0)

Angela.....I guess you didnt log on.

See here when we get back.

Fiona

JBDAY Why does your post not surprise me! To be honest we admire your tenacity and in many ways wish we had not caved in because we thought time was too short. We did enjoy the cruise though to be honest there was an undercurrent - so many did not want to be there and also the days at sea were even worse than you say because we had only a morning in Praslin and just over half a day at Malacca adding two more half days.

Actually I think your experience displays SH as they are today. We had the same battle over lunch on our way back from Spain in April. Everyone did not fit on the charter flight and so about 30 or so of us were put on the Iberia service flight from Cadiz changing planes at Madrid. We did not mind that so much - someone had to be on it and we took the view why not us. However, this meant a very long day as the charter got in at Heathrow about 3.30 having had lunch on the plane. The Iberia flight did not get in until about 7.30 pm. We had been told we would be fed on the flights. We pointed out that Iberia had stopped serving meals and were selling sandwiches. We mentioned this three times and on the day were told on the coach we needed to give the Swan rep our seat numbers as we could buy what we wanted on the Madrid flight (sandwiches and drinks) and they would pay. This still left us from breakfast at 7 am in the morning until about 5 pm (we flew from Madrid at 4 pm). without any lunch. Nothing on the first flight. At Madrid airport we approached the SH rep again and said we were going to buy something and would be sending the bill the SH. At which she said I have the SH credit card - I will pay, rounded up the others and bought us all sandwiches and drinks. They are losing so much loyalty and cred by this constantly pushing as far as they can and then caving in when anger really takes over with the passengers. I know they are trying to make a profit but . . .

We have been with SH seven times over thirteen years but I feel we are coming to the end of the line with them. We have had similar situations with both Orient and Fred Olsen - both companies worked hard to engender goodwill. On this last cruise we did not even get a free bottle of wine as a gesture of goodwill.