SDI: Major Let-down

I was NOT prepared at all for life after my 11/3 SDI voyage! As soon as we hit the real world, it was such a major let-down. I had to pay for everything. I was not called by name. A glass of champagne was not placed in my hand without my asking. Coffee & espresso were not placed in front of me at breakfast. There were no sunbeds anywhere, much less a wonderful Ralf to pour my drink. The napkin was not placed in my lap and my chair was not pushed in for me by Jun. Jan was not there with two choices of freely-poured wine. Richard was not there to guide me through the city (we had 2 days in Barcelona post-cruise). The bed & pillows were not comfy. There was no Captain Berg to greet us when we arrived at our Barcelona hotel. I was not escorted to my dinner table by Rico. All the WONDERFUL new friends I made on-board were not there. I could go on and on.

Guess this is a sign that I need to book another voyage! Now I see why people do them back-to-back. Do you think we could live on the yacht??? :)

That was mean!

After years of Seabourn my DW and I have decided to try SD this year (3 weeks and counting) based on word of mouth, glowing reviews, and the noticeable decline in the Seabourn experience.

The I read your tag line!!!! You almost made me snort coffee all over my keyboard :rolleyes:

You definitely got me. Now I am looking forward more than ever to upcoming cruise.

Cammiem:

The only known cure for the let down is to get back on board as soon as possible! Dont delay, what if they sell out all the voyages????

All the best.

Jim.

That was mean!

 

After years of Seabourn my DW and I have decided to try SD this year (3 weeks and counting) based on word of mouth, glowing reviews, and the noticeable decline in the Seabourn experience.

 

The I read your tag line!!!! You almost made me snort coffee all over my keyboard :rolleyes:

 

You definitely got me. Now I am looking forward more than ever to upcoming cruise.

So sorry, SchnauzerPup. I didn't intend for it to be mean. I'm glad it got your attention, though, and that your keyboard is not ruined by coffee. :)

I cannot begin to tell you how much you will enjoy your voyage. Every moment, and I do mean every moment, will be something to cherish and remember. I had extremely high expectations for our experience and all of them were exceeded. It's everything you've read about and more. You & your DW will really love it!

I hope your countdown goes fast!

Yeah...I had an OMG moment too when I saw the title of your thread. Now...I'm even more excited for our arrival on SDI in 32 days!!

You got us Cammiem:p Sounds like SD has you hooked!

The only know cure is booking another SD cruise.

We head out Friday for our family cruise on HAL:eek: I am ready to book our next SD cruise for March now that my dear mother has agreed to watch our DD for the week:D

You got us Cammiem:p Sounds like SD has you hooked!

 

The only know cure is booking another SD cruise.

 

We head out Friday for our family cruise on HAL:eek: I am ready to book our next SD cruise for March now that my dear mother has agreed to watch our DD for the week:D

Oh, DJ, am I ever hooked! It was unbelievable! I can't wait for my next one!

I'll post a review as soon as I can. I blogged the whole trip, so a review here on the board should be quick to do.

Oh, DJ, am I ever hooked! It was unbelievable! I can't wait for my next one!

 

I'll post a review as soon as I can. I blogged the whole trip, so a review here on the board should be quick to do.

So glad to hear that you loved your cruise. I sometimes worry about the let down when folks go in with high expectations (we had this happen on Seabourn last year). SD is our absolute favorite vacation of any kind!

I know there are many of us who would love to read your review because they keep us going until we sail SD again:p

I am waiting for DH to call me back so I can book our March 16 cruise:D Silly work calendar:eek:

i loved your comments!!it reminded us of the captain on the seabourn who said "just think..when you return home and have your first hot shower after all that travel, you'll step out, dry yourself, drop your towel on the floor..and it'll stay there!!!"

i loved your comments!!it reminded us of the captain on the seabourn who said "just think..when you return home and have your first hot shower after all that travel, you'll step out, dry yourself, drop your towel on the floor..and it'll stay there!!!"

Hobar, that's hilarious! It's so true, though.

We just left SDII on November 25 after the 11-day Miami to St. Thomas trip. I'm preparing an extensive review, but the bottom line is we will not be likely to go back to SD anytime soon. I've sailed with Regent in the past and there is nothing that SD does right that Regent doesn't do, without the negatives we experienced. The ship is nice, but it is a rough, loud ride in cabin 319, and the bed squeaked so badly that after four days and nothing that could fix it (they said they tried, we believe them) we bolted it up to the wall and slept on the floor for the duration of the trip-it was comfortable and quiet. Even our cabin stewardess said we had the coolest bed and she wished she could do that. Our itinerary was changed so often and all our booked excursions were cancelled. Much was blamed on the weather, but when we took taxicabs to the "bad weather side" of the island, the seas/beaches were just fine. I'm so glad we hadn't booked anything on the side in advance as our stops/dates changed five times in a ten-day period. That was just a bit more "flexibility" than I anticipated or was happy with, especially since after the first couple of times, it seemed more for SD’s convenience than the passengers. The dream beds at night sound better than they are -- they do not turn the lights off up there and by 5A the crew is out cleaning and making noise so it is not the perfect romantic solitude that reviews and their site would lead you to believe. And this was the nice “front bed;” the others are located under the loud, wet stacks and near the bar, so don’t think you are actually going to fall asleep up there. The great water toys and marina sound wonderful, but are open for use far less than you would imagine. (It is great when it is, but again, two days out of ten and only 2-3 hours a day!) Dining in romantic alcoves under the stars is another draw, but what they don't tell you is that more often than not, if you are moving, they will only serve in the dining room. And it gets crowded and loud at 8-830.

There are some great things: the service (all the crew members) is/are excellent (but they do NOT all know your name and call you by it), the concierge (Nina) was one of the most friendly and helpful I've ever met on a ship, the bed linens are divine, and the food is very, very good with the portions sized well and the variety good, although a very limited room service menu (but we went for it two nights just for the peace and quiet).

More in a detailed review, but I guess we were quite disappointed in our SD experience after all the excellent reviews. Maybe we just aren't the right type of clientele and will stick to Regent or try another luxury line. The bottom line, we felt like this was a business trip for SDII (new ports and lots of media coming on board at each new port, putting us in port with other large ships when we were scheduled to be elsewhere, etc.) and they took us along to help pay for it. The best days we had were the two post-cruise ones in St. Thomas, although St. Barts was great because that is the only time they opened the marina and let us have water toys. None of the stops had decent snorkeling, guess you had to take an excursion for that.

Thanks to everyone for their advice. BTW, liquor and perfume prices are better in St. Maartin (although we were supposed to be in St. Martin) than in St. Thomas and all places will deliver to your ship if you buy six or more.

Thanks for reporting in JustAud... I look forward to reading your review.

Very interesting and disturbing about the bed:confused: I gather you placed the bedding on the floor?:eek: Weren't they able to move you to another cabin?

Your comments about the ports are very interesting as well. Anymore cruising for us is about the ship and not the ports but I certainly can understand your disappointment.

Thanks again for sharing.

We did put the mattress and bedding on the floor and it was quite comfortable (guess I'm lucky I was with someone that was strong enough to move it all). They never offered to move us to another cabin, and we didn't think to ask. We asked if they could look at our bed because it made so much noise we couldn't sleep, and they said they did but there was nothing they could do to fix it.

I think that is one of the things about SD, you do need to really ask and we just aren't the demanding type. However, after I observed the "squeaky wheels" getting some services that we weren't, we learned to be a bit more demanding and that helped. But, it just isn't in our nature, so our idea of "a bit more demanding" is probably not even considered demanding by others. For example, even though dinner was scheduled in the dining room, I often observed 4-5 tables set up each night on pool side deck 4. Maybe we just need to ask if we could eat outside instead, but again, I didn't catch on to this until the end that they seemed to be doing it for others.

We did put the mattress and bedding on the floor and it was quite comfortable (guess I'm lucky I was with someone that was strong enough to move it all). They never offered to move us to another cabin, and we didn't think to ask. We asked if they could look at our bed because it made so much noise we couldn't sleep, and they said they did but there was nothing they could do to fix it.

 

I think that is one of the things about SD, you do need to really ask and we just aren't the demanding type. However, after I observed the "squeaky wheels" getting some services that we weren't, we learned to be a bit more demanding and that helped. But, it just isn't in our nature, so our idea of "a bit more demanding" is probably not even considered demanding by others. For example, even though dinner was scheduled in the dining room, I often observed 4-5 tables set up each night on pool side deck 4. Maybe we just need to ask if we could eat outside instead, but again, I didn't catch on to this until the end that they seemed to be doing it for others.

Hi JustAud,

So sorry to hear that your SD experience was less-than-positive. It's amazing how important a comfortable bed is, isn't it? A couple of years ago we were at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort in Scottsdale, AZ. A nice resort it was. However, the bed we slept in was so horribly uncomfortable that it ruined our experience. Sleeping in the bath tub would've been more comfortable. Needless to say, I emailed them upon our return home. We were offered a very nice upgrade in a suite that we redeemed during the BCS National Championship game this past January; the bed was better than our initial experience. Our experience with the bed on SD1 was a great one.

That's strange about the media coming aboard. I wonder what was going on?

We never tried to sleep outdoors on the Balinese beds. I didn't think it'd be as quiet as I'd like. It's a neat idea, though. We did enjoy them in the afternoon, but I understand what you mean about the noise from the stacks.

We are certainly not the demanding type and didn't notice a lack in service. I didn't feel like I needed to be a squeaky wheel to get what I wanted. I'm easily amused, though. :D However, I can understand your disappointment and you must've felt ill at ease (for lack of a better word). Have you considered sending them an email about your experience? I'd like to think they'd do everything they can to make it up to you.

Looking forward to your review. Best of everything!