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Review not Published.. Was I too honest ?

Tizzy

By Tizzy,
in Marella Cruises (formerly Thomson)

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geomagot

geomagot

Posted
Posted

ladies and gentlemen, I regret to inform you that instead of your usual itinerary I have decided to sail to thailand/mauritius and the himalayas...it may be a bit bumpy during docking in the himalayas and we may have to tender?...but not to worry, our tender crews are highly experienced and know what they are doing and I am sure it will be worth it for the photo opportunities

 

then after that we will sail to dubai to pick up some duty frees and then maybe a quick stopover in paris just for dinner

 

I realise that this sudden change in our itinerary may be a bit inconvenient for some you? but, who cares? Its my ship, I have a uniform with shiny buttons on the front and everything

 

meanwhile to relieve the (very understandable) boredom while we are sailing thru the panama canal

 

heres capt torsten with one of his brief tales from his life at sea

 

zank you captain magot....and may I say how nice you look in your lovely new uniform viz zee shiny buttons...its much better than these horrible oily blue overals that you have given me to wear!

 

:D:D

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Julessmiles

Julessmiles

Posted
Posted

Whilst talking of Captains, I have heard through the grapevine that a new Captain on the Dream is going to be none other than Captain John Westgarth Pratt - has been one of the Captain's on the Celebration for several years - lovely, genuine & young (late 30's?) Captain - very visible & approachable & was a real sport at the Late Night Lock In when we were onboard last summer! Really pleased for him as I am guessing this is a promotion.

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geomagot

geomagot

Posted
Posted

ah yes captain john from the celebration, a great guy v approachable likes to mingle

 

but I do like our teutonic friend captain torsten, quite a character....you either love or hate

 

havnt seen captain roy for a while?....wonder if he did retire in the end?

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mtt

mtt

Posted
Posted
ah yes captain john from the celebration, a great guy v approachable likes to mingle

 

but I do like our teutonic friend captain torsten, quite a character....you either love or hate

 

havnt seen captain roy for a while?....wonder if he did retire in the end?

 

 

captain roy has offically retired (for good this time)

captain john is moving to the dream

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Jakanne1

Jakanne1

Posted
Posted
Whilst talking of Captains, I have heard through the grapevine that a new Captain on the Dream is going to be none other than Captain John Westgarth Pratt - has been one of the Captain's on the Celebration for several years - lovely, genuine & young (late 30's?) Captain - very visible & approachable & was a real sport at the Late Night Lock In when we were onboard last summer! Really pleased for him as I am guessing this is a promotion.

 

I wonder when he is joining the Dream, Julie.

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kalos

kalos

Posted
Posted

 

ladies and gents I propose Kruzseeka s CEO:) (not a joke)

 

also Geo and kalos and Jim in charge of onboard things:D

 

 

 

Stevie:D

 

 

First of all ....Brill post Kruzze :) 5- STAR POST M'dear :D

 

Now then Stevie ..Do them ships have Auto Pilot ??

 

 

drunkensailor.jpg

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Tatto

Tatto

Posted
Posted
I wonder when he is joining the Dream, Julie.

 

We had Captain Pratt on The Celebration and he came from The Island Escape. We often saw him in the Horizon bar and did have a conversation with him. A proper peoples person and did not have any hairs and graces to him.;)

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Julessmiles

Julessmiles

Posted
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We had Captain Pratt on The Celebration and he came from The Island Escape. We often saw him in the Horizon bar and did have a conversation with him. A proper peoples person and did not have any hairs and graces to him.;)

 

 

I never knew he came from the IE Tatto - he has done well for himself.

 

 

Hope he is onboard in the summer Jackie - he did our Blessing for us in 2012; such a nice man & lovely to see him again in 2013!

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kruzseeka

kruzseeka

Posted
Posted
First of all ....Brill post Kruzze :) 5- STAR POST M'dear :D

 

 

Cheers kalos. :D

I just love your 'M'dears'. Makes me feel very warm, at home and nostalgic for 'Up North'. ;) Don't hear such terms of endearment here in the sodden south!!! (When will this rain stop? Cliff slides on the beach today!)

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Huddersfieldtourist

Huddersfieldtourist

Posted
Posted
Since you have started a thread on reviews Tizzy and querying whether you have been too honest I will take the opportunity to post what has been on my mind for some time. :rolleyes:

 

I have edited your comments for the sake of space but I really think it was yet another exceptionally good post by yourself.

 

Well done !

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kruzseeka

kruzseeka

Posted
Posted
I have edited your comments for the sake of space but I really think it was yet another exceptionally good post by yourself.

 

Well done !

 

Thanks HT :) Kind of you to say so. Won't be long until you're off again. Would dearly have liked to be joining you - it's a very appealing itinerary. Hope you and Mrs HT have fab time. :D ;)

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janice2348

janice2348

Posted
Posted
Since you have started a thread on reviews Tizzy and querying whether you have been too honest I will take the opportunity to post what has been on my mind for some time. I hope you won't mind.

 

Well I have thought long and hard about writing this but am really dismayed reading disparaging comments and side-swipes at those who dare to say something negative in a review by a few posters on here.

A review should be an opinion of your cruise. Everyone is different, everyone has a different experience but provided views are expressed in a respectful way (not slagging off others who may not share your opinion) and are fair and balanced with credit given where due and reasons given for any criticism, I fail to see how that makes the reviewer some miserable person who is:

sad

bitter and petty

the kind of person who will always find something to complain about

not having to eat in a greasy spoon and should therefore apparently feel grateful

made happy by complaining

of a negative mind-set

not going with an open mind

go looking for things to complain about

expecting 6* treatment

not going on holiday determined to enjoy themselves

 

All these comments have been made recently and directed towards reviewers, especially regulars who said they felt standards have fallen. I suppose therefore this applies to me. …....

 

Oddly some of these opinions are held by people after their first cruise! What are they comparing it with?

Some say 'I was on Dream last year/six months ago'....whatever. How do they know standards are the same as when they were on? Things can change for the worse, or better, very quickly as many on here can testify.

 

There are some who do a real hatchet job and find nothing good about their cruise - you can often read between the lines and make a call that such a review can perhaps be ignored as being extreme. But sometimes if people have had a really bad time there will be justification for a bad review eg the early Transatlantic on Dream and the period after the refit in Hamburg, or outbreaks of NV and that is very understandable.

 

But a review imo should highlight the excellent, the good and the not so good. If explanations for any criticism are included then the reader can make up their mind if it is important to them. And surely that is the purpose of a review - to help others to determine if a cruise will suit them. It does no one any favours for reviews to be sanitised so that only good is reported! (And there is just the hope too that Thomson may respond if lots of people report the same issues – remember the booze in your cabin scenario?)

 

We all have differing expectations: if you don't go to the shows you don't care how they are rated, if you eat in the buffet the meals in the MDR are of no significance, if you go DiY on shore excursion prices matter not a jot, if you don't have AI the details of the deal don't affect you, if you don't sunbathe the availability of loungers isn't an issue. I could go on. But you get the idea. A review has to be read in the context of what matters to you.

 

If you don't like what you're reading then you may question the importance or relevance of the poster's views and yes, a review is only one person's opinion but perhaps when a common theme is detected it may be something to take more note of and it may have some substance. .......

 

What I feel is out of order are the personal judgements and comments directed at reviewers because they report something the reader doesn't want to hear.

 

For the record:

I have done 25 Thomson cruises (also been on P&O and NCL) so believe I have some experience to draw on.

I have loved all my cruises and had a fab time on every one.

My review which commented on the food was our fifth cruise on Dream and the comparison was made with a cruise only nine months earlier.

I have never approached a holiday not determined to have a good time (who in their right mind would spend that amount of money to be miserable?)

I have written many comprehensive reviews which have been very upbeat and complimentary (yes some only come on to register complaints but anyone who reads these boards regularly cannot say that of me)

 

So I would suggest that reviews are read carefully and because of one negative don't berate the reviewer or the ship - there are probably lots of positives in the review too.

 

I value reading others’ experiences and advice and I write reviews to inform and help others - after all I already know what I know about my own cruise and can use that to make my decisions in future. But others may find it useful information. I have no absolutely problem with people not agreeing with me but it's how it's said and what is said. To attack people's motives, character and personality because of varying opinions is not acceptable in my book and is not in the spirit of this forum or what reviews should achieve. It would be a sad day were we to have to censor comments for fear of being rubbished for your opinions!

 

My recent comments on food quality in the mdr on Dream in December did not spoil my holiday as anyone who read the review will see. The itinerary was fantastic, the crew as fab as ever, I love the Dream (my favourite Thomson ship), I had a wonderful holiday. But imo there were obvious cost-cutting measures in place re food in particular for the mdr evening meal as compared with all my previous Thomson cruises. I make no apologies for this opinion as I believe it to be true and for us did affect our anticipation of the evening meal as we like to get changed and treat it as an occasion (that's part of what we value on a cruise but will not be true of others). We still ate well enough but it wasn't anything like as good as previous trips.

 

But for those who are booked, there is absolutely no reason not to look forward to your cruise - or enjoy it and perhaps you will be able to report a more comprehensive and varied choice of meals on the evening menu! I do hope so and perhaps that may have been a consequence of people reporting their concerns. I would still consider Dream for a holiday and would be delighted to read of improvements on that score.

 

I wish you all a wonderful time.:)

 

And finally I think we should be careful not to shoot the messenger - the fault is in the product not the reporting of it! (If it matters to you!) :rolleyes:

 

 

Nicely said. I have been reading and contributing to these boards for over two years. I am by no means an expert. I have gotten great tips and advice here. But I agree with you that we are all entitled to our opinions and we need to respect that. I am about to take my second cruise in April. My last cruise was not fully enjoyed because of health issues. I am giving cruising another chance partly due to the threads I have read here.

Thank you for your post.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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kruzseeka

kruzseeka

Posted
Posted
Just read your post Kruzseeka, and a fantastic one it is! :D

 

Thank you Sailaway

I am very conciliatory by nature so don't like posting anything which may be contentious so I can't tell you how much I appreciate everyone's kind words. :):):)

 

All of us have a vested interest in Thomson and we all know the product's many strengths. And many of us have spent a lot of money with them over the years. But we need reviews with the up to date picture too (the good, the bad and even the ugly) so that we can make informed choices about whether it continues to be delivering whatever is important to each of us as we decide to part with our money in the future. I for one wouldn't want that feed back to be stifled.

 

And I know they must be competitive, but Thomson would do well to take note and consider carefully the impact of their money generating/saving initiatives - if it goes too far it could prove to be counter-productive! :(

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Tizzy

Tizzy

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hello holiday ahoy

No it has still not been published and I can't tell you how upset I feel.

I have NEVER had a review refused before.

Our holiday was not great because of specific problems with our particular cabin and comments made by the Future Cruises representative were quite 'Out or order' We were seeking her help to choose a more suitable cabin next time round. I do think someone should at least tell me why they have chosen not to print my review. I don't see the point of this forum if we can only write complimentary things ! Trust me my review wasn't all bad but I did suggest someone from Thomsons spent a night in the cabin we were in to see for themselves what we experienced. The steward knew what we were up against. First thing she asked us in the morning was 'Could you sleep with all that noise'

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