Rude Solstice spa staff

[Boatdrill]

I cannot for the life of me understand why people use forums like this to bellyache and complain before going through the appropriate steps with senior management to rectify a complaint. If the complaint cant be resolved satisfactorily then by all means come here but until .....................

 

I agree with you 100%. Many times after reading someone's complaint story, I'll ask "What did the Hotel Director/ Guest Relations Manager say when you told them about the problem ?" Usually there's no reply.

Edited January 4, 2018 by Boatdrill

[Boatdrill]

Also buyer beware; on another cruise line I booked and paid for a spa treatment online, prior to the cruise.

After the massage I was asked for my key card so they could charge my account. I explained I had pre-paid, so nothing was owed other than a tip. The attendant said that the pre-payments hadn't been posted/downloaded yet by the manager, so without any proof that I had pre-paid, she had to charge me in full. This was odd (not to mention irritating), but I gave her the benefit of the doubt, and she charged my account. I told her that I'd return with the confirmation and receipt of my pre-payment. When I did, I was told that only the manager could approve the removal of a charge, and she wouldn't be back in the spa until later that day. Since I had meetings and guests onboard, I couldn't return until the next day, and when I did, the manager still wasn't in. I gave it one more try that afternoon, and with no results, took my "issue" to Guest Relations. They made one phone call to the spa, and I was assured that if I went back up, the manager would help me. GR was true to their word, and the spa manager apologized for not having posted my pre-payment earlier (this was now day 3 of the cruise), and gave me my credit.

I will never book a spa appointment in advance again. It was absurd that I had to take the time to go back and forth to the spa to prove that I had pre-paid, when the manager had the same info all along.

[Toronto Guy]

I agree with you 100%. Many times after reading someone's complaint story, I'll ask "What did the Hotel Director/ Guest Relations Manager say when you told them about the problem ?" Usually there's no reply.

 

 

 

Well here’s your reply. Nothing. Nothing at all. Happy?

[Beanb41]

Well here’s your reply. Nothing. Nothing at all. Happy?

Let's call a spade a spade. I find this accusation beyond the pale and unacceptable if true. Who was the Hotel Director and Guest Relations Manager who failed to act on the complaint. They have no business on a cruise ship. The complaint in my opinion has no validity unless we know who are the wrong doers here

[Toronto Guy]

Well we found the service from Guest Relation onboard Summit to be very poor indeed. Their manager is apparently called Cameron, and his service is crap. If he's reading this, you're in the wrong job matey.

 

Our issue had to be escalated before being dealt with satisfactorily by someone else. Just for the record I did feed back by the correct channels about Cameron and his crappy teams service. We also experienced further examples of poor customer service. Having ran a department for a global bank for many years, understanding the importance of customer service is not something I'm unfamiliar with.

 

There, you might have just started a new Shaming and shaming fad here on CC. I'll let the complaints about that begin..... :D

 

 

 

Agree wholeheartedly.

[Luvcrusn]

I have always looked forward to time in the spa aboard X ships until Feb. 2016 aboard Connie. I booked a 90 minute massage. When I got there, I informed the technician that I wanted a relaxing massage, I intended to buy nothing, so please don't give me a sales pitch. I then got a 90 minute sales pitch for "body brushing" (which I told her I did not want and not to do brushing.) She followed it up with another sales pitch to buy a $50 body brush. I reported the problem, got resolution, and haven't been back to a X spa since.

[keithm]

Staff are on a hiding to nothing with posts like these because we only get one side of the story. My experience in dealing with complaints about rental cars on the Trip Advisor website when one hears the other side one comes away with generally a completely but now balanced point of view. To honestly believe that a Hotel Director on any cruise ship would do absolutely nothing when faced with a significant complaint by a passenger absolutely astounds me and I find incomprehensible. In my experience most issues are resolved at Guest relations level before the Hotel Director has to get involved. As this thread evolves I am becoming more and more convinced we are not getting the whole truth or at least a very subjective view of the truth.

I agree as well. I think there's more to the story.

[hcat]

Also buyer beware; on another cruise line I booked and paid for a spa treatment online, prior to the cruise.

After the massage I was asked for my key card so they could charge my account. I explained I had pre-paid, so nothing was owed other than a tip. The attendant said that the pre-payments hadn't been posted/downloaded yet by the manager, so without any proof that I had pre-paid, she had to charge me in full. This was odd (not to mention irritating), but I gave her the benefit of the doubt, and she charged my account. I told her that I'd return with the confirmation and receipt of my pre-payment. When I did, I was told that only the manager could approve the removal of a charge, and she wouldn't be back in the spa until later that day. Since I had meetings and guests onboard, I couldn't return until the next day, and when I did, the manager still wasn't in. I gave it one more try that afternoon, and with no results, took my "issue" to Guest Relations. They made one phone call to the spa, and I was assured that if I went back up, the manager would help me. GR was true to their word, and the spa manager apologized for not having posted my pre-payment earlier (this was now day 3 of the cruise), and gave me my credit.

I will never book a spa appointment in advance again. It was absurd that I had to take the time to go back and forth to the spa to prove that I had pre-paid, when the manager had the same info all along.

 

Yup....typical BS dealing with ship vendors, etc. They take your money but not much help beyond that. We had a similar could care less reaction at Tuscan Grill....and they are employees, not vendors!

 

We stopped pre-booking Specialty Dining due to run around by Tuscan maitre D on Infinity this Oct concerning the E plus discount we had proof of in writing.....usually quite easily credited. He was quite adversarial; demanded proof as if we were stupid or cheats, and gave us no service at all during our dinner while he was checking things out. Waiter was very nice but our enjoyment of our meal was overshadowed by all the stress. It was not correctly resolved

 

. Luckily, Guest Relations rep was very helpful and got things resolved in a few days...As a result we cancelled other specialty bookings and wil not pre book anymore... too much of a hassle.

 

Cruising should be fun, easy and not involve these types of situations...

[Beanb41]

Sue Richardson was the Hotel Director. I’m glad you’re such an obnoxious cheerleader.

 

Thank you. I find this most disturbing as I have had dealings with Sue Richardson on a number of occasions over several cruises and have found her responses to be completely the opposite. Please don't take these comments as a criticism but Sue being the HD is alarming. I am on the Solstice in a few weeks time and I am going to make a point of fronting her with the comments here and get her reaction. My intention is to print out all the posts on this thread and give them to her to elicit a response. I will report back

[Toronto Guy]

Thank you. I find this most disturbing as I have had dealings with Sue Richardson on a number of occasions over several cruises and have found her responses to be completely the opposite. Please don't take these comments as a criticism but Sue being the HD is alarming. I am on the Solstice in a few weeks time and I am going to make a point of fronting her with the comments here and get her reaction. My intention is to print out all the posts on this thread and give them to her to elicit a response. I will report back

 

Please do. What exactly by the way would be my (or anybody else’s) intent to misrepresent the facts? I know what happened, and that’s what matters. If you choose to dispute or disbelieve that’s on you, not me.

[richsea]

Please do. What exactly by the way would be my (or anybody else’s) intent to misrepresent the facts? I know what happened, and that’s what matters. If you choose to dispute or disbelieve that’s on you, not me.

 

You have to realize that there are always some here who will always challenge one who dares to complain. It just goes with the territory. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when Sue Richardson is confronted with reading 5 pages regarding an episode that happened a month prior. I am sure she will be glad to take the time out of her busy day in order to appease a doubter

[Beanb41]

You have to realize that there are always some here who will always challenge one who dares to complain. It just goes with the territory. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when Sue Richardson is confronted with reading 5 pages regarding an episode that happened a month prior. I am sure she will be glad to take the time out of her busy day in order to appease a doubter

 

 

Why wouldn't she take time out of her day. Matters like this are what she is paid to resolve. There is nothing in this for me other than to right a wrong one way or the other. Either Sue Richardson as Hotel Director has not done her job properly which needs to be resolved or the OP hasn't represented the whole facts. As with any dispute there are two sides to every story.

 

I have printed out the first two pages and the last pages of pages 4 and 5. When one tries to print out these pages we end up with about 17 to 20 printed pages per CC page. The middle pages don't add too much to resolution of the issue anyway.

 

If Toronto Guy is prepared to give their surname at my email address solsticeshoretours at gmail.com it may make things easier for follow up on board. This email address by the way is one I set up several years ago for private shore excursions we arranged when we first cruised on the Solstice

[Beanb41]

Expect a response from me towards the end of February when we get back from our Solstice cruise

[Mynki]

Please do. What exactly by the way would be my (or anybody else’s) intent to misrepresent the facts? I know what happened, and that’s what matters. If you choose to dispute or disbelieve that’s on you, not me.

 

Some complaints on here are not justified. Some members choose to bang on and on a little too much about their problem and occasionally you get posters who sate that they will never sail Celebrity again and hang around here repeating themselves for months or years without ever realising, no one else cares. :D

 

However. I've only been posting on here a few years, but it's very apparent that when ever anyone chooses to complain about a GENUINE issue that there is a group of people seem to jump on the person voicing their displeasure. They either try and tell them that the issue is their own fault, that it's not important and to just move on or that it's not a problem in the first place. A few fools even embellish your story in order to justify the drivel they post.

 

There is a small number of people that do this regularly. ;)

 

It's almost as if they take pleasure in adding to the complainers misery. I guess we'd need a qualified psychologist to explain why they act in this way, but there's obviously something not quite right in their world.

 

In short, you have my sympathy regarding some of the replies you have received.

[Toronto Guy]

Some complaints on here are not justified. Some members choose to bang on and on a little too much about their problem and occasionally you get posters who sate that they will never sail Celebrity again and hang around here repeating themselves for months or years without ever realising, no one else cares. :D

 

 

 

However. I've only been posting on here a few years, but it's very apparent that when ever anyone chooses to complain about a GENUINE issue that there is a group of people seem to jump on the person voicing their displeasure. They either try and tell them that the issue is their own fault, that it's not important and to just move on or that it's not a problem in the first place. A few fools even embellish your story in order to justify the drivel they post.

 

 

 

There is a small number of people that do this regularly. ;)

 

 

 

It's almost as if they take pleasure in adding to the complainers misery. I guess we'd need a qualified psychologist to explain why they act in this way, but there's obviously something not quite right in their world.

 

 

 

In short, you have my sympathy regarding some of the replies you have received.

 

 

 

Read this through from the beginning. I’m hardly one to escalate unnecessarily.

[Mynki]

Read this through from the beginning. I’m hardly one to escalate unnecessarily.

 

I have done. I can tell it's genuine. Hence my last sentence. ;)

[helen haywood]

I appreciate your posting your unfortunate experience. I'm sorry you had this issue! You took the advice here on Cruise Critic and contacted the Hotel Director and were let down by her as well. It does let the rest of us know about these practices and we will try the safe guards of written confirmation in future, if I have any desire to use the spa.

 

 

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[Longboysfan]

Interesting to read through all the posts.

Stay after the HD Toronto Guy.

[Toronto Guy]

Interesting to read through all the posts.

Stay after the HD Toronto Guy.

 

 

 

Thanks, but we have just decided to move on to another cruise line. Honestly, our last two cruises with X have not met our expectations and previous experiences so we are just going to pay more and go with a more inclusive upscale line if and when we ever cruise again. We just don’t think that cruises are as good as they used to be, or else we have just cruised ourselves out. ;-)

[r4addz]

Well my wife and I were on the same cruise and I suspect the culture on board is deteriorating. We had a number of issues, one classic being in the casino. I asked to get $50 in chips on my card. I was told there was a surcharge, I asked why (meaning why a surcharge on your own card system) the reply I got stopped any further discussion! The reply was "Because that's the way it is!"

 

May just start my own "bellyaching" thread, there was so much wrong to tell about.

[Beanb41]

Well my wife and I were on the same cruise and I suspect the culture on board is deteriorating. We had a number of issues, one classic being in the casino. I asked to get $50 in chips on my card. I was told there was a surcharge, I asked why (meaning why a surcharge on your own card system) the reply I got stopped any further discussion! The reply was "Because that's the way it is!"

 

May just start my own "bellyaching" thread, there was so much wrong to tell about.

 

 

There has been a surcharge for withdrawing cash in the casino for many years on Celebrity ships. If using OBC one can only get promotional chips.

[Beanb41]

Thanks, but we have just decided to move on to another cruise line. Honestly, our last two cruises with X have not met our expectations and previous experiences so we are just going to pay more and go with a more inclusive upscale line if and when we ever cruise again. We just don’t think that cruises are as good as they used to be, or else we have just cruised ourselves out. ;-)

 

Do I assume from the above comments that Toronto Guy doesn't want my proposed discussion with the HD to proceed which is interesting in itself

[excitedofharpenden]

Do I assume from the above comments that Toronto Guy doesn't want my proposed discussion with the HD to proceed which is interesting in itself

If I were Toronto Guy I certainly wouldn’t. Why do you want to get involved anyway? Very strange.

 

Phil

[r4addz]

There has been a surcharge for withdrawing cash in the casino for many years on Celebrity ships. If using OBC one can only get promotional chips.

 

Which is OK if you know that but I simply asked a question and didn't deserve an answer like that!

[MEcruzr]

Originally posted by MEcruzr When I get an offer I ask them to give me an appointment card... just write down my appointment date/time. Then I ask them to write down what I'm getting and the price. I take that card with me to my appointment. It helps a LOT when they start questioning what I'm there for... and the cost. It's not good that this is necessary, but it IS necessary.

 

Wow, it sounds like this is a common thing?

 

I don't know what the issue is, but there seems to be a lot of confusion at the spa desk. Time, treatment, price... sit in the waiting area a little while and you'll see that it's very common. My guess is their booking system doesn't allow for comments or simple price adjustments so when you check in, they are in the dark. Is it intentional? I don't think so. But it certainly happens a lot! That's why I get my appointment card. It always helps reduce the confusion at check in.

 

If you call for your appointment, ask them to send an appointment card with the details to your cabin. Get the name of the person you speak to and write it down so you can say, "Well, I talked to so-and-so and she said...".

 

I like to get those mini massages they do outside of the café. That way I can find someone with strong hands who uses deep pressure. I make my appointment then, with that person. Easy to get a card that way, too.