My thoughts on Iona, Norwegian Fjords - September 2022

[jeanlyon]

It's beginning to sound absolutely dreadful.   I hope things are better on Aurora in October 2023.

[Megabear2]

Well if we want to cruise we will have to live with all this.  As is happening everywhere the world has moved on and changed.  All these new passengers aren't going to worry about what they've never had so apart from a few tweaks here and there not much can currently change I'm afraid.

 

If the government here is saying they want all the younger retirees to go back to work because we haven't enough people working I've no doubt the same has happened in the countries the cruise lines take their pool of workers from.  If we have a long life expectancy we mustn't forget that people in these places through no fault of their own have a far shorter one and the appeal of flying off for months on end for really hard work will be just as unappealing to people overseas as it is to the mysterious UK inactive 50+ "missing". How many of us are queuing up to help the country apart from those who volunteer.

[wowzz]

19 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

How many of us are queuing up to help the country apart from those who volunteer.

Exactly - I stopped working to escape the rat race, have the freedom to do what I liked when I liked, and to enjoy my life whilst I was still relatively fit and young[ish]. Financially I would have been considerably better off if I had carried on working, but, as they say "shrouds have no pockets".

Why should I give all that up for a meagre salary, half of which will be taken in taxation anyway ?

[jeanlyon]

I tend to agree, but I can't believe they are no wine waiters at dinner.  That is such a basic thing.  And Megabear you are also right in that cruising has totally lost its glamour for me.  We will do the October one, unless something else happens, like they sell the ship, which has already happened to us twice and I think that will be it, unless a Fred one appeals at the last minute.  Our friend just did a cruise with Fred and all the normal things were happening on Bolette.  Turndown, wine at dinner etc.

[Megabear2]

8 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Exactly - I stopped working to escape the rat race, have the freedom to do what I liked when I liked, and to enjoy my life whilst I was still relatively fit and young[ish]. Financially I would have been considerably better off if I had carried on working, but, as they say "shrouds have no pockets".

Why should I give all that up for a meagre salary, half of which will be taken in taxation anyway ?

Perfectly sound reasoning, I did the same.  On my Princess cruise in July our head waiter was a lovely man in his late 40's clearly adored by his workmates and the people he served. He did however look perpetually sad.  On being asked by our table companions why he explained that he was one of 8 siblings who had been working the cruise lines since their early 20's and prior to the pandemic the entire family were in the process of setting up their own travel company in the Philippines. During the pandemic two brothers were lost, the remaining six and the extended family had to put their plans on hold and when cruising restarted the two eldest brothers went back to sea to enable the rest of the family to restart the plans at home.  These two wages were in effect keeping things at home on an even keel to allow their dream to come to fruition.  Our waiter was on his last contract but had just been told by Princess that due to recruitment issues and short staffing his contract needed extending by three months. He had agreed to keep things better for his work colleagues and an extra wage for his brothers' widows.  Needless to say he got huge tips from all on our table to help them all. Interestingly he told us apart from himself and his brothers no one else in his large extended family were going to sea preferring to work in IT and the tourist trade in the Philippines.  He also said although relatively young he was worn out by his cruise years and needed to get away.

[Megabear2]

8 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

I tend to agree, but I can't believe they are no wine waiters at dinner.  That is such a basic thing.  And Megabear you are also right in that cruising has totally lost its glamour for me.  We will do the October one, unless something else happens, like they sell the ship, which has already happened to us twice and I think that will be it, unless a Fred one appeals at the last minute.  Our friend just did a cruise with Fred and all the normal things were happening on Bolette.  Turndown, wine at dinner etc.

Prior to the pandemic in January 2020 we sailed Britannia in the Caribbean and on that cruise we were told that wine waiters were being done away with.  That was the new policy apparently as a cost saving matter.  I was actually surprised last Christmas to have a wine waiter in Epicurean as on all my staycation and round UK cruises I hadn't seen one!

 

The only specialist wine waiter I have seen this year on a cruise was on Celebrity Edge, none on Regal Princess or Britannia although it was staff shortages causing none on Regal.  My friends sailed on Sky late August and reported the same.

 

Attending the wine tasting on both Britannia and Regal the sommeliers explained that wine waiters are no longer specialists and as the wine lists are becoming smaller the two lines are relying more heavily on the sommelier recommendations and what actually goes through the cash register to aid their buying in of wine.  Seemed to be sensible when explained like that.

[jeanlyon]

Yes sorry, wine waiters had gone, but on my last cruise before Covid,  I had ordered my wine on the first day and it was on the table, then the remaining wine was put away for the next day etc.  I think this has all stopped and I've no idea how it works now.  Sounds like you have to carry your wine back to your cabin.  What a farce.

[Red Leicester]

I wouldn't consider wine waiters and turn downs basic necessities, are they really? Similar to someone complaining there was no pillow concierge on board a non P&O ship. I don't think the latter was said in jest either.

 

May be my upbringing but I didn't really understand what turn down gave me other than a chocolate and someone invading my cabin.

[wowzz]

16 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Sounds like you have to carry your wine back to your cabin. 

Yes you do. Or just carry the bottle to which ever bar you want and ask for an empty glass when you arrive.

[jeanlyon]

Agree re turndown.  Not necessary for me.  Neither are wine waiters per se.  But not to able to order a bottle of wine with dinner is rather basic.

 

[jeanlyon]

Just now, wowzz said:

Yes you do. Or just carry the bottle to which ever bar you want and ask for an empty glass when you arrive.

That to me is just awful.

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, jeanlyon said:

Agree re turndown.  Not necessary for me.  Neither are wine waiters per se.  But not to able to order a bottle of wine with dinner is rather basic.

 

You can still order a bottle of wine, you just give your order to your waiter.

 

1 minute ago, jeanlyon said:

That to me is just awful.

Why ?

Edited October 12, 2022 by wowzz

[jeanlyon]

Not according to what I read further back.  And walking round the ship carrying a bottle of wine is not nice.  So after dinner you have to carry the bottle back to your cabin.  The fridges are useless, so the following night, you have a half empty bottle of warm white wine to take to the bar and then into dinner?

[Sawdan]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

Well if we want to cruise we will have to live with all this.  As is happening everywhere the world has moved on and changed.  All these new passengers aren't going to worry about what they've never had so apart from a few tweaks here and there not much can currently change I'm afraid.

 

If the government here is saying they want all the younger retirees to go back to work because we haven't enough people working I've no doubt the same has happened in the countries the cruise lines take their pool of workers from.  If we have a long life expectancy we mustn't forget that people in these places through no fault of their own have a far shorter one and the appeal of flying off for months on end for really hard work will be just as unappealing to people overseas as it is to the mysterious UK inactive 50+ "missing". How many of us are queuing up to help the country apart from those who volunteer.

That's right Megabear2, we are just going to have to put up with less for more until hopefully things settle down.

   On our recent cruise on Iona 24th Sep it was really noticeable that there was a shortage of staff. Also noticeable was that some of the staff didn't seem well trained or organised. Sometimes they actually looked stressed and overworked and just fed up generally. 

    As a frequent cruiser for many years this was the biggest change we have seen in all that time.

    I could list about 20 incidents on our Cruise that were not great and a couple that were actually not acceptable behaviour from staff. Again I think this is probably down to lack of training/experience of new staff.

   That said, we knew that in the current climate we expected a bumpy ride and so was patient and understanding where possible. We would say we had a good cruise but much room for improvement.

   The current situation will not put us off as we love cruising. The cruise lines have struggled with Covid and  now the cost of fuel & labour and everything else is a real challenge for them as they try to repay crippling debts.

   Please try be patient and support your favourite cruise lines in this difficult time for all. 

   Casbantam

   

[Megabear2]

30 minutes ago, Red Leicester said:

I wouldn't consider wine waiters and turn downs basic necessities, are they really? Similar to someone complaining there was no pillow concierge on board a non P&O ship. I don't think the latter was said in jest either.

 

May be my upbringing but I didn't really understand what turn down gave me other than a chocolate and someone invading my cabin.

A lot of these things like pillow choice were introduced a few years back to compete with the big American resorts and upmarket hotels where they were desperate for a novelty to make them stand out.  Americans do make s big deal out of this as a result, particularly with so many professing allergies etc.

 

Wine waiters reduced the wait times for its arrival, basically making both your wine and meal be served quicker.  Again on lines with vast selection of wine and a massive "cellar" they were helpful in choosing a wine.  The Cunard wine menu for instance runs to tens of pages, often with very rare and expensive options.  However on a run of the mill cruise line like P&O there aren't that many wine officianados to deal with, the wine list is fairly small and therefore any waiter can learn the basics and serve it.

 

I'm one who likes turndown.  On my Celebrity and Princess cruises I could ask via the app for it when I wanted it, ie the whole cruise, on selected days or not at all.  This was a really good option so everyone could plan a accordingly.  My cabin attendants on both lines  knew exactly when we were leaving the cabin and attended to things immediately after we left.  It is also in my opinion a good opportunity to leave a note in the morning if you need something that's running out and for it to be delivered that evening.  I like a bucket of ice in the evening, for medical reasons not drinks. Having it delivered outside my room at 3.30pm on Britannia was definitely not as good as it arriving at 8.00pm on Princess and Celebrity.

 

Although not a deal breaker turndown is a nice to have and to some makes things that little bit "special" for that individual.

Edited October 12, 2022 by Megabear2

[jeanlyon]

7 minutes ago, Sawdan said:

That's right Megabear2, we are just going to have to put up with less for more until hopefully things settle down.

   On our recent cruise on Iona 24th Sep it was really noticeable that there was a shortage of staff. Also noticeable was that some of the staff didn't seem well trained or organised. Sometimes they actually looked stressed and overworked and just fed up generally. 

    As a frequent cruiser for many years this was the biggest change we have seen in all that time.

    I could list about 20 incidents on our Cruise that were not great and a couple that were actually not acceptable behaviour from staff. Again I think this is probably down to lack of training/experience of new staff.

   That said, we knew that in the current climate we expected a bumpy ride and so was patient and understanding where possible. We would say we had a good cruise but much room for improvement.

   The current situation will not put us off as we love cruising. The cruise lines have struggled with Covid and  now the cost of fuel & labour and everything else is a real challenge for them as they try to repay crippling debts.

   Please try be patient and support your favourite cruise lines in this difficult time for all. 

   Casbantam

   

I am afraid I would rather cruise with a company that hasn't taken all these things away, much as I feel sorry for them, or maybe not cruise at all.

[Red Leicester]

I still don't understand turndown!

[Ardennais]

14 minutes ago, Red Leicester said:

I still don't understand turndown!

The actual turndown of the bed is only a small part of it. For us, the important part is having fresh towels, rubbish removed and a general tidy up. Princess were still doing it in June/July. 

[Red Leicester]

I can live with the steward invading my room just once in the day and fresh towels as and when.

[wowzz]

45 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Not according to what I read further back.  And walking round the ship carrying a bottle of wine is not nice.  So after dinner you have to carry the bottle back to your cabin.  The fridges are useless, so the following night, you have a half empty bottle of warm white wine to take to the bar and then into dinner?

I suppose you could ask your steward for ice and an ice bucket in the morning, to keep your bottle cold until the evening.

[wowzz]

13 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

The actual turndown of the bed is only a small part of it. For us, the important part is having fresh towels, rubbish removed and a general tidy up. Princess were still doing it in June/July. 

Problem is, we have to tidy up the cabin, before the steward can come in to tidy up !

[jeanlyon]

49 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Problem is, we have to tidy up the cabin, before the steward can come in to tidy up !

Well exactly!!

[Fionboard]

On Arcadia in August there were wine waiters in MDR and they kept your bottle for the next night. Maybe depends on the ship. They all seem to have slightly differing practices. 

[Splice the mainbrace]

When cruising we tend to have our showers before we get ready to go out for the evening, do the towels still get changed in the evening? Don't fancy still damp towels for my morning ablutions!!

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Not according to what I read further back.  And walking round the ship carrying a bottle of wine is not nice.  So after dinner you have to carry the bottle back to your cabin.  The fridges are useless, so the following night, you have a half empty bottle of warm white wine to take to the bar and then into dinner?

I gave up buying bottles of wine in the MDR when my wife stopped drinking

G. I now buy large glass of whichever wine I want, which is always more than adequate for me to finish over dinner

.