Very interesting but also disturbing discussion. I think Pat has put her finger right on it: "the issue . . . isn't what I ate or didn't eat. It is "can Radisson be relied upon to deliver what they promise?" [emphasis added] I submit that issue or question is and recently has been only answerable in the negative.
Very clearly, Radisson Seven Seas is not the same cruise line we all grew to know and love. Some things are very evident, others not so much so, but all affect the cruise environment we experience when we book with them. In my opinion, so far they are mostly or all negative. What I don't really understand or pretend to know is: is this Radisson Seven Seas Cruises' doing, independently; are they reacting to [understandable] cost and profit pressures from above (i.e., The Carson Company), or is RSSC being run, in effect, from "outside" by people who don't know enough, or perhaps the first thing - don't have the foggiest notion about - running a cruise line and equally important, maintaining a luxury brand and its clientele.
Discussions such as this one here on LCT, and in other venues, can quickly get out of hand and become a nightmare for any purveyor of luxury goods or services. To his credit, Mark Conroy, the CEO of RSSC, is unusually accessible and very responsive, even if he seems to us to be more constrained in recent months. But he and in fact his whole RSSC team deserve full credit for being so open and responsive, its just that it seems they were even more responsive and accommodating in the past. Very few CEOs are!
We all have choices: Book with Radisson, book with another line or another kind of vacation entirely, or just stay home and use the money for something else. We're booked on three Radisson cruises now: the Mariner Oct 24 from Singapore (with our favorite TA and Ken), the end of that Grand Pacific circle Nov 21 from Auckland to Los Angeles (we want to see TA's homeland from the land side and Tauck has a very nice, not too too expensive nine day NZ-only tour conveniently scheduled while the Mariner makes its way from Sydney to Auckland!), and the Mariner again from Ft. Lauderdale via Manaus to Buenos Aires next January, 2006. We have genuinely loved our cruises with Radisson, although lately the associated overhead, hassle and costs seem to be going up and the delivered product flat or even down. So the Misses and I have some choices to make! Stay posted.
One final note: Radisson wants guests who have problems [in regard to the incident described here] to write in directly, per Ngaire, our most reliable source. [B]Comment from the Peanut Gallery:[/B] Radisson knows very well who the affected people are. This seem a trick to try to cheap it out and compensate only those who complain AND ALSO learn about the offer. :mad: FOR SHAME, RADISSON!
