As a general practice, I avoid public disagreement with anyone who buys ink by the barrel or who walks on water. Accordingly, I almost never disagree with Ngaire, but perhaps this is the time to make an exception. So . . .

We’ve cruised ±180 nights on Radisson since 2000: a transatlantic crossing on Diamond; Alaska to Vancouver on Mariner; Rio to Ft. Lauderdale on Navigator; the shakedown, christening and maiden cruises of Voyager; circumnavigating So. America from San Francisco to Rio on Mariner; the Grand Pacific ‘World Cruise - LA to Melbourne of Voyager; a Montreal-Tampa repositioning on Navigator; and most recently, the Singapore-Sydney portion of Mariner's 2005 Grand Pacific. We have also cruised ±85 days on other lines: twice on the QE2, including a major part of its Millennium World Cruise, as well as once each on Holland American, Celebrity and Crystal.

In our opinion, since 2004 RSSC has raised its prices, reduced amenities and service, and changed policies and programs, almost without exception to the detriment of its guests. In the process, (again our opinion) they have made some particularly bad choices about what and where to make changes and cuts. We do recognize that to stay in business, RSSC needs to make a profit, and that since 9/11/01, there have been a lot of pressures and challenges in the cruise industry that have made doing that exceptionally difficult.

We first noticed disturbing changes while on board Navigator in the Fall of 2004 repositioning from Montreal to Tampa via New York and San Juan. We weren't happy, but wrote it off as a fluke, a short-lived failing. Our dealings with RSSC, in past years so easy and I believe mutually beneficial, became more difficult and strained since roughly that same time. Remember, for the past three years we have been dealing with RSSC exclusively through THE one person many of us consider the best TA on the planet!

This past Fall on the Mariner, we noticed more changes, almost entirely for the worse. Most notably, the staff has been reduced and its composition changed; these revisions are clearly not for the better, in our opinion. The Asian staff certainly tries hard, but they don’t have the same command of English as their European counterparts, and their attitude is subservience, not service. They lack that particular something which, to us, made RSSC so special. It’s hard to articulate, but we both know something is missing. It may be a simple as “cheerful” vs. “friendly”. I can remember some of the wait and cabin staff we had as far back as the Diamond in 2000, and many of those we sailed with since, but the bulk of the crew from the most recent cruise is forgotten already. Of course, I clearly remember what happened to me in high school 50+ years ago, but not what I had for lunch, or with whom, yesterday!

On this particular cruise, the coup de grâce came when shipboard management (i.e., the hotel director and guest service manager) on the Mariner refused to honor a (to us at the time) very important written commitment made by the President of Radisson, one they could easily have met with the expenditure of perhaps 2 or 3 hours of staff labor and a couple hundred feet of wire! Then either the guest services manager or the systems manager lied to us! One of them had to be lying, because they gave widely differing reasons for not meeting Mr. Conroy’s written commitment. This failure to meet a commitment could have resulted in us loosing a major component of our health insurance, or having to pay for it twice, although as it turned out, our existing prescription plan 'qualified' (whatever that really means) under the new Part D of Medicare, so we think we're OK. At the time, particularly those last couple of days before Sydney when we just couldn't get through, it was scary. Had we not had the commitment from Mr. Conroy, we would definitely have cancelled the trip!

Don't get us wrong, we loved (past tense) Radisson. We’ve recommended it to our friends and relatives. We have, since a fiasco trying HAL three years ago, cruised exclusively with them, except for a 3-day-to-nowhere trial run on Crystal last Spring (very good, actually - not up to RSSC at their best, but certainly OK). We will go back and try RSSC again, after a suitable delay. But we clearly don’t like what we are seeing and hearing, and the tariff in money and hassle is getting so high, the enjoyment of a good cruise is no longer worth what you have to pay and put up with to get it. Obviously, this is a personal judgment each person or couple has to make. Personally, we’ve decided to take a year’s vacation from cruise vacations, at least on Radisson.

Some of our frustration has little to do with RSSC, it is with the airlines and travel in general. However, I've noticed a disturbing parallel between the airline experience and Radisson’s current direction. Disturbing and scary! The financial "success" of the airlines (specifically, the lack of same) these the past several years, although exacerbated by the often ludicrous security measures imposed in reaction to the terrorist attack on 9/11, and more recently by the large increase in fuel costs, really results from the decision of the airlines, a number of years ago, to treat their customers as the opposition, the enemy, the element to be flimflammed, ripped off, deceived, tamed and made to conform.

It is an established truism that unless it has a captive audience, AN ENTERPRISE CANNOT GO TO WAR WITH ITS CLIENTS AND WIN! In the long term, it just can’t be done. When you see a company or industry start down that road, bail out! Absent monopoly, they are surely doomed, in my opinion.

In Radisson (or Regent – do they really need to spend money to change the name?) Seven Seas Cruises case, the dropping or cutting back on little things like choice of cocktails at sail-away parties and the not so little 5% Seven Seas Society discount, not to mention detrimental policy and procedure changes, and the delays in setting up and getting out the word on the new Seven Seas Society rewards program, not to mention the very stinginess of it, the cutoff of new benefits at 200 days (how easy it would have been to offer Platinum guests, RSSC very best customers, a free 7-10 day cruise once every 100 day anniversary of achieving that status, or an upgrade to a vacant suite when one is available, or a myriad or other low- or no-cost benefits). The rigidity and apparent thoughtlessness with which new programs are set up and administered, and long-standing beneficial-to-guest policies and practices are changed or dropped, leads me to the belief EITHER:
(1) the really good people who made RSSC what it was (NOTE: not is, was) are no longer in control, even though they still may be there, OR
(2) they have forgotten how to build and maintain a successful provider of hospitable, quality service at reasonable cost (reasonable for what you get, not in the absolute). A third possibility is that they are under so much pressure they don’t have any other choice.

I think the fact Mark Conroy no longer answers his e-mail is a telling sign, one which I think sends truly bad signals. The timing of this change seems particularly inauspicious! And what genius gave Janet G., the former Seven Seas Society coordinator, the bums rush, as rumors suggest happened to her? Couldn’t they have taken her aside, offered a deal and eased her into retirement? A lot of people thought an awful lot of Janet, and those people have, over the years, been loyal and spent a lot of money cruising with Radisson! Dumb! But these kinds of things seem all too indicative of their attitude. Sad!

Here’s some thoughts I expressed earlier, closer to the actual experiences related above:

Quote

We are (were?) died-in-the-wool RSSC fans, but our last two cruises were not up to previous standards. Cut-backs are obvious, and have hurt the earlier excellent levels of service we all raved about. RSSC's inability or unwillingness to retain or attract the type of staff they've had in the past shows, particularly in the newer people's difficulty communicating in English. The food remains very good, and dining service is being maintained, although I can't imagine how they will do it with a full ship.

I think our biggest gripes are the new lack of responsiveness of top management, both ashore and afloat, and the rigidity of the rules their HQ imposed on the ships. Mark Conroy used to answer prior guest's e-mail messages; now his e-address has been changed and e-mail to his old address "bounces". Snail mail goes unanswered, not even acknowledged. Radisson staff no longer pay prompt attention to "guest" complaints, going to such extremes that the hotel director on our most recent cruise gave a concerned cruiser a rude brush-off (in public, no less!) when he inquired as to how he could check up on his wife and her family in the Ft. Lauderdale area in the wake of Hurricane Wilma. (emphasis added here) Inexcusable. I’m not saying or even implying that this attitude is universal, because that would be unfair and not truthful. But when written commitments made before booking are ignored and the guest relations person prevaricates about the reason, to avoid having to spend a few hours of crew time to meet them, the situation is pretty sad.

RSSC used to be so flexible; they seemed to try every way that they could to say “yes”. Now it seems they have reversed field, ignoring or denying reasonable requests, seeming to look for ways to deny requests. My suspicion is that external pressure is being exerted on RSSC to make money as they, along with many others in the travel and cruise industries have been struggling since Sept, '01 to make a profit, let alone a decent return on their hefty investment. To us, their rigidity and insensitivity, coupled with the hassles of air travel, have caused us to decide to cancel three cruises, and take a year off to consider and try other forms of entertainment and diversion.

We don’t drink much, and somewhat resent paying for others who do, or for those who gorge themselves on caviar we’re all paying for but personally don’t touch! Thus we’ve been reluctant to cruise with Seaborne or Silverseas, although we are currently looking for an opportunity to do when we find an offer at significant savings, to try them out. On the other hand, when you pay $300-$400-$500 per day per person, and then get nailed for water, soft drinks, excessive charges for internet access, grossly overpriced excursions, etc., etc., sorry, we just won’t go, so that rules out many of the near-luxury lines: HAL, Celebrity, Cunard., etc. We also enjoy open dining, and aren’t eager to put up with two sitting-assigned table dining, which sort of rules out Crystal, although we did enjoy our recent short cruise on the Symphony.

I hope I’m wrong, that what we are seeing is a phase RSSC needs to get through before resuming its stellar, wonderful earlier performance and service. I truly hope so. But I’m not betting the ranch on it. The very existence of this serious, thoughtful thread on LCT should alert all of us, most importantly Radisson (and Carlson) management, to what is, or at least appears to be, happening.
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Is the Carlson group traded on the stock exchange? if so, that would explain alot. The problem nowadays is Wall Street doesn't look to the future, but only to how much did our shares make today?

if it doesn't meet expectations, then they bring in supposed "experts" (read bean counters) who tell the company where to cut. Doesn't matter if the cuts are good for the long term.

Arlene, it's a privately held company.

ahh..well i hope they're not thinking like bean counters.

Esther,
We would love to see pictures of your "girls"!!!!!
Cindy

Hi all,

Just joined this board and wanted to add my personal feelings about Radisson. This was our first cruise with them, and I can gladly say not my last. Yes there were a few minor annoyances. The beds were quite saggy. The room stewardess was efficient but terribly slow. The coffee dreadful. The cruise and passengers fantastic. Hey Victor, has Roseann finished her needlepoint project yet? Regarding the vibrations, we were in forward deck 8 and had no probelems at all. However the Galileo Lounge was quite something else. We must have run over many whales on our trip. She bumped up a storm.

Will we travel Radisson again you bet. Since this was ourt first time we have no idea what is missing, but since this was our 48th cruise overall we think we know a great trip when we have one.

We are members of the other board but this one has very nice and not too caustic a crowd.

Looking forward to many future Radisson cruises,

This is Cruise Crazed Howard

Welcome to LCT, Howard! LCT members are very congenial and informative. Debate and differing opinions are very welcome. Nasty/hurtful comments, often times found on other boards, are a no-no. Hope you will join in our lively discussions and post often!

I agree 100% with your comment on the coffee! Other than that, we love RSSC, too!

Hi Cruise Crazed Howard,

Yes, I agree with you, the coffee was pretty bad( and I'm not that demanding!). Other than that, she's pretty perfect! I would go back in a NY minute!

What cruise where you on?

Hi Maria;

We were on the 26 day LA round trip to the South Pacific. Wonderful, absolutley wonderful. Best cruise ever. We may be going in November on the Voyager Rome to Ft. Lauderdale. Maybe.

Howard

Hi Howard,

I wish I had been able to be aboard Navigator for that long! I consider myself lucky that we were able to take the 14 day Iceland/ Norway itinerary. What a trip that was!

I hope you get to do the Rome-Ft. lauderdale cruise. Any cruise that starts in Rome has to be good! :)

Welcome Howard! If you liked the Navigator, you will love the Voyager! Rome to Ft. Lauderdale is my idea of a great way to see Europe and then get close to home without that crazy long flight back to the states!

Thanks Karen;

I also think the cruise director has a lot to do ewith the trip and Sam Berry Was Fabulous. Absolutley made the trip as well as the great and I meand GREAT service.

As we book over 18 months in advance it's difficult to know where to go next and I now need the 07 cruise digest from radisson. Anyone know when that will be out?

Thanks;

Cruise Crazed Howard

Howard, I have such a rotten memory but I want to say they came out in March of last year for this year??

Welcome Howard!

Masaki

Hi Howard!

Welcome to LCT! We're on the Rome to Funchal on Voyager November 4th. We nickname our cruises here where there are a few of us here and we call that one "SNAP" since the cruise is photography themed.

Hello Howard! I do believe I met you on the Navigator. If you are who I think you are I am really glad you found your way here. You will find this board very friendly and informative and we swap great recipes as well.

You and I had a conversation about tipping. Were you able to get comfortable with the no-tipping policy?

MarnaLou and Howard, I'll be on the Navigator February 14th, I'm really looking forward to it. Can you tell me, will Sam Perry be the Cruise Director on that sailing? Did he mention how long he'll be on board? If Giuseppe is still Hotel Manager at that time (and I think Fabrizio is on vacation then), perhaps Sam will be Cruise Director. Which would be great, cuz I adore them both! If you talked to them and know whether that will be the case, please brighten my day!

Charlene

And just as a suggestion, perhaps if we're going to chat on this issue a bit longer, start a new thread Howard or Marnalou, maybe just called "Navigator Cruisers" or something. Every time I see ".....is it that bad" on this thread, I think the negativity in the subject line should be swept away, because the conversation is upbeat and positive!

Good point Charlene!! :)

Hi again,

Marnalu, is that your real name? I think we did meet, at least your picture looks familiar. I also think it was you that told me about this board. As for Sam I think he left the ship in LA and is no longer with them. Yes let's have a new thread. Since I am new it should be someone else.The negative features are not worth mentioning with regards to the total cruise experience. I certainly hope Radisson or Regent or what ever their going to call themselves stays with us a long time,

Howard

Marnalu, was it you that went to the PG when we arrived in Tahiti?

Howard

Yes, Howard, my husband and I went on to the PG after the LA - Tahiti leg. You know me as Marsha. I am so glad you have joined us here!!

We really missed all the wonderful people we met on the Nav but our cruise back up to the Marquesas was unforgettable.

Hi Marnalou, I thought that was you. Thank you for advising me about this board. We also miss all the great people we met. A really terrific cruise. We're dare I say it, booked on Crystal next in April. I'm listed at that other board for her . We're hunting down all opportunities to travel with Radisson again. We booked the last leg of 07 WC on board for the xtra disc. We're going , we just don't know when. Hope all is well with you.

Howard

Howard, what's your itinerary in April? We love cruise reviews, hint hint.

Marnalou, we are traveling from Buenos aires to Miami, on the Symphony. I'm a little concerned because from the boards it seems that Crystal is very formal, something we're not. I much prefer a country club casual attire. But we'll see. We stop in Montevedeo and Rio and Salvador and Fortelesa and Barbados. 15 days. We live to cruise.

Howard

Howard, you have definitely come to the right chat board. Welcome to our world. :lct: