While I was writing my seemingly endless post above, I missed Ngaire's very sensible post (she is the sensible one, leaving the rest of us free to be moderately to majorly hysterical). I absolutely agree that we should not consider that the whole line or even one ship of the line has gone to total hell in a handbasket (whatever a handbasket is) because of one or two stupid incidents. That is not to say that management is not responsible for those incidents; but they should not be the primary determining factors in the choices one makes of a cruise or cruiseline. One of the great advantages of boards such as this is that one can learn of incidents which are isolated, as well as disturbing trends. Telling the difference is not easy but is crucial. I personally do not consider that we have witnessed a distressing trend in either RSSC in general or the PG in particular. The continued participation of good LCTers helps all of us make those distinctions by having the most information available. (Not to mention that good healthy LCT time is time not spent on eBay or those nasty internet sites!!) Cheers, Fred

Ngaire:

Honest answer. You don't know how much GCT has infused its way into the managment of the PG. I forgot. These cruise lines keep secrets better than the CIA. That's why these boards are so popular, I think. If the lines would just own up to their own foul ups, we wouldn't have to post so much! But they don't. So we do!

Fred:

Many of us are hoping we can pin the blame on GCT. If so, it is only a possible problem on the PG, wherein lame-brained GCT managment dictated the horrible idea that was at the root of your problems. Then, the event would not sour our opinion of other Radisson cruises on other ships wherein GCT has no involvment. On the other hand, if Radisson upper managment ditated this mess, we would all have to look for other regular cruise lines. Silversea and Seabourn would be swamped. I honestly don't know how we will know who was responsile, given the "veil" of the private corporations involved. (BTW, I don't think there should be any such thing as a "private corporation" where info is withheld from the public, but that is a subject too political to pursue here.) We all, however, would like to be kept apprised of what compensation you recieve from Radisson for this mess. That will tell us something about whether this is an isolated incident or a long term trend.

And no, there is no board where folks are complaining about treatment of LCTers. What did you get? A door sign. A private party (where no I.D. was required to get in). These things are common on Radisson, and cause no problems, because they don't displace other guests. In a way, I think hat is realy the test of whether a "group" should properly be allowed on a lux cruise ---- whether it displaces other guests. if it does, a charter should be required of the group. If it does not, then it is just a part of cruising. We were in a small "select" group on the Mariner, and a man joined us who got the wrong room number. He was part of a doctors' group instead. No I.D.s were required, so I told him to sit down and have a drink with us, which he did, and we made a new friend. No problem here! But what you describe is a BIG PROBLEM on a lux line. You should be well compensated, and someone responsible should be fired.

Sorry,
Richard :(

Fred,

I've been waiting for your comments, and here I sit at 1:00AM laughing out loud!

Am really sorry that you all experienced a less-than-great second week and share your reaction.

We'll all be awaiting RSSC's response to your "letter of reasoned and righteous outrage!"

gf:

Fred is more good natured and forgiving than I would be under similar circumstances, and I'm not laughing. We've got a cruise booked on the PG for 9/17 that cost about half as much as a new Mercedes Benz, so to us the matter is not funny at all to us.

This is the kind of error that is just not made in the lux travel business without "heads rolling." But here we don't even know whose heads should roll. GCT or RSSC? BIG SECRET! Would you like to have five figures of your money tied up in a cruise for Sept. and not know what company was in charge, when the choice is of two --- one with a good record and one with a very bad one? Fred was treated in a manner that is virtually criminal on a lux line. He is clearly a very calm, nice, and good natured man. I am not. If Fred and Patrick do not gt a free future cruise out of this (or at least half of one) RSSC can kiss me good-bye! And further, I continue my quest to learn who is REALLY operating the PG --- RSSC or GCT. Why do I care? Well. I contracted with RSSC for this cruise because of past good experience and that of others. Based upon what I've seen personally, and reports of others, I wouldn't contract with GCT for a one way trip to Hades! So, dragging out my lawyer credentials, if RSSC has assigned my contract to GCT, I want out now! There is no right of assignment to another company contained therein. (How would you like your Silverseas cruise contract asigned to Carnival?)

So I think it is way past time for RSSC to "come clean" as to who is REALLY making the operating decisions on the PG. RSSC or GCT? There is enough evidence out there to raise the question. The captain change. The GCT booth on the PG. Other reported crew changes. HIGHLY delayed '06 itineraries both on the RSSC and GCT sites. Reported GCT veto power over RSSC "requests"(?) to check out new ports before cruising there. And now this obtrusive "group" cruise.

Radisson cannot deny that they charge a premium for their cruises based upon their past performance in conducting a great lux cruise. A premium I gladly pay IF I get a Radisson cruise. But the price is way too high for a GCT cruise, believe me.

Radisson reads this board. This is a call for disclosure. Make it, and we thank you. Ignore it, and we'll find other means.

Thanks.
Richard

Fred and Patrick - so sorry to hear about your experiences on the 2nd week. Will be looking forward to hearing how RSSC responds to your letter. (David and Wendy, you two as well!)

Masaki

"Radisson wants guests who have problems to write in directly. I have given Pat and Fred the name and address and also emailed that to Wendy."

Is anyone other than me disturbed by Radisson removing Ngaire from involvment in this problem? Perhaps I am being too naive, but I thought that the big persuausive argument for using a known, high volume TA with any cruiseline was not for booking purposes, but rather because if anything goes wrong that you have a powerful ally at your back. Now, Ngaire posts above that RSSC has removed her from that function. I find this as disturbing (or more!) as the denied dinner and tender!

So sorry for Pat & Fred and Wendy & David who had to have this happen on their cruise and now to be forced to handle complaining about it not only to their TA, but also to some faceless corporate entity! Debbie

Fred, what a great way to start the day reading your post from last night. Are you sure the woman you bumped into in the corridor didn't recognize the comedy writer within you? Seriously, I think you make a number of good points. It will be interesting to see Radisson's response to this incident. At present, we're still continuing with our plans for a 10-day cruise in February based on our fantastic b2b in 2003.

Eugene

Fred and Pat:

My goodness what a mess! So sorry your 2nd week had some serious flaws but it sounds as though you did what you could to make lemonade out of the lemons. I hope your reasoned letters to RSSC receive a good response. Please let us know how it is resolved.

Until we know more, perhaps we shouldn't rush to condemn or vilify anyone.

Until we know more, perhaps we shouldn't rush to condemn or vilify anyone.

How true Margo! I think Richard said something about "we'd all like to be know what compensation you receive" - I, for one, do NOT need to know - if you are compensated and you're happy that is your business. I think it was a very unfortunate incident and I would have been very upset. However, we may never know exactly who made which decisions. I think it was and will be an isolated incident. Joanna

dfb:

I thought I would put my two cents in here. A good TA can help a lot when things go wrong in the booking of a cruise. Weird things happen all the time. Probably only one of ten cruises I deal with is "normal". Stuff happens. Here a TA who knows the RSSC system and the people involved and how to get things fixed is essential. Also checking pricing, handling the messes such as the gold points that is currently going, being sure people have everything they are entitled to all those types of things.

However, once a cruise takes place and something goes wrong this IS Radisson terrority. There is nothing I can know or understand about something that happened on a ship. Nor is it my place to contact ships personnel to figure things out and get in the companys business to that extent. When a serious complaint comes in RSSC does investigate and follow up - I cant do that.

I hate to say this but to be honest a huge number of people like to complain to "see if they can get something". Just this week I have had two such calls. I can tell them a mile away but they do come more than you would imagine. If it was just so easy to call me and sit back and wait that would increase significantly. Then if they are not happy with the result it is "my fault".

It does not take long to write a letter if someone has a genuine complaint. Also more people in the mix the more issues become clouded. I have stepped in on two situations. These are older ladies who cant write a letter, cant see etc. I have contacted RSSC on their behalf and explained why the person is not writing and things have been resolved.

I have to VERY HONEST here and tell you that I am actually very appreciative of the fact that Radisson takes me out of the middle in these circumstances. I also think that when someone takes the time to write personally it has more of an impact on RSSC.

JoAnna you are the voice of reason here as well. As long as the person is satisfied who had the problem giving details of "what happened" is really between the passenger and RSSC.

Richard ALL cruise lines have these types of things happen. I have had people on other top lines with similiar problems who say "well then I am sailing other lines" People move back and forth with abandon over isolated incidences. Nothing is perfect, mistakes happen on ALL the lines. Moving from one line to another is not going to protect you from isolated unfortunate incidences.

Airlnes are the same. I remember one horrible flight on an airline, swore I would not fly them again. I had to though on the return. Second flight fabulous.

Leejnd, come one, join us on MUSH!! <img border="0" alt="[bounce]" title="" src="graemlins/ubbbounce2.gif" />

Oh, I've been considering it! I've already received information from our favorite TA :) . I'm a little bummed that I missed out on so many cost-savings opportunities -- no guarantees left, no Society savings, and worst of all, I never did go talk to the cruise consultant while onboard to book another cruise and get the onboard booking discount. How stupid is that? (I was just having so much FUN, I never thought about it. <img border="0" alt="[bang]" title="" src="graemlins/banghead.gif" /> )

Thing is, I'm still leaning towards the PG because I've been to Alaska (two years ago, on Celebrity). But mom and sis haven't. So I'm either going to try to get in on MUSH with them, or let them go off and do Alaska on their own and try to talk Hubby into doing the PG. (He's not as big a cruise fan as I am, so that's going to take some effort.)

Anyway, back to the topic at hand... I appreciate the voices of reason and moderation in here who remind us that one big screw-up does not a trend make. Certainly I understand the desire to want to confirm this is NOT a trend, but unless/until I hear that there continue to be such collosally bad decisions made on RSSC cruises, I'll go under the assumption this was an anamoly. But I will definitely be watching closely for future reports, especially since we have this new, unknown GCT element thrown into the mix.

I also want to add, Freddie I was just falling off my chair when reading your ruminations! (Richard, I know you do take this seriously, and it is a serious topic, but ya gotta love Freddie's spin on things!) And Freddie, methinks you and I should join (or start?) 12-step group for parentheses addicts. PA! (Parentheticaholics Anonymous) Where shall we have our first meeeting?

I would like to mention that Doug and I have been on several RSSC cruises where there have been very large groups and sometimes areas are sequestered due to being booked up. Other than an We have never ever had a bad experience like this caused by a group. We even had a very large group on the PG and nothing was closed off to us at all.

This is very surprising behavior.

Oh...by the way, regarding the '06 schedule for the PG...I didn't realize that it hasn't been posted yet on RSSC's website. When I was on the Voyager, they gave us a handout that includes the entire fleet's 2006 itinerary, including the PG, although it has no pricing, and it says "Subject to Change" in bold letters at the top.

Hmmm...is this priviledged information? How much are y'all willing to pay me for it? <img border="0" alt="[naughty]" title="" src="graemlins/naughty.gif" /> Just kidding!

Anyway, did they hand this out on the PG? If not, does anyone want a copy?

I'm most interested in the longer PG cruises, although there are only a few that are longer than 7 days. In fact, most of the summer and all of fall are 7-dayers...from July 1 through Nov. 18. So that certainly limits my options.

(Can't seem to shut up today...) Y'know, all this talk of groups on cruises, and I had a sudden flash of memory...there was, in fact, a group on our cruise too, but it was only about 50 or 60 people, who were all friends, family and clients of a TA from Oklahoma City. While we did encounter them, it had absolutely no impact on our cruise. They took the same buses we did for excursions, and seemed to get no preferential treatment. They did book one of the public rooms for a cocktail party once, and they had one section of Compass Rose every night, but that's it. Of course, this was a much smaller fraction of the total passengers than the group on the PG.

I think another key to this whole incident is how they handle the issue afterwards. Most of us here would qualify for frequent cruisers and as such should probably expect to run into problems that are not resolved right away. It is very important for the company to handle the complaint appropriately (and not a canned sorry this happened here's a token voucher kind of response).

Speaking from experience with airlines. Last year Delta did a series of bad moves that cost us our pre-cruise day in Istanbul. But they redeemed themselves by the way they handled the complaint afterwards (addressing the e-mail/letter properly and following up with a call from the executive offices). While they did offer some token items in apology, it was a classy way to handle the situation. If they had given a canned response along with a token $50-100 voucher, I would have gone ballistic since I call that type of response a response to a cold coffee complaint.

This year, however, Northwest handled a serious complaint with a canned e-mail response that they will look into the issue with no followup. Needless to say, I will not fly Northwest again in the future (other than an already purchased ticket). Any frequent flyer miles with them will be used to fly partner airlines.

As the so-far silent one of the four of us who did the B2B on the PG, I have a couple of brief comments.

First, it was wonderful to meet all of you and particularly wonderful to continue for the 2nd week with Pat and Fred.

For the first week, I at least noticed that the level of service was not up to previous standards. This is understandable I think. The staff on the ship are professional, many having been on the ship from the beginning, and take justifiable pride in their work. And their future was (and is) very much in doubt. So little glitches occured. One small exmaple of many: one morning Wendy and I were being taken out to have breakfast outside at the veranda and as we stepped through the door Manfred turned around and disappeared, leaving me standing there like the dolt that I probably am. He was later apologetic, but ... Then there was the missing course at the PIP dinner at the Pacific Grill. Or the missing turf from the surf and turf course. Or ...

As I said, considering the stress that the staff were under I forgive these minor things. If I were similarly in doubt about my future in my career my effectiveness would suffer worse than theirs did.

Pat's explosion in the infamous Saturday night meltdown, followed by some much milder grumping on my part, I think served as a wakeup call for the staff. As already mentioned by others, for the remainder of the 2nd week, the staff really went out of their way to provide us with service far beyond anything I have ever experienced ever. I think it was not just the gang o' four who benefited: it looked like all passengers were getting the incredible level of service that we were.

The above is just my 2 cents (Canadian).

-- David

Hi David - Welcome to LCT - Glad to have your penny and a half worth (American)! Welcome home.

One more thing, and then I'll be quiet until some new objective information comes out.

Ngaire mentions a "problem cruise" on the Diamond that had many in an uproar. I think we were on that cruise. It was in the Caribbean in July, /03. It was HEAVILY discounted, it was "kids sail free", and it was open bar. So when we booked, we knew it ws going to be full to the gills and was going to have any problem that kids can think up to cause! And, oh yeah, it had a really cruddy itinerary, too! But it was offered at a too-cheap-to-stay-home price, so we booked it, knowing in advance the problems that awaited us. We had those, plus engine trouble. We were to visit Key West and then a sea day, and then a strange stop on Grand Cayman with wierd port times, like 7:00 AM to 11:00 AM or the like. The engine trouble caused us to miss Grand Cayman --- which had rather unusable port times for us anyway ---- and get a second day in Key West --- which we actually thought turned out better. For all this, everyone was volntarily given a $500 future cruise credit, announced while we were still onboard. Needless to say we were delighted with this, especially as we liked the "revised itinerary" better that that scheduled, and werefully aware at time of booking to expect "kid" and "full ship" issues. And the cruise was so cheap to begin with that, with the credit, out net cost was only about $1000 pp, including our outlay for air! Their was no "uproar" from me, to say the least.

This "problem cruise" was a totally diferent matter from that experienced on the PG on 5/28. In our case, we KNEW about the onboard demographics, and their potential problems, before we booked, and decided to accept them. And we all know that engine trouble can happen on any ship at any time, and is not the result of poor managment planning.

I would anticipate in the future that Radisson is going to be flooded with requests for information as to whether there are any corporate groups on sailings, especially on the PG due to its small size, and for information on the size of any booked group. It will be interesting to see how Radisson handles such requests for information.

Thanks,
Richard :) :) :)

One more thing, and then I'll be quiet until some new objective information comes out.

Richard I was reading your "ratio" thing on the CC Board - wow that is something - the research I mean - Joanna

Fred and Pat,

First, Marc and I really enjoyed meeting and getting to know you both on PIP. We are looking forward to seeing you again for ROAR.

I was sad :( to hear about your dinner on Saturday. My first thought was "Boy I am glad Marc wasn't there" :eek: He would have been livid. The tender incident too is inexusable. I would have stormed the ship (ok...tender) too. There is no way I would have not been on that return tender. I hope that RSSC responds to your complaint and you get the resolution you feel you deserve.

That said.... I have to say that some of the commetns here really bother me.

Some one should be fired???

We'll take our business elsewhere???

Personally it would take a lot more than this for me to stop crusing RSSC. I've been on cruises with them where things didn't go right too, (two examples come to mind both of which RSSC handled very well when we let them know we were unhaooy) but to feel that someone should be fired for the handling of 1 meal out of 21 (for the week) is a bit strong. It didn't happen twice so it would seem that the staff understood that there was a problem with how things were handled. I know too, that RSSC reads these boards and it is important to me that they also hear those of us who aren't going to let two incidents ruin the goodwill that they have with us. Mistakes happen. If I was fired for each of mine, I'd be living in a cardboard box and only dreaming of cruising instead of actually doing it.

Arlene: So glad you said the above - for people who were not on that cruise to demand the firing of people is way over the top for me - and wanting to know "what is the compensation?" It was an unfortunate incident but let's not beat a dead horse - Joanna

Arlene, I have to agree with you, and thank you for posting, since you were there for the first week, had a great time, and now David completes the reviews for the second week (Pat posted on another thread that everything else was fine) It appears from all the reviews that I have read, that those aboard for the second week only had an issue with that one unfortunate night when L'Etoile got closed. That was really bad. Everything for the rest of the week was fine.

Richard, I suggest that if you go on this cruise in September wondering about every little detail and looking for the negative, you are going to find it. When you called the Sat. night fiasco "criminal" (maybe that was on cc, not here), it alerted me that you are perhaps going to go into this cruise with a forensic mentality. Don't let yourself do so or you will be miserable, and make your wife so as well!

As I remember, you WERE on that Diamond ill-fated cruise where they not only offered free kids, but free booze as well. Room service was choked with both, since unfortunately RSSC did not provide in-room bar set up on that cruise. I remember your complaints on cc. RSSC as since corrected, and we haven't seen such an offer since.

I would not hesitate to book another PG cruise, if I had the time. I am booked so far in advance with my travel that it is almost embarrasing to be so self-indulgent!

fiasco "criminal" (maybe that was on cc, not here),

I will have to go back and check that out - scary - - Joanna

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!

Much as I almost hesitate to post anything more on this thread for fear of prolonging the hysteria, I can't help myself. (Must be some sort of posting addiction - see reference above to needing a good therapist who knows cruising, single malt scotch, and a snappy two-step.) Good grief, kiddies, the incidents we described were not in the remotest sense "criminal" (although the smarmy lounge lizard routine of our cruise director nearly meets that mark). I would not in my wildest dreams of domination over the world (something to which I aspire from time to time) consider that anyone's head should roll over these matters. Perhaps a couple of good smacks on the corporate knuckles and a move to an office next to the trash compactor, or being forced to watch videotapes of the Brats of Raitea for six hours straight!! Richard, I am in fact fairly good natured (not to mention fairly demented at times). Please do not interpret my pathetic attempt at painting this situation in a humorous light as minimizing the seriousness of it or suggesting that your $$$ is not at risk. But it did not ruin the whole week - it pretty much ****ed over one evening. But the rest of the cruise was good. We are not asking RSSC for a free cruise (although a miniature Paul Gauguin bathrobe for Madame Fifi, our stuffed pink poodle, would be nice). A free cruise would be wildly disproportionate to the loss we suffered, not to mention the fact that our loss was shared by about 130 other passengers, most of whom did not realize what was happening. They simply assumed that the first night's meal on board was intended to be pretty dismal. (We certainly don't want to have to share our free cruise with 130 other people, do we?)

LeeAnne - Please, please, please do not make your cruise decision based on this trio of stupid incidents. (Actually, the Mutiny on the Tender may become part of PG and RSSC folklore.) Make your decision based on the wide range of comments, reviews, and reactions of lots of people on this board and on the CC board.

Cheers, Fred

Fred, you are so funny! Can't wait to cruise with you~

Olivia, dearest - We are enormously looking forward to wild times on ROAR with you. Until then, we will enjoy our respective coastal hideaways, you on the East and we on the West. Cheers, Fred

Fred, love ya! Hate to say, I am not too wild without Suzette, and even then I go to bed early!

NO NO NO Olivia. We have seen you shake it up on MINT you were an Oliviaette or something like that. Dont listen to her Fred we will get the "ette" out of the Olivia in South Africa. She is a wonderful lady and lots of fun, a really good person too, and the one that convinced me on a balcony on the Diamond to rethink my stubborn position of "no I wont do Africa". Besides Suzette will be there you dont stand a chance Olivia.

I feel Fred put this entire discussion in perspective. Perhaps we can tone down the rhetoric and continue to talk about cruising with out any hysteria.

Having said that, Richard, if you feel concern for your cruise, I suggest you cancel. It seems unwise to go on a vacation expecting or suspecting the worst. Better to plan something you feel more comfortable with.

Ah Olivia....we've seen you otherwise! No hiding!

Fred, after all is said and done...it sounds like you and Pat still had a great vacation!!

Don't worry, Fred, I base my decisions on a whole lot more than a few reports of problems on one cruise. As I said earlier, I'm operating under the assumption that this was a one-time thing.

And I still think you and I should start a new 12-step group for parentheticaholics. (Hmmm...can we make any money doing that?) ;) Either that, or add parentheses rehab to the list of things your new therapist will need to specialize in. And please let me know who you find, since I'm a single-malt-scotch drinker myself (although I haven't a clue how to two-step).

Anyway, my quandary for next year's vacation is getting even worse...another option has come up, which is to rent a villa in Tuscany for three weeks and live like the Italians. We've actually done that before, but only for a week, and we spent the other two weeks of our trip travelling at breakneck speed around Italy and Corsica. Plus we were with DH's brother and his wife and three kids, and we spent most days sightseeing, rather than just relaxing and enjoying the place. But I have to admit it sounds really lovely to do the "Under the Tuscan Sun" thing and park it in some restored medieval farmhouse with a pool and just cook, eat, drink, and swim for three weeks. So now it's that, PG or MUSH. HALP!

I have to admit to a little concern about the reviews that the dining on PG was not as good as some would have liked. The food on Voyager was so fantastic, I would be disappointed if I didn't have a similar experience on my next RSSC cruise. So that makes Alaska on the Mariner sound a little more attractive...not to mention the whole concept of cruising with so many LCT'ers! Sheesh.

(And don't think for a moment I don't realize how unbelievably fortunate I am to HAVE this problem!) :)

Oops, I diverted a bit from the topic, didn't I?

I'm surprised that both the large group and the PG management even allow the potential for this kind of thing - it is a recipe for problems for all parties, and it CAN be done right...

In 1988 Eva and I were part of a large corporate group (the now-defunct Digital Equipment Corporation, my employer at the time) booked for a week on the Royal Princess for a corporate reward cruise along the Mexican Riviera. To insure a marvelous time for all, Digital bought the entire ship for three back-to-back-to-back weeks, divided the group into thirds (each group sailing for one week), and set the passenger load for each week at approximately 1/2 the ship's normal passenger capacity, leaving approxiamtely 1/2 of the ship's cabins (the less desirable half) empty.

Thus, we had the entire ship to ourselves (just our group) for the week, with almost a 1:1 ratio of staff to guests. It was fabulous for us. If there had been any non-DECies on the ship, they would have probably had a TERRIBLE time, and their experience would have also likely impacted our group's experience (negatively), and the ship's staff's experience (negatively).

In this particular case, I fault the large group (whoever they are) for not anticipating this kind of issue or simply being too cheap to buy out the whole ship, or else having booked the wrong sized ship. I also fault the PG management (whoever they are) for not anticipating that treating any passenger in the Luxury Cruise market as anything less than equally pampered is neither expected nor acceptable.

And for all of you PIPsters, I see you as a very different situation than a "formal" group or corporate group in both scale and demand on the ship's resources and staff - you would have nowhere near the same kind of negative impact IMHO....but then again - I wasn't there. ;)

Just my $0.02 worth...

Cheers,
Ken

LeeAnne,

Knowing how active you are, and having been both in Alaska and on the PG, my observation would be to take the PG in 2006. It is a totally either Veg out or be very into the watersports type of cruise. The scenery is incredible and the ship and it's service lovely. And you can say that statement about Alaska or the PG. While there won't be another MUSH after 2006, there will still be Alaska on an RSSC ship or anohter group another time, and they may not be a PG at all afterwards.

jhp and all:

One minor correction. I did discuss the Diamond July/03 problems, but I never said they were of any great magnitude or that "I'd never sail the Diamond again" because of them. There were a few others who were quite upset, and perhaps you have me confused with them. My only conculsion was, don't go an a "kids sail free" Radisson cruise unles (of course) you have kids you want to take! And that is still my belief. But I actually DEFENDED this cruise in many posts in response to others, who WERE upset. But I knew about the 'kids free" thing when I booked, so it wasn't Radisson's fault, and I never said it was. I truly enjoyed many aspects of it. The open bar. the long usable time in Key West. Given how little this cruise cost, I'd take it again this summer if it were offered on the same terms.

As for our 9/17 PG cruise this year, it is a two week Cook Island cruise. GCT never had any bookings on it. We are "burning" some accumulated credits on it, and the cost is very reasonable. Very little chance of a large corporate group on it. I am well satisfied with the reports of those who were on PIP the primary week, and am sure our cruise will be like that one.

If anybody does not like the words "fiasco" or "criminal" (in the metaphorical sense) to describe booking a corporate group of 166 of a ship with a 300 guest capacity, I'll use a different term to describe it. Just plain dumb.

LeeAnne: A special note to you. The issues on the 5/28 PG will very probably be a one time thing. One of the reason for this is the existance of boards like this.

Thanks,
Richard :) :) :)

I have let this thread go on to long, without speaking my mind!

Fred, I am not "balding", I shave my head by choice.

Thank You All,I had to get that off my chest.

John

LOL, John. Was wondering what took you so long to respond!

That is a good choice for some. After 61 years, my hair is starting to "go missing" also! Much more loss, and I'll just get rid of it all!

Thanks,
Richard :) :) :)

Kathy (ChatKat) -

You'll get a kick out of this. Until I saw John's post above, I thought the "raven haired starlet" with the "balding" gentleman in Pat's post was you.

Of course, that would have been before you posed for your highly flattering avitar. :)

Kathy