John, does that mean you shave your chest too? :D

Masaki

This is a very disturbing report given just how high the fares are starting to get on Radisson. I'm very sorry to hear that Pat and Fred had to put up with this situation; it really is quite unacceptable, regardless of the circumstances. I have no idea how "reward" groups (by that I mean a group of people who are being rewarded a cruise for meeting performance measures), but my assumption is that they are NOT paying out of pocket. I wonder what the conversion rate is of people on these "rewards" cruises into regular paying customers is. I'm willing to bet that it's quite low. SO...shouldn't Radisson be bending over backwards to make sure that its regular, paying (and oftentimes multiple repeat) customers continue to receive a consistent level of service?

First, let me apologize to John: John, a thousand pardons for having used the dreadful "b" word. I've never quite understood your cool active avatar and therefore did not appreciate the shaving vs. b***ing distinction. I do indeed beg your forgiveness (and after all, I did point out that irrespective of hair issues, you were a hunk - what more can you want?)

Lawrence - Our point was and remains that regardless of whether a company has paid the fare or the individual passenger has paid the fare, the passengers should be treated equally and well. My company is chartering the entire Mariner for a week next spring for a sales achievers' club event. For many of those people, this will be their first cruise. But it may set them on the road we are all on of loving cruising. (Now, the problem is my convincing our Sales group that the company lawyers should be on this particular achievers' club event, when we usually dodge such events like the plague. Yikes, being trapped in any venue with a few hundred type-A sales execs is pretty scary - but if that venue is the Mariner, it might be worth it.) Cheers, Fred

Funny Masaki, I was going to ask the same thing!

ROFL I THOUGHT THE SAME THING!!

So nice that this discussion on "luxury goes missing on the PG" has settled down - thank goodness for Freddie, who was there, and his sane analysis of the trip - some hiccups but not the end of the world!! I hope this news is shared with the CC board by those who post there regularly - will be interesting to follow - it was unfortunate, yes, but not a "Watergate" for the seas - Joanna

Kathy -

If you ask my Frankie, I am still a Raven Haired Beauty, despite my hair being all stuck up inside a hat on the pool deck with my tongue sassing a certain photographer. :eek:

My handsome husband will tell you that he lost most of his hair well before age 30 and had had the same barber for all 35 hairless years. Please excuse my prejudice, but, bald men are very sexy.

LCT can most certainly handle an East Coast and a West Coast couple that fit that description!!!

Patrick-
Could I get the address that correspondence about this cruise should be sent to? I'd like to add my two cents to the corporate guys. I'd be happy as long as there was disclosure about a group that large prior to booking on a certain cruise - people can make their own decisions about how it might impact their cruise. I wasn't even aware that a full dinner was being served to the other group in Apicious - I assumed the dinner buffet on the night of embarkation was part of the price controls (along with no free wine at lunch).

Yes, we thought of that at the time--a couple of nearby passengers were looking at us askance at that dinner table, for sure. We told several people at some point during the week that it was *not* the norm, but we were all aware that many would think it was. Sorry rhb, I don't know your real name--were you on that cruise? I'm Wendy, my husband is David.

Fred has the address filed away somewhere. I'll pull it and post it. We were on the ship on two Saturdays. 5/21 was apparently a "normal" night. On that night, Apicius was closed to everyone. Le Grill and L'Etoile were open, Le Grill by reservation as usual. And everyone on the ship ordered a full meal from a menu. On Saturday, 5/28, the schedule stated that only La Veranda (which, as you know, is buffet in the daytime and converted to Apicius at night)was "open." The other two dining venues were off limits to regular passengers. I didn't mind that at all. I didn't want to be dining with a new group that evening. The group of 166 was dining at L'Etoile from a full menu. It is possible a birthday group on board was up at Le Grill dining from a menu. I didn't check out Le Grill. But it wasn't open for reservations from regular passengers. My beef with Radisson isn't that they had booked a large group(although I agree it would be nice to have booking information in order to make a fully informed cruise decision). It is that they clearly treated their regular passengers unfairly on 5/28. I paid for a luxurious sit-down sail-away dinner that Saturday night. I was served a buffet lunch as were all the regular passengers. The group was served the dinner they had paid for, the regular passengers weren't. This annoys me to this moment. It annoys me that some suit at headquarters would think he/she might pull this off without some of the passengers noticing, or, if they noticed, not raising a stink about it. Had Radisson gone to the trouble to serve all regular passengers the normal sail-away dinner from a menu on 5/28 the matter, to me, wouldn't be an issue.

rhb, with respect to your point about price controls, Radisson advertises luxury dining every evening at three sit-down restaurants. I wouldn't book them if they regularly replaced luxury evening dining with buffet service. I think a lot of people wouldn't. I don't think the mass market lines would dare do that. On 5/28, I think other issues than cost-cutting were in play. I don't think we'll ever know what issues because I don't think Radisson will tell us. But I DO hope you'll write. Our letter will be in the mail this weekend. Corporate reads the message boards. We want them to have a full dose of dialogue before they get our letter. Pat

Pat and Fred,
Thanks for the stories about the second week. I am sorry to hear about the sailaway dinner, as others have noted it was completely inexcusable. Had I been there I am sure the Maitre D and the Hotel Director would have had their hands full after I let them have it with both barrels. I applaud the way both of you have handled this issue with both respectful outrage, humor and level heads. I hope you receive the compensation you are seeking (as opposed the compensation others have suggested!) even if it is just a personal sorry note.

As far as groups go, LCT was a group as well. We were fully 20% of capacity and we also had special arrangements made for us from dining with crew to closing Le Grill for a night and closing rooms for our own functions. As noted earlier I wonder how many other guests felt "put out" with us? I can't imagine why because I don't feel we denied anyone else the Radisson experience at any point.
I completely agree with Fred, who hit the nail directly on the head :
The issue I have with reward groups is the air of entitlement that seems to come with them. After all the trip is a chance to let their hair down for a job well done and also, more importantly, they have nothing invested in the trip. Mix that in with a trip director whose job it is to make sure their group is catered to, it is no wonder they might think the entire trip revolves around them. However Radisson has a duty to *all* guests to serve up the product that was payed for and not to cater to some at the expense of others.

Michael,

You said it very well. Yes, I too applaud Pat and Fred for their exemplary way of handling this issue.

Since we participated in the "lunch" buffet that remained for dinner on 5/28, which for lunch I felt was substandard, I too would have been more than outraged at having been served that for dinner with no other options available except Room Service.

I've been reading this with much interest since I am booked on the PG 10/15/05 with a BB pre-cruise. I've never been on RSSC and can't wait to get to Tahiti!

One of the cruiselines we've sailed on is Celebrity. There were 5 years in between our 2 sailings with them. Our last Celebrity cruise was on the Constellation (which I absolutely loved!) although I did notice that the food was not as good as it was on the first cruise with them. I figured it was part of a cost cutting measure. I wonder if RSSC is also doing this?

I know my trip will be a trip of a lifetime for me and hubby and I can't wait!

I really apprecicate everyone's posting about their experiences with RSSC. I've especially enjoyed the PIPster's trip reports. I'm going to call my PG cruise PIP JR since I don't know of anyone else going.

Babs

PS I called RSSC and asked if any groups were booked for 10/15/05 PG. They asked me why I was asking; told them I was just curious. They checked and told me there were no groups booked on this cruise.

Wendy-
Yes we were on the cruise. We had the 14 year old twin daughters, in case you remember seeing them. I definately will follow-up with a letter. Still, while the cruise experience is not what it was in 2001 (and not just because of the large group on board I think) the trip is a fabulous one to take. I really just wish I hadn't been so "over the top" in describing our past Radisson experiences to the friends and family, who then made a decision to join us this time. Maybe it's time to expand my cruising horizons. We met some people on that cruise that last year were on one of the Sea Dream yachts and loved it. It's just been soooo easy to just pick another Radisson ship and destination each year and know it will be terrific!!!
Robyn

rhb (Robyn), write to Mr. Gair O'Neill, Mnager, Guest Relations, RSSC, 600 Corporate Drive, Ft. Lauderdale FL 33334.

Robyn, hi, yes of course I remember you. In fact my husband didn't suss that you had two daughters for a while because he didn't see them together! We were on the Bora Bora shark and ray feeding with you, watching while one of your daughers got "inked".

I feel the same way about recommending Radisson, having been on the PG in 2000. We've been on one other RSSC ship, and will continue to recommend the whole line, but with some provisos about the PG. We still love the PG, but we are crazy about FP, ship or no ship.