Have I been travelling on different ships?

A few observations.... One can often discern early on if the comments are relevant or not to ones own needs or interests.

If the complaints are due to the weather , the ports , an interaction with a staff member or possibly even the food, the review might be so specific as to not be germain.

Other times, a complaint may stem from a misunderstanding, such as the tipping policy. Or the upgrade policy. "I hated my Trip because I was upgraded and did not like my cabin ". Sadly, as we know, one persons upgrade is another persons downgrade, forgetting to say, no upgrades is not a fault of the cruiseline.

I just read a review on what must have been a sailing just after mine, where the review said with a degree of certainly that there are no children on the TA crossings, well, we had over 250 on ours and they were running around the MDR, etc. Personally, we liked the kids and lt less like we were in a nursing home.

I'm not sure that the sort of reviewer who is trying to be discerning is much interested in factual reporting, rather they sometimes overstate their findings the better to seem knowledgable. Which is ironic when you realise that they are talking nonsense!!

 

Like yourself we have read reviews of ships we know well and find in some reviews statements which just bear no relation to any reality we have experienced. Some judgements are not binary - food, decor, service standards etc appeal (or not) to different people in different ways - yet simple factual statements such as you have outlined are still contradicted in some reviews. It really is odd.

I'm just pleased to see that there are instances on reviews other than Cunard.

On many boards I have often found that there are those who, shall we say, 'aspire' to sail with Cunard and having paid their fare expect the decks to be lined with gold and every passenger to get the 'Grills' experience. In reality though they should never have been onboard.

I'm sure we all know them: for starters they generally don't want to adhere to the dress code and are first in the queue to remove the gratuities.

P&O also come in for a bit of similar stick. The detractors completely oblivious of the fact that both lines have an amazing loyal following of very appreciative cruisers.

... I'm sure we all know them: for starters they generally don't want to adhere to the dress code and are first in the queue to remove the gratuities. ...

I'd only add one extra point; they are almost always the very same people I overhear treating the hard-working stewards as if they are dirt :mad: .

(That snob "better than you" attitude makes my blood boil; the crew are working very hard so I don't need to. I show them politeness and a warm attitude, are those simple things too much to ask of all passengers? :confused: (furthermore I note I frequently get great/better service... :) ))