Disappointing Panama/Cuba cruise

[Pee0305]

Hi all, we have just returned from the Pride of Panama/Cuban Fusion cruise and have to say that we were very disappointed. It seemed to us that Thomson have cut so many of the niceties on board, e.g. no cruets on tables in the self service restaurants, just salt and pepper sachets … fabric napkins have disappeared in favour of paper serviettes … no bar menus around … flavoured teas, think again as they now only have camomile with mint available in Orions only … fresh sliced fruit anyone? melon only and just tinned tomatoes … when returning from shore excursions what's happened to the band playing beside the gangplank and the drinks and flannels? - I could go on but you get the gist. And Thomson presume to call this "Platinum". Anyway, besides this disappointment we were also gutted when the ship couldn't call at San Blas - not for the first time, it hasn't managed to tender here at all yet. Also we had to sail by Mexico as the sea was too rough/current too strong to tender to Playa del Carmen and a Costa ship managed to nab the only remaining berth in Cozumel. Now I don't believe you can blame the Captain for this, his main priority is the safety of passengers and I don't doubt at all that the sea was too rough in Playa del Carmen as the tender ripped the cleat from the ship. I just feel that Thomson should have a clear contingency plan in place. Why don't they just book the Cozumel berth ahead of the cruise? Do you think it's cheaper to tender? Are they penny pinching? We can't help but think that there must be other ports of call they could use along the Mexican coastline. This was by far the most disappointing cruise of the 5 we have previously been on, all with Thomson. To sum it up - we are just one more customer that Thomson will be losing to P&O. :(

[geomagot]

Hi all, we have just returned from the Pride of Panama/Cuban Fusion cruise and have to say that we were very disappointed. It seemed to us that Thomson have cut so many of the niceties on board, e.g. no cruets on tables in the self service restaurants, just salt and pepper sachets … fabric napkins have disappeared in favour of paper serviettes … no bar menus around

 

this sounds like norovirus precautions?

 

 

… flavoured teas, think again as they now only have camomile with mint available in Orions only

 

no nescafe sachets either:mad:

 

… fresh sliced fruit anyone? melon only and just tinned tomatoes …

 

yes they must have gotten a job lot of melon a hundred years ago and are still using up!... hate melon ... I luv tined tomatoes tho :cool:... we didnt get them at christmas just grilled beefsteak tomatoes day in day out?:rolleyes:

 

 

when returning from shore excursions what's happened to the band playing beside the gangplank and the drinks and flannels? - I could go on but you get the gist. And Thomson presume to call this "Platinum".

 

i've never known them to do this on dream... not in caribbean anyway.... i think thats a louis ship tradition?

 

 

Anyway, besides this disappointment we were also gutted when the ship couldn't call at San Blas - not for the first time, it hasn't managed to tender here at all yet. Also we had to sail by Mexico as the sea was too rough/current too strong to tender to Playa del Carmen and a Costa ship managed to nab the only remaining berth in Cozumel. Now I don't believe you can blame the Captain for this, his main priority is the safety of passengers and I don't doubt at all that the sea was too rough in Playa del Carmen as the tender ripped the cleat from the ship. I just feel that Thomson should have a clear contingency plan in place. Why don't they just book the Cozumel berth ahead of the cruise? Do you think it's cheaper to tender? Are they penny pinching? We can't help but think that there must be other ports of call they could use along the Mexican coastline. This was by far the most disappointing cruise of the 5 we have previously been on, all with Thomson. To sum it up - we are just one more customer that Thomson will be losing to P&O.

 

yep we missed playa del carmen at christmas too and costa maya ... gutted! i think the weather in caribbean (or in that part of the caribbean) isnt great this winter (so far):(

 

sorry that you were disappointed :( but thanks for sharing:cool:

 

.

[gillhalfpint]

Sorry to hear the problems you and the poster below have mentioned. Our second week was your first, and I noticed the change in the tea as I used to drink English Breakfast tea previous years, and didn't rate either the PG Tips or the un-named ones they had on board. Don't do flavoured tea.

 

Noticed lack of salt and pepper but I put that and lack of menus as down to norovirus precautions.

 

I haven't seen band, drinks and flannels on our previous 2 Dream Caribbean cruises either.

 

We got to our 2 Mexico ports of Costa Maya and Cozumel on week 1 the Mayan Treasures, so our only missed port was San Blas. We got a 50% refund on the Amazon rain forest trip which was 2 hours instead of 3, and on the boat on the river for 45 minutes instead of 2 hours. I thought it was because it was over subscribed so they put at least 3 trips that I know of on, so must have had to shorten them.

 

My snorkel trip on changeover day 27Jan was cancelled for bad weather, but I got the bus to Dr Cave's beach and got my only swim in the sea that fortnight, but sad not to have made 1 snorkel trip. Mainly due to not booking trips in week 1 as I was keeping my husband company due to his mobility problems.

 

We too had the queuing problem for Orion on 2 nights on our first week, and agree we saw lots of tables empty waiting to be made up. Got the fizzy wine too. Method of keeping tabs on folk a lot better our week one than week 2 as to who should go in for tables.

 

We decided that if we go back to the Caribbean, we much prefer the islands Celebration has taken over as berthing seems a lot more reliable there.

 

We did however enjoy ourselves. Too many sea days is the big problem if they cannot find alternative ports when weather becomes a problem.

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Is the problem with getting into the dining room because the waiters are reserving tables? If so this is wrong and should be stopped.

 

We had this problem on our first trip on the Majesty,people queueing for tables while others just walked in.

 

On the Spirit in August, we were asked by the waiter on the first night to go to his table at 8pm each evening. We just said we did not go at the same time each night and sometimes used the buffet, which incidentally, we did use most nights as we felt we were being pressurised. I understand why they do this, to get tips at the end, which is fair enough, except that tips are included with Thomson and no-one should feel obliged to give any extra.

 

Thomson must make up their mind whether their ships are open dining or not. On the Majesty they could have both systems as they have two restaurants and I would imagine the other ships could arrange the restaurants to suit both systems.

 

Rant over :p

[gillhalfpint]

Linda, when we were queuing it did not appear that tables were being reserved. Too me it was a distinct lack of staff to make up empty tables as well as keep serving those seated. On our first week, 20 Jan the maître d was taking cabin numbers of those waiting for a table for 2 and calling them in as a table became free. If you were willing to share, you were going into the dining room in queue order. The wait didn't seem bad.

 

Second week was chaotic. Not enough chairs out for those like Ray who could not stand and it was a disorganised queue. Different chap didn't take table numbers for the first few days so if you didn't stand in the queue you had no chance. The queue was up the stairs some nights with the lifts spilling out into the merry throng. He just kept coming in asking for people who wanted to share. Not enough tables for 2 and we nearly always got a table for 4 and the other place settings got removed.

[summertime112233]

Hi Linda,

 

I see what you mean about waiters reserving tables in the Orion and maybe they did in some cases but overall, I don't think this was the issue. The restaurant manager was constantly hovering around and ordering his staff about so the waiters would never get away with reserving tables while there were people getting angry in the queues.

 

The staff had quite obviously been told to up the ante in our second week as it was noticeable we were being asked more often if everything was ok and every five minutes, it was, "thank you for waiting".

 

In fairness to the waiters, they could not have worked any quicker, they were run off their feet and never still. The problem was lack of staff.

[Pee0305]

Yes I agree Geomagot, the lack of cruets etc.could be to prevent norovirus but we have never had preventions for a whole week. I believe there was an outbreak on the previous cruise but nothing on ours so a full 2 weeks (although back to back so would expect 2/3 days each week preventative measures) seems to me to be overkill and whilst I understand the need, 3 days self service a week would be most welcome. The only time we didn't queue was at the a'la carte restuarants. We tried all 3 of these and the meals were excellent in all, but our favourite was Black Rock

We certainly remember welcome bands but possibly just around Europe. Didn't realise they don't happen in the Caribbean. We have only ever cruised with Thomson.

We booked to go to Club Tropicana in Havana. To cut a long story short we queued for an hour to get in, hit by torrential downpour, some guests were returned to the ship and told the show was cancelled. Poor guides didn't check number of guests which meant they couldn't tally numbers returned. Consequently a lot of guests were left behind in the rain. Thomson gave everyone a full refund. All passengers were treated to free drinks all night at the deck party - wine and tequila sunrise - perhaps an admission by Thomsons that this was a poor cruise, unless they do this at all deck parties.

To end on a positive note, the entertainment was fantastic. A really strong show team carried off some fantastic performances. The comedians were excellent too. Fogwell Flax and Taff Stevens brought some welcome laughs to the trip.

[gillhalfpint]

What I didn't like at Lido self service was getting piles of stuff I didn't want to be told I'm sure you can eat it. Not the point. I felt like getting an extra plate to scrape the 2 ladles of rice onto which would have been a tablespoon or two if I had served myself.

I had to collect for Ray as well, and he made sandwiches lunchtime instead of a big meal. I got funny looks when I was asking for more cheese or meat for him as I needed enough for 3 bread rolls. It was not always easy to be served the meals you wanted. I know we had to be safe but it was for most of our 2 weeks.

[davetrucker]

We were on from Dec 30th for 2 weeks and I must say I was more than disappointed with it We a]have green sailing on the Dream since 2010 and this last one the standard as gone down hill As as been said before Thomson are trying to cut corners and loose customers I have written to Thomson but as yet not had a reply We are now looking at sailing with an other line

[geomagot]

All passengers were treated to free drinks all night at the deck party - wine and tequila sunrise - perhaps an admission by Thomsons that this was a poor cruise

 

free drinks! flippin eck! :eek: this is a turn up...most unlike thoms to do anything like that?....things must have been poor? and tequila sunrise isnt even on the menu:confused: (they must have got a cheap job lot in at one of the mexican ports?...if they ever managed to dock at one of the mexican ports?):rolleyes:

 

there has always been a problem with queuing for the orion, not so bad if you go early (6.30) or late (9ish) but most go down about the same time (8ish) and many want a table for 2 there just isnt enough to go round, i'm not sure what thoms can do about this other than introduce fixed dining and allocated tables

 

but if they do that people may be stuck with a sitting/table/location they dont want

 

they have fixed dining on formal nights but the 8pm sitting is always busier with more people queuing, which can only mean that people on the 6pm sitting turn up at the 8pm sitting regardless of what it says on their invitation? invitations arent usually checked at the door, probably because there is no way people can specify which is their preffered sitting beforehand and invitations are just randomly handed out

 

the orion is smaller now that they have added the kora la which seems to making the situation worse, thoms need to sort this out (somehow) if the system isnt working

[geomagot]

What I didn't like at Lido self service was getting piles of stuff I didn't want to be told I'm sure you can eat it. Not the point. I felt like getting an extra plate to scrape the 2 ladles of rice onto which would have been a tablespoon or two if I had served myself.

I had to collect for Ray as well, and he made sandwiches lunchtime instead of a big meal. I got funny looks when I was asking for more cheese or meat for him as I needed enough for 3 bread rolls. It was not always easy to be served the meals you wanted. I know we had to be safe but it was for most of our 2 weeks.

 

its usually the case in the winter that norovirus precautions will be in place for the first few days each week even if there is no norovirus on board (its a preventative measure to protect peoples health) if they do have any cases on board then the precautions will continue until all trace has been cleared

 

the staf hate it as much as we do because they have lots of extra cleaning and polishing to do, it must be very difficult for the servers to know which portions each person wants? (maybe some of them are giving out more than they think you want to be generous they know we will just leave it if we dont want it, or maybe because they know we brits are a little bit shy about asking for more?)

 

yes... its inconvenient but unfortunately necessary

[kruzseeka]

free drinks! flippin eck! :eek: this is a turn up...most unlike thoms to do anything like that?.:rolleyes:

 

the orion is smaller now that they have added the kora la which seems to making the situation worse, thoms need to sort this out (somehow) if the system isnt working

 

Ha! That's obviously had an effect for the worse.

It seems that waiters were too busy to set empty tables for the next round of diners too - staff cuts affecting quality of service?

 

Fewer tables + insufficient waiters = inability to cope with demand.

 

Am I stupid or is that not as plain as day? What IS wrong with Thomson management? Their cost cutting is having an effect that many are no longer prepared to tolerate. Can't they see the potential effect on their business? The real pluses the Thomson product has to offer are being outweighed by compromises more people are unwilling to make. Nevermind the upgrades (lovely as some are - including the coffee shops) just wakeup and smell the coffee - return to the standards of a few years ago. That's what I want to see.

[Pee0305]

staff cuts affecting quality of service?

 

Read the following Q&A on Facebook .......

 

Could Thomson confirm/ deny that they are reducing staff/crew on their fleet?

 

Please be aware we haven't made any reductions to the number of crew on board any of our ships.

 

It most definitely seemed to us that staff had been cut so I wonder what's happened to them :confused:

[Iain1873]

I twice tried to book one of the "speciality" restuarants during our cruise in January to be told they were fully booked , but in both cases when we checked half an hour either side of the time we would have liked both were half-empty (or full depending on your view) - can only presume that despite the number of seats they have they can't cope with more than a certain number of covers

[geomagot]

i suspect that the bean counters at thoms towers will argue that: if people cant get into the orion they may be tempted to use the premium resturants instead? there are 3 of them and hardly ever fully occupied (makes sense huh?... well to them it would)

 

it certainly worked on us on the ie, we dont like buffets for evening meals so we paid the supplements to eat in their grill (cant remember what it was called?) each night (buy 5 get one free & a free bottle of wine one night)

 

incidentally... we didnt like the kora la (the food wasn't great imo and we like asian food normally?)

 

even at christmas it was virtually empty most of the time... just some officers in there usually (they have an officers table in there)

[kruzseeka]

i suspect that the bean counters at thoms towers will argue that: if people cant get into the orion they may be tempted to use the premium resturants instead? there are 3 of them and hardly ever fully occupied (makes sense huh?... well to them it would)

 

it certainly worked on us on the ie, we dont like buffets for evening meals so we paid the supplements to eat in their grill (cant remember what it was called?) each night (buy 5 get one free & a free bottle of wine one night)

 

incidentally... we didnt like the kora la (the food wasn't great imo and we like asian food normally?)

 

even at christmas it was virtually empty most of the time... just some officers in there usually (they have an officers table in there)

 

 

Who IS making these decisions? :( It's definitely not doing the Company much good!

Edited February 12, 2015 by kruzseeka

[geomagot]

on a plus.... the food in orion is was of much better quality than i remember from last winter (steak/lobster/escargo/prime rib/creme brulee etc etc) but none of these dishes appeared on the evening buffets? just the usual something in gravy/pasta/fried fish/chips

 

if you cant get a seat in orion you may just give up and go to the buffet instead (or to the pay extra venues)

 

if enough people do that each night.... thoms will save money on the food quality in the buffets and make money on the pay extra venues? maybe they are deliberately (covertly) restricting the numbers in orion?? .... just a theory ;)

[happy v]

Who IS making these decisions? :( It's definitely not doing the Company much good!

 

Don't you think since the 'new person' took over from Fraser things seem to have gone from bad to worse? There have often been blips, but no one appears to be making any effort at the moment. Although Geo did say the food had improved.

 

Maybe it's a slowwwww work in progress.:rolleyes:

[csmjfmbe]

Hello all

We were on the Dream from the 13th of January for two weeks and on parts where others have obviously been on at the same time.

It is strange that people on the same cruise can have totally different experiences. We never had to queue once to get into the Orion, table for two or share.

We managed to do all three speciality restaurants and to be honest the only one worth the supplement was Minstrels, which was superb.

Cheers

Mike

[Pee0305]

Perhaps timing was the difference csmjfmbe. We like to eat between 7 and 8pm and were met with queues every evening at whichever entrance to Orions we tried. On one occasion one of the passengers was very unkind to the maitre de and a lady in the queue told him not to be so rude. Tempers flare when kept waiting like this every evening which makes it even more unpleasant :(

[Jakanne1]

When we (4) were on Dream in February 14 we were offered a table for 4 at 8.00pm. If we were later than 8.00pm (as we were one night) the table was released for others to use.

 

When we (2) were on Dream in September we did not have have a reserved table because it was more difficult for two people as we were told, "People who have been on for two weeks and were here last week have already reserved tables in this area".

 

Knowing that passengers can reserve tables and in fact we were encouraged to do so when we were a group of 4, I just assumed that the empty tables which were nearly set up at around 7.30 to 8.00pm were being kept for those who had reserved them for 8.00pm.

 

Could this be one of the reasons for people having to queue? :rolleyes:

[kruzseeka]

When we (4) were on Dream in February 14 we were offered a table for 4 at 8.00pm. If we were later than 8.00pm (as we were one night) the table was released for others to use.

 

When we (2) were on Dream in September we did not have have a reserved table because it was more difficult for two people as we were told, "People who have been on for two weeks and were here last week have already reserved tables in this area".

 

Knowing that passengers can reserve tables and in fact we were encouraged to do so when we were a group of 4, I just assumed that the empty tables which were nearly set up at around 7.30 to 8.00pm were being kept for those who had reserved them for 8.00pm.

 

Could this be one of the reasons for people having to queue? :rolleyes:

 

 

There might be an element of that Jakanne - but there shouldn't be! Perhaps an important aspect of your experience was whether or not there were queues when you went for your table Jakanne. I think the waiters want to 'save' your table as they are hoping to develop a relationship and, I guess, are hoping for a tip. If there is capacity and no one is waiting then I suppose that isn't a problem. People 'overtaking' others in a queue or kept waiting whilst tables were available but being 'saved' and not released would be unacceptable!

 

We usually go right at the beginning of the dining time and were therefore usually able to have the same table although sometimes someone else got there first. We just sat close by. My understanding was that if the table is available, you can have it again provided there's so special pressure and if there was, it would be allocated - to anyone.

 

If serious queuing was an issue then I can't see how they could possibly 'save' tables as that would be dynamite! Waiting passengers would be understandably very irate as that would be indefensible.

 

I think whatever the 'policy' or unofficial arrangements have existed in the past, now they have a bigger issue. To my thinking, this situation has come to a head from 1) the use of part of Orion for the new Indian speciality restaurant (lot fewer tables for normal dining now) and 2) pressure on waiting staff- I don't accept this 'no staff cuts' line. If waiters haven't time to set up new tables that will exacerbate the problem.

 

Even before this development, over a number of years we found the waiting staff unable to deal with their tables efficiently - even going in at the beginning it became common place for meals to take 1.30 - 1.45 hrs. This was on a table for two - so no slowing up waiting for others to finish all their courses - and we only ever have three courses! We often skipped coffee too. We were convinced there had been a reduction in the personnel in the dining room. (On P&O last week one hour was typical - with coffee and quite a bit of conversation with the people on the adjacent table!)

 

Whatever, I am dismayed that they aren't doing something about it. An extra few waiters buzzing round re-setting tables could be a start! (But that would involve employing a few more!) Definitely no reservations, and a serious consideration of whether Dream really has the space to take out a significant number of tables from the mdr - especially if these speciality restaurants aren't fully used.

 

I think they are trying to copy some other cruise lines with more dining options - and payable of course - but Thomson ships aren't big enough imo! It's another attempt to gain additional revenue. All well and good as long as it doesn't impact on the basic service and inconvenience passengers by having to wait a ridiculous length of time. Management decisions - again.

[geomagot]

heres my observations

 

usually we are a family of 6

 

the waiters virtually insist that we have the same table the next night (and the next night ditto ditto) if we decide to go to another table they will often come and fetch us (or ask us why we dont like them)

 

the head waiter will always try and show us to the same table each night and try to pull us out of the queue if there is one....awkward?

 

because we are a family they never ask us if we are happy to share?

 

when we are travelling as a couple

 

they will always ask if we are happy to share? then the waiters will encourage us and our new table companion friends to come back again next time (ditto ditto), if we dont and our new friends do (go back to the same table) they wonder if we dont like them?....awkward

 

if we do go back to the same waiter/table and our new friends dont? we wonder if they dont like us?:o:p

 

sometimes we are placed at a table where the couple occupying it are clearly unaware that someone may join them? (and quickly place the bread basket/cruets/butter dish out of your reach)….awkward

 

if we go down early/or late (6.30 or 9pm) there is hardly ever a queue and we can usually get a table for 2, or a table for 4 with the other 2 settings taken away, we are usually not asked if we would like the same table again if there is only 2 of us?

 

if we go down at 8/8.30ish there is usually a queue of people waiting for tables for 2 (some of which are being saved) but you can usually get a 'happy to share' table (see awkwardness above)

 

you can check if the waiters are saving tables as they put signals on the tables to alert the head waiters that their table is reserved (often a bottle of wine or the napkins laid flat on the plates) we have sometimes asked for one of theose (signalled) tables and been given it but when the previous nights occupiers turn up and are placed at another table.... daggers!!:rolleyes::p

 

their system can be hilarious and frustrating in equall measures:) i dont really care too much just as long as i get my dinner:)

[gillhalfpint]

Oh Geo, so hilarious but so true.

[Julessmiles]

So funny Geo!

 

We have always been lucky - a family of 4 but have travelled with 2 other family or friends (so usually 6 of us) & having medical dietary needs does actually have it's advantages! We always get the same waiters for the 2 weeks & usually the same table or a table in the same area. If the waiters move around the restaurant on the 2nd week, we move with them! When I went just with my daughter last year as she has a medical diet, we had the same table & waiters for the week too!! We do have to let them know roughly what time we will be eating - usually 8.30ish so not a problem. Quite looking forward to sailing with FO this year on fixed dining as we will automatically get the same table & waiters

Edited February 13, 2015 by Julessmiles