My Problem with the Pacific Aria

[Boboz]

We were on the Aria for the Bounty cruise last month.

The ship was great , the staff as usual were great.

The cruise was spoilt by an unfortunate incident.

It was my wife's birthday the day we sailed , so I had ordered some roses from a Brisbane florist to be delivered to the ship, I paid extra to have them

delivered by noon, as we were to sail at 2 pm. When we boarded there were no flowers in the stateroom so I enquired with the room steward who said he did not know and suggested we try reception, who also did not know.

Two days later we found a note under our door to contact the assistant manager at reception, who informed us that the ship had also ordered some flowers for a guest and their flowers had not arrived so they had made a "MISTAKE" and sent my wife's roses to the other guests.

I asked the Assistant manager how could this "Mistake" happen as the roses were addressed to my wife and included a card wishing her happy birthday and a personal message from me, I was told by this genius that they had removed my card and put in a card of their own.

They call this an accident ??? More like misappropriation at best and bordering on a criminal act.

As compensation we were offered the cost of the flowers or dinner in the Salt grill.

Poor compensation for the disappointment .

I have sent an Email to P&O also a hard copy by mail but no response as yet

Not even a computer generated reply.

Sorry for the long winded post

Regards Bob

[clemcruiser]

My opinion - the cost of the flowers is a poor compensation, they owe you the cost to start with. Cost plus dinner maybe? If that had been offered very early in the piece it may have settled the issue for you.

 

Also I think the assistant manager was very gutsy to actually own up that they had stolen your flowers, and I totally agree, this "mistake" wording is bull. They stole them fair and square and I can only presume that they thought you might actually find out where they had gone. Denial is very strong on most ships from our experience, and to have done that is beyond the pale.

 

I hope you did enjoy the rest of the trip, but from someone that has had experience with what others consider something to let go, it can get right under your skin.

 

I think it is a pretty basic honesty issue. The cost of the flowers is not just what is at stake, it is the overall trust in a person that could blatantly do that without hesitation. What other actions are they involved in that "are not worth a lot"? Maybe the assistant manager didn't think through all of the implications of what has happened.

 

I think most of the crew on board all the ships are very keen to keep their jobs and are on the whole honest, and a bad apple like this is very bad for the reputation of the line.

 

Do let us know what the outcome is.

[Tigerlily75]

I thnk it is poor compensation too, as it is not just about the "cost" of the flowers, but the fact that you missed out on giving the flowers to your wife on her birthday, which is not something that can now be replaced.

 

It should have at the very least been the cost of the flowers AND a nice romantic dinner to help make up for the gesture you were trying to achieve in the first place. And they should have gone all out to make the evening very special for you both. If they had made such an effort to make up for it, you may not have been left with some bitter feelings about it. It wouldn't have been hard for them to do either, Customer Servuce 101.

 

Sorry that happened to you!

Edited April 11, 2016 by Tigerlily75

[GUT2407]

How low.:eek:

[VK3DQ]

Hi Folks

 

 

I see this as a clear case of theft , they removed the card which addressed the flowers to your wife and replaced it with something else, they clearly intended to deprive you of your property .. nothing else but theft

 

regards

 

John

[Brisbane41]

If it is anything it is a downright act of incompetence where a crew member who considers themselves smart decided to remove the delivery notice and presumed it was something it was not.

 

You should be offered an apology, have the entire costs incurred by you refunded and have them supply free of charge what you had paid for. Not only that the crew member responsible should be counselled on poor and unprofessional conduct.

[Cabansail]

I agree it was unfortunate, but to go beyond that is a bit much. It was more like an Elevated Rooster.

 

You were relying on a chain of people who would be close to minimum wage employees. The person at the florist, the delivery driver and the delivery staff on the ship. You only need one of those to mess up and you will be disappointed. It would seem that your chain went OK until it reached the ship. Some other passengers chain broke before that and their flowers did not arrive. Then the two crossed. It was probably a communication problem with instruction being left to a junior employee to deliver flowers, but they got it wrong. It happens.

 

Good on you for making the effort, but in the end it's the thought that counts (which is the excuse I use "I thought about buying you flowers") and I am sure that was still appreciated by your wife. The pleasure is also in the giving and you can know you made someone else on board happy.

The fact that the matter was looked into and you were given an explanation as well as an offer of some compensation shows they were not covering it up.

 

I know that we were sent lots of offers of things like romance packages and stuff like that. They were completely over priced but I assume they are reliable. If this was such a big issue maybe you would have been better to pay the extra and book it that way?

 

So more of an Elevated Rooster than Grand Theft.

[The_Big_M]

Agree with the above comments; there needed to be both compensation for the loss, plus a gift as a form of apology.

 

I would say this is more about a certain service issue than the ship itself. A one-off mistake can happen on almost any ship, and it does sound like a specific combination of circumstances.

[VK3DQ]

I agree it was unfortunate, but to go beyond that is a bit much. It was more like an Elevated Rooster.

 

You were relying on a chain of people who would be close to minimum wage employees. The person at the florist, the delivery driver and the delivery staff on the ship. You only need one of those to mess up and you will be disappointed. It would seem that your chain went OK until it reached the ship. Some other passengers chain broke before that and their flowers did not arrive. Then the two crossed. It was probably a communication problem with instruction being left to a junior employee to deliver flowers, but they got it wrong. It happens.

 

Good on you for making the effort, but in the end it's the thought that counts (which is the excuse I use "I thought about buying you flowers") and I am sure that was still appreciated by your wife. The pleasure is also in the giving and you can know you made someone else on board happy.

The fact that the matter was looked into and you were given an explanation as well as an offer of some compensation shows they were not covering it up.

 

I know that we were sent lots of offers of things like romance packages and stuff like that. They were completely over priced but I assume they are reliable. If this was such a big issue maybe you would have been better to pay the extra and book it that way?

 

So more of an Elevated Rooster than Grand Theft.

 

 

Hi Folks

 

I'm sorry but I disagree

 

The way I see it is this Someone made a decision to redirect the OP's flowers to another customer (of the ships) , they did this so the ships customer would get their flowers , as a result of this the OP did not get the flowers he had bought and paid for delivered to his wife.

 

This IMHO was a clear and deliberate action to ensure that the ships customer received their flowers , regardless of what the ship had to do to supply the flowers, in fact the ship stole the OP's flowers to use them to fill an order they were unable to fill..

 

 

There is no mistake this is a clear case of theft .....

 

 

Regards

 

John

[Cabansail]

I must have missed the announcement where P&O were moving into the International Florist Industry. That now makes sense.

 

One bunch of flowers, two cabin to send them. Stealing from one for other will solve that problem. Occam's Razor falls on the side of error rather than conspiracy.

[Suzbluz]

Disagree. Poor Boboz, I think you have every right to feel aggrieved. I hope they make it up to you and that it didn't spoil your cruise.

[VK3DQ]

I must have missed the announcement where P&O were moving into the International Florist Industry. That now makes sense.

 

One bunch of flowers, two cabin to send them. Stealing from one for other will solve that problem. Occam's Razor falls on the side of error rather than conspiracy.

 

Hi

 

At no point did P@O have ownership of the OP's flowers , what quite clearly happened here is that the OP's flowers were Stolen in transit between the Brisbane Florest here he brought them and delivery to the PO's wife on board the ship, the OP tells us in his original post the the ships people tell his they have given his flowers to someone else , they have no mandate to do this ...

 

 

Regards

 

John

[challis]

what a first world problem you have...

 

just imagine if your cabin number had been changed prior to boarding

 

staff have there hardest day during turnaround,of course the world stops for you and your flowers...

 

now if you bought flowers from p@o for a special occasion,but no,florist somewere

 

,did you ask exactly how they get flowers from shore to ship!and if its okay with cruise line.:eek:

[Cabansail]

At no point did P@O have ownership of the OP's flowers , what quite clearly happened here is that the OP's flowers were Stolen in transit between the Brisbane Florest here he brought them and delivery to the PO's wife on board the ship, the OP tells us in his original post the the ships people tell his they have given his flowers to someone else , they have no mandate to do this ...

 

I do have sympathy for the problems but what I dispute is the accusation of theft.

 

It sounds more like the flowers were mislaid and there was a cock up in the delivery. Two recipients, one bunch of flowers, wrong destination.

 

As has been pointed out the embarkation is the busiest time for the staff and so it would increase the chances of errors occurring.

 

I think that cruise lines do offer a florist service. It is at a much higher cost than if you organise it yourself. One of the advantages is that if there is a problem you have recourse. In this situation they were trying to assist by delivering the flowers, I assume for no fee, just as a part of the service. It went wrong. They still offered an apology and some recompense.

 

If it were me I would have accepted the apology and thanked them for looking into the matter as it would have taken some time. I would probably have taken the offer of the meal. Sure I would have felt some disappointment but in the end my wife would have known I did make the effort and we would have enjoyed the meal.

 

So while I do understand your issue, trying to make out that they were stolen is going a bit far. No cruise line would risk their reputation to steal a bouquet of flowers.

[lagoon380]

Delivery of flowers to the wrong person is a MISTAKE but to take the card off the flowers and replace it with your own is THEFT!

[The_Big_M]

Delivery of flowers to the wrong person is a MISTAKE but to take the card off the flowers and replace it with your own is THEFT!

 

Easy to accuse, but that assumes its intentional.

 

What if:

1) the delivery area get bunches of flowers together, including mistaken delivery and they're all passed on to the other guest celebration service, since they deal with flowers?

2) Guest celebrations recieves the batch but then think they're all legitimate but the supplier made a mistake and left the card on the order, so remove it? They then put all the right onboard cards on for all orders.

3) It gets delivered.

 

Operationally there are many hands involved; the flower delivery guy doesn't just come onboard and deliver it themselves. As with any 'message' passed on, along the way bits get left off and then assumptions are made. Ever heard of Chinese whispers?

 

And I'd expect it's quite unlikely and rare for someone to order a delivery off ship and for it to get through without organising. I wouldn't even expect it to work without arrangement, given the complexity and activity and security to do so.

 

I stand by my comment on compensation, but can't see anything to support, or even believe its credible that someone deliberately "stole" flowers from someone else so that another person would get them.

[lagoon380]

So if you have a bunch of flowers with card attached you think it's perfectly fine to remove the card.

The flowers are clearly for the person who they are addressed to, so to remove the card is stupidity at it's best.

[MMDown Under]

Two days later we found a note under our door to contact the assistant manager at reception, who informed us that the ship had also ordered some flowers for a guest and their flowers had not arrived so they had made a "MISTAKE" and sent my wife's roses to the other guests.

I asked the Assistant manager how could this "Mistake" happen as the roses were addressed to my wife and included a card wishing her happy birthday and a personal message from me, I was told by this genius that they had removed my card and put in a card of their own.

They call this an accident ??? More like misappropriation at best and bordering on a criminal act.

As compensation we were offered the cost of the flowers or dinner in the Salt grill.

Poor compensation for the disappointment .

I have sent an Email to P&O also a hard copy by mail but no response as yet

Not even a computer generated reply.

Sorry for the long winded post

Regards Bob

 

I doubt this was a mistake, but to put a note under the door two days after your wife's birthday to contact the Assistant Manager was unforgivable. I'm sure P&O can do much better, than they have done to date, to try to make amends. After all, not many husbands would go to so much trouble to have roses sent to their wife for her birthday!

[Tigerlily75]

what a first world problem you have...

 

 

This is a cruise forum, everything here is a first world problem!

[The_Big_M]

Plans change, orders get cancelled, and duplicates happen.

 

And people tasked with one task don't get permission to go off questioning and investigating...

[Boboz]

G'day all,

Thanks for all the comments.

For those that seemed to think it is unusual for someone to send gifts to passengers on ships, they used to be called "Bon Voyage gifts" and this was not my first time, Princess have always managed to deliver the goods.

As for the ones that suggested I should have ordered them through P&O,

That was very smart, then there would have been two unhappy customers because they didn't deliver the bunch that was ordered anyway.

 

I have still not heard from P&O customer relations.

Looks like they don't have such a department, I didn't want compensation I just wanted an apology.

Regards Bob

[dreamin'ofthesea]

I can totally relate to how annoyed you are. You got yourself organised in advance to make something happen and someone else sabotaged it so that the thing they wanted to happen went ahead with no problem.

Something similar happened to me once. I had booked a holiday to Tasmania and was taking my car on the spirit of Tasmania. So ahead of time I booked my car in a week before for a service so that all was safe for the holiday. At the service they told me the steering needed fixing but as they didn't have the part I would need to book it in again. No problem, I booked it in for the following week and the day before the holiday. Drop the car in, go in to pick it up and they tell me "oh sorry, another car came in this morning and we put the part in their car." I was so angry. I reminded them that I had ordered the part and booked for it to be fixed ahead of time, and they also knew I needed the car for a holiday the next day. Their answer " it should be alright to drive until you get back." If that was the case why did they give the part to someone else, couldn't they wait (as I had already waited? What really annoyed me was that they had judged that person more important than me to do that [/b]and to not even ring me up to tell me. A wasted day with no job done.

It seems the same thing happened to you. Someone didn't want to front up with no flowers to one passenger were happy to do that to you. I believe they should have then gone overboard to make it up to you and your wife. You were treated badly as was I.

[NSWP]

Delivery of flowers to the wrong person is a MISTAKE but to take the card off the flowers and replace it with your own is THEFT!

Just like nicking the flowers from some strangers grave and putting them on your relos grave. Despicable !!

Edited April 13, 2016 by NSWP

[Cabansail]

Just like nicking the flowers from some strangers grave and putting them on your relos grave. Despicable !!

 

 

Nah - That's recycling. :D

[MMDown Under]

G'day all,

Thanks for all the comments.

For those that seemed to think it is unusual for someone to send gifts to passengers on ships, they used to be called "Bon Voyage gifts" and this was not my first time, Princess have always managed to deliver the goods.

As for the ones that suggested I should have ordered them through P&O,

That was very smart, then there would have been two unhappy customers because they didn't deliver the bunch that was ordered anyway.

 

I have still not heard from P&O customer relations.

Looks like they don't have such a department, I didn't want compensation I just wanted an apology.

Regards Bob

 

This lack of response from P&O customer relations is bad publicity for P&O.

 

Did you try a couple of levels of the chain of command, starting from the top?

Edited April 14, 2016 by MMDown Under