Wind Surf Poor Tender Service

[Misty Morning]

Posted this under a different thread earlier but thought it should go into its own thread.

We are finally back home and now starting our 14 day quarantine as now required by government of Canada for returning travellers.  Our cruise was great and will be posting a review shortly but there were a few glitches this time around especially with tender service more specifically with bridge staff who control the tender operations. What we have noticed over the years is that our anchorages get further and further away from the the tender docks at the ports and thus the voyages are longer but Windstar does not seem to add a third tender (maybe only at the start of the day) which made for a long wait of over an hour to get back from St Barth.  On our last day in Antigua, last tender was at 4h30. There were approx 12 of us waiting when a tender showed up at 4h15 but did not go back to the ship at 4h30 as there were 12 passengers still on the island.  The Bridge staff did not let the tender back until all passengers were in which did not happen until 5h15.  There were a lot of upset guests with some that had spa appointments they would not be able to meet and get charged on because of this.  Everyone on the dock could not believe the attitude of the Bridge staff (we were told the 2nd officer was on duty).  The Security guard at the dock had no authority and told the officer ( and some guests also spoke directly to the officer on the walkie talkie) that the guests were pissed and all over him but the officer did not release the tender.  Not only that, the staff knew the 12 would not be there for a while so it would have been so simple to take us back and get the tender to come back to pick up the late guests.  By doing this they accommodated the late guests but got 12 very upset guests. It would have been so simple to get the tender to do one more run. All guests would have been happy.  I tried  to go to the Bridge once we left port, but it was conveniently closed when it was supposed to be accessible, probably because the security guard told us to complain to the Bridge.

 

 Not only that, we discussed this issue with chief engineer (Arnauld from France) who we bumped into as he was having a drink in Compass Rose. Although he is not involved directly in the Tender operations, he was condescending and did not even acknowledge here could have been an issue and would not even apologize.  Complained to reception and they acknowledged my complaint and we tried to speak to Staff Captain but he was not available.  Will vent out my frustration on this issue in our survey. Maybe the Bridge staff needs more training on customer service I am sure if the officer had been on the dock, he would have felt the guest pressure, but up there in the ivory tower, they can wash their hands and say this is for security reasons, what a bunch of baloney!  This did not end the trip on a high note. And to top it of, the tender engine was left on for the full hour while it waited, not very environmentally friendly knowing these run on cheap and dirty bunker fuel. Other than that, it was a great cruise

 

[O2B@Cagain]

I'm sorry for you. I bet the captain and officers had a lot on their minds during your cruise. They probably had priorities which precluded being able to offer the top notch service you were expecting.

[Misty Morning]

Maybe they did, but having 2 tender runs instead of waiting for everyone would have gone a long way in keeping tempers down.  Don’t think it had anything to do with what was going on, it felt more like it was an attempt to save money which they took too far.  There was no explanation nor were the officers available to discuss. It was not necessarily the delay itself, but management’s attitude in addressing it. Very poor customer service in my opinion

[Chipshot from Michigan]

On 3/15/2020 at 6:23 PM, O2B@Cagain said:

I'm sorry for you. I bet the captain and officers had a lot on their minds during your cruise. They probably had priorities which precluded being able to offer the top notch service you were expecting.

An apologist making excuses for Windstar's officers doesn't help anything.

Windstar sells high standards and should be expected to deliver on them

[O2B@Cagain]

You may call me an apologist if it pleases you. At the time Misty was sailing, the captain and crew were pondering incomprehensible news coming from the outside world. If you can't cut someone some slack for that, well...

[Misty Morning]

35 minutes ago, O2B@Cagain said:

You may call me an apologist if it pleases you. At the time Misty was sailing, the captain and crew were pondering incomprehensible news coming from the outside world. If you can't cut someone some slack for that, well...

If only we had been given some sort of explanation (everybody already knew by then that the Surf would no longer sail) but we never got that and the attitude of the Bridge staff, the Security guard on the dock and the Chief Engineer later that evening were inexcusable. 

[O2B@Cagain]

Okay, I'm going to stop after this. I feel like we need to give others wide berth in the way they approach and respond to this life changing time.

[CruiseOrLand]

I agree with the sentiments of the OP. But I would add that the individualistic, libertarian "12 passengers still on the island" deserve a bit of the blame. They are no doubt very proud of their "independent" tour plans, and will brag about them here or at cocktail parties. But they failed to report to the tender station when they had a duty to be there.

 

It's not "all about you". It's about the behavior of responsible adults. Yes, I'm saying they had a responsibility to leave their land activities early enough to allow for missed busses or unavailable taxis.

[Misty Morning]

3 hours ago, CruiseOrLand said:

12 passengers still on the island" deserve a bit of the blame

2 of them apologized when they arrived around 5pm as they thought our departure time was 6 like the previous night. The other 10 were all together in a van and did not even seem to realize we had been waiting for them for an hour  The tender could have brought us back and returned to pick this group up even if it meant the they could have waited a bit for this tender. If they were late, they could have waited but that was not what the Bridge wanted and in the end the people that were on time got penalized while the late comers did not even notice a thing. Bridge was totally unresponsive.

[Strenz]

I agree with CruiseorLand, being late, not paying attention to departure time, is simply selfish and inconsiderate, not to speak of being rude. We were on the Hurtigurten in September and one announcement only "we wait for no one". Did we ever pay attention to departure times. It was rumored that at one stop folks " missed the boat". WS was there for the departure and it was nice of them to wait. WS was not at fault in any  way it was the inconsiderate passengers. Too bad the waiting passengers were more mad at WS and not the late passengers. By the way trains do not wait, why should ships.