Moving on.......Luxury Cruises: from boom to bust? Channel 4

[zap99]

3 minutes ago, amajaa said:

It was interesting I thought, glad to know the conclusion was the industry won’t be going bust.

 

I watched it and deleted it before reading this thread, so which one was Sharon?

 

I couldn’t work out where the photographer and his wife were being filmed, so glad at the end it showed they were on a narrow boat because I could see the port hole and was thinking it was a funny cruise ship cabin.

Sharon was the authoratitive young Lady where it said Sharon at the bottom of the screen🤣

[po go]

1 minute ago, amajaa said:

It was interesting I thought, glad to know the conclusion was the industry won’t be going bust.

 

I watched it and deleted it before reading this thread, so which one was Sharon?

 

I couldn’t work out where the photographer and his wife were being filmed, so glad at the end it showed they were on a narrow boat because I could see the port hole and was thinking it was a funny cruise ship cabin.

the one called sharon --  it never said everyone was industry related just slipped something in at 3rd or 4th appearance --  sharons the one who buys a present for a baby after the programme's shown the staff live badly , get paid badly  and pressured to underclaim full wage 

[po go]

59 minutes ago, ann141 said:

I think they probably misled some of those they interviewed who obviously loved cruising e'g Sharon and some former entertainers/photographers etc by thinking it was going to be a positive programme but I felt they over emphasized the negatives of not paying taxes, environmental damage, poor staff conditions etc without mentioning that the newer ships would be more environmently friendly, cruiselines were trying to reduce plastic etc and generally crew were treated fairly- no mention of the effort by P and O and Cunard to repatriate lots of the crew etc.Very disappointing.I wonder what Host Sharon thought of the programme??

you really think can gloss over all the way made millions by underpaying staff and not paying tax ?  at least sharon wasn't disturbing the steward at midnight every night and thinking it was good 

[Host Sharon]

1 hour ago, Presto2 said:

We didn't recognise the magic of a cruise on this programme. It dwelt more on those cruise lines that like to have huge ships with all the bells and whistles as if this is all that a cruise is now. And to say that a cruise is about the ship not the destination ---- for us that is just complete rubbish.

I agree and said that. It got cut of course.

[Host Sharon]

49 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Sharon was the authoratitive young Lady where it said Sharon at the bottom of the screen🤣

Thanks for the “young” comment. 😊

[Presto2]

6 minutes ago, Host Sharon said:

I agree and said that. It got cut of course.

You were the positive voice. It was refreshing to hear about the relationship between crew and passengers etc. 

 I once got volunteered to do a very short TV news  item for work and seeing how it ended on the news compared to the filming that day was interesting... the editing was clever. 

Edited December 20, 2020 by Presto2

[Harry Peterson]

Given the programme description below, I think it met its brief.  No glaring inaccuracies that I could see.

 

Essentially a programme about the business economics of owning and running cruise ships.

 

 

Kate Quilton examines how ocean travel was transformed from a simple journey to a luxurious holiday in itself. Once the preserve of the wealthy, in the 1980s and 1990s the cruise industry became one of the most extraordinary boom stories, making luxury affordable to the masses. Then Covid shut the industry down. Joined by experts, Kate explores the boom years, the challenges and disasters that rocked the industry, and also considers the post-pandemic future.

[po go]

8 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

You were the positive voice. It was refreshing to hear about the relationship between crew and passengers etc. 

 I once got volunteered to do a very short TV news  item for work and seeing how it ended on the news compared to the filming that day was interesting... the editing was clever. 

by relationship do you mean crew pretending to remember people

[Host Sharon]

15 minutes ago, po go said:

by relationship do you mean crew pretending to remember people

The waiters I referred to were not pretending by any means. They remembered my name as I did theirs as well as which cruise or ship we last saw each other. Same with a lovely passenger services girl who spotted me as I stepped on board and greeted me by name. That is a very cynical comment. 

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Presto2 said:

We didn't recognise the magic of a cruise on this programme. It dwelt more on those cruise lines that like to have huge ships with all the bells and whistles as if this is all that a cruise is now. And to say that a cruise is about the ship not the destination ---- for us that is just complete rubbish.

I think that small ship P&O cruisers do need to realise that they are no longer in the majority when it comes to cruising.  We are both well past our sell by dates now, but we recognise that the future of cheap affordable cruising lies with the large cruise ships which can be the destination itself.  To this end RCI, NCL. MSC and Carnival's Princess and P&O look to have the ships that will fulfil the dreams of the new generation of cruisers.

Those that want small ship affordable cruises will be left with Fred Olsen, CMV if someone resurrects that line, and the 2 small P&O ships.  Beyond that you will be looking at Azamara, Oceania, Saga and lines with progressively higher prices until you reach the luxury ones like Seabourn and Regent cruise lines.

For me I thought the programme reasonably portrayed cruising and the problems it faced before and after Covid, some of the warts still remain, although I do think that many have been addressed. 

But for those of you who want small ship cruising with a traditional feel, then unfortunately your choice will be limited, and you may have to pay more.

[Presto2]

31 minutes ago, po go said:

by relationship do you mean crew pretending to remember people

This made me cross - sorry po go. We have been on cruises and had a number of staff members come up and greet us and know our names even though it was a different ship with years between. One member of staff Costa could tell us the ship and cruise we had been on and then we met Hyacinth who knew the same. We also met Capt Willard and he recognised us from a previous cruise. On our last cruise on Oceana some staff came to us and said 'hi' having seen us on the ship before. They chatted about those cruises. This was so lovely and we know exactly what Sharon meant. It is special and makes you feel like your cruise ship staff are like a 'family',

[Presto2]

3 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I think that small ship P&O cruisers do need to realise that they are no longer in the majority when it comes to cruising.  We are both well past our sell by dates now, but we recognise that the future of cheap affordable cruising lies with the large cruise ships which can be the destination itself.  To this end RCI, NCL. MSC and Carnival's Princess and P&O look to have the ships that will fulfil the dreams of the new generation of cruisers.

Those that want small ship affordable cruises will be left with Fred Olsen, CMV if someone resurrects that line, and the 2 small P&O ships.  Beyond that you will be looking at Azamara, Oceania, Saga and lines with progressively higher prices until you reach the luxury ones like Seabourn and Regent cruise lines.

For me I thought the programme reasonably portrayed cruising and the problems it faced before and after Covid, some of the warts still remain, although I do think that many have been addressed. 

But for those of you who want small ship cruising with a traditional feel, then unfortunately your choice will be limited, and you may have to pay more.

 

I don't call Celebrity small ships and that certainly isn't what we experience on there .......... funnily they never mentioned Celebrity. They are not traditional and not the mass market huge ships either but somewhere inbetween. 

 

I felt disappointed tonight with the programme - 

 

I didn't recognise what I love about cruising at all and can not be alone. I am no spring chicken but am not a huge minority either

[Host Sharon]

13 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I think that small ship P&O cruisers do need to realise that they are no longer in the majority when it comes to cruising.  We are both well past our sell by dates now, but we recognise that the future of cheap affordable cruising lies with the large cruise ships which can be the destination itself.  To this end RCI, NCL. MSC and Carnival's Princess and P&O look to have the ships that will fulfil the dreams of the new generation of cruisers.

Those that want small ship affordable cruises will be left with Fred Olsen, CMV if someone resurrects that line, and the 2 small P&O ships.  Beyond that you will be looking at Azamara, Oceania, Saga and lines with progressively higher prices until you reach the luxury ones like Seabourn and Regent cruise lines.

For me I thought the programme reasonably portrayed cruising and the problems it faced before and after Covid, some of the warts still remain, although I do think that many have been addressed. 

But for those of you who want small ship cruising with a traditional feel, then unfortunately your choice will be limited, and you may have to pay more.

Already moved onto Saga for the majority of my cruises booked.

[Bloodaxe]

The show did nothing except to reinforce my opinion that the huge ships are not for me.

If we are priced out of our favourites like Azamara then that's our cruising over.

Edited December 20, 2020 by Bloodaxe

[tring]

1 hour ago, Presto2 said:

 

I don't call Celebrity small ships and that certainly isn't what we experience on there .......... funnily they never mentioned Celebrity. They are not traditional and not the mass market huge ships either but somewhere inbetween. 

 

I felt disappointed tonight with the programme - 

 

I didn't recognise what I love about cruising at all and can not be alone. I am no spring chicken but am not a huge minority either

 

Celebrity is a brand of Royal Caribbean, along with Azamara, so not another cruise company.  A lot of brands were not mentioned.  They did focus on the three big companies though and focused entirely on the sort of ships they are bringing in now.  The one outsider brand is Azamara which is totally different to  the big ships in more ways than just size  - I wonder how that will go forward, (or not) after this year.

[Josy1953]

8 hours ago, Host Sharon said:

The waiters I referred to were not pretending by any means. They remembered my name as I did theirs as well as which cruise or ship we last saw each other. Same with a lovely passenger services girl who spotted me as I stepped on board and greeted me by name. That is a very cynical comment. 

I agree that some cruise staff do remember people.  When we went on Britannia, the first evening in the MDR we were taken to a table and when the waiter from the next section saw us he came over and greeted us by name even though it had been 3 years earlier when he last saw us on Aurora.  We had a similar experience with a cabin steward on Ventura, who asked us about our niece who we had taken on a cruise 4 years earlier and he referred to her by her name and gave us a bag full of the pillow chocolates for her on the last evening.

[AnnieC]

11 hours ago, po go said:

 the programme's shown the staff live badly , get paid badly  and pressured to underclaim full wage 

Whilst I'm not suggesting that everything in the cruise industry is perfect, are you suggesting the staff are better off now that they are unable to work for the cruise lines, instead probably working for very low pay in their home countries, or unemployed?

 

 

[Esprit]

I was disappointed with the way the living conditions were portrayed. 

I remember visiting my DD's Celebrity Constellation cabin on her first contract. it was indeed tiny for two occupants, but that was insignificant compared to all the other benefits that come with being a crew member.

She, like many others, kept returning and whenever she came home she couldn't wait to get back on a ship after a couple of weeks of R&R.

The three biggest lies amongst crew member are:

"This is my last contract"

"I'm never going to drink again"

"I love you"  

[Harry Peterson]

13 minutes ago, Esprit said:

I was disappointed with the way the living conditions were portrayed. 

I remember visiting my DD's Celebrity Constellation cabin on her first contract. it was indeed tiny for two occupants, but that was insignificant compared to all the other benefits that come with being a crew member.

She, like many others, kept returning and whenever she came home she couldn't wait to get back on a ship after a couple of weeks of R&R.

The three biggest lies amongst crew member are:

"This is my last contract"

"I'm never going to drink again"

"I love you"  

Doesn't that rather depend,  though, on nationality and the type of employment?

[Presto2]

9 hours ago, tring said:

 

Celebrity is a brand of Royal Caribbean, along with Azamara, so not another cruise company.  A lot of brands were not mentioned.  They did focus on the three big companies though and focused entirely on the sort of ships they are bringing in now.  The one outsider brand is Azamara which is totally different to  the big ships in more ways than just size  - I wonder how that will go forward, (or not) after this year.

 

Yes I know, but they had a new ship last year too and she was nothing like those mega ships that they seems intent on telling us were the latest thing. The main cruise lines are making other types of ships. I just thought it was a biased programme, a one sided argument with no chance for anyone to say otherwise. Well they may have but that would have been edited out. 

[po go]

48 minutes ago, AnnieC said:

Whilst I'm not suggesting that everything in the cruise industry is perfect, are you suggesting the staff are better off now that they are unable to work for the cruise lines, instead probably working for very low pay in their home countries, or unemployed?

 

 

that;'s like saying victorian working conditions were great as everyone had a job

[Esprit]

22 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Doesn't that rather depend,  though, on nationality and the type of employment?

 

She made friends with all nationalities who worked all over the ship. She never said there was any discernable hierarchy. All the crew mixed well together and had a common bond.

She even met and married a fellow crew member. A Venezuelan, and he, like all his Venezuelan crew mates, enjoyed their life on board.

 

[po go]

11 hours ago, Presto2 said:

This made me cross - sorry po go. We have been on cruises and had a number of staff members come up and greet us and know our names even though it was a different ship with years between. One member of staff Costa could tell us the ship and cruise we had been on and then we met Hyacinth who knew the same. We also met Capt Willard and he recognised us from a previous cruise. On our last cruise on Oceana some staff came to us and said 'hi' having seen us on the ship before. They chatted about those cruises. This was so lovely and we know exactly what Sharon meant. It is special and makes you feel like your cruise ship staff are like a 'family',

they know exactly who's cruised  when where and for how long with photo's i'd expect  they brief people on who's been before where and when ,  either that or some bother the staff too much , i want my waiter to bring the food not know his life story

[amajaa]

13 hours ago, zap99 said:

Sharon was the authoratitive young Lady where it said Sharon at the bottom of the screen🤣

Thanks, yes, I know it said the names but as I said I watched and deleted before I read this thread. From reading other comments I think I know who it was now.

 

Really looking forward to being able to cruise soon.

[Selbourne]

11 hours ago, Host Sharon said:

The waiters I referred to were not pretending by any means. They remembered my name as I did theirs as well as which cruise or ship we last saw each other. Same with a lovely passenger services girl who spotted me as I stepped on board and greeted me by name. That is a very cynical comment. 

Several staff greet us by name also, which always staggers us given the thousands of passengers that they will have met since they last saw us. Some have remembered us by name many years later! Well done on your performance. I used to avoid the media at all costs when I was working!