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

[Presto2]

1 minute ago, po go said:

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

You really think they brief the crew about everyone on a ship of almost 4000 passengers. Does make me wonder how they manage to tell the crew things that the cruise lines won't even know about. That's pretty clever. Think you're just trying to get a reaction so I'll stick to my opinion and you can stick to yours.

[Angel57]

Just now, po go said:

primed , briefed  hook line and 

How sad you feel like that...... bet the crew know that too!

[grapau27]

12 hours ago, Host Sharon said:

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

Unless I missed it there was one nice person called Sharon but I didn't see a mention of CC Host P&O cruises.

TBH I only watched the program to the end to see and hear your views Sharon.

The program itself was mediocre.

Graham.

Edited December 21, 2020 by grapau27

[Selbourne]

13 minutes ago, po go said:

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

If the crew can memorise the names and cruising histories of several thousand passengers per cruise just from photos, then their superhuman skills are wasted working on cruise ships! It’s also a wonder how they have the time to do that on changeover days when they are flat out! Just out of curiosity, have you ever been on a cruise?

Edited December 21, 2020 by Selbourne

[po go]

Just now, grapau27 said:

Unless I missed it there was one nice person called Sharon but I didn't see a mention of CC Host P&O cruises.

TBH I only watched the program to the end to see you Sharon.

The program itself was mediocre.

Graham.

the blurb said experts but most interviewees were made to look like general public

[grapau27]

12 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. 

+1.

Often we have seen crew members of P&O and RCG on another cruise and recognised each other.

[po go]

1 minute ago, Selbourne said:

If the crew can memorise the names and cruising histories of several thousand passengers per cruise just from photos, then their superhuman skills are wasted working on cruise ships! It’s also a wonder how they have the time to do that on changeover days when they are flat out! Just out of curiosity, have you ever been in a cruise?

by they i meant the cruise line , like the savoy hotel programme a non celebrity booked a suite every year and they knew from her booking when coming and told staff to be grovelling , it doesn't take much to sift out repeat bookers where there cabin is , and table is -- yes been ON cruises as said BEFORE'

[zap99]

9 minutes ago, po go said:

so if i go on a cruise again picking one of 3 lines the crew will be off with me cos i know that they know that i know , more  sad if a waiter remembering you determines where you holiday 

I see you are fairly new to cruise critic so welcome. In case I don't get another chance, I'll say goodbye now🤣

[grapau27]

Just now, zap99 said:

I see you are fairly new to cruise critic so welcome. In case I don't get another chance, I'll say goodbye now🤣

Nice one Zap99👍🤣

[Selbourne]

In terms of my general reaction to the programme....

 

As I have said before, my wife and I were first drawn to cruising as a result of watching a documentary series in the 90’s called ‘Supership Oriana’. Over around 5 one hour episodes, it showed the design, construction, fit out, sea trials and maiden cruise of Oriana “the first cruise ship designed specifically for the U.K. market” as they described it. We were amazed at how opulent it all looked and we took the plunge and booked our first cruise on her on 1996, which we loved even though we were around 40 years younger than most other passengers!

 

My wife and I were saying last night that, had we not already discovered cruising, every single cruising programme that has been on in recent years, bar none, would have put us off the idea completely. They are all portrayed as brash holiday camp style holidays with over the top staff.  I’m generalising of course, as there are always exceptions, but with everything on TV nowadays being ‘human interest’ related, ‘normal’ people don’t make such good TV! It’s no wonder that so many of our friends seem amazed that we like cruising when the depiction of it is as it is!

[grapau27]

2 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

In terms of my general reaction to the programme....

 

As I have said before, my wife and I were first drawn to cruising as a result of watching a documentary series in the 90’s called ‘Supership Oriana’. Over around 5 one hour episodes, it showed the design, construction, fit out, sea trials and maiden cruise of Oriana “the first cruise ship designed specifically for the U.K. market” as they described it. We were amazed at how opulent it all looked and we took the plunge and booked our first cruise on her on 1996, which we loved even though we were around 40 years younger than most other passengers!

 

My wife and I were saying last night that, had we not already discovered cruising, every single cruising programme that has been on in recent years, bar none, would have put us off the idea completely. They are all portrayed as brash holiday camp style holidays with over the top staff.  I’m generalising of course, as there are always exceptions, but with everything on TV nowadays being ‘human interest’ related, ‘normal’ people don’t make such good TV! It’s no wonder that so many of our friends seem amazed that we like cruising when the depiction of it is as it is!

This is very much my observations too.

We have loved everyone of our 51 cruises since 2003.

The smallest was Sunbird at 37000 tons and the largest was both Harmony and Allure of the seas at 227000 tons.

We have been on all P&O ships and nearly every Royal Caribbean ships.

[grapau27]

1 minute ago, Selbourne said:

That’s a daft comparison. Any top quality hotel would identify a high value returning guest and make a fuss of them. Cruise ships are an entirely different scale and what you describe is just not physically possible. Us regulars are quite capable of winding each other up on here, without the assistance of a troll. 

+1.

[zap99]

14 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

+1.

Often we have seen crew members of P&O and RCG on another cruise and recognised each other.

Quite often when we go on a cruise the staff say good morning Mr Depp,  Good morning miss Roberts. We sometimes put them straight.

[Host Sharon]

30 minutes ago, po go said:

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

That will explain it then. Personally I like to chat to crew, find out where they are from, etc. Not to treat them as invisible servants.

[AnnieC]

32 minutes ago, Angel57 said:

How sad you feel like that...... bet the crew know that too!

I've never used the ignore button before, but there's a first time for everything.😶

[grapau27]

1 minute ago, zap99 said:

Quite often when we go on a cruise the staff say good morning Mr Depp,  Good morning miss Roberts. We sometimes put them straight.

We are always very chatty and friendly to the crew for example.

Restaurant waiters and head waiters.

Diamond and Concierge lounge waiters and concierge.

Cabin Stewards.

Hopefully our personalities is why we are remembered although not always by name.

 

 

 

 

[Josy1953]

7 minutes ago, Host Sharon said:

That will explain it then. Personally I like to chat to crew, find out where they are from, etc. Not to treat them as invisible servants.

I agree they are not invisible servants, they are hard-working people willing to spend long periods of time away from their homes in order to give themselves and their dependants a better standard of living.  Anyone who has worked away from home at all even for a short length of time will know how hard it must be for these people.

[Angel57]

25 minutes ago, zap99 said:

I see you are fairly new to cruise critic so welcome. In case I don't get another chance, I'll say goodbye now🤣

Done the same! 

[grapau27]

16 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Quite often when we go on a cruise the staff say good morning Mr Depp,  Good morning miss Roberts. We sometimes put them straight.

Usually on Royal Caribbean they call me Mr Graham and not by my surname.

[zap99]

2 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

We are always very chatty and friendly to the crew for example.

Restaurant waiters and head waiters.

Diamond and Concierge lounge waiters and concierge.

Cabin Stewards.

Hopefully our personalities is why we are remembered although not always by name.

 

 

 

 

They only remember us because we look like movie stars and give them 100 dollars tip first evening. Wearing flipflops in the MDR works as well.🤣

[Josy1953]

1 minute ago, grapau27 said:

Usually on Royal Caribbean they call me Mr Graham and not by my surname.

We have had that on P&O and Princess, David is often referred to as Mr David in the bars

[terrierjohn]

49 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

 

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. 

I accept Celebrity and HAL do not operate the large resort ships, but their pricing is higher than the cruise lines that do. Similarly the smaller ship cruise lines like Oceania, Saga and Azamara are also higher priced, even Fred and CMV were always more expensive than P&O, and Fred's future pricing is well above P&O.

For those who enjoy small ship cruising from P&O my advice would be to maximise your bookings for 2021/2, because I don't think either Aurora or Arcadia will be replaced with similar sized ships when they are retired.

[grapau27]

1 minute ago, zap99 said:

They only remember us because we look like movie stars and give them 100 dollars tip first evening. Wearing flipflops in the MDR works as well.🤣

Sounds like a good reason to be remembered on Royal Caribbean ships.

[grapau27]

3 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

We have had that on P&O and Princess, David is often referred to as Mr David in the bars

Likewise for me.

Usually they will say Miss Pauline for Pauline.

[terrierjohn]

7 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Likewise for me.

Usually they will say Miss Pauline for Pauline.

I assume all wine waiters and bar staff do the same, they just look at our cruise cards and use our forenames because they are easier and more common than surnames.

Edited December 21, 2020 by terrierjohn