Just thought I might stir things up a bit with a list of common gripes:
1. On formal night, the men at the next table were not wearing coats and ties.......I doubt that it ruined the taste of your steak and lobster. Live and let live!
2. Drinks on the ship were too expensive.......Save the calories for extra desserts and the money for shore excursions. Water goes well with every dish in the dining room.
3. There were too many kids or wild college students on board.......What do you expect when you cruise over times when the schoods are closed?
4. There were too many senior citizens on their ship.......We old people have to have some way to spend our children's inheritance. If you are on board with me, I'll race you around the jogging track!
5. I gained too much weight!.......That's what happens when you permanently reserve a lounge chair. Use the gym, jogging track and the stairs. You CAN have your cake!
6. The man standing nest to me at the rail was smoking........Move away and let the poor guy ruin his lungs.
7. The food in the dining room was terrible.......I guess that if you normally eat in the best Parisian resturants, that might be true, but it sure beats McDonalds. In 18 cruises, I have never had bad food.
8. How can I smuggle liquor on board?...... Would you like the ships to permit you to bring your own liquor and then pay a lot more for the cruise? It really is a type of theft, guys.
9. The ship rocked too much........You were on the water, that's what ships do!
10. The music in the disco was too loud......Go somewhere else. Unfortunately, music almost everywhere is too loud these days.
11. I didn't get my luggage till 9 pm........If you can move 3000 pieces of luggage to all the cabins any faster, the cruise line has a position for you.
12. It is a week before the cruise and my documents haven't arrived..... If they don't come soon, you might really have a gripe. They mostly always do arrive.
This was done in a spirit of fun. Don't hate me too much!
In my experience, more than half of all gripes are written tongue in cheek. You get those of us who just like to stir the pot a little bit. Why, because we can.
Periodically you get someone who is truly "juiced " about some issue. It can also be fun (as well as helpful) to respond to these as well.
By the way, on formal night, if you don't wear a tie, how are you supposed to keep the melted butter from getting on the front of your shirt?
Is the napkin the thing that looks like the big handkerchief that they make the funny shapes out of and leave on your plate? I knew there was something you were supposed to do with that thing besides give it to the assistant waiter to make a swan out of. Thanks.
If I wear a wide enough tie, I can skip the shirt and save on laundry. This way we have a few extra bucks to buy wine and beer on shore and sneak it on in our check in baggage.
Then if I drink enough , I don't care about the food quality, the price of drinks, the ship rocking , the guy smoking or the old peopleon the ship (that is other old people besides me).
Is it ok for me to wear my Land's End Aqua socks with my tux? They are black and will save me the weight in my luggage of carrying patent leather shoes.
I want to get my moneies worth out of my tuxedo. Do you think I would look out of place wearing it every night and for disembarking the ship?
Let me answer these 1 by 1. (1)I simply don't worry about this situation. (2)I don't drink.(3)See #1.(4)See #1(5)I eat right,so no worries.(6)Depends,I will decide course of action case by case;but I am Adament and will enforce the noone smokes around me policy.(7)See #5.(8)See#2.(9)A slight concern.(10)I don't Dance.(11)I Pack light and keep what I need with me.(12)I have ALL Paperwork,so not a concern.Later.
For example, not only have I had construction woes, my mother needs open-heart surgery and our aviary was infected with beak & feather disease because we had to evacuate 50+ birds from a forest fire last Sept. that ate up 3500 acres, 35 homes and came within two houses of ours. The only place that would take in that many birds was a vet's office. We only found out last week that we're infected. I've had a bad time lately.
So I could go into my next cruise thinking that, for the money I spent, I should have a perfect experience. But I don't think that way. Some people do though.
Me, I just keep thinking I wasn't born in Iraq, Ethiopia, whatever. I'm lucky despite all the challenges. I can still cruise and even when I can't I'm still lucky to be an American.
Things can go wrong, things have gone horribly wrong lately, and believe me, I'm going to carry a salt shaker with me at all times, because if the ship sinks and we're stranded on an iceberg and have to start eating people, no way could I do it without salt.
Hmmmm, Paul B., I think you summed it up just about right!
The weather, high wind & waves, "a ship being delayed because of these things" complaints absolutely amaze me the most! Last time I checked, no one has any control over weather conditions or wave heights.
Reading all the fuss this winter about unseasonably "cold" cruises, cold weather, other issues, do these people never turn on a TV or check what the weather is going to be for the next few days?
There are no guarantees that Florida or Nw Orleans are going to be warm in January!
Location: Wisconsin....about 100 miles south of the Frozen Tundra and 70 miles east of Camp Randall
Posts: 9,382
Re: Do We Gripe Too Much?
Personally I don't think we gripe enough! After all, if you get it out of your system here, then once you get onboard you just let it all roll off of your shoulders!
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Crown Princess 1/18/14....the NEW Me, Myself and I cruise!
Sure, check out the "Holiday" from Hell thread. The only thing I find worse than griping about a cruise is griping about other people who gripe about a cruise.
I guess it's better to gripe on these boards than gripe on the ship. The cruise is my time to relax and forget about the "real world". So I get my frustrations out here and I feel better. Who knows, maybe a cruise crew member will read these and do something about the things we gripe about. My husband and I also thought about writting a book called "If I were in charge". This way we're sort of writting it to you all.
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Do We Gripe Too Much?
and happy cruising!
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