Seabourn on Cruise Critic – A New Low In Poster Perspectives…And Conduct.

Over the past few weeks I have received emails and Facebook messages asking me if I had read the recent threads from various posters including, but not limited to, SeabournTraveller and Card Check.  I must say that I am no longer frustrated, but truly disgusted by what I am reading.

Why?  Not only because of the content (actually lack thereof), but the pompous and infantile (yes, at the same time) posts and games being played to run up the views (accomplished by doing simple things like repeatedly reloading a page); thus creating a faux level of interest and, I guess, “needed” status.  (You will see what I mean in a moment.)

The people that are writing these posts are not your normal Seabourn passenger/guest.  These people are not guests, they are pains in the ass that have a huge over-abundance of pretentiousness designed to mask their lack of class, sophistication and experience.  (As my daughter would say, “Dad:  A little harsh…Just a tiny bit.”)

Today was the final straw.  This SeabournTraveller person…who purchased the absolute lowest possible category for the cruise (an A Guarantee) and boasts of her time planted at the Sky Bar sucking down mojitos while spending very little time actually exploring the ports or engaging in new adventures…was fishing around onboard for a possible upgrade…presumably because of the great service ST thinks she is providing by posting every blessed menu and daily activity.  When Seabourn wouldn’t give her a complimentary eight (8) category upgrade to a V6 she wrote:

We also got a call from the Guest Services Manager that a V6 CAT has become available and you don’t even want to know what they wanted to charge us even though we were booked on a GTY CAT A which was the last cabin. As I explained to him we have sailed a 100 days with Seabourn and booked this and another 42 days on the Odyssey at the end of the year and if that isn’t enough of a spend for Seabourn then I should perhaps take our business elsewhere as I don’t appreciate being “nickled and dimed”. He said he would speak with the Hotel Manager again about it and I said “Not to Bother” I will escalate this matter to John Delaney’s Office as I already had an email into him.

So somehow this pretentious ass believes that the drivel she writes is worth denigrating the value and hard-earned money of virtually every other guest on the ship who paid more than she did.  And, of course, let’s face it: She makes no bones about making special requests of the crew for just about anything she can…because she does nothing other than post on Cruise Critic.

BTW, I know that ST is hard at work to vest in her free week (earned when you sail 140 days on Seabourn…read her math above) and she is going to scream when she is given a credit for a Category A suite value when that day comes because that is the category she most sailed in.  And, she isn’t taking her business anywhere…because of that Seabourn-provided free cruise.

But this is not about SeabournTraveller.  It is about the garbage that is now being written on Cruise Critic not only by her but by the couple of dozen of others that post there.  (Yes, once in a while there is something relevant posted by the last remaining few posters that seem to have living brain cells.)

Some of the comments from Card Check have been mind boggling as well.  She didn’t like the Owner’s Suite because the she couldn’t figure out how to open the refrigerator door with the bar door open, the sofa was apparently uncomfortable and she didn’t like the coffee table. She was moved and given a large refund (You can see  all the money Seabourn is NOT making on the two of these Cruise Critic posters!  An Owner’ Suite now remains empty and there is a demand for a complimentary 8 category upgrade.)

Skipping (almost) Card Check’s comments about such riveting things as how the mini-van was air-conditioned, but the Seabourn event in Oman was hot (no kidding) so she left after 15 minutes, I came to this one:

We decided to take a cab to the Hilton, so we ordered box “lunches” of baguettes, cheese, salami and fruit. The bartender made us 2 large bottles of melon colada and strawberry margaritas, and a stack of cups. We haggled with the cab drivers and finally got them down to $20.00 for 4 of us. It was about 15 minutes to the Hilton-it was in the middle of barren waste land. But for $14.00, they let you use the beautiful pool (with a slide) and they provided unlimited ice for our drinks.

So I am supposed to rely upon someone who is so cheap…yes, a downright cheapskate…that she not only wouldn’t pay for lunch off the ship, but needed to impose upon the staff to provide her with free drinks (with cups no less) and then beat down a taxi driver for a fare…which she split with another couple…only to proudly spout off about how she paid $14 to use a hotel pool with – yes folks – free ice!  (Yes, from the same pain-in-the-ass that booked the Owner’s Suite, then came up with some absurd reason to leave Seabourn holding the bag and her getting a large refund.)

It is so unfortunate that this sort of thing goes on.  But is is more unfortunate that Cruise Critic is manipulated from the Community Manager to Host Dan to the posters and it is done under the guise of being a source of great information about cruises. 

Cruise Critic now, clearly, is as far as Seabourn goes, nothing better than a place to prostitute Cruise Critic’s notoriety in a way that denigrates the cruise line, the information about the cruise line and the cruise experience of anyone unfortunate enough to cross paths with these sociopathic individuals.

As a final thought:  I have been quite critical of some of the things John Delaney has put into place; not necessarily because they are in place, but how they were put there.  But between SeabournTraveller and Card Check you can see how people like that require – yes, require – John Delaney to take actions that if they had not been abused probably never would have been taken.

So a big Thank You to SeabournTraveller, Card Check and a few others for not allowing Seabourn to do things the way it used to….because you are so abusive. 

So Cruise Critic posters:  Don’t be so quick to blame Holland America…Blame yourselves.