Apparently Suzy had trouble sleeping during the night because of the cramped conditions and so she decided to sleep head to toe. You can imagine how confused I was when I stirred sometime later: what am I doing here or what is she doing down there or how much did I really have to drink with dinner? Unfortunately she still didn’t get a good night’s sleep but at least I had more sleep than the previous night (which wouldn’t be hard).
When we woke in the morning, we were still docked at Argostolli. Last night Thanos (the boat’s cruise director) had told us that we would be leaving at 4:30am to sail to Ithaca in time for a swim after breakfast and a beach barbecue for lunch.
At breakfast this morning, he told us that the government inspector had not come yesterday as expected and the boat was not allowed to leave until they got his approval. He said we would be leaving at 9am.
Soon afterwards, we saw two men in official-looking uniforms. It was hard to know what was going to happen because the inspectors and crew were busy all over the boat. The inspectors were having long conversations on their mobile phones with someone while pacing up and down on the dock with worried expressions on their faces.
In the meantime, Suzy rang the travel agent (Amy) that she has been dealing with at Flight Centre. Amy had received our email and was planning to ring the agent in Greece soon because we would soon be in the Greek business hours.
At about 9:30, Thanos told us that the inspectors had approved the boat for departure and they were now just completing the paperwork. At about 10:15, the boat did leave the dock and sailed out of the harbour in the blue Adriatic Sea – at last – more than two days late.
Linda had slept on deck all night again as she had every other night because she cannot cope with the claustrophobic conditions in her cabin. She said she has never suffered from claustrophobia before and she has never had difficulty sleeping before – even during times of family tragedy. She is starting to look pale and drawn.
She commented to me that it is surprising that this company is the only one that provides a motor yacht tour of the Ionian Islands. A competitor would do well.
Another passenger said that she has been on similar cruises in Italy and Turkey. In both cases, they had been well organised and very enjoyable. On our cruise, she sits there are says “unbelievable” with a bemused expression on her face with every problem, blunder or delay.
Yet another passenger said that we would probably put up with the lousy service and hopeless cruise director if we were actually going somewhere and seeing the sites promised in the company’s brochure. I feel especially sorry for the people who boarded the tour on Sunday at Argostolli and have only just left it.
My current assessment is that this lot are a bunch of turkeys. Perhaps my assessment will change by the end of the cruise if they manage to get their act together. I’m not confident that this will happen.
According to their brochure, the cruise season finishes in about two weeks. I’m not an expert on maritime matters, but perhaps this boat should be decommissioned then (if it lasts that long) and sold off for scrap.
As Linda said, there is a golden opportunity here for a competent tour operator to be successful in the Ionian Islands. A competent organisation would start by acquiring a modern vessel that could accommodate their customers in an appropriate level of comfort. I’m not talking about 5-star accommodation – 3-star would be fine.
A competent organisation would then hire staff with the right attitude and aptitude. They would then provide them with good training. In other words, just follow good business practices. This isn’t rocket science. A competent organisation might not hire many of this crew to serve on such a cruise.
But then again, the food has been good and there is no shortage of free beer and wine (pre-paid, I guess). Perhaps they should keep the chef.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment