Seabourn is in big trouble. Once again, there is no internet Anyone who does any kind of business, wants to pay their bills or has someone in the hospital is totally stymied. The lady ahead of me in guest services is a psychologist who was beyond irate. She said she would never has signed up to come on this ship if she could not talk to her patients. I cannot count on my fingers the toes of people just I know who swear they will never sail with Seabourn again.
I think there is now one IT person on board. even if there were more, they are dealing with trying to patch as system that is archaic. The passenger has zero recourse, and many of them are happy having more alcohol and food thrown at them.
I am writing this post at dinner time Tuesday, but I have no idea if and when it goes.
The sail away from Bali got rained out 15 minutes after it started. Had a great tasting menu lunch with friends Manny and Joyce at the St Regis. That is some fancy property. It is huge, luxurious and has gorgeous grounds. The service is impeccable. It was not easy, but we managed to pickup something our friend Jalayne wants that is only available on this property.
First we went to a couple of markets, to a silver store and saw quite a bit of Bali. One incident that really pissed me off and proof that no good deed goes unpunished, happened exactly this way.
We needed a driver guide for our two days in Bali, the going rate for a full day is $50. Through our friend Jalayne, she had a friend who works for Oceania who said he had the perfect driver guide, very dependable and able. The driver/guide contacted me on What’s App and we made a deal for $60 per day. I always tip more than generously and try to take our driver/guide to lunch as our guest. Some culture make that more difficult, but more times than not we pay for the same lunch we eat.
The day before, Joseph, this reliable driver tells me he forgot he was busy but would be sending his son Michael who was 20. Michael was a nice young man and a great driver but knew nothing about being a guide. Joseph assured me he would take us the second day.
However, at the end of the first day, Michael the son told me his Dad was busy again and we were getting him again. I said okay but find out some more info so he could also guide us. He said okay.
I gave Michael a $20 tip, paid for his tank of gas and bought him the fanciest Balinese lunch available where we ate and he at the same food. He was ecstatic but a lot of good that did me.
Then at 8:30 a.m when we were expecting Michael at 9, Joseph texted me that his son now was not available and he was sending his nephew I was unhappy, a double bait and switch but we went to meet the nephew. He was not there and was almost half an hour late. In the meantime we and our friends were standing in the hot sun and I finally just hired a driver waiting at the port and he turned out to be terrific. His car was far nicer, the air conditioning was much better and he knew where to take us.
What happened, and this is just no way to do business. Joseph just sold out for more money. He felt no responsibility to keep his word or, subsequently, his son’s word. I would never recommend this man not even to my worst enemy.
I heartily recommend the driver we ended up with just by luck. His name is Dusty. His phone is +6281 353 300504. I am not sorry for the rant. I never did business that way because shortsighted. The primary objective is a satisfied customer or client. Even if I had an obligation to do some thing for free and received a call to make a substantial fee, I first see to it that my word is not broken and then go on to the next thing
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Six more people shot dead in Nashville. Three were 9 years old. Gun people could not care less. We really are going to hell in a hand basket.
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See you tomorrow. At least that is my plan.
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Go Ukraine
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