Ramblings of the travel industry: Having a bad day? Let it go.

I will honestly never understand some people.

So last night was a little rocky on the ship. Swells were a little bigger than the average sea day. Not the worst I’ve encountered. But on a scale of 1 to 10 - with 10 being the nastiest storm and waves in the Northern Atlantic in the late fall (where I wondered what genius put chairs with wheels on a ship – but that’s another story), this night was on my scale, at most, a 4. Yes, I woke up a couple of times when the waves crashed over my porthole (making it look like a washing machine). I closed the porthole and went back to sleep after a little bit of reading. Nothing major.

This morning there was little to no waves outside as I opened my office up onboard for a long sea day. I take care of the loyalty club and future cruises program and I have a slew of office hours on sea days to answer questions and try to solve issues that often have nothing to do with me or my department.

The first person in my office: “I’ve cruise 10 times on multiple cruise lines and I want a refund on my cruise because I didn’t feel well last night because of the rocking.” Now how to respond to that? I suggested that if they still are feeling ill, they can pick up seasick medication at the reception desk, to stay mid-ship and on lower decks, try eating saltines crackers and green apples (magical cure for upset stomachs – old sailor trick!) and sipping ginger ale. The guest repeated themselves, “I want a refund.” I explained that unless their travel protection plan covered seasickness, that I wasn’t sure how they would be able to receive a refund. They say “this is ridiculous” and they “wanted off the ship” (And they said that they’ve sailed before? Where? A pond in their backyard? A toy in their bathtub?) I suggested that the guest give the day another try and if they still felt that way at the end of the night, they could stop at reception, set up plans to disembark and they could fly home tomorrow when we docked in Costa Maya. The guest gives me a dirty look and storms out of my office.

Guest comes back multiple times during the day to complain. We’re talking a time span of 10 hours, they were back 4 times.
• They said that the waiter offered fresh ground pepper to every single person at the table and was upset because “who on earth would put pepper on a burger and fries?”
• They were upset that we have crew members set up at doorways in all restaurants to squirt hands with anti-bacterial spray. Most crew members do this for hundreds of guests, smiling the entire time, saying “washie, washie!” even though they’ve been standing there for hours on end and getting paid pennies.
• They were upset that the afternoon announcement woke them up from a nap in the sunshine on the pool deck when the cruise director was on for a couple of minutes to run thru the afternoon events coming up.
• They didn’t like their room. It was too small. And there were 2 small nail holes in the wall of their room. They wanted them taken care of.

This list could go on and on and on. I put in a work order to fix the 2 small nail holes. I then simply made notes on a piece of paper (to look like I care – it would be filed in chapter 13 later on – aka my trash bin).

Finally, the day is over and I can close my office. I am heading on my way to dinner in the officer’s mess and this guest catches me in the hallway. They tell me that they still aren’t happy. I ask the guest what can be done to make them happy? They tell me that it would take all night to tell me everything that was wrong and walk away. Other guests looked on in pity.

Why do people do this? Why do people insist upon making themselves miserable and spreading it around like a disease? These people are on VACATION. If they’re that miserable now, what are they like in their daily life? I hate to imagine. And why do they just NOT let it go?

If telling someone will help you let it go, then I will gladly lend an ear and even try to help solve it. There is also a correct way and a wrong way to complain. Using foul language, throwing things at me in my office, snide comments, cutting in front of other guests to yell at me? Not going to help your cause. And I promise you, if you think you’re having a bad day, there’s always someone who’s having a worse day than you.

I have seen many scenarios. Things that surely could ruin your vacation. And people who say, “What can you do?” and laugh it off. These are the people that I love having onboard. I will do just about anything to make their day better, maybe sending something fun, like a bottle of wine or chocolate covered strawberries to their room.

I’ve heard stories from friends about how multiple guests asked for full refunds when one of our ships diverted her route in South America and missed 1 port of call to rescue sailors from lifeboats in the Antarctic when their icebreaker ship went down (and was entirely underwater by the time the cruise ship arrived). I’ve seen guests get mad because the guests were held up and shorted a half hour in port when we’ve had a medical emergency on the ship where a crew member was taken off the ship directly to the ambulance on the pier. Or guests who take 10 minutes of my time to tell me they will never sail again with us because we no longer offer chocolates on the pillows at night, even though there’s a line of happy guests waiting behind them to sign up for the program for their next cruise. Do they expect me to start crying and begging them to come back? Seriously people.

I’ve seen guests who have been robbed in port laugh about it later on. One night onboard in my first contract, a 40 year old man died on a dance floor of heart failure (his heart just burst – killing him instantly) in front of his wife. We heard his wife say later, “He died happy” and that “he’d gotten to do what he had always wanted - seen the most beautiful sunrise over Haleakala Crater in Maui”. I had a lovely little couple in their early 90’s in my office, signing up for the future cruise program. When he asked her, “What happens if I die?” she answered without missing a beat or looking up from the form “I’ll take your ashes on a nice cruise”.

So make your day out to be what you want of it. You can let something ruin your day but it’s up to you to decide to be happy again. There’s too many good things you may miss out on if you decide to mope and be miserable.

In fact, that little couple I mentioned in their 90’s? They went dancing every night. When it rained in port, she smiled and said that it would be good for the flowers. They held hands as they walked through the ship. And greeted every person they walked past. One day, I asked if she could tell me any secret to longevity. The greatest pearls of wisdom from this gentle silver-haired petite woman who stopped to give me hugs daily, she gave to me in a list which I have since put in my passport cover.

“Savor each day.
Don’t ever go to bed mad.
Give love freely.
& Drink wine daily… you get bonus points if you can finish the bottle!”