20240417 (18th here) Sapphire Princess South Pacific Cruise Day 14 - sea day wash and fold

Sapphire Princess South Pacific Cruise Day 14 - Sea Day - two weeks in and the undies needed washing

Let's start out today with a customer service story.

A couple of days ago, a customer comment form was left in our cabin. We usually fill them in. If something sucks, we say it sucks. If something is awesome, we say it is awesome. I firmly believe that if you want to complain about something that isn't right, you are equally required to praise that that is praiseworthy. On the form, I recounted the story from the Guest Services desk where I'm my opinion, we were treated poorly when we reported the fact that the package of perks that we booked was missing from our account. I also included a description and names of our awesome cabin steward, Dennis, along with the great bartenders, Simon and Branko, and our morning Diet Coke man, Saju. The good and the bad. Yesterday, we got a call from, and forgive me if I got the name wrong, Ante, from Guest Services. He had been given our form by the hotel manager and was asked to follow up. I explained my comments, and why I felt the way I did. He listened and understood and was a little frustrated by the responses we had been given.

Let me be clear - we did not make comments with the expectation of getting anything. A company cannot fix things that they do not know are broken. Our intent in providing feedback is so that issues that need to be addressed can be addressed so everyone, us included, has a better experience.  Period.

Ante asked if there was something we wished to do on the ship but didn't. I mentioned that we rarely, if ever, opt for the extra-cost specialty dining options. Ante offered to provide us with an evening in the venue of our choice.  Again, this wasn't something we were looking for. He said that he wanted to do this as a means to make up is some part for the trouble we had after boarding. I accepted with our thanks. So, in two days, we will be dining in the steakhouse and I will be reporting on that experience.

Any company can experience a failure in service. How they respond tells the story of whether they care. We experienced a significant failure in hospitality from Princess and reported that. Princess has responded, listening, planning a response and mitigation plan, and an apology. In my mind, that was a valid and honorable response, so kudos, Princess. Here's hoping we have a good meal in the steakhouse.

Today is our last sea day before making land in Samoa. It was our 14th day on this trip and 13th day at sea and frankly, I was running out of underwear. That meant it was time to check out the self-service launderettes on Princess.

Each guest floor has a self-service launderette

The launderette on our floor, floor 10 (Caribe) is most of the way aft - a long way. The one on deck 9 is right below us - a much shorter walk so we used that one.

The deck 9 launderette has eight stacked washer/dryer combination units and four ironing boards with irons

Just because there are eight units, it doesn't mean they are all working

Two of the ironing boards were out of service as well

To use the washers or buy soap, you need to purchase tokens

A wash or dry token costs $3 - and a soap or softener token runs $1.50 - it is all charged to your medallion

The soap and softener are dispensed by an old school vending machine - it ate one token that I will have to sort out with Guest Services

There are two tokens - this is a wash/dry token and the softener/soap token is slightly smaller

The washers were clean and efficient, running a wash load in about 45 minutes and drying in 40. We will do one more load in another couple of weeks and that should last us for the cruise. That will bring out laundry expenses to a grand total of $15. $6 for two washes, $6 for two dryer loads, and $3 for two packs of soap. I would bring Tide Pods next time and save the soap expense. Not too bad, but still more than Viking's "free".

Let's switch gears back to communication. We received this letter in our room.

Make special note of the area in the red box

See where it says to date the form by hand to validate it?  But...here's the validation portion of the form?

Oh, look - it's already filled out

We want to fill out the form properly by following the instructions, but the instructions are obviously incorrect. It is a small thing, but if you provide written instructions to guests, they should be correct. I called Guest Services to make sure and they said it was fine. Communication is a wonderful thing when done correctly and a maddening one when it is done like this. Oh well.

We shared a table at dinner with some nice folks and that made for entertaining dinner conversation in the International Dining Room.  Here's a look at tonight's menu.

Here's a look at today's trivia misfires:

• Who discovered that the Earth revolves around the Sun?
• We flipped between Galileo and Copernicus and incorrectly chose Galileo
• What planet has the most moons?
• We've missed this before, and missed it again - it's Saturn with 146
• Where would you find Mt. Kilimanjaro?
• We goofed with Kenya - it's next door in Tanzania
• Where was sushi invented?
• We guessed Japan - it was China
• What country celebrates New Year first?
• We guessed Samoa since we'll be there tomorrow - it was Kiribati
• In what country was Bang & Olufsen formed?
• We guessed Sweden - it was Denmark
• What celebrity bought a chimp in 1961?
• Elvis
• How long can a vampire bat go between feeding before it dies (2 / 6 / 12 days)?
• We guessed 6 - it was 2
• What gulf connects the Arabian and Red seas?
• We guessed the Gulf of Oman - it was the Gulf of Aden
• A Sesquipedalian writer likes to use what?
• We guessed typewriter - it is long words
• What is the largest carnivorous marsupialial?
• We guessed wombat - it was the Tasmanian Devil
• What are the six official languages of the United Nations?
• English, French, Russian, Mandarin, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic

Tonight, we attended a Liar's Club show in the Explorers Bar. Three panelists provided definitions of unusual words - two made up and one correct. the audience had to determine who told the truth. The words were silly and the definitions were sillier and it was full of laughs, double entendres, and a great time.

Entertainment Director, Ben, Cruise Director, Armando, and Assistant Cruise Director, Victoria provided the laughs

When we got back to the room, equator crossing certificates were waiting for us.

It was time to write this missive and get to bed as we will meet our tour first thing in the morning. Samoa tomorrow!