Sunday, May 10, 2009

Stay away from Carnival Cruise Lines

Stay away from Carnival

With the scare of swine flu passing we learn that this is more like an ordinary flu season. However, the fear about going to Mexico had many cruise ships heading south of the border changing direction. While many cruise lines offered customers various credits and coupons for changing the itinerary on them, the Carnival Splendor took a hard line.

Because of my background as a business coach, I have seen what works and doesn’t work when working with the public. Giving away a desert at a restaurant for slow service, or bringing the wrong dish to the table, will make a customer feel valued. That customer will likely forgive the error and come back again.

Making the customer feel like they are nothing more than a part of a cattle call is a poor approach to continued business and good will. Apparently that is the approach that Carnival Cruise Lines prefers. While they guarantee satisfaction, it requires that you get off the ship at the first NON-U.S. port of call and can get a refund of your unused cruise fare. When the ship headed for Mexico, and then turned around due to the swine flu scare, they never hit a non-U.S. port of call. They returned to Long Beach before going up to San Francisco.

They traded warmth and sun for cold and rain. And offered the passengers NOTHING but a poorly worded apology: “We apologize that we were not able to provide the itinerary that people anticipated.” They might as well of added, “And if you don’t like it, tough luck.”

If this is the kind of cruise line you would like to give your money to, that’s your business. I for one would never take a Carnival cruise based on this business approach.

(Information obtained from an article in the Los Angeles Times, “Swine flu sank Mexico cruise” by David Lazarus in the Business Section, Sunday, May 10, 2009)
Rennie

Sunday, May 3, 2009

From No Hope to First Place

This is such a wonderful race story: This horse is owned by a couple of cowboys, purchased for $9500, and with such poor stud prospects was gelded, had a 4th place finish somewhere in New Mexico, which was just enough wins to "qualify" for the Kentucky Derby. The owners said, "What the heck" and trainer Bennie Woolley Jr. drove Mine That Bird in a trailer pulled by his Ford pick-up to the Kentucky Derby while Co-owner Mark Allen's pick-up truck broke down on the way there. As expected, the horse started in last place in a field of 19, but at least the owners could say he ran in the Kentucky Derby. He was so far back that when you see the video of the pack of horses running you can't even see Mine That Bird. He stayed in last place through 3/4 of the race. Ridden by Calvin Borel, a jockey who couldn't get a better mount and only met the horse 6 days earlier, he comes up on the inside in the last 1/4 of the race and beats the whole field by almost 7 lengths. The announcer doesn’t even mention #8 Mine that Bird until he is already 2 lengths ahead of the pack. It's a 2 minute race that is wonderful to see from NBC news. It's the kind of story with 50-1 odds that Hollywood would make a movie about it.
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/30538272/
Rennie