THE CLIENTS THE CAT DRAGGED IN

Dear MSC,

Thanks for: • making me stand in the sun waiting for the ship to dock for hours, twice. • shuttling me from the plane all the way to the MSC‘s port just to tell me that I need to “prepare to stand in the sun” (as you so eloquently put it) so you can tell me over an intercom that the ship is not coming two hours later. It might come in hours, or days- MSC wasn’t quite sure as the wind was quite bad so the ship could not dock. • making me fork out R3 325.80 for two nights for a two-bedroom apartment and pay for food that I already paid for in my MSC package. Because everyone just has that pocket-money in January. • making me pay for internet so I can rebook my flight as we would not be docking in time for our flight back home (another extra R500.00 we had to pay so we can move our flights last-minute) • letting me know via email that we would be missing our flights back home as we are going to dock later then expected, it was so personal.

Thanks to your waiters for making me wait 60 minutes for my STARTER on Sunday night.

When asked to be assisted on different occassions we were told, inter alia: • “No” • “I will help you when I am ready” • “Just wait” • “Your waiter is busy preparing food in the kitchen” (clearly you were short-staffed because I cannot make sense the apalling service any other way). • “There’s not alcohol here” (while giving us a big snotty grin as after she made us wait 10 minutes). • “I will get someone” (I heard this exactly 6 times in two days) • “We don’t have the ingredients for this coctail” • “There’s no milk on the ship as the ship couldn’t get supplies when they docked” (there was milk the next morning at different deck when we asked a more helpful waiter to bring me a cappucino,though) • Once when asked what we wanted to order, we told the waiter to bring butter while we eat the bread rolls so we can order when he brings it (so we can at least eat that while we wait for the food) when he irritably said: “not ready to order!” after which our waiter turned his back on us and ignored us when we called him back. • Thanks for by far the worst holiday of my life! • And last but not least a special thank you to the manager who joked that we could stay with his mother in Durban when we told him that we have no more money left for a B&B if we miss our flight home. Your customer care, Sir, was particularly spectacular in the ****-show that is the MSC Musica.

Since you people obviously have no idea what you put us through, please let me put it into perspective so maybe when this happens again you won’t treat your clients like something the cat dragged in: for two nights in my 5 day holiday I had no idea were I was going to sleep! I didn’t know where I was going to get money to eat on the two days you left us to fend for ourselves when you arrived late. Not one sincere apology was made this entire trip for the inconvenience and I was more stressed after my holiday then before I left home. I spent my holiday biting my tongue so I won’t make a scene and ruin anybody’s holiday but I now realise that there is not much that could have made the holiday worse! Please give my money back so I can forget this sorry trip every happened.

By the way, since the managers clearly have no idea what is going on with their subordinates, I would like to point out that housekeeping and the barmen at the Laguna Bar on deck 13 was very friendly. I would have loved to see the rest of the staff so efficient and welcoming.