The Gold Standard Luxury Travel Forum

I am segregating the comments related to Paul Motter/CruiseMates's October 2011 "virtual cruise" on the Seabourn Sojourn to this thread.

by Iamboatman » Thu Oct 13, 2011 11:56 am

Well it looks like Paul Motter finally got his free cruise on Seabourn. You can read his thoughts here: http://www.cruisemates.com/forum/seabou ... -21-a.html .

His substantive complaints so far have been the TV is too small and the portions of food are too small in The Restaurant. he also had a couple of niggling little compalints about "bath salts" (though Molton Brown bath oils are provided), the bathroom door conflicting with the suite door (true, but strange to comment on) and that the sofa - while full size - doesn't allow the pillows to stay in place if he naps on it. OK, then.

One comment he did make that I agreed with is that the Hotel Manager is not a good table host.

Ironically he seems to be really enjoying himself and relaxing. Now, what was that with all his terrible insults about Seabourn and its guests????

This is a great lesson in being careful who you get your information from. Their background and prejudices make a huge difference.

by diebroke » Fri Oct 14, 2011 11:58 am

I think Paul’s comments say more about Paul than they do about Seabourn. He comes across as naïve, especially in how to read a Seabourn menu.

I found his comment on the TV size a bit conflicting. Since he said a day at sea on Seabourn was comparable with prison but with better food, I was confused because I wasn’t aware prison cells had TV’s of any size. Also, if they serve small portions, how can that make us gluttons?

by Iamboatman » Sat Oct 15, 2011 11:18 pm

I just read Paul Motter's latest rant. What I can tell you is that people that have had to deal with him (not staff) think he and his wife have absolutely no social graces, are rude, arrogant and, not surprisingly, come off as "wannabees that never were and never will be".

A couple of comments I loved

- He has a 60" tv that is 10 feet from his face at home, so he cannot understand why anyone would pay $500 a day for a small tv on Seabourn. Huh? How about socializing? Reading...there's a "novel' concept? Actually going to a lecture rather than watching it another time.

-If you don't like the theme in the Colonnade you are out of luck. I guess he doesn't read the menu placed on the table which offers quite a few alternatives.

-The spa is not like those on a megaship. Huh? He complained the spa hot tub is outside so it was useless to him. A hot tub inside would be useless to most. I guess he wouldn't spring for actual spa treatments...which he made pretty clear!

-His comments on the wine are, frankly, laughable: "The whites are always just the right touch on the tongue. But the reds are exquisite - with the perfect texture and never an afterbite." I know a bit about wine and I know the wines he would be drinking and, if one can get past these awkward adjectives, the styles are wildly different and, unfortunately, most are not that good. But, I guess, if you are sucking down Mateus while watching WWF wrestling on your 60" TV in your underwear (just conjecture on my part, LOL), that might sound pretty good.

- He as to direct people every night for his "no sugar, gluten-free, vegetarian" dietary requirement. What I hear is that he insists on giving direction rather than it is needed. Apparently he makes quite a scene about it. BTW, I have clients that are gluten-free and every venue knows them by name, provide them with fresh gluten-free bread (baked daily) without request and even have special gluten-free takes on the offerings ready for them. On the truth meter, I think Paul's needle fell off.

-Speaking of bread, other than the fact that he needs "gluten-free", the bread offerings must be designed to piss him off...or he is just outright lying. Brown breads, six grain breads, etc. are always offered. And, shockingly, he has never mentioned the breadsticks. (Or the gluten-free ones that Seabourn has available and are presented, again, without request.)

I guess when you are a nasty, demanding, pompous ass...or are percieved as one...

by Iamboatman » Sun Oct 16, 2011 11:21 am

My latest article: http://goldringtravel.blogspot.com/2011 ... bourn.html

Paul Motter is more laughable than Dan Quayle. Try this new comment on for size, "But I have to say this - I don't do this to put my personal opinion on any cruise line in the public eye - I do it to report what I see - no opinions attached."

OK, now I get it: PM is the "decider". If he thinks Seabourn guests are "gluttons" they, objectively, are. If he orders two starters he is merely "hungry". If the television is too small for him than it is just too damn small...objectively, of course. Variety of cuisine? Fact it is insufficient.

How about PM has an opinion...An ill-informed and misguided one, an intentionally skewed one, but an opinion all the same. Of course since I am saying it is not my opinion, because I do not put my opinion in the public eye, it is fact.

I swear Paul Motter has to be living in another world. Now he is complaining that...get this: He didn't know that the night we demanded (not requested) that Restaurant 2 not be Restaurant 2, but rather a uniquely prepared dinner for his wife becauase it was their anniversary. But that isn't what really upset him. What upset him was that he didn't know that night was the Chef's Dinner and there was - yet again - fresh lobster.

This genius said was that there was nothing in the daily journal. Of course not! On Seabourn the dinner menu for all of the restaurants the next day is delivered every evening right there with the daily journal.

It is just another example of a person complaining his answer was correct, but it was the tester's fault for asking the wrong question.

What was that line in Full Metal Jacket about going through life with a certain condition?

I have just written about the menu thing being in the Herald every night......
For some reason from our very first day on Seabourn, we had no trouble reading the menus, but last night we had dinner with some newbies and they had to have it explained to them too...the lady ordered lamb chops from the "lighter" fare menu and thought she would automatically get all the courses on the Lighter Fare menu....never fear....Granny to the rescue! We then also explained the finer details of the Galley lunch and the Deck BBQ......

Now he is pissing and moaning that "according to a seasoned yachtsman" he didn't think the lobster tails Seabourn was serving were legal because they were too small. He also complained because it was only the tail that was presented.

First of all, I always take my advice as to the legal size of a lobster from some guy I met who says he is a yachtsman. (Is that a 30' boat or a 150 foot yacht? Is the guy a lawyer, a fisherman or a doctor or what that gives him such noted authority?) I guess if Motter had gone on the 2011 Goldring Travel Food & Wine Cruise he wouldn't be so ignorant. (Lobsters need to have a certain carapace length and the size is legislated in Maine and some other states, but certain states and Canada it is not.)

And don't you know this ignorant prima donna would be complaining if the entire lobster was served and his having to work at eating it caused a stain to appear on his polyester jacket?!

My latest article on the Motter fiasco: http://goldringtravel.blogspot.com/2011 ... rn_17.html