Gulet Cruise Problems. These will make you smile or cry
Gulet Cruise Problems can happen. Any agency that is saying they never have any problems is either lying to you or not making any business.
Is it the statistic fact, that out of 20 groups you have if you do EVERYTHING RIGHT AS AN AGENCY, 1 group will give you problems. It can be either due to gulet owner that either has a bad day (or is just crazy) but lots of times it can also be the fault of clients.
I will say it right now. And I am not scared to say it. Clients are NOT ALWAYS RIGHT! I am sometimes truly amazed how some people complicate their own holidays. We have some ships, where we sent more than a dozen groups. Always everybody is INCREDIBLY HAPPY! The crew, food, gulet everything is perfect.
And then you have a group where everything is wrong. The Same gulet that had 100% satisfaction on last 20 groups, gets a feedback that is terrible. And this is all due to clients that do not know how to relax.
My very good friend and business partner (gulet owner) once told me like this:
“Mitja, you have clients that wish to have EVERYTHING – IMMEDIATELY – but the problem is they do not really know what.”
And I have seen this lots of times.
But Gulet Cruise Problems do not only happen because some clients do not know how to relax. It is also the other way around. Lots of times wrong people go to wrong business. And when you have people that HATE WORKING WITH OTHER PEOPLE starting a business in tourism….It is like SURGEON that can not stand the looks of blood. Not good.
In this blog post I will write 2 examples of what can happens if the owner is crazy or if the clients are super hard.
Gulet Cruise problem No.1: Nice Shower on Deck
Once upon a time there was a gulet owner that wanted to cut costs during the cruise. He wade shorter itinerary to save on fuel. He gave less food portions to save money on food. He even fired 1 sailor to save money on crew. This makes at least some sense (not very smart thing to do on the long term basis) but at least it is a bit logical.
But when he decided to save money on water (not drinking water but on water for showering) – things then went a but out of control.
He did this. He connected the tube on deck with the SEA WATER. This means that when people would take showers on deck they would do it with sea water!?!
Imagine the surprise of clients. You take a nice swim in some bay and you come out of the water. Then you take a nice shower on deck to wash away the salt on your skin…and you get more SEA WATER on your face. Niceeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Gulet Cruise problem No.2: We wish to see a Donkey!!!
Clients have all sorts of requests. And this one was quite interesting.
We had clients in Turkey that requested from the captain that they wish to see a donkey!!! It was super serious request. they heard from their friends that there are lots of donkeys in Turkey and now they have decided to see one!
They were a family with children (some boys and some girls around 10 years old). The captain was not sure where to take them as this is not an easy task. You can go to some bays and sometimes donkey arrive…while sometimes they do not.
For 3 days captain was checking all possible solutions and then one of his friends called him. He informed him there is one donkey close to the location where the group was and they went there. And yes….the donkey was really there! He was standing there in that bay. And it was a MALE DONKEY! And the ship arrived in exact moment when this donkey was proudly showing all his “5” LEGS :-)!
And the group went totally crazy. The kids started to lough, the crew tried to hide their smiles and it was indeed funny thing…but the mother of her children went completely crazy. She said this is embarrassing that they will ruin their children and that she requests from crew that they make this donkey with “5 legs” go away…and arrange a female donkey to come!!! As this was not possible she said they had a ruined holidays and requested 40% of the money back. Unfortunately this was not possible also.
From this 2 stories I would like to give you 1 very good advice if you wish to avoid Gulet Cruise Problems
- Always check with your agency what is the crew on gulet like!! And ask the agency what is the gulet “name”. Do they have a good reputation. Also ask for some testimonials.
- When you go on a gulet cruise – take is easy and enjoy yourself. You are on holidays..and from my experience more easy going you are better services and experience you will get.
Disclaimer
In last 10 years I have heard so many different funny and scary stories when it comes to gulet cruises that I could write a book about it.
A lot of this stories are from a friend of a friend who heard something about his other friend…..so they could be 100% true, 50% true or maybe completely made up.
Some of them are so bizarre that only a people with incredible imagination could thought of them…real or fake I have decided to share a couple of these stories on this blog. I will not use any names and if somebody will recognize himself (client or the owner) – if the story is funny he should lough at it – if the story is scary, he should learn from it…and think about it for some time.
This is all shared in good faith and with a goal to make gulet cruises even better, then they already are!
