I sailed with Swan Hellenic in October 2024 on their Heart of the Seychelles cruise. There were many problems but I decided to hold off posting an immediate review in order to give SH the opportunity to address these issues. After a couple of communications from their Global Head of Guest Relations, which were basically cut & paste responses, paragraphs that didn’t relate to anything I had mentioned, and even statements that were obviously meant for someone else, I realised that the company has no care for their customers once they have travelled and won't take responsibility for the failures that I had to endure.Apparently it was the first time SH had operated this itinerary and as a result the cruise felt like a training exercise, with staff learning on the job and passengers their unwilling guinea pigs. ITINERARY/EXCURSIONS : This was the biggest disappointment, and ultimately where the cruise failed. It felt like it was being planned ‘on the hoof’. There was a nightly briefing about the following days excursions but these never went to plan which resulted in a vast amount of our holiday time hanging around waiting for updated announcements. Promised highlights were cancelled and when we did get ashore the trips were frustratingly limited and poorly executed. There was so much misinformation I cannot list it all here.ONBOARD EXPERIENCE : This was an Indian Ocean cruise therefore I would have expected adequate sun loungers and shade. There were 6 loungers and the only 2 parasols were over these loungers. It was impossible to get anywhere near these as they were always reserved. Despite repeated requests for more loungers to be put out, they never materialised. Entertainment was virtually non-existent. The same pianist every night with a very limited playlist. This was the only place to go after dinner so most people went straight to bed. The ‘included’ wifi was a joke and only allowed you to access whatsapp messages. For a normal wifi service there was an additional charge of $225 per device ($25 per day for duration of cruise).SERVICE : Whilst the staff were mainly friendly and tried to be helpful, the majority appeared undertrained. Many were new to the cruise line and lacked the professional standards expected of a premium cruise. Guest relations didn’t exist so whenever we had issues on board there was no clear point of contact for addressing concerns. When we had issues with noise in our stateroom and asked to move cabin we were advised we could go to reception when we were ready for bed and they would let us into an alternative cabin to sleep, but we couldn’t move there – only sleep!FOOD & DRINK : The bar on the outside deck was often left unmanned. There was a drinks menu but many of the items listed were unavailable. Ordering a cocktail was lucky dip – You never knew what you would get as every server seemed to prepare them differently. Cocktails in the Observation Lounge were served in plastic glasses. The wine served was below the standard I would expect on this type of cruise. WILDLIFE & EXPEDITION ELEMENTS : Highlight moments like a whale shark sighting went unannounced to passengers. On another occasion the on board expert recommended moving to deeper water for potential whale & dolphin viewings but this was ignored. I would have expected these to be key aspects of expedition cruising.DISEMBARKATION : On our 2nd day we were presented with disembarkation information. Essentially we needed to sign up for an Island tour at $189pp or a Hotel Day pass at $110pp We had been informed prior to travel that we could stay on the ship until our airport transfer. When I queried with staff they were very unhelpful. It was only after I contacted our travel agent that this issue was resolved. POST CRUISE EXPERIENCE : This was an expensive cruise that failed to deliver the ‘5 star premium boutique cruise experience.’ All of the above and much more has been fed back to Swan Hellenic. To date I have received 2 letters neither of which have addressed the majority of issues, and both of which have paragraphs that don't relate to anything I mentioned. They are clearly cutting & pasting responses from other people's letters without checking the content which I find deeply insulting. There are repeated comments about feeding back all information, however I wasn't on a 'market research cruise' I paid full price for a product that didn't deliver Looking at previous reviews of this cruise line it appears that they operate successfully in the Polar regions, however they need to make significant improvements in their planning of new itineraries. It is unjustifiable to test them out on full paying passengers as they did in this case.An offer of a future cruise credit which equates to approx 8.5% off the same cruise in 2025 is beyond derisory
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