Tired and somewhat weary, but with that sense of satisfaction that comes from having arrived, successfully checked in and settled into our cabin, we sought physical nourishment from the onboard bar-restaurant. After being greeted by a smartly-dressed maître d’ (far smarter than either of us) we were led to a corner table, where we waited about ten minutes for a menu or a drinks waiter, but none appeared.
As Ted went up to the bar to order the first ouzo of the trip, three people settled into the next table. The same maître d’ bustled around them serving red and white wine. When a waiter brought them menus a few minutes later, we requested some and he asked a waitress to bring them to us.
While Ted was ordering a second ouzo, starters began to arrive at the next table and several more people joined them. There was more deferential plodding about with bottles of wine as the rest of the customers grew hungrier and more and more annoyed. Determined not to moan on holiday, I swallowed my ouzo along with my irritation and waited and waited, but still no-one waited on us. After another couple of nudges to the maître d’ we finally got a menu and placed an order.
We continued to wait. After we had been in the restaurant for an hour, three things happened, more or less simultaneously: the people at the next table received their second course, a waiter brought us the bill for the food we hadn’t seen yet and I blew my top.
The maître d’ rushed over to find out why we wouldn’t pay, and, nearly in tears I tell him that we haven’t had anything to eat yet, despite waiting well over an hour, with numerous reminders. A look of shock and horror crossed his face, not because of what had happened to us, but because the big guy at the next table has noticed that something is wrong and has come over to investigate.
I repeated my tale of woe and he reached out and lifted the bill from the table saying “This should not have happened. This is our fault and we are very sorry.” He handed s a copy of his business card and it turns out that he’s Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the man behind EasyCruise, EasyJet and the other EasyGroup companies.
His companion, who told us her name was Penny, asked what they could do to make things right. We said we’d be happy simply to receive the meal we’d ordered and she assured us that it would be there within 10 minutes and at their expense. Within a few minutes a complimentary bottle of red wine appeared. It was excellent, which was just as well, as it was another 20 minutes a waitress arrived carrying our main courses. She was devastated to hear that we hadn’t yet received our starters.
After nearly two hours of waiting, and another bottle of wine, the starters finally appeared, followed rapidly by one main course. Yes, one, as the Moussaka was now finished! So were we, so we declined the offer of an alternative main course. The sweets arrived without incident and after finishing off with a couple of digestifs we were beginning to see the funny side.
So full marks to Stelios for intervening and sorting out the bill, but if the restaurant doesn’t get its act together it’s going to be a major problem. Admittedly, it was the first cruise of the season, with a new and inexperienced staff. They were mostly Rumanian, and all very pleasant and eager to please, but there was a total lack of organisation. Breakfast the next morning was another shambles, with the staff unable to cope with serving most of the passengers between a safety drill at 8:45am and an excursion departing at 9:45 am. (Karmanie)
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Although Ted’s and Karmanie’s experience of their first night’s meal may well go down in EasyCruise history as one of the lowest rated for customer satisfaction, it most certainly wasn’t ours. We’d signed up for the meal package and were generally very pleased with it throughout the week. We had good (verging on excellent) service at every meal (except the infamous Monday breakfast) thanks to Lucien who genuinely seemed to make a special effort to see that we got the best meal that was on offer each day. We ate between 7 & 8 pm each evening; partly to take advantage of the Happy Hour prices on beer and wine but also to benefit from the faster service at the beginning of each evening. We were also pleased that Stelios took the trouble to greet most early diners personally - even though we didn’t get a free bottle of wine!
I took a flight from NYC on Friday before the trip. I always allow an extra day for things like this, which was wise, since there was a rare big snowstorm in NYC. The airports were a mess because connecting flights were coming in very late. But my flight just took off on time because it was a fresh plane flying out of JFK right out of the hangar. It was strange because the lack of connections left the plane virtually empty, maybe 60 people in the coach area. We stretched out across the center seats and had a relaxing night, unusual for me. I was still ab it tired when i got there, and I must commend the Herodion Hotel near the Acropolis. It was the FIRST TIME EVER where I was able to check into the hotel when I got there instead of waiting till 3PM as in France and Spain, nap, freshen up, and change. I visited the Acropolis which had a lot of construction, especially the Parthenon which looked like the construction and scaffolding I left NYC to get away from. I had dinner in Piraeus, the port, getting there by Athens' excellent metro. Later spent the night wandering the Plaka, a place that varied greatly between darkness and glarish lights from various establishments. The next day, I checked out of the hotel and headed for the port trying to find the cruise ship. I wandered a LONG time from pier to pier with no luck, and finally got a cab, trying to find the ship, which was nowhere to be found. Finally the dispatcher said to try another area. Turns out that I missed the small print about the name of the area. Got on the ship uneventfully and took a cab back to Piraeus since the boat wasn't leaving until early in the morning. I decided to visit the beaches, so took the light rail down the shore, stopping at various places and enjoying a beautiful sunset. I was getting concerned, though, because there was what looked a rather feral dog following me and keeping a short distance away. I think that if I turned my back on him for awhile, he might have had dinner at my expense. When another dog joined him, I headed back to the light rail and stopped at a few other towns on the way back, then cabbed back to the ship again. If I'd had more time, I might have gone to the cliffs that are all the way east, in a town I can't think of now, but transportation there was iffy on a Sunday night and it wasn't worth taking the chance. Got back to the boat with plenty of time to spare and got a well deserved rest.
My experiences with the meal service weren't quite as bad as Ted and Karminie's, but there was some frustration with service sometimes. One night, I got there in time for happy hour and had a few drinks. When it was time to pay the bill, I was charged full price. The waiter said it was my fault for not asking for the check before happy hour ran out. Had a little talk with the guy who seemed to be in charge, whom i called Frank Sinatra, Jr. because of a very strong resemblance to the real Frank Jr.
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