Captain's Choice

The most disappointing trip of my life – weekend in the outback by private plane – Airport lounge 30th April: We are the second two guests to arrive, and are sent to the lounge area, where slices and biscuits with tea or coffee and bubbly are being served. Guests are arriving, most without masks, contrary to Covid mandate, and gathering around on available lounge chairs, with several still standing. Your safety is paramount – The health of our guests and tour host teams is our utmost priority (Travel Journal p7). The Travel Journal for our tour, omitted the mandated Covid rules in all three states we were to visit, and there was no mention of required mask wearing at airports and in planes. We were however asked to wear our name badges. At no time were we asked to wear masks, except at the Flying Doctor premises where their staff member said we were to wear them. The Enhanced Health & Hygiene Protocols only mentions wearing a face mask prior to boarding all aircraft – this is incorrect. Fine weather and everyone had arrived. The flight departed one hour late, no explanation was given. Announcements on the plane, other than cabin crew’s announcements, were inaudible, including the pilot.

Broken Hill: Following our sped up talk and visit to the Flying Doctor Service, we boarded the bus for a town tour, visit to the extraordinary Line of Lode and then, a quick minimalhotel lunch comprising two 8cm wraps, nothing else on the plate, followed by frozen petit fours. We were saved by the snacks served on the plane, which were excellent. We were not in Broken Hill long enough to “discover what makes this frontier town’s heart tick” (Travel Journal p19). No time because our flight was delayed!

Coober Pedy: We had a very pleasant eats and drinks at the Breakaways, the longest time we spent anywhere (except on the plane) during our trip. On our way to our “exclusive dinner” (Travel Journal p19) we visited the grand Serbian Orthodox Church built in 1993. We however did not visit the oldest, Saint Peter and Paul Catholic church built in 1967, which is definitely worth a visit. No time! Our ”exclusive dinner” at the Opal Quest Mine, which was clearly still under construction, was not even club cafeteria standard. The service and staff were attentive but the food appalling (“some dining experiences will be highlights in their own right”, Travel Journal p9). Umoona is the Aboriginal name for Coober Pedy, meaning “white man in a hole” and most sites where we were about to visit. No Aboriginal content in any of the tour printed or online information, nor any mention at all of country through which we were travelling. Totally out of touch with current values. We stayed in the Desert Cave hotel in a dugout room which was a wonderful experience, with everything you could need, including a good night’s sleep. Now, to the much celebrated Umoona Mine and Museum, another recent construction, which contains everything you would want to see in one location, a very Disneyland experience. Next stop the Coober Pedy sign, everybody out of the bus for photos, plenty of time. On the drive to the airport we must have been too early so we made several stops along the boundary of the golf course, for photos. Ned mentioned membership to the golf club was $1 a year. I thought it would be fun to give some memberships as gifts. He had the price wrong!

Birdsville: We were welcomed on-board the plane by the delightful attendants, and were served lunch, which was most enjoyable. More inaudible announcements by the pilot as we viewed Lake Eyre. We walked to the hotel and entered the dining room and discovered we weren’t having a BBQ in the famous beer garden, but a buffet lunch from a bain-marie. The hotel and staff were very welcoming and the hotel and surrounds interesting. The staff/crew and food on the flights were exceptional. Highlights for negative reasons - the sightseeing - almost all done from the bus and in the dark, dreadful food and poor organisation.

Airport lounge Sydney 1st May: We entered the lounge and were busy chatting when we were directed to go outside to collect our bags – total chaos. There was no system. People rushed to get their bags and stood in the small space for instructions, which did not come. Our driver was one of the few cars that fitted in the outdoor space, and he manoeuvred his way out. Tour host team nowhere in sight, in the chaos! A most disappointing trip, nothing like the brochure!

SCUTTLE THE SHIP! – Booked the tour minus the optional prequel (on land, in New England) back in May 2018. Opted for two extra nights in Vancouver at the start...very wise move, as 15 hours straight Melbourne to Vancouver followed by another 4+ to Toronto would have been a bridge too far. A couple of years ago we did a small ship 'adventure' tour up the west coast of Scotland and on through Orkneys and Shetlands to Faroe Islands, and it was largely stress free, and mostly delivered on what was promised.

Right from the start we had concerns as to how placing the nucleus of 40 odd Captain's Choice travellers inside a 500 passenger Silversea ship for part of it could work. The contact at Cheltenham office we dealt with was big on reassurance, but light on in the competence department:

No help with confusing question on ESTA application re our first point of contact with USA. Was it at sea; was it when we went ashore for excursion at Bar Harbour; or was it at final stop in New York? A covering letter advising the correct response would have been appreciated.

Incorrect details given to Air Canada re dietary restrictions. I wound up on their books as a strict vegetarian/vegan even though I took the trouble to note on CC documents that eggs, fish and diary were ok.

My travel companion (and our liaison person) went to the office on a couple of occasions to sort out queries because phone contact was unreliable.

Travel documents were received 10 days before departure (because they were waiting for a 'diary' which could have been issued in Toronto!), and unlike all other correspondence final documents were split between our respective addresses...much stress and growing lack of confidence was before we even left Oz!

We later found out that others had been ill-served in terms of return flights with one Melbourne couple booked Vancouver to Brisbane, Brisbane Melbourne, and a lady in her 80s facing an 11pm departure (hotel checkout at noon) to Hong Kong, a delay, and then home to Perth.

The Silver Spirit component ruined it for me. Our baggage was dropped off early at the dock by our competent and hard-working tour team in Montreal, but that didn't stop my suitcase (along with several others) being delivered to the cabin after 6.30pm on departure day...so much for attending Captain's Choice 'welcome drinks'!

At Sydney (Canada) there was an attempt by the ship's staff to stop us walking to board our buses on some spurious safety grounds (The ship's own tour buses had not gone right to the start of the designated zone, which meant ours were parked beyond the end of it). We were able to ignore their interference on that occasions, and depart in a timely manner.

We were over an hour late off the ship in Newport, after queuing for an hour in a stuffy corridor as passengers who'd paid for a Silversea bus tour filed past, and as a result we had a truncated twilight tour of the so-called cottages in near impossible visibility.

We were last off when we docked in New York. To add insult to injury we were subjected to constant oily announcements by the entertainment officer apologising for this last delay and being 'pleased to announce that passengers with red/blue /any colour but our luggage tickets 'were now able to disembark'. Thanks for the 'Kon Tiki' experience at Captain's Choice prices, Captain's Choice. I really felt for our poor tour team, as there was nothing they could do. Silversea staff had all the power, and they used it to their own advantage.

Captain's Choice effectively went guarantor for Silversea, and as far as I am concerned they owe us compensation, and they owe their tour team an apology for putting them in an impossible position.