My thoughts on - Crowne Plaza Azrieli Tel Aviv

Hi all,
Recently I have stayed for the 10th time at Crowne Plaza Azrieli Tel Aviv. This is probably one of the best Crowne Plaza hotels I have ever been to. It is not the most beautiful one, nor the best located one, but it has something about it that is hard to explain.
I think coming down to it, the reasons are service and rooms.

The rooms are super modern are really comfortable, great bed, great shower, free fast internet, large rooms and with nice views.
The service is way above the usual level of Israeli service. Courteous, professional and very helpful. Everything I asked was delivered promptly. And when I had a complaint, the service manager called me the next day and asked politely to hear what was wrong in order for fix it for the next visit.

I highly recommend this hotel if you are a business man or couples who want to stay in TLV (it is inside a mall which is great and also walking distance from nice attractions. It is not close however to the beach).

Best

My thoughts on - ELAL

Hi all,
In my opinion ELAL is probably the most bi polar company out there. I have flown (according to my stats - My flight memory stats) with 38 different airlines, and ELAL is probably the most unique of them all.
Why is that?

Well, they have in my humble opinion the best service in the air. Yes, I have flown SG first class, and I find it too formal, Yes I have flown LH first class, and I find it too formal. I think that ELAL service is just correct, friendly but professional and not too snobby.

Also, they have amazing service from the Matmid club. I have called them for numerous request and ALWAYS got immediate help.
I once forgot my laptop on the airplane in Amsterdam. I was past border control and out of the airport when I remembered I left my laptop in the plane. I called ELAL and 5 minutes later someone handed me my laptop!! try that with LH or any other large airline.
I recently flew with my extended family (10 of us) on bonus tickets. ELAL upgraded ALL of us!! Now that is impressive.
Bottom line when I needed help ELAL was there for me.

So whats wrong? Why did I recently decided to stop flying ELAL?
Because they are bipolar :) great service but horrible hard product. Their business and first class seats are the worst I have ever seen. Their planes are old. Their VOD is horrible. And to make it even worse, their business class and first class tickets are usually 150-200% more expensive then their competition...

I hope that they will come to their senses - All they need to do is upgrade the seats and make their pricing more reasonable. That's all :)

Best

My Thoughts On - Allure of the Seas

Hi all,
I had a wonderful time aboard Allure of Seas during a 7 nights cruise start on 26 July 2015 from Barcelona.
This blog is not about more photos or more descriptions of the ship, this blog is about what I sent as feedback to RCCL following my lovely cruise. This was my 10th cruise, I have cruised before on Carnival, Celebrity and other RCCL ships.

Even though you will see some "bad" feedback, I assure you that I loved the ship and thoroughly enjoyed the cruise and I highly recommend it.

The good

• The ship is outstanding, amazing, great, inspiring unbelievable (I think you see where this is going). I found myself wondering around the ship just looking at every corner, at every place and every amazing detail. I honestly believe I could have stayed there for months.
• Great main room dining service. We were 12 people, 6 adults and 6 children each asking for his/her specific food at specific time with specific taste - Basically we tried to drive our waiters mad - but we failed. Our waiter Ezzine and assistant waiter Gerogiana were amazing. Also, Elizabeth, the head waiter was very nice and helpful.
• The Jacuzzis are much bigger than other ships and there are more of them - this is a big plus - especially the ones in the solarium.
• The shows were great – I loved all of them - adults and children alike (aged 4-12).
• Pools were a great upgrade compared to older ships, much appreciated. There were more pools, larger pools and much more suited for children (no salt water, warmer water).
• Ice shows were great especially - The children loved them.
• Central park is a great place to be - Really loved it. The food on central café could have been upgraded though in my opinion.
• Sorrento is a very good pizza very nice addition.
• Rising bar was amazing, children and adults loved it.
• Carousel is a great addition, the kids loved it.
• Zip line is a great addition!
• Aquatheater was spectacular , we loved the shows, great addition.
• The ship was spotless at every corner – I loved it.

The bad

• Where is the Viking crown? It was my favorite lounge and now it was closed to Suites only. Very disappointing.
• Food quality and variety has been downgraded compared to previous cruises. The good steaks, lobsters etc was additional pay. The quality of the food in windjammer and silk were subpar compared to my previous cruises.
• Some of the pricing of things in the ship are ridiculous. Especially the pricing of WIFI (much more than I pay for a year at home) and shore excursions. But by far the worst are the crazy pricing of photos! 20$ for 1 photo? With 20$ I can buy a full shot at home. I really believe that if you lower the pricing of photos I would have bought dozens. In reality I bought none.
• Ice skating times were VERY limited; children were very disappointed with the short hours of operation.
• Some of the arcade games were not working. I lost about 10$ putting money into non-working machines.  Also the variety of games was very limited, children were very disappointed.
• Windjammer has huge queues in the morning, was impossible to get in. You need to add additional varied buffet venues.
• Youth programs are only for English speaking children. What you can do is allow parents to be with the child so he/she can still play in the nice play rooms but with adult supervision.
• OnAir hosted some high profile shows – Like the Karaoke – but it was packed full. It is just not big enough.
• Children aqua playing area could have been upgraded with some small slides (even 1-2 meters) and not only cannons and fountains.
• Promenade cafe was a downgrade compared to previous cruises on other ships. The variety, quality of the food was very lacking. I used to love this cafe and now I almost did not use it.
• In the broadwalk I think you could have added more things to do. There is a lot of unused space there where you can add things to play for children.
• Also, in the broadwalk even the popcorn and cotton candy cost money, this is just plain annoying.
• I had a few occasions were the public toilets were not working, you need to check these more often.
• Some of the staff were not friendly. It was never the case at other ships. I got some frowns at the shore excursions desk as well as the park café. This did not happen to me at other cruises.
• The benefits received when you are emerald (or even diamond for that matter) are pathetic. Compare it to airline or hotel benefits for frequent flyers and see that there is no comparison. I think you need to give better incentives to me to not choose your competition which offer great ships as well.
• Mama mia was super long show – this is great but we missed dinner because of it. Can you please add the approx. duration of the shows in the compass?

I hope you will find this feedback helpful
Best