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...and we paid 5 star prices for 4 days / 3 nights on it. But we never saw the ship because apparently too few persons booked it. So we were added to the front end of the 7 day cruise on the Fiji Princess catamaran. Now the Fiji Princess is a 4 star ship by any accounts.
And there are certainly things to recommend it - a wonderful crew etc. The food, however, was certainly not 5-star. The Fiji Islands, most certainly are. But Blue Lagoon Cruises is doing itself an extreme disservice by switching an advertised 5 star ship with this 4 star catamaran. People on board (there were three of us "Mystique" couples) really resented having to accept 6 metre smaller cabins - and obviously less elegant decor.
Blue Lagoon Cruises has beautiful boats - they range from 3 star to 5, but to equate these two ships is wrong - and people will rightly complain. The problem is, that since you do not get to see the Mystique, you are only able to make a comparison from the advertising. But the advertising by Blue Lagoon Cruises is all over the place. They strip away the stars designation to try to make the switch, but there is enough advertising online to tell anybody that the two ships are simply in different categories. Even on their own FAQ page there are still references to the 4 star 7 day cruise and the 5 star 4 day cruise.
When you ask for a refund of the difference in price, you are told the switch is 4-star to a 4-star cruise ship. Yet, asking their Live Help Online and you will be told that BOTH ships are 5-star. You can't award stars as if they are confetti. Look, the Fiji Princess is great - if you don't mind 4 star luxury. The food is OK, but not 5 star, the crew is such fun and they went out of their way to make us all have a good time. But if you pay 5 star prices it has to mean something extra.
Blue Lagoon Cruises simply needs to come down to earth and stop hiring out the Mystique for fancy wedding charters while paying customers are being, well, defrauded. They don't need to do this - they have all the ingredients of a first class holiday, whichever ship you are on, but their pricing and false advertising is no joke. At present there is an approximate difference of some $200 US dollars per day between the two advertised Gold Club Cruises (4 day / 7 day). It should be reflected in the cruise you take. But with the Mystique Princess advertised as having 6 square metres of extra cabin space, and a flat refusal to accept the need to provide any compensation...it really is unacceptable.
In addition, because of the way the 7 day cruise is structured, you don't actually reach the advertised destination - the northernmost point of the Yasawas. And your day on their magic island - which is lovely - is cut short because you have to take a 5 hour ferryboat ride back home. This in itself is enough to make a potential customer seriously reconsider this 4 day version of the full cruise. If there is a switch, don't accept it unless you are prepared to accept that you are paying more for less. While the 7 day cruisers are enjoying their "traditional island feast...with an after dinner beach party...under the tropical stars...", for you it is all over and you are back on the mainland recovering from the ferryboat ride.
We want to see them prosper, but not at our expense. Since we are rating a ship we never saw, but paid for, the ratings will be skewed if we are to tell the truth. So we have rated for the ship we berthed on as well as the missing Mystique...
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