koko & everything else

koko & everything else

Sunday, July 31, 2011

WORST DATE EVER: Prestige Dinner Cruise MOA Complex


(DISAPPOINTED LOOK)

It’s been a while since I last posted something in this blog. I just got swamped with work and really wasn’t able to do anything interesting… unless you find a pile of paper work THRILLING AND EXHILARATING!

Well, anyways, since I was always working and got little time to go out with my gf, I decided to surprise her with a ROMANTIC DINNER CRUISE for our 8th month-sary. Cheesy, I know, but it’s just something we, lovebirds do, when we’re in love (Another cheesy remark… I can see my friends reading this and rolling their eyes LOL)

Well that was the BIGGEST MISTAKE!

Okay… I’ll let you in on what I had in mind why I booked my reservation in the first place. First, it was discounted so I just had to seize the opportunity and second (which really made me convinced) was the photo I saw on their AD. It had two wine glasses, fabulous table setting and elegantly prepared meal. Just imagine a love struck couple plus sunset plus good food plus music equals ROMANTIC!

It was the perfect date…. IN MY MIND.

So what really happened? I’ll just write it in a bulleted form so I wouldn’t miss a single disastrous thing….

• I booked our reservation at 6PM, we were advised to be there an hour earlier… and so we kinda did… and ended up standing in front of the empty boat/ship/yacht (whatever that thing was) just waiting for the people to finally let us in.

• Remember the AD I told you about? With the classy dinner set-up? Well guess what, when they finally let us in, we were greeted with monobloc chairs and tables with dirty damp table cloths. And the boat was so crowded that we had to sit near the stairs/exit (just imagine, people kept walking around and bumping your chair while eating)

• And since the sunset was far from happening (since we went there last July 30 and it was raining), we were greeted by raindrops on our table, on our chair and my wallet even got slightly damped. And because we were seated near the exit… we had the privilege to sit on the table which is first in line in GETTING DRENCHED.






• Off we sailed… the view was mediocre… and the scent of Manila Bay sucked. That’s great! Bon appétit!

• Eating time! We booked for an Eat all you can buffet treat! Yeah, EAT WHATEVER’S LEFT ON THE BUFFET TABLE. And because the boat was so crowded and they had like one short buffet table… people lined up for so long! And standing up in a sailing boat on a NOT SO GOOD WEATHER meant waves! I didn’t intend to go surfing that day… but I was balancing myself like a pro just to get some food!

• As I’ve said…. EAT whatever’s left… I GOT one half-breast fried chicken, 1 x 1 inch of fish fillet without sauce, some vegetables and pasta noodles in white sauce ( I would like to highlight the sauce… It was white and it had nothing with it… just plain white sauce). They ran out of soup, rice and their desserts… I WOULDN’T DARE TO EAT.





• When I finally survived getting to my table without losing my balance and spilling my half empty plate on someone…. ON FIRST BITE… I realized… I was like eating a frozen dish… IT WAS ICE COLD! For the first time in 25 years of existence… I got to experience what FROZEN PASTA tasted like….

• And since our table got the best location… I had to eat my food as fast as I could before it becomes SOUP… (IT WAS RAINING and literally, my plate was filling up with rain drops…)

• Then the music…. I thought I was going to listen to something instrumental… violin, piano… anything classic… but I ended up listening to a 60 year old guy singing Green Day’s 21 guns. With wrong lyrics and mixed up song titles.

• Oh.. and one last thing… EAT ALL YOU CAN DINNER… they didn’t say you get to drink too…. So if you are dying of dehydration, you can ask for WATER (that they’ll serve after 15 to 20 minutes) or you can BUY soda or any canned drinks… I asked for two cans of SPRITE… worth P75 each… WOW… what’s worse? They will only let you know that you have to pay for that drink after you finish drinking it all up. When I asked the guy for drinks, he gave me choices… WATER, SOFT DRINKS or CANNED JUICE. When I picked soda, he served it after 20 minutes… waited for us to drink it all… then came back to ask for our payments… LOL.. that’s just sad….

So my ROMANTIC DATE ended up at YELLOW CAB with 10inches Manhattan Meatlovers (coz we’re still freakin starving) with damp hair and clothes.. disappointed and apologizing to my GF of the FREAKIN DATE I surprised her with! I felt so bad coz she even dressed up a little… but ended up in a zipped up hoodie like an Eskimo… Good thing she was cool about it and laughing too! =P Thanks to Mall of Asia’s fireworks and Yellow Cab… our date was saved.




SO MAY THIS BLOG POST SERVE AS A WARNING… Dinner cruise at PRESTIGE CRUISE is not for the faint-hearted. IT WILL NEVER BE ROMANTIC… I guarantee that….

BY THE WAY... if you wanna see the AD i was talking about... it was the one with two wine glasses... Search for it in Google Images and type in PRESTIGE DINNER CRUISE

33 comments:

  1. i think magkasabay tayo sa friggin cruise na ito. sana nagmcdo na lang tayong lahat. grabe as in hanggang ngayon nararamdaman ko pa rin yung dismaya.

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  2. That's why i hate buying discounted coupons e.. tinitipid ka din nla

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  3. not all discounted coupons are below par :D

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  4. grabe naman yan! I was kinda amaze pa naman sa deal na yan when I saw it on my friend's blog.

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  5. same experience i had 3 yrs ago, parang cultural show. kakaloka ang food. never again!

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  6. I knew it!

    The caterer is Barbara's. We availed their buffet at their resto/carinderia in Rockwell Ortigas last summer. Yeah, same monobloc chairs. Di rin ako satisfied. Ang sinerve lang ay stuffed chicken, mixed veggies, spag, and menudo. For dessert, they served fruits and 2 pcs each cream puffs! sa cream puff na nga lang ako nasarapan tapos 2 pcs each lang daw! Considering kami lang ang tao sa resto!

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  7. I agree with January regarding discount coupons. Karamihan naman ok like yun Sofitel, Alba's, Seven Corners. Eto lang Barbara's ang palpak.

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  8. Thanks for the blog. I've been planning to take my wife on one of their cruises ... not anymore!

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  10. Yeah, I also had my most embarrassing moment and once in a lifetime experience ( kasi di ko uulitin!!!) with this Prestige(aka Peste) Dinner Cruise when I invited my 9 closest friends as my bday treat for them. Oh gosh, i was so embarrassed I couldnt even eat! Grabe, it was so disgusting, the food in the nearby carinderia looks much more appetizing than what they prepared. Exactly the opposite of what was featured in their ads. Eat all u can daw,eh ang konti na nga ng choices, ang konti pa ng serving!Ang sungit pa ng mga crew. We end up eating again at the Harbour Square. Sobrang nakakahiya. And I have more vouchers left, nakakahiya rin ipamigay! OMG!

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  11. Same experience here. Hindi ko nasimulan yung food ko dahil first subo ko palang nasusuka na ako dahil sa sea sickness.

    It can make the relationship stronger - that challenging experience, but it really not for a romantic experience.

    Doble gastos, kawawa yung mga nagdala ng mga matatanda at mga bata.

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  12. sis, i don't trust metrodeal at all. the same thing happened to use. we were very disappointed with Imperial Palace's buffet DAW hello naglagay lang sila ng monobloc chairs sa function room nila. there wasnt even a restaurant! and the buffet set up??? i should have stayed at home. they served pancit, fried chicken, maha blanca,eeeew! and the "tepanyaki" was actually mongolian barbecue! boycott metrodeal!

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  13. This is because Metro Deal is only paying the merchant half the cost of the voucher presented to them by the merchant. Ang laki kasi ng cut ng Metro Deal kaya the quality is compromised.

    If you want to true deal, grab the promo direct from the store not from a third party, or not from a group buying site.

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  14. Thank you for this info.

    I already asked for the refund of my 12 vouchers, sa Cabalen or Jade Valley ako magte-treat for Xmas.

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  15. GOD! nagplan pa naman ako na gawin ang shoot ng Fashbook sa cruise this tuesday! oh myyyy.... iccacancel ko! errr

    BTW! watch FASHBOOK every Wednesdays 10pm! :) at GMA NEWS TV

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  16. Sorry to read about that supposedly romantic date.. Anyway, I put a link back to my blog post

    http://ruthilicious.blogspot.com/2011/11/prestige-cruises-buffet-dinner-cruise.html

    Thanks!

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  17. Mukhang madami na naman sila naloko. Salamat na lang sa mga blogger na katulad mo at least na inform kami beforehand.

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  18. what about Sun Cruise's? Baka mas ok?

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  19. basta boycott metrodeal.oo nga half lang ang binabayad nila sa merchants.

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  20. until now kaya e ganun pa rin doon? nagpplano po kasi sana ako thip coming september 30.

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    1. To be honest, I am not sure if things there are better (although I sure hope so) but I cannot say if it has since I am mildly traumatized by that experience and wouldnt try it out again... But I hope you can let us know if there's any improvement at all...

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  21. just got back from that stinky cruise. I wasn't able to research feedbacks regarding this cruise...i just saw this now...

    False advertisment. hated the experience, me & my boyfriend were overdressed for that "luxury Cruise" my gosh, we were foooooled. I think the real thing is Sun Cruises, and prestige cruises is just but a low end copy cat. we were disgusted by the food, the music was awful, an old guy was singing like he's in a videoke bar or something, it was really a traumatic experience. I was kind of embarrassed with my date since I was the one who booked our date..

    ok now i feel bad & i think im going to have nightmares because of this experience

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    1. for us, the hateful experience just became a hilarious distant memory... although i swore off cruises on my list because of them...

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  22. OMG! nakabili na ako para sa wedding anniversary date namin ng mister ko sa Dec. 10, 2012 just now without him knowing.... mukhang mapapalpak pa... late ko na naalala to make a research for reviews bago bumili sa metro deal. haizzz

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    1. All i can say is I hope they improved their service by now. It's been more than a year anyways so they have probably done something about it. But in case not, it's okay. The important thing is you will be celebrating it together and goes with the saying " for better or for worse" at the end of the day... the disastrous experience really just became one hilarious memory hehehe

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  23. i bought 2 voucher sa metrodeal for this eat all you can buffet sa prestige cruise, 325/person surprise q sana sa husband q paguwi nya this coming january.sayang at hndi ako agad nagresearch ng reviews, hay naku, bka imbes na matuwa e madisappoint lang ang husband ko. any suggestion for a romantic resto guys?

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    1. i dont know if you and your husband are into nature... but for me one of the most romantic places ive been to is Sonya's Garden... it's also better if you stay even for a night... their rooms are really nice.. relaxing and truly romantic... the healthy meal also adds a little something to the overall ambiance... you'll probably feel like adam and eve... (you know... being one with the nature)

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  24. O M Gee! And I've bought about a dozen vouchers for my son's Xmas celebration with his barkadas. It's good I thought of looking for feedbacks before making the reservation. Now, I'm stuck with a dozen vouchers, if I pass it of as gift to my customers, I wonder if my customers will hate me if they'll have same horrible experience as yours. But I do have fun reading your blog, your sense of humor is superb.

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    1. LOL thank you that i was able to entertain despite the horrible... HORRIBLE experience.... (one was not enough hehehe). Well i guess your son and his barkada can enjoy the cruise... (making fun of it... just kidding). if i will relate my experience... I wouldnt give it to my clients... i would rather just give them the "gasgas na gasgas" christmas ham rather than letting them go through it... although i am not sure if the management improved the cruise by now...(i sure hope so), but id rather be safe with clients... :) (just a piece of advice hehehe)

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  25. Hey there!

    I purchased two passes for 8pm schedule last month (my surprise for him for his birthday). We were on our best attire because we just finished church. Just right for the cruise. We have no idea on what to expect except for the details on the Ensogo voucher.

    They said it's an Asian buffet so we were expecting a grand line up of dishes (for an affordable price per voucher).

    When we arrived, all we saw is several monobloc tables and chairs set up. We let go of that. We went upstairs (3rd level) to get the nicest view of the bay, not knowing that there's an additional charge of P100 per head. We let go of that as well (I just wished they stated that on the voucher so that we are aware). Then come dinner time, we have to line up to the ground level for the food. I suggest that they should have a separate area for those people upstairs. We only saw rice and cold (i mean not hot and fresh) foods (2 viands and pancit). ASIAN BUFFET huh.

    We also did'nt see any water being served, and you have to buy your drinks for P75 pesos. cold iced tea without the ice :p

    Good thing there's a fireworks display going on during the cruise, so somehow that compensated the thumbs down food and service.

    So that's all I can say. It's up to you if you still want to experience it. Well for the view at least. :D

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    1. This is somehow sad... I mean, my experience was of July 2011... and after a year or so... they still have the same BAD SERVICE??? c'mon guys... you should know better by now... If you cannot provide good service for that price then its better not to partner with ensogo and other voucher-selling sites... Not only do you ruin your image... you are also damaging those e-commerce businesses... But for Ensogo and other sites, please refrain from dealing with these cruises... it makes your services bad and cheap! Gosh... this is truly disappointing

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  26. OMG! I just made my reservation last week, and from the experiences you shared, I am now freaked out! what am I going to do with my tickets..
    It is supposed to be my 5 years anniversary surprise to my BF.. It is the first time that I am the one who made all the arrangements..
    Now I'm sad......

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    1. Aaaawww don't be... I created this post a long time ago... maybe they already made some changes for the better. The most important thing is to enjoy your day. Those mishaps are just part of it, something that will be a funny memory... My gf and I still laugh about it when we reminisce that experience. Maybe you will too... But of course, I wish you and your bf a great time... I surely hope you wont experience what we had... :) Happy Anniversary!

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