On Friday 15,September the Robben Island ferry Thandi close to sank in rough seas between the V&A Waterfront and Robben Island, with 64 passengers, most of them tourists, and five members of staff on board! It is the final straw of continuous problems linked to the Robben Island ferry service.
Tag Archives: ferry
Salt Deli Sweet & Robben Island Sour Service Awards
The Sweet Service Award goes to Henk at Salt Deli, for taking the initiative in bringing a milk jug of extra foam with the foamy cappuccino I had ordered from him. He has never served me before. This nice touch was replicated a few days later at the new Dash restaurant at the Queen Victoria Hotel in the V&A Waterfront.
The Sour Service Award goes to the Robben Island ferry service and its poor management. After frequent mechanical breakdowns of the new ferry in the past few years, the staff of the service went on a go-slow last week, demanding the suspension of the services of their Human Resources Manager Lesiba Ramoroka. This has affected tourists wishing to visit this popular tourist site, as the three hour visit to Robben Island took 4 – 5 hours as a result, and some of the trips were cancelled. Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold has described the Robben Island problems as ’embarrassing’ for tourism in Cape Town, and the industry is calling for an independent commercial operator to take over the running of this service.
The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog. Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com. Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.
Belthazar Sweet and Robben Island Sour Service Awards
The Sweet Service Award goes to Ian Halfon and his team at Belthazar restaurant, a consistent winner of the Best Restaurant in the V & A Waterfront Award. Halfon is a busy man, also owning Balducci’s in the V & A Waterfront, and a franchised collection of St Elmo’s woodfired pizza branches around the country. However, he is not too busy to be hands-on at Belthazar, last evening even helping in the kitchen, complete with his chef’s uniform, and to make time to chat to his customers, and to offer them a glass of wine. Belthazar offers one of the largest collections of wines-by-the-glass in South African restaurants, and serves excellent quality steaks in particular. The food, service and wine range offered is exemplary.
The Sour Service Award goes to Robben Island, for closing just before the Heritage Day long weekend, due to a technical problem with its ferry. The company announced the “indefinite” suspension of the service, while it waited for a replacement part to be flown in from Germany. Tourists who had booked tickets were met with a notice, and were not contacted by the company. No contingency planning had taken place, over a weekend that saw the first signs of a recovery from the poor tourism weeks preceding Heritage Day. The ferry trips appear to not have been re-instated, judging by Robben Island’s website. Robben Island’s management is regularly in the news, for alleged financial irregularities and overspending. The Island is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Cape Town, and it reflects badly on the professionalism of Cape Town as a tourist destination, especially given the 2010 World Cup being just over 200 days away.
The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog. Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com. Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.