Pattaya - Hua Hin ferry criticized as tourists left waiting at Bali Hai

[sioux2012]

8 hours ago, fforest1 said:

You never know but a unforeseeable unfortunate fire might unexpectedly

break out...  

aha ....you are absolutely correct in forseeing the not so distant future......Fire, insurance payout..... and nothing more to be heard of, just a distant memory of what could of been.

[Destiny1990]

Personally i would prefer a bridge between Huahin and Pattaya.

[kkerry]

5 hours ago, rjwill01 said:

Everyone thinks the price is high, but go to any Country and take a trip like that and it will cost you at least $100 (about 3500 baht). At 1250 baht, that's a pretty damn good deal. I wish expats that live here would appreciate something new in Thailand instead of bashing it. If you don't like the cost or the trip, don't take it. No problem. 

 

The ferry between the north and south islands of New Zealand. Off-peak one-way walk on, as low as NZ $50 (1250 baht) for the three and a quarter hour trip if I recall correctly.

[whaleboneman]

10 hours ago, wvavin said:

Is there anything this country that was properly done? I don't remember any!

I can think of a few "C" words that they're pretty good at.

[jacko45k]

15 hours ago, edwinchester said:

So the ferry timetable is, how to say........flexible?

Probably more flexible than the policy on refunds for tickets and parking!

[Wullie Mercer]

13 hours ago, psyvolt said:

What problem? It was the tourists failt for not looking up the timetable. It's not hard, or do you expect him to personally go to every room in every hotel and personally give everyone the ferries timetable

Agree totally with this evaluation of the situation, why was this not told before going to press on the subject? but then would not suit all the grumpies.

[Brer Fox]

12 hours ago, fruitman said:

Why don't they use a bigger vessel? Just one of those dinnercruise ships which are in BKK? They are huge and very stable.

At present the government has an aircraftless aircraft carrier sitting on its's moorings doing nothing. To make it useful for something this all weather vessel could be easily fitted out with deckchairs with umbrellas on the flightdeck and some plastic weather protection. To give it the Pattaya "feel" the unused aircraft hangars could be converted into avenues of "hello sailor" beer bars, discos and restaurants. The officers cabins could be converted into soapy massage rooms. Get your imagination going TAT. How many gazillion extra tourists would that pull in?

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

12 hours ago, gdgbb said:

You know how many passengers there will be in the future and you assume that those numbers haven't been considered?  How?

 

What can the operator do about the weather?

 

How do you know that there will be delays in the regular service?  What are the breakdowns that you seem to have advance knowledge of?

 

What delays are going to be due to "management"?

 

Dear gdgbb every off season people go back home and only the expats stay behind with the Thai people. Thus the potential number of people that use the ferry will drop. We have had a number of air carriers starting services in Huahin only to cancel it later (flights to BKK and Hat yai etc). These air carriers also did there estimates and was all wrong.

 

I never said the operator can control the weather, but the weather will have an influence on the reliability of their service.

 

It is unfortunately logic that their service will be interrupted every time there are bad weather because they are using a boat that is not suitable for bad weather sailing/use.

 

If you read the article you will see that the boat was supposed to leave in the morning but only left in the afternoon. This delay was not communicated to ticket holders and was thus a management problem.

[ratcatcher]

2 hours ago, Brer Fox said:

At present the government has an aircraftless aircraft carrier sitting on its's moorings doing nothing. To make it useful for something this all weather vessel could be easily fitted out with deckchairs with umbrellas on the flightdeck and some plastic weather protection. To give it the Pattaya "feel" the unused aircraft hangars could be converted into avenues of "hello sailor" beer bars, discos and restaurants. The officers cabins could be converted into soapy massage rooms. Get your imagination going TAT. How many gazillion extra tourists would that pull in?

Although it sounds like a fun idea, just remember the name of the vessel, Chakri Naruebet. That precludes any talk of turning the vessel into a floating brothel, entertainment centre, gin palace, plying between Pattaya and Hua Hin where all the above distractions are available on land anyway.

Best leave the world's smallest aircraft carrier ,that carries no aircraft, and likely never will, as a Satthahip tourist attraction and novelty.

[psyvolt]

15 hours ago, gdgbb said:

 

You must mean Thaivisa-ness, surely?

Exactly this. 

Oh nooo, ppl are made to their own homework in Thailand, and all of a sudden its the Thais problems.

Seriously, so many ppl act as though they are 3 year olds, with no self responsibility due to if something goes wrong, they can just blame the Thais.

[psyvolt]

4 hours ago, Wullie Mercer said:

Agree totally with this evaluation of the situation, why was this not told before going to press on the subject? but then would not suit all the grumpies.

Yeah, much more fun to bitch and moan about the Thais for them, then to actually realise (shock horror) that some things are actually outside of their control.

[gdgbb]

13 minutes ago, psyvolt said:

Exactly this. 

Oh nooo, ppl are made to their own homework in Thailand, and all of a sudden its the Thais problems.

Seriously, so many ppl act as though they are 3 year olds, with no self responsibility due to if something goes wrong, they can just blame the Thais.

I'm sure that made sense to you as you typed it out.

[lvr181]

16 hours ago, gdgbb said:

Would you like to expand on what "these problems" are that the Minister needs to sort out, and remember, actions speak louder than words.

There are numerous well known "tourist problems" to be sorted out - not just the on again off again Pattaya-Hua Hin ferry.

 

I took the opportunity to "google" the ferry timetable but could not find it.   I just hope the tourists are more lucky than I was. Maybe it is written in Thai?

[gdgbb]

3 hours ago, SOUTHERNSTAR said:

Dear gdgbb every off season people go back home and only the expats stay behind with the Thai people. Thus the potential number of people that use the ferry will drop. We have had a number of air carriers starting services in Huahin only to cancel it later (flights to BKK and Hat yai etc). These air carriers also did there estimates and was all wrong.

 

I never said the operator can control the weather, but the weather will have an influence on the reliability of their service.

 

It is unfortunately logic that their service will be interrupted every time there are bad weather because they are using a boat that is not suitable for bad weather sailing/use.

 

If you read the article you will see that the boat was supposed to leave in the morning but only left in the afternoon. This delay was not communicated to ticket holders and was thus a management problem.

Why do you, and others, always, automatically, assume that the Thai operators will not have considered any of the factors that you considered, specifically numbers of passengers?  To make that assumption is just ridiculous.

 

If the operator cannot control the weather then, by definition, it is the weather that could be "unreliable" not the ferry service.  I wonder if you've considered how many people will actually want to use the ferry if the weather is so bad that it cannot safely be used?

 

If you read everything about this you will see that the boat was scheduled to leave in the afternoon, in the morning it was in Hua Hin.   The passengers who complained only needed to check the timing, thus, that is not a management problem.

[gdgbb]

1 minute ago, lvr181 said:

There are numerous well known "tourist problems" to be sorted out - not just the on again off again Pattaya-Hua Hin ferry.

 

I took the opportunity to "google" the ferry timetable but could not find it.   I just hope the tourists are more lucky than I was. Maybe it is written in Thai?

Well, this thread is about the ferry service which does not have numerous problems, neither is the service on again, off again.

 

Don't blame the ferry operator for your not being able to find the timetable online, blame Google, unless you know that the operator has indicated that the schedule is available on line.

[F4UCorsair]

19 hours ago, psyvolt said:

Same, I just lookeat it up as well.

 

But hey, as with soo many other threads, so many postets would rather just be lazy and criticise the Thais, even if its in no way their fault.

 

 

So much negativity.  It seems more are hoping It fails than there are hoping It succeeds.

 

If the new service succeeds, It gives another option for travel between the two centres.

 

If It succeeds, and you don't choose to use It, who cares?......It still succeeds.

 

 

 

[johng]

9 hours ago, whaleboneman said:

I can think of a few "C" words that they're pretty good at.

 

Yes but even then they need 16 tries to ( maybe probably not ) get it right !

[johng]

4 minutes ago, F4UCorsair said:

If the new service succeeds, It gives another option for travel between the two centres.

 

Its been tried  a few times before  each time it has failed, there is nothing different about this time.

If they used 2 ( + one backup ) proper roll on roll off ships  like they use on the English channel there might be a chance of success

they would be able to take not only passengers but cars and bikes and also trucks full of products in almost all sea conditions.

[gdgbb]

15 hours ago, fruitman said:

 

The ones who can afford it! And while on the way eat local food at every island...and tourists from Europe, Asia, Oz, USA might also be interested as long as the ship is built in a decent country with high standards.

 

The ASEAN countries can buy some together maybe and promote tourism.

 

The dinnercruises in BKK are a big success and have great food as well. Only problem is the guide who speaks over the speakers can't speak english....not a word.

Maybe you should start your own cruise line and put your money where your mouth is if the possibilities are so good.

[johng]

2 hours ago, ratcatcher said:

Best leave the world's smallest aircraft carrier ,that carries no aircraft, and likely never will, as a Satthahip tourist attraction and novelty.

 

Only a Thai tourist attraction  as the  don't allow foreigners on board without a  special written permission from some big wig at the admiralty.

[gdgbb]

14 hours ago, Brer Fox said:

Some serious overloading will now have to take place to make up for lost voyages and lost money. That seems to be the way it works in Thailand. Even break-even is looking elusive.

 

That's if you were running the service maybe but don't assume that that will happen with this operator, the owners and the crew have a vested interest in safe crossings. 

 

How do you know what the company's break even point is and whether it's attainable (or even expected to be, initially) or elusive?

[gdgbb]

7 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Probably more flexible than the policy on refunds for tickets and parking!

Refunds for free tickets?  Now that's a novelty.  The ferry ticket price doesn't include car parking charges, very, very, obviously.

[johng]

9 minutes ago, gdgbb said:

this operator, the owners and the crew have a vested interest in safe crossings. 

 

Who are the owners ?????

[gdgbb]

Just now, johng said:

 

Who are the owners ?????

Royal Passenger Liner.

[joeyg]

21 hours ago, Enoon said:

 

The vessels planned activity over the launch period was published on the 5th (including HH 8.30 morning departures 7th -10th, P 8.30 morning departures 13th-15th, 15.00 return trips from both destinations)

 

As the service is still "proving" (maintenance and checks 11th, official opening on the 12th, free until 15th January) it would have been wise for a potential traveler to find out as much as possible first.

 

It's just taken me 10mins to retrieve that information.

 

I wonder how much time any of the thwarted freeloaders spent "planning"?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me see if I've got this right.  From your post the 3:00 PM departure from Pattaya was posted?  Why is this thread here then?

 

4. What Times Will the Ferry Leave?

It is proposed that two services will run per day, the first departing Hua Hin at 8:30am, and the second departing Pattaya at 15:30.

http://www.thethailandlife.com/pattaya-to-hua-hin-ferry-service

Edited January 10, 2017 by joeyg

[KenKadz]

Another "HALF-NICE IDEA" not thought all the way through to completion!

Edited January 10, 2017 by KenKadz

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

3 hours ago, gdgbb said:

Well, this thread is about the ferry service which does not have numerous problems, neither is the service on again, off again.

 

Don't blame the ferry operator for your not being able to find the timetable online, blame Google, unless you know that the operator has indicated that the schedule is available on line.

Why are you defending the ferry ? You are taking on everyone that have a problem with or see potential problems. Are you financially involved with the operation. If so declare your vested interest.

[F4UCorsair]

3 hours ago, johng said:

 

Its been tried  a few times before  each time it has failed, there is nothing different about this time.

If they used 2 ( + one backup ) proper roll on roll off ships  like they use on the English channel there might be a chance of success

they would be able to take not only passengers but cars and bikes and also trucks full of products in almost all sea conditions.

 

I don't think you understand what I'm saying johng.

 

If it's failed previously, isn't it better to hope it succeeds rather than fails???   It gives people another option, creates a business that employs people, pays tax, and provides a service.

 

I guess it's just that I'm a glass half full type rather than a glass half empty type??

 

Maybe the owners need a few Thai Visa business analysts, CEO's living in Pattaya on sabbatical, etc., on the team to tell them where they're going wrong, and how to do it to ensure success??

 

It seems to me that a lot of TV members are here for no reason other than to pour scorn on anything Thai, and that seems counterproductive to me.

Edited January 10, 2017 by F4UCorsair

[Asiantravel]

42 minutes ago, F4UCorsair said:

 

I don't think you understand what I'm saying johng.

 

If it's failed previously, isn't it better to hope it succeeds rather than fails???   It gives people another option, creates a business that employs people, pays tax, and provides a service.

 

I guess it's just that I'm a glass half full type rather than a glass half empty type??

 

Maybe the owners need a few Thai Visa business analysts, CEO's living in Pattaya on sabbatical, etc., on the team to tell them where they're going wrong, and how to do it to ensure success??

 

It seems to me that a lot of TV members are here for no reason other than to pour scorn on anything Thai, and that seems counterproductive to me.

 

 

" pays tax "

 

 

[Alan Deer]

1 hour ago, F4UCorsair said:

 

I don't think you understand what I'm saying johng.

 

If it's failed previously, isn't it better to hope it succeeds rather than fails???   It gives people another option, creates a business that employs people, pays tax, and provides a service.

 

I guess it's just that I'm a glass half full type rather than a glass half empty type??

 

Maybe the owners need a few Thai Visa business analysts, CEO's living in Pattaya on sabbatical, etc., on the team to tell them where they're going wrong, and how to do it to ensure success??

 

It seems to me that a lot of TV members are here for no reason other than to pour scorn on anything Thai, and that seems counterproductive to me.

I don't think it's anything to do with "hope" - one way or the other - this service is as far as I can see exactly the same as the previous models which have failed - almost every critic of the service has taken an intelligent look at the information available both on this and other services and find it raises questions - basing a business plan on hope is just daft.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Alan Deer