Queen Mary II: The Disappointed

Previously I wrote about Queen Mary II's visit to San Francisco I was very interested in what people wrote when it visited Hong Kong.

Well, there were a bunch of disappointed folks. First, for some reason some people think the ship should be open to public but visitors were by invitation only.

Second, one guest lecturer on the ship, John Reich, has "bad mouthed" Hong Kong and upsetted a few fellow passengers from Hong Kong.

His criticism of Hong Kong includes:
- heavy pollution. I can't disagree with this
- the pollution is so bad that you won't get a good view from Victoria Peak. I have to disagree. I saw it myself. So are others. See this video as the proof.
- the museums' collections are poor. I won't even argue. Museums are never selling points of Hong Kong. On the other hand, if one is interested in Hong Kong's own history and culture, s/he would be able to learn a lot from the museums there.
- restaurants are not capable of serving customers the food they order. I have never heard of this! I speak Cantonese so I have an advantage over Mr. Reich. However, I do have a brother who doesn't speak much Cantonese and I haven't heard him complained. I'll be very surprised if all those world class 5 star restaurants couldn't get their orders right.

Reference: Here is an excerpt from 星島日報:

本港搭客林先生向香港旅遊發展局及報章投訴，表示自己在上月二十日於澳洲雪梨上船來港，在郵輪抵港前一天，一名英國歷史及考古學家John Reich在船上舉行一個介紹香港的講座中，連番批評香港，而講座內容其後在船上透過電視不斷播放。

林先生指出，該專家提及有關香港旅遊業的情況相當負面，當中包括香港空氣污染極為嚴重，到山頂遊覽根本甚麼也看不到，根本不值一遊﹔到食肆亦往往感到絕望，因為無論如何小心點菜，侍應也經常送錯餐﹔在尖沙嘴的藝術博物館亦不值一去，因為水準比區內其他館，如上海都要差。林先生認為該專家的意見並無根據及帶誤導性，向船員投訴但不果，故向旅發局反映要求跟進。