VS031 LGW-UVF 2 Dec 05 (Upper)

This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

Having had one previous return trip (my first) in upper class earlier this year I was really looking forward to the flight. Along with my wife we had my mate Chris and his partner, whom I had sold the whole concept of ucs to.

Staying down at the Gatwick Hilton the night before to ensure an early entrance to the CH we were very impressed with the rooms in the new wing. Choosing rooms on the smoking floor we were also impressed with the distinct lack of stale smoke odour in the rooms. The ventilation/filtration in the new rooms is excellent[y]. I've never been one for hotels where you can't open the windows for fresh air. The only dissappointment with our stay at the Hilton was that we took the express checkout in the morning and upon return home their bill showed an additional 10% service charge over and above the amount I had signed for in their main a la carte restaurante. Does anyone know if this is standard practice?

Up early the following morning following using twilight checkin the night before. I couldn't be bothered with duty free shopping so I was staight into the CH for my second ever visit. Initial greeting was fine and I sat down in the library for a coffee and cigarette, or should I say cigarette and cigarette. After around 14 minutes I took off my invisible man clothes and walked over to the bar and ordered myself a coffee. On my previous visit with Mr and Mrs Decker the staff couldn't do enough for us, on this ocassion it was the opposite. As it was around 7.45am the CH was fairly empty so I don't understand why the service was so bad.

My mate Chris joined me around 8.00 and he also had to go to the bar to get served after a five minute wait. When our 2 partners joined us after a further 20 minutes it was quite embarrassing as after a wait of around 10 minutes they also had to go the bar and get their own drinks. The service then picked up to the level I remembered and a good breakfast was enjoyed by all.

We boarded the 744 on time with no priority boarding, queueing with the other pax. At this point I was a tad disappointed as maybe I had oversold UC to my friends i.e. top notch service in the CH and priority boarding.

Once on board the pure joy of being in the front of the plane soon dispelled any negative memories from earlier. We had pre booked seats 9-12K which were great. My friends couldn't get over the amount of space in the ucs area on the Gatwick formatted jumbo's.

Needless to say the flight was great and although delayed about an hour we really didn't care and as far as we were concerned we would have been happy with a 12 hour flight time rather than 9. Those of you who have had the privalige of UCS will know what I mean.

Sadly the food was another story. The soup came as a very small portion in a shallow bowl and would have been better described as paste[n], or rather cold paste. I then had the lamb suet pie which wasn't cooked and was also only slightly warm. Couldn't be bothered with desert so opted for the cheese and crackers as they couldn't get that wrong. Unfortunately the only crackers available were the thin black crispy ones which I don't like.

Still enough of the negative aspects of the flight. The new wines on offer were brilliant with the FA offering each pax a sample of each as they had not had a chance to try them so they could not recommend their individual values.

So, after a safe and trouble free landing in St Lucia it was of for the 90 minute drive up to Le Sport in the north of the island.

When finances or airmiles permit we will definately fly UC again primarily for the spaciousness and service levels, not for the food.

Hi TonyT,

Thanks for TR. Shame about the LGW CH service, which I feel is normally good, maybe they just had an off day. I know what you mean about the LGW744 UC. Loads of space, pity the bar only had 2 seats, but on my flight it was hardly used.
Food service does still seem to be inconsistant but again I had great food.

Anyway relax and enjoy Le Sport[:D]

Iain

[ChuckC]

Tony,
Very good report. Let us know what you think of Le Sport, please.

Regards,
Chuck-

ChuckC
Second time at Le Sport this year. Service, food, drinks, spa treatments, golf (free), activities GREAT. Rooms are tired and lack tv's (not bothered about that) and tea or coffee making facilities.

At present it has one of the highest occupancy rates (85%)on the island. Not as lively as Sandals but thats just a personal choice thing. We will be going back.

[buns]

Tony T

Thanks for the TR[y][y]

As Iforres says, the service in the LGW CH does seem out of what one can usually expect - I too hope it was an off day.

I was not to keen to hear about the menu on board - lamb suet pie that is cold is not my idea of UC dining[V][V] Why not bring back the lamb shank[?]

all the best

Buns4vs.
With regards to the food I have 2 retrospective comments to make;
1 Keep it simple and good quality.
2 The plates it was served on were freezing cold, the meal no matter what it is has no chance of staying hot especially as they were very small portions.
Maybe it would be better if they put the plates in the oven before dishing up.

[buns]

Tony

Thanks for the thoughts - I will have to hope the CH is on form when i am next there as it looks like i will have to eat there rather than on the aircraft[:?][:?]