Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Jersey Shore

Brooke and I went to the Jersey shore last weekend. To be specific, we stayed at a B&B called The Cameo Rose in North Wildwood, but also spent Sunday touring Cape May.

We had a good time on the Boardwalk Friday evening. I got to test out my new Nikon D700 camera and see if the reviews of its high ISO performance were accurate. I have to say that it blew me away with the color and noise qualities at ISO 3200 and 6400. Using no flash an my f2.8 mid-range zoom, I was capturing images I hadn't thought possible. A selection of the shots are on my Flickr page.

We had a good time on the beach Saturday where Brooke and I each made sand castles, although hers is vastly superior to my effort. We tried the water, but as I suspected, it was far too cold for me, and even Brooke wasn't in the mood to try and brave the water.

The biggest issue of the weekend was on Saturday night when we tried to see a movie at the Sunset Cinema Movie on the Beach. Here is the review I posted on a travel advisor site. It is probably the most scathing review I've ever written, and I am going to write the BBB and perhaps the state. I am irate over the treatment I received, and since I have lots of time, I will make it my near-term mission.

Here's the review:
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To be fair they do warn you that if the weather turns bad, you won't get a cash refund, but what they don't tell you is that this included technical difficulties.

We arrived at 5 PM and there was a 30% chance of showers, so I bought my tickets. We walked the boardwalk then returned at 5 after 8 PM only to find that the show had been cancelled. Puzzled as there were clear skies and still only a 30% chance of showers I went back to the box office to find out what was going on.

The self-declared manager first claimed that the technican had looked on the internet and found a 90% chance of rain. When I showed her my phone with the latest NWS forecast and confronted her with the fact that people were saying the sound system was not working; she said that she didn't make the call to cancel, but the tech did. I find it strange that the manager abdicates such calls to technicians, but that's another point.

I then spoke with the tech and he said that the owner made the call to cancel and that he had spent the whole day trying to fix the sound to no avail, and seemed only vaguely aware of weather in the area.

They were smart enough not to say to me that they cancelled because of the sound system, but all the evidence points to technical problems, and not weather as the reason the show was cancelled.

So even though the weather was fine for the rest of the weekend, I was out $15 for parking (no refund at all there), and $18 for 2 tickets (they offer rain checks which is only good if you are going to return that season) because they didn't have the ethics to not sell tickets or at least offer refunds knowing that their equipment was questionable for the showing.

I'd love to actually review the movie, but since I didn't actually get to see it, I can't say much to that effect.
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I need to formulate my letters with a bit more detail and opinion. I tried to stick to the facts for the most part above.

1 comment:

Joe Allen said...

Hey - It's your favorite critic. I think you need a blogging lesson. You need to explain the context of your cut and paste job. From your blog post, the reader has no idea what type of show you were trying to see. Was it a drive-in theater or a drag queen show?