I feel ripped off by Cirque du Soleil! (sexy)

[RadioFanatic]

Well, this past Friday, I saw the Cirque du Soleil. And quite frankly, I feel cheated. It annoys me b/c I can't do anything about it.

You see, my friend's birthday was this weekend. As a result, her husband bought a bunch of tickets for the Delirium Cirque du Soleil show so about 14 of us could go. We had to pay him back for the tickets. Now, for the show, there were three "levels" of tix you could get - $70, $80 and $100 - and guess which ones he got? The $100 ones - and he got front row.

Now normally, when going to a concert you would be like ALL RIGHT front row!!! For Cirque du Soleil, however, you don't want front row - at least not for this show. What I don't get, however, is that I knew you shouldn't get front row and I've never even been to one of these shows. Why did someone who has been to three other shows think front row would be good?

So anyway (and no it wasn't my idea to go - dh told the husband we would go) - I still was excited about the show as I had always wanted to see one.

But we got there, in our front row seats and the stage was about 6-8 feet high. So, not only did we miss a bunch of the show b/c we couldn't see, but for what we could see we had to hold our heads back, getting a major pain. It was like being in the front row of a movie theater, only worse.

So am I mad at the husband - not at all, it's not his fault. But I am mad at the Cirque Du Soleil and the auditorium - how dare they sell the most expensive tix for seats where you couldn't see everything? Why would the most expensive tix be for seats that had a horrible view? I really feel like I got gyped. I would have rather have spent $30 less a ticket and seen everything. And the thing is, they know that - it is their show and stage.

I would love to write a letter to complain - to them and the letters to the editor, but I can't do that to my friends. So I'll just vent here, thank you.

 

[bicker]

I'm sorry you were disappointed with your seats. Unfortunately, it is impractical to assign a different price to each seat in an auditorium. La Nouba breaks their auditorium into three levels, and while not every seat at each level has exactly the same view as every other seat at that level, all the Cat. 1 seats have better views than the Cat. 2 seats and the Cat. 3 seats. This arrangement is standard practice in the industry, and so you can expect similar circumstances at practically any performance show you patronize.

Again, I'm sorry you weren't satisfied with your seats. Hopefully, you were able to enjoy this wonderful show, nonetheless.

 

[figment52]

I can understand why you don't want to write the editor - you name would be published and your friends would know. But why can't you write the show or the auditorium? DOes someone you know work there.

Sounds like it was an obstructed view and if it wasn't disclosed on the ticket or taken into consideration with the tiicket price I would be upset as well.

 

[RadioFanatic]

but it wasn't just my seat - if I had sat in any of the first 1-6 rows, I would have had the same problem. And there were 10 sections with 14 seats in each row in each section, so we're talking about approximately 700 seats, not just a couple. don't advertise them as the amazing seats when they are anything but.

 

[Planogirl]

I would hate that too.

Bicker, I don't agree. Top price seats should provide unobstructed views IMO. It sounds like these seats were poorly designed if nothing else.

 

[RadioFanatic]

I can understand why you don't want to write the editor - you name would be published and your friends would know. But why can't you write the show or the auditorium? DOes someone you know work there.

I don't have proof I bought a ticket without asking my friend for the proof. And unfortunately, I don't know anyone working there. In fact, my friend does done some work for them in the past so that's how he got the tix - not for free, we paid, obviously, or I wouldn't be complaining, but he got them through someone there - and no, we didnt' get any discount. we paid the true value.

 

[RadioFanatic]

I'm sorry you were disappointed with your seats. Unfortunately, it is impractical to assign a different price to each seat in an auditorium. La Nouba breaks their auditorium into three levels, and while not every seat at each level has exactly the same view as every other seat at that level, all the Cat. 1 seats have better views than the Cat. 2 seats and the Cat. 3 seats. This arrangement is standard practice in the industry, and so you can expect similar circumstances at practically any performance show you patronize.

Again, I'm sorry you weren't satisfied with your seats. Hopefully, you were able to enjoy this wonderful show, nonetheless.

I DID buy the category 1 seats which did NOT have a better view than 2 or 3 - that's the whole point of this post - and no, as a result, I did not enjoy the show - it was too hard to see.

 

[BunsenH]

I've been to several CdS shows, both the permanent and traveling (tent) type. It sounds like Delerium is a traveling show, but not in a tent.

Front row seats at Drallion and Varekai (both tent) were high enough so that the entire stage could be seen. Front row (love) seats at Zumanity (permanent) also afforded a full view of the stage.

Based on your description, it appears that the stage for Delerium is too high and parts of the stage are blocked. I can visualize the situation you describe and sympathize with you if you felt cheated. I would send an e-mail directly to CdS to express your dissatisfaction. If you mention the venue and date, I doubt that they would ask for "proof" of your attendance. Perhaps they'll send you a t-shirt or program for your feedback. Not $200 worth of compensation, but something to take the edge off.

In a perfect world, everyone should see a CdS show twice. Once from up close to see the costumes and appreciate the performers efforts. Once from far away to get a since of the big picture and overall scope of the performance.

 

[bicker]

(see message later in this thread)

 

[cardaway]

Sexy?

I do have to agree that there is no way Cirque did anything wrong. Many folks with those seats likely thought they were fine.

Personally my rule of thumb is to get the front seats in the second section because of what you encountered.

There is such a thing as too close. We learned that when we had front row to the ballet. Takes away from the performance when you can hear every slide and landing and have to look back and forth to see the whole stage.

 

[jbdreamer]

I have been to one Cirque du Soleil, and we were seated directly in front of a huge tent post! I could only see part of the stage. I too was very fustrated. Why put a seat behind a post?

Thank goodness I got the tickets cheap from a friend.

 

[toto2]

DELERIUM is an Arena show that features the music of the Cirque du Soleil. It is not "circus" , more like a giant rock show. Not a lot of acrobats and no "storyLine" like the other shows. The stage run across the Arena ( on the long side) and there are giant seetrough screens were multymedia projections occure. There are tens of dancers and giant costumes etc. So the best seats would definitaly in the mildle of the arena. The front row tickests should not be sold like the best tikets !


edited to had link to pictures of the show !

http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/showstickets/delirium/about_intro.htm

 

[RadioFanatic]

I've sat in the first row once. The view isn't "obstructed", as the term is generally used. Again, I'm sorry the OP was disappointed, but I don't see any misstep by Cirque in this case.

just because your view wasn't doesn't mean the ones at this show were not. EVERYONE was complaining - not just my friends and ALL of the views were obstructed b/c the stage was too high. It was a traveling show that we saw in a civic center.

 

[RadioFanatic]

DELERIUM is an Arena show that features the music of the Cirque du Soleil. It is not "circus" , more like a giant rock show. Not a lot of acrobats and no "storyLine" like the other shows. The stage run across the Arena ( on the long side) and there are giant seetrough screens were multymedia projections occure. There are tens of dancers and giant costumes etc. So the best seats would definitaly in the mildle of the arena. The front row tickests should not be sold like the best tikets !


edited to had link to pictures of the show !

http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/showstickets/delirium/about_intro.htm

thank you toto2 you described it perfectly - and we didn't get to see ANY of the projections b/c the screens were less than 2 feet in front of us - so we lost that entire effect as well.

 

[bicker]

(see message later in this thread)

 

[Christine]

I feel your pain. I had a *similar* experience at The Kennedy Center when I saw Wicked. There were two prices of seats: Orchestra seats were approximately $86.00, and first tier and second tier seats were $76.00. Now, I had NEVER been to The Kennedy Center Opera House but I always know that orchestra are the best and I rarely will fork out money for a show if I can't get orchestra. Well, the orchestra seats were sold out. So, I thought "well, if there is ONLY a $10 price difference between TIER seats and ORCHESTRA seats, then the TIER seats are still probably pretty good." NOT!!! Those seats SUCKED big time and I'm still pissed that I paid $75.00 for them. I doubt I'll ever get over it. I feel the Kennedy Center really should have made, at the very least, the second tier seats at least $30 cheaper.

I agree that Cirque knows how their seating looks. That was wrong of them to charge more for those seats.

I did see Verekai and the front row seats would have been great but they were elevated.

 

[Pugsley]

I agree with you. Front row seats are not very good at any Cirque I've attended and I don't think they should be sold as Cat 1. I think it would be a good idea to complain to Cirque about this, and I don't understand why you think you need proof that you were there in order to issue a complaint. They're not going to expect to get a copy of your ticket stubs with your letter.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Cirque seats, for the 4 venues I have attended, are all better further from the stage, second level is generally better. I would write CdS and express your thoughts.

But sexy though?

 

[Christine]

Cirque seats, for the 4 venues I have attended, are all better further from the stage, second level is generally better. I would write CdS and express your thoughts.

But sexy though?

Okay Dan, you're the second person who has been confused by the OP's "sexy" remark. Don't you remember? Sexy = LONG POST in the immortal words of Pop Daddy!

 

[tw1nsmom]

I was at the same show on Friday and I agree that the front row would be really bad seats for that show. I was also on the floor, but about four rows back. They were just do-able, but I still missed quite a bit. There was no way for me to complain. The whole evening was a surpise for me from DH. He was so pleased that he had bought floor seats and that he had surprised me, that I would never tell him that the seats were less than ideal.

Like the OP said, the stage was set up like a runway. It was 6-8ft high and the front row would have had a very hard time seeing anything. I really enjoyed the show, but I wouldn't have wanted to be any closer.