Voyager - Fog - Galveston

[GHarkness]

The reason the pool was shut down was due to USPH regulations. We are not allowed to fill our pools within 3 miles of land and can only hold water in the pools and jacuzzi's for a certian period of time

 

Regards,

 

Mike

 

Mike, I wasn't on that cruise (though I will be on the VOTS on January 10th), but I watched the whole thing unfold on the Galveston CruiseCam, with lots of commentary and Facebook posting even by people on board.

 

Many people do not know that Texas Law does not allow the sale of alcoholic beverages that were purchased from out-of-state suppliers. As a result, most ships (specifically mentioning Conquest here because I know their normal suppliers are in Miami) stock a minimum amount of alcohol that is purchased from Texas suppliers, thinking they'll be well outside the mileage limit (12 miles?) before they run out of Texas booze. Of course, when circumstances such as the fog occur, and they are stuck at the pier, it's easy to run out of Texas alcohol in short order. Then, even though the pantries may be full of the (Miami-supplied) stuff, they can't sell it! This may or may not have happened on the VOTS, but if people just knew about it, I'd think it would have to help calm people down. People hate not knowing!

 

Other things that may or may not have affected people is that of course the casino cannot be open, and Texas sales tax must be collected on any taxable item sold (including the drinks).

 

Again, I wasn't there, and there's really no excuse for pax getting so unruly as to have to have the police called to calm them down, so please don't think I am excusing them. But just a little bit of knowledge/public address can really go a long way.

 

BTW, I hear good things about you! :)

[sgermic]

I didn't want to comment on this at all, but I feel like I have to now. Just to give a perspective of someone else who was on this cruise and chose to stay...

 

I stayed because the voucher announcement was made at 6pm on Monday night by the Captain, and I felt that wasn't enough time to coordinate travel accommodations, pack, and stand in line. Plus, this was the scene of people leaving.

 

I'm kind of tired of everyone saying, "well you should have enjoyed yourself! You should have made the best of it!" Well when most of the activities are cancelled --casino, on deck activities, sail away parties, shops, bingo-- and the only alternative offered is one spontaneous showing of a Jeopardy-like game show, it's hard. And when you saved every penny for a year and a half for a balcony to look at this view until DAY THREE...

 

Don't TELL me that I should have had a blast. The 3200 people on the ship for the first two days were miserable, angry, and anxious. There were just bad vibes and it was very tense.

 

I'm not going to comment on RCI or some dumb weather comment, because that's not what this is about. I know there's no control of Mother Nature---blah blah blah---this is just about the experience for the first two days.

 

The MOMENT we left port, it was an awesome feeling. The entire mood of the ship lifted, and people had a great time. It was a gamble to stay on the ship because, theoretically, we could have stayed in port because of consistent fog. It was an excellent 5 day cruise. We ended up making the best of the situation. It was a rough time and a major let down for a while, but this will just be a good story to tell one day and a memory to keep. There were some great highlights to it:

 

1) I got engaged!

2) Great Cruise Director and staff, probably the best I've had after 8 cruises.

3) With 25% of the people gone from the ship, it was a lot more open--and everyone experienced the same first two days so there was a sense of community.

4) The weather was ironically BEAUTIFUL almost immediately.

5) Wonderful learning experience of how to go with the flow and roll with the punches.

 

But what I'm really trying to say is that I'm kind of tired of people in other threads about the Voyager situation, telling those that were onboard how or what they should have felt, without truly knowing anything.

[maggiecharlie]

Just curious,

 

I know the passengers that got off the ship got a voucher for a future cruise but what did the passengers that stayed on the ship get for their 7 day cruise turning into a 5 day cruise?

[sgermic]

Monetary: We got $13.64 for Roatan taxes and port fees.

 

Experience: Priceless; the good, the bad, and the ugly.

[pcl_cruiser]

Wow, sgermic, I am not really sure how to follow you one minute you are griping, the next you are slamming other people for their opinion, then you talk about wonderful sounding highlights, then you go back to slamming people again...its exausting. I am sorry if I appear rude, but really it seems to me that we have the right to speak our minds and not everyone is going to agree

 

I am in agreement with the poster that said the time on the ship is better than off...no matter what the situation. Again, you should be greatful you even got to go, some aren't that fortunate. I had to cancel mine a week before after looking forward to it for a year and a half. I should be on that ship right now, but it wasn't meant to be, I have to trust God and His reasons.

[pcl_cruiser]

I am sorry you are in the hospital and wish you a quick recovery so you can go on that cruise. However, if you are so tired of the complaining, then don't read it. I thought this was a discussion board where one can write about their good or bad experiences, or both. I think that one could tell from the title of this thread that it wasn't going to be all good. What were you expecting to read under a thread called "Voyager-Fog-Galveston"?

 

 

 

Get well

 

Thank you, even though you were pretty rude, you proved my point exactly...I thought this was about writing our opinions. Hmmmm, after waht I have been reading that seems to be true only if those opinions are in agreement with others.

 

Wow I didn't realize I was stirring up the waters so much, forgive me maybe I should have never said anything, I have learned my lesson...you all have a Merry Christmas!

[djmike]

I didn't want to comment on this at all, but I feel like I have to now. Just to give a perspective of someone else who was on this cruise and chose to stay...

 

I stayed because the voucher announcement was made at 6pm on Monday night by the Captain, and I felt that wasn't enough time to coordinate travel accommodations, pack, and stand in line. Plus, this was the scene of people leaving.

 

I'm kind of tired of everyone saying, "well you should have enjoyed yourself! You should have made the best of it!" Well when most of the activities are cancelled --casino, on deck activities, sail away parties, shops, bingo-- and the only alternative offered is one spontaneous showing of a Jeopardy-like game show, it's hard. And when you saved every penny for a year and a half for a balcony to look at this view until DAY THREE...

 

Don't TELL me that I should have had a blast. The 3200 people on the ship for the first two days were miserable, angry, and anxious. There were just bad vibes and it was very tense.

 

I'm not going to comment on RCI or some dumb weather comment, because that's not what this is about. I know there's no control of Mother Nature---blah blah blah---this is just about the experience for the first two days.

 

The MOMENT we left port, it was an awesome feeling. The entire mood of the ship lifted, and people had a great time. It was a gamble to stay on the ship because, theoretically, we could have stayed in port because of consistent fog. It was an excellent 5 day cruise. We ended up making the best of the situation. It was a rough time and a major let down for a while, but this will just be a good story to tell one day and a memory to keep. There were some great highlights to it:

 

1) I got engaged!

2) Great Cruise Director and staff, probably the best I've had after 8 cruises.

3) With 25% of the people gone from the ship, it was a lot more open--and everyone experienced the same first two days so there was a sense of community.

4) The weather was ironically BEAUTIFUL almost immediately.

5) Wonderful learning experience of how to go with the flow and roll with the punches.

 

But what I'm really trying to say is that I'm kind of tired of people in other threads about the Voyager situation, telling those that were onboard how or what they should have felt, without truly knowing anything.

 

Congrats on the engagement!

[djmike]

Mike, I wasn't on that cruise (though I will be on the VOTS on January 10th), but I watched the whole thing unfold on the Galveston CruiseCam, with lots of commentary and Facebook posting even by people on board.

 

Many people do not know that Texas Law does not allow the sale of alcoholic beverages that were purchased from out-of-state suppliers. As a result, most ships (specifically mentioning Conquest here because I know their normal suppliers are in Miami) stock a minimum amount of alcohol that is purchased from Texas suppliers, thinking they'll be well outside the mileage limit (12 miles?) before they run out of Texas booze. Of course, when circumstances such as the fog occur, and they are stuck at the pier, it's easy to run out of Texas alcohol in short order. Then, even though the pantries may be full of the (Miami-supplied) stuff, they can't sell it! This may or may not have happened on the VOTS, but if people just knew about it, I'd think it would have to help calm people down. People hate not knowing!

 

Other things that may or may not have affected people is that of course the casino cannot be open, and Texas sales tax must be collected on any taxable item sold (including the drinks).

 

Again, I wasn't there, and there's really no excuse for pax getting so unruly as to have to have the police called to calm them down, so please don't think I am excusing them. But just a little bit of knowledge/public address can really go a long way.

 

BTW, I hear good things about you! :)

 

 

True about communication, I agree. I didn't even know about the whole Texas booze thing until last Sunday. I couldn't even order a red bull for some reason.

 

After reading the posts this is the first time I heard questions about the jacuzzi's. Had I known it was an issue I would have communicated this for our guests. As for updates as to our departure, this needs to come from the Captain. Once he did make his announcement I was on the bridge by his side to repeat and assist in communicating the information.

 

I do know that they were on conference calls on the hour, every hour with Miami updating them and in the end sorting out the 100 per cent cruise credit.

 

I think I ended up putting in 34.5 hours in the first two days and many of the crew put in mucho overtime to try and help the situation.

[cruiseknots]

Thank you, even though you were pretty rude, you proved my point exactly...I thought this was about writing our opinions. Hmmmm, after waht I have been reading that seems to be true only if those opinions are in agreement with others.

 

Wow I didn't realize I was stirring up the waters so much, forgive me maybe I should have never said anything, I have learned my lesson...you all have a Merry Christmas!

 

 

I am sorry if you thought I was being rude. I am not complaining about those who complain about the complainers. I am simply reminding you that if you don't like reading complaints, then simply don't read them. It's a lot like TV, if I don't like what's on the channel, I just change it.

 

I think the OP had valid complaints and was still flamed for writing them even by you.

[GHarkness]

I do know that they were on conference calls on the hour, every hour with Miami updating them and in the end sorting out the 100 per cent cruise credit.

 

I think I ended up putting in 34.5 hours in the first two days and many of the crew put in mucho overtime to try and help the situation.

 

During that awful situation, many of my thoughts were with all the customer-facing staff - whose job it is pretty much 100% to satisfy the pax (once safety is assured). And of course, the only thing that will satisfy the passengers is to get moving...which couldn't happen! It must have been awful for you guys from your level all the way to the room stewards and beyond.

 

I think probably the only "pleasant" place to be in a situation like that is below the water line in the laundry :D

[sgermic]

Pcl_cruiser, thank you for proving my point. I may be exhausting you, but that was how the cruise went! It started on such a low and ended on a high! Excuse me if my ups and downs offended you in some way, but imagine the feelings of 3000+ people on one ship! Opinions are opinions and you can gladly give yours. But there's mine. FIN!

[LoneStarJeffe]

Hey Merry Christmas everybody!

 

Poor communication is never good. However, once a cruise ship goes off schedule, there is a lot of factors to be assessed when considering options.

 

Here is the rundown of some of them:

 

Safety - Job 1 of course.

Legal - what are they obligated to do?

Constraints - What is it possible to do? Options available for things like a missed flight do not easily scale up to cruise ship passenger size.

Costs - The price paid for the ticket does not cover profit. It is additional revenue captured once passengers are onboard that will determine if a specific cruise makes a profit.

 

The faster they can work through all of these factors, the faster they can determine next steps and communicate them out. I suspect, the options are fairly easy to determine. However, getting approval for which option will be followed probably takes more time. Cruise companies need to improve their OODA loop time. OODA stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. I suspect the decide part is where the delay happens.

[HappiTravels]

I am just tired of all of the complaining, some people aren't happy no matter what happens. RCCL isn't responsible for gas and hotel...just the cruise, if you got compensated for that then be grateful, they didn't have to do that as the weather is not under their control. I was supposed to be on the Voyager right now, but I was put in the hospital for about a week and after almost dying the doctor said no way. We have rescheduled for next Christmas and we are going on the Oasis in June, but after looking forward to it for so long and not being able to go..it really irritates me to see people gripe when they were able to go. Afterall, it is what you make of it and I have to trust that God has a reason that we couldn't go this time.

 

It doesn't hurt to open our eyes and look at it from the OP's perspective. We have been psyched beyond belief for months now for our January cruise and I just can't imagine the anti climax of having my vacation start and end 1 1/2 days later. It would be depressing to say the least. I am sure as the weeks go on they will start looking forward to their next cruise with great anticipation again. Of course the whole situation was out of RCCL's control but I can certainly empathize.

[Loki_77573]

Wow, sgermic, I am not really sure how to follow you one minute you are griping, the next you are slamming other people for their opinion, then you talk about wonderful sounding highlights, then you go back to slamming people again...its exausting. I am sorry if I appear rude, but really it seems to me that we have the right to speak our minds and not everyone is going to agree

 

I am in agreement with the poster that said the time on the ship is better than off...no matter what the situation. Again, you should be grateful you even got to go, some aren't that fortunate. I had to cancel mine a week before after looking forward to it for a year and a half. I should be on that ship right now, but it wasn't meant to be, I have to trust God and His reasons.

 

He should be grateful he even go to go!?! RU joking? "Some aren't that fortunate"? Unless he was given the cruise or won it, he worked and saved for it. At least you can buy insurance for an unforeseen illness. This wasn't an unforeseen emergency. He didn't schedule his cruise during hurricane season. This was fog, something the cruise line deals with regularly or should at the very least have a plan in place. If you know it might rain why wouldn't you have an umbrella handy? The Captain and crew are surely made aware of weather conditions that might effect their vessel, their port schedules, and their passengers. Information is vital to making "an informed decision" it is a shame that RCCL dropped the ball instead of backing up and punting. Some people want more out of a cruise than just the buffet tables. On this thread you first stated you were tired of complainers so stop complaining yourself. I hope you get well and your understanding returns.