San Juan dismantling structure that caused 'Dream' problems

[gaylensgigi]

I was on that 9 day sailing as well.Being that I stayed up rather late the night before, I slept through the whole thing,only woke up when the announcements started coming on in the cabins.

It was one of the best days of the cruise.Spent a lovely day at the aft pool. One of the funniest things that happened all cruise, and there where a lot of them, was when another of our group, who also slept late,joined us poolside and asked"what did yall do in SJ?" He was seroius too. I guess you have to understand how warp our humor is to appreciate this.

We may have missed a port, but that was banking day for many of the crew, who did not get to send home money to their familes. Id say their day was worse than ours,but you would never have known it.They remained proffesional at all times.

Hey Linda,tell D J I said hi!!!!

[JPH814]

This was a one time stop for the Carnival Dream. It was a 9 day cruise and since that cruise, San Juan has not been a port on the Dream's itineraries. Yes, someone didn't do their homework but I truly believe that they anticipated docking in Carnival's usual dock ( which does not have that structure ). I can't say how much notice Carnival had from the port authorities that the Dream had been assigned to that dock ( pier ).

 

Maybe if it was a scheduled stop on the Dream's Eastern itinerary, more planning/homework would have been done.

 

I personally thought they could have asked the Costa ship to move to the dock with the structure and allow the Dream to dock in their place. It would have not been such a sacrifice to ask the passengers from Costa to re-board from the new pier as it was just a short walk from where they got off earlier. However, I don't know the politics of such a move. Maybe it's more involved than I as a layman can understand.

 

you mean like - "well, we are going to go to San Juan only once, so I guess we will figure it out when we get there".....I don't think so.

 

 

I don't care if it was a one time stop or not. We're not talking about a Toyota Corrolla here. We are talking about a ship three football fields long with over 4,000 souls on board. I would expect that Carnival has thought through every day she is in service. It is not like you are driving to a shopping mall and looking around for a parking space. Some parking spaces are reserved ahead of time, not first come first served.

[btyko]

My wife and I were on that cruise also.

 

We did have a beautiful day at sea. The social staff added a bunch of activities. The casino added a slots tournament, which my wife, who NEVER gambles won.

[BeeBeeCee]

We were on the 12/3/09 cruise as well...and we didn't mind missing the port...we had fun regardless...

 

just a little excitement in the day...life is too short to be unhappy about such things :D

 

Hi Linda and family ....have fun on the Triumph :)

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

It's like a REUNION here! :D

 

HELLO ALL !!!

 

Tom

[Dan Askin]

That would be this thingy.

 

 

Smitty, is that your shot? If not, what's the source? We'd like to re-post the image.

[Smart Arsenal Fan]

Wow! That certainly is a tough statement. Are you saying the better the deal the lower

the quality of the cruiser? (really just asking - not making a statement)

 

 

IME, without a doubt.

[F22Smitty]

Smitty, is that your shot? If not, what's the source? We'd like to re-post the image.

 

Dan, yes that is my photo taken from the Carnival Freedom, Oct. 12, 2009.

 

Here are the two that I took. You are welcome to use them.

 

 

[Dan Askin]

Dan, yes that is my photo taken from the Carnival Freedom, Oct. 12, 2009.

 

Here are the two that I took. You are welcome to use them.

 

 

 

Thanks Smitty!

[F22Smitty]

Hey Dan, where do you plan on using my photos so I can look for them?

[albertiger]

I really liked it as a an art installation or piece of sculpture.:D

I will miss it on my many trips to S.J.:(

[blindrid]

As a person who selects a cruise primarily for the itinerary, I would have expected more of a compensation. I think 1/7th of the cruise fare reimbursed (assuming it was a 7 day cruise) would have been fair. Then let the lawyers figuire out if Carnival gets reimbursed by the port of San Juan (or even by Royal Caribbean).

 

Are you kidding?

 

If you are not, I suppose I would question anyone that wants 1/7 of the fare and mention lawyers in same sentence. :rolleyes:.

 

It's a cruise, not the end of the world. And attorney wise, anyone knows that the cruise contract pretty much lets a cruise line do what they want anyway......

 

Second thought, I would have held out for a bucket of beer with tip instead of only $20.

[Case1096]

This isn't the first time the Carnival Nightmare could not fit into a pier. During our 2 day Carnival Nightmare sailing the ship was too large for the NYC pier. Instead of moving the ship to Brooklyn where it would have fit they decided to board passengers via the lower gangway without any luggage assistance. One passenger was injured due to the rain conditions and others were made to wait over 3 hours in the pier due to this logistical nightmare. Another example of great planning by Carnival.

[RickEk]

Am I the only one here who actually thought that structure was neat? I took pictures of it when I was in San Juan on the Triumph. No clue what it was supposed to be, but I dug it anyway. Kind of sad to see it go, although it does sound like it's nessecary.

 

Personally, I thought it was an interesting structure also. Definitely not functional, but IMHO, quite beautiful.

 

Here it is at night:

 

In relation to the other pier...

[Joserus]

I was wondering what that thing was when we docked. Had no idea it was art, lol.

[MrPete]

Personally, I thought it was an interesting structure also. Definitely not functional, but IMHO, quite beautiful.

 

Here it is at night:

 

In relation to the other pier...

 

WOW!

 

Nice shot!

[JPH814]

Are you kidding?

 

If you are not, I suppose I would question anyone that wants 1/7 of the fare and mention lawyers in same sentence. :rolleyes:.

 

It's a cruise, not the end of the world. And attorney wise, anyone knows that the cruise contract pretty much lets a cruise line do what they want anyway......

 

Second thought, I would have held out for a bucket of beer with tip instead of only $20.

 

Believe it or not, I was and am serious. It is one thing for Carnival to be affected by things outside of their controll. Weather, rough seas, whatevever. It is another for them to be so negligent and actually incompetent not to realize their ship was too big for the dock. There ship did not suddenly grow. The dock did not change in dimension. The could have and should have known this would be a problem.

 

The provision allowing for changing an itinerary should apply to items outside of Carnivals controll, not negligence or incompetence. What comes next - Carnival says "hey, fuel is too expensive, so we are goint to skip all of the ports and anchor off the coast of florida and you have no recourse" ?

 

Again, I am a huge Carnival fan and have absolutely no problems when it comes to issues outside of Carnival's controll. But I am amazed that people are not more outraged by this circumstance.

[gimletgal]

I thought it was beautiful and really enhanced the approach to San Juan. It's too bad that the government of PR has "caved" due to a cruiseship (knowingly) not being able to dock. Shame on Carnival!

[Jerseyboy1]

Would this be a case of form over function?

 

Maybe not, but IMO that art structure wasn't all that inspiring anyway. Good riddens. Though, I must say, it looked nice at night like the picture shows above.

 

Here's a thought. Why not just put the life boats back in their rightful place above the promenade deck and within the ship's main structure? What is it with these new ships? For the life of me, I can't see how the boats hanging over the side make it any safer, especially on ocean crossings or in storms.

 

Carnival Dream - can't dock in San Juan at chosen dock

NCL Epic - can't dock properly in NYC, probably will never return to this port

RCI Oasis - life boat damaged in transatlantic crossing

 

I guess cruise lines are willing to trade incidences like these for more revenue.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Would this be a case of form over function?

 

Maybe not, but IMO that art structure wasn't all that inspiring anyway. Good riddens. Though, I must say, it looked nice at night like the picture shows above.

 

Here's a thought. Why not just put the life boats back in their rightful place above the promenade deck and within the ship's main structure? What is it with these new ships? For the life of me, I can't see how the boats hanging over the side make it any safer, especially on ocean crossings or in storms.

 

Carnival Dream - can't dock in San Juan at chosen dock

NCL Epic - can't dock properly in NYC, probably will never return to this port

RCI Oasis - life boat damaged in transatlantic crossing

 

I guess cruise lines are willing to trade incidences like these for more revenue.

 

With the placement of lifeboats beyond the hull of some ships - perhaps they are trying to take this to its logical conclusion:

 

 

 

 

OUTRIGGER (lifeboat) Cruise Ships! "New, improved design promises greater stability, and a resistance to capsizing"!!! :D

 

As an aside - I often read words/phrases and am curious as to their origins. Your post led me to THIS (did you know you were quoting Shakespeare ? :D)

 

... and yes, MOST cruise lines are willing to trade almost ANYTHING for improved revenue! :eek:

 

Tom

[Jerseyboy1]

With the placement of lifeboats beyond the hull of some ships - perhaps they are trying to take this to its logical conclusion:

 

 

 

 

OUTRIGGER (lifeboat) Cruise Ships! "New, improved design promises greater stability, and a resistance to capsizing"!!! :D

 

As an aside - I often read words/phrases and am curious as to their origins. Your post led me to THIS (did you know you were quoting Shakespeare ? :D)

 

... and yes, MOST cruise lines are willing to trade almost ANYTHING for improved revenue! :eek:

 

 

Tom

 

LOL.....Tom....you don't secretly work for the cruise lines do you?:confused:

 

I think you have a winner there. Looks like a revenue generator as well. No fuel, no crew....etc..

 

It has been rumored that NCL may be building some new ships in the near future. Send this idea their way. It seems they're always looking for ways to innovate, whether practical or not.

 

Thanks for the laugh...!!:D And yeah it would help if I can remember how to spell riddance....LOL

Paul

[Monkeythyme]

Am I the only one here who actually thought that structure was neat? I took pictures of it when I was in San Juan on the Triumph. No clue what it was supposed to be, but I dug it anyway. Kind of sad to see it go, although it does sound like it's nessecary.

I thought it was a shelter of rather audacious architecture, and I thought it was pretty cool but wondered whether its "wings" would withstand sustained high winds.

[Monkeythyme]

WOW!

 

Nice shot!

 

Hmmm. From this angle it looks like an incomplete interstate ramp.