century 10/13 cruise cancelled in Nice

[Jade13]

What do you suggest the passengers do to get back their thousands that they spent on airfare for a non-existent cruise? $250 change fee doesn't cover that.

 

I would have stayed in Europe for the week, so I would have used the airfare.

[mental]

I've been following this thread and have a few observations:

 

This is where a real TA comes is worth his/her weight in gold!

I had an experience in Europe where we flew over there and Globus cancelled our bus tour. They offered us another one but we had an additional week in Germany planned. We asked them to let us look at the new itinerary, see if we could make it work and that we'd let them know in the morning. We figured out how to make it work and got on the phone with our TA in the states who made the necessary changes to our plans and even called our families. She prepared an alternate itinerary that they were able to come pick up so that they would know where we were.

 

You won't get that kind of service from an on-line agency! Thanks to all of the brick and mortar TA's who help us out!

 

I booked our TA on Eclipse with an on line TA, and after reading all the stuff about Celebrity problems, will only book through a known, local TA in the future, so that I have someone to speak with who can help me solve any problems that may arise so that I can still find a way to enjoy what could have been a bad experience.

[Cruise Junky]

I would have stayed in Europe for the week, so I would have used the airfare.

 

And with the transportation strike and running out of jet fuel how would you have gotten to Barcelona for your return flight? The only real option they had was get to Barcelona and stay in that area for a 10 days. Touring perhaps Spain and Portugal but they would have had to either get to Barcelona right away or do what they did and pay to fly out of Nice. Somepeople just might not have been able to face that 10 hour bus trip.

[ocngypz]

You have given me valuable info in the past. I never thought about annual cruise insurance, but checked out the sight. Since we have over 60 days of cruising booked in the next year, it seems financially wiser to have an annual policy. Would there be any problem if we were from the US?

 

We appreciate your input.

 

Sincerely,

Jackie & Jim

 

The policy which was quoted is available only to residents of Spain!

 

Annual policies in the US provide primarily emergency medical and repatriation.

[pspercy]

I looked at the trip insurance bought for our last trip. It's very good covering things can can affect the travellers themselves, accidents, burglaries, layoff, jury duty etc but nowhere in it do I see anything addressing refunds of prepaid (air and/or cruise) fares due to cancellation or trip interruption by the cruiseline for mechanical breakdown, only for strikes, weather and natural disasters.

This was a policy thru' insuremytrip.com from TruTravel.

 

Take a look at yours folks, you might be surprised.

[Wanderlost]

My thoughts go out to everyone involved in this mess. My husband and I were on the Century in November 09 and spent the night in Villefrance's harbour due to a rudder problem. We were told a part had to be brought in which caused the delay in leaving. The cruise went on as scheduled for the rest of the trip. Last year we were on a similar itinerary but we stopped in Cannes, rather than Villefrance.

[Christine Frances]

Trip Interruption & Delay Insurance – (After Day of Departure)

If you must interrupt or delay your day of return due to a covered event listed

below, this insurance will reimburse you for the extra cost of a one-way economy

airfare to your province or territory of residence or your next destination point

and any unused non-refundable and non-transferable land arrangements up to a

maximum of $8,000 per insured person per trip. This benefit does not reimburse

the unused portion of any travel ticket.

 

One of the covered events

 

5. Delay of your common carrier or a private automobile resulting from the

mechanical failure of that carrier, a traffic accident, an emergency policedirected

road closure, weather conditions or flight delay, causing you to miss

a connection or resulting in the interruption of your trip arrangements.

 

 

Excerpts from our annual plan - hopefully we would be covered if we were unfortunately in the same position.

[Jade13]

I looked at the trip insurance bought for our last trip. It's very good covering things can can affect the travellers themselves, accidents, burglaries, layoff, jury duty etc but nowhere in it do I see anything addressing refunds of prepaid (air and/or cruise) fares due to cancellation or trip interruption by the cruiseline for mechanical breakdown, only for strikes, weather and natural disasters.

This was a policy thru' insuremytrip.com from TruTravel.

 

Take a look at yours folks, you might be surprised.

 

If I recall TruTravel was at the bottom and least expensive and least amount of coverage offered on insuremytrip. I know because we used them once for a mini 3 night Cruise To NoWhere from NYC as they were the cheapest policy and we already had medical for use on the ship (out of network), but knew we would never use that policy for a longer trip in Europe or Asia.

[carolinagal]

We finally made it home from our ill-fated cruise on Celebrity Century. For those of you who weren't there to hear the captain announce on the PA system second night out that our cruise was cancelled and we had 48hrs. to get off the ship, will never know the shock and dismay felt by every passenger on board.

To say Celebrity did little to nothing to help the passengers, is a vast understatement. The Captain and senior officers vanished and left the mess in the hands of 20 year old crew members who were trying their best but had no power to assist anyone. The phones in cabins never worked, although Celebrity kept insisting they were available. Computers were down or extremely slow with long lines of people waiting to make any kind of arrangement to get home. I must add that Bob in the computer room was the only crew member of any competence and tried his best to help during a terrible situation. The biggest joke was when they slipped a notice under our cabin door Thursday night after being told the cruise was cancelled, saying we could still book Celebrity tours for Friday of Nice and Monaco!!!! What morons!!

Seeing that we had one day, Friday, to make plans to fly home, no phones or computers to reach anyone, it's a miracle we were able to make our arrangements by taking a bus to the Nice airport and switch our plane reservation out of Barcelona to Tuesday. This meant we were to take the 10 hour bus ride to Barcelona!! Fun!!

There is so much more that I can add to this saga, but suffice it to say that Celebrity handled this crisis in the worst way. We are experienced travelers and were able to get home safely, but I shudder to think that there are still many passengers struggling to get home.

There can never be enough compensation to make up for this nightmare.

[alwayshappytocruise]

We finally made it home from our ill-fated cruise on Celebrity Century. For those of you who weren't there to hear the captain announce on the PA system second night out that our cruise was cancelled and we had 48hrs. to get off the ship, will never know the shock and dismay felt by every passenger on board.

To say Celebrity did little to nothing to help the passengers, is a vast understatement. The Captain and senior officers vanished and left the mess in the hands of 20 year old crew members who were trying their best but had no power to assist anyone. The phones in cabins never worked, although Celebrity kept insisting they were available. Computers were down or extremely slow with long lines of people waiting to make any kind of arrangement to get home. I must add that Bob in the computer room was the only crew member of any competence and tried his best to help during a terrible situation. The biggest joke was when they slipped a notice under our cabin door Thursday night after being told the cruise was cancelled, saying we could still book Celebrity tours for Friday of Nice and Monaco!!!! What morons!!

Seeing that we had one day, Friday, to make plans to fly home, no phones or computers to reach anyone, it's a miracle we were able to make our arrangements by taking a bus to the Nice airport and switch our plane reservation out of Barcelona to Tuesday. This meant we were to take the 10 hour bus ride to Barcelona!! Fun!!

There is so much more that I can add to this saga, but suffice it to say that Celebrity handled this crisis in the worst way. We are experienced travelers and were able to get home safely, but I shudder to think that there are still many passengers struggling to get home.

There can never be enough compensation to make up for this nightmare.

 

I am so sorry for all who "cruised"...I honestly can't imagine what you all went thru. Sounds like X really let you guys down...they should have had a "Care Team" in Villefrance (sp). Sounds like horrible, terrible , non-existant customer service. Take care of your people should have been the mantra...based on this, as much as I love RCL and have cruised X a few times...I will re-consider where I spend my $ depending on the outcome of this debacle.

For all you nay-sayers out there, comfy in your own homes...imagine if this was your first venture into a foreign country, first cruise experience....it would be a friggin' nightmare of confusion. Euros...ATM's...Barcelona 10 hour bus trip vs staying in the land of strikes...yikes.

[flagger]

Those who say...use a TA so you have someone to help....we flew to Barcelona on AA frequent flier miles....we used up 60K miles to get to the two cruises and expected to wind up in Miami where we could drive home.

 

We could not call AA to "Change our flights" or to book another flight on miles because we don't have enough.

 

So what TA would you suggest we use for help getting home....no tickets to change because we never needed a ticket in the first place to get home. We booked one way to Barcelona.

 

Assistance from Select Air would have been very welcome by us....or assistance by the rep in the "redeployment desk"...but neither was offered...actually they refused to do either when I asked.

A TA could never get your miles back. What a TA could do is exactly what you would want Select/Choice Air to do. Find arrangements in an unfortunate situation. Either arranging a tour using money you expected to spend on excursions in the various ports, or going ahead and booking you a return ticket home.

 

Would it be ideal, of course not, but at least you would have someone working for you with one phone call could present you options and allowed you to explore in Villefranche instead of time making them yourself.

 

A good, not necessarily cheap, travel insurance policy would not only cover for trip interruption or delay (reimbursing for payment out of pocket) but have a 24/7 manned live travel assistance number reached via collect call from anywhere in the world.

[Starry Nights]

And with the transportation strike and running out of jet fuel how would you have gotten to Barcelona for your return flight? The only real option they had was get to Barcelona and stay in that area for a 10 days. Touring perhaps Spain and Portugal but they would have had to either get to Barcelona right away or do what they did and pay to fly out of Nice. Somepeople just might not have been able to face that 10 hour bus trip.

 

My heart goes out to all of those who were supposed to sail on this ill-fated cruise, and I think the reported behaviour of Century's senior management, and the absence of trained support staff that SHOULD have been available, is absolutely shocking. I am ashamed for Celebrity.

 

Having said that, I think we must acknowledge that different people have differing capacities to handle crises such as this one.

 

I am a member of the generation that travelled through Europe and Asia with a backpack at age 18. I have been lucky to travel all over the world, and my DH and I would have been chagrined, certainly, at the cancellation of this cruise, but we would have found ways to make alternate arrangements, and would have stayed in the south of France, Italy and the Barcelona area for the full time we had planned, and would have flown home on our scheduled returned flight. Doing so, what Celebrity offered as refunds and reparations would more or less have taken care of our expenses. We always have enough credit available to cover emergency costs until our insurance or Celebrity would have provided the promised rebates.

 

There ARE people from this cancelled cruise who have taken this approach, such as Michele S. and her friends who are blogging on:

 

http://fourtimesthefun.blogspot.com/ (language warning!)

 

and they seem to be having a valuable trip, though surely not what they had planned. Neither are they Pollyannas with respect to Celebrity's handling of (or failure to handle) this debacle.

 

HOWEVER (and this is a BIG however), there are lots of people who do not have the background and experience to handle this kind of situation, and one of the main reasons that they cruise is that cruising is supposed to make trips to "far-away places" reasonably safe and straightforward. I know my parents would have been COMPLETELY unable to cope, unaided, with ANY of the requirements of getting themselves into European accommodation and then home on alternate flights. They are people of modest means, for whom such a trip would have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and they probably don't have $10,000 open credit on their Visa Cards to tide them over until they would be reimbursed.

 

Honestly, had they experienced this kind of situation with so little support from Celebrity, I would have worried for their health.

 

I understand that Celebrity is trying to fast-track the repairs to the Century, and my guess is that they are loading all the stress onto the passengers on this aborted cruise so that they do not have to similarly destroy the vacations of those booked on the upcoming transatlantic cruise, but there is NO JUSTIFICATION WHATSOEVER for not having trained, competent staff in place to handle of the exigencies that current Century passengers have reportedly faced.

 

Celebrity, I've been a big fan in the past, but I am SO ASHAMED of the way you have handled this one.

[Cruise Junky]

Having said that, I think we must acknowledge that different people have differing capacities to handle crises such as this one.

 

I am a member of the generation that travelled through Europe and Asia with a backpack at age 18. I have been lucky to travel all over the world, and my DH and I would have been chagrined, certainly, at the cancellation of this cruise, but we would have found ways to make alternate arrangements, and would have stayed in the south of France, Italy and the Barcelona area for the full time we had planned, and would have flown home on our scheduled returned flight.

 

We would have stuck around too...most definitely. But I can certainly understand why some people didn't. You have to go with your comfort level. Sucks!

[Blue Lagoon]

Hearing how Celebrity handled this crisis brings to mind the first time we sailed Celebrity on Millenium back in 2004(?). The ship was set for dry dock in Spain and then be ready to meet passengers in Barcelona. If it wasn't for Cruise Critic, we would never have been alerted to the fact that the ship was not at the Barcelona dock but held up in repairs, a huge surprise to many. We met up with passengers at a hotel that Celebrity chose waaay out in an industrial area not close to much. We were compensated with rooms and breakfasts for 2 days and an excursion to Monseratt. We missed Rome as a result. The trip was doomed from the word go. This was the year of hurricanes when the English Alphabet for names ran out and the Greek alphabet kicked in. It was a Trans-Atlantic crossing and we hit two doozies. Coloured luggage tags did not arrive and people were putting their luggage in the hallways the last night nonetheless. The captain was a no- show for the Farewell Party. The ship plodded along and we arrived late into FLL. Compensation was to the tune of approx. $200 - barely enough to cover the lunches and dinners. Yes, we still sail Celebrity and have even enjoyed Millie again under much better circumstances.:) P.S. So we HAD to take another Med cruise and started at Rome this time so we ticked that one off our list, but... due to windy conditions we missed Santorini. Darn.. I've got to go back again.;)

[pspercy]

Sounds like X really let you guys down

 

Seem to remember RCCL did something similar due to a volcanic ash issue, just dumped passengers (Spain ?), don't remember, but it was all here on CC.

 

So I guess that's their MO.

 

for not having trained, competent staff in place to handle of the exigencies that current Century passengers have reportedly faced.

 

Particularly as a previous poster said they have such people available not too far away.

[Lou33]

If I recall TruTravel was at the bottom and least expensive and least amount of coverage offered on insuremytrip.

 

We used TruTravel for a recent cruise. While it is true that they were lowest price on insuremytrip, they were definitely not at the bottom as far as coverage goes. The coverage level was equal or better than many of the mid priced plans.

[uktraveller]

Sounds like X really let you guys down

 

Seem to remember RCCL did something similar due to a volcanic ash issue, just dumped passengers (Spain ?), don't remember, but it was all here on CC.

 

So I guess that's their MO.

 

I read that too, in great detail. RCI abandoned passengers all over the world.:mad:

Someone in the UK is currently engaged in a court case against them, as they have refused to pay the costs they are liable for under EU laws.

 

I love sailing on RCI and Celebrity.....but it certainly looks like you will be on your own if there is a problem!

[CruisinGerman]

Dear friends:

 

For ocngypz, the whole purpose of making the travel agency jointly and severally liable is precisely for the consumer not to be given the runaround when seeking responsibility. The travel agency is the consumer's retail point of sale. So by the travel agency being able to say "we have nothing to do with it, make your complaint to the airline, tour company or cruise line" (with whom the consumer presumably never had contact as a consequence of purchasing the trip through a travel agency to begin with), in my opinion the consumer is better protected by having direct recourse against the person or entity from whom he actually purchased the trip. In any case, the laws also state that among all participants, liability will ultimately be allocated proportionately.

 

Yes, the AIG policy I quoted is valid in Spain. (There is also a similar one for other EU countries). The point I was trying to make was that this policy is issued by the same company that runs Travel Guard in the United States and it is appalling to me that a policy in the United States costs about ten times more.

 

As far as Spanish residency for booking a cruise here is concerned, that really only holds true if you book with RCCL/Celebrity directly. My sister was here from New York visiting last summer. She walked into the travel agency of El Corte Inglés department store and purchased an RCCL cruise for her family with no problem. The cruise was on the Oasis, and actually took place two months later. The total price was about 5% cheaper than on the RCCL website. On top of that, there was a promotion going on in Spain at that time, and she received an additional 10% discount plus a $200 onboard credit.

 

For the other posters who mention that EU travel protection comes at a cost, that is not necessarily true. I think costs depend more on exchange rate, marketing costs, and local promotions or lack thereof rather than the fact that there is more protection for the trip in the EU. Proof of this is the fact that right now, it is about 5% cheaper to book any RCCL/Celebrity cruise in Spain versus the United States (the situation for many years was in the reverse). On top of this, any large travel agency chain in Spain will give you an additional 7% discount if you book two months or more in advance, and sometimes the cruise line promotions offer a 10% discount. Unlike the United States, these discounts are sponsored by the cruise lines and are advertised jointly by the cruise lines and the major travel agencies.

 

So right now it is actually cheaper to purchase RCL/Celebrity in Spain than in the United States -- so the theory that protection comes at a cost really doesn't apply.

 

My wife and I went on a Silversea cruise in June 2010. The same thing was true on Silversea. Right now it is cheaper to purchase a Silversea cruise in euros than in dollars.

 

Personally I don't think it is fair for a travel agent to earn a commission but not assume any liability.

 

Obviously, ocngypz is a caring, hard-working agent and goes the extra mile for her customers. However there are many agents who could simply say it's not my problem, deal with the cruise line.

 

Many of you have posted to defend the U.S. system stating that it works for you. That is fine if it works for you, but there are a great deal of unfortunate passengers who are out-of-pocket thousands of dollars just to get home, which they may never recoup from Celebrity. Perhaps if they were lucky enough to purchase insurance at ten times a higher price than in other countries, they will get part of their money back.

 

Just ask some of those affected by this mishandling of passengers if they are satisfied with the system.

 

In any case, just to clarify matters, I am not a travel agent so I have no business interest in promoting the purchase of trips through travel agencies, whether here or in the United States. I was a diplomat, and when I retired from the diplomatic corps, I returned to the private practice of law. My experience in EU and Spanish consumer law is from my participation in the Spanish system of "Abogado de Oficio" (providing free civil and criminal legal representation to Spaniards and immigrants who cannot afford to pay -- similar to your Legal Aid or Pro Bono system in the United States).

 

So when I say I would like to open a travel agency here in Spain and sell trips to the Americans -- it should be taken in humor -- obviously no offense was intended.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[excitedofharpenden]

 

HOWEVER (and this is a BIG however), there are lots of people who do not have the background and experience to handle this kind of situation, and one of the main reasons that they cruise is that cruising is supposed to make trips to "far-away places" reasonably safe and straightforward.

I totally agree with you. One of the reasons I enjoy cruising is because you are taken care of and don't have to think too much for yourself. I'm pretty travel savvy and would like to think that I'd try to stay and find an alternative, but there are many who wouldn't be comfortable doing that or indeed physically able. The whole thing must be a nightmare for many and it's easy to say you should do this or that. Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that who cares? He's a mile away and you've got his shoes. Actually I think Billy Connolly said that one.:o

 

Safe travels to all affected. I suspect that once people start arriving home this thread will grow.

 

Phil

[anonymouscruiser1]

Just curious. I have been reading these posts for days, and reading some info here and there elsewhere on line. It sounds to me that although I love X they really have not handled this well at all. I understand the need to get the repairs underway and done to commence the TA and get to all the other reserved and paid for vacations when Century gets back to the US. But, I think the way X treated the passengers on board sounds deplorable.

 

So, that said, is anyone aware of a cruise line that had a major mechanical problem and handled it better? Is this an RCI standard operating procedure (so to speak) dump the onboard people, fix the problem move on. Make as few passengers as possible miserable (by getting the ship working for next cruises) -- but make those passengers exceedingly miserable?

 

If another cruiseline had a similar issue and it was handled better, I'd like to know what line and how it was handled? Are X loyalists ready to try elsewhere after hearing all of this? I am quite sure than many of those on board will be frustrated enough to never cruise RCI again, but, is the frustration pouring over to other cruisers not on board?

[curiouscat]

If another cruiseline had a similar issue and it was handled better, I'd like to know what line and how it was handled? Are X loyalists ready to try elsewhere after hearing all of this? I am quite sure than many of those on board will be frustrated enough to never cruise RCI again, but, is the frustration pouring over to other cruisers not on board?

 

******************************************************************************

This really is a standard cruise contract for major mass market cruise lines... Carnival,Princess,Holland etc. Now if you take a small Regent ship or Seabourn then you may get more assistance with flights and alternative arrangements.

 

I really am getting tired of the X bashing right now as they did follow their contract by getting passengers to Barcelona and giving one nite of accomodations. Albeit, it wasn't handled in the best manner but we have yet to hear from the majority of pax on board. Only those that flew home immediately and didn't make any Lemonade out of their lemons.

 

I for one would like to hear from NPSoo1 and other pax.....

[CruisinGerman]

Dear friends:

 

Look no farther than this board to find your answer.

 

Regent had a near exact problem just a day or two before Celebrity Century.

 

Regent handled this somewhat better, although still not perfectly (at least according to EU law standards).

 

Regent gave passengers free shore excursions while stuck in Athens. They put up all passengers at a hotel in Athens and at Regent's expense (whether or not people booked air with Regent) flew them home (many in business class if that was their original class of service).

 

Regent offered a full refund or going on a list of other cruises (which were about 10 days longer than the original cruise) plus a 1,000 dollar future cruise certificate.

 

Where Regent fell short, in my opinion, is in not refunding the original round-trip air and not refunding their own insurance (which cost some people an additional $3,000) as well as other out-of-pocket expenses such as pre-cruise hotels.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[ghstudio]

If another cruiseline had a similar issue and it was handled better, I'd like to know what line and how it was handled? Are X loyalists ready to try elsewhere after hearing all of this? I am quite sure than many of those on board will be frustrated enough to never cruise RCI again, but, is the frustration pouring over to other cruisers not on board?

 

******************************************************************************

This really is a standard cruise contract for major mass market cruise lines... Carnival,Princess,Holland etc. Now if you take a small Regent ship or Seabourn then you may get more assistance with flights and alternative arrangements.

 

I really am getting tired of the X bashing right now as they did follow their contract by getting passengers to Barcelona and giving one nite of accomodations. Albeit, it wasn't handled in the best manner but we have yet to hear from the majority of pax on board. Only those that flew home immediately and didn't make any Lemonade out of their lemons.

 

I for one would like to hear from NPSoo1 and other pax.... .

 

 

No one has had an issue with the ship's mechanical failure, nor an issue with Celebrities legal responsibility. The issues have been and will continue to be what celebrity's management and staff did to assist....after all, they market being such a customer centric company.

 

If you are getting tired of reading facts from those that were on the Century (I was there with my wife), perhaps you should follow some of the other threads rather than commenting (or being tired of reading) in this thread.

[sidekick98]

Just curious.

 

So, that said, is anyone aware of a cruise line that had a major mechanical problem and handled it better?

 

Yes .... it was Thomson when they first started out in the cruise world way back in 1996, and they were just learning. We were on baord the Saphire and that broke down at sea (engine failure) and had to be towed back into port. They kept us on the ship for 2 days ALL drinks phones and shore excursions FREE ..... no internet then ..... I must admit that due to the free drinks and late night club drinking we were not fit to go on the free tours that we booked .... we were a lot younger then. They flew us on to Cyprus (you had the choice to get flown home and full re-fund plus some money .... think it was £200) put you up in a hotel full board to continue your holiday period ..... offered a free trip (short cruise on another line) from Cyprus to Egypt and Holy Land ..... the holy land bit was cancelled another small war ..... then we read in the news paper that a tourist convoy was shot up in Egypt ..... so we decide to stay put in the sunshine of Cyprus .... wanted to stay on dry land. (the folk that did go to Egypt had a great time .... but so did we and we were safe). When we got home after a little letter writting got back 95% of the holiday cost as well ..... so had 2 week holiday, choice of small cruise to Egypt and nearly full refund...... I must admit that at the time we did not know what to do when given the choice go home or stay and continue holiday in Cyprus. The staff on board were great and they were the dancers and entertainments folk that tried to sort and help people out. I feel for the folk but once they are home will look back on this and years later will make the story sound better. Sorry this has gone on but there are other companies that have done better than it appears Celebrity has done at the moment ........

 

ps. Have just booked this ship to go to Alaska ops!!!!! have I done the right thing ...... YES I think so have broken down at sea (1996) and dodged two hurricans so far this year ...... Alaska and icebergs!!!!!!! dont mention TITANIC .... LOL

 

Hope you all get home safe and well

[anonymouscruiser1]

This really is a standard cruise contract for major mass market cruise lines... Carnival,Princess,Holland etc. Now if you take a small Regent ship or Seabourn then you may get more assistance with flights and alternative arrangements.

 

I really am getting tired of the X bashing right now as they did follow their contract by getting passengers to Barcelona and giving one nite of accomodations. Albeit, it wasn't handled in the best manner but we have yet to hear from the majority of pax on board.

 

This is what I was getting at. As much as I think X should have done more to help re-route passengers, and needed to communicate better from higher level personnel on board, particularly considering the current complications for travel, I am not sure any of the lines would have done more. They are not set up that way as far as I understand. I am not saying they should not be, just they are not currently. Perhaps they need better contingency planning and to have contracts with a major travel group to step in and assist passengers at a time like this, just like major corporations have groups contracted to step in for other types of crises.

 

I also have to agree with another previous poster who said people need to stop pointing fingers at those who failed to make lemonade. I know many travelers who would be overwhelmed by this and who would have no idea where to start. I almost got stuck in france due to a strike by air traffic control in 2003, but headed to Ireland early instead and had a great time. But, some travelers who are not used to changing plans on the fly - or sea ;) would be overwhelmed and simply would have wanted to get home where they felt "safe" that nothing more could go wrong. Cruising is often considered an easier way to travel many locations for those who would have trouble getting around so many places in a short time, therefore, there are many who might be at a disadvantage to make lemonade.