Royal Caribbean strands 145 passengers in San Juan when Irene forces early departure

[FreshOffTheBoat]

Yes a cruise line can predict the weather.:rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

How about some of you get real. No one is protecting anyone. We are simply stating the facts. How do you know that the airport was open or flights were not canceled? It's called having insurance to cover this. :rolleyes:

 

I can predict the weather when the weather network is telling me their is a hurricane coming... Its not like the cruise line didn't know one was close to hitting the area. Its call planning ahead, you can do it apparently but the cruise line can't?

 

Yes it is good to have insurance for instances like this, I just don't get how they treat 15 people so different from everyone else, RCI should want to take care of all there passengers.

 

Anyone know how carnival handled this situation?

[SliderNc]

Its called planning AHEAD. They KNEW a hurricane was coming up the coast. It can't be the first time a hurricane was close to a port and a port had to be closed early. They should know to predict these things as a company, and at the very least if their is potential that they have to leave early to let their customer know of the possibility.

 

IT'S NOT THE passengers fault, so people who try to blame them stop. Some of you guys protect the company way to much, get real.

 

All I am saying is I am VERY disapointing on how RCI is treating the people who were stranded, by basically saying its not their fault and their not going to compensate. They should of flown all 145 people to Aruba not just 15.

 

The National Hurricane Center has problems predicting hurricanes and where they are going to go. Would you trust Royal's computers to predict this? They can barely display correct fares on their website... :)

 

I think RCCL could have handled it better, but it is also a risk the passengers take by flying in the day of the cruise, regardless of if they booked with RCCL or not.

[srlafleur]

If the cruise lines compensated everyone for every mishap, there would be no need to buy trip insurance.

This is precisely why you buy insurance, or book airfare through the cruise line. Or you suck it up if something goes wrong.

Actually, 145 is surprisingly few people to have missed the boat, given the circumstance, so there was probably some communication somewhere along the line to whomever could be reached. Probably wasn't deemed newsworthy.

[simplylife0010]

I can predict the weather when the weather network is telling me their is a hurricane coming... Its not like the cruise line didn't know one was close to hitting the area. Its call planning ahead, you can do it apparently but the cruise line can't?

 

Yes it is good to have insurance for instances like this, I just don't get how they treat 15 people so different from everyone else, RCI should want to take care of all there passengers.

 

Anyone know how carnival handled this situation?

 

If people were in the air then the cruise line had no way of contacting them. Obviously these were late arriving passengers who flew in. As for Irene, her path was not clear as they never are. If you cruise during hurricane season then you are rolling the dice.

[CruisinManiac]

When we cruised out of PR, we toured the city the day of the cruise, and didn't get back on the ship until dinner time. There could have been some people doing the same (or not even have checked in yet, knowing that they have time to tour the city).

 

Happened to this guy, and he was on Celebrity. Another reason to always carry your ID and Passports.

 

We were on a Celebrity ship in San Juan. We checked in then went to dinner at the Ritz. The departure time was supposed to be 10 pm with a be on-board by 9:30 pm.

We returned at 8:15 pm and the ship was about 40 feet off the dock. We called the ship on our cell phone, jumped up and down, all to no avail. We had locked everything in the room safe and only had an AMEX card. No licenses, passports, nothing. We ended up taking a taxi back to the Ritz, then went to the airport the next morning and had to convince American Airlines to fly us to St Thomas with no identification. About $900 later we arrived in Saint Thomas. Celebrity covered some of the expense. Truly bizarre that they left early.

[simplylife0010]

If the cruise lines compensated everyone for every mishap, there would be no need to buy trip insurance.

This is precisely why you buy insurance, or book airfare through the cruise line. Or you suck it up if something goes wrong.

Actually, 145 is surprisingly few people to have missed the boat, given the circumstance, so there was probably some communication somewhere along the line to whomever could be reached. Probably wasn't deemed newsworthy.

 

That's because you have common sense and understand "it".:)

[readytogo2]

The National Hurricane Center has problems predicting hurricanes and where they are going to go. Would you trust Royal's computers to predict this? They can barely display correct fares on their website... :)

 

How right you are, half the time I check my booking on their site..I don't even see it:eek:

I think RCCL could have handled it better, but it is also a risk the passengers take by flying in the day of the cruise, regardless of if they booked with RCCL or not.

 

It does seem that they could/should have..but then again, we don't know for sure when the Port told them to leave. If they did have enough time, I would hope they would do the right thing.

[FreshOffTheBoat]

The National Hurricane Center has problems predicting hurricanes and where they are going to go. Would you trust Royal's computers to predict this? They can barely display correct fares on their website... :)

 

I think RCCL could have handled it better, but it is also a risk the passengers take by flying in the day of the cruise, regardless of if they booked with RCCL or not.

 

The risk of flying in the day before or not, really has nothing to do with this situation. People could of just been out enjoying PR thinking they have plenty of time to get to the ship.

 

The facts are that RCI left 145 passengers behind, the passengers were given no warning that the ship was leaving so early. RCI is now saying to 130 passengers that oh well its not our fault (its an act of GOD). We are keeping your money, not paying for your hotels, not pay for flight changes, etc. Also that fact that these people's vacations have now been ruined, its hard enough for some people to have the money and or time to ever go on a vacation.

[time4u2go]

It is not reasonable to assume under these extreme circumstances that RC could have contacted all guests in such a short period of time.

Maybe not all of them, but they could have contacted many of them with text messages, which could have been done in a matter of seconds.

[simplylife0010]

Maybe not all of them, but they could have contacted many of them with text messages, which could have been done in a matter of seconds.

 

How many people do you think have their cell phones on when traveling? I don't. It's the first thing that I shut off when going on vacation.

[time4u2go]

If people were in the air then the cruise line had no way of contacting them. Obviously these were late arriving passengers who flew in. As for Irene, her path was not clear as they never are. If you cruise during hurricane season then you are rolling the dice.

What about the people that weren't in the air, that might have just been touring the city?

[simplylife0010]

What about the people that weren't in the air, that might have just been touring the city?

 

Read my post above about cell phones.

[mysparky]

If the ship had to leave, they had to leave, but the line about no way to contact passengers? That's just bogus. Just as an airline can send out a text message and/or leave a voicemail on flight changes or cancellations, RCCL could have absolutely done the same. This wouldn't have helped everyone, but there are some, no doubt that it would have helped.

[DaytonCruiser]

From what I've read on the Carnival boards, Carnival handled the situation better. They left at 6pm & don't normally leave till 10pm I think. They had staff at the port and airport advising passengers on what to do and helping them - Carnival booked airfare or no.

 

Yes, Carnival did step up, they had staff at the airport and a dedicated phone number for pax to call to make arrangements to fly to Barbados. They put them up in hotels in San Juan and flew them to Barbados last night.

[bus man]

I think RCCL could have handled it better, but it is also a risk the passengers take by flying in the day of the cruise, regardless of if they booked with RCCL or not.

 

How do you know that the left-behind passengers were flying in the same day of the cruise? Maybe they had arrived the night before, and simply hadn't gone to the port yet, given that (normally) they would have still had hours remaining before it was time to depart.

 

Look at it this way. Suppose you were booked on a flight that was scheduled to leave at 5:00 p.m. You were even diligent enough to call the airline that morning, and they said the flight was operating on schedule. What time would you present yourself at the airport? I would bet that most people would aim to be there between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. Now, suppose the plane left at 2:00 p.m.? I'll bet you would insist that the airline take care of you, one way or another . . . regardless of whether you had flight insurance or had booked through the airline or whatever else.

[FreshOffTheBoat]

If people were in the air then the cruise line had no way of contacting them. Obviously these were late arriving passengers who flew in. As for Irene, her path was not clear as they never are. If you cruise during hurricane season then you are rolling the dice.

 

How do you know they were in the air?

[simplylife0010]

How do you know they were in the air?

 

Don't know. How do you know that they were not?:rolleyes: Let's put it this way. They weren't on the ship. :)

[readytogo2]

Maybe not all of them, but they could have contacted many of them with text messages, which could have been done in a matter of seconds.

Do we know that they didn't call any of them? I didn't read or hear that anywhere on the News.

[oldguysandgalls]

Always, always read the fine print of your cruise contract and of course, buy travel insurance.

[FreshOffTheBoat]

Yes, Carnival did step up, they had staff at the airport and a dedicated phone number for pax to call to make arrangements to fly to Barbados. They put them up in hotels in San Juan and flew them to Barbados last night.

 

And they did that for every passenger right?

[temple1]

That would be really awful to miss the ship because it left the port early. RCCL should have given some effort to contacting missing guests - but it is not as if they had a static list to work from. They could have the list of missing passengers at the time they were told they would have to leave early, but how many of those were in line checking in?

 

Don't forget - not every person with a cell phone uses text messaging and for many of us Puerto Rico is considered international roaming. Unless I was in my hotel room working they could have emailed all day and I would not have received it.

 

The article didn't mention what procedures were followed at the port to notify the passengers who missed the ship so we can't really compare that part to what Carnival did or did not do.

[DrLookGood]

From what I've read on the Carnival boards, Carnival handled the situation better. They left at 6pm & don't normally leave till 10pm I think. They had staff at the port and airport advising passengers on what to do and helping them - Carnival booked airfare or no.

 

Moreover they eventually flew everyone with passports to their next port to enjoy partial cruise.

[DaytonCruiser]

And they did that for every passenger right?

 

Everyone that was left in San Juan.

[time4u2go]

How many people do you think have their cell phones on when traveling? I don't. It's the first thing that I shut off when going on vacation.

I'm sure some people have them on, some have them off. I wouldn't presume to speak for everyone else. My whole point was, regardless of whose phones might be on or off, it's ridiculous to think that the cruise line couldn't have sent text messages.

[simplylife0010]

And they did that for every passenger right?

 

Since you now know where you stand with Royal Caribbean I suggest that you cancel your upcoming cruise and book with Carnival. Those of us that have cruised with them know that they are perfect in every way. NOT!