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

[cattman]

Hurricane season can bring out the best - and worst - in a cruise line. As far as I'm concerned, the full measure of a Lines' character is based not on the quality of the experience but rather on the Lines' appreciation of its most valuable asset - its customers.

 

I will definitely remind my clients of this situation next time I am asked for my recommendation for their next cruise.

[Tyron]

i agree 100% that RCI handled this situation very poorly. I feel bad for the 145 passengers vacations that were affected. However, every cruise line has made bad judgement calls in the past. Carnival is no exception! If it weren't for some bad decisions made in their past, they too probably would've made the same "bad call" as RCI. If this was the "norm" for RCI I would 100% agree with changing lines....but's it's not!

 

And remember how Carnival dropped the ball earlier this year when the Ecstasy passengers were stranded in Galveston due to fog.

 

Angry passengers called their experience a nightmare and said Carnival did　not offer much sympathy, provisions or information about their trips.　

 

Here's another example of bad judgement call:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1180762/Outrage-cruise-passengers-dont-tip-revealed-staff.html

[dfishner]

I agree in part Paul but what irritates me lately about the management of this company is their lack of focus on their own business. We all know what the contract states but in this case I think that RCI needed to suck it up and take care of their customers. I am one of their biggest supporters but this was wrong in every way. I guess Adam and company wanted to see if this would blow up in their face and now they may react after they have egg on their face.

 

Personally I think that it's time for a change at the helm of RCCL and RCI. Rough economy or not, this is not the first time that RCI or RCCL as a whole has reacted this way. If RCI was/is going to take care of these people then they should have at least posted some type of communication to the media with all of the questions being asked.

 

 

Gordon I have been critical of the way RCL corporate has this shoot first and aim later type of mentality, I have seen this type of thing over and over again in all the years I have cruised with RCL. To me it is like two different companies corporate and the actual being on the ships we really enjoy the on board experience. This situation will not change our feeling about future cruises on RCL, but it does take what I think of RCL as a company as a whole down a few notches.

 

What happened in San Juan is just another example of how RCL manages they stated they would not compensate and then watch what happens when they start receiving negative feedback they backtrack As they have done this so many times in the past I truly believe that this is their management philosophy. I did email Richard Fain earlier this morning and basically said you should see what people are saying about your company you should do something quickly. I have still amazed that they have done or said anything at all.

[Aquahound]

I agree in part Paul but what irritates me lately about the management of this company is their lack of focus on their own business. We all know what the contract states but in this case I think that RCI needed to suck it up and take care of their customers. I am one of their biggest supporters but this was wrong in every way. I guess Adam and company wanted to see if this would blow up in their face and now they may react after they have egg on their face.

 

Personally I think that it's time for a change at the helm of RCCL and RCI. Rough economy or not, this is not the first time that RCI or RCCL as a whole has reacted this way. If RCI was/is going to take care of these people then they should have at least posted some type of communication to the media with all of the questions being asked.

 

Gordon, I think you are spot on, and I do agree a change of watch has come due. Luckily, this one incident and certain other questionable management decisions have not reflected upon the actual cruise experience....with exception of certain cutbacks, of course. As dfishner just said, it's like 2 totally different companies.

 

But to those who know no better, perception is 9/10s the law. A new cruiser considering different cruise lines probably just moved this one to the bottom. I can't say I would blame them.

 

But as for how I feel about this one incident......You know what I do for a living, so you know I seek truth before judgment. But truth requires all 3 sides of the story and one side seems to have lawyered up. ;)

[Ship's Wake]

i agree 100% that RCI handled this situation very poorly. I feel bad for the 145 passengers vacations that were affected. However, every cruise line has made bad judgement calls in the past. Carnival is no exception! If it weren't for some bad decisions made in their past, they too probably would've made the same "bad call" as RCI. If this was the "norm" for RCI I would 100% agree with changing lines....but's it's not!

 

And remember how Carnival dropped the ball earlier this year when the Ecstasy passengers were stranded in Galveston due to fog.

 

Angry passengers called their experience a nightmare and said Carnival did　not offer much sympathy, provisions or information about their trips.　

 

Here's another example of bad judgement call:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1180762/Outrage-cruise-passengers-dont-tip-revealed-staff.html

 

Looks like Carnival has learned from their past mistakes and is now focused on taking care of their customers, as evidenced with how they properly handled their ship leaving early in San Juan.

 

Royal Caribbean, on the other hand, is being schooled by Carnival on how to do the right thing and assist their customers when the s*it hits the fan.

 

Justifying Royal Caribbean's total lack of care for these affected customers by pointing out that other lines also have problems doesn't change the fact that it's Royal Caribbean that ******* the pooch, not Carnival.

[grand isle joe]

......Hmmm..I wonder how many travelers will get a call from their repective airline telling them that their flight(s) are cancelled due to the dreaded hurricane Irene?:confused:....Is there an "Airline Critic" board people can post upon?...:rolleyes:

[Cruising89143]

But truth requires all 3 sides of the story and one side seems to have lawyered up. ;)

 

I agree. :)

[Ocean Boy]

Its not an appropriate analogy.

 

Does AA ever have to move up a flight by 5 hours with less than 5 hours notice? No. Its either delays or cancelations. You actually have time to do something when you are giving yourself more time.

 

Furthermore, airlines do not pay for you to stay in a hotel or reimburse you if you have to take another carrier to get to where you are going. I should know I Spent 2 days in DFW airport on xmas eve/xmas and on new years eve because of weather delays and cancelations.

 

They also do not guarantee you when you will be traveling again. Both times they told me I would be on stand by for days or they could book me on a plane 5 days out. I ended up having to fly to a different city and drive from there.

 

The fact of the matter is we have no idea when the call was made to force the ship out early. The ship left at 5:30. They started to limit port activity at 12:30. We do not know what went on during those 5 hours. Unless it has been stated and I missed it, we do NOT know when the Port told RCCL they had to leave at 5:30 and not when they had planned to. Its quite possible the call wasn't made to force the ships out until mid afternoon. Could they have handled the situation better. Sure. Is it really going to cause them to lose business? No.

 

My analogy was just fine. I was talking about NOTIFICATIONS. You brought up all this other stuff. If the airlines can notify people about countess changes that happen to flights around the world everyday then there is no reason why the cruise lines can't. Of RCI 20+ ships that set sail once a week on average, how many are encountering a problem on any one day? The RCI rep said that they COULD NOT notify their customers.

 

I also have never showed up at the airport to find no one from the airlinearound to explain why there is no flight and why I am not going anywhere.

[reallyitsmema]

My analogy was just fine. I was talking about NOTIFICATIONS. You brought up all this other stuff. If the airlines can notify people about countess changes that happen to flights around the world everyday then there is no reason why the cruise lines can't. Of RCI 20+ ships that set sail once a week on average, how many are encountering a problem on any one day?

I have already had automated calls from our City Hall and my Insurance Company today about Irene, you would think that RCL could figure it out. Though I should add that my insurance company was notifying all Rhode Island homeowners. I didn't realize my house moved from Massachusetts to Rhode Island recently.:rolleyes:

[softail]

Looks like Carnival has learned from their past mistakes and is now focused on taking care of their customers, as evidenced with how they properly handled their ship leaving early in San Juan.

 

Royal Caribbean, on the other hand, is being schooled by Carnival on how to do the right thing and assist their customers when the s*it hits the fan.

 

Justifying Royal Caribbean's total lack of care for these affected customers by pointing out that other lines also have problems doesn't change the fact that it's Royal Caribbean that ******* the pooch, not Carnival.

 

Agree 100%

[Ocean Boy]

OK, tell what wonderful technology could tell everybody what is going on before the ship leaves when the port is closed by the government. There were thousands of pax and less than two percent were left behind. Those who had passports could check in in the next port. For the others, they were out of luck BECAUSE of their choice not to get a passport. If everybody got everything without the insurance, why buy it? Yes, my family lost a cruise because we did not have insurance. Yes, it hurt. BUT I do understand why CARIVAL did not refund my cruise fare. I was out of luck because I thought that the line would protect my interests. If I had had insurance, THEY would have picked up the tab. Sorry.

 

Well here is what the technology could have accomplished.....

 

The plane gets to the gate and I turn on my cell phone. I get the voice mail that stuff is happening at the port and the sailing time of the ship has changed and I'd move my butt to get there as fast as I can. Once I get there I either get on the ship or it is gone. But at least I am not standing there looking at a locked gate with no ship in sight and no idea where it is and why it is not next to the pier.

[Pushka]

This situation is not really like the ash cloud. The ash cloud prevented some people from getting to the cruise on time so I can understand that RCL would claim this was a no show.

 

In this situation, people showed up at the time they were specifically told to be there and RCL made no attempt to tell them anything different. This is I think, a loophole that legal people may be able to extract some compensation from RCL. Had they tried to tell people, then they could claim they kept people informed. So as far as the contract is concerned RCL did not fulfill their terms. When a cruise has to change ports, then there would be a message on board stating that. So that is an out for them in that situation.

 

Why would RCI bring a ship back to port to pick up 145 passengers that they CLAIM they had no way to contact? Who would know that the ship is returning?

 

And we know that RCL wouldn't bother to tell them if they did come back!:rolleyes:

 

Certainly not defending RCI, don't know the whole story so will save my final opinion.

 

I agree that RCI needed to AT LEAST TRY to make contact with the missing passengers. But, in all reality would it have made any difference?

 

Ah yep, this thread would not exist if they had tried to contact people (and maybe offered compensation)

 

I haven't sailed on RCI yet and won't be doing so until next year. And then we plan to sail Eastern Mediterranean, Alaska, Egypt and the like. I had thought we might even book on our next cruise onboard. I am less inclined to do so given that their lack of consideration for customers, who did the right thing by showing up on the time RCI told them to board, and got dumped. RCI makes me think that they don't care a damn about us other than the $$$.

 

The sign if an excellent company is not that crises don't occur, but how they respond to them.

[Aquahound]

Ah yep, this thread would not exist if they had tried to contact people (and maybe offered compensation)

 

Ahh, so new and so innocent. ;):D

[Ocean Boy]

Well said! A lot of people on here are rationalizing RCI's non-attempt to send messages by saying that passengers may not have their phone on, they may not have messaging, etc. As you said, if only ONE PERSON would have received such a message, it would have been worth it.

 

And I am one who makes himself as reachable as possible when traveling just for such issues. I turn my phone off when the plane leaves the gate and turn it back on when it lands. I am a bit tired of people posting that they don't have a cell phone or they turn it off. If they choose to not make themselves reachable while they are traveling that is their business. I provide my contact information and I expect the airlines and the cruise lines to use it if the need arises.

[wreckem2013]

My analogy was just fine. I was talking about NOTIFICATIONS. You brought up all this other stuff. If the airlines can notify people about countess changes that happen to flights around the world everyday then there is no reason why the cruise lines can't. Of RCI 20+ ships that set sail once a week on average, how many are encountering a problem on any one day? The RCI rep said that they COULD NOT notify their customers.

 

I also have never showed up at the airport to find no one from the airlinearound to explain why there is no flight and why I am not going anywhere.

 

You don't get the point. We do know when the port made the decision to tell RCCL it was 5:30 or not at all. We do not know anywhere near the full story. We have heard bits an pieces. If the port decided at 4:00 that they had to leave at 5:30, then all the contacting in the world would not have helped a person make the ship. Yes it would have told them they missed the ship and they were SOL but nothing else.

 

You are saying they should be like the airlines. But this situation is no where near anything like the airlines deal with. They delay or cancel. They DO NOT have the flexibility to move a flight up 5 hours with less than 5 hours notice. So yes they have a system, but would said system actually work if they had to do that.

[Pushka]

Ahh, so new and so innocent. ;):D

 

Ok ok, this thread would not have had reasonable grounds to exist if RCL had tried to contact people?

 

or innocent about receiving compensation?

 

The thing is, I have booked my cruise in Australia and I am protected by Australian consumer laws because I have paid through an Australian Travel Agent who have to abide by our laws, and not USA.

 

And believe me, if this had happened to me, or other Australians, I/ will be entitled to receive compensation through our Consumer protection laws, regardless of what RCL write in their terms and conditions.

 

And that is exactly what happened with the Ash cloud. Refunds were made to credit cards within 2 days.

 

RCL have a huge promo in Australia on Sunday night with the arrival soon of the Monarch? the biggest liner ever come to Australia. We can write in with feedback to the Producers. This kind of feedback will really mess with RCL grand plans to promote to Australians.

[Ocean Boy]

I haven't sailed on RCI yet and won't be doing so until next year. And then we plan to sail Eastern Mediterranean, Alaska, Egypt and the like. I had thought we might even book on our next cruise onboard. I am less inclined to do so given that their lack of consideration for customers, who did the right thing by showing up on the time RCI told them to board, and got dumped. RCI makes me think that they don't care a damn about us other than the $$$.

 

The sign if an excellent company is not that crises don't occur, but how they respond to them.

 

However, once you do sail with RCI you may better understand those of us who can separate corporate RCI from the RCI cruise experience. The ships are beautiful and innovative and the staff will take great care of you. Once you do your first cruise with RCI you will see for yourself.

[ducklite]

......Hmmm..I wonder how many travelers will get a call from their repective airline telling them that their flight(s) are cancelled due to the dreaded hurricane Irene?:confused:....Is there an "Airline Critic" board people can post upon?...:rolleyes:

 

Most. I know a couple dozen people who were scheduled to fly from the northeast this weekend who have already been contacted either by phone or e-mail by their carriers to reschedule flights. The airlines have that down pretty darn well as long as you book with them and not through a consolidator.

 

I regularly get flight updates via e-mail from my carrier of choice reminding me to check in, providing gate change info, and providing delay or cancellation info.

 

That's something the airlines have gotten very, very good at over the past couple of years.

[grand isle joe]

I have already had automated calls from our City Hall and my Insurance Company today about Irene, you would think that RCL could figure it out. Though I should add that my insurance company was notifying all Rhode Island homeowners. I didn't realize my house moved from Massachusetts to Rhode Island recently.:rolleyes:

 

.....is that one of the 57 states???.....:rolleyes:

[Pushka]

However, once you do sail with RCI you may better understand those of us who can separate corporate RCI from the RCI cruise experience. The ships are beautiful and innovative and the staff will take great care of you. Once you do your first cruise with RCI you will see for yourself.

 

You are hopefully spot on! :p

 

it does worry me though, that if things go wrong then the customer consideration might not be their first priority.

[Ocean Boy]

You don't get the point. We do know when the port made the decision to tell RCCL it was 5:30 or not at all. We do not know anywhere near the full story. We have heard bits an pieces. If the port decided at 4:00 that they had to leave at 5:30, then all the contacting in the world would not have helped a person make the ship. Yes it would have told them they missed the ship and they were SOL but nothing else.

 

You are saying they should be like the airlines. But this situation is no where near anything like the airlines deal with. They delay or cancel. They DO NOT have the flexibility to move a flight up 5 hours with less than 5 hours notice. So yes they have a system, but would said system actually work if they had to do that.

 

Actually, someone post earlier in this thread about how their flight got moved UP and how the airline took care of them since they got to the airport after the plane departed at the new and earlier time.

 

And since you are also speculating on time frames you have no real idea about whether or not the notifications could have made a difference or not. But considering that "stuff" was obviously up by 12:30 PM it might have been wise for RCI to at least send out a message at that time that an earlier departure was a possibility.

[ez2logon]

I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but I don't care. I'll stick by it. I do not think RC handled this appropriately, at least not if what everything the media has reported is actually true. However, folks learning and reading about this on cruise Critic and not actually part of this mess should take everything they read here with a huge grain of salt. Stories get embellished here and I'm seeing CC members who have never posted on the RC boards and never been on a RC cruise making multiple posts for no other reason than to fan the flames. Point is, don't let agenda driven posts and sideline emotions tell the story of what actually happened.

 

Flame retardent on? I think you are jumping to some mighty big conclusions about "posts for no reason." I sailed Rhapsody out of Sydney earlier this year and have sailed Adventure, Solstice and Infinity---none of which you would know since I don't choose to advertise. My motivation is one of disgust! Can you imagine arriving at a pier and having no ship and no personnel to assist you? Have you really thought about that?

 

I tell my friends that the best thing about RCCL is the crew, and I stick by that. But this situation makes me feel sorry for recommending RCI and wary of future bookings.

[Ocean Boy]

I have already had automated calls from our City Hall and my Insurance Company today about Irene, you would think that RCL could figure it out. Though I should add that my insurance company was notifying all Rhode Island homeowners. I didn't realize my house moved from Massachusetts to Rhode Island recently.:rolleyes:

 

Probably a plot by our governor to milk some tax money out of you.

[smeck]

How does Mr. Goldstein sleep at night?

[jmf123]

RCL have a huge promo in Australia on Sunday night with the arrival soon of the Monarch? the biggest liner ever come to Australia. We can write in with feedback to the Producers. This kind of feedback will really mess with RCL grand plans to promote to Australians.

 

Just to clarify...I'm sure you mean the arrival of the Radiance, followed by the Voyager to Australia next year. There are a couple of great ships headed your way! :)