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

[Cruising89143]

The crew may be wonderful, the ships may be beautiful. However the action of corporate level idiots taints the overall impression for potential passengers. There are a lot of lines to choose from. Why would I want to choose one that obviously has such disdain for the passengers who pay the bills?

 

Again, go back through the years and you will see that just about every criuse line has had their blunders. Some just this year. This time it was RCI. Did RCI get it wrong this time? Absolutely. Have other cruise lines screwed up in the past with how they handled their customers in certain situations? Absolutely. We have all read about it right here on CC.

 

Hopefully AG and his crew of clowns will learn from this situation. Personally if I were sitting on the board, AG would be out on the street. It may have not been him that made the decision but he is in charge of the company and has the ability to make it right and so far he hasn't but as I mentioned in another post, this is not going to stop me from cruising with what I feel is still one of the best cruise products out there. I have been on the competition. They don't match up. :)

[dfishner]

Again, go back through the years and you will see that just about every criuse line has had their blunders. Some just this year. This time it was RCI. Did RCI get it wrong this time? Absolutely. Have other cruise lines screwed up in the past with how they handled their customers in certain situations? Absolutely. We have all read about it right here on CC.

 

Hopefully AG and his crew of clowns will learn from this situation. Personally if I were sitting on the board, AG would be out on the street. It may have not been him that made the decision but he is in charge of the company and has the ability to make it right and so far he hasn't but as I mentioned in another post, this is not going to stop me from cruising with what I feel is still one of the best cruise products out there. I have been on the competition. They don't match up. :)

 

I agree Gordon one thing has nothing to do with another.. I have an Azamara cruise booked in November all though I do not like how RCL has handled this, cancelling a cruise because of this is not something I would do.

[romnan]

This was not the cruiselines fault. They were ordered out of port by the Authorities.I am not sure what was to be expected of them (RCCL):(:confused:

[Cuizer2]

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?

 

The captain and all the passengers on board the ship would know.

[Cuizer2]

FYI

That's a " no no" on the boards.

Many folks from other countries and such or just typing too fast for the brain to ketchup.:D

 

How fast does one have to type to get ketchup? :confused:

[time4u2go]

This was not the cruiselines fault. They were ordered out of port by the Authorities.I am not sure what was to be expected of them (RCCL):(:confused:

 

What was expected of them was to try to contact the affected people, and to not say that they couldn't contact them. Airlines are able to contact their passengers, and they do it all the time, every day.

 

Also I still find it crazy that they would only help the people that purchased their air fare through RCI, but not those who didn't. What about people that didn't fly to the port at all (those that live there and drove to the port)? They get penalized just because of where they live?

[time4u2go]

If I were one of those 100 people, I would be pi$$ed. But what I see very little of in this thread is putting this in to perspective. We're talking about 100 out of 2490 people. That's what, 4%, I think. We have no idea what the status is of those 100 people. We don't even know if they made it to Puerto Rico. One thing I have not seen mentioned yet is the fact some flights were canceled on Sunday, Aug 21 to and from San Juan. A lot of assumptions are being made based on a RCI one liner and lack of follow up (for which, I blame RCI 100%).

 

Actually it's 130 people, about 6%. And yes, they were in Puerto Rico. This has been stated in every article that's been written about the incident.

[Feelin' Nauti']

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/contentPage.do?pagename=important_updates

 

Tropical Weather Update

August 27, 2011

10:00 a.m. E.S.T

[Captain Jake]

If I were one of the passengers who made it to San Juan and was left behind whether I sailed with RCCL or not would depend on how they handled their blunder. Sure losing most of these passengers will have little effect on the bottom line. In fact I sometimes believe the corporate mentallity is that if you piss off one hundred you will make up the loss from a competitor that pissed off one hundred

:cj

[Cuizer2]

This was not the cruiselines fault. They were ordered out of port by the Authorities.I am not sure what was to be expected of them (RCCL):(:confused:

 

Well Carnival isn't getting blasted and its ship also left port early. The difference is Carnival was proactive and Royal Caribbean apparently could care less. Royal Caribbean didn't even try to do anything. So, the bottom line is, there was a lot more Royal Caribbean could have done - look at what Carnival did.

[Cruising89143]

I have had reservations changed by the airlines and have never once been contacted about changes to my reservation.

[Cuizer2]

I have had reservations changed by the airlines and have never once been contacted about changes to my reservation.

 

Me too. That doesn't make it excusable.

[Cruising89143]

Me too. That doesn't make it excusable.

 

Where did I say that it did? I was responding to comments made on this thread.:rolleyes:

[Cuizer2]

Where did I say that it did? I was responding to comments made on this thread.:rolleyes:

So was I.

[Ocean Boy]

What was expected of them was to try to contact the affected people, and to not say that they couldn't contact them. Airlines are able to contact their passengers, and they do it all the time, every day.

 

Also I still find it crazy that they would only help the people that purchased their air fare through RCI, but not those who didn't. What about people that didn't fly to the port at all (those that live there and drove to the port)? They get penalized just because of where they live?

 

If the poster doesn't get what was expected of RCI after reading through 32 pages of posts I suspect that your response isn't going to crack the ice.;):p

[steamboats]

RCI didn't used to ask for this information but I did have to supply it, at least for the past 3 years, when I did my on-line check in.

 

I just went in to my upcoming cruise reservation to verify what I said, it specifically ask for our transportaton mode and flight numbers. Maybe it a country/citizen thing.

 

I was asked the airline flight number and time when I did my online check in. I'm pretty sure anyway. I thought they needed it to figure out how to disembark people and their priority level.

 

It must be a country thing... As from my signature you can see that I´ve been on a couple of cruises over the last three years and I´ve never been asked for my flight numbers...

 

steamboats

[linedancer]

We have friends who are suppose to leave on Sunday out of NY on the Norwegin Gem. They received an e-mail yesterday that they will now leave on Monday. They offered no compensation. It is weather related.

 

But I also read that the same thing is happening on Carnival. They will give them back a one day refund. Celebrity said they will give OBC. So like everyone is saying, it is up to the cruise line. Yes it is not the cruise lines fault. It is weather related. They do not have to give anything. But it is good PR. And yes many people picking their first or second cruise might remember hearing about this and pick Carnival.

 

I am loyal to Royal, but if this happened to me, I might think again. Why do we give them contact information if they say they have no way to contact us?? They were able to contact the ones that booked air with them.

 

I just wish all those cruising this week and the rest of the summer, safe sailing and let all the storms stay away from us

 

Irene (not the Hurricane)

[Cruising89143]

It must be a country thing... As from my signature you can see that I´ve been on a couple of cruises over the last three years and I´ve never been asked for my flight numbers...

 

steamboats

 

It might be as I have had them ask for our flight information for at least the last couple of years.

[Ocean Boy]

The captain and all the passengers on board the ship would know.

 

Yeah, and then you would have 2000 annoyed passengers on the ship who got their cruise interupted in order to return to an empty pier to pick up 145 passengers who are not there because RCI has no way to contact them.:p

[Wilda]

I have had reservations changed by the airlines and have never once been contacted about changes to my reservation.

 

Me too. That doesn't make it excusable.

 

 

Really- that has not been my experience. If the departure time changes even by a few minutes I receive updates via text (email in the past). I usually fly 3-4 differenct airlines depending on where I am traveling and this has been the norm for all of them. I find it hard to believe the airline has not contacted you.

[Cuizer2]

Yeah, and then you would have 2000 annoyed passengers on the ship who got their cruise interupted in order to return to an empty pier to pick up 145 passengers who are not there because RCI has no way to contact them.:p

 

Usually the first stop after San Juan is only a few hours away. So the ship would be able to make the next port on time.

 

If no one show up at the pier the captain could just make an announcement over the PA that the staff captain was practicing as (s)he was going to be promoted soon and the captain felt the staff captain needed more practice, so he brought the ship back in so the staff captain could try again. :)

[marie0157]

Never thought I would see the day that Carnival behaved in a far better manner than RCCL. My daughter sailed Seranade last fall for her honeymoon last fall and loved it. I am looking for a cruise for my DH and my daughter and son in law for Thanksgiving 2012. I was looking at HAL, Celebrity and RCCL. Guess who is now being dropped from consideration?

 

After reading CC for some years it seems to me Carnival always does the right thing.

 

 

When I pay for a cruise I am entering into a contract with the cruise line. If it says sailaway is at 8pm and the ship leaves at 5pm(for whatever reason) THEY are breaking the contract.

 

RCCL should have done the same thing carnival did. They broke the contract now the need to make these people whole.

[Cuizer2]

After reading CC for some years it seems to me Carnival always does the right thing.

 

When I pay for a cruise I am entering into a contract with the cruise line. If it says sailaway is at 8pm and the ship leaves at 5pm(for whatever reason) THEY are breaking the contract.

 

RCCL should have done the same thing carnival did. They broke the contract now the need to make these people whole.

 

First of all, while I like Carnival and Carnival certainly did it right this time, Carnival has not always done it right.

 

Second, when the port AUTHORITY says leave, you leave. When ordered to leave by the governing body, you have not broken the contract. You have in fact obeyed the law. Laws have precedence over civil contracts.

 

Finally, nobody is claiming that Royal Caribbean had a contractual duty to do more than they did. The point is that Royal Caribbean had a moral obligation to do more than they did. Carnival clearly went above and beyond in this case.

[oldguysandgalls]

True... but IF the ship had interupted the cruise (albeit it to the dismay of 2000 "annoyed" passengers) and IF ... RCI's cruise terminal had remained open with perhaps only a few check-in counter staff, the 145 passengers would have been there at the pier...

 

The 145 passengers would have been met by RCL staff and have the situation explained to them. The 145 passengers would probably need to book a hotel for the night but at least they would have been able to join the other 2000 passengers one day late. I'd like to think that most of the 2000 passengers would be understanding why their cruise was "interupted". I know we would :)

 

 

 

 

Yeah, and then you would have 2000 annoyed passengers on the ship who got their cruise interupted in order to return to an empty pier to pick up 145 passengers who are not there because RCI has no way to contact them.:p

[PaulMCO]

First of all, while I like Carnival and Carnival certainly did it right this time, Carnival has not always done it right.

 

Second, when the port AUTHORITY says leave, you leave. When ordered to leave by the governing body, you have not broken the contract. You have in fact obeyed the law. Laws have precedence over civil contracts.

 

Finally, nobody is claiming that Royal Caribbean had a contractual duty to do more than they did. The point is that Royal Caribbean had a moral obligation to do more than they did. Carnival clearly went above and beyond in this case.

 

I really hope you are not a lawyer. Because you have no idea what you are talking about.

 

And gee -- look what they are posting today -- As a result of the storm, itinerary changes have been made to Monarch, Majesty & Freedom of the Seas. Explorer of the Seas will depart today, Aug 27th at 4pm, one hour earlier than originally scheduled. The safety of our guests and crew is always our foremost concern.

 

They did not do this for the SOS.. :(