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

[oldguysandgalls]

I love the comment about swimming in and out of port:) If I arrived and saw my ship leaving, I might be tempted to jump in the water to try to catch it!

 

With our luck that "Captain of the Port" probably throws us a livesaver and hauls us back on shore. So much for trying to ~~~~swim~~~ to catch our ship.

 

But.... on the other stroke... if we ~~~swim~~~fast enough towards our ship, away from the pier and away from "That Captain of the Port" and his livesaver, maybe someone on our ship may see us and yells out to the crew "MAN OVERBOARD"....and we get hauled on board...our ship. (Thank you ever so much, now let's cruise)

 

Remember.. " Desperate times call for desperate measures"

[ducklite]

It's one of the biggest questions of this entire story. In the original USA Today article I read, it said a passenger was there at 5 and was locked out. However, it said the Serenade left at 5:30. :confused: In the current Cruise Critic article on the home page, it says RCI did leave agents behind to assist with late passengers. It seems to make most sense the time quoted by the displaced passenger was wrong.

 

I'm going to guess that the passengers who missed the ship who were assisted were caught at the airport because they also had RCI transfers to the port and taken care of at that point, not after arriving at the port. I could be wrong, but it's a logical possibility.

[Aquahound]

I'm going to guess that the passengers who missed the ship who were assisted were caught at the airport because they also had RCI transfers to the port and taken care of at that point, not after arriving at the port. I could be wrong, but it's a logical possibility.

 

That's entirely possible, and it does make sense. I doubt it's the case for all of them, but could be for some of them.

[dfishner]

And the mother ship is still silent and not uttered one word I am very disappointed in the lack of reaction of any kind. I can only think of three things

 

1) They stand by their first statement they were made to leave and they are not responsible...if so not a good answer in light of what Carnival did..

 

2) They are trying to come up with something like future cruise credit for those who were stranded, if so say something

or

3) They just do not care and hope this whole thing blows over..

[CCLNCLRCICRUISER]

I wasnt expecting a response until next week, if one is forthcoming. The board will be humming Sunday/Monday when the passengers come back.

[PaulMCO]

And the mother ship is still silent and not uttered one word I am very disappointed in the lack of reaction of any kind. I can only think of three things

 

1) They stand by their first statement they were made to leave and they are not responsible...if so not a good answer in light of what Carnival did..

 

2) They are trying to come up with something like future cruise credit for those who were stranded, if so say something

or

3) They just do not care and hope this whole thing blows over..

 

Apparently Number 3 is the WINNER...

[time4u2go]

That doesn't make it fact.

 

OK, you win. ;)

[Ocean Boy]

Apparently you do recognize a tongue in cheek post when you read one. Judging by a few of your other posts perhaps you should take a few deep breaths before posting.

 

Oh, you were trying to be witty.

[Pushka]

I think they should have had someone there at least until the latest time that passengers were allowed to show up and still board the ship for its scheduled sailing time. And that is especially true since RCI had "no way" to contact anyone.

 

It is the lack of communication ability and the locked up pier that I find most concerning about this entire ordeal.

 

yes, they wanted it both ways. They didn't want to try contact anyone AND they didn't leave staff behind to inform those who did arrive.

 

For clarification, when the Captain of the Port shuts down a port, it shuts down. I can almost guarantee the gates being closed was well out of the hands of RCI and CCL, therefore terminal agents could not have been left there.

They could have stayed until 6pm apparently.

Precisely. And that is exactly why no one here should be passing final judgment. No one here has all the facts and no one here knows exactly what happened.

All the more reason for RCI to make a statement.

I think their hope is that now NYC is in the path that issues like this will become non events in the media. And that is exactly what will happen.

[readytogo2]

It amazes me that this thread can keep going...with almost everyone repeating the same thing over and over and over and over and over :D:D:D

[Pushka]

It amazes me that this thread can keep going...with almost everyone repeating the same thing over and over and over and over and over :D:D:D

 

The thing is that new posters don't read all the pages and they chime in with a comment that has already been discussed before, starting it all over again. like the one a couple of pages back saying that RCL had no choice to leave as they were ordered by the Port. We agreed on that from page 1 or so, and the discussion moved then as to how best to deal with customers who were penalized.

[CCLNCLRCICRUISER]

It amazes me that this thread can keep going...with almost everyone repeating the same thing over and over and over and over and over :D:D:D

 

Im sure Royal wishes this thread would fall off the first page.lol

[Ocean Boy]

Im sure Royal wishes this thread would fall off the first page.lol

 

It could happen if RCI figures out a way to knock out all of our internet connections. Of course considering that they can't even figure out how to contact 145 passengers.........;):p

[CCLNCLRCICRUISER]

It could happen if RCI figures out a way to knock out all of our internet connections. Of course considering that they can't even figure out how to contact 145 passengers.........;):p

 

I think they are up to contacting 54 of the passengers, we have to give them time :D

Pony Express and Telegrams werent successful

[klingoncruiser]

Ouch, that was not pretty.

[kath00]

Alternatively, when Mariner of the Seas was pulled from Los Angeles last year, they had to cancel about 15 weeks of sailings. They contacted all of us a gave a VERY GENEROUS "move over" offer of hundreds of dollars for pretty much any other sailing on any other ship, just for our inconvenience. AND, they notified us in MAY for a sailing the following February!

 

They even asked another family to move to a different stateroom because we needed a handicapped room and there were none left for the sailing we wanted to move to. We later met that family, just by chance, on the ship, and they were upgraded to an OS just to give my mom a handicapped room close to us! They were happy as could be as were we. I felt like the operators at RCCL went waaay above and beyond the call of duty to help us out, even when they didn't have to.

 

We don't sail during hurricane season because the cheap prices don't justify to me the possible headaches of things like this happening. Perhaps this was a poorly handled situation for the poor folks who got stranded. But to say "Carnival is better" or "I am never sailing them again" is plain old ridiculous in my book.

[kath00]

Forgot to add: I don't mean to minimize what happened to those 150+ passengers. I feel for them. I just wanted to say that RCCL is not deserving of people leaving the line permanently because of this incident.

[Christine Frances]

I think I will withold judgement until we hear first hand how the pax were dealt with by both lines. I would like to know if pax were advised when boarding that the departure time had changed. Etc Etc Etc. There ia also conflicting postings about Carnival's actions ie that they only flew pax that had booked their air as well (not everyone) We have not heard from ONE pax yet. This has all been based on just one article. Hopefully we will know more tomorrow. Both roll calls were not very active.

[oldguysandgalls]

duplicated post-sorry

[oldguysandgalls]

But.....did they try: smoke signals - courier pigeons - town criers - or...

 

OH WAIT...buy Television Air time? Television?? Yes RCI, television, it's that new fangled thingy box with moving and talking pictures. People sit in front of it, they turn it on and wow...it's a miracle. Now....all we need is Nancy Grace..she would tell RCI a thing or or two.

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by OctoberDestiny

I think they are up to contacting 54 of the passengers, we have to give them time :D

Pony Express and Telegrams werent successful

 

 

It could happen if RCI figures out a way to knock out all of our internet connections. Of course considering that they can't even figure out how to contact 145 passengers.........;):p

[Woe is me]

No body on cruise critic, knows one absolute fact regarding this whole incident, and that's a fact!:rolleyes:

,

[smeck]

Hearsay, Hearsay, Hearsay, not one point brought up would stand any credence in a court of law. Emotion is a very strong motivator and clouds judgement. Please let the facts present itself and make a determination of corporate guilt or innocence. Once all facts are in I will determine who's wallet will house my hard earned vacation dollar.

[ez2logon]

Really? You won't even accept the Coast Guard news releases from its own website as fact? And you throw in a smart aleck emoticon? Incredible.

 

I think some of our more dismissive friends are not interested in examining facts. Both of theses cruise lines have operated out of the region during hurricane season for a long time. Based on the C/G bulletins (if one cares to read them) there was adequate time to make decisions and I believe decisions were made. It's just that Carnival chose to make better plans...

[jmf123]

It's one of the biggest questions of this entire story. In the original USA Today article I read, it said a passenger was there at 5 and was locked out. However, it said the Serenade left at 5:30. :confused: In the current Cruise Critic article on the home page, it says RCI did leave agents behind to assist with late passengers. It seems to make most sense the time quoted by the displaced passenger was wrong.

 

I read the following in USA Today and the displaced passenger states they arrived around 5:30 p.m.: One passenger, Nicole Washington of Baltimore, said when she and her family arrived at the docks Sunday around 5:30 p.m., the gates were locked and the ship gone, she told Miami's WFOR-TV, a CBS affiliate. p.s. Woe is me, the link contains statements made by RCI spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez.