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Lost in Irene's Wake: Carnival, Royal Caribbean Strand 450 Passengers in San Juan

LauraS

By LauraS,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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itsjb1

itsjb1

Posted
Posted

You can really tell alot about someone by the way they act and react when they choose to do something as opposed to when they have to do something. Hats off to Carnival for doing the right thing for their customers, when they didn't have to and a big raspberry to RCCL for doing nothing , beacuse they didn't have to.

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figment9999

figment9999

Posted
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OK, stuff happens, but in a Carnival vs RCCL comparison of the San Juan situation Carnival took care of it's customers, RCCL didn't - period.

So Carnival-1, RCCL-0

 

One key learning here was to always take your passport on-shore, just in case.

 

Something I have not done in the past but will do in the future based on the situation these 450 folks found themselves in.

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darth frosty

darth frosty

Posted
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I have to say that while Carnival may not be the most High Class Cruise line out there, they are by far the Best in Bang for Bucks and I do enjoy cruising with them.........I will stand by Carnival for sure and will be getting my Passport taken care of ASAP!!

 

I to agree!

 

Just printed my passport renewal it expires in nov. The passport card comes cheaper but I want the comfort and advantages that comes with a full passport.

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PlanoTim

PlanoTim

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From the article:

In Royal Caribbean's case, passengers from Serenade of the Seas were not notified of the change in plans.

 

According to Royal Caribbean, there wasn't time to alert the passengers of the early exit. "Since this decision was made by the Port of San Juan on Sunday while the ship was docked alongside, there was no way to notify our guests of this change in departure time," the line said in the statement.

 

For Carnival's part, spokesman Vance Gulliksen tells Cruise Critic that the line reached out to all guests who were unable to meet the ship and either spoke to them directly, talked to emergency contacts listed by the passengers or reached out to passengers' travel agents. "We did have to leave voicemail messages for the ones we could not make a live contact with," he added.

 

It seems to me that the cruise lines should implement something like the flight status notification system that many airlines have. Such a system could send text, voice, or email alerts when departure or arrival information changes. It might not have helped all the pasengers who had not boarded yet, but maybe some would have been alerted in time to get to the port before the early departures.

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ATL2LAS

ATL2LAS

Posted
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My problem with RCL is not the fact that they were forced to leave early. Hurricanes happen, that was the call of the port master in San Juan. My problem is that they had no where for their guests to go and could have cared less...with a F******* HURRICANE COMING!!!!:eek: They left these unprepared people to fend for themselves. Carnival made sure that at least its clients would be in some sort of shelter. What if Irene disrupted service so that those that were supposed to meet the ship later were unable to get out? This is a nightmare that every cruiser dreads, get there, ships gone, no help...SMDH...:(

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NeuroQueen

NeuroQueen

Posted
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Carnival sure stepped up to the plate in this situation. The expense of hotels and airfare for their clients was money well spent as I'm sure it was less expensive than a 30 second commercial. I'm a fan of both CCL and RCI but this whole mess sure makes RCI look bad to the consumer. Way to go Carnival!

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monster16

monster16

Posted
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I think Carnival handled this wonderfully. Studying Public Relations in college, I think it's clear that Carnival did the correct thing. Think of the nightmare that RCCL is going to have on their hands when more people are made aware of this.

 

Big round of applause to Carnnival, glad I've shelled out my hard earned cash to you and not those other guys!

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Cuizer2

Cuizer2

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I guess we will never know until all said and done what the cruislines really did for their passengers.......swine flu rings a bell.......RCCL were the heros on that one until the many letter writings that Carnival finally caved in.

 

All the cruise lines have their moments. In this case it was Carnival's moment to shine and Royal Caribbeans moment to show they don't really care about their passengers.

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Smithkids5521

Smithkids5521

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I wonder if that is true for New York Harbor? Carnival docks at the Manhattan cruise port, which is on a relatively protected area. Do you think they would prefer to be at sea, off Long Island, right in the path of the hurricane, rather than in a slip?

 

The Carnival Glory is supposed to return to New York on Saturday morning, the 27th, and we depart at 5pm, shortly before the storm arrives. Any bets?

 

Sounds like you will leaving earlier...and I bet the schedule will change even more than it has. Keep your ears open for any news...

 

star2.bmpCarnival Glory will leave New York on Saturday two hours early -- at 3 p.m. instead of 5 p.m. In addition, the five-night Canada cruise will call on Halifax Monday and Saint John Tuesday instead of the other way around.

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MissDiva1

MissDiva1

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All the cruise lines have their moments. In this case it was Carnival's moment to shine and Royal Caribbeans moment to show they don't really care about their passengers.

 

Looks that way......next time RCCL will shine again and people will state that RCCL just got my business:D

Still waiting to see the full outcome.......stay tuned it can change again:p

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LHP

LHP

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My understanding is that travel insurance doesn't cover itinerary changes or cruise delays caused by weather. It will help if you can't get to the ship because of flight cancellations, but if the ship boards and just sits there, or just goes out to sea for five days, you are at the mercy of the cruise line's generosity. Personally, I don't care who's paying for them, I'm going to be drinking some serious rum drinks no matter what.

 

 

Travel insurance will not cover a change in ports...

but it would have paid for the hotel and meals until they could have boarded the cruise ship.

 

We had a similar delay years ago out of Galveston.

 

We were delayed 2 days boarding the ship....

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MissDiva1

MissDiva1

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My understanding is that travel insurance doesn't cover itinerary changes or cruise delays caused by weather. It will help if you can't get to the ship because of flight cancellations, but if the ship boards and just sits there, or just goes out to sea for five days, you are at the mercy of the cruise line's generosity. Personally, I don't care who's paying for them, I'm going to be drinking some serious rum drinks no matter what.

 

This was technically a trip interruption.......the ship set sail before you were able to board.......if you have trip interruption on your policy you are good to go.

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swimmom32

swimmom32

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What amazes me is with all the Supposed cuts, and people whinning and B******* the bottom line is Carnival has treated their customers (people) in this awful situation like they matter...Im sorry but I think this still goes a long way....So they maybe cheap in other areas but RCCL is still more expensive and really shows they dont care too much about their Cruiser's and ultimately if one doesnt like Carnival they will find a way to discount what good they did for these people who were stranded...You cant please everyone....I also dont think RCCL customer service is that great, as I called for a few quotes for next year and their agents weren't very nice to speak with nor were they helpful...

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Cruzaholic41

Cruzaholic41

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I guess we will never know until all said and done what the cruislines really did for their passengers.......swine flu rings a bell.......RCCL were the heros on that one until the many letter writings that Carnival finally caved in.

 

The difference is the loyalist who refuse to see it happens on all cruiselines one time or another:D

 

I'm afraid it falls on deaf ears. Brand loyalty is so blinding to some of these people, I really think they are uncapable of remembering this sort of thing happens, and CCL does not have the best track record - ex, 4 collisions in the past 1.5 years damaging not only their own, but 2 other cruise ships and a pier, a dead ship incident, stranding of passengers in Hurricane Ike, Destiny azipod debacle, and poor response to Swine Flu - of which they were outshined by a certain other cruise line.

 

But I digress. The insecure loyalists who plague these boards will always look for anything they can to support their addiction. It's like crack. :rolleyes:

 

Suck it RCCL

 

What was the point of this? Grow up. :rolleyes:

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