New propulsion problem on Millennium

[surrocruiser]

I have a group of clients on this ship and am just amazed at how quickly things went from very good to very bad. So far, the land portion seems to have started very stressful for all involved.

 

I mistakenly believed that SOMEONE from the cruiseline would contact me as the group "leader" with an update, ANY update but there has been no communication whatsoever. Very disappointed. My partner advocate was a disappointment from the beginning.

[moebruin]

Well my tour group that was given hotels in Anchorage is happy but I can't imagine how made I would have been if I had been shipped to Delani last night.

 

You are correct before the flights about 90 percent of the people were happy on board with Celebrity. I'd guess it's almost the opposite now.

 

Our tour guide can't believe how bad Celebrity handled things.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forums mobile app

[dlaue]

Keep copies of everything. Keep notes on everything.

 

Do NOT pay your onboard credit card bill. Dispute it. No small claims court judge will hold you responsible.

 

Sign nothing that releases X from liability. Line out those clauses, then sign.

[The_Big_M]

Yes, we plan on submitting our taxi bill, thank you.

 

However, Celebrity should be able to post credits within a week for all passengers that had to be evacuated in order to keep some sort of goodwill. All it takes is a few accountemps or kelly girls and the job can be done asap. Celebrity was able to charge my account ASAP for the trip and excursions, so I am sure their systems can handle it - they just need to hire a few extra hands. A small price for goodwill.

 

As far as credits for future credits taking 6-8 weeks??? I feel like a kid in the 1960's ordering a toy off the back of a cereal box and having to wait that long. Come on, guys, some of your executive staff can put in a few hours over a weekend or in the evenings and get those knocked out - it just isn't that hard to get done.

.

 

As someone posted earlier, it's likely it will be sooner than this. However, it's not a good idea for them to say it'll be 1 week and then people are calling after 10 days to complain about where it is. It'll be delivered.

 

Similarly, it's this 'urgency' for everything to be completed straight away that causes half the complication of miscommunication and messages for even more changes.

 

It will be worked out and I can't see that Celebrity are just going to leave things hanging for longer than they need to.

[c-legs]

Has anyone a good enough memory to know how often Millennium has had a "new propulsion problem?".

How often has Celebrity experienced this pod problem and how often has Millennium been the source?

 

Hi Arno,

Keeping in mind the distinction between the early - mid 2000's problems that plagued the entire class ( ''those damn pods'') affecting the structural system of the mermaid azipod AND the current problems affecting the motor which drives the azipod, : IMO : Millie has had a similar problem ( and with the same motor) last winter while in So China.

I am not aware of any other ''M'' class having experienced such a stubborn problem with their engines powering the mermaids. But that's just me....;)

 

The last known ''those damn pods'' problem was, I beleive, spring 2008...and, ironically, affected Millie !:eek:

 

IMO.,the reason that a full engine change-over cannot be done alone by itself is the entire mermaid azipod assembly has to be opened up to access the engine and remove it...thus the 4 +/- days in drydock...as it takes that long to open up an azipod assembly to perform the work needed,whatever it is, as has been experienced when the '' other damn pods'' problems occured in the early stages. Again, this is my opinion only.

I've also heard ,somewhat from ''within'' ,that ==X== will actually and simply install a brand new mermaid azipod assembly, from scratch...Not confirmed....but would make sense.

 

A bit of editing here;; the ultimate fiasco by ==X== in handling this disruption crisis is not its best shining moment....

Cheers & keep well.

Claude

[Andy]

I thank all my faithful readers for their kind comments .

 

I'm now heading into a week of meetings so I probably will not post to these threads again. I'm not sure I could say anything more at this stage, and I'll pass the torch to those like specialdiet and the others who are now arriving home or will post at the end if their Denali tours. I'm sure there is much more to say on this incident and will let them take over.

 

Thanks again for your informative updates Cruisestitch. You know I always say welcome home to CC members when they arrive home... but yours is an "extra special welcome home" ! We all understand that you, and your fellow Millennium guests have had a difficult past few days, and I hope you will find an opportunity to relax a bit. All the best to you, and have a great week !

[Andy]

Can someone confirm it IS Celebrity responding? Moderator?

 

Hi Jpurdy,

 

When you see posts with the "Celebrity Cruises" screen name, it's a Celebrity staff member responding. I hope this helps !

[jpurdy]

Hi Jpurdy,

 

When you see posts with the "Celebrity Cruises" screen name, it's a Celebrity staff member responding. I hope this helps !

 

Thank you for clarifying this. Just thought it odd that there would be a random comment here and there about what to do and not addressing the whole issue. But this is how the whole fiasco unfolded anyway. Communication Celebrity! Constant updates are critical when dealing with large numbers of people. Communication lesson 101: If you say you are going to do X, you better do X or offer an alternative. Do not promise what you can't deliver.

[gimletgal]

There is a thread over on the Princess boards regarding the Sun Princess cruise from Singapore being cancelled. Pretty much the same scenario as what took place on Millie. Sounds like all cruise line management sings from the same hymnal! It is all so disappointing and discouraging. :(

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1900652

[The_Big_M]

Thank you for clarifying this. Just thought it odd that there would be a random comment here and there about what to do and not addressing the whole issue. But this is how the whole fiasco unfolded anyway. Communication Celebrity! Constant updates are critical when dealing with large numbers of people. Communication lesson 101: If you say you are going to do X, you better do X or offer an alternative. Do not promise what you can't deliver.

 

To be fair, I believe the person was trying to help by addressing something was certain, and can be addressed in future.

 

A lot of the other comments are regarding things that happened in the past, or are things that are still fluid.

 

In this case, they actually were only promising what could be delivered.

[mcrcruiser]

What is happening with the cruise passenger "Bill of Rights " in this situation with Millenium/Pax problems ?

[ghstudio]

What is happening with the cruise passenger "Bill of Rights " in this situation with Millenium/Pax problems ?

 

The cruise passenger "bill of rights" is a PR statement designed to give the US government a reason to stop looking at legislating any kind of controls or rules for cruise lines. It has no teeth, no enforcement and was carefully written by the cruise lines so that nothing changed.

[Cindy]

I wasn't too happy to receive this e-mail from Celebrity this morning. It's like rubbing salt in the wound!:(

 

"As the anticipation builds for your upcoming Celebrity cruise vacation, we want thank you for choosing to sail with Celebrity Cruises."

[jpurdy]

To be fair, I believe the person was trying to help by addressing something was certain, and can be addressed in future.

 

A lot of the other comments are regarding things that happened in the past, or are things that are still fluid.

 

In this case, they actually were only promising what could be delivered.

 

Yes, in that particular comment I agree. I was thinking of the onboard fiasco of promises to post information that never happened, promises to board planes at certain times that never happened, (see OP's many comments of what was promised)

[Cliftoncruz]

Cindy,

 

Why should that surprise you!

 

When this fiasco was going on Celebrity was sending emails pushing purchases of Alaskan Cruises on the Millennium, and Celebrity posted video on You Tube showing President Michael Bayley in Boston learning how to pitch a baseball!

 

In fact, one of their cheerleaders posted on Facebook they were being insensitive with sending the email out. Celebrity pulled the email.

 

After many comments about the video, it was made private. However, Celebrity responded on Facebook the video was produced before the incident.

 

It is apparent that marketing and other internal groups do not communicate or "the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing." From what I see this is a consistent theme of poor communications and insensitivity.

[Cindy]

Cindy,

 

Why should that surprise you!

 

When this fiasco was going on Celebrity was sending emails pushing purchases of Alaskan Cruises on the Millennium, and Celebrity posted video on You Tube showing President Michael Bayley in Boston learning how to pitch a baseball!

 

In fact, one of their cheerleaders posted on Facebook they were being insensitive with sending the email out. Celebrity pulled the email.

 

After many comments about the video, it was made private. However, Celebrity responded on Facebook the video was produced before the incident.

 

It is apparent that marketing and other internal groups do not communicate or "the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing." From what I see this is a consistent theme of poor communications and insensitivity.

 

I saved the offensive item, and I will reference it in my communication to Mr. Bayley and Mr. Fain. It was a far more detailed communication than the one notifying me my cruise was cancelled.

[deise17311]

I saved the offensive item, and I will reference it in my communication to Mr. Bayley and Mr. Fain. It was a far more detailed communication than the one notifying me my cruise was cancelled.

 

Sadly I never received any communication regarding my cruise, my mom called me...on a side note, so happy for those that are on other cruises in Alaska...seeing all their happy reviews with pictures is like salt in the wound...thus, I'm refraining from looking (so no need to suggest that, re: flamers)...

[Cliftoncruz]

Cindy and others affected by these cruise cancellations,

 

All I can say is, I hope Celebrity makes all of you whole.

 

It just baffles the mind how Celebrity responded under fire!

[gblotter]

First-time cruiser and new to cruisecritic as well. Writing this on my iPhone from our balcony overlooking scenic Ketchikan ...

Author of the original 737 rumor here. We arrived home from Vancouver yesterday. A brief synopsis of our experience.

 

Although our "cruise of a lifetime" ended differently than expected, we view the past week in a mostly positive light.

 

Ketchikan is a lovely place to be stranded. We very much enjoyed walking, hiking, and learning about the local culture and history at a leisurely pace. And with all that exploring, I would still like visiting Ketchikan again on another cruise. We did take that float-plane flight to Misty Fjords on Tuesday during a brief period of sunshine - it was beautiful beyond words. Our pilot landed on a lake and took us right up to a waterfall where we exited the plane and took a (very brief) swim in the (very cold) lake – unforgettable.

 

As I said earlier, our dining experience in the Blu restaurant was a highlight and worth every penny of the additional cost for an AquaClass stateroom. Call me a food snob, but I don't think I could every go back to eating in the main dining room after experiencing Blu. Superb food, and the staff at Blu was very attentive. They even remembered our anniversary with a special cake for dessert.

 

We made a few friends among the staff, including our room steward and the maitre,d at Blu. I sensed some real sadness in their eyes as the fate of Millennium grew worse each passing day. Their own personal futures are tied to that ship, and so I felt sorry for them.

 

About the ship evacuation …

 

YES, the communication process could have been better. On multiple occasions, poorly-worded announcements resulted in long lines of frustrated passengers seeking clarification. Sometimes those lines stretched for hundreds of people.

 

YES, Celebrity needed a formal questionnaire to solicit the preference from passengers about their desired destination and departure time. Their process of using little slips of paper with handwritten notes seemed quite chaotic and resulted in many errors.

 

YES, Celebrity made promises to many passengers that were later broken. Some of our family members were “guaranteed” (using that specific word) that they would fly to Anchorage, only later to learn they were assigned to Vancouver.

 

YES, Celebrity showed great insensitivity and little flexibility to passengers with specific travel needs that required transit to Anchorage. Lines got long and tempers got hot as a result. Ketchikan police were even called - see http://www.adn.com/2013/08/22/3037385/passengers-on-troubled-cruise.html

 

YES, Celebrity was influenced by the cost of hotel rooms in Anchorage and NOT the availability of hotel rooms in Anchorage. This was a penny-wise, pound-foolish decision in my opinion.

 

YES, the CEO of Celebrity should have been in Ketchikan. Celebrity has only eleven ships – the stranding of Millennium was a big deal for the company. The CEO missed an opportunity to garner a lot of goodwill and good publicity for Celebrity by instead choosing to communicate through anonymous press releases. Demonstrating personal concern by showing up in Ketchikan would have been a brilliant PR move in my opinion.

 

About our own evacuation experience …

 

Originally, we were assigned to Seattle while the rest of our family was assigned to Vancouver. Fortunately we were able to fix that, but then our name mysteriously disappeared from the Vancouver passenger list again. Ultimately we made it on the Vancouver flight with our other family members. The plane took off with many empty seats. We arrived in Vancouver on Wednesday around midnight. Celebrity had lots of personnel and organization on the Vancouver side to greet and help passengers every step of the way. A cheer went out as our bus pulled up at the beautiful and historic Fairmont Hotel in downtown. It was an impressive sight as a dozen or more staff were lined up at the hotel entrance waiting for our arrival. The Fairmont is an elegant grand dame of a hotel – far nicer that the what we feared might be our fate. Obviously Celebrity has established ties and pre-negotiated room rates with the Fairmont.

 

Because the evacuation process on the ship was so uncertain and ever-changing, we dared not make any flight arrangements home until we were on the ground in Vancouver. Our flight departed Vancouver on Friday morning which gave us a full day on Thursday to explore and enjoy the sights and joys of Vancouver. That was a lovely and relaxing way to end our vacation.

 

Looking forward …

 

We are very pleased with the generous compensation offered to passengers. We are not sour on Celebrity, but we are fearful of the Millennium ship. We understand that the future cruise credit is only good for one year, so we have already booked our next cruise (to Alaska again, but this time on Solstice). And of course we will again be enjoying an AquaClass stateroom and dining in the fantastic Blu restaurant.

 

Cheers!

[Cliftoncruz]

Dear Celebrity,

 

Thank You! I was expecting that response from someone. I am not looking for more regulations, but the cruise industry needs to look at their response to CRITICAL Incidents. And sometimes a little review may force a change or improvement. By the way the cruise industry response to the recent investigation was to voluntarily post reported crimes on their web sites and the cruise industry writing and adoption of the "Cruise Passenger Bill of Rights." I hope the Bill of Rights works for these passengers!

[youwash]

I feel so sorry for all passengers that have been affected by this problem with the ship. I have been following it from the start of the problem when they tried to fix it in Seward. I know I would be devastated if one of my cruises would have been cancelled at the last second. Vacation time for working families is not something that can just be changed.

 

Since someone mentioned it on one of these threads I went over to Princess to check out the cancellation of the Sun and came away realizing that the complaints were the same as with Celebrity.

 

I have a hard time believing that these cruise lines don't have a better crisis management team that would have plans in place for when things go wrong. Knowing that when things go wrong that they go wrong in a big way impacting A LOT OF PEOPLE.

[lhbsurf]

Cindy,

 

Why should that surprise you!

 

When this fiasco was going on Celebrity was sending emails pushing purchases of Alaskan Cruises on the Millennium, and Celebrity posted video on You Tube showing President Michael Bayley in Boston learning how to pitch a baseball!

 

In fact, one of their cheerleaders posted on Facebook they were being insensitive with sending the email out. Celebrity pulled the email.

 

After many comments about the video, it was made private. However, Celebrity responded on Facebook the video was produced before the incident.

 

It is apparent that marketing and other internal groups do not communicate or "the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing." From what I see this is a consistent theme of poor communications and insensitivity.

 

Celebrity is really terrible on the communication....We were on a Celebrity Pre-Cruise Tour for the August 23 sailing. And while I knew I was getting information from Cruise Critic about the problems in Ketchikan before our Tour Guide (Just decided to check up quickly on the progress one evening from the hotel).... They sent us the official text messages and phone messages informing us that our cruise was cancelled BEFORE they told her anything. While she did an excellent job and handled it with grace....I felt sorry for her. How stupid not to let her know first (or at least at the same time!!) so she could help calm everyone down..... We too were given lots of conflicting information and told to make our own arrangements....try to do that on a tour bus...in and out of cell service in the middle of Alaska, while you are supposed to be enjoying your vacation!

[celebrity]

Dear Celebrity,

 

Thank You! I was expecting that response from someone. I am not looking for more regulations, but the cruise industry needs to look at their response to CRITICAL Incidents. And sometimes a little review may force a change or improvement. By the way the cruise industry response to the recent investigation was to voluntarily post reported crimes on their web sites and the cruise industry writing and adoption of the "Cruise Passenger Bill of Rights." I hope the Bill of Rights works for these passengers!

 

Great minds think alike. :)

[specialdiet]

... but the cruise industry needs to look at their response to CRITICAL Incidents.

 

No offence, and I don't wish to diminish the inconvenience that was caused to many people (and yes, I was on that ship), but I would not be even close to calling this a critical incident.

 

Putting out people for a few days, and likely causing some cash flow issues that will last longer, is not critical. People getting sick, injured, dying, etc. I would more likely consider critical, and that did not happen here.

 

Some perspective please. This was not the Concordia, or even the Triumph. Not even close.

[pamkev]

Celebrity is really terrible on the communication....We were on a Celebrity Pre-Cruise Tour for the August 23 sailing. And while I knew I was getting information from Cruise Critic about the problems in Ketchikan before our Tour Guide (Just decided to check up quickly on the progress one evening from the hotel).... They sent us the official text messages and phone messages informing us that our cruise was cancelled BEFORE they told her anything. While she did an excellent job and handled it with grace....I felt sorry for her. How stupid not to let her know first (or at least at the same time!!) so she could help calm everyone down..... We too were given lots of conflicting information and told to make our own arrangements....try to do that on a tour bus...in and out of cell service in the middle of Alaska, while you are supposed to be enjoying your vacation!

 

 

Unfortunately this seems to be the way management handles things. I work in guest services for a major travel vacation spot and all I can say is we are the last to know anything. We have found out things by our customers telling us or finding it on our web site

 

When we talk to our supervisors about this it falls on deaf ears.

 

That is why I am patient with guest service/call center employees as I understand their frustrations. I know I want to help our guest with as much info as I can but if we are not told we can not help.