Caribbean Princess cruise cut short?

[Loonbeam]

The two items are not necessarily directly related.

 

Assuming the harbormaster said 'we expect to close the port' that was the cause of itinerary shift (BTW, the hurricane analogy is not relevant. Hurricanes can often be avoided, and itinerary changes ARE made on a regular basis because of them).

 

From everything I have seen, once the decision was made to alter course, THEN the decision was made to speed to port and disembark early to allow for additional cleaning (which makes a certain amount of sense).

 

It's entirely possible had there been no diversion, there would have been no early return (5% is about the threshold where they do the extra cleaning, but that would have probably just been a delayed boarding)

 

Without knowing when the various decisions were made, there is no way for sure to know what the drivers for each of two separate decisions were, but to say Princess is lying without the same information is irresponsible. To say they did a crappy job of communicating, that's fair..

[5:00_Somewhere]

Just to add another actual fact to the discussion, we are in communication with people on the CB right now and they are reporting heavy, dense fog rolling into the harbor right now making it look like the ship may not be able to depart this evening. Who knows what the truth is about the early return, but it certainly seems possible that fog could have been a real consideration, doesn't it?

Edited February 1, 2014 by 5:00_Somewhere

[douglinc@msn.com]

The Galveston webcams are showing really dense fog.

 

Doug

[Colo Cruiser]

[RocketMan275]

Even then, you would have to prove the passenger came on board knowingly sick or knowingly broke quarantine to prove negligence or intent.

 

You would also have to prove the cruise line did not respond to the outbreak in an appropriate manner. Returning early due to an outbreak could be part of an appropriate response. IOW, an early return would undermine any lawsuit.

[caribill]

My father in law said it right. Keith Davis of Austin questioned the fog story.

 

"That's last Tuesday they tell us this, and they've never said anything different," he told KHOU. "I knew then nobody can predict five days in advance.

 

Just to add another actual fact to the discussion, we are in communication with people on the CB right now and they are reporting heavy, dense fog rolling into the harbor right now making it look like the ship may not be able to depart this evening.

 

Gee, this evening's fog correctly predicted days in advance.

Edited February 1, 2014 by caribill

[caribill]

My only thought is that they MIGHT have lost LESS money if they have an insurance that would cover losses due to certain weather related issues.

 

I have to think that they must have something along the lines of an insurance in place that helps mitigate financial damages due to weather.

 

Cruise lines, including Princess, self-insure for events such as this. There is no full-of-money insurance company that will be paying Princess for any money lost sue to the events on this cruise.

 

A policy that would cover weather delays in a port known for fog problems would be very expensive (even if available) and would have a high deductible for each event.

[MrMan]

 

But, but, but, but that's a Princess camera! What if they switched the camera with a tape that showed fog. Then they could cut the cruise by a day and save costs on fuel. The evil menions are at it again. I am sure they have fog insurance that will cover all the lost revenue.

[MaChere]

Earlier this afternoon, a friend on her way to Galveston posted a photo of the heavy fog rolling in across Bolivar Peninsula.

[cruisequeen4ever]

Just heard from my friend onboard that they're fogged in until tomorrow. She had sent pics from her balcony of cloudiness but no fog earlier, and they had the muster drill a little late, but they had no idea that the weather was deteriorating to prevent the ship from sailing until recently.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[QueenofEverything]

Gee, this evening's fog correctly predicted days in advance.

 

Right, however today's fog would not have affected last week's cruise. They could have come in last night as planned and not missed a day of their cruise.

[JustinPlusLauren]

Oh no, I hope they're still able to make all of their ports!!

 

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk

[DrSch]

Adding insult to injury.. the port is closed now, and the ship will not be departing.

 

This cruise is doomed

[caribill]

Right, however today's fog would not have affected last week's cruise. They could have come in last night as planned and not missed a day of their cruise.

 

Looking at the past is 20/20 hindsight.

 

Looking at the future, the port told Princess there would be fog Friday morning and again Friday evening as well as Saturday morning.

 

Are you suggesting in the future that Princess should pay no attention to what the port authorities tell Princess about the weather?

[cruzrbachoua]

Adding insult to injury.. the port is closed now, and the ship will not be departing.

 

This cruise is doomed

 

Oh that sucks! How did you find this out?

[DrSch]

It is mentioned in the Role call for today's cruise

[cruzrbachoua]

It is mentioned in the Role call for today's cruise

 

Thank you, I had checked there earlier and saw nothing....I was watching her on marine traffic thought for a second she was leaving as they showed her at 1 knot.......maybe just the wind...:(

[DrSch]

Thank you, I had checked there earlier and saw nothing....I was watching her on marine traffic thought for a second she was leaving as they showed her at 1 knot.......maybe just the wind...:(

 

We are on her in 2 weeks.. can't wait to see what happens

[cruzrbachoua]

We are on her in 2 weeks.. can't wait to see what happens

 

We are on her in 6. I have been watching all the sailings since she started in early November. Sadly not a very good track record. We picked this cruise for the 2 new ports (Roatan/Belize) and hoping all goes well as friends of ours who have never cruised are coming with us. I just want it all to run smoothly. DH and I will/can bend and flow with it because at least we wont be at work but I really want our freinds to have a fab time so they can come on more with us....keeping our fingers crossed as well. Although it has been an odd winter all around for all states. This weekend is the first weekend we have actual felt "winter" type conditions in San Diego. I know it is not Minnesota or anything but usually we have a bit more cool days as of late we have been mid 70s to mid 80's in the afternoon........:eek:

[QueenofEverything]

Looking at the past is 20/20 hindsight.

 

Looking at the future, the port told Princess there would be fog Friday morning and again Friday evening as well as Saturday morning.

 

Are you suggesting in the future that Princess should pay no attention to what the port authorities tell Princess about the weather?

 

Not at all. However, I do find it interesting that the Carnival Triumph managed to get in and back out of Galveston, I assume with the same fog warning.

[DrSch]

With the track record out of the Port of Houston, you would think that Princess would do some damage control and send future cruise people a note saying. yeah, we are having problems, but don't worry, we will do the best we can to make your cruise ok.. They are going to lose a lot of future cruise business .. I can imagine a lot of empty berths next year when the Emerald is sailing out of there.

 

Plus add in Norwegian sailing out of there this winter.. they will have 2x the people stranded.

[MauiLvrs]

Assuming the harbormaster said 'we expect to close the port' ...

The Harbormaster need to grow a pair.:p

 

Below is what it looked like when we sailed into the LA harbor last week.:eek:

Viz couldn't be more than 200 feet at times less than 50 feet. The ships location is known within 20 feet...

 

20140128_065133 by MauiLvrs, on Flickr

 

That is the Iowa docked at the pier...

Looked like this when we left...

2014-01-24_16-24-33_807 by MauiLvrs, on Flickr

 

Seriously considering moving our cruise to FFL...

Edited February 2, 2014 by MauiLvrs

[dleighb]

Gee, this evening's fog correctly predicted days in advance.

 

Yes, this evening's fog was correctly predicted days in advance. However, Friday night's lack of fog was incorrectly predicted. I still maintain that making itinerary changes based on foretasted weather is ridiculous.

 

If the cruise ships begin to routinely base their itinerary changes on predicted weather events, then I expect to see a increase in unhappy passengers.

 

They predicted the harbor to be shut down for three days. Why didn't they tell everyone leaving on Saturday not to arrive until Sunday? After all, as of three days ago, the port was supposed to be closed.

 

And we certainly didn't arrive at 10pm on Thursday night because the harbor might have been closed on Friday evening. We could have had that last night and morning at sea. But when all is said and done, our cruise was cut short for Noro. Not for fog. I enjoy my sea days and evening as much as I enjoy my port, and I lost even that for something that never happened. Ah, but at least the true main objective of cleaning the ship was achieved, so I guess it was worth it.

[bellebaby]

Not at all. However, I do find it interesting that the Carnival Triumph managed to get in and back out of Galveston, I assume with the same fog warning.

 

It will be interesting to see what delays the Carnival Magic experiences tomorrow.

 

B

[LBL]

For those that think the Captain should not have listened to the harbormaster or the weather reports, I would like to know the last time you were in command of a cruise ship the size of the Caribbean Princess and therefore have the qualifications to make the comments you are making.