Caribbean Princess cruise cut short?

[eclue]

Then why was there no fog Friday night/Saturday morning? They predicted it.

 

I was on this ship too...the captain never predicted fog for Friday. He was told by the port and NWS that there would be fog on Saturday and Sunday and in fact, there was fog on Saturday - not dense, but still fog and on Sunday there was dense fog preventing any ship departure. The plan was to beat the fog and be there on Friday which he did and Princess did a great job of taking care of all this.:)

Put this away and accept the fact that these things happen.:)

[Loonbeam]

I understand that at times there are specific ports that people book an itinerary for and are thus possibly more upset than others (for example, if I had had to miss Cartagena on our Canal run, I'd have been upset, but Aruba? Meh).

 

So if Barbados was key to you, you have the right to be annoyed. The issue is not the annoyance but how you choose to deal with ut.

 

We had a problem with our ship once (Sun Princess) and we stayed in St. Kitts several hours longer than anticipated, causing us to miss Barbados. The cruise line substituted Tortola instead. We were thrilled they had a substitution for us, but we sure heard a lot of whining from others! Maybe some people have the luxury of so much travel that they don't appreciate it as much as others?

[dleighb]

eclue, you obviously did not hear the same announcement Tuesday evening that our group of six did (or any of the other passengers that we talked to who all through a fog warning that would close the port for Friday - Sunday was a bit ridiculous). We heard that the fog was to roll in Friday evening and close the port Friday evening through Sunday, so we were going to try and make it back before the port closed Friday evening.

 

Plus, if fog was predicted only on Saturday evening, then why did we return early due to fog as it would not have affected us entering the port Saturday morning?

Edited February 3, 2014 by dleighb

[caribill]

But, I'm telling you. I expect every cruise now to make a decision on Tuesday night, and if fog is predicted for the weekend, I expect them to return a day early. Can't wait to see what havoc that creates.

 

Just look at the airline industry.

 

The feds started fining airlines if a plane stayed on the tarmac too long no matter what the reason. Now when a snowflake is predicted, airlines cancel flights because they do not want to have a plane on the tarmac for hours if it does snow.

[caribill]

The disadvantage of this port is the inaccessbility to towns or attractions within a reasonable distance.

 

Depends on the definition of reasonable.

 

Less than 10 miles away is the Clear Lake area with Space Center Houston.

 

Less than 8 miles away is the Kemah Boardwalk area with numerous attractions.

 

Both of these areas have a variety of hotels and restaurants.

[RDC1]

eclue, you obviously did not hear the same announcement Tuesday evening that our group of six did (or any of the other passengers that we talked to who all through a fog warning that would close the port for Friday - Sunday was a bit ridiculous). We heard that the fog was to roll in Friday evening and close the port Friday evening through Sunday, so we were going to try and make it back before the port closed Friday evening.

 

Plus, if fog was predicted only on Saturday evening, then why did we return early due to fog as it would not have affected us entering the port Saturday morning?

 

 

Fog was predicted for Friday evening through 1pm Saturday. You can find the Port forecast from Friday earlier in this discussion. But then again it was posted in response to one of your previous comments so I must assume you have seen it and are choosing to ignore it. The fog did not happen as expected. The fog forecast for 7pm Saturday actually rolled in a couple of hours earlier then expected.

 

Princess has learned from earlier cruises on the impact on passengers missing flights if they cannot get in due to fog. So it is not surprising that they will err on the cautious side when they have a fog forecast that would not have them into port until late on Saturday (1pm + 3 hours sailing time would have put docking at 4pm or later)

[dleighb]

RDC1, are you talking to me? I have never disputed that that there was a fog warning issued for Friday evening/Saturday morning. In fact, had a warning not been issued, I would be even more irritated about the whole situation than I currently am. It was eclue who said that Captain never predicted fog for Friday night. Although the announcement I heard last Tuesday from the Captain stated that the port might be shut down from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon (which I personally tended to believe would be unlikely) and that we were racing back to make it in before the port shut down on Friday. Now, maybe the Captain misspoke and meant Saturday instead of Sunday which would actually make far more sense to me.

[RDC1]

RDC1, are you talking to me? I have never disputed that that there was a fog warning issued for Friday evening/Saturday morning. In fact, had a warning not been issued, I would be even more irritated about the whole situation than I currently am. It was eclue who said that Captain never predicted fog for Friday night. Although the announcement I heard last Tuesday from the Captain stated that the port might be shut down from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon (which I personally tended to believe would be unlikely) and that we were racing back to make it in before the port shut down on Friday. Now, maybe the Captain misspoke and meant Saturday instead of Sunday which would actually make far more sense to me.

 

my error. I read the last sentence as if it was your intent.

[myfuzzy]

Depends on the definition of reasonable.

 

Less than 10 miles away is the Clear Lake area with Space Center Houston.

 

Less than 8 miles away is the Kemah Boardwalk area with numerous attractions.

 

Both of these areas have a variety of hotels and restaurants.

 

Having never been to Texas--I guess 8 to 10 miles to Texans is reasonable. I come from a small town and for me to drive 10 miles for something--thats something else altogether. If you go back to the board for the CB Oct 26 2013, early on there was quite a conversation about amenities. Most of the issues were that a very small percentage of passengers were from around the Houston area, and a great majority of us did not have any private transportation available to them. We were quoted outrageous fees to take us to area hotels and Hobby, only to hear after the cruise, I guess some rethought the cost and reduced it quite a bit. One of the passengers even called a local bus company and arranged for a group to to to Hobby on their own. A lot of hotels and car rental places would not or did not offer transportation from the pier. As for a certain car rental place, they did not have the inventory to handle all the reservations from the ship, and those that could get a car had to return it to the same store or be charged and extra 100.00 to return it to the airport. Another topic which was raised, was also the fog. We could gain no information. All other cruises out of Bayport have been roundtrip, which gives passengers to park their own cars or arrange for family or friends to drop off or pick up. At some point it was joked that we would be debarked and stand at the curb with our thumbs out. On the whole, it was a great cruise, we worked out the logistics on our own and wished future cruises out of Bayport the best.

Edited February 4, 2014 by myfuzzy

[Rixnsd]

eclue, you obviously did not hear the same announcement Tuesday evening that our group of six did (or any of the other passengers that we talked to who all through a fog warning that would close the port for Friday - Sunday was a bit ridiculous). We heard that the fog was to roll in Friday evening and close the port Friday evening through Sunday, so we were going to try and make it back before the port closed Friday evening.

 

Plus, if fog was predicted only on Saturday evening, then why did we return early due to fog as it would not have affected us entering the port Saturday morning?

 

Well said. We thought the same logic out. They simply were trying to minimize the compensation. Underplay the Noro. get the ship back for the CDC request to investigate get time to get ready for next trip. People are smarter now with cell phones etc. communicate.

[frangul]

Is it true that those who were on the last cruise that came back a day early to avoid the "fog" and drop off the novovirus folks were reimbursed for a day, making it a 6 day charge instead of 7? Supposedly, from someone who was on that cruise, said that and a 20% off their next cruise was given to them.

 

We left the port 20 hours late on the Thanksgiving week departure due to the port they chose to put themselves in, got squat for the choices they made. Weather is one thing, stupid choices are another. Word is the stupid choice was upped for the coming year as well. What?????

[Clay Clayton]

Is it true that those who were on the last cruise that came back a day early to avoid the "fog" and drop off the novovirus folks were reimbursed for a day, making it a 6 day charge instead of 7? Supposedly, from someone who was on that cruise, said that and a 20% off their next cruise was given to them.

 

We left the port 20 hours late on the Thanksgiving week departure due to the port they chose to put themselves in, got squat for the choices they made. Weather is one thing, stupid choices are another. Word is the stupid choice was upped for the coming year as well. What?????

 

Yes, plus a hotel room for Friday night and transportation to it and on to the airport.

[RDC1]

Is it true that those who were on the last cruise that came back a day early to avoid the "fog" and drop off the novovirus folks were reimbursed for a day, making it a 6 day charge instead of 7? Supposedly, from someone who was on that cruise, said that and a 20% off their next cruise was given to them.

 

We left the port 20 hours late on the Thanksgiving week departure due to the port they chose to put themselves in, got squat for the choices they made. Weather is one thing, stupid choices are another. Word is the stupid choice was upped for the coming year as well. What?????

 

The difference is that they had to leave the ship one day early. While the earlier ship was late leaving the people were on the ship.

[satxdiver]

Having never been to Texas--I guess 8 to 10 miles to Texans is reasonable. I come from a small town and for me to drive 10 miles for something--thats something else altogether. If you go back to the board for the CB Oct 26 2013, early on there was quite a conversation about amenities. Most of the issues were that a very small percentage of passengers were from around the Houston area, and a great majority of us did not have any private transportation available to them. We were quoted outrageous fees to take us to area hotels and Hobby, only to hear after the cruise, I guess some rethought the cost and reduced it quite a bit. One of the passengers even called a local bus company and arranged for a group to to to Hobby on their own. A lot of hotels and car rental places would not or did not offer transportation from the pier. As for a certain car rental place, they did not have the inventory to handle all the reservations from the ship, and those that could get a car had to return it to the same store or be charged and extra 100.00 to return it to the airport. Another topic which was raised, was also the fog. We could gain no information. All other cruises out of Bayport have been roundtrip, which gives passengers to park their own cars or arrange for family or friends to drop off or pick up. At some point it was joked that we would be debarked and stand at the curb with our thumbs out. On the whole, it was a great cruise, we worked out the logistics on our own and wished future cruises out of Bayport the best.

 

Indeed 10 miles is like the next block to us who are used to driving long distances out west. Our highways compensate a bit by higher speed limits up to 85. For us it is a 250 mile drive to Bayport over limited access highways most at a 75 mph speed limit which to any of us out here it means 85!

 

I boarded the ship when you left it for a 4 day special cruise for military veterans. As you found out Bayport is out away from most everything including the airports IAH and HOU. Since that was the first time the Bayport had been used since it was built (excluding the few weeks Carnival used it while Galveston was repaired from the hurricane) everything is new with no services. It is now being fixed with Princess using the port and later adding NCL next season. Hotels in the area are now starting to offer park and ride as well as transportation to/from the port. Unfortunately both airports are 25 to 40 miles from Bayport resulting in nice taxi fares etc. Previous Princess used Galveston with taxi fares running much more expensive.

Edited February 6, 2014 by satxdiver

[Dudleydog73]

The difference is that they had to leave the ship one day early. While the earlier ship was late leaving the people were on the ship.

 

20% seems to be overly generous then seeing as how they got to experience 6 out of 7 days of their cruise (my math says that they lost 15% of the time onboard). I'm with frangul in that our Thanksgiving cruise did not get what was advertised and the zero good will gesture from Princess kind of stung.

 

We had limited amenities while tied to the dock (no laundry, VERY limited alcohol sales, no casino, no shops until late in the morning on Sunday, no pool or hot rub access, etc etc) but hey, I guess we were on the ship, right?

[myfuzzy]

Thanks for "watching my back"--I laughed when you said normal speed limit is 85 --here it is 30, you go nowhere fast. I'm glad everything is working out at Bayport logistically speaking, that repo paved the way for future cruisers out of there. Only thing is we can't control weather or illness. My favorite part of our preparation was the HCVB not knowing what was going on. I have been driving for almost 50 years, and I learned how to drive all over again driving on the highways around Houston. I enjoyed the Space Center, Kemah, and Galveston.

[BridgeMates]

Just re-read my letter from the Captain on the CB voyage cut short by one day last week. Actually it doesn't say we get 20% off our next cruise, only "20% off the cruise fare paid on this cruise." We had a very economical cabin so it's not really that much for us, but at least shows goodwill on the part of Princess.