Looking for your opinion about this

[sail7seas]

Very good suggestion and something to keep in mind.

As far as I know, every front office on cruise ships are manned 24/7. If they did not answer the phone, go to the front office in person and let them know you need assistance.

 

It's very hard to say to someone standing there they cannot/will not help them in the middle of the night with a sick child.

[LHT28]

Not all Ontarios are in Canada. ;). There are 5 in the US and one has an airport, ONT. None are close to FL.

 

Sorry .... You are correct

Hopefully it was a domestic flight

a moot point since they missed it anyway

[dsrdsrdsr]

The point about walking off with your luggage no problem, is that you don't need crew help. The crew are very busy, it's by far their busiest day, and so they don't have a lot of time for people who need help to self disembark.

 

The complaint about the TV is petty. You can't expect the crew to test every bit of equipment in every cabin just in case something is wrong.

 

The main thing is that you learn from your mistakes. Don't expect everything to go perfectly, and you won't be disappointed when it doesn't. Maybe you had a below average experience, but none of the parts within the cruise line's control sound like holiday-ruining disasters.

[SPacificbound]

By now you have received enough advice and opinions, and hopefully will chalk this time up to learning experiance.

 

With the sick child, if this ever happens again in a hotel, cruise ship, etc. if there are two adults in the room, one of the adults should go find someone if the phone isn't picked up in 5 minutes. It's one of those things you didn't realize before, but now you do.

[Fenix22]

we caught a flight around 3, no charge, southwest to buffalo

[navybankerteacher]

1) what time did you arrive at the port?

 

I arrived in port at 1:00 or so.

 

2) who were you calling ? 911 or reception???

 

I called reception desk

 

5)what time was your flight??

If you want to walk off with your bags you have to have them with you ...do not put them out the night before

It can take time to disembark depends on it the Customs/imigrations officials are on time & how many there are to process people

 

I walked off with my bags. We headed towards the exit at 745 ish. It wasnt the customs it was just very unorganized.

 

Your original post maintained that some of your luggage was misplaced - if you self disembark you are solely responsible for your luggage, and should not blame anyone else (like the cruise line).

[Donray]

Was this a short 4 or 5 night cruise? If so, an even greater number of passengers will be in the 'walk off' category and everyone tries (and many think they are entitled) to be first. That leads to mass congestion.

 

My DD, DSIL and 11 month old GD were on the IOS in January for a 4 night cruise. Since we were picking them up I told them to request normal disembarkation (as you well know traveling with a little one or two means lots of luggage) around 9 am. They were off the ship and through customs by 9:30.

 

As others have said, only a risk taker would ever try a 10 am flight out of FLL, especially during high season.

 

Excellent point more people want to first now a days and cause a lot of long lines.

 

This is becoming the normal. Long disorganized lines on every cruise line.

 

You need to be in line by 5 am and stand there for three hours if you want off the ship fast.

[EGG]

My opinion is that self disembarkation is exhausting and I would never do it with young children. I understand why you wanted to take the earlier flight but I would have stayed one day at a hotel, taken the kids to the beach, and gotten the early flight the next morning. We always do self debarkation and often have to carry out bags down flights of steps because it is impossible to get an elevator.

 

Embarkation and debarkation are the worst so I would never take a short cruise.

 

I would have sent one adult to guest services after about 15 minutes, or up to the pool for towels. You can probably also get towels at guest services. I remember doing that once on HAL when the toilet wasn't working and I slept on a lounge chair by the pool.

 

My opinion is you should take young children on more local vacations and save the money for college.

[calliopecruiser]

My opinion is you should take young children on more local vacations and save the money for college.

 

A hijack......but why? Don't you think there are wonderful educational things and great experiences to be learned by going to different and not-local places? Isn't that also money spent on their education?

[Grandma Dazzles]

 

My opinion is you should take young children on more local vacations and save the money for college.

 

Not sure why this is relevant. OP was not asking for financial advice/comments. Totally unnecessary and uncalled for comment.

[EGG]

A hijack......but why? Don't you think there are wonderful educational things and great experiences to be learned by going to different and not-local places? Isn't that also money spent on their education?

 

 

Not really, especially for children who still need to be wheeled in a stroller. I wonder what the educational experience was on this cruise.

[EGG]

Not sure why this is relevant. OP was not asking for financial advice/comments. Totally unnecessary and uncalled for comment.

 

 

 

OP asked for our opinions.

 

I have been in lines waiting to board. Making friends with the people on line around me is the start of the fun. If I had an unhappy toddler with me I would be miserable.

 

I have had all sorts of challenges with self debarkation. The cruise line is clear that you have to be able to handle your own luggage. The cruise line is also quite clear about the earliest recommended time for a flight.

 

OK maybe I thought OP was looking for compensation.

[Fydlstyx]

After reading the initial post and all of the responses, I still am unclear about why guest services was ever called. If your child is ill and you need the doctor, you call the number for medical service. If your child has thrown up and you need clean bedding and towels, you dial the number specific to reaching a cabin steward. So why call the guest services desk at all? I do agree that they should have answered, and I would not have sat on hold for an hour and a half, when you can just walk down to the desk, but again, I don't know what going to the desk would accomplish.

 

I also don't understand how losing your bag because you were busy with your children can be remotely construed as being the fault of the cruise line. You left your bag behind. Easy to do, probably, but definitely not anyone else's fault. I don't do self assist when I cruise alone, and I would never do it if I had a bunch of bags and children to wrangle.

 

The whole morning fiasco seems to center around the flight that was booked with too early a departure. 10:00am is just too early to try and fly out, particularly if you have kids with you and can't just dash to the airport and gate on your own. You COULD make it alone, but even then it would be stressful and you take your chances. There are too many variables that cause people to disembark later than scheduled. Airports recommend you arrive two hours prior to departure, and when most ships begin disembarking at 8, there is no way it would be humanly possible to arrive at the airport two hours prior to 10am since, well, you are getting off the ship two hours prior to departure! Knowing how close you were cutting it probably set the tone for a rushed and stressful morning with a sick kid, harried parents, and a recipe for a bad time.