Back from the Sovereign and Wilma - Long.

[Pedler]

We are just back from sailing on the Sovereign of the Seas from 10/21 - 10/25. We ended up spending an extra day at sea. Overall the Sovereign was fine. We had a junior suite right and the extra space came in handy with the extra time at sea. The renovations were great. (We were on the Sovereign 10 years ago to the day for a 7 day cruise.)

 

The dinning room staff were good and the head waiter was excellent.

 

However... I did feel that the way they handled the delays due to Wilma were not up to par at all. They made sure that we were safe and fed but after that I felt they really did not have much of a concern about the the effect the changes had on people. I know that the hurricane was beyone their control but they could have handled it a bit better.

 

First they let us know we were going to be delayed a day on Sunday morning. We were going to be in Nassau until 1 PM and they waved the phone lines and Internet usage charges until then. Later on they extended it until 8 PM. This was good but the problem was that they could only accomodate 4 calls outside the ship at a time. With 1800 people on board most of whom have to call work or other places to make arrangements in addition to travel the math just doesn't work. There is no way that they could handle the call volume. On person likened getting a call through to hitting the lottery. When I checked at the guest relations desk about options their solution was to keep trying. I asked about going into town to call and they didn't have a clue what the best way was to do that. They didn't even know how the phones at the pier worked. (We were concerned about the cost having done some work for independant pay phone companies.) Fortunately a person at the shore excursion desk had some suggestions and we were able to call home and arrange for the people watching our kids to stay with them longer and direct them to check e-mail as we would update them that way durring the trip. Just in case they had questions about the kids activities such as where Hockey practice is and such. As these people were staying at our house with the kids they normally wouldn't check e-mail and we had to let them know our situation and that they should check it regularly.

 

I know that the lack of ship to shore lines is not the cruise ship staff's fault but I felt they could have had a better answer on how to get through to make calls at guest relations than keep trying.

 

The second item is that on Monday we had to head back on the tail of Wilma to make it to Port Canaveral. That meant rough seas. (I have some great pictures and video that I will post.) According the the Captain we were in 10-15 foot seas during the day and then 20-22 foot seas at night. All outside decks were closed. Fortunately we had a junior suite and had plenty of space in our room. Also I don't tend to get seasick and my wife took some dramine and bought those wristbands in the gift shop before the ship really started rocking. So we did not get seasick and had a place to ride out the storm watching the in room movies. That was good because no effort was made, at least publicly, to advise people beforehand on how to avoid getting seasick. They didn't even mention that people could get sea sickness medication at the gift shop. As a result lots of people were sea sick. Some of these unfortunate folk wanted to get out of their rooms and were in the public areas some were being misserable in their rooms. (We heard our neighbors vommiting several times throughout the night.) As a result we avoided the public places and hung out in our rooms except for lunch at Johnny Rockets and Dinner in Illusions. There were just too many people out and about that were sick. I don't begrudge those people and I also realize that no matter what some people were going to get sick. Still I felt that they could have been proactive in suggesting preventative measures to help some people avoid a misserable experience. For us hanging out in our room it was an adventure but for others I am sure it was a horrible trip.

 

The last item that I think illustrates how poorly they handled the situation is that on Monday night they announced that we would be arriving in port canaveral late due to it being closed. We would end up not starting to leave the ship until 10:30. So I went down to guest relations to ask about some changes we would need to make and was told that the phones and Internet once again had no charge. That was great but they never anounced it to the public at large. It was like it was a secret and they didn't want people to know. Once again I know that change to our arrival time was not thier fault but as a result it did have an impact on peoples flight times. So I asked about this because we were on a tight schedule with a flight out of Orlando and if we didn't make it we wouldn't get home until 1:30 AM and our sitters would have to spend an extra night with the kids. I basically got the feelling that guest relations couldn't have cared less out our problems. At that point I realized that with the extra day a sea and the delays we were just human cargo to them. They made sure we were fed but that was about it.

 

So when it came to to leave we did the express checkout and carried our own bags, along with what must have been a third of the ship. We foolishly listened to the instructions and did not go to deck 4 before they called for people. I say foolishly because deck 4 was mobbed well before disembarkation time by people that had luggage and those that didn't. No effort was made to enforce the rules or some sort of triage as to who really needed to get off. There were some people from England that did not due the express process and I am sure the missed thier flight were if they could have gotten off in the first half hour or so they would have made it. At the same time there were people that told us they lived only a half hour away from the port and did not have to be anywhere that day but wanted off the ship (Don't blame them for that) but were getting off in the first group. I honestly don't know what the solution is given the delays that affected everyone but some consideration should have been given to those the the most pressing need to get off.

 

In our case we missed our flight but to contrast concern for passengers Jet Blue went out of thier way to let us make some "creative" flight changes to get us close to home so we could rent a car and get back by 9 that night and relieve our baby sitters. They were the exact opposite of our experience with guest relations on the Sovereign. Jet Blue has a slogan that we are not just 8f to them and it shows. On the other hand on the Sovereign we really were just a cabin number and nothing more.

 

One last thing. We prepaid our gratuities. I assumed that they would charge the 4 nights to the account as we became a 4 night cruise. I skimmed the statement when we got it jsut to make sure there wasn't anything out of line but didn't due the math and the tip amount until later. Then I realized that they only billed us for 3 nights. Had I known I would have done something extra for the 4th night. We were never told about it and were not given the option. I feel bad that the people that did go out of their way to make our cruise enjoyable were denied a day of tips.

 

Overall we had a good time and an interesting adventure but I feel that RCL could have handled the situation much better. I am sure that there are many people that did not fare anywhere near as well as we did on that trip.

[mo4040]

I was on the Mariner 16-23 Oct and I felt the same as you concerning RCI's handling of the matter. We were scheduled to return right around Wilma's inital forcasted landfall in FL.

 

The Captain kept re-iterating the fact that we were not in danger and he would not put us in danger. That was an obvious fact that everyone knew.

 

Our problem was what would happen should we have to remain at sea for additional time. There was virtually no advance information as to what sort of contingencies would be in place to allow people to make an attempt to schedule alternate travel arrangements. I wound up making a very quick ship-to-shore call to my father and told him to look for an e-mail from me outlining who to call and so-forth.

 

Fortunately for us, Wilma 'camped-out' over the Yucatan long enough to allow us to return to port before making landfall in Florida.

 

Before the flamers pipe in....

 

I do not expect RCI to re-book flights for me, I just want to be kept in the loop as to what will happen should we have to remain at sea and what provisions are there to allow passengers to arrange alternate tranasport.

[Nliedel]

I too was on the Mariner and I think that the reason we didn't get any information was probably because they didn't have it to give. We tried to find out too and they just didn't know how to answer us because it is different for each cruise and decided by the home office and not relayed until the plan is put into effect. Sometimes they offer a credit to help cover expenses and sometimes not, it just depends. At least we made it back (early too, I looked out at 3 and we were docked) and I got home to my babies. I was the only one on the ship crying because I wanted to get home I think. I told my husband in an elevator that I wanted to get home to the boys and some man turned around and made some rude statements to me about risking everyone's life to get me home. Of course I did not mean that at all. I would never want to risk anyone's life, I just was telling my husband I missed my children. That was an un-fun moment.

[JanBubbles]

Hey, Pedler - Just curious, who was the captain and cruise director while you were onboard?

[DanZ]

Hi Pedler...

 

The ship wasn't as empty as we thought it might be. We'll have to have that game of dining room kickball another time. I did notice that attendence was down in most dining areas on Monday as many sought the comfort of their staterooms to nurse themselves back from their motion sickness.

 

What did you think about the seas on Monday night? We were forward on Deck 10-- it felt like a speedboat pounding those swells! However, it was interesting for us to compare our last rough seas experience to this one. When we were in 30-40 ft seas and gale force winds on the QM2 in June the motion and rocking of the ship was equivalent to how the Sovereign felt in 22 ft seas and 75 mph winds. Stabilizer technology has certainly come a long way in 16 years.

 

Hope you had safe and uneventful travels home!

 

Dan

[Learob]

Hi All

 

I was on the Majesty during Wilma and was delayed at sea for 2 days. Our experience was every good the Captain and Crew as well as the ship handled the situation every well. All phone calls and internet access were opened to all for free, as soon as the Captain announced that we had a delay. The ship handled the 15-20 foot swells and 60 kt winds with less pitching than I expected and a little rocking although we were healed over about 10-15 deg. The ship does show its age some what mostly through the interior design, but it was keep very clean. I have no problem with how the crew handled the delay especially since it was completely out of their control.

 

I would like to recommend Alamo Rent-a-Car to everyone. When we finally got back to MIA and cleared customs we waited for a van for about 10 min and even though Alamo was working off of a back up generator I waited for about 5 min to get my car. The agent I was working with had lost everything, yet he was very nice and did a great job.

 

Finally I would like to thank Pedler for his comments about JetBlue. I am an A320 Captain for JetBlue and I am glad you had a good experience. :)

 

Rob

[CrzyCallie]

Well I was also on your Soverign cruise.... I ended up making a phone call from the pay phones at Nassau due to being unable to do so onboard.

 

I agree that Disemarkation was horrid. We also chose to do Express Departure. We started up on deck 5 but with the mob forming on 4.. we joined as I had to get to work that day (or risk losing my job). When they started letting people off they never made an announcement for express or beige or whatever color... people were upset!!! They just started funneling people out.. then prior to clearing deck 4 they opened the staircase from deck 5 just adding to the chaos... the worst was when we were almost thru.. a woman was pushed forward and the RCCL employee grabbed her arm.. pushed her back and told her she would have to wait.. he was just plain nasty... she told him she was pushed and that he had no right to touch her like that.. he laughed in her face.. it was the worst showing of disrepect that I have seen in a long time. i wish I had thought to get his name but I was just too flustered by that point.

 

As for the seas.. they were horrid.. we were deck 8, aft.. the way our bed was positioned my SO literaly fell out of bed with the movement of the ship. If it wasn't for bonine I would have been even more miserable