FYI - Sirena late arrival January 25

[KS&JW]

Currently on Sirena, we were just told that arrival is estimated to be at 11am back to Miami.  If you are getting on this ship tomorrow, January 24th,  don't show up to the terminal early as you will not find a ship 

[Paulchili]

Thanks for the update even though we are not effected.

This only shows that it is unwise to schedule flights out of Miami before noon (in this case even some those booked around 1 PM may be effected) - stuff happens.

[susiesan]

I will be boarding Sirena tomorrow 1/25.  I have to check out of my hotel at 11:00 and was going to uber over to the terminal. What are we supposed to do until O lets us board? Will they provide lunch for those waiting somewhere on land? Any word on why the delay?

[GeorgesGal]

27 minutes ago, susiesan said:

I will be boarding Sirena tomorrow 1/25.  I have to check out of my hotel at 11:00 and was going to uber over to the terminal. What are we supposed to do until O lets us board? Will they provide lunch for those waiting somewhere on land? Any word on why the delay?

 

susiesan, why not arrange for the hotel to hold your luggage and tour the city for a few hours, have lunch, then go to the pier about 3:00.

[susiesan]

I called O, the delay is due to rough seas. They claim they can turn the ship around in 90 minutes and boarding will be at 1:00pm for everyone which means there will be a mad dash to get onboard. Very few pax will know about the delay, they will show up at 11:00 thinking they can board early and will have to wait. I predict lots of pissed off people tomorrow.

 

Even for people with flights at noon, they are going to miss them unless Sirena does get in earlier. I suppose if that happens to us next Saturday Feb. 1 when we return to Miami, credit card travel insurance would cover the delay. Our flight is at 10:30, normally plenty of time to get to MIA.

[susiesan]

19 minutes ago, GeorgesGal said:

 

susiesan, why not arrange for the hotel to hold your luggage and tour the city for a few hours, have lunch, then go to the pier about 3:00.

Good idea, but we have been to Miami before and seen the major sights. Besides, we don't have a car rented and we are staying at La Quinta at the airport. Not much to see in that part of town. Isn't there a shopping center at the port, is it called Bayside? is it within walking distance from terminal J? I see this on the Bayside Market Place web site, how to get there:

Port of Miami: take the free Coral Way trolley to the Biscayne Blvd. stop

 Anyone ever done this?

Edited January 24, 2020 by susiesan

[Cruseforme]

20 minutes ago, susiesan said:

I called O, the delay is due to rough seas. They claim they can turn the ship around in 90 minutes and boarding will be at 1:00pm for everyone which means there will be a mad dash to get onboard. Very few pax will know about the delay, they will show up at 11:00 thinking they can board early and will have to wait. I predict lots of pissed off people tomorrow.

 

Even for people with flights at noon, they are going to miss them unless Sirena does get in earlier. I suppose if that happens to us next Saturday Feb. 1 when we return to Miami, credit card travel insurance would cover the delay. Our flight is at 10:30, normally plenty of time to get to MIA.

This happened to us on the Riviera.  Oceania attempts to contact everyone's TA via email to announce this delay.  If no TA, they will attempt an email to those who booked direct.  I say attempt, because quite a few folks don’t read their emails, and probably should.  We stayed at the same hotel as Oceania puts their folks up at, so we all banded together, had the hotel keep our luggage and went out shopping and lunch!    We all boarded around 3:30, and walked straight on!   No fuss, no lines, no anger.    

[Jancruz]

Lets not make a mountain out of a molehill..stuff happens with weather on cruises..Susiesan Im sure you can find a good book to read or  a great place to have lunch..if people want to get angry because the ship is late..what a waste of time and a wasteful way to start a lovely vacation..

We all know ship happens

Jancruz1

[susiesan]

1 minute ago, Jancruz said:

Lets not make a mountain out of a molehill..stuff happens with weather on cruises..Susiesan Im sure you can find a good book to read or  a great place to have lunch..if people want to get angry because the ship is late..what a waste of time and a wasteful way to start a lovely vacation..

We all know ship happens

Jancruz1

I'm not angry, just a tad annoyed. I am glad I got advance notice because if I got to the dock at 11:00 and there was no ship and I had not been notified, I would be very angry. As of this point, I have received no notification from my TA and I do read my emails constantly.

This is why I like cruise critic, to get the inside up to date info about my cruises.

[pinotlover]

We enjoy strolling on South Beach and having a nice relaxing lunch at one of the numerous outdoor cafes along the park. We wouldn’t get to the ship until after 3:00 even if it was on time. Now, no way in the world would we participate in the fiasco of everyone trying to board and have lunch starting at 1:00!!! 
 

I have no pity for anyone that books a flight out before 12:00. Things like this happen quite often and all the regular posters here constantly preach about not booking early ( pre noon) flights. A very simple search on this sight will probably yield 20 threads on this exact same topic. Buy them books and buy them books and they eat the covers! 🥺

[RJ2002]

2 hours ago, susiesan said:

I suppose if that happens to us next Saturday Feb. 1 when we return to Miami, credit card travel insurance would cover the delay. Our flight is at 10:30, normally plenty of time to get to MIA.

 

Hopefully you won't have a problem on your return, but you should check the terms of your credit card coverage to be sure.  I just looked mine (Chase Sapphire Reserve) and the delay has to exceed 6 hours or require an overnight stay.

[Redtravel]

We were on a cruise in May that was late arriving into our disembarkation port, Amsterdam.  There was a storm. We docked after 10 am instead of the 7am on the schedule. It was after 11 when we finally disembarked.   There were several people who missed their planes.  Cruise line( not O) made arrangements changing planes for guests who would be delayed. For those that missed planes and needed hotels rooms, the cruise line booked rooms.  

[Rebels82]

We are on the Sirena leaving tomorrow and have not heard anything. Thanks to KS&JW for letting us know!

[drkitkat123]

44 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

We were on a cruise in May that was late arriving into our disembarkation port, Amsterdam.  There was a storm. We docked after 10 am instead of the 7am on the schedule. It was after 11 when we finally disembarked.   There were several people who missed their planes.  Cruise line( not O) made arrangements changing planes for guests who would be delayed. For those that missed planes and needed hotels rooms, the cruise line booked rooms.  

But who paid?

[Redtravel]

The cruise line paid.

[Flatbush Flyer]

5 hours ago, susiesan said:

Even for people with flights at noon, they are going to miss them unless Sirena does get in earlier. I suppose if that happens to us next Saturday Feb. 1 when we return to Miami, credit card travel insurance would cover the delay. Our flight is at 10:30, normally plenty of time to get to MIA.

You may want to reread the T&Cs of that credit card coverage....

In any case, this late arrival due to weather is the perfect example of why there is no "normally."

[Paulchili]

5 hours ago, Redtravel said:

The cruise line paid.

Very generous on the part of the cruise line (which one?) because contractually they certainly didn’t have to do this and I wouldn’t count on this happening every time a ship is late arriving into port of disembarkation (for any reason).

I would call it a “goodwill gesture”.

On a personal note - last year was a bad year for river cruises in Europe due to lower water levels.

Two of our cruises were cancelled. One was a Viking and the other an AMA. Viking simply refunded the fare in full - period. AMA offered a cruise on the same ship that was stuck in Vienna heading up river instead of down river - same length and cabin. BUT - in addition they offered future credit for an AMA cruise in the amount of current cruise - essentially granting a free future cruise. They also paid for everyone’s changed air arrangements.

Quite a difference between the compensation of these 2 lines - Viking offered minimum required by law and AMA added goodwill gesture.

Edited January 25, 2020 by Paulchili

[Rebels82]

Any update on Sirena’s arrival time?

[KS&JW]

16 minutes ago, Rebels82 said:

Any update on Sirena’s arrival time?

 

Currently on Sirena.  Last night's update still said 11am.  They have not yet made an announcement this morning.  

[Redtravel]

 

 

we were on Windstar.  We were stuck in Oporto waiting out a storm.  Missed 2 ports calls. We also got refund of some port charges and taxes and a nice OBC. If the change in plans impacted guests, they let them make free phone calls or emails.  Also, got a nice FCC. We were planning on staying in Amsterdam. We were not affected by the late arrival.    

[susiesan]

I was on a Star Clipper ship in the Andaman Sea in 2008 when the Thai government was overthrown. It was 2 days until we would return to Phuket. BKK was shut down and affected all regional flights. We knew we were going to be stuck in Phuket for a while, turned out to be 6 days. Star Clippers did zero, nothing, to help the passengers. They wouldn't make a phoone call for us, help find a hotel in Phuket, nothing. We docked in Phuket, disembarked, they said Sayonara you are on your own. 

[agnesd]

Original debarkation was 8:40 am and now it is 12:30. We are in the second group. They also said the CDC Will only allow a certain number of pax off  at a time.  Don’t know if this is usual or due to the flu outbreak aboard among crew. 

Edited January 25, 2020 by agnesd
Spelling

[ORV]

CDC? are you sure it wasn't the CBP?

[agnesd]

13 minutes ago, ORV said:

CDC? are you sure it wasn't the CBP?

Could be. I may have misinterpreted it. Since all the CDC talk!!  

[Rebels82]

Don’t see the ship yet on the Port of Miami webcam.