Worst experience on a cruise ship

[rkacruiser]

9 minutes ago, rattanchair said:

I learned a new word today. Thanks. Should I ever be caught in France someday.

 

You're welcome.  That's still the teacher in me, I guess.  

[rattanchair]

Another terrible experience was  when we were caught in a typhoon in the Tasman Sea. Got really scary when the room steward knocks on your door and says he was ordered to' batten down the hatches'. At the time we were in a cabin with a' view,' a port- hole with a metal swinging cover that he screwed closed. That night we slept in our clothes wearing our life jackets. Oh , the fun times we had in our youth ! Though at the time it was a nightmare.

[Heidi13]

4 hours ago, rattanchair said:

I learned a new word today. Thanks. Should I ever be caught in France someday.

 

Entrecot - in addition to rkacruiser on Cunard we also had it on the P&O menus. We received steak rather than liver, which is no doubt what was expected.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

I am sure some of the worst cruises were experienced during the corona virus outbreak - for those stuck on the ships for weeks, with many getting sick and dying. And for those crew members that are still stuck on their ships to this day - I am pretty sure it's rather hellish.

[Sea Hag]

5 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

I am sure some of the worst cruises were experienced during the corona virus outbreak - for those stuck on the ships for weeks, with many getting sick and dying. And for those crew members that are still stuck on their ships to this day - I am pretty sure it's rather hellish.

I agree. That scenario has to be the worst ever.

[ducklite]

I have two.  The first was receiving a written invitation to a bridge tour by the Captain that was held entirely in Norwegian.  About halfway through the Captain looked at us and asked why we were there.  We tried to explain that we had been invited--even had the invitation in hand--and he informed us that it was an invitation only tour and we should go speak to the concierge.  Very embarassing.  The concierge didn't even apologize but set us up for an English tour.  The time and meeting place were wrong.  There was another guy waiting at the same time/place who had been invited as well.  No one even apologized.  That was on RCCL Mariner.  That was just one of many problems we encountered on that ship.

 

The other was when a pair of pants (and some other items) I sent out to laundry on the Paul Gauguin weren't returned.  Long story short I was accused of lying about even having them--until I showed them a photo that had been taken with the Captain on that cruise with me wearing the pants.  They also went digging through our stateroom looking for them as if I had hidden them between the mattress and box spring. I caught them in the act when I returned in the middle of dinner to get something I needed from the room.

I get it that things can go wrong, but service recovery is everything and the way these two ships handled bad situations made me vow to never sail with them again.

[Mike981]

19 minutes ago, ducklite said:

I get it that things can go wrong, but service recovery is everything and the way these two ships handled bad situations made me vow to never sail with them again.

 

That would certainly tick me off and was 100% wrong.
On the flip side, people do act that way and cause the staff to become callous. It amazes me the patience it requires to be in customer service today.

[marco]

This was a few years ago.  We came back from a cruise in Feb to NYC.  After getting off the ship we had to stand in a LONG line, out side to take a fairly long escalator down to luggage pick-up. It was VERY cold and VERY blustery.   There was a "guard" at the top of the escalator who would only allow one couple at a time on, and they had to reach the bottom and get off before they would allow the next couple onto it.    It made absolutely no sense!  Many folks asked why to which no one would or could answer.  Unfortunately, it put a very sour note at the end of a great cruise

Edited May 15, 2020 by marco

[ducklite]

7 minutes ago, Mike981 said:

That would certainly tick me off and was 100% wrong.
On the flip side, people do act that way and cause the staff to become callous. It amazes me the patience it requires to be in customer service today.

I learned long ago that the best way to handle a screw up is by acknowledging the error and sincerely apologizing for it, and then working together on a solution.  I had a couple of times earlier this year that a former coworker had made a pretty serious mistake with a few of our customers.  She had been fired so it was up to me to fix the problems.  I called, explained the issue, apologized (and I truly was sorry even though it wasn't my fault), gave them the options we could use to resolve it, and immediately told them we'd also be giving them a small "extra" for their trouble.  Every single one of them ended the conversation happy.  One sent an email to my CEO telling him that they wanted me as their rep from now on, and another wrote a testimonial on my LinkedIn page!

[rattanchair]

2 minutes ago, marco said:

It made absolutely no sense! 

Well, the same thing happened to us, only we saw first hand the reason. Baggage got 'cut loose' from a passengers hands going down the escalator hitting and knocking over another passenger below. The escalator kept passengers piling up on each other, until their screams prompted a terminal employee to run over and stop the escalator. The next thing they no longer allowed the use of the escalator and we had to use the stairs or wait in a real long line for the elevators.

[jeremyosborne81]

15 minutes ago, rattanchair said:

Well, the same thing happened to us, only we saw first hand the reason. Baggage got 'cut loose' from a passengers hands going down the escalator hitting and knocking over another passenger below. The escalator kept passengers piling up on each other, until their screams prompted a terminal employee to run over and stop the escalator. The next thing they no longer allowed the use of the escalator and we had to use the stairs or wait in a real long line for the elevators.

Funny how that's not a significant issue at airports.

[gooch47]

Mine was actually before the cruise started.  March 13, 2011, on the NCL Spirit.

 

We arrived at the port in New Orleans, they took our bags, but it was very early so we went into the French Quarter.  We came back to the port.  No ship.

 

We decided to wait in the mall.  It closed at something like 4:00.  No ship.

 

We went outside the mall and there was a huge line to get into the building.  Actually several lines.  As people arrived, especially the NCL busses, they just started their own new line.  We waited and waited.  No restrooms, no place to sit, no food or water.  No ship.

 

They finally started letting individuals into the building to use the restroom but you had to surrender your passport or driver's license to claim when you came back out.  They brought out trays of sandwiches and bottles of water but those disappeared immediately.

 

I think the ship arrived at something like 7:00 p.m.  I can't really remember.  They had diverted to Key West to offload a medical emergency.  I have absolutely no problem with them doing that.

 

People were lined up on the ship to get off.  Of course it takes a while to offload the luggage.  Once people started to disembark, the line outside disintegrated.  It was a huge crush of people just trying to get as close to the entrance as possible.  We stayed back, actually afraid of being injured.

 

We finally got to the door.  We followed directions of the workers.  I think we were the only two who did.  We were told to sit in a certain area and our group would be called to check in.  They never called our group.  We finally broke rank and got in a line to check in.

 

We finally got to our cabin at midnight  Nothing to eat.  Exhausted.

 

Edited May 15, 2020 by gooch47

[jeremyosborne81]

3 minutes ago, gooch47 said:

Mine was actually before the cruise started.  March 13, 2011, on the NCL Spirit.

 

We arrived at the port in New Orleans, they took our bags, but it was very early so we went into the French Quarter.  We came back to the port.  No ship.

 

We decided to wait in the mall.  It closed at something like 4:00.  No ship.

 

We went outside the mall and there was a huge line to get into the building.  Actually several lines.  As people arrived, especially the NCL busses, they just started their own new line.  We waited and waited.  No restrooms, no place to sit, no food or water.  No ship.

 

They finally started letting individuals into the building to use the restroom but you had to surrender your passport or driver's license to claim when you came back out.  They brought out trays of sandwiches and bottles of water but those disappeared immediately.

 

I think the ship arrived at something like 7:00 p.m.  I can't really remember.  They had diverted to Key West to offload a medical emergency.  I have absolutely no problem with them doing that.

 

People were lined up on the ship to get off.  Of course it takes a while to offload the luggage.  Once people started to disembark, the line outside disintegrated.  It was a huge crush of people just trying to get as close to the entrance as possible.  We stayed back, actually afraid of being injured.

 

We finally got to the door.  We followed directions of the workers.  I think we were the only two who did.  We were told to sit in a certain area and our group would be called to check in.  They never called our group.  We finally broke rank and got in a line to check in.

 

We finally got to our cabin at midnight  Nothing to eat.  Exhausted.

 

 

Now THIS STORY, I would love more details about. Preferably from the perspective of somebody on the ship and then another version from a crew member in the know on the ship.

[ducklite]

1 minute ago, gooch47 said:

Mine was actually before the cruise started.  March 13, 2011, on the NCL Spirit.

 

We arrived at the port in New Orleans, they took our bags, but it was very early so we went into the French Quarter.  We came back at the port.  No ship.

 

We decided to wait in the mall.  It closed at something like 6:00.  No ship.

 

We went outside the mall and there was a huge line to get into the building.  Actually several lines.  As people arrived, especially the NCL busses, they just started their own new line.  We waited and waited.  No restrooms, no place to sit, no food or water.  No ship.

 

They finally started letting individuals into the building to use the restroom but you had to surrender your passport or driver's license to claim when you came back out.  They brought out trays of sandwiches and bottles of water but those disappeared immediately.

 

I think the ship arrived at something like 7:00 p.m.  I can't really remember.  They had diverted to Key West to offload a medical emergency.  I have absolutely no problem with them doing that.

 

People were lined up on the ship to get off.  Of course it takes a while to offload the luggage.  Once people started to disembark, the line outside disintegrated.  It was a huge crush of people just trying to get as close to the entrance as possible.  We stayed back, actually afraid of being injured.

 

We finally got to the door.  We followed directions of the workers.  I think we were the only two who did.  We were told to sit in a certain area and our group would be called to check in.  They never called our group.  We finally broke rank and got in a line to check in.

 

We finally got to our cabin at midnight  Nothing to eat.  Exhausted.

 

This is the type of thing that infuriates me.  The port workers KNEW the ship was going to be significantly delayed, why not just be honest about it from the start?  Tell people so they can make plans to go sightseeing or have a meal or get a day room or whatever.  I can't imagine 99.9% of people having a problem with the situation if they were just old the truth from the start.  Leaving people in the dark just creates angst and anger.

[rattanchair]

16 minutes ago, jeremyosborne81 said:

Funny how that's not a significant issue at airports.

Cruise ship passengers do not take over-night bags that go in an over-head compartment or the seat in front of you on a ship. At least prior to 9/11 when we stopped flying. Though of late I have seen more and more hoi-polloi walking on and off ship with only the clothes on their backs. Now that's "funny"!

[rattanchair]

10 minutes ago, gooch47 said:

Mine was actually before the cruise started.  March 13, 2011, on the NCL Spirit.

 

We arrived at the port in New Orleans, they took our bags, but it was very early so we went into the French Quarter.  We came back to the port.  No ship.

 

We decided to wait in the mall.  It closed at something like 4:00.  No ship.

 

We went outside the mall and there was a huge line to get into the building.  Actually several lines.  As people arrived, especially the NCL busses, they just started their own new line.  We waited and waited.  No restrooms, no place to sit, no food or water.  No ship.

 

They finally started letting individuals into the building to use the restroom but you had to surrender your passport or driver's license to claim when you came back out.  They brought out trays of sandwiches and bottles of water but those disappeared immediately.

 

I think the ship arrived at something like 7:00 p.m.  I can't really remember.  They had diverted to Key West to offload a medical emergency.  I have absolutely no problem with them doing that.

 

People were lined up on the ship to get off.  Of course it takes a while to offload the luggage.  Once people started to disembark, the line outside disintegrated.  It was a huge crush of people just trying to get as close to the entrance as possible.  We stayed back, actually afraid of being injured.

 

We finally got to the door.  We followed directions of the workers.  I think we were the only two who did.  We were told to sit in a certain area and our group would be called to check in.  They never called our group.  We finally broke rank and got in a line to check in.

 

We finally got to our cabin at midnight  Nothing to eat.  Exhausted.

 

WOW,  Did you run to the future cruise desk?

[rattanchair]

8 minutes ago, jeremyosborne81 said:

 

Now THIS STORY, I would love more details about. Preferably from the perspective of somebody on the ship and then another version from a crew member in the know on the ship.

This inquisitor reminds me of a movie with Paul Newman as a bandito and  stagecoach passengers. When the incident was retold by all, each was a different story of the same incident. I very much enjoyed gooch's story. It helps pass the time of day and these stories help me cope with not missing anything. Like, "be careful what you wish for". Thank you gooch47.

[gooch47]

17 minutes ago, jeremyosborne81 said:

 

Now THIS STORY, I would love more details about. Preferably from the perspective of somebody on the ship and then another version from a crew member in the know on the ship.

I hope you are not not believing my story.  It is as true as I can remember.  We definitely didnt get into our cabin until midnight.  Because we tried to follow the directions of the crew I'm pretty sure we were the last two to board.

 

Parking and traffic was a disaster even though we flew in and it wasnt our problem.  Imagine all the passengers already parked in the garages and lots and a whole new group trying to find places.

 

The workers outside probably weren't NCL employees.  To make matters worse, quite a few of them just left when their shift was over.

 

I did feel sorry for the crew on the ship.  It had to have been a nightmare for them, too.

Edited May 15, 2020 by gooch47

[MamaFej]

I didn't interpret Jeremy's comment as not believing gooch. I think he just wanted to hear it from another angle. Certainly, there were folks on the ship whose plans after disembarkation got messed up. The crew perspective would also be interesting, dealing with disappointed passengers. 

 

I find it interesting to hear about the same situation from different perspectives.

[EscapeFromConnecticut]

  We've had mighty few problems on ships .... mostly just grand memories.
 
  The occasional rude/weird tablemates, a listless CD, misdirected tenders or "who's on first?" embarkations, etc. Just pocket change problems.
 

   It was by no means a terrible experience, but I'll definitely remember the Behind The Scenes tour on Carnival Spirit. Pretty big group following the leader all through the ship; we got to the laundry & she told us to all stick together on the way out. I believe it was 17 people who jammed/crammed/inhaled-sharply to get into this creaky old freight elevator - with a sliding gate on the front. We get maybe 6 or 8 feet up when WHUMP, it stops, rocks a bit, drops maybe a half-foot (just enough to let your stomach know there'd been some abrupt vertical movement).

   And there we stood. Did I mention it wasn't air conditioned? A few nervous jokes, some halfhearted reassurances, and two ladies who sounded like they were very stressed & struggling to control it - you could hear one of them getting breathless & on the edge, saying she needed air. But with 17 people, this was the precise opposite of distancing: "sardines" is a cliche, but it fit that situation well. 

 
   Of course, the crew eventually got the rickety thing moving again ... and it wasn't nearly as long as it felt like. We've joked about it many times since, but it's a nice experience to keep safely in the rear view. 

[iancal]

We have been fortunate to have enjoyed 20 plus cruises- on a several different cruise lines.  Some better than others but all very good.  

 

Only once dd we have an issue but it was with our table mates at a set dining table.  Four of the people at our table decided that they wanted those at the table to join hands and pray before dinner.  We were very much taken aback by this and felt that it was highly inappropriate.  Not to mention possibly very offensive to some people and not a great idea from a health perspective.   I was one who broke the chain of hands.  We changed tables after than episode.  

Edited May 16, 2020 by iancal

[rattanchair]

On 5/15/2020 at 12:21 PM, gooch47 said:

It is as true as I can remember. 

It was a great story. Please do not be so obsequious. I look at scurrilous posts coming from mountebanks with a whole other agenda of creating a cast of sycophants out of kind, normal people like ourselves. When they fail, they simply report and remove the 'offending' post, backed by officious cavilers.

[1025cruise]

3 hours ago, iancal said:

We have been fortunate to have enjoyed 20 plus cruises- on a several different cruise lines.  Some better than others but all very good.  

 

Only once dd we have an issue but it was with our table mates at a set dining table.  Four of the people at our table decided that they wanted those at the table to join hands and pray before dinner.  We were very much taken aback by this and felt that it was highly inappropriate.  Not to mention possibly very offensive to some people and not a great idea from a health perspective.   I was one who broke the chain of hands.  We changed tables after than episode.  

If I have tablemates that wish to pray before dinner, that is their own business. While I won't join them, I will be respectful while they do so. If they insist on me joining them, a pleasant no thank you will be my response. 

[rkacruiser]

19 hours ago, EscapeFromConnecticut said:

The occasional rude/weird tablemates, a listless CD, misdirected tenders or "who's on first?" embarkations, etc. Just pocket change problems.

 

A tablemate, a very pleasant gentleman, whose front teeth were missing; one did not want to sit "downwind" from this gentleman when he spoke to you while he was eating.  

 

A tender sailor who had repeated problems docking my tender to the ship's tender platform.  The Officer in charge on the platform was obviously very displeased!

[dkjretired]

We were on an NCL ship on the day of the Boston Marathon bombing. Loads of New Englanders on the ship Because many of the schools are closed that week. Couple hundred UCONN students. Not a happy trip after that obviously.