Live From Mercury (the Sick Ship) 3/27/06

[Sky Sweet]

I just recieved an email from corporate ...a thank you and a form letter..

 

Hope you had a great time and a fantastic experience aboard Celebrity.....in short.

 

After trying to be SO POSITIVE about this I find it an insult that they would do this. We were on the March 17th cruise...the one that REALLY should have been cancelled or at least informed of the situation.

 

While I love Celebrity...this really got me angry.

 

If they are offering a 25% refund on the 27th cruise...we were NEVER offered anything. Period. Or given the chance to make a decision about our cruise.

 

What tuggers is reporting is true. However We were hit even harder with the clean up.

 

I did still make the best of it..but hearing about a 25% refund angers me.

 

Nothing was offered to us, nothing. and we got the brunt of it.

 

I will still sail X and look forward to our Sept. 8th Alaska cruise.. BUT this really gets my panties in a bind. Especially the 'Happy' e-mail

 

Dave:eek:

 

Hi Dave :)

 

I agree with you, and would have felt the exact same way. The passengers on your cruise had no idea about the problems on the Mercury, until it was too late. In my opinion, you, as well as everyone on that cruise, should be entitled to a lot more compensation than the passengers who are on this current cruise since they were warned about the problem and given the option not to board.

[cruisePRN]

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will still sail X and look forward to our Sept. 8th Alaska cruise.. BUT this really gets my panties in a bind. Especially the 'Happy' e-mail

 

Dave:eek:

Why do they need to do anything if you'll sail again with them? The only way to show your displeasure where it counts is by taking your business elsewhere. I said it earlier in my posts, small claims court would probably get you a refund. As soon as X gets served they would probably pay and avoid the publicity, or if they don't small claims doesn't cost but $35 filing fee.

[FinelyCruising]

You know folks this has been a unique cruise due to the events, but I feel as though there is no flexibilty in people thinking and we see the evidence of it here. Some people on board just love to complain, some people who write here just love to complain too about the uncontrollacble circumstances.

 

It has been a tough cruise, but unless you desire to make the best of it, what can you do but complain just to complain and behave without an open mind. I prefer to stay away from the complainers and enjoy my good thoughts on this trip rather than interact with any one of them and there are many.

 

In addtion, I have seen the most dismal class of peole on this this of any cruise I have even been on. Grafitti in the elevators written on the bleach filmed surfaces griping about refunds, and when that message was wiped off, it is written in lipstick.

 

Please I hope I never hear again about the classiness if Celebrity passengers. I have experiences less "class" then I would have cared to since the obvious ones fail to rise to the ocassion and behave with dignity on this cruise. That's a real human shame, and one that can be controlled.

 

Once again to all those traveling on the next one, best to you and it may be difficult, I hope you have a great time no matter what!

[rubrrick]

You know folks this has been a unique cruise due to the events, but I feel as though there is no flexibilty in people thinking and we see the evidence of it here. Some people on board just love to complain, some people who write here just love to complain too about the uncontrollacble circumstances.

 

It has been a tough cruise, but unless you desire to make the best of it, what can you do but complain just to complain and behave without an open mind. I prefer to stay away from the complainers and enjoy my good thoughts on this trip rather than interact with any one of them and there are many.

 

In addtion, I have seen the most dismal class of peole on this this of any cruise I have even been on. Grafitti in the elevators written on the bleach filmed surfaces griping about refunds, and when that message was wiped off, it is written in lipstick.

 

Please I hope I never hear again about the classiness if Celebrity passengers. I have experiences less "class" then I would have cared to since the obvious ones fail to rise to the ocassion and behave with dignity on this cruise. That's a real human shame, and one that can be controlled.

 

Once again to all those traveling on the next one, best to you and it may be difficult, I hope you have a great time no matter what!

 

Well said FinelyCruising! I have an associate that is on the upcoming 4/7 cruise, and we have talked about what they might expect when they board on Friday. At this point Celebrity is not giving them the option of cancelling. They understand that there will be bleaching for a few days into their cruise, and are bound and determined to make the best of it. This will be their 3rd cruise and the first on on Celebrity. It will be interesting to hear story after they return.

 

Rick

[bububr]

I truly believe that one bad experience should lead to a boycott. I have sailed X almost exclusively for years. This is the FIRST bad experience I have had, and I certainly know that what happenened is not the norm.

 

I am just very dissapointed in their handling of it and their lack of notification proceedures.

 

Getting this e-mail just pushed me over the edge:

 

"Welcome home and thank you again, for sailing with Celebrity Cruises. I trust it was a truly remarkable experience that left you fulfilled, happy, and totally rejuvenated.

I hope you found the planning process to be smooth and my services valuable. It was my pleasure to be of assistance to you.

Warm Regards,

Stephen Schone

 

Email: sschone@rccl.com

Your Celebrity Cruises Certified Vacation Planner

Celebrity Cruises Certified Vacation Planning Department "

 

Its only been recently with the total cross over with RCCL and X that problems have begun to arise.

 

I just found it ironic that with everything going on...they would have the nerve to send me this e-mail.

 

Dave:eek:

[tangerinebunny]

["Welcome home and thank you again, for sailing with Celebrity Cruises. I trust it was a truly remarkable experience that left you fulfilled, happy, and totally rejuvenated.

I hope you found the planning process to be smooth and my services valuable. It was my pleasure to be of assistance to you.

Warm Regards,

Stephen Schone ]

 

Sounds like the Comedy Channel, doesn't it? I'll bet ol' Steve gets a few replies.

[NanD]

I understand just where you're coming from on this email. You wonder how it's possible the company can be so tone deaf not to realize their generic follow-up letter doesn't fit all circumstances. Even the old line "But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?" has a hint of acknowledgement everything wasn't perfect!

Nan

[bububr]

I did make a mistake in my post....

"I truly believe that one bad experience should lead to a boycott"

 

It should really say Shouldn't, not should...oops:confused:

 

It was the Codiene spaeking fron my riding accident.

 

Dave:eek:

[vince4]

I hope you win the Giant Jackpot Bingo game:)

[Cachecara]

This entire experience sounds like one horrific "Twilight Zone" episode. I guess one could consider themselves lucky if they didn't do a B2B. :eek:

 

Dave, I am still sitting her stunned with the response that Celebrity gave you. Stunned. Someone made a massive boo-boo. :eek:

[Joe Beach]

One does wonder if they are on the same cruise. It looks like Merc has had more eating in on their cruise so maybe they didn't notice as much deficiencies in the restaurant. I don't know tuggers, I do know she has posted a lot, and some of you may know her better to evaluate where her attitude head is at presently, and MAYBE they got different notices (?), but her reference to compensation does NOT include the 25% refund for the present cruise (a significant omission/error). It makes it difficult to evaluate as a reader just which is the real cruise, rose colored glasses or blue ones. With both 25%'s that amounts to half off on this cruise, or is my math wrong? Of course, I leave it up to you to decide if 50% off was worth it or not.

 

Tuggers

"Also tonight there was a form letter in our cabins stating that they were willing to give us a credit equal to 25% of what we paid for this cruise (less taxes, port charges and on board credits) on any other cruise prior to May ’07"

 

 

Mercruiser

Wednesday, April 5, - Update........ The fourth paragraph was completely new. Here is the fourth paragraph in its entirety.

 

“As a gesture of goodwill, and to thank you for your understanding, Celebrity Cruises will provide each stateroom with a 25 percent refund of the amount paid for this sailing, and a 25 percent credit for a future Celebrity cruise, based on the amount paid for this sailing. The future cruise credit may be used toward any Celebrity cruise that departs on or before May 1, 2007.”

[teedee]

I do know Tuggers and have been lucky enough to sail with her several times. She's been a loyal Celebrity cruiser with 30+ sailings in the past 3 years. I've always found he to be a positive person. But she does expect certain things from Celebrity and they aren't happening for her on this cruise. It's all somewhat subjective, what bothers some people doesn't matter at all to others. There are often widely varying opinions of a sailing. I think Gail (Tuggers) either misread the letter or different people are getting different compensations. I know she would not deliberately mislead people.

 

Terri

[excitedofharpenden]

It's all somewhat subjective, what bothers some people doesn't matter at all to others.

 

Terri

Terri, this is the crux of it I think. I'm not on the cruise so I am not going to judge anyone because I am not experiencing it. There will be a myriad of different people spending their time on this cruise in different ways. Some will be out and about on excursions during the day and for whatever reason, others will be using the ship as their hotel for the duration with all examples in between. This to my mind will have a great impact on the issues they have, aside from the fact that everyone is different.

 

Bottom line, if their are hardships on this cruise that have been as described (and I have no reason to doubt them), then the enjoyment for some is going to be much reduced.

 

I really hope they have managed to successfully deal with this issue and further cruises will be a real Celebrity cruise as we had last year on the same itinerary.

 

Phil

[katiebeth]

Dave,

 

I got the same canned response to an e-mail I sent "customer relations" concerning a problem that has been reported repeatedly on these boards having to do with a sewage disposal problem on the Millennium. It is more than an occassional whiff of a sewer odor, but one that "saturates" entire sections and decks of the ship. The problem dates back to October of 2004.

Passengers have been moved when other staterooms are available, while others have had to "stick it out".

 

Anyway, we have an upcoming sailing on the Millennium (June Barcelona to Venice) and I have been reading about this problem with increasing concern. I did e-mail them and the response was "There is no current sewage disposal problem on the Millennium". "Hope you have a wonderful cruise." When I e-mailed them back stating that their response was in total contradication with a thread that is currently running on these boards, they e-mailed back and said "Celebrity has a team in place to look at ways to improve all health related issues on their vessels" "Hope you have a wonderful cruise".

 

Hopefully, our cruise will be wonderful (just like our others have been on Celebrity). However, if it isn't I have very little confidence that Celebrity will do anything about it. Their response to an ongoing problem on the Millennium and the handling of the situation on the Mercury is not at all reassuring.

 

You wonder why they place such a priority on making sure all passengers fill out the comment cards at the end of the sailing, when they don't even respond in any meaningful way to direct letters, e-mails, phone calls etc.

 

Dave, I agree you deserved more...

 

Nancy

[Green Eyed Mom99]

I do know Tuggers and have been lucky enough to sail with her several times. She's been a loyal Celebrity cruiser with 30+ sailings in the past 3 years. I've always found he to be a positive person. But she does expect certain things from Celebrity and they aren't happening for her on this cruise. It's all somewhat subjective, what bothers some people doesn't matter at all to others. There are often widely varying opinions of a sailing. I think Gail (Tuggers) either misread the letter or different people are getting different compensations. I know she would not deliberately mislead people.

 

Terri

 

Terri,

I've been trying to get in touch with you. I read your post from time ago about wearing pantyhose with a formal and notice your statement about having achille's tendon surgery. I completely ruptured mine the end of January and have having physical therapy now. I have a 10-11 inch scar on the back of my leg and I was wondering how yours is doing. How long did it take you to recover, etc. If you don't mind I would like talking to you. Janet

[thomasale]

Dave,

 

Their response to an ongoing problem on the Millennium and the handling of the situation on the Mercury is not at all reassuring.

 

You wonder why they place such a priority on making sure all passengers fill out the comment cards at the end of the sailing, when they don't even respond in any meaningful way to direct letters, e-mails, phone calls etc.

 

Dave, I agree you deserved more...

 

Nancy

they want replies from all because if you take a sampling of the replies you are only hearing from the people at either extreme (very happy or very disappointed) they want to be able to gauge how they are truly doing.

[teedee]

Terri,

I've been trying to get in touch with you. I read your post from time ago about wearing pantyhose with a formal and notice your statement about having achille's tendon surgery. I completely ruptured mine the end of January and have having physical therapy now. I have a 10-11 inch scar on the back of my leg and I was wondering how yours is doing. How long did it take you to recover, etc. If you don't mind I would like talking to you. Janet

 

Janet - I'd be glad to talk to you about it. You can email me at davis9689atbellsouth.net.

 

Terri

[cruisePRN]

I'm very sorry to hear about X's response to this problem. I hope everybody gets a replacement cruise who suffered through this experience.

[JuneauWhatIMean]

The Sky Suites on our cruise in September have dropped in price to less than CC or Ocean View Verandah. Is X getting desperate? ;)

[bububr]

VERY INTERESTING...thanks for letting me know...:cool:

 

But the prices are still higher than when I originally booked the 8 cabins.

 

CC class went for $1500, and inside deck 12 went for $930.00.

 

I just hope that they are going to do a little refurbishing before hand....Its gonna really need it. The bleach was damaging the woodwork and metal very badly on our cruise, I can just imagine what its gonna look like now.

 

This is the first cruise for a number of people in my party so I hope they are able to experience everything I experienced before this debockle; A clean shining beautiful ship.....not a floating bleach factory.

 

I just hope they don't dry dock and cancel our cruise....Thats how I ended up on the Mercury to Mexico. We were originally on the Century to for a nine day southern Caribbean...when they cancelled it was too late to change our work schedules. Plus we had bought our airfare. Luckily we were able to echange our tickets ( only a small fee ) to fly to San Diego. X gave us a cabin credit for the price difference so everything worked out, just one extra day of vacation.

 

Anyway...whats done is done, and we are looking forward to the September cruise...actually we also just booked a RCCL for January, then we have a Caribbean in March 07 then a 'phantom' booking for 08 Mediteranean.

 

If you need to get me e-mail me at booboobear60304@yahoo.com

 

Dave:eek:

[mktmzm]

quick question..

 

the email you received from Rccl... Did you book directly or with a Travel Agent? I booked through a travel agent for my 3/17 cruise and haven't received a thing.

 

Marcy

[bububr]

We always book online, or directly with X at their 800 #.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Dave:eek:

[tuggers]

I'm home about 3 hours and tired. After reading through just a few of the responses on here I really did not even want to post again, but feel that I must restate my original purpose in starting this thread (and paying through the nose on board to try to keep folks updated).

When we got to SD we were given a letter that said we had the option of not cruising and getting a full credit for monies paid to be used on another cruise because of the virus outbreak. At the time I did not think much about it because I have been on X ships where there were bad outbreaks and the pax were not really inconvenienced much. So I went. Plus I had flown from one coast to the other. After being on the ship for a few days and seeing that this was being handled like no other ship I had ever been on, that it was affecting the enjoyment of the cruise for a great many people, I wanted to post to let the next group of cruisers know what was going on BEFORE they got to the SD terminal. I felt this was only fair.

Now, did I have an absolutely TERRIBLE time? No. The ports were great, dinners were great as were some other things. It just wasn't a CELEBRITY cruise. All the little extras, specials and niceties that make an X cruise were gone.

Here's a FACTUAL short list of some of the things that we missed. And remember, this is not a complete list, just what my addled brain comes up with at 4:30 am:

We missed the following things on this cruise:

 

Champagne on boarding

Breakfast in dining room 6 of the 11 days

Lunch in the dining room 7 of the 11 days

Late Night Bites

Gala Buffet

Chair Pads on loungers and chairs by pool

Iced towels on port days and by pool

Sorbet on Parade

Sushi Bar

Water and Punch when returning from ports

Drink stations by pool

Pastries in the Cova

Menus in the Martini Bar

Bar Snacks

Galley Tour

Backstage Tour

Bridge Tour

Wine Tasting

Captain's Table

Salt and Pepper on Tables

Butter in little flower pats

Lines everywhere because 'someone' had to serve you

EVERYTHING, even a straw or a pack of sugar

I also heard that because so many people were ordering

room service at night(no snacks so lots of folks

hungry) it was taking an hour to an hour and a half

for service

 

And I could go on. There are other things that were totally taken away. But surely you get the idea that this was not a Celebrity cruise.

 

There were multiple people having to go to the infirmary two and three times a day for breathing treatments. I know of two people who got (accidentally) sprayed in the face. One lady slipped on the wet floor of an elevator right after it was sprayed and is now in line for knee surgery. Heard from several people who had rashes and blisters on arms and hands from contact with the bleach. One poor guy even had a 'reaction' on his sitting part when he sat on a toilet seat wet with bleach. Numerous headaches, burning eyes and asthma attacks. Two folks got the bottom of their feet burned, one around the pool, one in their own shower.

And the ruined clothes! They had so many people filling out property damage reports they were afraid they were going to run out of forms!

And, if I mistyped and left something out when I listed the offer of compensation, it was a pure and simple mistake, not an effort to mislead.

Here's what the compensation offer is. 25% of the price you paid for this cruise in the form of a credit to your card in 4 to 6 weeks. There was talk that this was cruise only price, no port fees or taxes and there was a POSSIBILITY they would deduct any on board credits rec'd before figuring the 25%. No one really knows for sure. Whatever dollar amount you get as a credit now, you can also get as a credit towards a cruise you board prior to May '07. Not 25% of what you pay for a future cruise but the amount of the 25% given for the 3/27 cruise.

So there you have it. It's JMO, but I feel like considering all the things we missed plus the condition the ship was in from all the spraying (not even being able to see into shop windows or enjoy the beauty of the ship), the 25% is pretty bare bones. And I feel that this is a management problem of the highest order. Corporate is doing nothing to make their guests feel like anyone even cares about them. I think that is a big part of the dissatisfaction over this situation. A little stroking, a free glass of wine at dinner, maybe a box of chocolates and they could have smoothed things over. Instead they waited till people were mad. Just another big company being re-active and not pro-active.

Please take my postings in the spirit they were given. To be informative.

 

 

[seagulls]

Tuggers, glad you are now home. your cruise sounded awful. I really think they should take the ship out of service for a couple of weeks. I know this would inconvenience a lot of people but all that bleach everywhere, more like a hospital atmosphere than a luxury cruise ship! A couple more cruises like the one that you have endured will put a lot of people off from ever cruising with Celebrity again.

[C 2 C]

Tuggers:

Thanks for the recap. Your journey was much the same as our experience on the sick Zenith last year. After that experience I discounted the X-hype:

 

Ahhh, the Celebrity Treatment. How will it affect you?

 

 

I still consider X as my first choice but when you see Celebrity at its worst you know that there is much room for improvement in the way they treat their passengers. HAL handled their passengers much better under the same circumstances. At least there were no bleach problems similar to the "Celebrity Treatment".