Finally Justice Prevals!

[bepsf]

You are absolutely correct Don. It is interesting, if you do not like a product or a service, then you might be willing to create an "urban rumor", which then is presented as fact.

 

I am of the opinion that leaving a "free" cruise after only two days is very unusual behavior.

 

Let me be clear on this: by your statement above, are you now saying that I fabricated the entire story?

So you are now calling me a liar?

 

 

Must be nice calling plays over there in the cheap seats, eh Chuck?

:mad:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BTW - Several folks have stated on other threads that they don't think much of my impressions of Mercury due to 'bring aboard for only 2 days of an 11 day cruise and leaving the ship'. Well, there are travel writers from all over the country who are getting paid for their impressions of Freedom o/t Seas and other new ships - based on an experience that ranges anywhere from a PR presentation, a ships tour and a luncheon to an overnight "TA Cruise" - yet nobody dismisses their opinions (perhaps because they are typically very nice comments?)

[dkjretired]

BTW - Several folks have stated on other threads that they don't think much of my impressions of Mercury due to 'bring aboard for only 2 days of an 11 day cruise and leaving the ship'. Well, there are travel writers from all over the country who are getting paid for their impressions of Freedom o/t Seas and other new ships - based on an experience that ranges anywhere from a PR presentation, a ships tour and a luncheon to an overnight "TA Cruise" - yet nobody dismisses their opinions (perhaps because they are typically very nice comments?)[/size][/font]

 

I have said this before as I am one of those who can't understand why you would leave the ship. There was not one thing or combination of things that you stated which would cause me to leave the ship. I didn't see one thing that was in any way a major complaint, all I saw from your original report was a bunch of menial problems and I would hesitate to call them even problems. Sorry, that is the way your post came over to not only myself but many who are absolutely puzzled. I'm really trying to be fair as you seem like a nice guy and very well respected on the HAL board but I just don't understand it. Quite frankly, I didn't think much of your negative impressions of the ship if you had stayed on for 11 days as opposed to 2. Again, there wasn't anything that I would consider serious enough to leave the ship.

[cechase]

You are absolutely correct Don. It is interesting, if you do not like a product or a service, then you might be willing to create an "urban rumor", which then is presented as fact.

 

I am of the opinion that leaving a "free" cruise after only two days is very unusual behavior.

 

Brian, this is my comment responding to Don's comment that several posters indicated that you were ill and that is the reason you left the ship. Don, pointed out that this fact was not included in your review, and I agreed with him. No one called you a liar. If that is your interpretation, then you have my apology.

 

And I still stand behind my opinion that it was unusual behavior, because to my knowledge you are not a TA, and you were not on this cruise for an introduction to the vessel for 2 days. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[Ma Bell]

The one question I have is if the friend who remained behind tried unsuccessfully to resolve the problem before he left the ship, why didn't he inform you before your statement arrived? You said you were surprised to find out about the problem.

 

It would seem your friend should have told you there was a problem.

 

The unusual behavior is opening your statement in the morning and then going directly to a message board to complain the very same day before there is even a chance to resolve the problem.

[dkjretired]

Brian, this is my comment responding to Don's comment that several posters indicated that you were ill and that is the reason you left the ship. Don, pointed out that this fact was not included in your review, and I agreed with him. No one called you a liar. If that is your interpretation, then you have my apology.

 

And I still stand behind my opinion that it was unusual behavior, because to my knowledge you are not a TA, and you were not on this cruise for an introduction to the vessel for 2 days. Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

I agree with cc, I don't agree with Brians reasons leaving the ship but that was his choice to make and certainly not mine. No one has called you a liar, we are just trying to get someone to read the posts correctly and not quote out of context or incorrectly.

[tarheelmjfan]

Huh???

 

Obviously credit card statements arrive by mail at home well after one leaves the ship - long after one might "think it was odd that their onboard account wasn't charged to their credit card" and be able to do anything about it.

 

And I'll say it again: two of us signed off on our own bills and closed out our accounts before leaving the ship early, and the last person in the stateroom saw the error and tried to get the front desk to correctly place the billings to the correct persons on the last day of the cruise - but RCCL/X semmed intent on their error and billed it all to me.

 

Also never stated or implied that there was triple billing. (Where did that come from?)

 

So if you think the blame was placed on the wrong people,who do you think should get the blame? Was it that my friend who remained aboard had the ship bill me for items I couldn't possibly have charged since I wasn't aboard and would obviously dispute - maybe buying him time before he had to have it billed to his card? Are you implying instead that both my friends are deadbeats who gave cards w/out enough open credit, and that the ladies in Ensenada who checked us in were complicit in this deception by accepting these cards? Do you think that it's my fault that I was incorrectly overbilled - maybe because I left the ship early and dared complain about it here? (Conspiracy theory?)

 

Frankly, I find your comments insulting.

 

 

Originally posted by Ma Bell: The one question I have is if the friend who remained behind tried unsuccessfully to resolve the problem before he left the ship, why didn't he inform you before your statement arrived? You said you were surprised to find out about the problem.

 

It would seem your friend should have told you there was a problem.

 

The unusual behavior is opening your statement in the morning and then going directly to a message board to complain the very same day before there is even a chance to resolve the problem.

 

I hope Ma Bell doesn't mind that I copied her post, but this is exactly what I don't get. Either your friend didn't question the charges, or he should have informed you immediately when he did. I'm not questioning anyone's honesty, but something doesn't add up.

 

From the way it was described, this didn't appear to be a triple bill charged to all 3.

 

This is a sentence from my OP. I stated you didn't mention it being triple billed. If you were the only person who was charged, someone in your party should have known well before your bill arrived at your home. On the other hand, if this had have been a double or triple bill, this whole situation would make more sense & X would be totally at fault.

 

When you posted your review, I agreed that Mercury was the worst X ship, we've been on. That said, it was nowhere near bad enough to ruin even one day, much less make us want to leave the ship early.

 

I'm sorry you were insulted. That wasn't my intention. I was simply stating that something about the bill didn't sound right to me. I do think this has become way too much of an HAL vs. X thing, which is juvenile IMO. I think it's an insult to most adults that some people seem to be taking so much pleasure in bashing an entire cruise line over one person's abbreviated experience.

[Ma Bell]

All the cruiseline bashing is really ridiculous. Anyone who travels frequently will have a bad experience at one time or another regardless of how good the product. We all have our preferences and appreciate hearing a well balanced review of the good and the bad.

 

It really makes me wonder how people handle big problems.

[poetic license]

Tarheelfan, thanks you for your clear and rational post. And Ma Bell, thank you for stating what ought to be the obvious. There is a way to limit the amount of exposure one receives to posters you don't want to read or whose opinions have no credibility for you: Mark them on your ignore list in your User CP. It won't solve the overall petty nonsense, but it will keep your blood pressure in the healthy range. :)

 

Cheers~

Nicki

[Buckeye Geo]

It seems to be some what of a thrend. The OP make some unfavorable remarks and than, as on this thread there are 32 posts some bad some good, but the OP never returns. I think this is done deliberatley. Just my opinion. Maybe it is time to put this thread into the archives.

[shakespeare]

Although most of us would not leave a cruise early by choice, especially a free cruise, Brian left because he was not enjoying himself and felt better getting off while he was close to home. Since he became ill right after he got home it's possible he was coming down with something and that contributed to his unhappiness with the ship. It doesn't matter what we think because he chose what was best for him. I think what upset people is that Brian seemed to be jumping on every opportunity to criticize everything and anything about Celebrity. Again, he is entitled to his opinion. He seems like a nice guy and has a flair for writing, but the critical posts were becoming overdone in my opinion.

 

No one really knows why or how the billing error ocurred or why it took so long to be corrected. When Brian posted the abbreviated list of charges he did not claim any of them were duplicates or fraudulent. The problem was that all the charges for the cabin were deducted from his debit card.

 

Since Brian and Donald settled their accounts before disembarking, they should have been aware that some of the charges hadn't posted (since the posted charged items that were received in the later statement included things attributed to them) unless they did not keep track of what they spent. When Scotty disembarked he was aware that his expenditures were charged to Brian's account. Although none of this was their fault it appears it should have been obvious that there was going to be a problem getting it corrected. When Brian received his statement he posted again. While I agree that it had to be very upsetting, I don't think it should have been a big surprise since they were all aware that there was a problem. While communicating with Celebrity it appears Brian was given all different types of answers. Most likely phone reps trying to calm him down...not the right thing to do. He should have been told they would investigate and clear it up as soon as possible. The whole thing was a mess...but it seems like a rare occurrence for so many things to go wrong at once...but that's the way life is sometimes.

 

It's all straightened out now and Brian will never be a fan of Celebrity. That's ok...we all have our preferences and likes and dislikes based on our individual experiences. We all have our opinions of what went wrong here and thats good too.

 

It's just sad to see when there is bashing and cruelty towards others because their experiences are different from ours. If we don't like something someone says...no need to read it or listen to it.

 

Any and all of this could have happened on any cruise line. We like to think our vacations will work out smoothly and perfectly, but things do go wrong from time to time and we deal with it and move on.

 

Liz

[BEAV]

A number of people on both this and other threads relating to this incident have all questioned why anyone would disembark early from a free cruise. Since I can say we have also done this once before, I thought I'd share the story.

 

In 2003, we were caught up in one of the infamous pod problems of the M-class ships (this time, Infinity). Our 11 night Ensenada-Hawaii sailing was cancelled with four days notice. Celebrity offered reaccomodation aboard a variety of both Celebrity & Royal Caribbean sailings departing within about a week's time. Of all the options, we selected a 14 night cruise aboard Navigator of the Seas. This was two 7-night back-to-back Eastern/Western Caribbean sailings. The first week was in the Eastern Caribbean where we enjoyed a good cruise and nice weather (it was February). After a lot of thought & discussion, we made the decision to disembark in Miami at the end of the first week. While there was absolutely nothing "wrong" with the cruise, we simply felt that we had had our "fill" and would rather disembark than continue into the 2nd week. We had never been to South Beach, so decided to make last minute hotel arrangements and enjoy South Florida for a few days before returning back home to the West Coast. Had we paid for the 14 day cruise, I highly doubt we would have made the same decision, but rather kept on sailing the 2nd week. The fact that we had been refunded for the cancelled Infinity cruise, in addition to being given the free 'replacement' cruise, gave us the financial flexibilty to be spontaneous and make last minute vacation changes, such as the decision to visit South Beach.

 

So, yes, people do disembark from free cruises! We're living proof!

[dmk]

Um, did you not read the cruise review?

:confused:

Yeah - it was that bad...

...and one of my friends did leave the ship when I did (he lives in the East Bay and ended up forfeiting his return ticket from Seattle - as did I.)

 

The other friend lives in Seattle (the last port) and although he didn't like the ship either, he didn't feel that spending big $$$ for same-day one-way airfare home was worth more than the few days of discomfort in a stateroom to himself (as long as the bar is open) ;) . Besides - he told me that he felt that he needed to loose 10-15 pounds anyways... :cool:

 

Just because someone offers/gives you something for free doesn't necessarily mean that it's something that you'd want...

 

I could answer this thread but I am very tired of it. It has definitely gone on much too long and so...I am not answering this...too childish:eek:

[Host Anne]

Folks ~ this thread has turned into an argumentative battle and run its course. Therefore I am closing it.