How can cruise lines control ridiculous expectations?

[julesbeara]

It is not an easy thing for a cruise ship to change ports on short notice. Some countries require the cruise lines to pay portage taxes 24 to 48 hours prior to arrival. Since 9/11 some countries also require a passenger manifest to be submitted 24 hour prior to arrival for review. The Harbor Master & Port Pilots also have the right to deny ships to port when bad weather is a potential issue.

 

How do I know these things??? We got to speak in detail with Captain Remo on the Adventure of the Seas at dinner a couple years ago. I'd been on a cruise in the mid 1990's that had 2 port changes due to hurricane potential. He shared the information above. He stated, "My responsibility is to insure the safety of every person to include crew & passengers under any circumstances". The timing isn't always right to make a port changes with proper authorization. He compared putting a ship with crew & passengers at risk to driving your car into a tornado or a volcano, which no one would intentionally do. Captain Remo also shared that they always have a couple of dozen passengers that are never happy no matter how hard the crews tries to meet their needs on each cruise.

[margretha]

Warmer Climes, there isn't a day on-board for a cruise that I don't think of my mother was a young woman, in steerage, coming over the Atlantic in winter from Ireland. She didn't get seasick and so helped those around her and the little ones who were ill. Just picturing it as I loll around our cabin or deck or, sometimes, balcony or veranda makes me so greatly and amazed to be able to enjoy what we are doing on a cruise. Whether having an inside cabin or a suite, people are waiting on me, making my bed, cleaning my tub, hoping I'm enjoying myself. What a long way we've come as a society of immigrants, most of whom didn't fly over here first class, to a society of whining complainers. Not everyone. Not everywhere. But enough so that those of us who try to remain civil under trying circumstances are just taken aback at some of the virulence and posturing. It is like being in Atlanta International Airport during February vacation weekend and hearing people shrieking and swearing at airline personnel because the N'oreaster roaring through New England has grounded planes and they can't get to Disneyworld. Has anyone ever been on a cruise caught at even the fringes of a hurricane or a fast storm when the captain is frantically (I think) trying to outmaneuver the increasingly high waves and wind and beating rain? We were on one cruise when the waves washed the Tiki Bar at the Lido deck overboard.:eek: Live through one of those and you'll happily pass up a missed port or put up with another day at a calm sea. We made it. Safely. That was compensation enough! Thanks for listening. margretha