Are onboard mutinies justified?

[Erica@cruisecritic]

Last week, passengers on Carnival Miracle started a near revolt when a significant itinerary change due to Tropical Storm Hanna turned their Eastern Caribbean sailing into a cruise to Florida, the Bahamas...and Newport, Rhode Island. Cruise Critic Editor in Chief Carolyn Spencer Brown shares her opinion on onboard mutinies in today's From the Bridge feature: http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=736

 

Do you think these increasingly common mutinies are justified? Please vote in our poll or share your opinion below.

[chasetf]

......Do you think these increasingly common mutinies are justified? Please vote in our poll or share your opinion below.

How can they be justified :confused: :( The whiners should not be booking their cruise during the hurricane season if they cannot deal with itinerary changes. I would hope to see some being disembarked by the line to stem this hooliganism and act of childish behavior.

[greatdanemom]

A mutiny would NEVER be justified under the circumstance we have seen. The cruise lines are obligated to house you safely on their ship but they are not obligated to port anywhere specific. It's in every cruise contract and anyone who cruises, particularly during hurricane season, needs to understand that changes can and do happen. When we sail we certainly hope to see the ports on our itinerary but we accept that our only guarantees are safe transport, entertainment, and plentiful food!

 

Cheryl

[paul929207]

There is absolutely no justification for any type of mutiny on a ship.

[notentirelynormal]

We were on a cruise during Hurricane Ivan a few years ago. The captain chose to reverse our itinerary. Unfortunately St. Thomas ended up being last instead of the first port. Bummer cos I planned on buying something there. We had pretty smooth sailing though. We saw the darkness come in to St. Kitts and Grenada. We enjoyed both islands before they were destroyed. The captain did a superb job of keeping us safe and happy. Never heard anyone complain. I knew it was hurricane season. Why should I or anyone else complain cos we actually found one. Now, we were sailing out of San Juan which was a tad bit of a mess. Oh, and Florida was closed. Thankfully we had planned on staying one night in San Juan at the end anyway so we had a hotel room booked (well 8 rooms).

[Krazy Kruizers]

This pole had some really good choices near the end.

 

Far too many people do not read the fine print.

 

There have been occassions when we missed a port -- no big deal!!

 

I would rather the captain make a choice to go elsewhere -- whether it be further out to sea or another port if there is a chance we may get caught in a hurricane. The captain is thinking of the passenger safety.

[spongerob]

The behavior of some of the people on board, in particular the ringleader, can never be justified. The captain has a responsibility to keep the ship safe, not risk everything so that someone can have a rum punch on a favorite beach. I have two words for those who caused so much trouble: Grow up!

[uppitycats]

The only reason passengers should be upset is if there are things that are within the control of the cruise line -- they run out of food, liquor, something seriously mechanical breaks and there doesn't appear to be any effort to fix it (plumbing, air conditioning, that sort of thing..)

 

In THIS instance there was NO excuse for the "mutiny". It turned into mob rule. A smart aleck lawyer thought he could make a bunch of $$ for himself, suing the cruise line, riled up people, and they fell into the mob mentality.

 

They should all be blacklisted on Carnival and every other cruise line. At least the instigator of the mob should be!

 

As I said on the thread where this was discussed earlier...they had food, beverages, entertainment; all the facilities on the ship worked; they had dry beds, comfortable rooms, etc., opportunity for shore excursions - -maybe not where they anticipated, but nice places anyway......far from the "hell" that one passenger tried to describe.

[RICKnVICK]

I feel there was no excuse for the behavior of those passengers. Especially the ring leader! You take a chance cruising during hurricane season. Accept it or do something else. The thing that floors me is that people actually expected to be compensated in some fashion. Just another way to think you are owed something. Makes me want to throw up! I always think of our service people putting their lives on the line for us every single day, and people are whining about not getting to see the caribbean. Priorities people! Please!

[bwgreen]

I have to agree with the others - there is NO justification for this. If the captain makes a decision to change the itinerary, it is not made lightly, and there is good reason for it - so accept it, enjoy the fact that you are on a cruise ship, and have another drink!

[woodofpine]

One part of me thinks that petition signers ought to be blackballed by the line from cruising...

 

No, mutiny isn't justified - BUT:

 

It is invited by cruiselines that think that $25 is adequate compensation (where day-at-sea revenues probably exceed that on average).

 

I view hurricane season cruising as something of a lottery - but still, the lines need to increase their basic compensation offer and then blackball the uncontrollable.

[freeholdfriends]

You are missing the point entirely. Most of the dissent was because of the lack of communication from Carnival and the Captain and his staff. Carnival did nothing to ease the tension and in fact the Captain made sarcastic and infalmmatory remarks to the passengers. I was horrified at the behavior of the rabble rousers and the "lawyer" but I must admit that the Captain bears some of the blame in this mess. It appears as if the Miracle was the odd man out when it came to alternative ports. Other ships went to Key West and Bermuda but the Miracle either couldn't because of the propulsion problem or chose not --either way the cruise was certainly under a cloud agter that. The atmosphere on the ship was terrible and at times frightening.

[Lowie]

i chose, 'if you can't handle a missed port don't sail during hurricane'. but i really want to say that if you can't handle a port change you probably shouldn't cruise. things happen all the time and the captain has to make a decision. really, if the crowd gets too rowdy the captain can quarantine them and put them off the ship at the next port. too bad he didn't think of that and save the happy travellers from all that bad karma.

[uppitycats]

You are missing the point entirely. Most of the dissent was because of the lack of communication from Carnival and the Captain and his staff. Carnival did nothing to ease the tension and in fact the Captain made sarcastic and infalmmatory remarks to the passengers. I was horrified at the behavior of the rabble rousers and the "lawyer" but I must admit that the Captain bears some of the blame in this mess. It appears as if the Miracle was the odd man out when it came to alternative ports. Other ships went to Key West and Bermuda but the Miracle either couldn't because of the propulsion problem or chose not --either way the cruise was certainly under a cloud agter that. The atmosphere on the ship was terrible and at times frightening.

 

Perhaps the ship couldn't go to Key West and/or Bermuda a) because other ships already had gone there, and the ports were full; b) they went before...or after..the hurricane had passed? (this hurricane was quite unpredictable;) and the window of opportunity to go to either of those was closed by the time your ship was needing an alternate port; c) indeed there might have been propulsion problems and the captain -- needing to assure the safety of the passengers -- didn't want to risk going and getting caught in the hurricane or the storms that spin off the hurricane; d) the captain, not wanting to alarm already out-of-control passengers chose to not disclose this information?

 

Or is it all about you? I suspect he was a bit testy by the time you all decided to rabble-rouse, and did make inappropriate comments..or at least comments you perceived to be inappropriate. He's a human being too..and had better things to do -- like trying to navigate under really awful circumstances, trying to find alternatives when the hurricane seemed to be changing direction every few hours, and not appease a bunch of folks who were out of control over circumstances beyond his..and Carnival's..control.

[fireflytx]

The Captain has the ultimate authority, on sea or air.... however, in my experience he should have communicated EVERY change and deviation to all of his passengers... people want to be informed, not surprised.... maybe this would have eased some tempers. A simple PA announcement once or twice a day with a little hurricane humor thrown in is appropriate and appreciated. If these people had a sense of humor they would have even organized a "hurricane" party somewhere on the ship and offer free cocktails like they do at the Captain's welcome and past guest party. There are lots of ways to avoid a "mutiny".

[meteng]

Mutiny is never an option. Just goes to show how spoiled we have become. If you want to show your displeasure with the cruise, boycott the cruise line for future cruises but don't ruin it for the other travelers. Hopefully the cruise line will do likewise with the mutineers and share their names with the other cruise lines.

[Teetype]

Last week, passengers on Carnival Miracle started a near revolt when a significant itinerary change due to Tropical Storm Hanna turned their Eastern Caribbean sailing into a cruise to Florida, the Bahamas...and Newport, Rhode Island. Cruise Critic Editor in Chief Carolyn Spencer Brown shares her opinion on onboard mutinies in today's From the Bridge feature: http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=736

 

Do you think these increasingly common mutinies are justified? Please vote in our poll or share your opinion below.

 

First, passengers cannot mutiny -- crews mutiny.

 

That being said, occasionally passengers so revolt. My feeling is that the captain should put these people into lock down (if this is possible), find the nearest port and drop them there.

 

My reasoning is not one of a punitive nature but of safety. A group of passengers who become hostile become a danger to themselves as well as everyone else and should be removed, at their own cost, at the earliest possible moment.

 

As a comment on this particular group, it amazes me that ANYONE who benefits from the reduced prices of hurricane season would complain, much less revolt. But, retroactively, complaint is acceptable, revolt is not.

 

Tee

[Pumpkin_va]

I wouldn't want to book a cruise during hurricane season. I'm a smart enough person to know that's risky and id know up front to be ready for a skipped port. I dont also rent a house in Duck Nc at hurricane time ( I have a friend that's does and she's come back early every vacation time go figure <shrug>:rolleyes:

[CA27]

I was definitely disappointed about the itinerary change, but I didn't remove the gratuities from my bill. That was just a stupid, low-class, misguided move. As a matter of fact, I handed our waiters & stewards extra $$ for their hard work; they really earned it. We had a good time overall.

 

What a lot of people who weren't on this cruise don't seem to get, is that it was the lack of communication from the CD & purser's that upset people the most and not so much the itinerary change.

 

You have to wonder why Carnival scrapped Nassau, since the Sovereign of the Seas departed from PC towards Nassau on the same day the Carnival Miracle was supposed to do the same.

 

I better put on my fire-proof suit so that I don't get flamed.

[larry1365]

There was no cause for "mutiny."

 

Nor should there be any compensation for missing ports due to weather dangers or emergencies not controllable by the cruise line.

 

I am almost tempted to make some sarcastic remark about too many lawyers or about this being typical reactions from people living where the ship departed from (NYC). But I won't...since these so-called "mutinies" have occurred elsewhere. It's really disgusting.

 

Larry

[daWoods]

The revolt organizers should be confined to quarters and/or removed from the ship at the next port. They should be banned from cruising again for a prescribed period of time, and maybe the cruise line should sue them for a change.

[rwalls]

They need to read the fine print. Maybe the print should be larger and they have to sign a legal statement before a cruise in acknowledgment.

[Bryan&Roger]

Awww give them a row boat and let them deal with the weather. Wish them luck. There are just some people who must complain. Stay HOME!!! ;) Let the rest of us enjoy our cruises.

 

Sure I'd be disappointed but safety comes first.

Bryan

[conandrob240]

Cruises with such extensive itinerary changes and facing the danger of serious storms such as these should be CANCELLED and passengers have their money refunded. One port change is one thing but if the ship has to do this, a cancellation (or at least that option) is appropriate.

[abridalmaven]

Fools. if I were on the ship with them I would form a counter revolt. Why should my safety be put in danger?