Would RCL have done things differently than Carnival?

[firefly333]

I was on the Conquest when the hurricane hit Galveston. I heard many say RCL would have helped cruisers more. Im wondering if this is true or what RCL cruisers think. Thats my question. Please post to the question and not turn this into a bashing thead.

 

A lady next to me said RCL did not charge her for a extension cord for her CPAC breathing machine, Carnival made her put up a $25 deposit. She was upset about other things and just rattling off the things she was upset with Carnival about, saying Carnival never again.

 

Would RCL have dumped us at the curb in a unfamiliar city with no help. As most of you know thats what happened to us on Conquest. Yes, they said that we could stay on the ship and try to get back into Galveston at a later date, but we all saw on tv Galveston was devasted and knew going back into Galveston wasnt going to happen, it was written by the legal dept to cover their asses so they had no responsibility to help us. We got off Monday and went thru Customs and we left the ship to find our way home. Coming back to the new port of Houston didnt get mentioned until very late Monday, by then all but 380 of the 3000 onboard had left the ship. (Im just covering this ground as folks on Carnival board say well we could have stayed on board and explaining why we didnt).

 

No hurricane update all day the day before the hurricane hit and many of us were parked at Galveston, so we wanted a update to the path of the storm. We were told 5 pm that ship would now be going into New Orleans but no list of airlines or rental cars or hotel phone numbers came out until much later. Sure we got one free phone call after waiting in line on our feet for 2 hours, but mine didnt work out so they said back to the end of the line. I heard there were only 5 phone lines on the ship, so one free phone call and if you called a rental car place that didnt have what you needed tough.

 

I was with two disabled pax, which made it a hardship in my case. The lady with the breathing machine was in a wheelchair and traveling alone we spoke with in the disabled disembarkation lounge. Iv been blasted on Carnival threads from folks not on the cruise, saying Carnival did the best they could, they couldnt have done anything any better .... of course from folks who were not there. No cruiseline is perfect, but I think there was room for improvement ....

 

My question is would RCL have done anything more?? Should I quit cruising during hurricane season if Im dealing with disabled pax?? I have another cruise with both disabled pax I travelled with this time. They are both mentally and physically disabled. Neither could drive or input any suggestions, I was on my own, the only abled bodied among us.

 

Maybe its true, all Carnival owed us was to dump us at the curb in New Orleans to fend for ourselves and thats all RCL would have done. Im just curious if RCLers think. Am I expecting too much that RCL would have done better? Anyone with any experience in this area. I was totally gung ho about cruising, now I know the down side. My car was bought brand new and had very little mileage, so of course I wanted hurricane updates in a timely manner, folks on Carnival say why?? the hurricane never changed course. They dont fault Carnival for the lack of updates and information available onboard.

 

I did not expect a hand out, but I am saying, the other two in my party could not stand in a line for hours to make their one free phone call for instance. One of them called the purser's desk and was hung up on 3 times, others said they were also hung up on, folks were expected to come in person and stand in line to make other arrangements. I finally got a phone line at 2:30 am, so I did get out, and all was taken care of. I got home safely, still waiting to hear about my newish car.

 

I still want to know if RCL would have helped its pax more.

[Aquahound]

I don't think there's really a way of knowing if RC would have handled it better. This is a crappy situation and a logistical nightmare for the cruise line. I'm just not sure what could have been accomplished on such short notice. As of a couple days prior to the storm, it was projected to hit anywhere from the Mexcan boarder to Louisiana. Assisting with flight info, etc, seems like something they could have done. But, Monday morning quarterbacking is easy and hopefully Carnival (and other lines) is learning from this and making a plan in case of future events.

 

Remember, also, that all the local buses were committed to the evacuation effort.

[karkee07]

MY first cruise in 03 there was a little tropical storm in the Carib. The last night things got pretty rocky as our captin did what he could to get us around the storm. The Carinval ship we sail along with went right thorough the storm! Even the crew got seasick! At 13 I though that that was absolutly horrible for a company to do that. I've sense heard many things about Carnival. Maybe it's just me being a hard core RCI person, but I plan to never sail with any other company, Carinval the last on my list.

 

On a cruise in 2006 there was a thunderstorm around Coco Cay. Our captin rerouted the ship so we avodided the storm and could have our beach day the last night of the cruise....I was happy because Coco Cay is like my favorite place in the world.

 

I am appaled that Carinval didn't even post pone the cruise....they knew the storm was out there and obviously Texas was getting bad weather before the sailing date from the storm. I know its not Carinvals fault that there was a storm....but they could have handeled the situation better. I can't even imagine how scary it was to be on those ships.

 

In 05 we were in Cozumel a week before Rita or Wilma hit that that scared me, just the fact that there was a storm out there and if we would have went the next week.....

 

I really think that RCI would have done as much as they could to help. I read somewhere that when a person at a table in the dining room needed splenda, the server went to the Windjammer to get her a couple packets....If they can do that, they will do anything. A lady at our table on our 06 cruise asked if we could get creme bulea even though it wasn't on the menu....and sure enough they made us some for the next nights dinner!

 

Needless to say RCI will do just about anything to help their clients.

 

Sorry to hear about your experience. The fact that they would't let the woman borrow a cord for her CPAP is just plain stupied! I have tons of patients on those machines and they need them to get a good nights sleep!

 

This whole storm thing makes me never want to cruise with Carnival even more and always stay with RCI.

[RevSmith]

The only thing I can say is that every time that there has been a problem, RCI has helped....I am not one who screams and gets upset, I present my problem politely, and am willing to wait. The people who are trying to help are not always able to do anything right that minute and are usually surrounded by yelling, rude, pushy individuals, who seem to think that they are far more important than anyone else. When given the chance RCI normally pulls through (at least for me they have...and I have had some very serious emergencies)

Rev

[firefly333]

I am appaled that Carinval didn't even post pone the cruise....they knew the storm was out there and obviously Texas was getting bad weather before the sailing date from the storm. .

 

I think they could have allowed folks on Ecstasy to cancel (they didnt leave port until 9/11). I was on Conquest and left the house at 5:30 am Sept 7th to board. At that time it wasnt very clear where the storm would go after Cuba, so my cruise they really couldnt have predicted a hit to Texas, so I dont fault them for that.

 

As far as the food and doing extra. I think you are right. I know of a CC guy who asked for things for his table on a RCL cruise (Rhapsody) and his waiter got them that were not on the menu that night. On the Conquest (my first time, 2nd Carnival cruise, last 4 cruises were with RCL), the one lady I was with asked them to remove the veggies from her dinner order, she wouldnt eat them. They said they couldnt, you had to get the whole plate. She claimed she couldnt eat them because of being a diabetic, ok she was too picky, but you are right, Carnival wouldnt make any changes at dinner to the menu.

 

I think it was just bad luck we had a subtitute CD who kept telling us she didnt know anything more than we did. Even when she stood up to read the announcement about going into New Orleans, she said she was just handed it 5 minutes ago. Having a staff saying they didnt know anything more than what was on tv, didnt give us a good feeling. I kept thinking dont any of the staff have internet access or a phone to call someone and find out more? Having staff tell us they knew nothing more didnt make me feel like we were in good hands. Like I said they couldnt even get a new update all day on the hurricane path from the computer all day the day before the hurricane hit. They said the internet was run by a 3rd party, not by Carnival, even the guy selling next cruises was unable to get to any other site but the Carnival site. No one from the Carnival staff could get online and obtain information I was told.

[ChoosinCruisin]

In December 06 on the Splendour out of Galveston, a crew emergency delayed our return by eight hours. RCI opened the internet lines for free and assisted all passengers who needed to make alternate arrangements whether they booked air through the cruiseline or not. There was the usual grumblings of passengers but in hindsight people were satisfied with the cooperation they received. The Captain and the Cruise Director kept everyone updated on a regular basis. We were B2B so it did not affect us, gave us the opportunity to observe the situation. Things in general went smoothly and there did not appear to be anyone left at the terminal when the next cruise sailed.

[spbflseas]

This is just pure speculation, but I believe RCCL would have handled it better. I believe, RCCL would have provided transportation to passengers to get back to Houston. I also believe they would have been more agressive in assisting people who booked their own airfare, although I doubt they would have funded all or part of the change fees.

 

Unfortunately, communication seems to be a major weakness of Carnival in cases of emergency or uncertainty. I was on the Celebration back in the 90's when there was an engine room fire and we were stranded at sea for a couple of days. Suffice it to say, Carnival had the same problems then and was not overly accommodating to help us. While onboard, the communications were terrible and limited. Once we were transferred to the Ecstasy and taken back to Miami, they almost ignored what had just happened. Then, when back in Miami, we were left with a hotel bill. In our situation, we had another cruise planned (we were doing back to back, but our 2nd cruise was on a different ship and line). So, instead of going home, we needed to stay in Miami for an extra 3 days because of the early return. Carnival's only offering was to get us their Corporate rate at the hotel we were staying at. This was hardly any consideration for having to pay the extra nights in the hotel and eat during that time.

 

So, I think Carnival's performance in this matter is fairly consistent with how they have performed in the past. I think there needs to be more awareness of what they are contractually obligated to do and what they should do to build positive relationships with their guests and potential guests.

[land lover]

As others have said who knows if RCI would have done a better job, to many unknown variables.

 

I have sailed with 5 different mass market cruise lines, My experience is that RCI is the most customer accommodating. Not to say that everything has been perfect, but they seem to want to work with you.

 

I sail for itinerary so do not have cruise line loyalty.

 

It is unfortunate that you had such a hassle.

 

As far as others saying RCI does this and that...my thought is maybe on your sailing but not on mine, when we deal with humans everything is in a constant flux.

 

For example this year I will sail(last one in 3 wks) on RCI 5 times 3 times on the same ship and let me tell you, I have good and bad stories.

 

Give RCI a try...............overall I would say for customer service on and off the ship they have been best for me. But out of 20+ cruises I have also had my worst room attendant and dining room server on RCI ships. Lucky for us we have never been stranded.

[reallyitsmema]

I think there is no way any of us can say that RCL would have handled this situation better than Carnival. While I understand you were looking for updates about the storm and Carnival wasn't making announcements frequently, weren't you able to see some kind of weather information on the TV that would have given you some information?

 

Cruising during hurricane season is always a risk. Anyone boarding those ships should have done some minimal homework before they boarded. I know when I cruise, I always have a list of phone numbers for airlines with me. We had even printed off Delta flight schedules for the Sunday we returned to Port Canaveral because we had been moved to a very early flight that we were afraid we were going to miss. We always take a credit card with a very large credit line just in case we run into problems and need to charge flights last minute.

 

As far as your comment on your car, did you drive to the port for your cruise? Personally, there is no way I would have taken my car, new or old, to a port that had a hurricane heading towards it. I would have eaten the cost of a car service to bring me to the port just for the peace of mind.

 

I am sure it was a very difficult situation for you to be in especially when travelling with two disabled people. I hope you enjoyed your cruise as much as you could.:)

[firefly333]

RCI opened the internet lines for free and assisted all passengers who needed to make alternate arrangements whether they booked air through the cruiseline or not.

 

I would have been satisfied with this, but Carnival says they dont provide the internet service on their ships, so they couldnt pick up the tab. Even at full price the line stretched out for hours to get into the internet cafe. After asking at the purser's desk for a list of phone numbers for rental cars and being told they didnt have them yet, that was my next step. I felt like I hit brick wall after brick wall trying to get a rental car out of New Orleans. Took until 2:30 am to get one that would work. (we docked at 5 am, 2 1/2 hours later and had to eat breakfast before wheelchairs came to pick us up at 8:30 am, so no sleep)

 

Another who was on the ship said the purser's desk told her the ship only had 5 phone lines out. So, maybe the CD and others really couldnt pick up a phone and get information from anyone before and after the hurricane. Their line was they knew nothing other than what was on CNN on the tv in our cabins. Not even a update to the path of the storm. They told us to go turn on our tv.

 

Maybe Im just naive thinking RCL would have done us better, but I really believe any cruiseline would have done us better. Im dissapointed in Carnival's response and glad folks arent blasting me. thank you.

[terri23]

I think it's not productive to speculate how a company might handle a crisis situation. With any cruiseline there may be moments where they go "above and beyond" and moments when things get totally botched (remember Brilliance and the strike in Spain (I think that was it)?). The best you can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best :). With special circumstances (health issues or whatever they may be), it may not be wise to cruise during hurricane season, because the odds of "trouble" occurring are much higher.

[firefly333]

As far as your comment on your car, did you drive to the port for your cruise? Personally, there is no way I would have taken my car, new or old, to a port that had a hurricane heading towards it. I would have eaten the cost of a car service to bring me to the port just for the peace of mind..:)

 

Remember we left on Sunday, 5 days before the computer models showed the turn to Galveston, we barely knew the hurricane might go on into the gulf after Cuba. They guessed Mexico or maybe Brownsville up until I think late Thurs?? We left Galveston on Sunday having no clue the hurricane would come to Galveston. None of the models on Sunday 9/7 predicted this. Had I even dreamed it was possible, of course I would not have gone. The loss of my auto will be at least $5,000 Im guessing because it was so low mileage and in such good shape, plus bought new. Of course I wouldnt have risked it had I guessed. Im sure my insurance isnt going to give me enough to buy anything as good, but who knows, they cant get into Galveston yet either.

 

Those on the Ecstasy had a better idea, that left the following thursday and also being one day behind us into New Orleans, by then also knew the ship was going to go back to Houston, we didnt know this when we arrived. They used New Orleans to have both ships go thru Customs. Again I know this wasnt Carnival's fault but we waited 4 1/2 hours for our number to be called to get off the ship. We had a very high number. I know this was luck of the draw, so dont blame Carnival.

[terri23]

btw FF333, i totally sympathize with you and the other carnival cruisers caught up in this mess! Sorry about your car, too. Then again there are those of us in the Houston area that are also still enduring the Ike aftermath. I hope I don't sound mean when I remind you that many people here lost much more and we all have to try to keep things in perspective.

 

I hope your next cruise is a GREAT one on whichever line you choose. :)

[ruskatab]

I would have been satisfied with this, but Carnival says they dont provide the internet service on their ships, so they couldnt pick up the tab. Even at full price the line stretched out for hours to get into the internet cafe. After asking at the purser's desk for a list of phone numbers for rental cars and being told they didnt have them yet, that was my next step. I felt like I hit brick wall after brick wall trying to get a rental car out of New Orleans. Took until 2:30 am to get one that would work. (we docked at 5 am, 2 1/2 hours later and had to eat breakfast before wheelchairs came to pick us up at 8:30 am, so no sleep)

 

Another who was on the ship said the purser's desk told her the ship only had 5 phone lines out. So, maybe the CD and others really couldnt pick up a phone and get information from anyone before and after the hurricane. Their line was they knew nothing other than what was on CNN on the tv in our cabins. Not even a update to the path of the storm. They told us to go turn on our tv.

 

Maybe Im just naive thinking RCL would have done us better, but I really believe any cruiseline would have done us better. Im dissapointed in Carnival's response and glad folks arent blasting me. thank you.

 

Well I am going to blast you..sorry...lol...but you are safe and sound at home now and you need to get over it. Honestly it sounds like you took too much on when you cruised with handicapped family and then the hurricane hit added more to your stress. You knew when the ship left that a hurricane was out there and it could go anywhere. To come over to the RC for more sympathy is just stirring up the pot when you know the rivalry between the 2 cruislines. The ONLY person you should be angry with is Mother Nature.

[land lover]

OP of course we are not going to Blast you...you are rationally asking for our opinions and revealing more hardships you have endured as the thread continues.

 

What a shock for you to hear that the Hurricane hit Houston when you were on the ship.............

 

Best of luck

[DEL67]

I think it's not productive to speculate how a company might handle a crisis situation. With any cruiseline there may be moments where they go "above and beyond" and moments when things get totally botched (remember Brilliance and the strike in Spain (I think that was it)?). The best you can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best :). With special circumstances (health issues or whatever they may be), it may not be wise to cruise during hurricane season, because the odds of "trouble" occurring are much higher.

 

I also remember when the Brillance was delayed due to the strike in Barcelona. I could be wrong, but I believe that even passengers who had bought cruise air felt that RCCL did not assist them enough.

 

Perhaps Carnival should have communicated better, but they had no responsibility for those that did not book air through them. As someone else said, that is what insurance is for. And given that this is hurricane season, buying insurance would have been smart.

 

Others have said that Carnival should have cancelled the cruise. Can you imagine the screams if Carnival had done so and the hurricane missed Galveston?

[reallyitsmema]

Firefly, I realize at the time you left, there was no way of knowing exactly where that storm was heading. I just don't think I would have made the same choice that you did knowing that so much was brewing at the time you left. I don't even know if I could have gotten on that ship but that is just me.

 

I am sure it must be terrible not knowing the status of your car and whether you will get a decent settlement from your insurance company. I feel bad for everyone who Ike has taken so much from.

 

Hopefully, the roads will be opened soon to allow people into the area. I also hope that the port doesn't open to cruise ships as quickly as they are saying it is going to. The people of Galveston need the time to get their lives back in order before all those cruise passengers flood the area.

[land lover]

Didn't get to see the post above mine, until I posted..........you don't have to justify the choices you made...I admire people alike you who have a positive attitude on life.........

[hazeleyez3]

I too don't know what RCI whould have done with your situation; however, I just came off the Mariner where we had Gustav and Hanna to worry about.

 

When we were in the embarkation line we were given a sheet with the new itinerary (skipped Coco Kay, and had more time in St. Thomas). The captain kept us informed every day (if not multiple times a day) as to where the hurricanes were, and what route he was taking to make sure we didn't hit them. He also made us aware one day that he would try to get us to both ports, but the way the storm had re-directed itself he couldn't guarantee we would get to all of them (he came on at a different time to let us know everything was good and that we'd make it).

 

You can see your bill on the TV, and the first day we looked at it we saw we had a refund for the Coco Kay port charges.

 

I have done Carnival a few times, and would probably do it again; however, I was very impressed with RCI

[firefly333]

Maybe if all cruiselines would have dumped us on the curb, what I need to do is rethink cruising, and avoid hurricane season. I know Im not a experienced cruisor, all my cruises except for some very early ones have been since Halloween 2006. I have very few cruises under my belt and really didnt know a cruise like this was possible, never crossed my mind. Now I know.

 

I probably should plan to cruise less and avoid possible storms because really I dont want to go thru this again. I probably was naive going into this.

[SharC]

I know that Royal Caribbean would have handled it better. Nine years ago we were on a cruise of the Panama Canal. After leaving Aruba, during dinner,the captain came on and said there was a hurricane about 800 miles from us. Many of us wondered why he was telling us this. During the show that night he again came on and said it was about 250 mile from us and we were turning and running. We were supposed to have two ports bur we spent the days at sea. We then returned to Aruba. Royal brought in huge planes and got us back to the States, to the major airports, helped with changing our plane reservations and kept us safe. Sure there were some hassles but they seemed to have a plan and handled a bad situation for us.

[firefly333]

You can see your bill on the TV, and the first day we looked at it we saw we had a refund for the Coco Kay port charges.

 

I was supposed to go to Coco Cay too twice last fall, once we did and it rained and they got us all back on the ship early and spent the night in Nassau. The second time we missed it no refund of port charges. I was ok with that.

 

All I am saying I am not ok with was the Carnival line that they couldnt call out or get on the internet either and give us updates, turn on your tv to channel 25 and watch CNN, thats all we know too.

[cherylandtk]

Firefly; As others have said, its hard to know what any cruiseline will do in any specific situation. Even Carnival handled this trip differently than in the past for other hurricane diversions. When Katrina caused port diversions for the Conquest, Carnival gave each passenger $200 towards added travel costs. But nobody got to stay on the ship. In this case, pax had the 'option' to remain aboard for free, but got no compensation. I think there is no way to predict what exactly will or should happen.

[mochaloca]

I'm not an experienced cruiser either - a grand total of one under my belt. I think you've asked rational, if speculative questions.

 

It seems to me that every cruise company must have a disaster planning manual - what to do for fires, hurricanes, etc. Of course, the majority of the plan probably deals with passenger, crew and ship safety. But if should have some overall guidelines on how to communicate with passengers, how to handle disembarkation port changes, etc. I'm sure that many details make this situation different from previous hurricanes and therefore requires the captain and crew to make some decisions on the fly. And of course, there is always a difference between what a company must do from a legal perspective versus what they choose to do to keep customers loyal to their product.

 

Perhaps it's just my time in big industry that assumes companies that take thousands of passengers out during hurricane season have detailed plans on how to handle hurricane situations. I'm sensing a job opportunity.....

[dutchess43]

I too cannot speculate on what RCI would do but I can say how RCI handled our sitution one New Years Eve. We were suppose to leave NY to San Juan on 12/30 as weather would have it we had a blizzard & JFK was closed down. We left on 12/31 & you can only imagine the back up. Not only was the plane late but we experienced mechanical difficulty. We booked the air on our own & did not buy their transfers. We arrived along with twelve others late & was met as soon as we got off the plane by RCCL reps. We all had the choice of leaving our luggage & they would fly it to ST Thomas on AA tomorrow or miss the ship. Mind you I did not even have our cabin number luggage tags on the luggage. RCCL gave us toiletries etc. The next day was formal they said if the luggge was not there the would allow us to rent a gown & tux for free. Our luggage arrived in ther afternoon & they pressed our formal wear, & another sports jacket for free. That's what RCCL did for us. This is one reason we sail mostly on RCI & Celebrity due to the service that is provided.

Firefly I commend you for acompanying handicapped members of your family on your cruise. Sorry that it had to turn out so badly.