Gulf Cruise a Bust

[SteveR]

Well, we got back from our long awaited 5 night western Caribbean cruise. We sweated out the three hurricanes that were in the area the week before and managed to find a one week gap in storms; perfect for our trip.

After travelling all day to get to Ft. Lauderdale and getting on the ship the next day we happily sailed south for Key West. About 5 hours into the trip it felt like we ran over a Russian submarine. The whole ship shook and bounced. Later we found out that the right prop. had some damage that required it be shut down.

The arrival in Key West was 4 hours late due to reduced speed using only the single screw. Repairs were made but they took all day and we still could not use the right prop. so the captain decided to go to Nassua instead. This was a real bummer for us. We spent the next two days in the Bahamas but really wanted to be in Mexico instead. It was a real downer. We managed to have a good time but not like the one we planned for.

Now Rita is boring down on Key West and is moving west. (Repeat 100 times: "I will not book a cruise in the middle of hurricane season again!"

 

[JPatrick]

What you say is true.....Sorry your cruise was screwed up.  Yell and scream and they (cruise line) may throw you a small bone.
If you don't already watch this site < vacationstogo.com does a good job of tracking cruise bargains.

 

[SteveR]

We are going to write a long letter to the cruise line to complain about a lot of things that did not meet our expectations. We had several experiences with the crew that made us not want to use this cruise line again. We are not perfectionists but we do expect to have people know their jobs and to do them; especially when you are spending hard earned money to pay for the trip.

This was our third cruise (our first together) so we know what they "should" be like. We found the arrogance and the lack of customer service by the crew in many service areas of the ship to be unacceptable.

 

[JPatrick]

I gotta ask--Which cruise line??

 

[MasterBlaster]

It doesn't matter which cruise line it was. They all have problems periodically. And if you read the cruise forums long enough you'll find people complaining on all of them.

If you read the fine print in your cruise documents you'll find that there is no guaranty of getting to any port period. You basically have no recourse.

Ships breaking and bad weather are part of the risk you take with the cruise experience.

 

[maddythebeagle]

two days in the Bahamas. 8) I feel your pain...

 

[Brat]

Every sailor knows about foul weather and mechanical problems, that is a part of the cruse.  I agree, if it is the ports of call that matter sail only in fair weather or go by land.

Now, if there was a fire in the laundry or the ship hit bottom I would ask for consideration.

 

[JPatrick]

Actually, if you read the post, you'll find what you're talking about ain't what he's complaining about.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I suspect that the cruise line did everything that it could for their cruisers.

The passenger whiners then go on and on and on and on and the staff reacts accordingly. Then the staff gets a bad rap by the cruisers.

What exactly did you expect them to do ? Put you on a plane to Mexico ?

check out any cruise forum. You'll see lots of variations on this type story when weather or any problems occur on any cruise with any cruiseline.

here's a link to one cruise forum:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/

 

[BigMoneyJim]

Sorry about your cruise disappointment.

In 1998 I cruised and got an extra day at sea on the return trip courtecy of hurricane Georges. (Or a "himmican" as my great aunt insisted when they had boy names.) We diverted to Miami instead of Tampa, and since I had booked air travel through the cruise line they took care of the return flight arrangements. People who had made their own arrangements to/from Tampa were quite unhappy, though.

The seas behind Georges caused the boat to gently buck for most of a day or so. A majority of the passengers stayed in their rooms feeling sick. I wandered the decks feeling fine and having a grande olde time. (Actually I think staying in your room makes seasickness worse.) I am told that the boat I was on (the Tropicale) was the smallest and oldest in the fleet at the time and since retired, and that newer boats have mechanisms that would've countered the post-Georges seas' liveliness, so I don't think anyone else has to worry about this.

 

[SteveR]

It doesn't matter which cruise line it was. They all have problems periodically. And if you read the cruise forums long enough you'll find people complaining on all of them.

If you read the fine print in your cruise documents you'll find that there is no guaranty of getting to any port period. You basically have no recourse.

Ships breaking and bad weather are part of the risk you take with the cruise experience.

We understood the fine print and my post was not stating otherwise.  Our main beef was the general lack of customer service around issues not related to the change in ports.  Some of this happened long before the change was even announced. 

I suspect that the cruise line did everything that it could for their cruisers.

The passenger whiners then go on and on and on and on and the staff reacts accordingly. Then the staff gets a bad rap by the cruisers.

What exactly did you expect them to do ? Put you on a plane to Mexico ?

No I did not expect them to put me on a plan to Mexico and never stated that we expected that.  The intent of my post was to vent about the overall customer service from some specific areas of the ship; not about the change in ports.  We are thankful the ship did not become immobile as we did get to cruise someplace; just not where we really intended to go. 

Some passengers were clearly upset and with good cause since we know several that had just returned from a three day cruise to the Bahamas.  Some were vocal about it and others just took it in stride. 

We are drafting a constructive letter to the cruise line to advise them of our experiences with very specific examples.  We do not expect anything in return beyond a letter acknowledging our concerns and perhaps an apology from them.  My wife is in customer service and feels very strongly about adequate employee training and supervision relative to providing customer expectations; especially in an industry that prides itself on going above and beyond in this area. 

We are thankful we at least got to go as far as we did.  Selecting a Western Caribbean cruise in the middle of hurricane season was a risk and we knew it.  It was sheer luck we missed out on them; a week earlier or later and we would not have been able to go at all.  The intent of my post was really to state we will not do this again and to warn others that there are risks to cruising and to be prepared for them.

I am not providing the name of the cruise line since our intent is not to defame them but to advise them of some gaps in their customer service that they so proudly portray. We will be addressing our concerns privately.