more than 200 Regata guests stranded on Christmas Island

Today more than 200 Regatta guests were stuck on Christmas Island as the dock was too shallow for the tenders to get in to pick up guests and return them to the ship. Oceania had local outriggers bring sandwhiches, water and umbrellas to stranded guests but did not bring any sunscreen. Guests who were in the sun for up to 5 hours waiting for the tide to rise to a level that would allow tender pick up. My husband and I were some of the guests waiting for pick up. What Oceania could have done better was:

1) There was one tender at the dock. Officers congregated in the tender out of the sun and would not allow guests to have shade on the tender as the weight would ground the tender in the sand.

2) Sunscreen should have been brought from the ship. Many of us were on the island since 9:00 this morning and since we could not get back were there until 5:00 pm. Although we had put sun screen on in the morning - we planned on going back earlier in the day. My husband who had been a burn victim years ago has no pigment on parts of his legs and arms. He has very bad sun burn on him and will not be going outside for a while.

The workers in blue not officers went above and beyond and should be recognized by the company for their efforts for consoling those who were upset. I saw one young man who walked arm in arm with an elderly woman who was upset and crying telling her it would be ok. She was at least in him mid to late 80's. Her husband was very burnt and did not have a hat and did not get one of the umbrellas that was passed out.

It is hard to believe that the cruise line did not have tide tables and could not have predicted this situation. Will write more when I return. My internet minutes are running out. Oceania is one of the few cruise lines where you can not use word so you can type before going on the internet without signing in and using minutes.

I am sorry to hear about this unfortunate incident. I expect this is Oceania's first trip to Christmas Island and hopefully they have learned their lesson.

I know I have - thanks to you - as we will visit this island on the Marina in 2013.

Very sorry to hear about this and how O responded. Sorry for your husband's issues. We will be at that port later this year in May, I'll have to make a mental note to bear this in mind at this port.

The best lesson here is to always remember if you are in a tropical location to take a tote sack with some essentials including a hat & sunscreen. I always try to do this although I am far from fair skinned. I just hate to get too much sun exposure.

Hopefully they'll figure all these things out as the South Pacific tours progress.

Why would O go to Xmas Island. ???

An absolute dump by all reports and has a huge Australian Immigration Center

to lock all the illegal refugees from Indonesia trying to sneak into Australia.

Why would O go to Xmas Island. ???

 

An absolute dump by all reports and has a huge Australian Immigration Center

to lock all the illegal refugees from Indonesia trying to sneak into Australia.

Different Xmas Island. The one Oceania visited is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean not the Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. It is also known as

Kiritimati, Christmas Island

Very sad to hear about the sun burns.

I suffer from migrains and allergies. I always have both meds with me at all times. Even if I do not have a bag to put them in, I but a few pills in a plastic baggie and tuck them somewhere on my person. I know that noone will take responsibility for them except me. Perhaps sunscreen needs to be treated likewise in your husbands case.

Hope he feels better soon.

I am sorry to hear about this unfortunate incident. I expect this is Oceania's first trip to Christmas Island and hopefully they have learned their lesson.

I know I have - thanks to you - as we will visit this island on the Marina in 2013.

What cruise are you on? LuAnn

What cruise are you on? LuAnn

LuAnn,

We are on the Dec 27th, 2012 Marina out of Valpo.

After I posted and looked at our itinerary and I realized that we will visit Robinson Crusoe, Easter, Pitcairn and Fakarawa but not Christmas Island.

My bad - maybe wishful thinking? :D

Paul

My first thought: With 200 people, there was no sunscreen to share?

We are on the Dec 27th, 2012 Marina out of Valpo.

After I posted and looked at our itinerary and I realized that we will visit Robinson Crusoe, Easter, Pitcairn and Fakarawa but not Christmas Island.

My bad - maybe wishful thinking? :D

We are on that cruise as well. Now less that 1 year away. LOL

Barry and Connie

We are on that cruise as well. Now less that 1 year away. LOL

Barry and Connie

One of these days we should start a roll call :)

I will be looking for an award flights to Santiago in a month.

Happy New Year and hope to see you on the cruise.

LuAnn,

We are on the Dec 27th, 2012 Marina out of Valpo.

After I posted and looked at our itinerary and I realized that we will visit Robinson Crusoe, Easter, Pitcairn and Fakarawa but not Christmas Island.

My bad - maybe wishful thinking? :D

Paul

great sounding cruise!! Enjoy!! LuAnn

One of these days we should start a roll call :)

I will be looking for an award flights to Santiago in a month.

Happy New Year and hope to see you on the cruise.

I was thinking the same about flights. A few years ago I flew AA to Santiago. I will be looking at them again maybe....BK. LOL

Best New Year Wishes to you.

There is already a Rollcall started for this cruise.

There is already a Rollcall started for this cruise.

Thanks - I signed up.

I am not sure how I missed it (maybe it was on page 2?)

Hi All:

We are back home now. The issue with Kirbati Island (Christmas because t's are pronounced s's there) was that approx 206 people were stuck on the island as Oceania did not research the tides correctly. There were several diabetics who had brought their own small snacks but we were stuck for more than 5 hours. When Oceania realized they could not get tenders out to pick up guests at first they sent out some fruit trays via local outrigger. This caused some of the diabetic guests’ sugar to soar. On a luxury line, you would think they would have researched the tide tables. Additionally, when officers came out they did not provide leadership with regard to the situation. An example of the disorganization is that people were waiting in line. There was no sun protection so they were told to leave the line and seek out "shade". Later when it was decided tendering would resume, tender tickets were passed out. There was a commotion because those who had been in the front and left the line as directed by staff to do were not given a ticket. I actually saw a man swing at another man.

Officers who were in uniform waited in a tender out of the sun drinking water and laughing while workers in blue shirts and shorts walked around trying to help some of the elderly. The officers could have helped organized the people better and helped find a specific location or grouped people for the tenders. Accurate information was not given to the passengers regarding the situation which was problematic for individuals who had health problems to know what time frame they would be there. At first we were told there would be a one hour delay. Then we were told that it would just be another hour. No one knew how to pace themselves or when we were actually going back. Oceania provided about 15 umbrellas but it was not enough for all the people. There are some buildings on Christmas Island and if we were going to be there all day it would have been nice for the officers to arrange some type of place for us to go. They just did not have a plan. There was no clear leadership. Diabetics and elderly or those who were having a health related concerns should have been tendered back first but were not. I am a sailor as is my husband and we were very disappointed in the officers who were on the scene.

Accurate information was not given to the passengers regarding the situation which was problematic for individuals who had health problems to know what time frame they would be there. At first we were told there would be a one hour delay. Then we were told that it would just be another hour. No one knew how to pace themselves or when we were actually going back. Oceania provided about 15 umbrellas but it was not enough for all the people. There are some buildings on Christmas Island and if we were going to be there all day it would have been nice for the officers to arrange some type of place for us to go. They just did not have a plan. There was no clear leadership. Diabetics and elderly or those who were having a health related concerns should have been tendered back first but were not. I am a sailor as is my husband and we were very disappointed in the officers who were on the scene.

Sorry to hear of the incident. We had a similar but not anywhere near as drastic an issue with tender operations on our previous cruise with O. Ours was unreliability of the information the tender attendants gave that made us lose basically an hour of on-shore time in an already short port day.

It is something they can improve upon. Because of our past issue, we try to avoid tender ports as much as possible, and in particular with O.

I do wonder how one would prioritize because the majority of O's passengers are elderly.

 

I do wonder how one would prioritize because the majority of O's passengers are elderly.

I am wondering how you define elderly.

I am wondering how you define elderly.

ME TOO :eek:

I am getting older but do not think I am elderly yet & you are much more fit than I am ;)

Lyn

I, too, was stuck on Christmas Island. I overheard the captain trying to reach the shore agent for 2 hours and he was nowhere around. My feeling is that once the captain realized the distress the shore-bound travelers were in, there was an immediate surge of water, juice, sandwiches and other food items sent to shore. It was very hot and miserable, but I do feel like the ship did what they could to help us out. I was told they will NOT be stopping on Christmas Island on the return to San Francisco.:D

Not so bad, as there was nothing there to see or do.

In speaking with cruise director, Willie Aames, he mentioned that the final decision not to return to Christmas Island rests with head office in Miami. However, from all indications, he felt it was highly unlikely that Christmas Island would be a future stop.

We went early, saw there was really not much to see, bought and wrote out a few postcards, and got back in line for a tender. Only 20 passengers per trip due to low tide caused us to wait for two tenders. We were on the last tender to return to the ship before a hold was put on. We scraped bottom a couple of times getting out the channel. Spent the rest of the afternoon on our balcony with a good bottle of wine. Eventually saw the tenders returning. I heard that some people from Australia "hired" a local fisherman to return them to the ship.

Cheers CANDYAPPLE

Maybe some of those mid-level officers won't be making those mistakes on their next job! A sign of leadership is being able to regroup, reconfigure and think outside the box when things go awry.

Knowing tide tables and range is seamanship 101. It seems a bit of "island thinking" on the part of the agent contributed.

And speaking of stereo-types, one does not have to be 'elderly' to have issues with mobility, hearing, diabetes, heart & lung issues, skin cancer, neuro problems, dehydration. Even if the diabetics and others with normally controlled issues, brought some emergency rations with them, the heat and humidity would have over-taxed their systems and required better care than normal.

All of us are one pick-up truck coming out of nowhere, slamming into our bodies, away from diminished capacity. Being elderly has nothing to do with it. (I say this because a friend waiting on a suburban sidewalk for the bus to work, was hit by a pick-up) And even 90% of active people over age 60, I dare say, have some underlying, pre-existing health concern.

Thank you Spunky for the follow-up and your common sense outlook. As we are to be on Regatta in a few weeks, we have been following this story and are concerned for those affected and this track record of poor responsibility.

***********

Were those stranded offered medical checks if they requested them? Treatment for burns?

I am wondering how you define elderly.

Why are you asking me?

It was OP that used the term and I look to the dictionary for the meaning: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/elderly

Why are you asking me?

 

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Probably because in your post #17 above you posted

I do wonder how one would prioritize because the majority of O's passengers are elderly.

Hi Shining Clem:

I went to the desk that night because my husband was very burnt as I had mentioned. I was told by reception to order plain yougart and put that on the burn.

I appologize for mentioning the "elderly". I am 52 years old and was always raised to be respectful of those who were older than I. To a 24 year old I probably am considered elderly. I understand that age does not have to do with whether one lives or dies as I lost my 18 year old son ten years ago and it was very unexpected. But during this ordeal on Christmas Island my husband and I were generally heart broke to see people in their 70's and 80's standing out in the sun with no shade and no where to sit. Some of the women were so nicely dressed for a lovely day and they did not buy into being stranded out there with no shade. When you travel on a luxury line such as O the expectancy is that you will be cared for to a certain extent. Certainly I would have been more prepared if we were sailing bare bones on the Pacific. But we paid for a luxury experience and this was not a luxury experience.

Would I go on O again? We go on Oceania for the service and the food so we might go back again depending on the itinerary. I will say my husband was very upset to see the officers not take a more active roll in helping people of all ages. Also we felt there should have been an apology which there wasn't. I believe some of the problem was because initially people were told the tenders would resume in an hour. Then it was it will be another hour. Then it was we don't know when the tide will rise. How could a cruise line not know about the tides? Even after the tender went aground wouldn't you think they would have researched that immediately and known that we would be out there for hours? The officers', who were on the scene lacked leadership and their behavior laughing and talking in the tender while people clearly needed direction and help in that situation was shameful and they deserve to lose their positions. The cruise staff, at sea were all wonderful so depending on the itinerary at this point I can't say. We definately won't go back to French Polynesia with O.

Maybe some of those mid-level officers won't be making those mistakes on their next job! A sign of leadership is being able to regroup, reconfigure and think outside the box when things go awry.

 

Knowing tide tables and range is seamanship 101. It seems a bit of "island thinking" on the part of the agent contributed.

 

And speaking of stereo-types, one does not have to be 'elderly' to have issues with mobility, hearing, diabetes, heart & lung issues, skin cancer, neuro problems, dehydration. Even if the diabetics and others with normally controlled issues, brought some emergency rations with them, the heat and humidity would have over-taxed their systems and required better care than normal.

 

All of us are one pick-up truck coming out of nowhere, slamming into our bodies, away from diminished capacity. Being elderly has nothing to do with it. (I say this because a friend waiting on a suburban sidewalk for the bus to work, was hit by a pick-up) And even 90% of active people over age 60, I dare say, have some underlying, pre-existing health concern.

 

Thank you Spunky for the follow-up and your common sense outlook. As we are to be on Regatta in a few weeks, we have been following this story and are concerned for those affected and this track record of poor responsibility.

***********

Were those stranded offered medical checks if they requested them? Treatment for burns?