Serenade of the Seas - 300+ staterooms cancelled

I have been talking to several of the passengers supposed to be on today's sailing of Serenade of the Seas out of New Orleans. Apparently during the last cruise the ship suffered an electrical problem. It has not yet been resolved. Their were 318 cabins that have been cancelled and those passengers denied boarding.

They are waiting to hear about refunds, rebooking etc.

Sounds like some extremely frustrated passengers in New Orleans tonight.

The number of cabins and the number of passengers affected keeps changing. I've heard anything from 175 cabins to over 300 cabins affected. I also heard anything from 400 to 800 passengers denied boarding.

What they said was the first list was 200 staterooms that were effected, then they later announced an additional 118 staterooms.

Sounds like quite a mess.

Someone posted on the Roll Call that the entire cruise was canceled. The post after that states that 600 cabins were canceled.

Someone posted on the Roll Call that the entire cruise was canceled. The post after that states that 600 cabins were canceled.

The post about the entire cruise being cancelled was in error, that was later corrected.

The post about the entire cruise being cancelled was in error, that was later corrected.

Thanks for the info. Didn't see that post .

Thanks for the info. Didn't see that post .

It was my post, I got bad information from my parents and haven't been able to figure out how to go back and edit/delete that post. I guess that is a limitation of the site here.

It seems like there is a lot of mis-information out there. RCCL is not doing a good job with communication or sharing facts. I guess they will at some point.

As in the past Royal Caribbean has not kept their passengers informed of probelems on their ships. Apparently if they don't acknowledge that a problem exist - ALL is WELL. Shame on you Royal Caribbean.

Unfortunately my husband and I were one of the cancellations. Haven't been this disappointed this much since our last cruise. When we left they were still evaluating how many rooms were affected but we heard about 500 people were affected.

They will compensate us for the cruise in full and also give us another cruise up to what we paid. We drove but if you flew you also got a night's accommodation.

I wonder how many are there now that had jumped at the offers this week on this sailing, with a JS going for just $998 yesterday and the inside GTY falling over the week from $299 to $199 for the 7 night sailing.

That would certainly be quite dramatic going from finding such a fantastic deal to then be denied boarding due to a mechanical failure.

As they were still selling cabins yesterday, some of these passengers may not have even been given cabin assignments yet.

Unfortunately my husband and I were one of the cancellations. Haven't been this disappointed this much since our last cruise. When we left they were still evaluating how many rooms were affected but we heard about 500 people were affected.

 

They will compensate us for the cruise in full and also give us another cruise up to what we paid. We drove but if you flew you also got a night's accommodation.

So sorry.

You know, I teared up a little bit, felt defeated. But we only had about a 6 hr drive. There are people who flew in from like halfway across the world I'm sure. Plus, the people who were fortunate enough to board, got on about 6 hours late. And there's no telling how much of the ship will remain affected. We ran into a singer who said the theater is in the area where the power outage occurred.

We've been planning this cruise since last summer, and of course the reimbursement won't happen for up to 3 weeks and the cruise voucher for up to 8 weeks, but that's better than what I was expecting. I thought we'd get one or the other.

 

We've been planning this cruise since last summer, and of course the reimbursement won't happen for up to 3 weeks and the cruise voucher for up to 8 weeks, but that's better than what I was expecting. I thought we'd get one or the other.

Serenade is only in New Orleans for like 10 more weeks and then gone forever so having to wait 8 weeks for a voucher is kind of sad. :(

You know, I teared up a little bit, felt defeated. But we only had about a 6 hr drive. There are people who flew in from like halfway across the world I'm sure. Plus, the people who were fortunate enough to board, got on about 6 hours late. And there's no telling how much of the ship will remain affected. We ran into a singer who said the theater is in the area where the power outage occurred.

 

We've been planning this cruise since last summer, and of course the reimbursement won't happen for up to 3 weeks and the cruise voucher for up to 8 weeks, but that's better than what I was expecting. I thought we'd get one or the other.

tanikwish, do you know exactly how the denied passengers were chosen?

Was it strictly "your cabin is in the affected area so you can't board" or was it more like a flight, where they asked for volunteers, just in case someone was willing to be kicked off even if booked in an unaffected cabin?

Curious minds want to know.

Sorry about your ruined vacation.

We don't want to cruise again (this was supposed to be a re-do of our Carnival honeymoon cruise with Hurricane Sandy) but we're probably going to try one of the Quantum class ships that are opening soon.

tanikwish, do you know exactly how the denied passengers were chosen?

 

Was it strictly "your cabin is in the affected area so you can't board" or was it more like a flight, where they asked for volunteers, just in case someone was willing to be kicked off even if booked in an unaffected cabin?

 

Curious minds want to know.

 

Sorry about your ruined vacation.

Yeah, the rooms were actually damaged so when we were going to board, the porter wouldn't even take our bag. We were already on the initial list and apparently it got bigger.

The crummy part was no one told us what to do, so we were among hordes of people and had to figure out which line we had to stand in to be told we're not boarding.

We don't want to cruise again (this was supposed to be a re-do of our Carnival honeymoon cruise with Hurricane Sandy) but we're probably going to try one of the Quantum class ships that are opening soon.

Quantum's final cruise "here" is April. Then she leaves for China. Anthem arrives in November 2015. :)

Quantum's final cruise "here" is April. Then she leaves for China. Anthem arrives in November 2015. :)

Yeah, we'll give cruising one more try (this would have been my 5th, hubby's 2nd) and then we are going to hang it up if we have issues LOL

Yeah, we'll give cruising one more try (this would have been my 5th, hubby's 2nd) and then we are going to hang it up if we have issues LOL

Please let us know what cruise you choose so we can all plan accordingly.;):p

Seriously though, I hope the third try is a charm and you get on Anthem.:)

Sorry to those affected. I saw on Facebook that someone rebooked on the Carnival Dream sailing tomorrow. As you can see by my signature all but 1 of my cruises has been with Carnival. When I sailed on the Rhapsody out of Galveston the ship was having mechanical issues and the ship couldn't leave until the next day. I understood that the situation was out of their control but Royal Caribbean did a HORRIBLE job in communicating. I will never sail with them again. Good luck to those affected.

Sorry to those affected. I saw on Facebook that someone rebooked on the Carnival Dream sailing tomorrow. As you can see by my signature all but 1 of my cruises has been with Carnival. When I sailed on the Rhapsody out of Galveston the ship was having mechanical issues and the ship couldn't leave until the next day. I understood that the situation was out of their control but Royal Caribbean did a HORRIBLE job in communicating. I will never sail with them again. Good luck to those affected.

Actually had the opposite experience. First cruise in '97 with RCCL - PERFECT. Our honeymoon cruise with Carnival...well, it was bad enough to blog about. To be fair, I've done two others with Carnival and they were fine.

Yeah, the rooms were actually damaged so when we were going to board, the porter wouldn't even take our bag. We were already on the initial list and apparently it got bigger.

 

The crummy part was no one told us what to do, so we were among hordes of people and had to figure out which line we had to stand in to be told we're not boarding.

So what did they end up doing for you? Did they just give you your money back and say "see ya"? Did they offer you any other compensation?

Is the ship still in port?

We are on the ship in a G.S. Boarding was a mess. Four hours in line. The initial damaged room list was for 299 cabins and later increased by 118 cabins for a total of 417 cabins or approximately 900 passengers that were not allowed to board. The ship has not been allowed to sail and will stay in port overnight. The staff has indicated that the entire cruise may be cancelled if repairs cannot be made to the Coast Guard's approval by morning.