Mamakim76

Normally we see one or two RC representatives between luggage claim and immigration. They are ground staff though, not onboard crew. Like I say I think unfortunately there are restrictions on who from the ship can be in those areas. I'm glad you had a nice taxi driver.

 

 

 

Out of interest was it easy enough to get a taxi for 5?

 

We will be a party of 5 after this year from San Juan?

 

What is it like getting off the ship in general through immigration/customs

It was easy getting a taxi for 5 as they use a lot if those large passenger vans and some many vans as taxis. We get a porter when we get off the ship and it was easy. Lines were not long but we were also the last group to get off the ship and there were not very many passengers left.

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No. We asked someone that was at the port with the luggage what do we need to do, specifically with the wheelchair and he didn't have a clue. He went and asked someone else so the porter added my husbands bag to his load of luggage so my husband could help me in the wheelchair. His answer to me was there would be people outside to help, there was nobody. The taxi can driver was the biggest help with us, as we also had my three daughters with us. He waited on my husband after we were loaded in the taxi so he could find someone back inside to take the wheelchair. It was awful.

Whilst I agree there should have been more visibility of crew i have never seen a large amount of people assisting on the last day other than to keep stair wells open and to keep people from cutting. The instructions the day before and the announcements should be sufficient. Ie where to be and at what time.

 

I think I am not clear on what else you feel needed to be coordinated.:confused: If we ever want priority disembarkation we speak to the concierge or la the day before to advise what we need so they have time to coordinate a time to meet to get priority departure. Otherwise we get off at our own speed.

 

That being said if the ship had arrived on time they had plenty of time to get luggage off ready to be collected, customs cleared etc. in order to get everyone off when there is a late arrival it really is all hands on deck helping out with things they may not normally do/fall under their job description.

It was not a normal situation so expectations need to be adjusted.

 

Did you speak to the concierge prior to the last day to explain your requirements regarding priority departure and what you were looking for?

 

There are times we want to utilize it, other times we want to just hang out. Some ships are more efficient with departure than others due to the size of the port and amount of customs people working as they are only allowed to allow so many off at a time. To compare two totally different ships sailing to two totally different ports is not really comparing apples with apples.

 

My overall point is don't expect much on departure day:) by learning not to expect much you can't get too disappointed

I do have to agree that the disembarking on Sunday was a complete cluster. It was really bad, the worst I have seen. Because we came in so late, I was completely for the people that had flights to get off the boat first. It was such a complete mess though because they would tell us to go to one area then another. I was in a wheelchair, due to a fall on the ship, so I was suppose to be on deck 4. We waited and waited, finally after all of the people with flights were off, which ironically, was everyone it seemed, they let everyone else go. There was NOBODY and I mean nobody to help us down to get off the ship and into the luggage area. We were assured there would someone to help us, as we had our carryons, there was nobody. It was really sad that the cab driver was much more helpful and pleasant to deal with than anyone in the luggage area or the port.

Yes she is still in port. A view from our balcony this morning.

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I agree that the reported conditions today in San Juan were bad.

 

But to be fair, up until yesterday morning the ship was on time for (its new) schedule. So RCI only had 24 hours notice that there would be a problem; not 3 days

 

Aloha,

 

John

Communication was horrible on the ship today as we were trying to get off and I think it is bad PR on RCCL part to not communicate to the guests arriving to the ship today.

John - from what I understood and others that were on the ship, please correct me of I misunderstood - we had a busted seal on the middle propeller when we were docking in St. Kitts. From what we were told, they were not able to completely fix the issue, so that is why the itinerary was changed, so we didn't go to Aruba and Curaçao, as we could not go full speed. This all happened on Tuesday, so they did know there was an issue and that the ship had to be repaired once they got to port. It is sad planning on RCCL's part.

What I am trying to say is that they knew of the issue and they also knew that they were temporarily fixing it until we arrived back in San Juan.

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Royal Caribbean has given us the Royal runaround and I would not want to board this broken ship for anything! Next we will see the news with the Adventure floating around the Carib without power and overflowing septic. She was already smelling like that the last 4 days. Shame on Royal.:eek:

I agree!! It smelled really bad in the evenings last week and while we were docked in St. Kitts.

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Last of the guests are getting off! We are off!! On to the hotel.

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I think we all have to be off the ship before they let anyone on. We are still on here and will probably for a little while longer.

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Yes really close. There were some FURIOUS people when they saw that the self assist were getting off first.

They are disembarking the 2:00 to 2:30 flights. I am so glad that people with flights are getting off first! I hope they get to the airport in time!

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We are still waiting to get off the ship. They opened the dining room on 3 and the Windjammer for lunch. We were told noon before anyone can get off. Lots of people just hanging out to get off. I hope the people with early flights will be able to get off first!! We don't fly out until tomorrow, so I am good with staying on board until they are off, but due to a fall on the ship, I am in a wheelchair, so I don't know how it will work for us. As I am typing this, they just cleared the ship for everyone to depart. We will be departing on deck 1 and to me it sounds like it is going to be a free for all on the disembark.....

This is what the stateroom tv is showing

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The captain just told us that the pilot boats will come to us around 9:30 and then the Coast Guard is requiring that tug boats be attached to the boat as we move into dock. He said if everything goes as planned we will be at the dock around noon. No word on how quickly we will be able to disembark yet.

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I am on the sailing that is scheduled to leave today and if that is the only restitution offered, I will be furious. I could have sailed of a newer ship but only chose the AOS for the southern ports. On board credit does not even begin to resolve the lack of communication I have been receiving from Royal Caribbean.

 

 

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I will say from what I understand from the other people on this ship that are staying on to sail next week is that they are still sailing. The ship will have the repair that is needed to sail when we get to San Juan. I hope you all do sail and have a wonderful time :).

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Oh and we can see

Puerto Rico now also, so we are close :)

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Is Royal Caribbean compensating the passengers of your cruise with anything for these problems?

 

 

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Yes, they did credit some to our on board accounts and they are offering some compensation to those that are missing their flights today. They did say in a letter delivered to our staterooms that anyone that has a flight at 2pm or prior will miss their flights and will have to rebook flights.

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Latest we heard was last night and it was that we should be outside of San Juan around 9am and then in the port supposedly 2 hours later. We still don't know when we should be able to disembark. I hope all of you sail next week! Lovely ship, just unlucky this trip! :)

We are on the ship right now and just before I left my stateroom is so aid we were doing 1.5 knots. We can see St. Thomas right now. The captain just came on and said they are still doing repairs at this time and will give us an update again by 10pm. He did say that he is hoping to have us in San Juan on time or a slightly delayed. I will update this once we know more at 10pm, as long as I have internet. :)

Thank you for the info!! I will try Crown and Anchor and maybe they can help because RCCL is not helping at all!!

I cannot access my reservations to complete online checkin at all. It continues to lock me out and after talking to RCCL three times, the issue is still not resolved and the last phone call, they told me it was a global issue. Is anyone else having this issue with the website?