century 10/13 cruise cancelled in Nice

[ocngypz]

I just thought I'd post a short narrative of a similar situation we faced on a Deilmann cruise on the Danube in 2006. For those readers who have only cruised at sea, a river cruise is subject to water level problems - too low and you can't go anywhere - too high and you can't get under bridges or around major river bends.

 

On our April 2006 cruise on the (unfortunately now defunct) Deilmann Mozart, the Danube was at or near flood stages for the first half of the week. Not only could they not get the boat upriver to the normal embarkation in Passau, they also could not get to Budapest. They waited until the night before we were scheduled to leave for Budapest in the hope that the levels would subside but it didn't happen. So they announced that anyone who wanted to stay on board in Vienna was welcome to do so - but those who wanted to go to Budapest would be bussed there and put up at the Kempinsky. They had several of their staff on each bus to answer questions and serve beverages. At the Kempinsky (a six star hotel) we were given lunch on arrival as well as dinner that night and breakfast the next morning. All tours we would have taken were still available. The only disappointments were not spending that time on the river and not being able to see St. Stephen's Cathedral and Cardinal Mindszenty's grave in Esztergom.

 

But that's how you treat passengers when something happens beyond your control. They alerted us two nights in advance of a possible problem, announced the new arrangements the next night, and spared no expense.

 

j

 

That's very easy to do with such a small passenger load.... and it is a VERY COMMON occurence with river cruising. They also know in advance as river levels are reported daily.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

For that kind of money one could have enjoyed Europe and return on the original flight..

 

Here is another person onboard:

 

http://fourtimesthefun.blogspot.com/

 

Just so. I don't know why people are in such a panic to go home immediately. They should just relax and use their refund to see some of Europe. And then take their regularly-scheduled flight home. There are certainly worse places on the planet to be stranded than Nice!

Now those who booked a B2B have something of a problem, but I'm sure Celebrity will sort that for them.

[cruiseacecat]

i started in thread on a positive note, but this is the first I've been able to reconnect and I can tell you firsthand that the lack of management, the lack of any plan, the complete mismanagement of the situation by everyone on board up to the captain are just not to be believed....and one can only wonder what would happen if there were a true crisis at sea. Clearly, i would not want to be on the Century with the management on board.

 

There is so much to report that they mishandled with everyone giving different information. The most effected were the b2b cruisers (like us) who were fundamentally told, if you want to do something in Europe, join us on the 25th...but we won't help you plan anything....or well give you up to $250 to change your flight plans...and no one on board or at celebrity hq could understand that we had no flight plans to change...we were coming back by ship.

 

The phones and internet were fundamentally always busy; the folks that we were told to call at Celebrity in the US to help us had no idea that there was any problem and refused to offer any help at all.

 

Clearly this ship needs new officers....and celebrity needs a crisis manual that says something other than "call headquarters for help".

 

we were constantly being told that we would get a letter in our staterooms within the hour explaining everything....that letter NEVER came. Bags were supposed to be put in the hall last night before midnight but they didn't distribute the colored labels until about 1AM. There was no relationship between when your flights were out of barcelona and the bus you were assigned....the line to change times was probably 200 people long at 1AM.

 

I will post my letter to all the RCL board members and the CEO once I figure out how to condense the problems into a single page.

 

More when I get home and have my normal computer to compose posts on....look for a new thread on this topic. I started this one...I'm probalby going to start another to keep the focus on how badly this was handled on the ship....and by Celebrity HQ who clearly only cared about getting the ship to drydock...give nothing because giving something costs money. Let me tell you, from the discussion on the ship and on the bus to barcelona, they have lost far more customers than any action might have cost them.

I would very much appreciate it, if when you return home and start your new thread, you would post the names of the senior officers ie. Captain, Hotel Director, and Guest relations manager. You should have received a sheet with this info. on day one.

I suspect some of us would like to communicate with Celebrity regarding their handling, or not, of this situation.

Thank you.

Anne

[markvk]

This was from a few weeks ago when a Regent Ship had some pod issues.

I think other lines can learn alot from this and how things should be done when there is a problem

 

http://cruisingdoneright.com/2010/10/regent-seven-seas-voyager-ship-disabled/

 

They also were given options for longer future cruises for the same price they paid for the cancelled one

 

Impressive customer service

[JeffCoud]

Just so. I don't know why people are in such a panic to go home immediately. They should just relax and use their refund to see some of Europe. And then take their regularly-scheduled flight home. There are certainly worse places on the planet to be stranded than Nice!

Now those who booked a B2B have something of a problem, but I'm sure Celebrity will sort that for them.

 

Yes and no....that's what I would do of course, but I'm an experienced traveler and like this stuff, but there's a definite subset of people who would take a Med/Europe cruise who would never venture on to land touring on their own...this is not to be negative or judgemental towards people at all -- but there will be folks who will be very very intimidated by this situation and the prospects of striking out on their own. A cruise/tour combo type thing works for them, is planned, supervised, seamless, and now that option's gone for them! So yes, I could see some folks wanting to go home rather than venture on their own. To each their own of course, but I think a week on some obscure beach where the wild ponies run in the Camargue might be nice before heading back to Barcelona!

 

Jeff

[lcmslady]

I've been following this thread and have a few observations:

 

1. Why the argument about law?? None of that fixes the situation for anyone on that ship or the crew?

2. Ongoing lack of communication within Celebrity - I see it in numerous threads. When are they going to get their act together?

3. Rude, obnoxious behavior - who gets the right to behave like a donkey? Your vacation has been interrupted - I'm sorry but act like a big person instead of a bratty kid!

 

I understand that it might be tough to handle but you also have to understand that Celebrity has 1000 cabins (how many people??) to help make arrangements for. There isn't a staff big enough on that ship to do that quickly enough for everyone's liking.

 

This is where a real TA comes is worth his/her weight in gold!

I had an experience in Europe where we flew over there and Globus cancelled our bus tour. They offered us another one but we had an additional week in Germany planned. We asked them to let us look at the new itinerary, see if we could make it work and that we'd let them know in the morning. We figured out how to make it work and got on the phone with our TA in the states who made the necessary changes to our plans and even called our families. She prepared an alternate itinerary that they were able to come pick up so that they would know where we were.

 

You won't get that kind of service from an on-line agency! Thanks to all of the brick and mortar TA's who help us out!

 

Best of luck to the Century folks as they make the best of the rest of their vacations or head home

[cruise pup]

Yes and no....that's what I would do of course, but I'm an experienced traveler and like this stuff, but there's a definite subset of people who would take a Med/Europe cruise who would never venture on to land touring on their own...this is not to be negative or judgemental towards people at all -- but there will be folks who will be very very intimidated by this situation and the prospects of striking out on their own. A cruise/tour combo type thing works for them, is planned, supervised, seamless, and now that option's gone for them! So yes, I could see some folks wanting to go home rather than venture on their own. To each their own of course, but I think a week on some obscure beach where the wild ponies run in the Camargue might be nice before heading back to Barcelona!

 

Jeff

 

Hey, Jeff. I'm back on our old haunt, Millie on Dec. 13. Can't wait to see if it still has the "Judy-Swanee" upholstery.

[flagger]

For travel agents who are also Cruise Critics:

Could you tell us more about how you would have or did help passengers on board?

I got an email at 5pm EDT on Thursday from my client in my home office with a subject that says "Yikes we need your help - our cruise has just been cancelled".

 

Phone call was made to the ship immediately and it did not go through. While waiting for a return email, I too checked for available cruises and space which would match their original plans, cabin category and time frame. They had asked about Voyager and Connie out of BCN onboard, but were told it was all sold out. They have to be back at work by the 26th so they did not have many options and also what they have available to pay out of pocket until getting a refund is limited.

 

I worked with my contacts stateside to see if there were any last minute availability on those two cruises and began working on return flights and accommodations in Nice.

 

As I wrote before, this is a tender port making getting to shore to make a call or reliable email difficult and the announcement for them came during dinner when tender service had already been suspended.

 

The time difference and no live communication was very hard to deal with. Even Facebook chat was spotty. They did not have a MagicJack but I bet in this instance it would have been spotty as well as it took a long time for them to even get online with many times it would fail.

 

By morning, we got Delta to reaccommodate them out of Nice and waive change fees. (No small feat if you know anything about the airlines these days) They just had to wait until Tuesday to come out of Nice. To them this was far better than the 10 hour bus ride back to Barcelona because trains were not an option due to the strike. Flights on Iberia alone were running nearly $1000 a ticket. A car rental with gas and drop off in another country even in the EU can rbe quite pricey as well.

 

After nearly 36 hours of difficult communications, my clients are safely in a small boutique hotel in Nice in low season. They will pay out of pocket for the hotel and will be reimbursed by travel insurance up to a certain amount per day due to Trip Delay. They are celebrating their 30th anniversary on Monday. They got engaged at and on every anniversary until it closed, they dined at a restaurant in Atlanta called South of France. At my expense, they are now dining at a very lovely restaurant on Monday night IN the south of France.

 

One final note about them, the cab driver dropped them at the wrong hotel and then left. After getting directions, they grabbed their luggage and took a bus to the right hotel!

 

I hope this answers your questions.

[wwcruisers]

Hi Everyone !

 

It was definitely a rudder issue.

 

Host Andy, I'm hoping that you or Arno (or any one of the many experienced X cruisers here) can put my mind to rest on this one: As you can see from my countdown clocks, DH and I are booked on Century in April of 2012 -- roundtrip to Hawaii from San Diego. After reading this thread, we are more than a little concerned about the safety and future of Century, in the X fleet. Does anybody know whether this was an accident, as a result of a minor collision, or is it a pure mechanical failure -- capable of recurring in the middle of the Atlantic (or Pacific) Ocean? :eek:

I feel so badly for all of the cruisers who had their vacations ruined, and the poor crew members who had to deal with all of the confusion. :(

[JeffCoud]

Hey, Jeff. I'm back on our old haunt, Millie on Dec. 13. Can't wait to see if it still has the "Judy-Swanee" upholstery.

 

How funny to remember that but yes I wonder too!!

[C 2 C]

Century is now near Marseille (20km or so), idling at under 1km in hour. In port is the Pacific Dream aka Horizon.

[CruisinGerman]

Steamboats:

 

Trust me, I know the Airline Passenger Regulation by memory in Spanish, English and French.

 

Lufthansa has posted on its website a paragraph that appears to cover what they have done, although I do not necessarily agree with it.

 

First of all, you are somewhat confused between the legal concepts of CARE/ASSISTANCE and COMPENSATION for purposes of this Regulation.

 

In cases of force majeure (such as the volcanic ash), you are entitled to only CARE/ASSISTANCE.

 

CARE/ASSISTANCE consists of either full refund, or re-routing including hotels, meals, surface transportation, telephone calls, etc. along the way.

 

If the delay or cancellation is the airline's fault, then you are entitled to CARE/ASSISTANCE PLUS ADDITIONAL COMPENSATION.

 

In this case you are therefore entitled to only CARE/ASSISTANCE. You get either a refund, or re-routing including hotels, meals, etc. if necessary.

 

In your case, Lufthansa appears to be making a very technical interpretation of the rule. That is, by not letting them re-route you (i.e. give you a train ticket or other form of transportation, or put you on another flight, whenever that flight may be), and by purchasing your own train ticket, they appear to be taking the position that you opted for a refund, and that their duty of CARE/ASSISTANCE stops there.

 

Because the situation unfolded live in such a confusing manner, I really think you need to emphasize the position that you were not offered a train ticket directly by Lufthansa and were under the impression that if you purchased it yourself you would be reimbursed. Emphasize the fact that you could have legally opted to wait for the next Lufthansa flight and, if that were days later, they would have had to pay for your hotel and meals which is more expensive than the train ticket.

 

Passengers who were misled by the airlines into believing that they had to pay for their own hotels while waiting for the next flight are submitting their hotel and meal expenses to the EU airlines and are getting reimbursed without incident.

 

In your case, I believe there is the matter of the technical interpretation of the rule, and the confusion that actually occurred.

 

I hope you get your situation resolved, but I just wanted to explain what happened in your case.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[scotslass]

My daughter and grandaughter on cancelled Century cruise and said it was chaos People wandering about at 2am still trying to get information They opted to get a flight back to Scotland from Nice but the first one was Teusday so they are staying in Nice till then They were given a time of 7am to beoff ship Why? They were not catching a flight others who were flying were given times after their flight times.

 

Iknow it must have been a nightmare for the crew having to handle the logistics of a ship broken down in a tender port with a couple of thousand angry and frustrated passengers but it does not seem to have been handled too well

 

The passengers were not given enough time to make other travel plans . They could only start trying on Friday and Celeb wanted them all off by Saturday

 

My daughter had to lend her phone to frantic UScitizens trying to make calls The internet crashed at one point and it was near impossible to get to the free phones on the ship.

 

She has now heard that there is to be another strike on the day she was to fly home which includes air traffic control. She has no idea when she will get home and its costing a fortune as the South of France isnt the cheapest place to be

 

She is so stressed and I feel so helpless WHAT A NIGHTMARE!!

[Scotsnomad]

My daughter and grandaughter on cancelled Century cruise and said it was chaos People wandering about at 2am still trying to get information They opted to get a flight back to Scotland from Nice but the first one was Teusday so they are staying in Nice till then They were given a time of 7am to beoff ship Why? They were not catching a flight others who were flying were given times after their flight times.

 

Iknow it must have been a nightmare for the crew having to handle the logistics of a ship broken down in a tender port with a couple of thousand angry and frustrated passengers but it does not seem to have been handled too well

 

The passengers were not given enough time to make other travel plans . They could only start trying on Friday and Celeb wanted them all off by Saturday

 

My daughter had to lend her phone to frantic UScitizens trying to make calls The internet crashed at one point and it was near impossible to get to the free phones on the ship.

 

She has now heard that there is to be another strike on the day she was to fly home which includes air traffic control. She has no idea when she will get home and its costing a fortune as the South of France isnt the cheapest place to be

 

She is so stressed and I feel so helpless WHAT A NIGHTMARE!!

 

Did your daughter go through one of the big travel agents? if so, a visit to them today might be help them out a long way. If its a local one, or internet, them im afraid that they will have to struggle through and chase the costs afterwards. Sorry that this has happened to your daughter.

 

:eek::eek:

[uktog]

Scotslass

I do feel for your daughter. Did she book through a travel agent and if she did, what help is she getting from them? I suspect your response, if you could post it, might help others understand the difference between UK and US travel agents as UK agents are typically package resellers whereas US agents are vacation planners and therefore more connected to their clients needs and issues

[excitedofharpenden]

Century is now near Marseille (20km or so), idling at under 1km in hour. In port is the Pacific Dream aka Horizon.

I think she'll probably "park" next door to Regent Seven Seas Voyager which is also dry docked there for a propulsion problem they had earlier in October.

 

Phil

[C 2 C]

I think she'll probably "park" next door to Regent Seven Seas Voyager which is also dry docked there for a propulsion problem they had earlier in October.

 

Phil

 

 

Hi Phil:

That's what I thought too but now it looks like Century is about to anchor after turning away from the port entrance. ?

[scotslass]

They were booked through Thomas cook who she contacted on Fri morning They managed to book her the flights from Nice to Edinburgh with Easyjet on Teusday but they booked the hotel in Nice themselves but she has heard from Easy jet that the strike on Teusday will mean no flights . She will have to wait till tomorow to get Thomas cook open as they are closed on a Sunday

[steamboats]

@CruisinGerman,

 

That´s exactly how I did understand it. I´m more or less blaming LH that during the first cancellations they said you´re not entitled to get a train voucher, then during the second cancellations there still was no information available although the did hand out train vouchers. And I´m blaming them for the extremely customer friendly way they handled this. No information on the website, no phone calls getting through, voucher only if you go out to the airport (and you may know that MUC is far out of the city). Let´s say even if I had known about the voucher I simply wasn´t able to spend 3 hours or more to get this voucher for a 5 hour train ride. Of course no LH representatives at the train station (nor in Hamburg which was our destination). I bought online train tickets shortly past 3 am and catched the first train at 5:15 am (of course no seat reservations). They could have been prepared much better to take care of this situation (as it wasn´t the first weekend with flights cancelled).

 

BTW on a German cruise board there was a posting by passenger of the Century who was able to rebook on a flight out of Nice and decided to stay in a hotel in Villefranche on Friday night because he was so appalled by the behavior of his fellow passengers.

 

steamboats

[FinlandGuy]

Hi Phil:

That's what I thought too but now it looks like Century is about to anchor after turning away from the port entrance. ?

I don't think that the shipyard has full personnel to take in the Century on a Sunday. Probably they'll go in the yard tomorrow and will start the work then.

[Scotsnomad]

They were booked through Thomas cook who she contacted on Fri morning They managed to book her the flights from Nice to Edinburgh with Easyjet on Teusday but they booked the hotel in Nice themselves but she has heard from Easy jet that the strike on Teusday will mean no flights . She will have to wait till tomorow to get Thomas cook open as they are closed on a Sunday

 

The local branch here and also the one in Dundee is open, so she might be lucky and her one is open today. Might suggest you try contacting them for her and give them her number. Might save a lot of hassle later :)

[C 2 C]

I don't think that the shipyard has full personnel to take in the Century on a Sunday. Probably they'll go in the yard tomorrow and will start the work then.

 

 

Zigging & Zagging... Rudder testing?:

 

[A Sixth?]

Zigging & Zagging... Rudder testing?:

 

 

 

Cool! :cool:

 

Where'd you find that? Care to share the link.

[FinlandGuy]

Cool! :cool:

 

Where'd you find that? Care to share the link.

 

http://marinetraffic.com/ais/#

 

I don't remember how long the ship is, but you get that image when you zoom very close. You'll notice that the track is within 200m, so I would assume that the ship is anchored and just floating around the anchored point.

[Winedown2]

That is the coolest link ever possibly.. Do share!

 

I feel for all these folks..

 

I would LOVE X to hire me for managing these scenarios for them.. I have to send my resume.. This is wHAt I do for a living, having been in service 20 years.... managing crises is a specialty...I could get an FMEA for these scenarios done ASAP and a plan devised within days... You know where to find me X!!!