Glory Stuck In Nassau............

[SKeighley]

Hi I am a TA in Ma and have several clients going out on Carnival Glory both on 2/26 and 3/5. I just got off the phone with my carnival representative and she assured me that the problem was fixed this week and shouldnot effect those cruises. I am also crusing on 3/5 and would be disappointed if there were changes. But that is what can happen. I figure it beats all the snow storms we have been getting.

[GroupCruiser]

Hey there SK, I've got a group of 46 on the 3/5 sailing, meeting up with a few other CruiseCritic members as well, look for a bunch of white t-shirts on the Panorama deck under the front turn of the running track, starboard side, for the sailaway. Ask someone where George is.

[laurie1534]

Stierney2

 

Will you please post after you return and let us know how the boat was acting. We are on the 3/19 cruise and am getting very anxious to know the truth also. I called Carnival yesterday and the lady that answered the emergency number was not even aware that the "Glory" was having any kind of problems.

 

I am sure there will be alot of posts from the people on the cruise right now when they return.

 

Just let us know so we can have a couple weeks notice.

 

Thanks

Laurie :confused:

[GroupCruiser]

Great News Propulsion, "You da Man". Must be nice to have connections on board. It's raining in Cape Canaveral right now, so take your time.

 

Thanks, GC

[dosi]

Spoke one-on-one with Captain last night and propulsion has been repaired in full! Yesterday tests were carried out by bringing ship to 'full stop' and restarting both units and taking her (the Glory) to FULL speed!

 

Next weeks itinerary will go ahead as planned..........

 

Good luck to ALL those who are cruising on the 26th...........especially RPSINNJ!

 

Definitely been an experience for all those who cruised the Glory this week...........and it will not end as we disembark the ship tomorrow!

 

P.S. Only thing missing will be John Heald.........and it's sounds most unlikely that he will return to Glory! Next time you will see him is for those fortunate few .....will be on Liberty!

 

Hey propulsion....nice to see you here....hope you had a great trip and safe travels back home.....Timmy says Hi!!! :)

[campdaan]

We are sailing on Glory 3/5 and hope everything is fixed. Too bad about John Heald. Of course our only litmus test for a CD has been Brett Alans on the Legend.

SK please bring some business cards we are looking for a new TA.

George we will find you at the Radisson on Friday.

And anyone sailing 2/26, Best of Luck. I would be breathing into a paper bag if I were on the Cruise after a major malfunction.

I would be curious to know what exactly went wrong. Can "Propulsion" find out, y'know one-on-one with the Captain ? Daan

 

 

 

LEGEND 11/29/03

GLORY 3/5/05

[GroupCruiser]

Hi Daan, I figured SK WAS your T/A.

 

See ya Friday.

[ashumate2]

Thanks for the great update. Glad to hear the Glory is back up and running. We are going in April and I was nervous that this would have some inpact on our plans.

Thanks again!

[SKeighley]

Hey Campdaan

 

Will do. I am staying at the Hampton Inn Friday night. We are driving down from Ma and Spending some time in Orlando after cruise. Making a nice long vacation out of it.

See you aboard. Can't hardly wait.

[campdaan]

Thanks Propulsion !

I've been plowing snow and sanding streets and parking lots for way too long this winter. The bedside countdown clock is in single digits. I guess it's almost time to start packing the Tommy Bahama's. Daan

 

 

LEGEND 11/29/03

GLORY 3/5/05

[finally928]

I'm glad to read for future cruisers that the ship appears to be repaired and the itinerary's will go forward!

 

As a newbie, I have a question ... in the event that a ship cannot make a particular port, and shore excursions have been purchased through the cruiseline, what happens? Are all fees refunded? Or would you have to fight for it?

 

I hope we don't run into any issues on our trip next week, but i am also thinking that we have already spent about $300 on shore excursions, and I would hate to see that money just disappear should the ship not make it to a port destination.

 

Thanks for your expertise!!

[MrPete]

LOL!! Tell Skippy we say hi!

[RWolver672]

I had to laugh when I read the part where there was almost a brawl at the debarkation meeting. I was at that meeting. One gentleman stood up and wanted to know when Carnival was going to do something besides the $100 to compensate us for our loss of the scheduled ports. Others in his group joined in. Someone in the theatre shouted out "Shut up and let it die"! Carlo just looked at the audience like he was helpless and didn't know what to say or do. He finally just proceeded with the anouncements he was making. In my opinion and my opinion only, that wasn't anywhere near a brawl. There was a handfull of people trying their best to get people riled up but we all ignored them and had a great time. Everyone we talked with all said that they would cruise again on Carnival in a minute.

 

We felt sorry for the couple that was going to get married on St. Thomas but weddings have been cancelled because of floods, blizzards and even car accidents. Things that can go wrong will.

 

We were going real slow up until about 11 am Friday morning. We came out of the debarkation lecture and we were underway at full speed. We slowed down at Miami and they told us they were bringing parts onboard to finish the fix. We arrived in Port Canaveral at 6:15 this morning, same as last week.

 

To all the great people we met onboard, you made the cruise the best we've had yet. Hopefully the next one will be better.

[campdaan]

Thanks for all the on the spot reporting. I hope that you post a detailed review.

 

 

LEGEND 11/29/03

GLORY 3/5/05

[BostonAtty]

Thanks for your excellent updates, Propulsion! They were very much appreciated!!

[deerby27]

Post 9/11, when the travel industry was in disarray, everyone from airlines to cruise lines would bend over backward to get and keep customers. Now that we seem to be comfortable traveling again, the industry, especially the cruise industry are fat and happy and seem to care less about customer relations. If one customer is unhappy and leaves for another line, there are ten more waiting in line to take their place. None of us like it, but no one complained too loudly when the prices were down and space was plentiful. It is unfortunate and the result of supply and demand.

 

Although it is not unique to Carnival, I think that Carnivals customer relations department must have all been laid-off because I have been unable to get any kind of response from letters or e-mails. I don't even get the automated response from them acknowledging receiving an e-mail.

 

In regards to price changes, I always get a kick out of the people that think they should get a refund if the price goes down after they make their final payment. If the price goes up are you going to send Carnival the difference? I think not.

 

I will climb down off my soap box now and wait for the flaming.

[calyptoe]

Anyone who claims that the Carnival Glory should not give us additional reimbursement for this sad excuse for a cruise is either a liar or a Carnival representative.It's simple as that!

The Glory knew their was a problem before leaving port,but still ,limped into Nassau to fulfill the contract......it's all up to them to do the right thing now.

If you are planning to cruise Carnival in the future,you would be wise to look into some kind of insurance and keep reading this thread.I'm sure someone will let you know the outcome. The afternoon they made their announcement,a pettition was signed by over 1/3 of the ship(i'm sure it would have been more if everyone was contacted)

 

P.S.....THE STAFF AND SERVICE CREW WAS FANTASTIC!....I AM SORRY FOR THE WORKERS WHO GOT THE BRUNT OF EVERYONES ATTITUDE....I TALKED WITH TWO GIRLS FROM SLOVAKIA WHO WERE GETTING OFF THE SIP IN PORT CANAVERAL AND NOT GOING BACK.BECAUSE OF THE STRESS.:mad:

[khcamp]

After reading everything here I wanted to post my opinion from someone who was on the ship

 

Carnival made numerous mistakes during this cruise. And those of you who say you are on vacation not a work just have a good time needed to be on board. This cruise

was more than a change in ports. Within 24 hours of boarding the ship you are told oh well you are now going to Freeport Bahamas and Key West, Florida. I know many people do not choose a cruise for the destination itself but the difference in St. Thomas and St, Maarten compared to Freeport and Key West are tremendous. The number of shore excursions offered were numerous. i.e St. Thomas – 30, Freeport - 6. Due to this site and others like it cruisers learn of other options than shore excursions offered by the cruise lines. Some of those may never get refunds from those shore excursions

 

Generally cruises are more expensive in February compared with other months like hurricane season. Some people cruise during hurricane months due to the prices

of cruises but know changes in itenary can happen and are prepared. I am not sure about everyone else but when I purchase anything I expect it to be in working order. All that aside here is my highlight of problems:

 

Freeport Bahamas and Key West Florida are not St. Thomas and St. Maarten.

 

When the passengers were notified they had returned from a day a Nassau and were made aware of changes and told they could stay in Nassau until 8pm. If you had rented a scooter or car don’t you think it would have been nice to spend more time on it since you had paid for it? They could have notified everyone before going on shore especially if they had a clue it might happen. Also since the stay in Nassau was originally short lots of us didn't plan trips that could have taken us to other places on the island that took a while to reach.

 

Most of us have expectations of great fellow passengers and other happy people on board a cruise. When disappointment hits people get down. I did not enjoy walking through the ship to a bunch of long faces and depressed individuals. The atmosphere was not exciting. Crew members at times were on edge because they had to deal with unhappy individuals.

 

The port area in Freeport was awful. I woke up to noise from cranes loading cargo on to barges. That is really a great way to start Monday morning on vacation.

 

I personally think the worst thing that happened was to wake up on vacation at 7am. I get up early when I work this is vacation as many have pointed out. Well we arrived in Key West at 6am. Carlos the cruise director was in your ear at 7. He even said for those of you who are early risers you may go first. Everyone ha to rise early – then they called floor by floor. So forget trying to go early then sleep – not possible. Everyone (those who were getting off boat and those who are not) were required to go through US immigration on board before anyone could depart the vessel. That was the most unorganized mess.

 

The disorganization is so evident in everything they did. Even the daily Carnival Capers had Monday, February 22 on Tuesday’s paper.

 

Numerous other things were wrong but that is the highlight. Did I have fun? We made the best of all the situations. I think I could have enjoyed it much more had none of this happened on day 1. Should carnival make it right – I think they should do more than they have done. They could have made the situation better instead it was a daily comedy of errors.

[LDM]

Good post khcamp. You summed it up in a nutshell. I just got back from the glory and am amazed at the posts on this thread. Sure the cruise was fun. Sure we were not at work. Sure we were in warm weather but the bottom line is that there are too many unanswered questions. Those who were not on the cruise should not pass judgement on those of us who feel that we did not get what we paid for. I don't know too many people who would be happy paying approx $1500 a person to go to Nassau, Freeport, Key West and then float off of the coast of Florida on sea days. I understand that the contract says that Carnival has the right to change ports, etc. etc. however, its a little disconcerting when, as a passenger, you hear that Carnival knew of the propulsion problem BEFORE they got to Nassau but didn't inform us of the port changes UNTIL we already disembarked and spent a short time in Nassau. How convenient since Carnival has a 100% guarantee if you are disatisfied with your cruise before you reach your first port of call.

 

 

I still had a great time...ate well, relaxed, tanned but am disappointed with the port changes. It just would have been nicer if the ports were changed to something comparable to St. Martin and St. Thomas and, as all of this commotion was going on the captain kept us up to date about what was going on. Everything just seemed very secretive weel I was on the ship. Again...many unanswered questions and things to think about.

 

P.S. Is the ship fixed? Wouldn't be so sure. Stopped in Miami on Friday to pick up parts and then they were going to fix it so it would be all set for Saturday. Those of you up for the next trip....hope it all goes well!

[JTJ]

Passengers angry about slow cruise

 

BY JOHN A. TORRES

FLORIDA TODAY

 

PORT CANAVERAL - Using words like "insulted" and "ripped off," angry passengers left the Carnival Glory early Saturday morning after spending a week slowly moving through the Bahamas and Florida Keys instead of the eastern Caribbean.

 

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050227/NEWS01/502270316/1006

 

I think there are two types of passengers, those that just like being on ships and those that expect a particular vacation

[RWolver672]

I will post a review when we get back home. We are staying in Florida until Thursday. Guess what...it's raining this morning. Now who do I complain to? Radisson for not providing me with sunshine at their pool? Northwest for flying me down here when there was a possibility of it raining? Hertz for renting me a vehicle when the roads may have been wet? No, we'll just make the best of what was dealt us and enjoy ourselves.

[MrPete]

How convenient since Carnival has a 100% guarantee if you are disatisfied with your cruise before you reach your first port of call.

 

I read about two dozen people took advantage of the guarantee. Why did you not?

[halos]

I read about two dozen people took advantage of the guarantee. Why did you not?

 

touché!

[kbatschke]

One thing seems clear to me; Carnival sold the expectation of one thing and delivered something else. The mechanical problem 'may' have been out of their control (it seems that perhaps there was some indication prior to departing Port Canaveral,) however, not recognizing the impact on expectations, and offering adequate compensation is inexcusable.

 

Sure, some passengers would have only been satisfied with full reimpursement. But most (speak up, those who where on the actual cruise,) would have been satisfied with something in between. Perhaps a $200 credit and 50% off future cruise, used in the next 12 months, would have eased the pain more that what was offered. That, to me, is the inexcusable part. Carnival is a very experienced hospitality provider. They should have the experience with these kinds of things to know what kind of compensation is enough to make most folks satisfied that they have been treated fairly. That is all most people ever want; a recognition that the problems impacted their vacation, and adequate, not excessive, compensation to make them feel whole. The math is still in Carnival's favor. A shipboard credit doesn't 'cost' them face value, and I suspect much of it is incremental income (money that may not have otherwise been spent by the specific passenger.) A discount on a future cruise only costs to the degree the ship is full, and that it actually gets used. How many of the 3,000 passengers would be able to use the discount on future cruise? Still, Carnival would have seemed much more understanding and generous IF they had offered more.

 

I'm sure we haven't heard the end of this one, I just hope those passengers who's vacation was impacted will get adequate compensation, whatever they believe it to be.

 

Karl

[khcamp]

Karl - good point - I do not expect full compensation for my cruise. It would be nice but Carnival should do more than $100.00 ship board credit. However had carnival done that day 1 it would have been better. Seven days of the daily errors that occured just fueled the fire. Speaking for myself I tried to just get over it and have a good time with what was presented to me and deal with the issues when I got home. Some on the cruise were constantly complaining and it made it hard to enjoy yourself on deck at times. One morning we went to breakfast (usually ordered room service) and the couple beside us was raising ----, I had to leave and go get room service so i could enjoy my day. It was crazy.

 

Advice for future cruisers. Get a balcony - when stuff like this happens you can just hang out there and enjoy the sun!