Disembarkation fiasco on Constellation

[c-legs]

For the passenger it does not really matter what causes the delay but the cruiseline could do a much better job of informing passengers that there is a problem and provide staff members that could help in crowd control. ./............Communication has never been Celebrity's strong point.

 

NOW you're talking !! THAT is the area that guests ought to focus their comments on.

The ''communication skills shortage '' with RCL's brand is notoriously infamous.,and oftentimes, turns the lines into the owners of a problem which was not theirs at all in the first place.

Cheers

[lysolqn]

My favorite cruise line can do no wrong, so let's put the blame for their incompetence on the passengers.

 

Sorry, but that excuse won't fly.

Karen hit it right on target when she said "If there is no crowd control for disembarkation, what would happen in a real emergency where people were actually panicked?"

 

They need to learn how to manage crowds and how to anticipate and accommodate contingency situations instead of acting surprised and making excuses.

 

Far larger crowds are handled much more smoothly and efficiently at auditoriums and arenas. The unruly teenagers (and so-called adults too) at some of those concerts and sports events make cruise ship passengers look like rank amateurs when it comes to defying authority and "me first" attitudes. Yet most of those events are managed without the chaos of so many cruise embarkations and disembarkations.

 

Yes, they already know that some passengers will not appear at the designated place at the designated time. They know that customs officials may be late showing up or may be inadequate in number. They know that when the ship is delayed upon arrival it will impact both the disembarking passengers and the newly arriving passengers. They know all the other things that typically can go wrong in such situations. Yet it seems that time after time they can only manage to wring their hands and shrug their shoulders.

 

 

I'm sure cruise lines the world over would welcome your advice and experience re managing non-compliant pax, crowd control, US Customs and Immigration, local port authorities, law enforcement issues, a myriad of other issues that can result in delayed embarkation/disembarkation, and "all the other things that typically can go wrong."

[etoile]

Finally an explanation for our horrible embarkation experience Sunday! I found it because I happened to pull up the famous "events at sea" page and was astonished to find my sailing on there. (We're halfway through the cruise now.)

 

My experience was with port employees, not X crew, but it was just as badly handled. I will admit that it was so bad I had a panic attack. Nobody knew anything, but that didn't stop them from giving me bad info. That was security and porters, so I was towing suitcases, utterly bewildered, for a long time. Once I got inside, the lines moved quickly at least. But I've never had such a bad embarkation.

 

It's all due to the arrest though. The trickle down effect. Now I know! No other guests do, I think, because I havent heard a peep about it on board.

[Highlander]

Hi Karen (Wandering Writer)

I have to agree with your comments re: the disembarkation off the Constellation in San Diego. We are Elite members with Celebrity and Diamond Plus members with RCCL. We also have 50 cruises to date with various lines.

 

I would have to say this had to be the absolute worst departure of our previous 50 cruises. There was no control at all by Celebrity or any of their staff. Thank goodness it wasn't an emergency evacuation, I don't think they would have been able to cope and as a result a lot of us would have perished !!!

 

I do blame some of the passengers for blocking exits, elevators, walkways etc. on Deck 3 and 4 but I think Celebrity has to be responsible for allowing this to happen initially, they could have handled it differently by nipping it in the bud before it got out of hand. Around 8:30am there were already a few hundred passengers all around the exit area on Deck 3 across from the Guest Services area with their luggage so as a result now any announcement to tell people to move is not going to happen.

 

My wife and I were sitting down in the Elite lounge area waiting for priority disembarkation from the Cinema on Deck 3 when Graeme (Captain's Club host) announced we could leave now, behind a tour group, so thinking we could get off, we followed only to be stopped about 50ft later by a crowd of people about 6 wide moving nowhere. The next thing we saw Celebrity opened the Ocean Liners' exit side (beside the elevators) and the centre stairway from deck 4 to deck 3. The mass of people shoving was unbelievable with nobody from Celebrity in sight controlling this mess.

 

We were in line about an hour waiting to get off. It actually got quite amusing as our friends were on deck 4 taking pictures of us trying to get off. They said they were not in a rush and would get off later. Imagine my surprise when I saw them coming down the centre stairway steps from deck 4 to deck 3 and ended up getting off the ship 5 minutes before us. Go figure! so much for Elite status.

 

In my jobs as a Management Consultant, I specialize as an Industrial Engineer and working in TV Sports, televising sporting events, I see it being controlled everyday and I believe it would have been so easy to correct this problem. It's not like this is the first time people have tried to disembark from a ship. Crowds are controlled all the time at sports events, rock concerts, even airline departures without the chaos that we had to put up with.

 

After a fantastic 15 day cruise there is just no excuse for the poor performance of the ship's crew of the Constellation during disembarkation.

Cheers,

[Wandering Writer]

Good to hear from you George. We had fun right up until the end, didn't we? We even made light of the disembarkation as we inched along. Bob booked us on another Celebrity cruise in November. We will avoid the Constellation for a while however. Hope your trip home was less eventful than ours. Got into Seattle at 2 a.m., had a few wonderful days with grandkids, and then ran into flight delays coming home. Again a 2 a.m. arrival.

 

Hope the Constellation gets its system worked out. The refit was really nice with the Solstice Class amenities added. But truly a ship/cruise is only as good as a captain and crew make it.

[Highlander]

Hi Karen,

We did have fun during the whole trip, it was probably our most relaxing cruise ever and yet we did lots of tours, cabin crawl, slot pull etc.

 

Say Hi to Bob and tell him I talked to John & Christine last week in England and John was still talking about the "man" drink with all the umbrellas we gave to Bob. I hope he wasn't offended, we were just trying to be funny!

 

We met John, Christine, Lorraine, Tony And Debbie (Frozennorth) for supper Sunday evening as they were also staying over in San Diego and we had a nice time unwinding at the Olde Spaghetti Factory in the Gaslamp area. Our trip home on Monday afternoon was uneventful.

 

We are tentatively booked on the Constellation for next Christmas, the only drawback is it gets back to FLL Dec 31st so we will have to find something to do there New Year's eve.

 

We are also trying to plan something for March, but work keeps getting in the way LOL

Cheers,

[Fisherlady48]

I am loving this thread. am I the only one who is forced off the ship!! ie last one standing or in my case sitting up by the pool hoping no one notices!! LOL