Royal Caribbean strands 145 passengers in San Juan when Irene forces early departure

[dfa1]

I can't believe RCI's poor judgment in response to this situation.

 

It's not Royal Caribbean's fault that this happened, but NOR WAS IT CARNIVAL'S. Carnival made their customers feel comfortable that, even though no one is really winning in this situation, at least they care about their customers. RCI, on the other hand, appear to be clueless and uncaring about their passengers.

 

I'm a big RCI fan, but I'm disappointed in the way they handled this. Carnival did a much better job of extending courtesy to their customers, and as a long time Royal Caribbean cruiser, I hope this is not a sign of things to come!

[nycruiser80]

I agree with everyone else, Royal made a big PR mistake on this one.

In all fairness, the cruise contracts (I believe) do not cover weather related issue and yes travellers should do their best to arrive to the port a night earlier and should purchase trip insurance. However RCI, IMO, got this wrong. While it was not their decision to depart earlier they should have had some sort of plan in place especially since hurricane Irene is not a surprise. Royal could have tried to contact the guests since all reservation have phone numbers in them in addtion they also have email addresses to. Many people have smart phones and would have received the email notifications. I remember when I was a travel agent RCI would never stop sending emails or faxes to the office stating phone numbers where missing from people's reservations and of course we would comply and provide that information. They are so adamant about getting them maybe they should think of a way they can maximize the usage of phone numbers they have.

 

I really do think RCI dropped the ball on this. I am surprised at them but then again having worked in the travel industry for 10 years I am not! If that makes sense! In anycase, they should make good and offer some sort of compensation. The passengers did not miss the ship due to their own fault. These were exceptional circumstances for everyone involved. I'm glad Carnival was able to offer their customers more support. Hopefully this will serve as a lesson for Royal Caribbean.

[drarill]

This storm formed on Saturday, not 2 weeks ago...

What we are talking about here is empathy---the ability to put yourself in another persons shoes. Apparently it's a lost art with many.

The first time I heard about Irene was Friday night and I live in Puerto Rico. Irene moved really fast, I think that it was about 25 miles/hr. The weather last Sunday turned to the worst really fast too, and I hate to admit that I know a lot of people that didn't know that a storm was coming until Sunday. BTW, today is the first sunny day for us since Sunday. my thoughts are with those along the East Coast. I have many friends taking their children to college on the East Coast this week, it is like Irene is following them :-((

[Feelin' Nauti']

RCI has a habit of taking a few days to mull situations like this over. My guess is they will offer up some type of compensation to those folks within the next few days. Some type of a goodwill gesture on their part would go a long way in impacting the overall customer experience.

.

Doubt it very much.

Cruise lines have policies in order way in advance in such a situation.

 

RC said they left early due to a weather-related event.:cool:

This gets them out of compensating their passengers.

But actually it was "San Juan Pier Authority" who told RC and Carnival to leave early.

:rolleyes:

[Scotland01]

We were quite disappointed to hear of passengers being stranded due to weather related problems and RCI not helping out. Nothing seems to have been learnt from 2010 problems.

 

Sadly, we have been there and got the T shirt with RCI, when we lost everything due to the Icelandic Ash problem last year. RCI would not allows us to transfer our Miami cruise to another sailing. They were totally inflexible even although we offerred to meet any excess transfer costs.

 

No matter what we did they would not help unless one had a fly-cruise package which are normally outrageous in price compared with doing your own flights etc. Which is what we had being doing for 20+ years.

 

We have to carry our own travel insurance. Its more or less the law in UK.

 

For those stranded folks in San Juan, I would suggest they claim compensation under breach of contract, no matter what the small print says on the RCI so called contract.

 

This year 2011, we took revenge by going with P&O from Barbados with a fly cruise from Scotland, however we have fallen by the wayside again and are having 3 fly cruises with RCI in 2011.

 

Being canny Scots we weigh up the costs, risks and benefits of Fly-cruise versus booking our own flights, transfer etc to keep being ripped off to a minimum.

Best of luck

 

Neil

[Cruise-A-Hoy]

Cruise line insurance will cover everything booked through the cruise line, stateroom, airline, transfers, etc. If you booked your own air and transfers it is not covered by the cruise line insurance.

This is why I ALWAYS take insurance with a third party and not the cruise lines.

 

Another consideration is those who will be flying to Aruba better have a valid passport.

This is one situation where birth certificate and/or passport card will not work

[ducklite]

TRAVEL INSURANCE, TRAVEL INSURANCE, TRAVEL INSURANCE. They could meet the boat at the next port.

 

Even with travel insurance you still need to put out the cash before submitting the claim. For some the added expense of a hotel stay and airfare for their party could have been more than they had the ability to pay upfront.

 

RCCL has been in business a long time. They must have known that there was a possibility of early departure at least a couple of days in advance--it's not the first time that a weather event has caused a cruise ship to leave port early. That would have given them ample opportunity to reach the majority of cruisers by email or phone. They dropped the ball, and the negative PR will have a snowball effect.

 

I predict that their inaction will cost them far more than what it would have to pay some overtime to try and contact guests in advance, and then take care of those they weren't able to reach who missed the ship. At this point offering some sort of compensation will be salt in the wound of most of the people left behind. I expect that there will be a very vocal group of very angry people who will generate a good deal of very bad press for RCI over the next week or so.

 

I've never considered Carnival for a cruise, however I do need to commend their actions in this case. They showed good business sense, and I suspect they have earned far more business than what their goodwill cost as a result.

[reallyitsmema]

Cruise line insurance will cover everything booked through the cruise line, stateroom, airline, transfers, etc. If you booked your own air and transfers it is not covered by the cruise line insurance.

This is why I ALWAYS take insurance with a third party and not the cruise lines.

 

Another consideration is those who will be flying to Aruba better have a valid passport.

This is one situation where birth certificate and/or passport card will not work

Not true, it specifically talks about independent air in their contract.

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/en_US/pdf/RCICruiseCare.pdf

[bus man]

For those that had no passport; too bad, you gambled and lost. If they had no travel insurance, then they were out of luck; but the cruise line could have responded with a bit more assistance. I guess, though, if they had, it would have set a huge precedent.

 

Their actions have set another precedent: they can leave port whenever they darn well feel like it, and anyone who isn't aboard is SOL. Yes, I know they were forced to leave early; but that's really beside the point. If they are not responsible to their passengers in this situation, then the precedent has been set that the scheduled departure time is meaningless.

 

I guess we all have to show up at the port of departure at 6:00 a.m. from now on, just to be sure.

[Mac303]

My thoughts on this:

 

The order to leave early wasn't RCL or CCL's doing.

 

There isn't a law that cruise passengers, should arrive a day early for a cruise, it may be a smart move to do so, but not everyone has that ability for different reasons.

 

The Cruise Contract is written in the cruise lines favor as it should be.

 

The cruise contract/setsail pass and other information provided to the passengers tells them when they must be on board, passengers arrived in that time frame to find no ship and left to their own to catch up to the ship.

 

Nothing requires you to purchase air or insurance from them.

 

The Cruise line has the abilty to email, or call me anytime they want to, when I travel I have received updates from the airlines even when standing at the gate about to board.

 

CCL, treated the customers well, RCL ignored approximately 130 customers who by all accounts (so far) complied with their end of the contract.

 

While RCL is relying on the contract in the actions taken so far they dropped the ball on customer relations/service, the negative publicity will last a long time.

[Karma5]

RCI, left SJ early due to storm,as told, leaving guest behind. RCI would only help those which had an insurance contract with them.

Poor, decision on RCI part.

Assistance should have been offered to all those involved.

[terrizeb]

My family always purchases trip insurance. However, this would still have been a miserable experience. I can easily picture a stranded passenger standing in the airport with the cell phone plastered to their ears with the printout of the insurance in their hands. Even though you have insurance, you still have to contact them and make arrangements for hotels, new flights, and compensation. And they are doing this on an island bracing for a hurricane.

 

Based on what I've read so far (and it is possible that the fully story hasn't been reported yet), I can't believe that RCI didn't at least have someone greeting passengers and providing assistance even if the customer had to pay for it. Carnival appears to have handled this signicantly better. Even if RCI makes some gesture later, the fact that did nothing for the passengers whle they were in this situation really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I have an upcoming cruise booked the Allure, but this account will definitely influence me when making future travel plans. RCI has told me in no uncertain terms that they do not care about the paying passenger.

 

 

I can't believe RCI's poor judgment in response to this situation.

 

It's not Royal Caribbean's fault that this happened, but NOR WAS IT CARNIVAL'S. Carnival made their customers feel comfortable that, even though no one is really winning in this situation, at least they care about their customers. RCI, on the other hand, appear to be clueless and uncaring about their passengers.

 

I'm a big RCI fan, but I'm disappointed in the way they handled this. Carnival did a much better job of extending courtesy to their customers, and as a long time Royal Caribbean cruiser, I hope this is not a sign of things to come!

[pcur]

So a few years ago, after 36(?) years of cruising you learned this lesson, and that is great. But I doubt that any, let alone all, of those 150 stranded passengers had 36 years of cruising to have such foresight. I would not be surprised if many of them were not (I've read before that about half of all cruisers are first timers).

 

Agree, but what happened to us can certainly help anyone reading this thread to know that you "ain't there until you're there" so to speak. RCCL has a contract, everyone gets the contract, and both parties need to abide by it. RCCL left the pier early because they were FORCED to do so, and the 145 people left behind might not have been able to do any differently, especially if they were on flights.

 

Even when I was a newbie cruiser we took red-eyes to be in the debarkation port early in the day. That's before all the instant information technology existed. So, I really think most of those 145 people could have / should have known there was a hurricane coming in, and made plans accordingly.

 

Per another post above: the weather was horrible that day. I doubt if anyone was wandering around Old San Juan shopping. So, my conclusion is at 5:30PM if you aren't on the ship scheduled to leave at 8:30PM, then your being left behind was unavoidable.

 

People need to be responsible for being aware of their situation and act accordingly. Anyone reading this thread now knows to go into port early, get on the ship if the weather looks iffy, keep informed before you go, and always have a Plan B.

 

For instance, we are planning a Transatlantic next year. It's one of those cruises where the first several days are at sea, and therefore no chance to catch up with the ship except to fly to the first port. The ship leaves from San Diego, and we live about 240 miles away. OK, let's drive says my hubby. Uh-uh, says me: horrible traffic, and no chance to catch up until the 3rd day of the cruise. We still go a day early to the debarkation port.

[Ship's Wake]

In this particular situation Royal Caribbean failed the test of loyalty to it's customers, who missed the ship through no fault of their own. Their slogan is "THE NATION OF WHY NOT", and I ask them this, Why Not take care of those passengers who missed the ship?

:(

 

Very well said!

 

Royal Caribbean management, why not?

[pcur]

Another spin on this:

 

I've seen this repeatedly with RCCL: they ante-up after the fact when there's a s***storm of complaints and bad PR. I think this isn't over yet.

[Cuizer2]

As stated in the article, it was the Port of San Juan that decided to close and force the ship to leave early. Not knowing the whole story, it was probably a last minute decision by the port to do this. The cruise line is left in the wind just like the 145 passengers. I doubt this would be different with any other cruise line.

 

But that is the point. There were two cruise lines effected by this decision. Carnival was clearly customer focused while Royal Caribbean clearly could care less.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4584

 

Hotel accommodations and flights to Aruba to meet the ship were provided to the 15 Serenade of the Seas passengers who had booked the air/sea package through Royal Caribbean. The balance of cruise-only passengers were, upon arrival at the cruise terminal, "advised of hotel availability in San Juan," said the line. The expense of both the potential hotel stay and airfare to reach the ship was the passengers' responsibility -- or covered by their travel insurance, depending on the policy -- because the early departure was a weather-related incident.

 

Carnival response was markedly different. Spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz tells Cruise Critic that the line offered complimentary hotel rooms for two nights in San Juan to all 300 passengers, regardless of whether they booked air through the line. The 300 impacted passengers were also offered a free flight to Barbados to meet the ship. The flight required that they have a passport; about half of the passengers took the line up on the hotel and air offer.

[yj2cute]

I am truly disheartened reading this thread. Yes, I totally agree that all effort needs to be made by the passenger to prepare for the unexpected. Weather should be monitored beginning a week ahead of travel. Insurance is a good idea. However, all that being said, RCCL has done a terrible job handling this.

 

I am a huge RCCL fan, D+ after my next cruise, but they have truly disappointed me with their handling of this. I am not a cheerleader, but am usually one of the ones who say that people have to take responsibility for their own actions, and in most cases, the CL doesn't owe anyone. However, in THIS case, they absolutely should have followed Carnival's lead. No question about it. Any attempt to contact missing passengers should have been made. They may not have been successful, but no harm in trying. After all of that, any remaining passengers should have been made whole, one way or the other. I know if I had been one of the stranded passengers, I would be completely done with RCCL. They are being penny wise, pound foolish in this case. The money they saved in assisting their customers in this case, will seem like pennies compared to the future business they have probably lost.

 

The offices of Carnival are awash with laughter and glee this morning. Whoever made this decision at RCCL should be updating their resume.

[Cruzaholic41]

Forgive me if I missed this in this enormous thread - but has RCI made an official announcement saying they are not assisting those left behind? Has anyone left behind posted here? Please show me a link. If not, how does everyone know this to be fact? :confused:

[TWELVEOHONE]

Not true, it specifically talks about independent air in their contract.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/en_US/pdf/RCICruiseCare.pdf

 

Unfortunitly we just had an experience with this

 

The underwritter is Berkely Insurance company and they will NOT pay for anything not booked through the cruise line

[Cuizer2]

Forgive me if I missed this in this enormous thread - but has RCI made an official announcement saying they are not assisting those left behind? Has anyone left behind posted here? Please show me a link. If not, how does everyone know this to be fact? :confused:

 

Read the link ...

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4584

 

Hotel accommodations and flights to Aruba to meet the ship were provided to the 15 Serenade of the Seas passengers who had booked the air/sea package through Royal Caribbean. The balance of cruise-only passengers were, upon arrival at the cruise terminal, "advised of hotel availability in San Juan," said the line. The expense of both the potential hotel stay and airfare to reach the ship was the passengers' responsibility -- or covered by their travel insurance, depending on the policy -- because the early departure was a weather-related incident.

 

Carnival response was markedly different. Spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz tells Cruise Critic that the line offered complimentary hotel rooms for two nights in San Juan to all 300 passengers, regardless of whether they booked air through the line. The 300 impacted passengers were also offered a free flight to Barbados to meet the ship. The flight required that they have a passport; about half of the passengers took the line up on the hotel and air offer.

[Feelin' Nauti']

I predict that their inaction will cost them far more than what it would have to pay some overtime to try and contact guests in advance, and then take care of those they weren't able to reach who missed the ship..

Not sure about this.

People will book RC. A lot of loyalists out there. ;)

And RC will profit, continue making money, building bigger ships.

[time4u2go]

Forgive me if I missed this in this enormous thread - but has RCI made an official announcement saying they are not assisting those left behind? Has anyone left behind posted here? Please show me a link. If not, how does everyone know this to be fact? :confused:

Yes:

 

“We accommodated our air sea guests at a hotel in San Juan,” she said. However, the cruise line did not make the same offer to passengers who booked their own travel to San Juan, known as “independent” travelers.”

“Independent guests were advised of hotel availability in the area, but the expense was on them given that it was a weather-related event,” Martinez said.

 

(Martinez is an RCI spokesperson)

[libertybelle41]

The fact is : Whether RC coulda, shoulda, woulda.........Carnival did and RC did not.

[CCLNCLRCICRUISER]

Who knew what and when did they know it.

This is a post from the Carnival board. Their guests were checking in at 11am were made aware of the possibility of an early departure.

It seems strange that in all that time Royal couldnt contact pax or even make the attempt.

 

My DD is on this cruise. They arrived in San Juan at 0100 and stayed at a hotel. Arrived at the ship at 11:00 and checked in. She needed to fill a prescription at Walgreen's and they would not let her off the ship until 12 or 1 pm.

 

The bridge finally allowed people to leave with the instruction that they had to return by 5 pm. The ship sailed at 6 pm.

 

So everyone who checked in knew of the early departure and got told to be there by 5.

 

[carol459]

We have cruised out of San Juan before and the vast majority of the passengers were from Puerto Rico. I have a feeling the stranded passengers who did not have air/cruise through RCCL were residents of the island.

Travel insurance is another story. We never insure through any cruiseline because we do everything (air/hotels/cars/etc) ourselves and usually save a ton of money. We have had to file claims re illness and have not had problems.

Going into the port a day early before a cruise is SOP for us.

 

Rick