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

[Cruzaholic41]

Read the link ...

 

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

 

Thank you for the link. I think RCI calling this a weather related event in order to avoid compensation is crap. Leaving a port early, especially an embarkation port should be recognized by anyone with sense at RCI to be an extreme burden on their paying passengers.

 

For all those comments relating to the contract; contracts, regardless of what they say, do not completely protect the cruise line from a civil lawsuit. There are countless loopholes to contracts and they can be litigated on numerous terms, including a passenger's understanding of it, regardless of what it actually means. I anticipate RCI facing legal action in this case if what has been reported is true.

[CCLNCLRCICRUISER]

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

 

Most of the local residents would have probably boarded much earlier than the cutoff time.

[dmwnc1959]

Royal Caribbean should be ASHAMED of themselves....

 

"Carnival Cruise Lines left about 300 passengers behind in San Juan Sunday when approaching Hurricane Irene forced it to depart the island early. But unlike Royal Caribbean, which faced a similar problem, Carnival put all the passengers up in hotels and offered to fly them to the next port."

 

http://travel.usatoday.com/cruises/post/2011/08/carnival-cruise-lines-royal-caribbean-san-juan-hurricane-irene/416604/1

[nydiana]

RCI frequently posts messages on their home page about changes in itineraries and times. Currently they have a message on their home page about Explorer leaving Cape Liberty early this coming Saturday. Especially since there was a big storm imminent, passengers should check the website.

 

 

Here is the tex of the current message on their website:

 

 

Tropical Weather Update

August 25, 2011

10:00 a.m. E.S.T

 

 

Royal Caribbean International continues to closely monitor the path and progress of Hurricane Irene to ensure guests enjoy safe and comfortable cruises, and to make certain our ships steer clear of the storm. The safety of our guests and crew is always our foremost concern.

 

In an abundance of caution, and in order to provide our guests with a safe and comfortable sailing, Explorer of the Seas will depart Cape Liberty, Bayonne, New Jersey, on Saturday, August 27, at 4:00 p.m. – one hour earlier than originally scheduled. We ask that all guests arrive at the pier no later than 3:00 p.m.

 

At this time, Royal Caribbean has not altered the itineraries of any ship that departs this Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Royal Caribbean will continue to closely monitor weather conditions and will update this information again today, August 25, at 6:00 p.m. E.S.T.

 

Diana

[carol459]

Most of the local residents would have probably boarded much earlier than the cutoff time.

 

Sorry to disappoint you but it was just the opposite when we were there. The big local crowd hit just before sail time.

 

Rick

[Pandy92545]

My question is, what if a parent left their teenager on board the ship because they didn't want to get off the ship in San Juan. Now the child is cruising alone until only God knows when and have no idea when their parent will be back. As a mom, that would be my major concern.

[nydiana]

I feel RCCL should have provided assistance to all the passengers left stranded. That being said, let Carnival boast and brag now. They did do the right thing. However, it wasn't that long ago (many 2 years) that their ship, The Splendor, was stranded at sea due to an onboard fire and it took them a long time getting those passengers back to port. I won't even mention the food situation on board. The ship went into drydock and a lot of future cruises were cancelled. They got a lot of bad publicity from that. They ate a lot of crow on that one!

 

That was a CCL ship NOT a RCI ship. I think it was just last summer of the coast of Calf.

 

Diana

[green eyed lady]

incorrect post

[bus man]

Not sure about this.

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

And RC will profit' date=' continue making money, building bigger ships.[/quote']

 

Remember, the great majority of passengers on most cruises are first-timers, or maybe second-timers. They will not have developed brand loyalty as of yet. In the future, when Joe and Sally are sitting around the kitchen table, thinking about taking their first cruise, they may well remember that time they heard about when that Royal Caribbean ship departed early, leaving a bunch of stranded customers high and dry. They may also remember that Carnival bent over backwards to serve their guests. Hmmm, I wonder which cruise line they'll look at more carefully, and which one will be dropped from further consideration?

[MAHA]

The article also states that Serenade departed at 5:30 PM while they quote a guest who says she arrived at the pier shortly after 5 PM to find the ship gone and the pier closed.

 

So what is the truth?

 

Isn't San Juan time in a different time zone. In which case, the ship may have left at 5:30 San Juan time, but the passenger who was quoted may have been on East Coast time.

[green eyed lady]

My question is, what if a parent left their teenager on board the ship because they didn't want to get off the ship in San Juan. Now the child is cruising alone until only God knows when and have no idea when their parent will be back. As a mom, that would be my major concern.

 

San Juan was the embarkation port not a stop on the cruise so likely the whole family would have boarded at the same time.

[libertybelle41]

My question is, what if a parent left their teenager on board the ship because they didn't want to get off the ship in San Juan. Now the child is cruising alone until only God knows when and have no idea when their parent will be back. As a mom, that would be my major concern.

 

Now that would for sure NOT be RC fault. It would be

a hard lesson learned. We would never leave our kid on the ship if even for a short time, EVER. It would be all of us on or all of us off....period!

[TonyFred]

This is a total PR nightmare for Royal. Saying that they could not contact passengers is a copout. They could have at least TRIED. I cant believe that Carnival handled this so much better than RCCL.

[Captain Jake]

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.

 

 

Amen! Most people don't give a darn about things unless it happens to them.

The Cheerleaders come out in groves to defend their beloved RCCL

[Pandy92545]

San Juan was the embarkation port not a stop on the cruise so likely the whole family would have boarded at the same time.

 

Ohhh ok. Thanks!!:)

[readytogo2]

I am surprised that very few posted about this on Royal Caribbean's facebook page.

[Captain Jake]

I am surprised that very few posted about this on Royal Caribbean's facebook page.

 

Royal can delete posts on Facebook

[Wendy-Europe]

Today in the morning (European time) there was NO information on their website (I was looking for informations about their "Israel ports"....)

 

I searched carefully - international and german website....

 

Funny enough - the "newest" News on their german website is from October 2010...

 

I try to call them - no chance - line is busy the whole day.

 

If you would like to BUY something - many options.

 

It seems it is much easier to book a cruise with RCCL than to get any informations. You do not get them, if you TRY to get it...

 

Update.... a wonder.... a real person at the phone - Germany.... she was very surprised..... no - no route changes for Israel ports planned...

 

And a request from my side about the actual earlier departure times and why there is NO information about that at their german website made her upset and I was told: It is NOOOOOO problem - WEEEEE informed all of our guest ..... oh sure - and what happened with these unlucky 145....

 

Wendy

[lettienets]

I was in Catalina Is (CA) once on Carnival Elation and we were tendered off the ship. We were told if bad weather was coming the ship horn would blow a warning sound to tell people to come back to the ship.

In this case, in San Juan, particularly Old San Juan could those ships not have at least warned the passengers within distance of OSJ to come back to the ship? At least to help get a few more people onboard. Just wondering if anybody else has been in a situation like that.

[kjfrozen]

I posted about RCL's actions on MY Facebook. I have over 450 friends on MY Facebook who now know about RCL's leaving passengers behind and not taking care of those they left behind. :eek: I *am* appalled by RCL's actions and I think it will haunt RCL for awhile. :eek: Kudos to Carnival for taking the high road and doing the RIGHT thing.

 

I guess my point is this. People know people. This snafu by RCL will not just affect those left behind, I'm sure their family members will hear about it, friends will hear about it, those who have cruised RCL in the past and are scheduled to cruise with them in the future will hear about it, this may very well have a SNOWBALL effect on RCL.

 

I'm also an RCL Stockholder. I can say "hey... great... they didn't spend my money paying for a bunch of people to the next port or for hotels", but in actuality, I think their decision will have a greater financial impact on the company through lost revenues by people choosing other cruise lines, maybe even Carnival (since they must go to similar ports down there).

 

I guess to sum it up. I'm disappointed in RCL. And while I've never sailed on Carnival, it sounds like they are trying to improve their image and may give RCL a run for their money pretty soon. I hope RCL staff who may read this board will realize they do need to make things right for those affected, but it may be too little, too late.

 

- Kris

[CRUZBUDS]

I feel RCCL should have provided assistance to all the passengers left stranded. That being said, let Carnival boast and brag now. They did do the right thing. However, it wasn't that long ago (many 2 years) that their ship, The Splendor, was stranded at sea due to an onboard fire and it took them a long time getting those passengers back to port. I won't even mention the food situation on board. The ship went into drydock and a lot of future cruises were cancelled. They got a lot of bad publicity from that. They ate a lot of crow on that one!

 

 

I disagree about the way Carnival handled the Splendor. They did a phenomenal job. They had no control on the availability or speed of tug boats to tow her in. Once into San Diego, Carnival had people standing by to assist (including their CEO). Passengers and excess crew were taken to luxury hotels. Passengers were given the option of staying in San Diego for what would have been the rest of the cruise at Carnival's expense and then being flown home or being flown home immediately at Carnival's expense. They also received full refunds and a free future cruise. They didn't point to the small print that would have exempted them from responsibility.

 

They did absolutely everything possible and most passengers appreciated it.

 

There were varying degrees of satisfaction for the compensation for the future cruises that needed to be canceled.

 

Read John Held's blog account of the incident hour by hour -- it was a very impressive effort by the whole crew -- very good reading for any cruise enthusiast.

[figment9999]

OK, stuff happens, but in a Carnival vs RCCL comparison of the San Juan situation Carnival took care of it's customers, RCCL didn't - period.

So Carnival-1, RCCL-0

 

One key learning here was to always take your passport on-shore, just in case.

 

Something I have not done in the past but will do in the future based on the situation these 450 folks found themselves in.

[gregg204]

OK, stuff happens, but in a Carnival vs RCCL comparison of the San Juan situation Carnival took care of it's customers, RCCL didn't - period.

So Carnival-1, RCCL-0

 

You nailed it...way to go Carnival !

[Cruzaholic41]

I disagree about the way Carnival handled the Splendor. They did a phenomenal job.

 

I have to agree that, considering the circumstances, Carnival did the best they could with that situation. Probably the best decision they made was getting towed back to San Diego opposed to the original plan of Ensenada.

 

I think CCL deserves a huge thumbs up in this case. However, let's not forget that at one time or another, all cruise lines will react poorly to a situation. This one, CCL shined. Does anyone remember the New Orleans debacle during Hurricane Ike? CCL did not shine so bright in that one. I suspect they learned a lesson there which resulted in going above and beyond in this case. Now, they will be remembered for this one. Good PR move.

[Mark_K]

Isn't San Juan time in a different time zone. In which case, the ship may have left at 5:30 San Juan time, but the passenger who was quoted may have been on East Coast time.

San Juan is Atlantic time, but it doesn't use daylight savings time, so in the summer San Juan and the east coast are the same time. In the winter it's an hour later in San Juan.