Disappointed with Carnival Conquest in Cozumel....make it right :-(

[nealstuber]

[quote name='firefly333']I have had the Carnival ship I was starting to debark from .. suddenly the line stopped. An announcement they are stopping the debarkation because another Carnival ship is tying up to the pier.

It did take quite a while (close to an hour) .. .[/quote]

We ran in to the same thing on the Conquest, but it was actually communicated the night before that if you wanted off, you needed to do it in the firist hour or so because there would be noone on or off while the Valor tied up next door. It inspired us to book the twister to be sure of early debarkation and it ended up being one of favorite days. But we also remember it being ironic that we were given priority debaraktion and ended up waiting around for 30 minutes or so for the crew of the Twister to show up.

[Cactuscruise]

I know it's annoying to have to wait for something you're looking forward to. Things do happen and they are not always explained to you. One thing I've learned from traveling the world using many modes of transportation is not to get too hung up in the details. You may not get an apology or be compensated for your time or trouble. That's just the way of the world. To me it's just not worth ruining my trip over experiences I have no control over. If something is truly distasteful to me, I just don't do it again. Life's far too short to let small disappointments cloud my world.

[DiamondBill102]

I know you said you were supposed to get off at 10am but curious did they make an announcement saying they were disembarking? We were always told not to head down until they made an announcement. Like others said another ship could have been docking or maybe customs issues.

I do agree though they could have told you why the delay.

[vacruizer]

[quote name='conchead'][COLOR=teal][SIZE=3][FONT=Comic Sans MS]They have no problem doing it if one of their excursions are late[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/quote]

My guess is that they either have insurance or a deal worked out to cover the costs if an ship sponsored tour is late. But there are definitely extra costs to hanging out in port.

And I wish I could find it, but there was a story here five years or so about a ship that wasn't allowed to wait for a ship tour because the local authorities said they had to depart. I'm thinking the thread must have been pulled - I remember it getting pretty ugly. Carnival got them to the next port instead since it was a ship tour, but they didn't wait. :eek: A rare exception on that one, though.

[LHP]

[quote name='RuthlessBoss']At first, I could see no connection with another ship docking. Was thinking "so what?" But thinking about it, if the ship was docking in front of you, or even on the other side of the dock, those ropes being tossed could land in the wrong place and strike a passenger or two.[/QUOTE]

Yes, it is my understanding that it is actually martime law. The ship that is letting passengers off does not have a choice.

If another ship is coming in, they must close their debark until the new ship is secure.

[LHP]

According to the cruise ship schedule...

the Magic and Conquest are in port together on the Fridays when the Conquest is doing the Western Carribbean run..

both arriving at 10am.....

they would both use Puerta Maya (which is Carnival's dock)

[dsotm73]

[quote name='LHP']According to the cruise ship schedule...

the Magic and Conquest are in port together on the Fridays when the Conquest is doing the Western Carribbean run..

both arriving at 10am.....

they would both use Puerta Maya (which is Carnival's dock)[/QUOTE]

Not every week. And certainly not on the day in question (July 13).

[url]http://www.puertamaya.com/port-schedule.aspx[/url]

[WisconsinMike]

I was on this cruise, there was no other ship tying up. The Freedom of the Seas was already tied up prior to us getting there on the next pier down. Carnival was just slow with the disembarkation process (Also we were late getting to the pier). Here was the happy return crowd


[IMG]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c39/xxr00fxx/swgsadgas/cruise075.jpg[/IMG]

[spleenstomper]

Wow, I don't think I have ever seen that large of a crowd in my 4 cruises! That is a bunch of people!

[dsotm73]

[quote name='spleenstomper']Wow, I don't think I have ever seen that large of a crowd in my 4 cruises! That is a bunch of people![/QUOTE]

Ship was scheduled to leave at 5pm. We got back about 4, were on the boat in about ten minutes, then watched the rest of the embarkation from the decks (watching for pier runners!).

This shot is of the crowd that had assembled between the time we boarded and say 4:45. Not sure why this throng decided to get back all at once so close to the scheduled time of sailing. But by about 5:15 or 5:30 this crowd was gone, everyone was on board. But still we sat.

Around 5:45 what turned out to be the boat from the mainland excursion showed up at the pier between us and the RCL ship. Took about another half hour for that boat to unload and its passengers lollygag up the pier to get back on the Conquest. Only then were we able to sail.

Again, i found the whole process to be mildly amusing and affecting my cruise enjoyment not a bit.

[hassellcastle]

I appreciate everyone's comments.

Like others have followed up. Please rule out the theory of another ship pulling into port and tying up at the same time, that wasn't the case.

I think the thing that me and my wife notices that made this more so disappointing as the photo above shows, simply put. The Conquest although a beautiful ship, it is huge..thus TONS more people. More people, means longer lines.

Ok, so I lost some of y'all at my "Carnival make it right statement". Sorry to each his own. I would have simply have been happy with an apology or an explaination over the loud speaker from our "Voice from Above, Craig E". We received nothing.
I guess the part that makes me the most upset about the whole process is this. You build your vacation up planning and waiting and waiting for months, etc. looking forward to the Big trip. We were looking so forward to having a FULL DAY of Nachi Cocom after reading all the reviews about that heavenly place. Unfortunately from the delays of debarking with the huge crowds, having to walking through a ton of shops just to get to the cabs..the travel time to and from Nachi Cocom. It just made the whole port seemed rushed. Supposed to be there from 10-5pm as the itinerary said, however the reality resulted in only about 3.5 hours of relaxation...where in that time, your constantly looking at your watch making sure your not going to be late back to the boat.

Maybe I can't put the blame completely on Carnival. I'm sure this can happen with other cruise lines as well. It all matters on communication between your passengers and crew letting you know of delays should they arrive.

Last but not least, I think the biggest problem is that I don't feel the ships stay in port long enough to soak up the fun of the ports. I don't know if this has to do with cut backs or what. Maybe it does cost longer to be in port....maybe they'd prefer us to by our drinks on the ship then in port, I don't know. I was looking at my friends recent itinerary of his recent Alaskan cruise via Celebrity Cruise lines and most ports they stopped in they were there from 9am - 9pm. Now wouldn't that be nice in Cozumel. Also on me and my wife's honeymoon cruise on the Carnival Celebration, we ported in New Orleans one day. Heck in that day we got to go on a swamp tour excursion, eat dinner on Bourbon street and we stayed down in the french quarter until about 11pm before we had to be back on the ship. We got a full day out of New Orleans. (FYI, this wasn't our home port either, it was a visiting port, we sailed out of Tampa).

I think me and my wife have decided for our next vacation we are going to go to an AI down in Cozumel or Cancun for a few days and really take the area in. I just don't like the fact that when in port on a cruise...you feel rushed.

[bplazo]

I have to agree with you about not being in the port very long. I am looking at our itinerary and we leave at 5:00 pm every afternoon and one of the excursions I would like to do is not over till 4:30pm. It would be nice if they stayed in port a little bit longer.

[ward6226]

I was on the Conquest with you. We were told that the Police had held up disembarkation which led to a back up. This caught the ship by surprise (It doesn't happen very often). It was a mess but I am not sure any other line would or could have handled the situation any differently. We stepped out of line and waited for the crowd to wind down then went into town.

[NEWORLEANSCRUISER1]

[quote name='chill6x6']"Hello Carnival cruisers this is your cruise director Corey. Sorry we are having the delay getting off the ship this morning. The Carnival Elation has pulled up adjacent to us on the pier and while the docking procedure is going on we had to put a hold on passengers leaving the ship. To help compensate for this we will move our departure time from 4:30 to 5:00 to allow you a little more time in Cozumel. Again sorry for the delay and departure time is now 5:00. Bye bye for now!"[/QUOTE]

No they can not say that!! But they sure as h*ll can blab about the bingo or the watch sale or something else to get more $$ out of you. We were delayed twice on the Elation in coz. I had to fight with customer svs to get my refund for the excursion I missed. Carnival needs much improvement in this area!!

p.s. I do like your suggestion:)