Jewel Of the Seas and Hurricane Sandy

[AmesFL]

Safe travels to those on board and enjoy the rest of the cruise! :)

[Disneycrazymom]

completely off topic but AmesFL I see you are in Orlando. Can you tell me the forecast for Thursday to next Tuesday? DH and DD are headed to Universal for Fall break on Thursday.

[AmesFL]

We just had a cold front, so it's chilly for us now. ;) Thursday through Tuesday look to be mid to upper 50's for the lows and mid to upper 70's as the highs with only a 20% chance of rain on Thursday, but otherwise dry and sunny. It should be gorgeous!

[Langley Cruisers]

I wonder if many of those passengers who had their flights cancelled were able to get another one and make it onboard in time for sail away?

 

Boston airport was open up until yesterday. We saw and heard flights arriving and departing until at least late morning. I don't know how many are missing, if any. It's easy to assume, but we don't know for sure.

 

Anyway, yes, we are finally on our way! We were kept safe and warm and dry and now our vacation can begin. :)

[Leafpeeper]

Boston airport was open up until yesterday. We saw and heard flights arriving and departing until at least late morning. I don't know how many are missing, if any. It's easy to assume, but we don't know for sure.

 

Anyway, yes, we are finally on our way! We were kept safe and warm and dry and now our vacation can begin. :)

 

Wish I could see the ship sailaway. Like many New Englanders, Jewel is one of favorite ships. We sailed her when she was first came to Boston. This is my most favorite ship design.

 

I assume the solarium pool bar was packed since Sunday. Safe travels. Enjoy the sun and fun!

[SRQfireman]

I guess now that the ship and southbound and down, we won't be getting updates from anybody onboard? Hopefully somebody onboard will be getting back on here one day soon and can help me on this...........

So how's the seas out there if anybody onboard reads this?

 

 

For those of you onboard, who is the Maitre D now? You happen to know if "Mark" is still a headwaiter in the MDR? He was on there 10 months ago and could have gone and come back to that ship. He is a young/small indian guy with glasses.....He was such a nice guy. Is the current CD going to be staying on in Tampa?

Thanks for checking on that.....

[flhokie]

Just talked to my parents and they are underway. They will be in St Thomas on Nov 3. Mom has been very pleased with the choice the captain made to stay. She gets sea sick pretty easily and was fine with hanging at the dock for a couple days. They had a nice dinner and show with no worry of getting sick! She was taking her ginger this morning in preparation for sailing. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

 

My parents felt the exact same way. They were considering cancelling at the last minute until they got the news about staying in Boston to ride out the worst. Hopefully they are now past the worst of the seas and everyone's having a great time!

[leekel619]

My son and his family were some of the lucky ones flying out of Disney to Boston yesterday. Every flight before and after them were cancelled. Seriously. And they left in laws at the Orlando airport who were supposed to fly out a few days ago ( Sunday) and were rebooked till today. They saw them When they were leaving...So much stress for travelers! At this moment 19500 flights cancelled. Including 500 already cancelled tomorrow! Thursday! I get nervous just thinking about all those people and what they're doing. Especially with children.

[SheCanShop]

My husband and I are longtime cruisers who were on this sailing as well. We ended up remaining in port in Boston for two days during the storm. Although passengers were allowed to leave the ship for specified periods of time, the weather kept most of us onboard. Royal Caribbean changed the itinerary due to the delay and cancelled two port calls in St. Kitts and Barbados.

 

The changes created inconveniences for both crew and passengers. It was easy to see guests' frustration at having no access to shops or the casino for two days. People were disappointed in the reduction in port calls (this was a 14-day cruise so we spent a LOT of time at sea). Entertainment and activities on the ship also seemed off-kilter, perhaps because scheduled entertainers may not have been able to make connections as a result of the revised itinerary.

 

The vast majority of passengers on this sailing were longstanding members of Royal's Crown and Anchor loyalty program. Although the weather is certainly not within the cruise line's control, the company should have considered offering some kind of accommodation to repeat cruisers as a matter of good customer service. We have heard through the grapevine that both Carnival and Norwegian have offered discounts of up to 50% on a future cruise, and may or may not have also offered onboard credit. I called Royal Caribbean today and was told that there are no plans to offer such perks to its passengers whose cruises were disrupted by the storm. I would think that the company would want to match its competition in a case like this.

 

Has anyone else received offers from Royal Caribbean or other cruise lines as a result of the storm? I'm sure many of us would like to hear details.

 

Thanks!

[Langley Cruisers]

The changes created inconveniences for both crew and passengers. It was easy to see guests' frustration at having no access to shops or the casino for two days. People were disappointed in the reduction in port calls (this was a 14-day cruise so we spent a LOT of time at sea). Entertainment and activities on the ship also seemed off-kilter, perhaps because scheduled entertainers may not have been able to make connections as a result of the revised itinerary.

 

The vast majority of passengers on this sailing were longstanding members of Royal's Crown and Anchor loyalty program. Although the weather is certainly not within the cruise line's control, the company should have considered offering some kind of accommodation to repeat cruisers as a matter of good customer service. We have heard through the grapevine that both Carnival and Norwegian have offered discounts of up to 50% on a future cruise, and may or may not have also offered onboard credit. I called Royal Caribbean today and was told that there are no plans to offer such perks to its passengers whose cruises were disrupted by the storm. I would think that the company would want to match its competition in a case like this.

 

Has anyone else received offers from Royal Caribbean or other cruise lines as a result of the storm? I'm sure many of us would like to hear details.

 

Wow, were we on the same cruise? ;)

 

Here is my review. And no, there will not be any "compensation'; the cruise was still 14 nights in length so we were not shorted any days, only ports (which yes, I understand the frustration).

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1741011 <---click here

 

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[monicajay]

My husband and I are longtime cruisers who were on this sailing as well. We ended up remaining in port in Boston for two days during the storm. Although passengers were allowed to leave the ship for specified periods of time, the weather kept most of us onboard. Royal Caribbean changed the itinerary due to the delay and cancelled two port calls in St. Kitts and Barbados.

 

The changes created inconveniences for both crew and passengers. It was easy to see guests' frustration at having no access to shops or the casino for two days. People were disappointed in the reduction in port calls (this was a 14-day cruise so we spent a LOT of time at sea). Entertainment and activities on the ship also seemed off-kilter, perhaps because scheduled entertainers may not have been able to make connections as a result of the revised itinerary.

 

The vast majority of passengers on this sailing were longstanding members of Royal's Crown and Anchor loyalty program. Although the weather is certainly not within the cruise line's control, the company should have considered offering some kind of accommodation to repeat cruisers as a matter of good customer service. We have heard through the grapevine that both Carnival and Norwegian have offered discounts of up to 50% on a future cruise, and may or may not have also offered onboard credit. I called Royal Caribbean today and was told that there are no plans to offer such perks to its passengers whose cruises were disrupted by the storm. I would think that the company would want to match its competition in a case like this.

 

Has anyone else received offers from Royal Caribbean or other cruise lines as a result of the storm? I'm sure many of us would like to hear details.

 

Thanks!

 

I agree that some sort of goodwill gesture would have been nice. It was something to find while on the beach in Aruba that the Princess passengers got an OBC for the two missed days (they could not board) and then got 50% off a future cruise.

 

I honestly don't know why we didn't sail on Sunday as planned. The RCL ship leaving New York left as planned on the 28th of October. I think they just didn't want some of the old 'loyal to royal' folks to feel sick. I am very disappointed as to how we were only told as we boarded the ship. Had we known the day before I would have tried to make other arrangements using our insurance. Maybe flown to St. Thomas to enjoy the week.

[Langley Cruisers]

It was something to find while on the beach in Aruba that the Princess passengers got an OBC for the two missed days (they could not board) and then got 50% off a future cruise.

 

They could not board. We did board as planned and on time. Although we did not have access to the shops and casino while waiting it out in port, we did have everything else (food, alcohol, lodging, entertainment).

 

Wow, I'm just shocked at how some other people are taking this. It's the price you pay for cruising during hurricane season and completely random that we actually had to deal with it. I am not a "cheerleader" (I hate that word in this context)... I am someone who realizes that, although we didn't get the itinerary we had hoped for, we had an enjoyable cruise nonetheless and were at the hands of a competent and knowledgable Captain who kept us safe.

 

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[msjaxson]

They could not board. We did board as planned and on time. Although we did not have access to the shops and casino while waiting it out in port, we did have everything else (food, alcohol, lodging, entertainment).

 

Wow, I'm just shocked at how some other people are taking this. It's the price you pay for cruising during hurricane season and completely random that we actually had to deal with it. I am not a "cheerleader" (I hate that word in this context)... I am someone who realizes that, although we didn't get the itinerary we had hoped for, we had an enjoyable cruise nonetheless and were at the hands of a competent and knowledgable Captain who kept us safe.

 

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Karen I am with you.... all in all i would say great cruise....we had food bars and entertainment....power ( which i didnt have at home until Thursday ) and the company of amamzing friends..I live with 25 minutes of two casinos and dont gamble so that didint bother me ... we were supposed to leave at 5pm Sunday and left at 9am Tuesday....40 extra hours in port well worth it to stay safe.....

 

The tugs keeping us against the pier really limited movement while in port..cruise activity staff scrambled to come up with activities to keep everyone busy if you were interersted.

 

I am booked on the same itinerary next year and cannot wait !!!!

[mabinbk]

Pretty surprised that anyone could think we should have left port. The ships that sailed out of NYC were required to do so by the Port Authority because of the storm surge, and the passengers had a pretty awful time of it. And the storm was 1000 miles across, so, no, we couldn't have gotten through the high seas "pretty quickly".

[Langley Cruisers]

...The tugs keeping us against the pier really limited movement while in port..cruise activity staff scrambled to come up with activities to keep everyone busy if you were interersted. I am booked on the same itinerary next year and cannot wait !!!!

 

We desperately want to go on this trip again! We had a fabulous time despite the revised itinerary (actually, it didn't even matter to us). We are already booked for a Baltic next summer, so maybe 2014! :D

 

Pretty surprised that anyone could think we should have left port. The ships that sailed out of NYC were required to do so by the Port Authority because of the storm surge, and the passengers had a pretty awful time of it. And the storm was 1000 miles across, so, no, we couldn't have gotten through the high seas "pretty quickly".

 

Thank you, exactly. At first (before I was even onboard the ship), I thought, "Surely we will head out and around the storm, maybe go to Bermuda. Ships never wait out a hurricane in post, it's too dangerous.". I was wrong. My eyes were opened this cruise and indeed, we did wait it out in port, in a very sheltered port and we were safe and warm and dry, had power and all the essentials. Oh, and bacon. There was lots of bacon. :p:D

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[starlake]

I was also on this cruise and at first a bit disappointed that we didn't leave Boston, but soon realized how foolish that would have been. I had a great time on the cruise, enjoyed everyday and will also be on the same cruise next year on the Brillance.

I really thought time flew by after we hit St. Thomas. My hat is off to Capt. Jim.

You always know there is a chance of bad weather during hurricane season and for two years in a row, we ran into different levels of bad weather. They say the third time is the charm.;)