FLOODING in Europe--can we learn anything?

[remydiva]

Are there lessons to be learned?

 

I have been following the floods in Europe since May 29 with great interest and sympathy. My own Dec 2012 Danube cruise was at risk due to high water levels and I followed that situation like a hawk using Cruise Critic as my ‘go to’ source of information.

 

The stories fellow CCers have posted here of their PERSONAL experience range from complete satisfaction to absolute horror stories. Every river boat company has been mentioned here; one story tells about a company’s stellar customer service and the next post says the same company on the same day, but a different itinerary, delivered horrid ‘service’. No doubt every company and every passenger was having to make decisions on the fly.

 

The final compensations will not be finalized for months if ever. No doubt the companies are hunkered down in board rooms trying to figure out how to survive this PR nightmare. Hopefully, they will also be trying to figure out how they can communicate better to their customers, their CDs on the ground, TAs and here on CC.

 

In the meantime, I wonder what we, the consumer can learn from this disaster to better protect ourselves for future travel.

I have done nearly 20 ocean cruises, 3 river cruises and 3 bus tours but I learned plenty from this disaster.

• I NOW HAVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING THAT THE RIVER CRUISE YOU BOUGHT, MIGHT NOT BE THE RIVER CRUISE YOU GET. When the Danube was flooding in Dec before our cruise I decided to travel with ONLY one carryon suitcase. I thought IF we ended up having to pack up and leave the ship at some point, I was going to travel light.

• TRAVEL INSURANCE THAT COVERS CANCELLATION ‘FOR ANY REASON’ would have been helpful for some; I used to think it was only needed when I had family members with health issues back home. I never considered it before to protect me from disasters man made or natural; now I will.

• WHEN PLANNING PRE AND POST CRUISE TRAVELS, I WILL NOW THINK ABOUT THE ‘WHAT IFS? There are stories here on CC of people for example, ending up by bus in Munich when their cruise was supposed to end in Prague. Have a Plan B should your trip not go ahead or worse yet, end up in a completely different city. It is something I had never even considered before.

• I DON’T KNOW THAT ANY ONE COMPANY STANDS HEAD AND SHOULDERS ABOVE THE OTHERS. They have each had their share of problems. If you think otherwise, I for one would like to hear that before I consider booking my next river cruise.

 

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED AND WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY MOVING FORWARD?

[bobalink]

remydiva,

You have made some well-informed observations. I have also been reading these boards daily in preparation for our upcoming first-time river cruise.

 

My thoughts on "cancel for any reason" travel insurance have changed, as well.

 

Having a plan B (and C) is wise for ALL travelers, and packing light is important, too.

 

Thanks for your suggestions. Good stuff!

[Kathie859]

Sure, I learned that Mother Nature can be a b........:D

[H2Otstr]

Remydiva, very well said. My husband and I discussed this morning that if any trip was "out of control" that we would just pack up and head home. We might lose our money, but that would be our choice.

 

One has to decide for themselves whether they want to remain on a trip and accept what is being offered or whether they want to remove themselves from the situation and either go off on their own or head home.

 

We did encounter the riots in Istanbul and the floods in Budapest. Fortunately those situations did not ruin our trip.

[CruisinGert]

Are there lessons to be learned?

 

• I NOW HAVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING THAT THE RIVER CRUISE YOU BOUGHT, MIGHT NOT BE THE RIVER CRUISE YOU GET. When the Danube was flooding in Dec before our cruise I decided to travel with ONLY one carryon suitcase. I thought IF we ended up having to pack up and leave the ship at some point, I was going to travel light.

• TRAVEL INSURANCE THAT COVERS CANCELLATION ‘FOR ANY REASON’ would have been helpful for some; I used to think it was only needed when I had family members with health issues back home. I never considered it before to protect me from disasters man made or natural; now I will.

• WHEN PLANNING PRE AND POST CRUISE TRAVELS, I WILL NOW THINK ABOUT THE ‘WHAT IFS? There are stories here on CC of people for example, ending up by bus in Munich when their cruise was supposed to end in Prague. Have a Plan B should your trip not go ahead or worse yet, end up in a completely different city. It is something I had never even considered before.

• I DON’T KNOW THAT ANY ONE COMPANY STANDS HEAD AND SHOULDERS ABOVE THE OTHERS. They have each had their share of problems. If you think otherwise, I for one would like to hear that before I consider booking my next river cruise.

 

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED AND WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY MOVING FORWARD?

 

Thank you, Diva, for a very thoughtful & thought provoking thread. You bring up some great points that I hadn't thought of.

 

Other thoughts on post cruise packages: Consider booking your own. I booked my own post cruise hotel on my doomed Viking cruise of June 2nd. And when I left the ship early, I canceled my Budapest Hotel directly. They were very gracious & I did not pay any penalty. I have friends who chose the Viking post cruise option. They could not cancel the hotel directly & they had to call Viking several times to make sure the package was canceled. They have been told by Viking that post cruises are non-refundable for any reason.

 

Thoughts on Air Travel: Again, I booked my own. It was substantially cheaper than what Viking quoted. When I left the cruise early, I worked with my travel insurance (booked independently with Travel Guard, highly recommend!) who got me on a flight out, with no additional cost, 34 hours after I called. My tickets were with Delta. I had paid for Economy Comfort seating, but that was not available on the flight home. Delta has refunded me for that extra cost.

 

Which cruise company has provided the best customer service during this disaster: From what I've read so far, I would put my money on Tauck. They have authorized 100% refunds (not credits) to passengers who left their cruises early. So far, anyway, they have seemed to be, by far, the earliest & best responder in this crisis.

 

Great thread -- hope to see lots of other ideas.

[Mark_T]

Remydiva, very well said. My husband and I discussed this morning that if any trip was "out of control" that we would just pack up and head home. We might lose our money, but that would be our choice.

 

We tend to feel the same, but we also remember that the freedom to head home is linked to having the cash to do it at a moments notice and the knowledge and capability to arrange flights etc. from pretty much anywhere we go.

 

Not everyone has that option so I can understand why some people may have felt 'trapped'.

[Keith1010]

Nice post.

 

Keith

[Cruzin Terri]

Remydiva,

You make a lot of good points. I learned early on that you need to take control of your own situation.

Some people need a lot of "Hand-holding". Others are able to take the bull by the horns and figure out what to do in a bad situation.

 

I have learned that if you don't have enough money to take a trip and deal with eventual emergencies on the trip, then you are better off staying home. If I am in a bad situation I will get out of it. I will try to get a refund, but I will not stay in that situation in the hopes of getting one. Nothing is worth that. I know people that plan down to the last penny and God forbid an emergency arises, I wonder what they will do. I can't live that way. Thank God I don't have to.

 

Always learn from your mistakes. First time, shame on you, second time, shame on me. I have made some. Won't make them again.

 

Go with the most reputable company you can afford. It will pay off in the end.

 

Don't depend on others to look out for you. They won't! In an emergency it is every man for himself. You must take charge of your own situation.

Terri

[H2Otstr]

We tend to feel the same, but we also remember that the freedom to head home is linked to having the cash to do it at a moments notice and the knowledge and capability to arrange flights etc. from pretty much anywhere we go.

 

Not everyone has that option so I can understand why some people may have felt 'trapped'.

 

So very true. I was just thinking about what I would do ;).

[KirkNC]

With regards to weather, river cruising is not much different than ocean cruising. Bad weather can really mess it up.

[cb222]

At all times, we carry our passports in waist wallets that we got online. In case of emergency we can go to the U S Embassy and get home.

 

We also put in it a copy of the other person's passport pages and one credit card and ATM card.

 

We give the hotel a copy of the passport, not the passport itself.

cb

[CaroleSS]

This is a great thread for cruises.....and for all aspects of our lives.

 

What if your car died in the middle of a cross country trip? What if a volcano erupts and your air travel is disrupted? What if the X union goes on strike during your vacation?

 

Life is filled with "what ifs". Yes, I'd like to get the vacation I planned for and paid for, but I've been on enough of them to learn that I don't always get my way. I try to be flexible and self reliant. I HAVE shown up for a shore excursion, not felt comfortable and left. I have always been able to work 'something' out afterwards - not always fun or pleasant or quick tho!

 

I would also hope that the river lines - and maybe an ocean line or two - would be paying attention to this fiasco and walk away with some lessons learned as well!

[euro cruiser]

Many years ago when I bought a house on the ocean my new neighbor commented that if I couldn't afford to lose the house (we were discussing past hurricane damage) I couldn't afford to own it.

 

I think that advice holds true for vacations as well. If you can't afford to "lose" the vacation if something goes wrong, maybe you can't "afford" the vacation in the first place. I feel awful for people who write about saving for years for a trip and how devastated they are when it goes wrong.

 

As I'm writing this it's coming across rather snobbish, which is not what I intend; however, I wonder if a vacation that costs every penny you have saved isn't simply beyond your means, just as a house you can't afford to maintain would be. Terrible things happen, thankfully not often, but they do happen. Insurance doesn't always protect us as we would hope (just ask the folks along the Jersey shore, post-Sandy).

[Cruzin Terri]

Many years ago when I bought a house on the ocean my new neighbor commented that if I couldn't afford to lose the house (we were discussing past hurricane damage) I couldn't afford to own it.

 

I think that advice holds true for vacations as well. If you can't afford to "lose" the vacation if something goes wrong, maybe you can't "afford" the vacation in the first place. I feel awful for people who write about saving for years for a trip and how devastated they are when it goes wrong.

 

As I'm writing this it's coming across rather snobbish, which is not what I intend; however, I wonder if a vacation that costs every penny you have saved isn't simply beyond your means, just as a house you can't afford to maintain would be. Terrible things happen, thankfully not often, but they do happen. Insurance doesn't always protect us as we would hope (just ask the folks along the Jersey shore, post-Sandy).

 

Exactly my point.

Terri

[davidrw]

I think that the main lesson is that the floods are a reminder that flood plains on rivers were designed to flood and historically were good things as it put nutrients back in the fields.

 

The trouble is that we humans decided to build on flood plains, tame rivers by putting in locks and cover up the ground with concrete !!

[Needzavacation]

I imagine the river cruise lines also learned a lot during this situation. They're probably all putting together playbooks that can be pulled out if this type of flooding ever occurs in the future, so things will be less disruptive.

[RachelG]

My take away--have a planB. And be willing to use it if things appear to be falling apart. My thought is that if I had been in the situation recently, my husband and I would have just bailed out, taken a train away from the floods, and made our own fun vacation. We would have worried about getting our money back later. I think many people were hesitant to do this because they were worried they would lose all the money they had already invested in the trip.

[freddie]

Rachel - What you suggest is precisely what my partner & I would do in such a situation. We would abandon ship and develop an impromptu land holiday, rather than endure a hideous bus and mediocre hotel tour. However, we recognize that many travelers are not as experienced or confident as we are in doing such and would regard such a course of action as at the very least intimidating and at the worst absolutely impossible to consider. Those are the people who felt that they were "trapped" on the various "adjusted" cruises.

 

It isn't just the financial aspect of the major change of plans; it is also the ability and confidence to develop a new independent program. That may include elements of travel experience, mobility, language proficiency, credit card limits ;) , etc. Many of our cruising friends on Regent could not manage such a change of plans easily, as they depend upon the cruise line and their TA's to handle everything for them.

 

We will keep our fingers crossed that we will remain able to make such travel alterations as needed for a few more years. After that, we will stick to watching glorious sunsets here in the paradise of the Pacific Northwest.

 

Cheers, Fred

 

An official (or self-appointed) advocate for the wonderful mode of life on Puget Sound, Washington, Pacific Northwest, Universe.

[mathladyca]

We tend to feel the same, but we also remember that the freedom to head home is linked to having the cash to do it at a moments notice and the knowledge and capability to arrange flights etc. from pretty much anywhere we go.

 

Not everyone has that option so I can understand why some people may have felt 'trapped'.

 

I completely agree. We too are fortunate to have the means to make alternate arrangements home or adjust an itinerary on the fly. Even all the insurance in the world cannot help you in an immediate situation that you may find yourself in. A few years ago it was the Icelandic volcanic eruptions that disrupted thousands of travellers in (not just in Iceland). So people have to be prepared!

[Got2Cruise]

I might be wrong, but part of the problem is that many folk's airfare is tied up with the cruise. I learned many years ago that there are many caveats involved when booking your airfare thru the cruise line. As an airline pax you have more flexibility if you book yourself. Just something to think about. Check the cruise air board here on cc and ask the experts.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[STUR]

I completely agree. We too are fortunate to have the means to make alternate arrangements home or adjust an itinerary on the fly. Even all the insurance in the world cannot help you in an immediate situation that you may find yourself in. A few years ago it was the Icelandic volcanic eruptions that disrupted thousands of travellers in (not just in Iceland). So people have to be prepared!

We to got caught with the Icelandic volcanic eruptions to catch our first River Cruise

We where one of the first flights to fly out of the US to catch our cruise we arranged our own air fair both the river cruise Co and air lines said they would work with us if things had to be changed

When it came time to return home Because the Volcano erupted again and we where deled again and missed our connections We where put up in a hotel at the airlines expense

 

We leave again for our river Cruise this Thursday From Vienna To Basel and here again I called the airline and was told not to worry if the river boat cancled

 

STUR DAYTON,OHIO

[Cary Cruiser]

I know the whole point of this thread is "What can learn from...", and while it is always important to plan for contingencies, the fact is that probably 95% of the time things go right. Maybe there is a bit more of a chance for things to go "not according to plan" with river cruising as opposed to ocean cruising, but to me the best course is to go with the flow and enjoy, and take away from it what you can.

 

We booked our November 2013 Danube cruise 5 months ago. It is to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary. Not a day has gone by since then that I have not experienced great anticipation about visiting places that I have wanted to go to for years such as Prague, Vienna, and Budapest.

 

If high or low water, or bad weather changes things a bit, I certainly will be disappointed, but I am determined to have a wonderful time no matter what.

 

Maybe my river cruise will turn into a bus tour. But for the time being I am going to be positive and hope that my trip will fall into the 95% of things that go right.

 

Things will happen in life...sometimes it is not so important what happens, as it is how you deal with it.

 

Stay positive, smile, eat, drink and be happy.

[remydiva]

I know the whole point of this thread is "What can learn from...", and while it is always important to plan for contingencies, the fact is that probably 95% of the time things go right. Maybe there is a bit more of a chance for things to go "not according to plan" with river cruising as opposed to ocean cruising, but to me the best course is to go with the flow and enjoy, and take away from it what you can.

 

.

 

Yes of course....95% of the time things do go according to plan.

 

But just like you COULD leave all your house doors unlocked and windows open while away on holiday and 95% of the time things would be ok when you returned, it is prudent to have insurance, alarm system and lock the doors.

 

The few points mentioned on this thread....(a change of tone from the all the threads bashing the XYZ River Cruise Company)...was what little things could WE the consumer learn to do to better safe guard ourselves and our holidays.

 

Enjoy your cruise in Nov!