Voyager - Nov. 4, 2005

[CatP27]

Yes, boarding the Voyager on Nov. 4 was a nightmare!!! I had 4 diabetics, 3 wheelchairs, and 2 people that had a hard time walking or standing for very long. There was 1 extremely long line for food - hot dog, sandwich, chips, water, & soda. Some of my group members stood in line to try to get food for the wheelchair / diabetic members of the group and after over 1 1/2 hours were still only half way thru!!! I finally got one of the people in charge to get food and water for them. There was 1 bathroom for over 2,000 people to use!!!!!! Need I say more??? When boarding finally began, they did make sure that only the people with the numbers called were allowed thru to the lines to pick up the Sea Passes. I finally got an employee to take my wheelchair people on board so that they did not have to wait any longer.

 

I complained at the Purser's Desk the next morning and was told to go to Deck 2 where I could speak with representatives from Miami. They basically were there to send comments to corporate office. They said that we would NOT be compensated for the delay or horrible boarding process.

 

Overall, my group had a wonderful cruise. However, I spent most of my trip troubleshooting problems. I had one family in particular that had a leaky toilet soaking their cabin rugs from day 1. Every day we went and told them about it and every day they said that it would be fixed. They had to wear shoes in their cabin and walk on towels thrown over all the wet areas, even to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. Totally unacceptable! The seal was finally fixed the night before our last day. Ridiculous!!! They were offered a 25% discount on their next RCCL cruise after I specifically stated that they wanted part of their money refunded and did not want any discounts on future cruises. It just seemed that RCCL could care less about their passengers.

 

We did have a blast in the dining room with our waiter, Josep! He was the best.

 

The Meet & Mingle was a joke. RCCL had a few hor'deurves out and juice, but didn't do any trivia or even send a photographer to take out picture so that we could post it for you all to see. And there were quite a few of us in attendance! We finally did our own picture, but over half of the people had left by that time.

 

Back to Carnival for my future groups! They know how to treat us right!!!

 

Sea ya,

 

CatP27

[abrauns783]

yes friday was a mess. did not get on the ship till 9:30. the ground based info servers was poor. i got more info from the internet than from their 800 number!! the meet and mingle was also very poorly run. other than that we had a great trip.

[lilkrz]

I was also on the Nov. 4th sailing. I received no word of a late departure from RCCL and found myself in this mess from 3pm till 9:30 pm. I waited in line to get a sandwich for an hour only to get up to the table and was told that they were getting more sandwichs which meant another half hour wait. I heard there was another 1,000 people outside that couldn't even get into the building. RCCL knew the day before that they would not be in Bayonne till late afternoon. RCCL made no attempt to e-mail, call or post on their website anything about the late boarding. Even though RCCL couldn't control the weather I found they made a bad situation worse by not informing people of the late boarding. I also want to warn people to check their sea pass account on the TV each day because they made several errors on mine that had to be corrected!!! I love cruising but it will be some time before I cruise with RCCL again.

[teddie]

I was on the Oct 30th sailing that arrived late into Bayonne on the 4th. I feel for you guys; lots of flight rescheduling for those on my cruise, and I knew that the oncoming passengers would have a hard time, too.

 

I did post here on these boards on November 3rd about the delayed return, and I hope that it helped some of you.

 

I guess when it comes to cruising and weather, we need to be ready for anything. Maybe it's time to confirm cruises the day before and the day of sailing for any changes, especially during hurricane season.

[NJMetsFan]

I was on that cruise and there were plenty of people that knew about the delays and came early anyway. If they had told everyone to get there at 7, it would have been a nightmare navigating around in the dark. It's amazing how many people let this ruin their vacation by complaining about it all week. It definetely was not pleasant but we made the best of the situation. Yes RCCL could have handled it better but as one other person mentioned on the ship to me, the people in New Orleans had to put up with major inconveniences for a long time. Most people were put out for only 6 or 7 hours. Put things in perspective and you'll be able to deal with the unexpected consequences much easier in the future. My family had a great time and I wish I was still cruising today. I have to say the service on board was great.

[HurricaneSally]

I have been to many meet and mingles and never had no much as a pretzel. How did you get hors duerves (never could spell that word)? Photographer? For a meet and mingle? Wow, aren't you special.

[tersa51]

I was on that cruise and there were plenty of people that knew about the delays and came early anyway. If they had told everyone to get there at 7, it would have been a nightmare navigating around in the dark. It's amazing how many people let this ruin their vacation by complaining about it all week. It definetely was not pleasant but we made the best of the situation. Yes RCCL could have handled it better but as one other person mentioned on the ship to me, the people in New Orleans had to put up with major inconveniences for a long time. Most people were put out for only 6 or 7 hours. Put things in perspective and you'll be able to deal with the unexpected consequences much easier in the future. My family had a great time and I wish I was still cruising today. I have to say the service on board was great.

 

I agree with you to a point. Your note about perspective is good, but the analogy to N.O. is slightly flawed. Nobody paid thousands of dollars to be inconvenienced (read: ravaged) by Katrina. I was not at all upset by the lateness of the boarding process; rather, I was disappointed in the way the passengers were handled in Bayonne. No crowd flow control, inadequate facilities and insufficient information dispersal are just some of the things that need addressing. I know it's not all RCCL's fault (obviously, the weather is not their problem, and the workers are contracted folks in Bayonne), but they have the clout to step in and make things a little better here. After all, we effectively lost a day on the ship (at least an evening).

[tersa51]

Duplicate Post...Sorry.

[Merion_Mom]

Well, to be literal, no. You booked a "nine night" cruise. You got nine nights. Sometimes you can get on "early" and "steal" an extra day, but they fulfilled their contract with you to give you a "nine night cruise."

 

I am sorry that you encountered difficulties; that must have been very frustrating. There WAS information about there, for a few days in advance, that the previous sailing was being held in Bermuda because of the weather.

 

Glass half full, glass half empty. Pick one. :D

[tersa51]

Well, to be literal, no. You booked a "nine night" cruise. You got nine nights. Sometimes you can get on "early" and "steal" an extra day, but they fulfilled their contract with you to give you a "nine night cruise."

 

I am sorry that you encountered difficulties; that must have been very frustrating. There WAS information about there, for a few days in advance, that the previous sailing was being held in Bermuda because of the weather.

 

Glass half full, glass half empty. Pick one. :D

 

Understood. We did have a great time...no worries there. Personally, the trouble is, that first night didn't count for us, as we were simply too exhausted to partake in anything, and I'm sure the same went for most of the folks. I'm not advocating that RCI reimburse anyone, as it was still a 9-night cruise, as you said. No issues there, even though it was a bummer.

 

FWIW, we did heed all the warnings and didn't arrive at the pier until 7:00 or so. Still, there was a lot of waiting to do!