Galveston weather concerns

[Traciewatson]

I feel so guilty for sitting here in my comfy home worrying if I will go on a cruise in a week when so many are in a life threatening situation. From everything I have read it looks like it will still be a mess there next weekend, but cruises should go out of Galveston like normal. I had a friend that cruised out of Galveston the week after Ike so she has assured me that we will be leaving next week. Any thoughts? Again if RCI cancelled and donated all the food and supplies to those in Texas I would be satisfied, but it would just be nice to have some idea.

[offnoncruiser]

Wow, just wow.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

Reading through some of those Facebook responses from RCI was just astounding. It is truly hard to believe that RCI maintained that hard line stance, basically until the diversion to Miami was announced, even though it was quite clear much earlier in the day that the situation in the Houston area was catastrophic.

[lbjen]

If anyone was so sure that it was not safe to travel 24 hrs in advance, they had the option to not travel. If they were so much better weather intel then RCCL they would be "sure" of the eventual outcome, stayed home and let the chips fall where they "knew" they would.

 

But, just as RCCL was not "sure" what was going to happen, neither were the passengers. I'm not sure why one party should be clairvoyant and assume all financial responsibility.

 

And I have walked in these similar shoes.

 

Some may remember Hurricane Ivan from 14 or so years ago. She closed Port Canaveral when we were scheduled to sail Mariner OTS from there. I don't remember what all of our options were, but the option we took was changing our round trip tickets to Miami as we were told Mariner would round trip from there until the PC was open. Turned out the PC opened sooner than expected and we debarked there. We didn't pay anything to change either flight (the return was changed twice) and RCCL opened the phones for free (before it was relatively cheap) to make it possible and had buses back to MIA who needed to go there.

 

It was a wonderful cruise, except for the people complaining that we only got 3 ports instead of the scheduled 4.

 

My point is this. We had faith that the Cruise Line and Airline (Delta-Song now defunct) would do the best they could under the circumstances and they did.

 

We might have had more options on the front side than those in the current situation, but we did not start out by expecting the "right" to cancel. We gave the cruise line and the airline time to make an INFORMED DECISION as opposed to a GOOD GUESS and it worked out ok for all. And that's what looks like is happening here (at lest with respect to those who were planning to sail today).

 

 

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Tell that to the person who is stranded in a hotel room and watched their car float away this morning.

[Aggiebuttercup]

I feel so guilty for sitting here in my comfy home worrying if I will go on a cruise in a week when so many are in a life threatening situation. From everything I have read it looks like it will still be a mess there next weekend, but cruises should go out of Galveston like normal. I had a friend that cruised out of Galveston the week after Ike so she has assured me that we will be leaving next week. Any thoughts? Again if RCI cancelled and donated all the food and supplies to those in Texas I would be satisfied, but it would just be nice to have some idea.

 

You'll know more by Thursday. The port should be okay by next weekend, it's more a matter of whether or not people can get there safely. We have to wait and see when the rain stops, and how high the rivers and bayous crest and when they start to recede.

 

I hope - for your sake and ours! - that the water has gone down enough that it will be safe for you to travel.

[Traciewatson]

You'll know more by Thursday. The port should be okay by next weekend, it's more a matter of whether or not people can get there safely. We have to wait and see when the rain stops, and how high the rivers and bayous crest and when they start to recede.

 

I hope - for your sake and ours! - that the water has gone down enough that it will be safe for you to travel.

 

Thank you! Sending prayers your way.. I was also thinking it may cause more trouble if all these cruise passengers head to an area that is already struggling. RCI will only say that next weeks cruise will not change and will sail.

[caribill]

Weather forecast for Houston area is that as much rain that has already fallen will fall again by Friday.

 

It is anyone's guess when reliable airline service will resume, when I45 to Galveston will be fully open again, when transportation from either airport to Galveston will be able to operate again, when Galveston will be ready to receive visitors again, etc.

 

Frankly, you could flip a coin to decide when the Port of Galveston will be open again and when passengers for the next cruise can make it to Galveston whether they are flying to Houston or live within driving distance.

[caribill]

...and Spirit. I'll never figure that one out

 

Spirit's motto: "At least we are not United."

[nealstuber]

Tell that to the person who is stranded in a hotel room and watched their car float away this morning.

 

 

 

If it was "their" car, they were local and did not have to leave when they did. If they flew in, very few options for a car rental in the first place and Enterprise charges so much for a one way rental I feel little pitty for them. Have you ever sailed from Galveston?

 

We've sailed from Galveston/ Bayport a dozen or more times. Always arrived the day before, but if the weatherman was saying what he was saying when we planned to leave, we would have waited a bit and/or stopped a couple of hours out instead of heading to the island or the Hobby area like we normally do.

 

My part in this thread started with the notion that folks should have been given the option to cancel further in advance because folks who were flying in the day before "could not tell the pilot to turn around"

 

True Dat! But their cars are not floating away.

 

I travel A LOT for business and pleasure. If there is one thing I've learned in my 120+ flight segments a year for the part three years, is that you don't make a last minute travel decision until you have to. Absolutely gather information when necessary (especially since it constitutes something to do in an airport) and make a contingency plan, but never, ever, plan around a hotel reservation or a car reservation.

 

Your drama of "tell that to a Galveston Cruiser as they watch their car float away" certainly could inspire sympathy. I challenge you to find ONE would be Galveston cruiser from this tragedy who actually fit that profile.

FAR more likely, if the storms continues, that local cruisers on these 4 ships might come back to find their cars have already floated away which is one reason I applaud RCCL's pragmatic and PATIENT approach to this incident.

 

 

 

 

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[grandgeezer]

If it was "their" car, they were local and did not have to leave when they did. If they flew in, very few options for a car rental in the first place and Enterprise charges so much for a one way rental I feel little pitty for them. Have you ever sailed from Galveston?

 

We've sailed from Galveston/ Bayport a dozen or more times. Always arrived the day before, but if the weatherman was saying what he was saying when we planned to leave, we would have waited a bit and/or stopped a couple of hours out instead of heading to the island or the Hobby area like we normally do.

 

My part in this thread started with the notion that folks should have been given the option to cancel further in advance because folks who were flying in the day before "could not tell the pilot to turn around"

 

True Dat! But their cars are not floating away.

 

I travel A LOT for business and pleasure. If there is one thing I've learned in my 120+ flight segments a year for the part three years, is that you don't make a last minute travel decision until you have to. Absolutely gather information when necessary (especially since it constitutes something to do in an airport) and make a contingency plan, but never, ever, plan around a hotel reservation or a car reservation.

 

Your drama of "tell that to a Galveston Cruiser as they watch their car float away" certainly could inspire sympathy. I challenge you to find ONE would be Galveston cruiser from this tragedy who actually fit that profile.

FAR more likely, if the storms continues, that local cruisers on these 4 ships might come back to find their cars have already floated away which is one reason I applaud RCCL's pragmatic and PATIENT approach to this incident.

 

 

 

 

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The applause from one is deafening.

[lbjen]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2442480&page=20

 

Post #399.

 

And yes I've sailed from Galveston. It's my home port since I live in Houston.

 

I've also sailed from Port Canaveral, where I left my car, which I drove from Texas in.

[tugboat]

If it was "their" car, they were local and did not have to leave when they did. If they flew in, very few options for a car rental in the first place and Enterprise charges so much for a one way rental I feel little pitty for them. Have you ever sailed from Galveston?

 

We've sailed from Galveston/ Bayport a dozen or more times. Always arrived the day before, but if the weatherman was saying what he was saying when we planned to leave, we would have waited a bit and/or stopped a couple of hours out instead of heading to the island or the Hobby area like we normally do.

 

My part in this thread started with the notion that folks should have been given the option to cancel further in advance because folks who were flying in the day before "could not tell the pilot to turn around"

 

True Dat! But their cars are not floating away.

 

I travel A LOT for business and pleasure. If there is one thing I've learned in my 120+ flight segments a year for the part three years, is that you don't make a last minute travel decision until you have to. Absolutely gather information when necessary (especially since it constitutes something to do in an airport) and make a contingency plan, but never, ever, plan around a hotel reservation or a car reservation.

 

Your drama of "tell that to a Galveston Cruiser as they watch their car float away" certainly could inspire sympathy. I challenge you to find ONE would be Galveston cruiser from this tragedy who actually fit that profile.

FAR more likely, if the storms continues, that local cruisers on these 4 ships might come back to find their cars have already floated away which is one reason I applaud RCCL's pragmatic and PATIENT approach to this incident.

 

 

 

 

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Do you make this stuff as you go along?

1. Galveston had a 5 foot storm surge not a 20 foot like Ike when the cars floated away.

2. The rains that fell in Galveston this weekend have already ran off.

3. Way too much dum and glum going on.

4. Houston still has 6 days to drain, also Houston isn't below sea level like New Orleans.

5. Yes I know what I am talking about this is my home port.

Meet me on the ship this weekend and we will continue this conversation.

 

 

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[pspercy]

Your drama of "tell that to a Galveston Cruiser as they watch their car float away" certainly could inspire sympathy. I challenge you to find ONE would be Galveston cruiser from this tragedy who actually fit that profile.

 

Somewhere back in this thread there's someone who stopped in League City and saw his car under water Saturday morning.

[Cuizer2]

I've always been a firm "NEVER" when it came to Carnival - partly because of the whole "Fun Ship" reputation (not that I'm anti-fun, but the thought of being stuck in a frat/block party for a whole cruise (the image their commercials and ads gave off) is NOT my idea of fun) and partly because of their disastrous handling of situations in the past), but this event is making me possibly ponder giving them a shot...

 

What you are referring to is the reason Carnival (a long time ago) changed the rules on how old one has to be to travel solo.

 

That said, the issue you are referring to is basically limited to the three, four, and five night cruises. By the time you get to the six, seven, and eight night cruises, the people purchasing the cruise are a little more mature (no longer college aged). I've been on eleven Carnival cruises.

[Cuizer2]

The medical emergencies are in line and likely not high priority since there is a doctor on board. It might be hours to wait. Too bad they can't move toward NOLA and offload them there...

 

A medical emergency is always a priority, otherwise it would not be an emergency.

[Cuizer2]

I sail on the Sept 3 sailing. It is fine that the ship will be back in Galveston on Friday, but how are we supposed to get to the port? Arc?

 

The ark doesn't have an engine. It wasn't designed for transport. It was designed to keep people and animals dry. After 40 days the water would start to drain and eventually the ark would settle down on land.

 

Better choose a different form of transportation.

[tugboat]

Your drama of "tell that to a Galveston Cruiser as they watch their car float away" certainly could inspire sympathy. I challenge you to find ONE would be Galveston cruiser from this tragedy who actually fit that profile.

 

Somewhere back in this thread there's someone who stopped in League City and saw his car under water Saturday morning.

 

 

 

The key word here is Galveston not League City

 

 

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[Clarea]

Dan it will be much better on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Hope you and Miss Kathy are doing OK Curtis.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

I checked the Facebook account of the RCL hotshot meteorologist a few hours ago and it seemed to have gone silent. Can anyone confirm that?

 

This debacle will be a case study in future textbooks about how NOT to handle a crisis. RCL's actions were amazingly pathetic!

Actually...it's more of a "herding cats" story. Some cats go astray, some cats need to be led in the right direction, and some cats won't follow a simple/straight path. Nonetheless..good cat-herders work with and adjust to all the variables that come up.

 

No doubt that after the hurricane hit (and uniform flooding forecasts for the region), it would have been extremely easy to make a decision to cancel any next cruises and re-route ships to different (safe) ports. Logistics for the passengers to return home would have still been a complex mess, but manageable. Other impacts would be on a different scale.

 

The pace of weather change and severity were actually beyond even most meteorologists' forecasts during and right after the 24 hours that Harvey hit landfall, so blaming anyone for not getting things right is misguided. We watched 3 different weather expert reporting channels (sometimes with conflicting data/information that ranged from Galveston getting anywhere from 4 to 18 inches of rainfall on Sunday - major differences. There were also some forecasts that pointed to Galveston mostly missing the brunt of the storm - which would allow for a late Sunday return of ships to the port. Clearly conditions evolved and changed.

 

Some "amateur armchair experts" sitting in their dry and air-conditioned homes far away for the "action" and claiming to have known all the right answers along the way were a sad testimony to the key issue - passenger safety. Royal AND Carnival appear to have BOTH been making decisions based upon that (correct) priority.

 

Carnival chose to pull the plug and bail out early on Galveston earlier than Royal - no question on that fact.

 

Of course if Galveston had missed any major impact of Harvey and indeed opened up later Sunday as some weather experts had predicted, then some people (especially the chronic complainers who post regularly) would likely have said "Carnival was too quick to make their decision and inconvenience all those passengers, costing them money - a bad decision - they should have waited". Experience shows there are just some people who love to complain about nearly any topic online, especially hiding behind the anonymity provided on a message board - pathetic but true.

 

Royal took the "wait and see" approach. Was that the right approach? There are two sides to that coin. Few will argue that the decision to move Liberty came at a slow and methodical pace. Few will argue that knowing the final plan sooner would have been a good thing. Most resonable people will agree that passenger safety is always the most important consideration.

 

There's no shortage of people sitting in their dry & air conditioned homes sitting back and managing their version of "all the right moves". Others see how things develop, and adjust to the cards they are dealt. There are shortcomings in both approaches - but erroring on the side of safety is always the best approach during catastrophic events.

 

The only thing that textbooks will show in the future is that this hurricane had a wide range of fast-changing variables to deal with, and not every decision (by any active participant) was perfect. Then again, reasonable people realize that given the circumstances, demanding perfection would be a ridiculous/absurd goal.

 

Here's to the safety of all those affected by Hurricane Harvey - cheers. (y)

[Crazy planning mom]

Actually...it's more of a "herding cats" story. Some cats go astray, some cats need to be led in the right direction, and some cats won't follow a simple/straight path. Nonetheless..good cat-herders work with and adjust to all the variables that come up.

 

No doubt that after the hurricane hit (and uniform flooding forecasts for the region), it would have been extremely easy to make a decision to cancel any next cruises and re-route ships to different (safe) ports. Logistics for the passengers to return home would have still been a complex mess, but manageable. Other impacts would be on a different scale.

 

The pace of weather change and severity were actually beyond even most meteorologists' forecasts during and right after the 24 hours that Harvey hit landfall, so blaming anyone for not getting things right is misguided. We watched 3 different weather expert reporting channels (sometimes with conflicting data/information that ranged from Galveston getting anywhere from 4 to 18 inches of rainfall on Sunday - major differences. There were also some forecasts that pointed to Galveston mostly missing the brunt of the storm - which would allow for a late Sunday return of ships to the port. Clearly conditions evolved and changed.

 

Some "amateur armchair experts" sitting in their dry and air-conditioned homes far away for the "action" and claiming to have known all the right answers along the way were a sad testimony to the key issue - passenger safety. Royal AND Carnival appear to have BOTH been making decisions based upon that (correct) priority.

 

Carnival chose to pull the plug and bail out early on Galveston earlier than Royal - no question on that fact.

 

Of course if Galveston had missed any major impact of Harvey and indeed opened up later Sunday as some weather experts had predicted, then some people (especially the chronic complainers who post regularly) would likely have said "Carnival was too quick to make their decision and inconvenience all those passengers, costing them money - a bad decision - they should have waited". Experience shows there are just some people who love to complain about nearly any topic online, especially hiding behind the anonymity provided on a message board - pathetic but true.

 

Royal took the "wait and see" approach. Was that the right approach? There are two sides to that coin. Few will argue that the decision to move Liberty came at a slow and methodical pace. Few will argue that knowing the final plan sooner would have been a good thing. Most resonable people will agree that passenger safety is always the most important consideration.

 

There's no shortage of people sitting in their dry & air conditioned homes sitting back and managing their version of "all the right moves". Others see how things develop, and adjust to the cards they are dealt. There are shortcomings in both approaches - but erroring on the side of safety is always the best approach during catastrophic events.

 

The only thing that textbooks will show in the future is that this hurricane had a wide range of fast-changing variables to deal with, and not every decision (by any active participant) was perfect. Then again, reasonable people realize that given the circumstances, demanding perfection would be a ridiculous/absurd goal.

 

Here's to the safety of all those affected by Hurricane Harvey - cheers. (y)[/quote

Cruisefan, while Royal had a right to take wait and see approach, they should have given their customers, the right to switch plans on Friday like Carnival. People would have had the choice as to what to do.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Cruisefan, while Royal had a right to take wait and see approach, they should have given their customers, the right to switch plans on Friday like Carnival. People would have had the choice as to what to do.

Everyone had the choice to "wait to be told what to do" or "look at the situation and make that decision themselves". With the airlines cancelling numerous flights to the region already on Thursday and Friday...that was a good clue how things were going to roll out.

 

In the end, the results were pretty much the same...the hurricane causing devastating flooding in the entire region...people had to change plans...the next cruises on Sunday were all cancelled...and people will get credit to rebook.

 

It's indeed unfortunate that this mess happened, but playing the blame game as some people did solved nothing (and never does).

[kevdad]

I can't for the life of me understand why it would have been difficult to offer customers the option to reschedule. We're talking one cruise out of thousands. It would have been great customer service and a smart corporate decision to shift the decision to the customer whether they wanted to risk entering the disaster area.

 

I firmly believe that how a company reacts in times of crisis speaks volumes. To me, RCI acted with arrogance and greed in crisis.

[kevdad]

Everyone had the choice to "wait to be told what to do" or "look at the situation and make that decision themselves". With the airlines cancelling numerous flights to the region already on Thursday and Friday...that was a good clue how things were going to roll out.

 

So I guess RCI was clueless?

[CRUISEFAN0001]

I can't for the life of me understand why it would have been difficult to offer customers the option to reschedule. We're talking one cruise out of thousands. It would have been great customer service and a smart corporate decision to shift the decision to the customer whether they wanted to risk entering the disaster area.

 

I firmly believe that how a company reacts in times of crisis speaks volumes. To me, RCI acted with arrogance and greed in crisis.

Many would say that RCI spoke with caution and safety in mind...your characterization is only your own view and has already been debated at nauseum by others.

 

I can't for the life of me understand how people couldn't see the handwriting on the wall...call their airline or hotel...cancel without penalties (as many have reported doing)...and stand by (as requested) to see the Sunday cruises cancelled, followed by cruise credits to rebook. Then again, not everyone has the same instincts under these admittedly unique and terrible circumstances for that region, so no blame is warranted to those who didn't have the same foresight.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

So I guess RCI was clueless?

LOL - wow - nice attempt to twist things. You manipulated the statement from the directions things were going to absolute timing of decisions that were made that didn't meet some people's requirements.

 

Cool beans.

[ducklite]

The cheerleading is astounding. How can anyone think it's even close to being OK to tell people to travel into a hurricane and require photographic proof that the roads were flooded and they couldn't get there? It's right there on their Facebook page for all to read. Unbelievable.