In Transit fiasco on April 3

[atexsix]

Yes, it happened on ours too.  But for the love of God they could coordinate them better, wheelchairs from the terminal are never made available like they are for embarkation.  On the last B2B we did DD had to wait for almost an hour in agony before the terminal people finally brought over a few chairs while they hunted down the strays that remained on the ship.

[Crew News]

20 hours ago, bobpell said:

........Love to hear about In Transit experiences from others

Senior Bob

On one Alaska B2B, about a dozen of us sat in the Vancouver "in transit" seating area in for more than an hour before the Hotel Director stopped by to apologize for the delay.  A couple was finally found in their shower engaging in a final sexual interlude before packing and departing the ship.  The Hotel Director said Security gave the couple 15 minutes to dry off, pack, and be off the ship.

 

On another Alaska B2B, a couple was found after 10:00 AM on Disembarkation morning in their Neptune Suite waiting for a butler to come and pack their luggage.

 

Only on a few of my B2B cruises has the ship been "zeroed out" by 10:00 AM.

[Florida_gal_50]

19 hours ago, Taters said:

Another perspective:

 

My opinion on those passengers who don't show up for in-transit customs checks is that many of them may be mid to severely hard of hearing.  I am profoundly deaf and have bilateral cochlear implants.  Without my processors on I hear nothing.  Once I slap those bad boys on each side of my head I can hear almost everything!  A miracle of sorts, yes, but are they perfect?  No.

 

I cannot understand anything that comes over a PA system on a ship.  Mix in background noise and foreign accents and it might as well be Charlie Brown's teacher saying, "Wha wha wha".  I'll bet that many of those who are very late or seem to ignore their own names being blasted throughout the ship simply cannot hear the announcements or are not able to comprehend what is being said.  Many people who have hearing loss are not even aware of the steady decline of their hearing.  Or they may be in denial and not sought help to improve their situation.

 

I am lucky that I always get to cruise with folks who have great ears.  They decipher the announcements for me.  I read every notice that is left on my bed so that I remain aware of what is going on.  Some folks simply toss these.  That's bad on their part, which may explain some of the no shows.

 

I've said for years that I wish the cruise lines would have TV monitors around the ship to caption what is being said over the PA system.  It would be a great help to many.

 

Cheers!

I've always gotten written instructions. No need to hear over the pa system 

[Taters]

2 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I've always gotten written instructions. No need to hear over the pa system 

Actually, there is a need.  Sometimes the captain announces that you won't be visiting the planned port due to high winds, mechanical difficulties, etc.  I never know what they are saying.  I definitely have missed important news that friends or family have had to tell me. 

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, Taters said:

Actually, there is a need.  Sometimes the captain announces that you won't be visiting the planned port due to high winds, mechanical difficulties, etc.  I never know what they are saying.  I definitely have missed important news that friends or family have had to tell me. 

That’s not what this thread is about.  It’s about in transit people not showing.  Nowhere in my post did I say that there is never a need to hear anything.  I rarely hear what the captain is saying if I’m inside my room.  By the time I get to the door I’ve missed half of it.  

[farjar]

On 4/13/2022 at 8:35 PM, Taters said:

Another perspective:

 

My opinion on those passengers who don't show up for in-transit customs checks is that many of them may be mid to severely hard of hearing.  I am profoundly deaf and have bilateral cochlear implants.  Without my processors on I hear nothing.  Once I slap those bad boys on each side of my head I can hear almost everything!  A miracle of sorts, yes, but are they perfect?  No.

 

I cannot understand anything that comes over a PA system on a ship.  Mix in background noise and foreign accents and it might as well be Charlie Brown's teacher saying, "Wha wha wha".  I'll bet that many of those who are very late or seem to ignore their own names being blasted throughout the ship simply cannot hear the announcements or are not able to comprehend what is being said.  Many people who have hearing loss are not even aware of the steady decline of their hearing.  Or they may be in denial and not sought help to improve their situation.

 

I am lucky that I always get to cruise with folks who have great ears.  They decipher the announcements for me.  I read every notice that is left on my bed so that I remain aware of what is going on.  Some folks simply toss these.  That's bad on their part, which may explain some of the no shows.

 

I've said for years that I wish the cruise lines would have TV monitors around the ship to caption what is being said over the PA system.  It would be a great help to many.

 

Cheers!

 

On 4/14/2022 at 4:01 AM, Caribbean Chris said:

Great explanation, and thanks on behalf of all of us with varying degrees of hearing loss. I am profoundly deaf without my cochlear implant and rely on lip reading which of course has not been an option lately. So I rely on DH for translations of announcements and on my hearing dog, a black Lab, for many, many sound alerts. (Example, a room service waiter knocking on the door yesterday.)

 

We’re on a cruise right now. I sometimes succeed at convincing DH to go places ashore without me & the dog (there are ports that make it impossible to bring even a service dog ashore). When there are announcements, the dog’s not too good at telling me details on what was said. I wish the stateroom TVs ran a banner at the top or bottom for important announcements. 

Years ago we booked a guarantee cabin.  We were surprised when we were assigned a "hearing impaired" cabin.  The cabin was equipped with a door bell, a phone and a ship's alarm system all of which activated flashing lights. Contact your TA or HAL to find out what is available for you.  This is from another CC post.  Assistance packets also contain show scripts, and stateroom communication kits include a bed-shaker alarm, doorbell and phone alerts, a phone amplifier and a smoke detector with a strobe light. Pagers for hearing impaired are also available on some cruise lines.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Did they speak English ??

[Caribbean Chris]

1 hour ago, farjar said:

 

Years ago we booked a guarantee cabin.  We were surprised when we were assigned a "hearing impaired" cabin.  The cabin was equipped with a door bell, a phone and a ship's alarm system all of which activated flashing lights. Contact your TA or HAL to find out what is available for you.  This is from another CC post.  Assistance packets also contain show scripts, and stateroom communication kits include a bed-shaker alarm, doorbell and phone alerts, a phone amplifier and a smoke detector with a strobe light. Pagers for hearing impaired are also available on some cruise lines.

Thanks for mentioning. I’m aware of what HAL offers. I’ve had similar devices provided in my cabin prior to and since getting a hearing dog. Not useful to me, unfortunately. For example, I don’t need a flashing phone coming on at 2 am (when I can’t hear anything on the stateroom phone anyway. My husband has picked up such flashing calls only to hear some very nonessential, non-emergency  messages distributed overnight.  As another example, I was given an amplification device for use in the theater which had no batteries inside. And none existed for it anywhere on the ship, and I was told by guest services  I could try to find some that might work later in port  (on a long transatlantic with numerous sea days before land). I no longer bother, and bring my own assistive devices. But captioned TV programming and announcements would certainly be helpful.