RCL needs a chief meteorologist

[cusematt4]

Hi all,

 

After the anthem storm incident years ago, it was reassuring to know that there was a meteorologist on staff full time to monitor weather.  This was something unique to Royal caribbean that helped make us and others feel safe.

 

We were very disappointed to see Royal caribbean part ways with the chief meteorologist they had hired after this incident years ago, James Van Fleet.  Aside from his awesome updates on social media, it was comforting to know he was monitoring weather for all ships, in addition to captains and shoreside crew.

 

Not only did Royal caribbean part ways with James Van Fleet, but they did so without having a replacement, although it appears that they may be looking for someone to fill the spot based on a job posting.

 

Now, Royal caribbean is once again receiving bad publicity with the Independence of the Seas sudden storm and flying chairs incident.  I’ve had a number of new cruisers question this, and to make things worse, Royal Caribbean and the flying chairs bad weather incident is a top story on the national nightly news tonight.

 

Even if there’s only a small chance James or someone in his position may have helped catch this and give some warning in advance, it once again shows how valuable having someone in this position is.

 

Does anyone know why Royal caribbean parted ways with James and if they actually indeed plan to fill this position? 

[Nadey]

I haven't seen anything on the national news about this. The only thing I saw was a post on the boards here.

[smokeybandit]

If you know of anyone looking, have them apply.

 

https://jobs.royalcaribbeangroup.com/job/Chief-Meteorologist/1031257900/

[cusematt4]

This was just on nbc nightly news tonight and saw it on another national news channel yesterday.  Hopefully they find someone soon.

[jalves]

Could RCL be getting its information from a different source?  

[OCVTSGIRL]

12 minutes ago, Nadey said:

I haven't seen anything on the national news about this. The only thing I saw was a post on the boards here.

It was just on NBC news!  Looked pretty scary.

[OCSC Mike]

13 minutes ago, cusematt4 said:

This was just on nbc nightly news tonight and saw it on another national news channel yesterday.  Hopefully they find someone soon.

 

No one could have prevented what happened there. It was a freak occurrence. It wasn't like it was sitting there in the ocean and the captain just drove the ship into it.

[twinmommy08]

James was asked to leave. His public persona was blurred with his private beliefs and causing PR issues. It’s not that they did away with the role. They are actively trying to backfill it. Trying to find a qualified meteorologist who will move to Miami and not engage on social media is challenging. 

Edited June 25, 2023 by twinmommy08

[smokeybandit]

I never noticed anything controversial on his twitter account

[njkruzer]

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

No one could have prevented what happened there. It was a freak occurrence. It wasn't like it was sitting there in the ocean and the captain just drove the ship into it.

Agree. Ship was about to depart Port Everglades.  It didn’t sail into the storm.  Trying to get everyone to suddenly evacuate the outdoor areas could have caused more chaos.

[Cruise Gopher]

29 minutes ago, njkruzer said:

Agree. Ship was about to depart Port Everglades.  It didn’t sail into the storm.  Trying to get everyone to suddenly evacuate the outdoor areas could have caused more chaos.

It was docked in Port Canaveral. 

[njkruzer]

5 minutes ago, Cruise Gopher said:

It was docked in Port Canaveral. 

My mistake.  Still the ship was not out at sea or in a position to avoid the storm. Could they have alerted passengers to evacuate the outside decks sooner?  I don't know but it didn’t sound that way.  Chair would have flown no matter what.

[TexasRon]

Many weather events are unpredictable even by the best meteorologists.  You are trying to predict every event and it just isn’t possible.  Sure, they are easy to pick on…but all of the course work they do never leads to them being perfect.
 

The best ones provide valid forecasts without hysteria.  Everything is not the end of the world.

 

What happened in Port Canaveral is a possibility in storms.  How many times have you seen it happen?

 

The need a Chief Meteorologist but I doubt that having one would have changed a thing.

[time4u2go]

Isn't James van Fleet the one that caused all the problems with Hurricane Harvey in Galveston?

[twangster]

Local residents didn't receive notice to go inside. Tourists at local hotels didn't receive notice to go inside. 

 

There is a campsite at Jetty Park located at the mouth of the port where it meets the sea.  It is owned and operated by the port.  Did the port warn campers?

 

Curious if any other cruise line had ships in port at that moment.  If so, did they take action?

 

Did the National Weather Service warn any one?  

 

Sometimes mother nature is a B(*ch.  

 

[colesc15]

It wouldn't have mattered if it was forecasted or not. We were on Freedom last weekend and a few strong storms similar to Indy popped up and they quickly cleared the pool deck. We stood by one is the doors to the pool area where they put the rope across to close it and in the 5 minutes, at least 10 people went under the rope to get to the pool deck and eventually a passenger removed the rope to avoid having to go under it. Natural selection at that point. Unfortunately I didn't see any of those individuals get belted by a flying chair or umbrella. 

[robmtx]

12 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I never noticed anything controversial on his twitter account

He took political positions a few times. Couldn't care less about his views, only his meteorology reporting.  But because his Twitter was his personal account, there was a thin line between work and personal tweets. He would even push tweets about his kid...proud papa I'm sure and not faulting him for those kinds of tweets...but I only wanted to follow him for weather related reports. Don't know him personally and wasn't interested in his proud papa moments. It's just - there's a time and place for everything.

 

Moving forward, Royal needs to create official company social media accounts for the Chief Meteorologist and then promote those accts as the ones to follow. That way we're not following someone's personal stuff. 

 

 

[twangster]

1 hour ago, robmtx said:

He took political positions a few times. Couldn't care less about his views, only his meteorology reporting.  But because his Twitter was his personal account, there was a thin line between work and personal tweets. He would even push tweets about his kid...proud papa I'm sure and not faulting him for those kinds of tweets...but I only wanted to follow him for weather related reports. Don't know him personally and wasn't interested in his proud papa moments. It's just - there's a time and place for everything.

 

Moving forward, Royal needs to create official company social media accounts for the Chief Meteorologist and then promote those accts as the ones to follow. That way we're not following someone's personal stuff. 

 

 

 

Agreed.  Even when someone's personal views align with my own I don't like mixing the cruise world with the real world.  Keep it separate.  

[Cruiser 5452]

I don’t see how a meteorologist would have helped in this situation.  Pop up storms happen all of the time all over the country.  It just happens.  Besides the ship was in port, what did you expect them to do to avoid the storm.  If you watched the video, you can see the storm coming for 2 to ,3 minutes.  You need to be aware of your surroundings.  Many times in the Midwest, you have less time than that to avoid tornadoes.   And yes tornadoes happen even when there is no prior watches or warnings.  Where I live, the last tornado we had occurred 5 minutes before any watches or warnings were ever issued.  

[BND]

14 hours ago, twinmommy08 said:

James was asked to leave. His public persona was blurred with his private beliefs and causing PR issues. It’s not that they did away with the role. They are actively trying to backfill it. Trying to find a qualified meteorologist who will move to Miami and not engage on social media is challenging. 

I actually posted that they were looking to hire someone after a CD posted it right after James left and I was told on this site that I was completely wrong.  

[BND]

12 hours ago, njkruzer said:

My mistake.  Still the ship was not out at sea or in a position to avoid the storm. Could they have alerted passengers to evacuate the outside decks sooner?  I don't know but it didn’t sound that way.  Chair would have flown no matter what.

People have eyes.  You can see (and usually hear) a storm coming.  Why stay out?  We go inside as soon as we see one approaching.   You will always have those that wait until the last second or it's actually raining to move and then they will blame others.

[smokeybandit]

There was a severe thunderstorm warning that covered Port Canaveral that expired at 4:15pm that day. 

I haven't found exact times Indy left (scheduled for 4pm), but here's a Carnival ship leaving a few minutes before the storm hit.  Weather didn't look overly imposing.

 

 

[ONECRUISER]

16 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

No one could have prevented what happened there. It was a freak occurrence. It wasn't like it was sitting there in the ocean and the captain just drove the ship into it.

Agree, having a Chief Meteorologist same situation would have happened. 

[smokeybandit]

Thunderstorms in port aren't what RC would use an in house meteorologist for anyway.

[Saab4444]

To hire him was more a Marketing topic anyway,