Summit Alaskan cruise disappointment (MERGER OF 5 THREADS ON THIS TOPIC)

[cechase]

Drew B I obviously made that comment with "tongue in cheek". I have actually been very much in favor of your various comments on this thread, and the fact that somehow, you were able to have an enjoyable cruise, despite all of the uproar.

 

Hope that you and pax like you will be on our next cruise.

[gary kelley]

When we were on our Celebrity cruise in April of this year we had our daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren with us. It was a wonderful cruise with the kids.

 

Our granddaughter who is 12 now was with us at dinner in the main dining room one night. Her name is Rebecca. When Rebecca was eight years old, she was diagnosed with a rare disease called Achalasia. This is a disease of the esophagus. There were no doctors in Arizona that had experience treating children with this rare, horrific disease. We had to take her to California to UCLA medical center to have her treated...and surgery to try to help her to swallow food and have it go to her stomach. It was not a pretty surgery, but it was all we had.

 

One night, on our cruise, we were eating dinner. Rebecca often has severe pain that comes on at a moments notice. We, as her family, know what to do for her. We take her to her room, give her strong medication that helps her to rest and sleep and we just wait it through.

 

Our waiter, Allen and our assistant waiter Servano saw us leave the table and questioned my daughter and son-in-law as to what was wrong with Rebecca.

 

Shortly after we got back to the room, our room steward, Francisco, came to the door with Rebecca's dinner on silver trays and they even sent up her favorite dessert with wishes that she get well soon.

Rebecca was unable to eat her meal that night...but the thought of them doing that was extraodinary, considering how busy they are. I am convinced that one can't get better service on any cruise line. The crew always goes above and beyond.

 

As for preaching...I am not doing that. If one is sick...with any disease...the worse thing others can offer that person is a stress-filled environment. There will always be things that aren't exactly the way we had hoped. It is how we react and handle those situations that determine how we live and how we experience life. Don't let little things ruin an entire experience. You have to make the best of situations...and again...sailing on a beautiful ship, with a crew that tries their best to make you happy...is not all that bad! Celebrity is wonderful. Joyce

[cechase]

Gary and Joyce, thank you for sharing. Our heart goes out to Rebecca, but also to all of the wonderful Celebrity crew and staff that we have had the opportunity to know.

[gary kelley]

Why, thank you Charlie.

 

You would love our granddaughter. She has learned to live with this disease...and often says to me, "Grandma, don't worry, I'll be alright in a little while. I have to learn to live with this because I am going to have it the rest of my life."

 

One would never know she even has this disease by looking at her other than the fact she is thin. She is a beautiful, happy child. Our job as her family is to help her adjust to her situation...and to live life to it's fullest. That is what we try to do. By the grace of God we have worked our way through this. Your comment was very sweet. Thank you. Joyce

[gary kelley]

What would a cruise be without a cruise director. Damien was wonderful on our last cruise. He was always entertaining...and very easy to talk to. His staff was excellent. I feel the entertainment on Celebrity is varied and for the most part very good. There was a wonderful comedian on our last cruise. He interacted with the audience...and I have never laughed so hard.

 

My husband and I always eat at the early seating...and that gives us time to go directly to the theater after dinner. We usually enjoy a nice drink...the drink-of-the-day, relax, talk to other cruisers around us...and enjoy the time before the show starts.

 

And then, if you have sailed on Celebrity's Infinity, what about Cher...who gets everyone involved in all of the games, Men against Women Trivia, Family Fued, etc. She is such a hoot. Isn't it funny how even months later these people leave such an impression on you that you still remember them by name? How many times does that happen...that you would remember your waiter's name, much less the assistant waiter, the room steward, the activities director...etc.

 

Please...I can think of no better way to take a vacation than cruising. It is all in what one makes it. There is so much to do...and so many wonderful people to help you that you can't possibly come home not having had a great time...unless you decide to.

Celebrity is an awesome experience!

 

More to come....Joyce

[Ma Bell]

Joyce, you will be pleased to know that Cher is now the Activities Director on board Infinity. I can see why she was promoted.:)

[gary kelley]

Hi Ma Bell! Good to see someone on board that knows many of the same people we do.

 

But alas...I have been thinking about our last two cruises. I had to ask myself...did anything go wrong? Was everything exactly perfect. I am sad to say...no!

 

Here is the scoop:

 

We went on a 7-day cruise and on one of our excursions in San Juan we booked a tour through Celebrity to go on a bus to see the El Yunque Rain Forest. I have never seen a rain forest before. We waited an entire year for this excursion...but, on the day we arrived...it was pouring rain. We got on the bus anyway. Some people got off grumbling about being cold...and rain...and they weren't going to go. We rode on the bus for about 1 1/2 hours to the rain forest to find the roads were closed because of the rain. We got off at the museum. We got to spend a lot of time at the museum...but we never got to go into the rain forest. Our tour guides were great. They were funny and gave us a brief update on what we were missing. Sheesh! You know what...it is okay. We still had the time of our lives.

 

The second big disappointment was for our two grandchildren. We went on an excursion in Puerto Vallarta in April. Our two grandchildren could not wait to snorkel in the ocean. On the day we went on our tour, we were told the jellyfish were biting and while the bites were not very problematic for adults...they could be serious for children. Of course, we decided not to let the two children snorkel. They did not have a lot of time to fret because the staff that did the excursion brought lots of fun things for them to do...took us to a private island...and the kids had a great time. Now, they have added snorkeling to their list of must-do things next time they have an opportunity. We would never let that ruin their trip though. That would be useless, silly, and not at all creative. There are just too many alternative things to do on a cruise. One does not have to look far for fun and exciting activities. If you can't find something...just ask, and any staff member will be happy to point you in the right direction.

 

When we were in Mazatlan on May 3rd, we booked an excursion with Mazatlan Frank. He is a great tour guide. The only problem with our tour of the coast was...it was a very foggy day...and we could not even see the coast for the first half of our tour. Mazatlan Frank is such a nice guy and we would highly recommend him as a tour guide if you want to see Mazatlan. I bet the coast was beautiful. We may never again have that opportunity...but we had lots of wonderful opportunities on that trip...enough to create a lifetime of wonderful memories.

 

So, don't fret! Plan a great vacation...and know things can happen. It always will. Just have fun...and relax. Celebrity is the best! Joyce

[Ma Bell]

Joyce,

 

I have exactly the same philosophy. There are always things that go wrong. Nothing is perfect. I have always found that if you try to enjoy the people you are with it doesn't much matter what you are doing. Yes, there are disappointments and times when we know it may have been our only opportunity to see something, but I don't ever remember being so disappointed that I didn't manage to enjoy myself anyway.:)

[cechase]

Joyce and Ma Bell, it so refreshing, particularly on this combined thread, to read such balanced posts.

 

I wrote a lengthy review of our 11 night cruise on Mercury which departed San Diego on 1/2/2006. [it was posted, and not in the review section.] In that review, I described one glaring negative situation which we experienced, and for the first time in five cruises on Celebrity. We shared a table for 4 with a very nice couple from San Diego. After several dinners, where our salad plates sat before us for 30 minutes, getting breadsticks took 25 minutes to get after repeated requests, our asst. waiter was seemly AWOL for up to 30 minutes at a time, and our dinners were taking 2 and 1/2 hours, our table mates politely complained to Steve our asst. maitre'd. Well, we got a new asst. waiter and things improved somewhat. On our last night as we finished dinner, our waiter approached me and explained how important it is that we check excellent on the comment cards for service in the dining room. I was floored by this request. [it is the first time I ever check "fair" on the comment card!] Our tips were commensuate to the service, less than the recommended amount! [First time ever for us]

 

But guess what, we had the best cruise ever up to that point [Okay, our two cruises on Century were also outstanding! :D] Mercury was polished, gleaming, immaculate, and the cleaning [including our windows] never seemed to cease. We had the best butler, cabin steward and asst. combination that we have ever had. Our excursions in Puerto Valerta, Ixtapa and Acapulco were top notch. In fact, the crew and staff with the exception of what I described above were on a par with those on Century - and Century is our benchmark, which is really moving the goal posts back.

[gary kelley]

CeChase and MaBell,

 

I agree with you both. I discovered, five weeks before our last cruise...that I needed heart surgery. I visited the doctor the day before the cruise...got the okay to go...and I couldn't get out of his office fast enough to start our vacation. We had planned it for a year. The children were excited...and so was I. You have to go with the flow.

 

I think part of the problem is...everyone wants "something" for every inconvenience they experience anymore. If I had been on that ship...my husband and I would have done all kinds of things we normally don't have the time to do on our cruises.

 

Do you remember the movie Lampoon's Vacation with Chevy Chase? Well, when I was about 14 my parents and my three siblings and I were on a summer vacation. We drove from Savannah, Georgia to California to see our grandparents. We were in a three seater station wagon. We were close to the Grand Canyon. All of a sudden, our car started having problems. We still wanted to see the canyon...and my dad stopped at one of the points...but he was afraid to turn the car off. We all ran over, took a look, ran back and got in the car. We still laugh about it today. It is the one thing we all remember. My dad drove the car to the first station...had it repaired...and we continued our trip. We never even gave it a thought that our vacation was ruined. We laughed and went on. When that part came out in the movie...we all laughed and felt like that trip was so about our family. We even picked Grandpa up on the way back...as he was in Missouri. Grandpa smoked and was old...and we were not all that happy about sitting next to him for the remainder of our trip. :rolleyes:

Memories come from the weird things that happen. That is what life is all about.

 

Good chatting with you. Where is everyone else on this board? It seems like we are it. :D Joyce

[cruiser2004]

I also enjoyed the entertainment, food and service on Celebrity and could go on for pages describing my other cruises, but this thread was originally intended to be a forum for a discussion of the May 7 Summit cruise. This thread is about whether or not Celebrity made a decision to sail a ship with known mechanical problems and whether or not Celebrity was truthful to the passengers as the cruise progressed. The May 7 Summit cruise had nothing to do with the weather or any outside factors. The passenger complaints had nothing to do with the service from the crew while on board. The question is can a cruise do any thing that they want with no possible recourse for the passengers. Discussion of topics like this will lead to even better cruising experiences for all of us.

While there are two separate views of the events of this cruise my view is that Celebrity sailed knowing the Summit could only complete about one-half of the Itinerary, then lied to cover up their mistakes and then insulted their passengers with an inadequate offer of compensation.

My disappointment lies with decision of management to continue sailing M-Class ships that have known defects. My disappointment lies with the failure of Celebrity corporate to have a plan for fair compensation for the passengers once a cruise has begun on one of their ships that is having a mechanaical problem.

I admire the loyality of the Celebrity cheerleaders who were not on this cruise, but on this particular cruise I can honestly say that I can see no justification for it.

[Host Anne]

Folks ~ as the personal attacks have continued to go back and forth, this thread is now closed.