Relocating after a cabin fire (the entire story)

[Desert Cruizers]

NJGranny, not knowing how bad that smoke smell was, but believe me, if it was that bad, I would grab my Pillow and Blanky, dress and retire to the Atrium or even the floor.

 

Gay So calif

[Robkatcruisers]

Yep, staying in a smoky smelling cabin would be a bit unpleasant.

 

BUT -- a 100% refund or a free cruise? It seems that Americans have highly inflated ideas of how much they have been damaged.

 

The people in that cabin still ate, still used the ship's facilities, still had the entertainment ... in fact had all the benefits of the cruise to enjoy. So they had a bit of a smoky smell. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT compensation? Get real.

 

How about a 25% discount on a future cruise. That would be a great deal, IMHO. I would grab it in a minute, and send great thanks to the cruise line for their consideration!:D

 

Its not their fault that that RCI doesnt have some sort of life vest inspection.

Good grief what is a light doing on a life vest....so a hundred years ago life vests didnt protect as good as one with a light.

 

From the the first posts the room was wet and smokey....Ill be damned if I am going to pay 2000 hard earned dollars to go on a cruise to stay in a smokey water filled room because of a stupid light malfunction. Obviously they couldnt be moved but come on....the sale of the cruise stated that they would be receiving certain accomodations and due to no fault of their own they had to endure some inconvience....no one can really say what they would do unless it happend to them...

[cruzincurt]

"Good grief what is a light doing on a life vest."

 

Well, if you pay attention during muster you would know that the strobe light on each vest is supposed to be activated when it gets wet, ie., you and the vest in the ocean. The strobe will help them find you in the dark, not many street lights out in the ocean. So I will assume there is some kind of dry chemicals in the light unit that upon becoming wet, generates electricity.

 

Just move me into the Owner's suite for the rest of the cruise and I'd be happy, or bump a few officers out of their rooms.

[PH8]

Depending on the Captain, passengers get compensated all the time for missed ports etc. Free drinks, cabin credit, discount on future cruises.

 

.

I have never been compensated for missed ports.......and wouldnt expect it...

[crusinmama06]

Good grief what is a light doing on a life vest....so a hundred years ago life vests didnt protect as good as one with a light.

 

Hey if I am going into the water with hungry sharks and my only way to stay alive is that vest then it better blink, flash, have GPS, a flare, a whistle, an alarm AND a pack of M&M's ;)

[dutchess43]

Hey if I am going into the water with hungry sharks and my only way to stay alive is that vest then it better blink, flash, have GPS, a flare, a whistle, an alarm AND a pack of M&M's ;)

Not only do I want all of the things that you want in case we have to go overboard I am taking a bottle of wine with me in case I get thirsty.

[Flossie]

I am with the rest of you who cannot imagine a person wanting something that was not in a cabin that had a problem. A few years ago we were on the Majesty when the windgammer caught fire at 5am the alarms went off and we had to report to our muster stations ( I take it that this fire we are talking about today they did not do that?) we were at the Muster station for almost 45 min the Captain kept us informed all the time. The crew did a wonderful job and it went like clock work. Everyone knew what to do and did it. They closed the windgammer for the remainder of the cruise and we were late getting to the next port. Did we expect anything for this, nope, nothing more then what we got, a crew that knew what to do and kept us all safe that was enough, some of the cabins had some smoke in them and I am not sure if they recieved anything or not, I set with a lady on the bus to the airport that had smoke in her cabin, she had a sore throat but felt just like I did she was kept safe and that was enough compensation for her, was it scary, well maybe, at the time, but at no time did I feel that we were in danger, hats off to the crew that does a good job with these situations when they happen.

The captain was in the main lobby the next morning asking passangers questions of how his crew did, I thought this showed alot of concern. We did recieve free drinks for a few hours that day also.

I guess if I were in a cabin that had been water soaked then I might want something, a free cruise, well maybe not,would depend on how bad it was, sometimes on here some things get reported worse then what they were, like the fire we went through, it was funny to read some of the reviews of it, I would also think if items were destroyed then I would want them replaced, but that would be no different then if we had a fire at home.

This brings up the point of how important the muster drill is too, you could have heard a pin drop that morning at 5am, no one was making a joke of it then , I cannot for the life of me understand why people try to get out of doing this, it is for there own safety, after all the crew knows what to do! I for one was glad to know where to go on that early morning wake up call!

[flvol77]

Yep, staying in a smoky smelling cabin would be a bit unpleasant.

 

BUT -- a 100% refund or a free cruise? It seems that Americans have highly inflated ideas of how much they have been damaged.

 

The people in that cabin still ate, still used the ship's facilities, still had the entertainment ... in fact had all the benefits of the cruise to enjoy. So they had a bit of a smoky smell. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT compensation? Get real.

 

How about a 25% discount on a future cruise. That would be a great deal, IMHO. I would grab it in a minute, and send great thanks to the cruise line for their consideration!:D

 

Have you ever had fire damage to your home? It is horribly unhealthy. My dad owns a company that does fire restoration. Growing up I worked with him a lot and we had to wear protection for eyes and a breathing respirator in order to work in those conditions.

 

Its nothing about Americans, its about putting people at risk for many years to come, depending on how bad the situation is....

 

Check out the website about respiratory protection when something like a fire occurs.

 

http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=23035

[Rancher Dave]

Hey if I am going into the water with hungry sharks and my only way to stay alive is that vest then it better blink, flash, have GPS, a flare, a whistle, an alarm AND a pack of M&M's ;)

 

I don't know that M&Ms are as important as the GPS...actually there are personal EPIRB's now that contain GPS location information via Satelite to the SAR Coordination Center. Many ocean racers use them, especially if solo racing. If only we could predict upon boarding who is going to jump/fall off and attach one of those EPRIBs to them where they can't take it off, it would narrow the search zone to a very small area, probably only a few hundred square feet, which in calm seas would be easy.

 

The light on the life vest again if perm attached to those who will fall/jump will sure make it easier to find them inthe dark. I sure would want my lifejacket to have a working one if we had to abandon ship at sea at night. If you fly you will find a similar light on those life jackets as well, you know the one between or under your seats depending upon travel class.

 

 

As for compensation: (If I were the captian, this is what I would give out.)

 

12 rooms who had to move, for the move refund difference in cabin price if downgraded & 25-50% off next cruise & replacement of any personal items or clothes damaged and not repairable by RCI while on board. (It is all about creating goodwill.)

 

For the soggy room, partial refund and a free future cruise on same cruise length in same cabin category. Or perhaps a significant guaranteed upgrade on a future cruise if they already have a cruise booked in the future. Of course any damaged or destroyed personal items would be repaired or replaced. With onboard dry cleaning clothes could be cleaned and if not cleaned then compensation dished out beofre arrival back to Florida. I'd probably personally ask this family to take the same cruise again and put them in the best cabin available at no cost so we could show them a great cruise. (Not a huge cost to RCI but a lot of goodwill.)

 

A round of free Ice Tea for everyone...:D Actually I would give everyone credit for one round at the bar, either for a prior drink or a future drink before the cruise ends. The cost to RCI is minimal to do this and it tends to earn some goodwill.

 

 

I'd bet the Ships Pilot from Belize probaly got a bit of a scare...probably never imagined he might have to abandon a ship under his control.

 

Ultimately it is good that the crew reacted appropriately and that nobody was hurt!

[RobertGT]

I think only the 12 who were affected should be compensated

[Sea Island Lady]

Have you ever had fire damage to your home? It is horribly unhealthy. My dad owns a company that does fire restoration. Growing up I worked with him a lot and we had to wear protection for eyes and a breathing respirator in order to work in those conditions.

 

I have and it's not a smell that I would like to sleep with. After our rental home was destroyed by fire, it took many showers just to get the smell out of my nose, skin and hair. Fire, combustibles and electrical smells are something that you never forget about. Just the smell will cause me to have a slight panic attack.

 

flvol77 - Is your dad in TN? That's where we are and I am very grateful to the company that was able to restore some of our things.

 

Had my stateroom been anywhere near this Enchantment fire, I would have had a rough time on the rest of the cruise, but would not have expected compensation unless our stateroom contained the smoke and water mess. Yes, I would expect to be 100% compensated had it been MY stateroom that suffered damage.

 

My DH and are are talking about taking the Enchantment next month and were going to probably stay in an Inside stateroom for the short cruise. I wonder if all the damage will be cleaned up by mid October?

[Arizona Laura]

Forget the M&Ms/my hands would be all different colors if they got wet.

Never mind I guess I could rinse them off..no problem.

Yes and add necessities to keep me warm, inflatable raft, the CD " I Will Survive", Evian water, and anti-anxiety drugs to that list.

 

No one should be forced to sleep in a wet, smoked filled room. Very unhealthy. For liability reasons the Capt should have made some other arrangements. They definately should be highly compensated.

Other cabins should be offered some type of compensation. Not that they actually are owed it. Just good customer service for the inconvenience.

 

Laura

[sealovers]

Fire and smoke is bad; very bad. But, it was contained and no injuries were sustained and that is very good. I would have to hear directly from the occupants of the burned cabin to believe they were required to stay in a smoky and damp cabin. The ship's crew are well prepared for just this sort of thing. We will hear about the outcome later, I'm sure. I hope they were upgraded to the very best cabin left on the ship.

 

This ship, including the crew, receives great reviews. If there is an electrical malfunction, I'm sure they will troubleshoot and repair as necessary promptly. Could someone have been smoking in the closet??:D I'm hoping they were non-smoking cruisers.

 

(Still looking forward to my Jan '08 cruise on EOS!!).

[MercedMike]

"Good grief what is a light doing on a life vest."

 

Well, if you pay attention during muster you would know that the strobe light on each vest is supposed to be activated when it gets wet, ie., you and the vest in the ocean. ....

 

Well, if you pay attention during muster, you will hear them say that since it could be quite a long time before you are rescued, before you abandon ship you should go to your cabin and get a good book. The light is there so you can read while you are waiting to be rescued.

 

There is also a whistle on the life vest. This is for you to blow if you hear a helicopter coming so the chopper pilot will hear it over the WHUP WHUP WHUP and rescue you.

[Obaybee..tryingthisagain]

I imagine the inconvenience and anguish those 12 passengers were subjected to warrant they be awarded something for their trouble. The others on the ship apparently weren't inconvenienced nor did they suffer a loss of service while on-board and therefore should not expect to be compensated. The couple left in the damp room, if that's what happened, deserves an explanation as well as compensation.

My first concern would be who maintains the life vests on the ships? Are the life vests replaced on older ships routinely? If indeed the fire began with a life vest I wouldn't be so concerned about compensation but with a follow up report from the company that produces them.

Not everything that happens unexpectedly justifies compensation. There has to be degrees of inconvenience in these types of situations IMO. Other then those 12 I don't see from this thread that there was enough interference with scheduled plans on-board to even consider refunding a portion of the cruise.

[riteonglor]

Yes, when I called RCCL about any compensation for any others on board (our first cruise, this scared the daylights out of us!) they said no, only the 12 affected cabins. And I asked about how it started, she read from the ships log that it was indeed started by the blinking light on the life vest in the closet. It was "faulty". Pretty scary![/quote

I've been in more then one scary situation in my life, have'nt we all. Never been compensated for it, never entered my mind that I should be.

Lets get real here and not expect something for nothing.

[Merion_Mom]

By now, a few have heard of the 4th floor cabin fire on The Enchantment. There were allegedly twelve cabins than recieved compensation for this problem. Most probably got compensated because they were forced to move from their cabins. There was one couple who was forced to stay in their wet smoked odored cabin. They were told there were no more rooms available.:eek:

Here are two questions:

What would be fair compensation for the twelve?

What would be fair for being the couple "accidently" left behind to sleep in the smell and wetness of their cabin?

 

I am not trying to start any trouble or stir any pots, BUT.............

 

This is the ONLY person who says that one couple was "forced to stay in their wet smoked odored <sic> cabin. They were told there were no more rooms available."

 

Personally, I don't believe this for one minute.

 

So much of the debate on this thread has been great (and totally appropriate) sympathy for a horrible situation that I, for one, do not believe existed.

[Quampapetet]

The 11 folks who moved cabins should get reimbursed for any personal belongings that were damaged/lost (if any).

 

The other couple who couldn't move should get reimbursed for personal items as above but also get a credit for a future cruise depending on how many nights they had to spend in the wet/smokey cabin after the fire (i.e. credit for one night if only one night was spent there, two if two nights were spent there, etc.).

 

And, of course, nobody else on the cruise is entitled to anything, whether they peed their pants or not! :)

[Quampapetet]

or an iron:eek: ...;)

 

That's what I was thinking must've caused it before I found out it was a tiny blinking light! Who'd have thought that little light could've caused a fire?!

[PantherFan]

I hadn't heard about this on the news.

[PantherFan]

Okay, if this happened as they were pulling out of a port then they should have turned around and asked the people affected if they wanted to get off for a FULL REFUND and discount on another cruise. If it were me, I would have flown back from Belize.

 

 

None of them started the fire, it was clearly RCL fault for not maintaining equipment.

 

 

Letting the people know that they only have a few rooms available this cruise and can't accomodate everyone displaced.

 

 

There is absolutely no reason anyone should have to be in a smokey/wet room. Though it would not surprise me one bit if they did do that.

 

 

I know first hand from last December on the Freedom that RCL doesn't always do the right thing let alone know anything about creating "goodwill"

 

 

It is so easy for people not involved to say they don't deserve anything but they paid like everyone else to be onboard and had something terrible happen to them BY the cruise line........

[PantherFan]

sorry double posts :)

[Desert Cruizers]

I did a web search and there was a fire located in one of the Tenders, July 30th. I haven't figured out how to transfer from my favorites without it taking me to the page or I would send you the Link. It shows a photo.

July 30 Enchantment Fire, Cancun

[Desert Cruizers]

See if this works Fire Web Site

 

http://www.cruisejunkie.com/EotS2.html

 

It works, shows the fire in the Tender

[reallyitsmema]

See if this works Fire Web Site

 

http://www.cruisejunkie.com/EotS2.html

 

It works, shows the fire in the Tender

That is from 2006.