Where do cruises stay when theres a hurricane?

[Rubia_Boricua_PR]

I am just wondering, that being a Saturday most of the cruise ship start their week, where do they stay when there's a hurricane? Does anyone have a clue?

[jrm9999]

Some people have reported a bunch of ships waiting it out in the Florida straights between the keys and Cuba.

[wallie5446]

My Daughter is on Staff on the Majesty and called Thurs when they came in early to re-stock. They left back out to sea that afternoon headed south then turned west into the Straights, and would go into the Gulf if needed to stay out of the storms way. There were over 700 pax that elected to stay on board for the float to nowhere, not knowing just when the Capt could return to Miami.

 

EW

[imsulin]

Ships are much safer at sea than in in port during a hurricane.

[mammallama]

They're calling it the 'Cruise Ship Armada' in the Florida straits where the ships are all hanging out waiting for the storm to pass, then beat feet back to port. That must be a sight.

[APagano]

My Daughter is on Staff on the Majesty and called Thurs when they came in early to re-stock. They left back out to sea that afternoon headed south then turned west into the Straights, and would go into the Gulf if needed to stay out of the storms way. There were over 700 pax that elected to stay on board for the float to nowhere, not knowing just when the Capt could return to Miami.

 

EW

700 passengers? That's nearly 1/3 of the ship's capacity. Not bad for a cancelled cruise. How does this work? Did they make an announcement that you could just stay on the ship? Are the pax being charged for the extra days? I suppose they're still running activities and serving food for this unscheduled cruise extension.

[CaptJackSparrow]

Cruise ships do what the Navy does - They put the ships out to sea out of harm's way. It's in the Hurricane Frances update on the main CuiseCritic Web site.

[wallie5446]

When they were in Freeport on Wed, the Capt said they were going back to Miami on Thurs and any who wanted could leave with a per cabin credit and future discount. Or if they wanted to stay they could float in the Flordia Straights with the crew. He did not know just when they would re-open the Port of Miami so the float could last till as late as Mon am.

 

My daughter just called from off shore of Key West as they had to come in to remove a medecial emergency, appendix ! Open seating at dinner 6-9, very casual, limited choices, she likes it better than the normal ! And there was no add charge to thoes that stayed.

 

EW

[LaurynRCI]

700 passengers? That's nearly 1/3 of the ship's capacity. Not bad for a cancelled cruise. How does this work? Did they make an announcement that you could just stay on the ship? Are the pax being charged for the extra days? I suppose they're still running activities and serving food for this unscheduled cruise extension.

 

Hey this is wallie's DD from the Majesty.... The way we handled it was those people who has early flights or could get new flights out earlier were taken off the ship for sure and given a 200-300 dollar credit depending on what cateory room they had. The credit was one per stateroom. Those who couldn't change their flights were given the option to go ahead and get off and get a hotel somewhere or come back onboard, void the credit of 200-300 dollars, and continue cruising, free of charge, except for and charges you may make, and ofcourse you were still responsible for the tipping on the extra days. New activities were created so it was still something differnet than the 4 days originally planned. It has been a differnet experience. I just ready for a nap. Hope that explained some stuff for ya''

 

Lauryn

[APagano]

Lauryn, that's awesome. Thanks for posting on what must be a busy time for you. Maybe I'll see you in two weeks!

[CruisinBabe]

Lauryn -

 

My mom & I sailed on the Majesty on Aug. 2nd. What is your job on the ship? (I'm wondering if we ran into you at any point).

 

We had a great time despite the fact that we spent 2 days without our luggage cause the airline lost our bags!! The Majesty staff was really great about trying to accomidate us till our bags finally arrived.

 

Do you know Brandyn from the gift shop? And what about Vince, Kathy, Warren, and Marnie from the CD staff - are they still on board? Jonathan our room attendent on deck 4 was superb. Do you know if he's still there? What are the crew mwmbers doing to pass the time during the hurricane?

[Nliedel]

If I was on and did not have to get back right away this would sound like a neat thing to do.. Just laying by the pool, waiting.. I could get into it..

[wallie5446]

CB,

She is also on the CD Staff, Usually handles the rock wall, karokie, bingo, and does the intro's to the Capt at his welcome aboard party.

 

EW

[bubbadog]

ive heard that they all meet up way out to sea,then they tie all the boats together,so u can walk from ship to ship,then at night they drink rum and dance and tell scarey sea stories:))))):p

[LaurynRCI]

Yes I do know all those people because I am part of that team as well. Marnie was my roommate and she is now gone, kathy is my boss and warren is her boss. Brandy is a very good friend of mine. I was the shorter girl out of the CD staff with brown hair and a loud voice..(thanks to my dad)... As for passing the time, we have stayed very busy beacuse we have to offer differnent activities than the guests have already seen. SO planning all that has taken alot of our time.

[alexkrn46]

My family was on the Majesty this past August and it was awesome! All the staff was great, we enjoyed all the activities.

[NitaBcruising]

Lauryn, nice of you to post! Great to hear stuff firsthand! :D

 

Hi Wallie! Sounds like you have a wonderful DD! :)

[cruiseman_tx]

Lauryn, on another thread you said thgat Coco Cay was gone. What did you mean by that, and what kind of damage did that special retreat sustain??

[wallie5446]

When the ship gets in Monday & Lauryn calls, I will ask if they have any specific info on CoCo. Dont see the whole Island gone but it did take a direct hit from Fran.

[davidaperryman]

Hey Wallie and Lauryn,

 

We met you folks on the Sept '04 sailing of Rhapsody. I have been reading Lauryn's posts and am glad she make it onto the RCI ships. We are sailing 9/26/04 on the Rhapsody again and wish she was working that ship

[wallie5446]

David Good to see ya ! Stop back by the Texas Past n Present thread ! UpDate,

Lauryn call as they were pulling in around 7ish this morn, said that all the pax that stayed on board were some very neat people. She was very worn out as the staff went out of their way to do different things during the float. The disembark went very smooth, but then the 'NEW' pax started arriving:eek: .

 

Talk about a bunch of foul mouthed care about themselves only people !:mad:

The main computers went down so they were haveing to input on ship by hand, 'L' has front desk experience in Hotels here so they asked her to help on the Purssers desk for a while, turned into 6 Hours Straight !! And it was mostly grippin about not goin to CoCo & Nassau, which are both in very ruff shape. RCI is still giving 2-300 $ credits per cabin. She said she wished that they would go to CoCo and let them see just how bad it is, but then they would just have something else to gripe at RCI about.

 

She did say that a group of 15 or so CC'ers did meet her at 3:30 at the pool bar and were very very nice folks. Two cheers for Cruise Critic Pooples !

But most of the others were, well, I cant print it here :D .

We wont hear from her again till they return on Fri, but if we do get a post I will let ya know.

 

She will be going to the Monarch Sept 23rd, and finish out the year in CA.

 

Later EW

[CruisinBabe]

Hey Lauryn -

 

Thanks for replying to my earlier message. (I was going to email you but I see you don't have an email address listed) Anyway, just wanted to tell you - I most certainly do remember you from the CD staff - you always looked like you were having a blast no matter what you were doing. I just wanted to tell you we had a great time on the Majesty and you guys were - hands down - the best CD staff I have ever had in all my 6 cruises!! I think I want your job!

 

I'm sorry to hear the passengers arriving after the hurricane were a bunch of crybabies!! When we were on the Majesty cruise we spent 2 days without luggage cause the airline lost our bags. We could have complained, but didn't cause we knew it wasn't Royal Caribbean's fault. We were on a cruise and just decided to make the best of it - with or without our clothes. And I can honestly say we had a blast! (By the way, the Pursers Desk staff was wonderful doing as much as they possible could to help assist us and locate our bags and get them to the ship. And please tell Brandy from the gift shop I said "hello". My name is Amy but she'll probably best remember me as the young woman & her mother who didn't have any luggage and had to keep running to the gift shop to buy clothes, etc. We were on the Aug. 2nd sailing. Please tell her my mom & I think she is WONDERFUL!!)

 

I say your Dad wrote that you are heading to the Monarch in Sept. I'm just wondering... do you get any time off in between? How long have you been on the Majesty and have you been on any other ships? (Sorry if I seem noisy. I'm just totally fascinated by the idea of living & working on a cruise ship. It's something I've always wanted to do!)

 

Guess you and your crewmates are all keeping your eyes on Hurricane Ivan now. Stay safe!!

 

Amy

[wallie5446]

We should hear from her in the morning when they get into Miami and I will tell her to look up your post. We took her on her 1st cruise at 10 and this is something she has wanted to do ever since.

 

EW

[Kathie44]

It never ceases to amaze me how people complain about things that no one has any control over. When you attempt to cruise during hurricane season, which you couldn't pay me to do, you have to roll with the punches. At least they were on a cruise and not in the middle of the hurricane with their homes destroyed. Everything is relative.

[Cloudmaster]

I am just wondering, that being a Saturday most of the cruise ship start their week, where do they stay when there's a hurricane? Does anyone have a clue?

 

 

Away from the hurricane :)