New Cruise Contract,Read It!

[smeyer418]

In stead of chastising the Cruise company he can just as easily have chastised those who so easily sue over any slight and a society that encourages lawsuits as the means of settling every dispute. and as I pointed out the same protection against suing truly independent contractors is applied to your local hospital in many cases.

 

But I do disagree with the supreme court on the physician issue(and Congress may too). If the cruise lines are making physicians available, they should at least be held accountable to making sure they are competent. Also since they can hire doctors from Pago Pago, they should at least require that they are amenable to being sued in the same place that the passenger must sue the cruise line and that they carry a minimum amount of insurance.

[jaxon41]

Jaxon 41 .I'm with you on that Sec 21 that they added 16th Nov. Onerous is a good description. That Schplinky might get upset when he finds his future booked cruises Have cost him another $400 .But being Canadian He might not Qualify for the Fuel surcharge as it's against Cdn law to increase after booking. Carnival are crediting Canadians I see.Guess were off topic but it is the Regs & fine print we're discussing.

 

Yes, we still do not know what RCI products will do -- follow suit with Carnival products? I would love to know the Canadian regs, but, from what I can tell they are provencial, and have not been able to get a copy with what little searching I have done so far. We all have to be wary going forward, and I know Schplinky loves to cruise -- have enjoyed his website on his cruises. I will be trying Holland as a result of all of this because their new language is not open ended allowing for an increase in virtually anything at any time -- it is limited to a fuel charge.

[Schplinky]

Yes, we still do not know what RCI products will do -- follow suit with Carnival products? I would love to know the Canadian regs, but, from what I can tell they are provencial, and have not been able to get a copy with what little searching I have done so far. We all have to be wary going forward, and I know Schplinky loves to cruise -- have enjoyed his website on his cruises. I will be trying Holland as a result of all of this because their new language is not open ended allowing for an increase in virtually anything at any time -- it is limited to a fuel charge.

 

I do love to cruise, that is true. I think ANY line that suddenly starts hiking it's fare hundreds of dollars at the last second would be out of business pretty quickly (unless, I suppose, all the lines did it). The current fuel surcharges are not onerous and would not exactly be a deal breakerfor anyone who has even one drink of the day currently.

 

I like paying as little as possible as much as the next person but I do think folks have gone of the deep end on this one. Airlines have had fuel surcharges for years but have not exactly been grounded. We'll all get used to the charge soon enough and I doubt the lines will ever drop it.

 

In terms of trying HAL because of a surcharge, there are a lot of factors that go into choosing a cruise and before we sail HAL again, I will have to age 40 years so unless all theother lines sink, we won't be taking that approach to these charges.

[rebeccalouise]

What came first- the chicken or the egg?

 

In the case of cruise contracts they use this wording to protect themselves from frivolous lawsuits.

 

As a matter of practice- most cruise lines do their utmost to ensure the safety of the passengers, with careful food handling, general ship maintenance and the prevention of communicable illnesses.

 

After 23 cruises- I have yet to have a bad cruise. I imagine most people have successful, uneventful cruises.

 

There are those that want something for nothing and try to take advantage. It is because of these people that contracts are updated all the time.

 

My father is a lawyer and would cringe that I am writing this!

[jaxon41]

I do love to cruise, that is true. I think ANY line that suddenly starts hiking it's fare hundreds of dollars at the last second would be out of business pretty quickly (unless, I suppose, all the lines did it). The current fuel surcharges are not onerous and would not exactly be a deal breakerfor anyone who has even one drink of the day currently.

 

I like paying as little as possible as much as the next person but I do think folks have gone of the deep end on this one. Airlines have had fuel surcharges for years but have not exactly been grounded. We'll all get used to the charge soon enough and I doubt the lines will ever drop it.

 

In terms of trying HAL because of a surcharge, there are a lot of factors that go into choosing a cruise and before we sail HAL again, I will have to age 40 years so unless all theother lines sink, we won't be taking that approach to these charges.

 

Having just booked by BiL on Hal, I will be eager to learn what he thinks. He is doing the Hawaii run and when I did it on X, I never saw so many electric scooters! It had to be a safety hazard when they lined them up in the aisle of the tender!

 

Schplinky, I am rather surprised that you aren't getting what the fuss is about -- it really has nothing to do with fuel surcharges, or OJ surcharges (allowable under the new contract language), and for some, the charges are $100's of dollars, depends on how many cabins you are paying for -- it is about the law. As Canadians, it looks like you might get the Canadian laws to work to your benefit, but we are not without laws regarding breach of contract, ourselves, just a slower process of rectification using common law rather than statutory.

[Schplinky]

Having just booked by BiL on Hal, I will be eager to learn what he thinks. He is doing the Hawaii run and when I did it on X, I never saw so many electric scooters! It had to be a safety hazard when they lined them up in the aisle of the tender!

 

Schplinky, I am rather surprised that you aren't getting what the fuss is about -- it really has nothing to do with fuel surcharges, or OJ surcharges (allowable under the new contract language), and for some, the charges are $100's of dollars, depends on how many cabins you are paying for -- it is about the law. As Canadians, it looks like you might get the Canadian laws to work to your benefit, but we are not without laws regarding breach of contract, ourselves, just a slower process of rectification using common law rather than statutory.

 

I do understand the reaction, I just think it's out of proportion to anyone's ability to do anything about it. Also, I think these scenarios folks are painting are so unlikely that they are just being used to upset others.

 

In terms of HAL, I think that if you thought the situation on X was gentrified, you will be stunned by HAL. That's the first time it said in the cruise documents that we were to take our scooters or walkers inside the cabin and to not leave them in the hall. A bad sign...

[BobBeaSea]

The cruise contract....heck, some parts of it have been in existence since the 19th century. :) Clause 3 is a beauty....:D

[usha]

In terms of HAL, I think that if you thought the situation on X was gentrified, you will be stunned by HAL. That's the first time it said in the cruise documents that we were to take our scooters or walkers inside the cabin and to not leave them in the hall. A bad sign...

I really shouldn't be laughing quite so hard at that; my day's coming...:D

[jaxon41]

I do understand the reaction, I just think it's out of proportion to anyone's ability to do anything about it. Also, I think these scenarios folks are painting are so unlikely that they are just being used to upset others.

 

In terms of HAL, I think that if you thought the situation on X was gentrified, you will be stunned by HAL. That's the first time it said in the cruise documents that we were to take our scooters or walkers inside the cabin and to not leave them in the hall. A bad sign...

 

That is funny about HAL! Do you think it makes a difference what the itinerary is? I was a bit put off with those scooters because the poor crew had to manually hike them up and down the steps to the tender, and they seemed very heavy -- not to mention the safety hazard of having them lined up in the aisle, preventing anyone's egress in an emergency. My thought was, if a pax can walk up and down those steps, and get into a tender with it bobbing all about, maybe they didn't really need a scooter, and could have done ok with a fold up wheel chair.

 

I have to disagree about the inability of anyone to do anything about the fuel surcharge if they booked before implementation. Obviously, it worked for the Canadians with Carnival, so it is a strange thing for a Canadian to say. I probably agree that an OJ surcharge is unlikely, but everyone learned something from this breach of contract -- if a line will breach a contract by changing it to an open ended price increase clause after deposit, what else might it do.

[Schplinky]

I guess what my point is, that keeps getting missed, is that the "what else might it do" that everyone is worried about is itself overly-open-ended. Do you really think the line is going to say to people "pay an extra $500 or we won't let you on?" Legally, they could but really, they would be out of business within six months if word got out.

 

I just think that folks are gnawing this like a bone they won't let go. It's not going to enhance your vacation to arrives peeved at the line.

 

In terms of HAL, we were on their newest ship, in the Caribbean on their shortest cruise (a week) so our sailing should have profiled among the youngest. The average age was in the high sixties or low seventies.

[jaxon41]

I guess what my point is, that keeps getting missed, is that the "what else might it do" that everyone is worried about is itself overly-open-ended. Do you really think the line is going to say to people "pay an extra $500 or we won't let you on?" Legally, they could but really, they would be out of business within six months if word got out.

 

I just think that folks are gnawing this like a bone they won't let go. It's not going to enhance your vacation to arrives peeved at the line.

 

In terms of HAL, we were on their newest ship, in the Caribbean on their shortest cruise (a week) so our sailing should have profiled among the youngest. The average age was in the high sixties or low seventies.

 

I really enjoy older people -- and high 60's is young by my standards since hubby is 62. I just don't enjoy having to get around electric scooters.

 

Do I think they will charge an extra 500 to get off the ship? No, I don't, but I do think they will increase the "open ended" charges down the line, and it will be without notice after deposit or full payment. Since the add ons are opaque -- non comissionable, and hidden from the cruise price for the shopper -- this is where we will see the increases in the future.