Conquest Captain Boots Man off Ship for Starting A Protest !!!03/16/08 Cruise

[chasetf]

Always two sides to every story. Both believe they are right so who mediates? :cool:

The Captain "mediates".

 

As my Army Colonel told us all.... "In the sea of life we all have boats..... Some of us have bigger boats than others."

[chadinennistx]

Even better than kicking him off, if the captain put the guy in a dingy,tied it up to the back of the ship,let him go out about a hundred yards back and have everyone wave at him. ;)

 

Just for that post,RCRUISE2,were banishing you to the dingy with the trouble maker:p

[kdr69]

On our last cruise there was a fellow who loved to rant too. He said he had his own boat and knew how things were supposed to be done. Wanted to discuss with the Captain a better route that would allow for more time in port. Had a big following too.:rolleyes: Just another example of people who buy something and dont read the whole contract.:cool:

[Kris7562]

I guess what amuses me is that 100 or so people actually thought they could petition the master of a vessel to change his course. Who do these people think they are dealing with? This isn't some small town parks commission that could be swayed by people carrying a petition. I'm not implying that the capt is some kind of a tyrrant or anything but a ship at sea is hardly a democracy.

 

On our last cruise there was a fellow who loved to rant too. He said he had his own boat and knew how things were supposed to be done. Wanted to discuss with the Captain a better route that would allow for more time in port. Had a big following too.:rolleyes: Just another example of people who buy something and dont read the whole contract.:cool:

 

If his own boat was so nice, why didn't he just sail himself to all these ports?

[rsjc]

I don't find it hard to believe at all. First, Word of mouth of an angry customer travels quickly and spreads like wildfire. Second, Angry people are easily led. Third, people are generally sheep anyway and will easily fall into crowd mentality. You get one person to lead 5 and then 50 will join in simply so that they are part of the story. Add in that this guy probably used the fact that he would MILK carnival out of more money than a $25 OBC and you throw greed into the mix. You've heard all the people go nuts when the misreporting of carnival giving back the fuel surcharge. Hands go out and people get to expecting the cash to flow, when it doesn't they get hysterical.

 

Very well put.....You nailed that right on the head Thanks

[Cindy]

i was on that cruise and signed the petition.

There are a few points I would like to make...

- There are no objections to captain decision to change the course of the ship to address critical health situation of the passenger/crew, IF that was the only option.

- There are different types of people: somebody likes to stay on the ship, but for someone the primary objective is to visit new places, so no doubts that skipping Jamaica is a BIG impact on vacation plans for those people from the secind group

- Analyzing the situation, you can see that Carnival as a company does not have efficient way or did not want to proceed with more efficient ways to address such situations without impacting the people's vacation. There are long reach helicopters they could use to pick up somebody from the ship without changing the course... but i guess they picked cheaper solution.

- All this demonstrates that taking a cruise is really taking a chance: you just cannot rely on efficient handling of situation by Carnival as a company.

- Signing this petition,.. money was a secondary matter for me; there is a matter of principal here.

 

:eek: Please excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor! I am shocked that anyone could feel that their vacation is more important than saving a life. I suppose if it was your life or the life of one of your family members that was saved your "one-hit-wonder" post would have been singing the captain/Carnival's praises instead of slamming them for choosing to save a life over getting to a port.

[brnsnbrws]

Someone posted on another cruise board, he was on that cruise and he is a "whiner" also. He said the protest was started by some lawyers who were on board and he agreed with them.

[NotAPirate]

On our last cruise there was a fellow who loved to rant too. He said he had his own boat and knew how things were supposed to be done. Wanted to discuss with the Captain a better route that would allow for more time in port. Had a big following too.:rolleyes: Just another example of people who buy something and dont read the whole contract.:cool:

Those kind of people crack me up onboard. The "Weekend Navy" type, who generally haven't been on anything larger than a 50-footer. We met a guy like that on the Celebration two years ago and he was from here (Colorado). Kept bragging about his sailing experience and how "these Italians just can't sail." My FIL (22 year Navy retiree) arranged a tour of the behind-the-scenes for him and this yahoo, and let's just say the guy shut up afterwards. Turns out his entire naval experience comes from a bass boat on Pueblo Reservoir... a "lake" that's about 2 miles square.

[NotAPirate]

i was on that cruise and signed the petition.

There are a few points I would like to make...

- There are no objections to captain decision to change the course of the ship to address critical health situation of the passenger/crew, IF that was the only option.

Yet you signed the petition, even after it was announced that the reason for the change WAS due to a medical emergency...

 

- There are different types of people: somebody likes to stay on the ship, but for someone the primary objective is to visit new places, so no doubts that skipping Jamaica is a BIG impact on vacation plans for those people from the secind group

And had this been by a flight that was cancelled, or during the stormy season and the resort closed or the airport had to shut down, or by cruise the port closed, what would you do then? Petition God for making a hurricane that interrupted your vacation?

 

- Analyzing the situation, you can see that Carnival as a company does not have efficient way or did not want to proceed with more efficient ways to address such situations without impacting the people's vacation. There are long reach helicopters they could use to pick up somebody from the ship without changing the course... but i guess they picked cheaper solution.

As a One-hit Wonder Troll, I can understand your confusion of how things work, both corporately and geographically. Carnival has been in business for over 35 YEARS, with ships captained by men who spend YEARS training to be Captain. The distances traveled by ship are huge, please don't be confused by the map or globe you bought at your local WalMart. AND throw in the requirements by the US Coast Guard for the Captain to comply with (getting the ship to a set location and to maintain that designation until pick-up is completed) and you've got what happened here: something beyond EVERYONES' control. And I don't know what world you live in, but those helicopter evacuations are NOT cheaper... why do you think most vacation insurance plans say they cover that sometime over $30,000?!

- All this demonstrates that taking a cruise is really taking a chance: you just cannot rely on efficient handling of situation by Carnival as a company.

Walking out your front door is a chance, taking a drink of water from your tap is a chance, taking a shower at home during a lightning storm is a chance. You post this with apparent venom towards Carnival, but guess what Bucky?, ALL of the other cruise companies would and have done similar. It's called compassion for human life - someone needs medical attention beyond the limits of the shipboard infirmary, the Captain is bound by international laws to make sure that person receives said medical care.

- Signing this petition,.. money was a secondary matter for me; there is a matter of principal here.

No, you are a lemming, and a greedy one at that. It was not about "the principal," it was about your own skewed idea that the world revolves around your exclusive vacation amongst a ship carrying 3000 other people.

 

Begone, ye Troll! Shadow our forum nevermore!

[WeBeCruisin']

This thread should convince any doubters that the Dumbing of America, and the Me, Me, Me orientation of greed and entitlement are here and are spreading across our society at a frightening rate of speed. And one of the most upsetting aspects of it is that parents can do very little about it, when the overwhelming number of role models portrayed in the media are people like Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and the rampant "Gangstah" mentality and an overwhelming lack of any moral grounding or concern for others' needs or feelings. I"m not referring to "morals" in a religious sense, but in a human-decency sense.

 

I'm just really glad my three sons are all grown and with their own families, but I have to worry about how my seven grandkids will eventually turn out unless this plague can be reversed. If our society has deteriorated this much in 25 years, what will the next 25 bring?

 

Sigh, freaking sigh.

[WeBeCruisin']

No, you are a lemming, and a greedy one at that. It was not about "the principal," it was about your own skewed idea that the world revolves around your exclusive vacation amongst a ship carrying 3000 other people.

 

Begone, ye Troll! Shadow our forum nevermore!

 

Most excellent, but it's always frustrating to cast pearls of wisdom before swine. :)

[funship freddy]

We had left St. Thomas on Caribbean Princess as scheduled for the next port of call. Went to dinner and when I returned to my balcony...alas we were just off the port in St. Thomas. The Captain had returned to St. Thomas because of a medical emergency (pax). I listened to the interesting radio traffic on my VHF hand held or I wouldn't have known what was going on. The following morning..the Captain made an announcement re: what had happened. I don't remember anyone being upset or expecting anything.

[we2cruze]

I cannot understand how staging an unjustified protest which eventually ended in the instigator's eviction from the ship improved the quality of anyones vacation. As for you, Rcruise2, did standing in the ships lobby, angrily protesting the medical evacuation of a crew member make your deep disapointment at missing Montego Bay all better? Frankly I am astounded at the mentality of such actions. How does getting all mad and causing trouble help the situation? And for anyone who says they didn't do it for money, I say Baloney. What else could you possibly hope to gain? Did you think that if you protested then perhaps they would lengthen your cruise and take you to Montego Bay?

[WeBeCruisin']

The following morning..the Captain made an announcement re: what had happened. I don't remember anyone being upset or expecting anything.

 

In July of 2005, we were on the Brilliance of the Seas on its 12-day Mediterranean itinerary. As we were boarding, we found out that they had canceled Kusadasi (Ephesus) in Turkey because of a bombing there a couple of weeks earlier. We were returned our excursion money, and life went on.

 

As we were going into the harbor at Mykonos, Greece, a wind-sheer came up with a gust of 104 mph.... the ship almost capsized.... over 10,000 plates and other glassware were broken and the harbor was closed. RCCL again refunded excursion fees, but instead of an OBC, they provided a two-hour complimentary open bar from 5:00 to 7:00 that evening.

 

I don't remember a single person whining or complaining. We were disappointed, of course, to miss two of the best ports, but "stuff" happens and adults learn to deal with it without being compelled to find someone to blame and without greed causing them to try to find a way to make money out of an unfortunate situation. :)

[Monkeythyme]

I'm no expert on geography, but I can do some basic 5th grade math and figure that the emergency would put the ship about 5 to 6 hours behind schedule and would cut a 9-hour port call down to 4, which is hardly worth the additional "rock and roll" caused by the increase in speed. Then, when you figure that it is about 18 hours round trip from Grand Cayman to Kingston, it is apparent that you have at least 12 hours to kill once you give up on MoBay, hence the sailing in circles. However, if I were [as the "Car Talk" guys like to say] "unencumbered by the thought process", I could see myself getting bent out of shape by observing the outcome without running the numbers.

But then the dude may have thought it through and decided to take his refund, catch a puddle-jumper from Cayman to MoBay, and spend a couple of days where he really wanted to be anyway.

[trock]

:eek: Please excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor! I am shocked that anyone could feel that their vacation is more important than saving a life. I suppose if it was your life or the life of one of your family members that was saved your "one-hit-wonder" post would have been singing the captain/Carnival's praises instead of slamming them for choosing to save a life over getting to a port.

 

 

My jaw is next to yours.. Suppose they can start a petition for the Coast Guard to purchase helicopters of their choice :rolleyes:

[trock]

This thread should convince any doubters that the Dumbing of America' date=' and the Me, Me, Me orientation of greed and entitlement are here and are spreading across our society at a frightening rate of speed. And one of the most upsetting aspects of it is that parents can do very little about it, when the overwhelming number of role models portrayed in the media are people like Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and the rampant "Gangstah" mentality and an overwhelming lack of any moral grounding or concern for others' needs or feelings. I"m not referring to "morals" in a religious sense, but in a human-decency sense.

 

I'm just really glad my three sons are all grown and with their own families, but I have to worry about how my seven grandkids will eventually turn out unless this plague can be reversed. If our society has deteriorated this much in 25 years, what will the next 25 bring?

 

Sigh, freaking sigh.[/quote']

 

Scary thought.... And this is why i have cats and not kids~

[trock]

We had left St. Thomas on Caribbean Princess as scheduled for the next port of call. Went to dinner and when I returned to my balcony...alas we were just off the port in St. Thomas. The Captain had returned to St. Thomas because of a medical emergency (pax). I listened to the interesting radio traffic on my VHF hand held or I wouldn't have known what was going on. The following morning..the Captain made an announcement re: what had happened. I don't remember anyone being upset or expecting anything.

 

 

Whats a VHF handheld??:confused:

[trock]

I agree with you Russ hell they coulda missed Jamaica and kept the $25 bucks too Jamaica sucks! The Captain did the right thing. I would hope if that were me having a medical condition the Captain would do everything in his power to help me. Things happen those people who complained should be glad it wasn't them on that helicopter.

 

Absolutely!

Most people only think of themselves.. and its THEIR cruise, ya know ;)

[Monkeythyme]

And for anyone who says they didn't do it for money, I say Baloney.

 

And you have evidence in the plaintiff's own words. He/she said "...a matter of principal..", not "...a matter of principle...". He/she probably wanted some interest on that principal too.

[we2cruze]

Hey trock, I like your Audrey Hepburn avatar. :) I tried to give myself a different avatar, but am just too computer illiterate to do it. The pictures I tried were all too big.

[allesonwonderland]

I'm no expert on geography, but I can do some basic 5th grade math and figure that the emergency would put the ship about 5 to 6 hours behind schedule and would cut a 9-hour port call down to 4, which is hardly worth the additional "rock and roll" caused by the increase in speed. Then, when you figure that it is about 18 hours round trip from Grand Cayman to Kingston, it is apparent that you have at least 12 hours to kill once you give up on MoBay, hence the sailing in circles. However, if I were [as the "Car Talk" guys like to say] "unencumbered by the thought process", I could see myself getting bent out of shape by observing the outcome without running the numbers.

But then the dude may have thought it through and decided to take his refund, catch a puddle-jumper from Cayman to MoBay, and spend a couple of days where he really wanted to be anyway.

 

I think you're right about people not understanding the logistics. Many thought when it was 9:45pm or so and they made the announcement that there was an emergency, that it was just beginning then. We had turned around before 7pm. Some thought our only delay was the hour rendezvous with the helicopter. Those were the ones who were really confused and couldn't understand why we couldn't make it to port.

 

It was disappointing, especially for my kids who were so excited to spend the day at Sunset Beach. But, even my kids could understand that 'stuff' happens and you just deal with it. We all felt bad for the gal with the emergency. You would think that if people had the choice between missing a port or being airlifted off for medical reasons it would be an easy decision.

[RCruise2]

OK, so you signed because you missed a port, or you signed because of exactly why? You say it wasn't monetary. But rather Principal? Also, I would lie to hear the basic wording of this petition and what in fact you thought would come of said petition. Not trying to pick a fight here, but I would truly like to hear what your thoughts and what the feel of the petitioners was. Were you at the "meeting/protest"? Did you see the originator of the petition after Grand Cayman and if not what do you think or know of what happened to him.

 

Sure. Actually, the guy who originated this "protest" made quick anouncement via microphone on the deck. The main point I got for myself was that ship officials do not want to talk to passengers, so if we collect signatures then at least we can be heard. There was no petition, at least initially.

This is 1st (and probably last - not my type of vacation) cruise I had, so to me the main point was to visit new places. I DO understand that health and life of single person matters much more than vacation objectives of 3000 people. BUT, at the same time I was SURPRISED that such a predictable situation (it is very possible with 3000 passangers + 1000 crew on the ship) handled in such inefficient manner. My point is that the Carnival, as a company should be responsible for not delivering the service that we paid for. Of course, they might be covered by different contractual conditions and this is what some people here say. This is why they have a freedom and flexibility for situations resolution. Well, I DO believe there are more efficient ways to handle this (e.g. get helicopter from Jamaika, Mexico, Kayman Islands...). They picked the cheapest (for them) solution regardless of all incovenience for the passengers. I just cannot agree with it in principal, so this is why I put my signature there.

[kdr69]

Sure. Actually, the guy who originated this "protest" made quick anouncement via microphone on the deck. The main point I got for myself was that ship officials do not want to talk to passengers, so if we collect signatures then at least we can be heard. There was no petition, at least initially.

This is 1st (and probably last - not my type of vacation) cruise I had, so to me the main point was to visit new places. I DO understand that health and life of single person matters much more than vacation objectives of 3000 people. BUT, at the same time I was SURPRISED that such a predictable situation (it is very possible with 3000 passangers + 1000 crew on the ship) handled in such inefficient manner. My point is that the Carnival, as a company should be responsible for not delivering the service that we paid for. Of course, they might be covered by different contractual conditions and this is what some people here say. This is why they have a freedom and flexibility for situations resolution. Well, I DO believe there are more efficient ways to handle this (e.g. get helicopter from Jamaika, Mexico, Kayman Islands...). They picked the cheapest (for them) solution regardless of all incovenience for the passengers. I just cannot agree with it in principal, so this is why I put my signature there.

 

 

:eek: You have got to be kidding me? This was your principle? Inefficient? Do you know what it takes to coordinate a ship to shore evacuation? A medical evacuation is never about the inconvenience of the passengers it is about only one person the one being evacuated. Im surprised you dont sue the passenger who got sick for the inconvenience of ruining YOUR vacation, I mean really how could they have done something so inconsiderate.:rolleyes: Should have read your contract before you purchased a cruise.

[WeBeCruisin']

Whats a VHF handheld??:confused:

 

I think the VHF part must stand for Very Hot Fingers. :confused: