Just back from Mariner 'Alaskan' Riviera cruise...

[IMCRABBY]

RUBRRICK....Comparing this cruise to a Tsunami....YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING...RIGHT?

[thetwins]

I have to say, I feel for you all! It was rainy/cold/wet this week (too bad you weren't diverted a few weeks ago when it was 88 degrees and sweltering!), and when I heard that you all had docked in SF, I really did feel bad! I'm just crossing my fingers that our June 28 Mariner cruise will still be going to Mexico....

[pscruzinboyz]

RCCL did the right thing by changing the itinerary. Maybe SF was not the best choice but they have been in this business a very long time and you can bet, There would have been those who would have B***H if they would have just sat off of the Coast of Mexico and had the chance to go to SF. Nobody knows what the weather will be like when they travel, People ASSUME. Every reveiw from the Mariner since I was on in FEB, has said cold and windy the first day and the last 2 days. I have to say that in Feb, it was cool but Not Cold. We took sweat shirts and I always take a Pull over rain gear, even in the Caribbean, it rains. Chock this up to a CRUISE to remember..............Sorry it was not what you had planned on but at least you will know now.

 

By the Way, Maybe it was because you are a Carnival Guy and Not a RCCL cruiser. :confused:

Just my opinion!

 

Mike

[easyshi]

I agree. If they had so much fear about the "swine flu", what changed from the time we left port until we got to Cabo. If they were afraid and they were making alternate plans they should have told us before we left and gave us an option. All they kept saying was that there were no reports of swine flu in the Coastal Ports, "all of the problems were inland". So what changed, nothing. They were supposedly protecting us and themselves. If they were so worried about the swine flu then why didn't they cancel the cruises all together and reimburse us? When we boarded the ship we understood that the swine flu was in Mexico. The cruise lines knew about the government recommendations before we left, if they were so concerned why didn't they say it at the port instead waiting till we got out to sea. As I recall the governement message has not changed for 2 weeks, so all of the sudden they are too concerned to go, please. We got robbed!

[msett1]

Sorry you all had to go through this. I definitely would have been disappointed about the change even though I realize it's not RCCL's fault. We were a tad disappointed about the change to our 5/24 Mariner cruise but are looking forward to it now overall. Hope you all have the oppurtunity to sail the Mariner again to Mexico next time.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I wonder if they switched to the Pac. NW assuming people would still want ports...if it were me and I was in the mindframe (and had the clothes) for a warm cruise, I would rather drop anchor off the coast of Mexico and sit by the pool all day, rather than go into 50 degree rain and fog just to walk around (beautiful) San Fran...

 

I'd love to know why ships can't "look into the company database" and throw together a new Compass and create a full day's worth of activities instead of leaving passengers with so little to do because that day was originally a port day. Ridiculous!!!!

 

I'd have been quiiiiiite unhappy on this cruise. All the, "It's not RCI's fault" in the world wouldn't have made me happier had I just spent all that money. Of course I would've understood it but it doesn't mean I'd have to be HAPPY about throwing away $1,000.

 

I'd love to meet all the happy, go-with-the-flow people who seem to be on Cruise Critic. They must have rainbows, hearts and flowers floating over their heads all the time! I'm totally jealous.

 

This seems to be a point of contention...that people were bored because it was too cold and windy to do the usual outdoorsy on the deck type of activities. It seems strange that the CD didn't have any contingency activities ready. On my last cruise (which had about 10 sea days) on another cruiseline, we missed a port due to high waves. About an hour after the captain's announcement, there was a revised newsletter in our inboxes with activities such as trivia matches (tons of them...that's what I did most of the day along with a big group), ukelele class (there were two earlier in the cruise), and computer classes.

[Jumbiecruiser]

 

 

Well by reading this,

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=979526

doesn't look like Carnival gave their group anything that was on board. Also, Royal is the only one that I know allowing people to outright cancel their cruise for a refund. I feel for those that were affected but such is life. It's all how you choose to deal with it.

[36kruzes]

I am so sorry to hear that many on board Mariner last week were so upset by the itinerary changes. I would have been furious too.

 

Now, I understand all the talk from some people about how visiting Mexican ports during this horrid 'pandemic' (which merely means it has spread around many locales, not that it appears in great numbers or has been so very deadly) would've been imprudent, really, I do -- but I also know that it would have worked just as well to sail around the warm waters of Mexico and perhaps tender at Catalina and visit San Diego. You had already satisfied your 'foreign' destination with the Cabo visit!

 

For future cruisers on the Mex. Riv. route, they, too, could sail the warm waters around southern Baja or even farther south, then make a one hour 'call' at Ensenada -- no one would be let off the ship, just as is the case when returning from Hawaii so ships can satisfy that 'foreign' destination business. Then the ship could call at Catalina and/or San Diego and then back to L.A.

 

But nooooooo.... they decided to ship everyone up to San Fran and beyond for the foreseeable future.

 

If I were you, I would keep after RCI to sweeten the so-called 'deal' you got with the measly on-board credit, etc. I agree it's not their fault there is a flu outbreak, but cruise lines deal with big changes all the time and this particular routing change has been a nightmare because the new cruise in no way resembles the former itinerary -- not even close.

 

Good luck to you!

 

The people who booked for the this week had MANY options. They could change boats, dates, itinerarys, etc - with credits! We had no options on the 4/26 cruise.

 

I appreciate that RCCL needed to cancel the Mexican Port calls due to the CDC recommendation- but we are very upset with the decision that was made by Cprporate to send the ship through 4 more days with rain, cold, 50+ mile per hour winds across the deck, and 36 hours of fog that required fog horns. They chose a port with a weather forecast of 61 degrees and all day rain. This is not the cruise we signed up for. I believe most would have been happy spending the rest of the vacation at sea off the coast of Mexico - where we could have at least enjoyed the outside areas of the ship.

 

Also - I do not understand your statement of "when we booked the cruise we took a chance of a totally revised itinerary":confused:

[36kruzes]

Interesting about that 'fog' you claim you experienced off Mazatlan in April. Is it possible? Sure, anything's possible. Is it common? NO! I've sailed up and down those waters for decades and never experienced more than a slight bit of fog as far south as Mazatlan. My brother is a commercial fisherman along Ca/Mex waters and he says the fog you claim you noticed near Mazatlan would be rare indeed .

 

Is there fog along the coast of CA, Oregon border to Mexican border? Yes. And our fog in So. Cal. is usually most common in SUMMER, not spring.

 

Whatever -- the unhappy cruiser/original poster with the changed itinerary would like to tell his story and he has good reason to be really annoyed. If you had any real fog at all, I am quite certain it was not accompanied by windy freezing cold temps and rain, that's for sure.

 

 

Just a note on the fog complaint:

 

Last week, the week before yours, the last time that Mariner went to Mexico, we had several hours of fog and constant fog-horn blasts as we came into Mazatlan.

 

The Mexican itinerary isn't fog or fog-horn free, either.

 

:)

[36kruzes]

I totally understand your feelings about the clothing issue, itinerary change, and most of all, weather!

 

In addition, if it's any comfort to you who are trying to get across what really transpired on this rather ill-fated cruise, I, too, am tired of hearing from the Pollyannas who tell everyone to be happy they were ON a cruise and not at work, or that they need to learn to make lemons from lemonade, or other such nonsense. I would most definitely not have wanted to proceed north to San Francisco. The ships are nice but come ON! Had they even taken you back to Los Angeles you could've done some things around here and/or gone to Palm Springs or Vegas -- but YOU would've been in charge.

 

I hope you get more from RCI to compensate than you've already received, believe me. Good luck in that regard!

 

 

I wonder if they switched to the Pac. NW assuming people would still want ports...if it were me and I was in the mindframe (and had the clothes) for a warm cruise, I would rather drop anchor off the coast of Mexico and sit by the pool all day, rather than go into 50 degree rain and fog just to walk around (beautiful) San Fran...

 

I'd love to know why ships can't "look into the company database" and throw together a new Compass and create a full day's worth of activities instead of leaving passengers with so little to do because that day was originally a port day. Ridiculous!!!!

 

I'd have been quiiiiiite unhappy on this cruise. All the, "It's not RCI's fault" in the world wouldn't have made me happier had I just spent all that money. Of course I would've understood it but it doesn't mean I'd have to be HAPPY about throwing away $1,000.

 

I'd love to meet all the happy, go-with-the-flow people who seem to be on Cruise Critic. They must have rainbows, hearts and flowers floating over their heads all the time! I'm totally jealous.

[36kruzes]

Agree, I, too, would like to read about what happened on these cruises without the Pollyanna-type messages in retort telling cruisers that they should've made lemonade out of lemons or be glad they were on a cruise and not at work, or other such nonsense!

 

I wonder if they switched to the Pac. NW assuming people would still want ports...if it were me and I was in the mindframe (and had the clothes) for a warm cruise, I would rather drop anchor off the coast of Mexico and sit by the pool all day, rather than go into 50 degree rain and fog just to walk around (beautiful) San Fran...

 

I'd love to know why ships can't "look into the company database" and throw together a new Compass and create a full day's worth of activities instead of leaving passengers with so little to do because that day was originally a port day. Ridiculous!!!!

 

I'd have been quiiiiiite unhappy on this cruise. All the, "It's not RCI's fault" in the world wouldn't have made me happier had I just spent all that money. Of course I would've understood it but it doesn't mean I'd have to be HAPPY about throwing away $1,000.

 

I'd love to meet all the happy, go-with-the-flow people who seem to be on Cruise Critic. They must have rainbows, hearts and flowers floating over their heads all the time! I'm totally jealous.

[emmy]

Just a note on the fog complaint:

 

Last week, the week before yours, the last time that Mariner went to Mexico, we had several hours of fog and constant fog-horn blasts as we came into Mazatlan.

 

The Mexican itinerary isn't fog or fog-horn free, either.

 

:)

 

I do not think it is that rare either. On our Mazatlan tour with Frank he commented about a month ago the fog was so heavy the ship did not dock until about 10:30am. I told him I knew cause my son was on that sailing. DS said the fog was extremely heavy so Carol when I woke up that morning in MAz I thought...oh oh here we go again :)

[aloha43]

Not true! There was talk of the swine flu for at least a week before we boarded!

 

Maybe so. But maybe they didn't know that they were going to alter the itineraries until after that point. They did go to Cabo, right? sounds like that means that they did start out in the right direction, then had to change it.

 

I still don't know what they could have done otherwise.

 

If they had stayed south....at sea without ports, everyone would have complained. If they go north......everyone complained that they should have stayed south at sea.

[aloha43]

Coming from someone who lives in Northern California, I always travel wearing clothes in layers, no matter what time of the year it is. One never knows when the fog/wind/rain will come in.

 

Just think how it must be to be in the Caribbean during hurricane season. There are lots of rainy days. What do people do then?

 

So, I guess this is a lesson learned for everyone......always pack a warmer set of clothes just in case. :)

 

I know this doesn't help now, but it is always a good piece of advice for future trips.

 

That said.....I agree with others that RCL should do something more for the people that didn't have a choice of whether to cancel or not. At least offer an extra future OBC. :D

[aggieastrosfan]

Anyhow.... that's life..... At least Princess and Carnival are treating their passengers fair/well.

 

Carnival treated the passengers who yelled and threatened their crew very well by arranging a special stop back in Long Beach just for them to get off the ship. :rolleyes: So the rest of us that stayed missed the few morning hours in San Fran where it didn't rain!!

 

It could be worse - you could've not gotten Cabo (we didn't), and spent the entire time in San Francisco in the rain (we did). And only get $40/pp shipboard credit.

 

I managed to have a great time on our ship, but I totally understand where you're coming from! The change in weather was a huge disappointment, the wrap balcony we paid a small fortune for was pretty useless the last 2 1/2 days.

[klfhngr]

[quote name='dirtgirl']Sorry you had to go through all this, bud.;) I hope it all works out for you.:)[/QUOTE]

Thanks DG... it'll work out... My chest is aching though today.. I'm sure it's nothing...

[klfhngr]

[quote name='rubrrick']We got off of the ship that you got on. At that point, there was not a problem about the Swine flu. We knew nothing about any problem.....that I was aware of.

How could you have been told before hand........except by someone with a crystal ball........that you were going to have a problem.

There are always people that have 20/20 hindsight.......that think like this.

I feel sorry for you.......but Life is Life!! Like you know when a tsunami is coming your way.......and you want a refund![/QUOTE]

Your comparison is assanign... I'll leave it at that..

[klfhngr]

[quote name='easyshi']I agree. If they had so much fear about the "swine flu", what changed from the time we left port until we got to Cabo. If they were afraid and they were making alternate plans they should have told us before we left and gave us an option. All they kept saying was that there were no reports of swine flu in the Coastal Ports, "all of the problems were inland". So what changed, nothing. They were supposedly protecting us and themselves. If they were so worried about the swine flu then why didn't they cancel the cruises all together and reimburse us? When we boarded the ship we understood that the swine flu was in Mexico. The cruise lines knew about the government recommendations before we left, if they were so concerned why didn't they say it at the port instead waiting till we got out to sea. As I recall the governement message has not changed for 2 weeks, so all of the sudden they are too concerned to go, please. We got robbed![/QUOTE]

EXACTLY! For the first 2 days, that's all the captain would say, 'everything is ok, no worries, nothing to worry about', etc.! Then, WHAMMO, we have to leave Mexico?!!

[klfhngr]

[quote name='36kruzes']I totally understand your feelings about the clothing issue, itinerary change, and most of all, weather!

In addition, if it's any comfort to you who are trying to get across what really transpired on this rather ill-fated cruise, I, too, am tired of hearing from the Pollyannas who tell everyone to be happy they were ON a cruise and not at work, or that they need to learn to make lemons from lemonade, or other such nonsense. I would most definitely not have wanted to proceed north to San Francisco. The ships are nice but come ON! Had they even taken you back to Los Angeles you could've done some things around here and/or gone to Palm Springs or Vegas -- but YOU would've been in charge.

I hope you get more from RCI to compensate than you've already received, believe me. Good luck in that regard![/QUOTE]

Thank you, I really appreciate your comments... At least a few people understand...

[marci22]

[quote name='amybeth4']I'd love to meet all the happy, go-with-the-flow people who seem to be on Cruise Critic. They must have rainbows, hearts and flowers floating over their heads all the time! I'm totally jealous.[/quote]

Heh, I liked that one

[klfhngr]

Someone asked about the tide conditions coming back home... It was rocky somewhat, but not as bad as when heading up North. Also, we were only sailing at 13 knots... I heard that we could've been 'home' by Sat. if they really wanted to..

Also, some mentioned why didn't the ship just stay in Mexican waters.. I asked the same question. Per the Captain, in case of emergency, he didn't want to have to airlift anyone to a Mexican hospital, period. I also heard that it's against Mexican law, i.e., you have to travel to a specific port/location if in Mexican waters, if not, get the heck out!

[land lover]

KH(AKA JAMES)....according to past posts, you have been on this itinerary 10+ times and you would not have thought about bringing warm clothes???? Weren't you the weather man on our April 26, thread????

I can see people from the east and mid-west packing only for hot weather. But a So Cal native....you know better, especially on this itinerary.

Okay now I am done giving you a hard time;)

Certainly, everyone on this sailing was disappointed.....especially my SIL from Utah.

Now I am going back to read more than the first post of this thread..........

[critterchick]

[quote name='36kruzes']Interesting about that 'fog' you claim you experienced off Mazatlan in April. Is it possible? Sure, anything's possible. Is it common? NO! I've sailed up and down those waters for decades and never experienced more than a slight bit of fog as far south as Mazatlan. My brother is a commercial fisherman along Ca/Mex waters and he says the fog you claim you noticed near Mazatlan would be rare indeed .

Is there fog along the coast of CA, Oregon border to Mexican border? Yes. And our fog in So. Cal. is usually most common in SUMMER, not spring.

Whatever -- the unhappy cruiser/original poster with the changed itinerary would like to tell his story and he has good reason to be really annoyed. If you had any real fog at all, I am quite certain it was not accompanied by windy freezing cold temps and rain, that's for sure.[/quote]

She's telling the truth about the fog in Mazatlan. No, it wasn't freezing cold, but it was foggy.

Yes, the OP has the right to vent. I think RCI was slow on the uptake and probably shouldn't have let passengers off in Cabo, either, if they were really concerned about the swine flu, but imagine the hoards of upset people had they elected to have 4 straight sea days. Either way, they were going to have some dissatisfied customers, some more vocal than others.

[quote name='ladyboyd']Not true! There was talk of the swine flu for at least a week before we boarded![/quote]

No, there wasn't. I was on the prior cruise (4/19) and the story was on CNN Thursday of that cruise.

[QUOTE]
My chest is aching though today.. I'm sure it's nothing...
[/QUOTE]

Don't count on it. Of far more concern to me than any revised itinerary is the thought that Mariner needs a thorough bleaching. A lot of our group has spent the last week coughing, hacking, snuffling and gargling. It appears to be common since the Round the Horn trip.

[dirtgirl]

[quote name='klfhngr']Thanks DG... it'll work out... My chest is aching though today.. I'm sure it's nothing...[/quote]

Almost our entire roll call came down sick from the ship - the Mariner has a problem!! I've hardly slept 4 nights in a row now because of the coughing.:( It's a good thing my mom phoned this morning, because I turned off my alarm, rolled over and fell asleep again.:o

There was thick fog in Mazatlan. We went ATVing at Stone Island. It was early afternoon, and we were riding back along the beach. All of a sudden we were in this thick fog. I could barely make out the ATV in front of me. It was actually quite neat. I began to get cold, and by the end of the ride, my clothes were covered in condensation.

[indyguy65]

Yes, we also were on the 4/19 sailing and we did not hear a word about the swine flu until Thursday. By then we were headed out of Puerto Vallarta. I don't think when the ship left San Pedron on 4/26 there was a thought it might not be able to make all 3 Mexican stops. This whole flu thing really took off after that and RCI and every other line was scrambling for a solution.