Mutiny on the QM2?

[JoeyandDavid]

LOL I aggree.. I found his comments to be outstanding.. Mine was more of a "i heard that" type of statement

Welcome Convert94, it does seem that this ship has had more than its share of troubles.. maybe its as Joe says that it's a normal thing and we only hear about it BECAUSE is a Cunard ship.

Interesting.. at least to me.

[Joanandjoe]

No, Joey, breakdowns are not normal, but (stuff) happens. Pods are particularly prone to mishaps, but they also make modern cruise ships possible. A tough trade-off.

Other ships have had pod problems, but they weren't publicized as much as for the QM2. Celebrity has cancelled cruises rather than send the ships out in the sad condition of the QM2. (And to think it's just 8 days since I saw the ship in NYC, and thought it was a monster.)

[jsme]

I think if it is an issue of being lied to then that is a new ball game but did they not read their contract when signing on the dotted line? Itineraries can change. But I do think Cunard should have offered a full refund to those if they wished to leave at Ft Lauderdale. I do not know if they will be able to find a reasonable solution.

[hamster92256]

Great disscusion here about what should and shouldn't be done, Cunard like most major companies is doing what they do best, damage control. Is it right? Have they satisfied everyone? Is their customer service up to snuff? Doubtfull on all counts, but you can't please all of the people all of the time!! I'm sure that we are hearing from the most vocal of the passengers and not all, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

[jtutak]

Someone is always looking for something for nothing, :shocked: I would go for 1/2 price and be happy.

[mildavis]

There are always people who have to make a bad situation worse. This is a case of bad luck and it would really be horrible if you had planned for this vacation and this had happened but you could still be having a great time on this ship with the entertainment, etc. A bad mood if very contagious, unfortunately. I think what would be worse than being on this damaged ship (at half price) would be being on this damaged ship with all these bitter people. Have fun for God's sake!!!!

[jbond]

By that I assume you are referring to the upper management of Cunard who made the decision to announce their intentions after the ship had left FLL.

[Lisa63]

I have a different take on this whole thing. I feel badly for Commodore Warwick, who has to contend with a limping ship while angry passengers demand of his limited time.

I can see both sides to this -- and let's also keep in mind that we do not yet have any idea as to who knew what when. Clearly, the passengers are upset. They booked a NYC to Fort Lauderdale to Rio cruise with three ports of call between Fort Lauderdale and Rio, and all three ports were cancelled for whatever reason. Yet, Cunard made a generous offer of a 50% refund. We've missed ports on several cruises -- and in one case we missed all our scheduled ports -- and have been offered nothing more than a refund of port charges. Then again, we didn't expect anything, either. We read the contracts we sign.

My understanding is that only 1,000 of the 2,500 passengers are scheduled to disembark in Rio de Janeiro -- and only a fraction of these are raising heck. I feel badly for the passengers who are trying to make the most of their holiday.

Switching gears to the question about the Passenger Services Act, there are no exceptions made for mechanical problems, passenger illness, or anything else. There is a fine, which I believe is $300 per passenger. Diverting to Nassau would not have avoided this issue, as a ship sailing from one U.S. port to another U.S. port needs to stop at what the PSA defines as a "distant foreign port." Neither Nassau or Bermuda falls under this definition.

[JohnG]

Then how come Ensenada counts as a foreign port on Hawaiian cruises? It is an easy drive from San Diego.

[jbond]

But I'll wager that you'd see the upset passenger's side a lot more clearly if you were one of them.

We had an incident recently on Brilliance. It was NOT Royal Caribbean's fault. However because of their total mishandling of the situation and misleading statements/lying about what they would do to resolve the problem, it caused us great inconvenience and stress. As I said, it wasn't RCI's fault, initially, but they ended up the bad guys because of what they did/didn't do. It's good to see both sides, but when you're involved, your vision becomes a little blurry.