Cruise Question Of the Day

DebbieandJerry · May 27, 2008

Have we ever missed a port?

Let's see, we were booked and paid for an Easter Caribbean cruise. We arrived in Miami the day ahead of time and were visiting with friends of our family. They asked where we were going. When we told them Eastern Caribbean, he says, "didn't you hear that Hurricane Bertha was in the Caribbean". So we rushed back to the hotel and waiting in line to hear what the cruise line (Carnival) was going to do. They offered to return anyone back home with a voucher to take a cruise with Carnival within the next 12 months. Or, cruise with them to the Western Caribbean.

Jerry and I looked at each other and boarded the bus to the ship. We paid for a cruise, planned our vacation, and by G-d, were going to go on a cruise. Funny thing is, we had just finished the Western Caribbean on the same Carnival ship about 9 months earlier which is why we booked the Eastern.

Carnival did not compensate us for this change. They claimed that Western was more expensive than Eastern. And, they weren't going to compensate for the airfare if you opted to return home.

Another time, we were on Princess, again Eastern Caribbean. They were unable to stop at their private island, so they took us to Nasaau, Bahamas instead. Again, no renumeration. We didn't really care as we had liked Hotel Atlantis the first time we were there and were looking forward to seeing more of the island since it was our second visit to it.

Now, the real kicker was Norwegian, December 2005. We were scheduled to stop at Hilo, Kona, Maui, Oahu, Kauai, and Fanning Island. According to the ship's captain, there was a medical emergency at Fanning Island "right after we left it" and we had to go back to tend to that person and bring that person on the ship.

This raised lots of questions: How as a person able to get on a ship without documentation? Why wasn't the coast guard (or equivalent) called? And, why did we lose 2 days when we were only 4 hours out to sea when this distress call supposedly came in?

This meant port changes and deviations. No stopping at Kauai and delayed stop at Maui (actually stopping at the other side and having to pay to get yourself to Lahaina). No mention of what this medical emergency was. But it must not have been that bad because the person wasn't taken off the ship until the cruise ended in Oahu.

NCL rebated each couple $2.22 at the end of the cruise for this change.

Whew ...

KeithnRita · May 27, 2008

Here's another question,
Have you ever missed a port while you were on a cruise? What, if anything, did the cruiseline do to compensate for the missed port?

On our second cruise, which was on the old Westerdam, the ship's captain made the decision not to tender at Half Moon Cay due to rough seas. Each pax received a $50 credit.

JoeyandDavid · May 27, 2008

The only time that happened to us was on our first sailing with Celebrity .. due to a pod or thruster or some sort of mechanical break we didn't get to Barbados .. they switch the port to a closer st Thomas..

zebra · May 27, 2008

It has only happened once to us - on Princess. We were scheduled to dock at Costa Maya (which was a brand new port at that time) the Captain came onto the intercom and announced that due to very heavy seas, both the ship and the dock would sustain damage if he was to dock at Costa Maya.... but he would take us to Cozumel instead. We would get there 4 hours later a would sail later at night. We were cool with that... more to do in Cozumel, anyhow. We didn't hear any complaints on board either.

sailingrose · May 27, 2008

Here's another question,
Have you ever missed a port while you were on a cruise? What, if anything, did the cruiseline do to compensate for the missed port?

We have missed the private islands a few times due to rough seas. On our New Years cruise last year we missed Montego Bay for rough seas too. They gave us an open bar and refunded the port charges.

On our honeymoon we skipped Grenada (there was a war) and ended up in St. Vincent. It was perfect, untouched and absolutely the highlight of our trip.

55ChevyLady · May 28, 2008

On our honeymoon we skipped Grenada (there was a war) and ended up in St. Vincent. It was perfect, untouched and absolutely the highlight of our trip.

I'm glad your Captain opted on the side of caution! :rolleyes2:

Sail on :cool2:

Andrea

DebbieandJerry · May 28, 2008

So, did you guys read the article where Royal Caribbean "banned" that couple from their ships? Evidently, they sent too many "nasty emails" about their cruises, received free cruises and/or upgrades and/or discounts and still bad-mouthed them. I say, good for Royal Caribbean.