• Clarification

    11/25/200810:27:25 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment

    At one point, I mentioned guests with rage and anger. It may have been seen as guests of GalaxSea when actually these were general guests of Carnival which we heard showing their anger at the pursers desk. I was relating those observations. Obviously all guests . . . . . . including us . . . . . . . are going to be disappointed over the alterations of a vacation, and with the exception of the one couple which had flown home from Mexico . . . . . . . . it was a pleasurable trip for us and the group we escorted. Both Groups.

  • 3 times in 1 week . . . . I'm getting too old for this

    11/25/20089:03:32 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment

    What is involved when your cruise is affected by bad weather? We know what happens when you are at a resort . . . . or a hotel . . . . or Disney World. You sit and wait it out. But what about a cruise line disrupting your vacation? Well . . . . . . . we recently experienced this first hand when hurricane Paloma was threatening our cruise from Port Canaveral. We were to sail to the eastern Caribbean ports of St Thomas and St Maarten as we escorted a group of 250 guests. Saturday’s embarkation day was quickly becoming a headache.

    We arrived that morning into the Orlando airport and almost immediately were informed of the itinerary change. A change which was due to the fact that we would have to sail through rough waters and gale force winds in order to get to St Thomas. Not because the destination was in the hurricane . . . . but rather the comfort of the passengers to get there. So our ports were changed to Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico with a back end stop to Nassau, Bahamas. Sure . . . . . . . disappointing for all of us . . . . . . . . but given the choice of sunny sky’s and warm weather . . . . . . . . . vs. rain and wind . . . . . . . . which is better? For most – the sunshine. For some – a bit of pouting. For a few – rage and anger. And for one – a pleasant surprise.
     
    But, what is involved? In our case, the changes were made on Saturday (day of departure) to change the ports. First, you need to find new destinations. Not just a port, but a port that will have berth space available on the day needed. Second, you would need to make sure the shore side staff is available . . . . . . . . . busses . . . . . . dock workers . . . . . . tour operators . . . . . . guides. Then you would need to have arrangements made for the guests, such as shore excursions to places that weren’t scheduled just a day or two earlier. And . . . . the cruise line needs to alter all shipboard schedules
     
    Our first stop of Costa Maya was a bit unique. Costa Maya is carved out of the jungle about 2 hours south of Cancun. Most of the workers for this port . . . . . . . . . which only serves cruise ships . . . . . . . drive in from Cancun. We arrived to Costa Maya on Monday. We were the only ship in port that day. That means the port was closed . . . . . . everyone had the day off . . . . . . arrangements had to be made to open the stores . . . . . . the restaurants . . . . . . the bars . . . . . . . the entertainers came in . . . . . the dock workers and the clerks. They all gave up their day off to give 2600 passengers a good day.
     
    The next stop was Cozumel. Much easier to make arrangements there, as Cozumel is one of the most active ports in the Caribbean. But still, there were 3 extra ship’s here on this day after altering their itineraries. That’s about 7000 extra tourists. And finally, on the way in . . . . . . we stopped at Nassau . . . . . . . and Senor Frogs. I think I have been there as much as I have to Atlanta.
     
    Back to the guests . . . . . our customers . . . . . with rage and anger. Some just vented by . . . . . . . strongly . . . . . . . expressing their opinion about how we should have seen this coming and made better arrangements. Others booked this trip only to go to St Thomas and want a refund. And 1 couple . . . . . . the one threatening to sue us . . . . . . did not seem to come out of their room . . . . . . . except to scream at somebody, was flown home from Mexico . . . . . at the delight of all guests and crew. Yet, one young couple was happy. A few years back, they honeymooned in Cancun. They wanted to take the 12 mile boat ride over to Cozumel, but didn’t have the extra funds. They were just starting out . . . . . had little money . . . . . . . and decided they would come back someday. Well, Wednesday was that day and they were as happy as could be.
     
    So that cruise ended on the 15th and we needed to be in Ft Lauderdale . . . . . . . . for another group escort of 40 guests . . . . . . . on the Splendor . . . . . by the 17th. Rather than return home and go back . . . . . . . it was logistically better to rent a car for the 3 hour drive. As luck would have it . . . . . . . the Splendor was sailing a special 2 day trip . . . . . . to Nassau. That trip would be
    cheaper than a hotel . . . . . and we could just stay aboard for the sailing on the 17th.
     
    Off we went to Nassau . . . . . . to Senor Frogs . . . . . for the second time in a couple of days. But that’s alright . . . . . . we just need to relax between the two groups. On Monday, we meet our group aboard ship as we prepare to sail to Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk. It’s going to be a great trip. Our first stop was the private island of Half Moon Cay. This small piece of paradise . . . . . . . . although a bit windy . . . . . was sunny and warm with a beach seldom experienced. White sand . . . . . . private cabanas . . . . . hired bar and food service . . . . . . . and 6 shades of blue when looking at the water. But soon . . . . . . way too soon . . . . . it was time to head to Grand Turk.
     
    Our arrival to the Turks and Caicos was sunny, but still windy . . . . . . . . really windy. As we approached the pier . . . . . . . just 80 yards from the beach . . . . . . . and a short walk to Margaritaville . . . . . . . we knew we would soon be in the pool with a cold drink. However . . . . . . . . . you never know when disappointment is going to shove it’s way to the front of your plans. After 3 attempts at docking, the Captain gave up. The wind was too strong. The side of a ship is not as wind streamed as you might think . . . . . . . . and as you can guess . . . . . we couldn’t get safely up to the pier. We now set our sites on other destinations.
     
    See paragraph 2 and 3 above and apply a reversal of paragraph 4.
     
    The people of Grand Turk are on the losing end in this case. This is a 1 ship port which operates 4 days per week. They just lost a full days income . . . . . . . . at the expense of the weather. And all we lost was a day at the pool with a beer in our hand. So now for us . . . . . . . . . . . . and 2600 other guests . . . . . . . . . it is off to . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nassau . . . . . . . . . . Senor Frogs . . . . . . . . . three times . . . . . count them . . . . . . . . . .
     
    3 times in 1 week. I am getting too old (for that kind of party).
     

  • Enjoy Your Free Private Cabin

    11/4/20087:29:34 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment

    In the old days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . like last week at some college football games . . . . . . . . . young adults would pile 20 or so people into a hotel room . . . in an effort to save a few bucks. Every once in a while, these people think they could do the same aboard a cruise ship. Last week was one of those times. Obviously . . . . . the extra two guests were not allowed to board . . . . . . but they tried everything. We’ll sleep on the floor . . . . . or sleep on deck in a lounge chair . . . . . I will only eat food I buy from the islands . . . . . . . . we won’t get in any ones way. Yet . . . . . . . . as they stand on the pier watching their friend’s board ship . . . . . . . . they still don’t understand. This could easily have been avoided had they called us . . . . . . . . . and, of course . . . . . . . . . . paid. They would then be enjoying a colorful fruity umbrella drink with their buddy’s up on the Lido deck.

     
    Boarding a cruise ship is very similar to that of an airliner. Every person . . . . . . . . whether passenger or crew . . . . . . . must be on the official manifest list. Those that are not . . . . . are stowaways . . . . . . and that is a serious crime . . . . . . . . . punishable by walking the plank over shark infested waters . . . . . . . but then you would be saved . . . . . . because the Safety Of Life At Sea (SOLAS) regulations . . . . . . in part, states that all ships and crew must come to the rescue of any person or boat adrift in the water.
     
    Aside from that, though . . . . . . . when you buy a cruise . . . . . . look at it this way. You are purchasing a seat in a lifeboat . . . . . . . . which most likely will never be used . . . . . . . . . so they allow you to spend your time . . . . . at no additional cost . . . . . . . in a private cabin with full use of the ships facilities. When those lifeboat seats are filled . . . . . . . the ship becomes sold out . . . . . . . regardless of there being cabins available or not. You may ask “why have more cabins than they can sell”? Simple. If there is a larger than normal number of families aboard . . . . . . berthing 4 persons in a room . . . . . . then eventually, those numbers start depleting off of the total passenger count. You’ve heard the phrase “based on two” . . . . . . . . this is the focus point which a ship looks for . . . . . . . . but, they anticipate . . . . . maybe 20% of cabins to be sold to families of four. During peak family seasons, such as Christmas and summer . . . . . . they may sell 30% to these families which forces a certain number of double cabins to go empty . . . . . based on . . . . . . . the number of lifeboat seats available.
     
    Again . . . . . I want to stress that safety is of the utmost importance aboard ship. The lifeboat capacity . . . . . . . the fact that there are 2 lifejackets per person . . . . . . . and the safety drill prior to each sailing enforce that commitment to safety. So the next time you board ship . . . . . . . .  we want you to enjoy that . . . . . . . . “free private cabin” . . . . . . . . . to enjoy during your vacation.

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