Jeffrc1

I can't respond to each post, but want to clarify that:

 

1) I never said (or intended to say) that ALL Chinese people are bad. That is a ridiculous statement. But the 3,000 "group" (which is what I said) I encountered on the ship behaved badly. I thought I made it a point to say that the hotel's staff in Pudong were very nice and that my experience at Starbucks was positive. I, too, had positive experiences on land. We met some very nice Chinese people, including Joel, some servers, our private driver after disembarking, and a fellow we met while in Yuyuan.

 

2) I don't expect to go to China and be treated in some special "American" manner. I am very tolerant and very open to different types of cultures and people. I did ask fellow travelers for their experiences and I did know what to expect. But I wasn't prepared for the intensity and severity of what I experienced on the ship. Like I said, unless you were there, it's really hard to explain. Having your 9-year-old, 5 ft. tall kid cry because the people are pushing him in a way that scares him and he feels crushed by the crowd is not something that I think typically happens on a cruise.

 

3) I asked but didn't get much feedback on the ship diversity. I never expected it to be so overwhelmingly populated by Chinese nationals. I know better now.

 

4) I think it is absolutely appropriate to expect a certain level of safety, consideration, and dignity on a cruise that purports to provide a high quality of service.

 

5) If you ask any server or crew member, I am always polite, grateful, and kind to start. I rarely complain (see original post about the water temperature in the "best" stateroom on board). I have plenty of compassion for all people (I tell people in my practice every day that "we are all just people"), but I cannot tolerate when people violate the rights of others with no apologies or self-reflection. None of us are perfect. We will make mistakes. But I don't do things purposefully without any consideration for other people. My needs don't trump other people's. That is just wrong.

I don't post often, but this incessant need to correct someone's feeling/opinion or observation about a cruise they were on is annoying. She was there not you. Reviews are about someone's personal perspective of their OWN experience.

It is possible (however unlikely) that all 3000 Chinese on the ship were rude. How do you know they weren't? Whether it was 1% or 100% this is how SHE felt .... IMHO she wasn't looking to disparage anyone or offend anyone she was just offering HER experience hoping it would help others...

Hi Jeff and Jen,

 

I guess you are saying that your experience with tendering was the same but with the taxis were different? After getting off the tender, we crossed the street to where all the taxis were parked and had to look hard to find one that would take us immediately to Havensight as they all wanted to wait and get their vehicles loaded up before leaving (we could not afford to wait). It was a bit of a zoo over there.

 

I took the photograph at about 11am local time. One of the two ships going to Crown Bay is indeed in the photograph (Carnival Conquest, in the photo it was executing a turn to line up with the pier). The other ship going to Crown Bay that day--Allure of the Seas--had not arrived yet and so it was not in the picture.

 

What did you guys end up doing on New Year's Day in Curacao?

 

David

We got up late because of NYE (very impressive firework display on Aruba/they love fireworks) so we decided to go to the fort and use the free WiFi. Originally we wanted to go to Playa Kenepa (sp?). Couldn't find a place online before we got there that had car rentals on the 1st, so we had determined we would try a taxi. So as a curiosity I asked at the taxi stand near the ship and they weren't interested. I later heard that the cabs in town were more willing to take people different places. It seemed that the taxi cab stand was for two things. Tours of things you could walk to (floating bridge, fort, etc) for $20/pp (8-10). Or they wanted to take you to Mambo Beach which by 11AM was bound to be packed as it is a small beach. no less that 150 people took cabs there while I was surveying the taxis to see about different locations.

After the fort we walked into DT not expecting much given it was a holiday, but we enjoyed the walk. At about 1PM we went back to the ship, ate lunch, and enjoyed the almost empty pool until about 3PM.

On a side note the ship that was near DT looked like the Monarch of the Seas. At a minimum it was an old RCCL ship.

Just thought I would give some information on how our tendering experience went aboard Eclipse when we anchored in St. Thomas on Jan 8 2014. I was very worried about it because we had to meet our ride (for scuba diving) at Havensight by 9:15am.

 

We were able to board the 1st tender that left Eclipse after the Shore Excursion passengers were taken care of. The tender dropped us off in the middle of Charlotte Amalie at 8:40am. As a whole tendering was pretty efficient. The tendering was done by Eclipse’s own boats (as opposed to a tendering service) and there were five tenders used simultaneously. Consequently there was virtually no waiting in line to grab a tender to or from shore. However the location that the tenders drop you off at is small and is crowded from the shore excursions passengers lining up for their tours (only a problems during the early part of the morning). Taxicabs were all parked on the other side of a very busy main street that fronts the island. We ended up meeting our ride at Havensight at 8:50am. The cab ride from downtown to Havensight was $4 per person.

 

Here is a photo to give you an idea of how things are laid out:

 

I had exactly the opposite experience. I too was on the Eclipse when it tendered in St. Thomas Jan 8th. The Eclipse was one of 8 ships at St Thomas that day or close to 30K cruise passengers. I am D+ on RCCL so on this cruise we were Elite and got to take the first tender. i will agree that the process was smooth. I heard the officers state that they were scrambling for tenders but couldn't find any so they had to use the lifeboats(not by choice or design). Since we were the first to arrive ashore (8:20) we thought that getting a cab would be no issue, but all the cabs were there for the ship sponsored excursions. Then we walked a ways to try and catch a cab to DT, with the intent of trying to get to redhook for the ferry. We caught on DT but were refused by 30 taxis to go to redhook once DT. Finally one said Ok but wanted to get more passengers first. We waited 30 minutes got frustrated and left. walked back to the tender to get back on the ship. They stopped calling numbers for the tenders/lifeboats about 1PM. Never will I get off on St Thomas in this type of a situation again. It may have been fine for those that wanted to shop DT but for everything else it was awful.

What the photo doesn't show is the other tendered ship later next to the Eclipse and the two other ships that arrived later in Crown Bay.

I would like to save as many trips as possible :D.

However I am assuming that I will have to get my beers one at a time.

Anybody seen or experienced differently?