Port of Tampa currently closed - Inspiration delayed

[Vanessa L]

Just got home last night from The Inspiration. I was awoken at 4am to the sounds of the anchors being dropped (I was in a porthole room). By 630am. I was awoken again by loud announcements about the fog. My friends and I were on the Lido taking pictures on the railing with a complete white background of fog.We sent pictures home titled "ghost ship". The director announced that there would be free bingo in the lounge and alot of other activities.Then they opened the shops.Then they announced the casino would open for slots only. then they announced the table games would open as well.Everything opened but the pool and hot tubs, but most people didn't have a bathing suit anyway. It wasn't rainy or cold,just foggy. I walked off of the ship at 7:30 pm. My flight left at 12:50 pm . I spent over an hour at guest services trying to change my flight, book a hotel (Couldn't get a flight till Friday)and call family.

All I can say is THANK GOD I got insurance this year! I usually wing it because we leave a day early,but this year with all the storms in the Northeast, we decided to get it. My friend had to go home from Tampa before we even got on the ship due to an abcess tooth that just blew up overnight.The insurance will pay for our hotel ,transportation and meals. We had $150.00 per day each to spend and got a beatiful room at the Hilton Airport Westshore. I would have been stressed out at sea in the fog if I did'nt have it. I met a guy that said Delta wanted $150.00 per person to change his flight. He said he didn't have the $600.00 to get home for his family. He doesn't have credit cards and pays cash for everything.As far as I know Delta was the only airline that didn't waive the change fee. The airport was closed for most of the morning as well as some 75 miles of highway,as I saw on the news.

I thought about those people waiting to get on the ship at the terminal and felt very bad for them. I get antsy waiting in the terminal for an hour! I really felt bad for them, and I was ready to go home! I hope they get good weather like we did. As I waited to debark,I saw the staff preparing trays with hundreds of glasses for the free drinks that were going to be served when the next group boarded. Hope to hear from some of them when they get back. All I can say is the staff went above and beyond helping us rebook, allowed free phone and internet,and they couldn't clean most rooms because we were still in them.I said goodbye to the roulette dealer at 2am the night before and he was to be off all day,but there he was at 11am again. Great cruise,great staff,great shows and yes, even great music!!!! The 2 guys at the pool had real steele drums and played really well.The singer was very good. We had a Philipino Band called Innocence that we enjoyed as well as Jerry on guitar that could play anything and sing like Garth Brooks,Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Jr. etc.

 

Glad you got insurance!!

 

Delta's place in Hell is right next door to all the insurance companies. It's located in the hottest area, no doubt.

[firefly333]

Just got home last night from The Inspiration.

 

Hi, glad to hear they gave you free internet. That one bad cruise I had, that was one of my complaints. They said only 5 lines outside, and that Carnival doesnt run the internet on their ships, its a 3rd party, so they refused to discount the internet.

 

We had 12 hours notice we were coming into New Orleans and needed to find a way home (we had left from Galveston).

 

Maybe its a sign they are improving and listening to complaints. I did think they handled the little problem on Conquest last fall when we missed two ports much smoother.

[sheshasmom]

My in-laws are on this cruise, they only paid $189 per-person as a pack and go. So if you think about it 189-15-25= 149 is what they paid for their vacation, but knowing them and the people they are with they'll still try and get more out of Carnival. Not agreeing or disagreeing with it, just the way most of us are we want something for nothing. I would buy something buy one get one over, buy one get one half off.

[JPH814]

I was thinking the same thing, then I started thinking if I was panicking about my flight, I would not be as happy for that extra day. I feel for those with early flights.

 

That "extra day" is spent with your bags packed, pool closed, etc. May or may not provide another meal Last mornings of the cruise are so boring. Extending it until 2 or 3 PM would be torture.

[Crusing_4_Life]

I really hope no additional compensation. Why should they? The ship did leave and there is supposed to be no impact to the itinerary.

 

We were on this cruise and why shouldn't Carnival compensate the people that were suppose to be able to board around 12:30 pm with OBC when they were not able to board until after 9pm. When you pay for a cruise, all the food and entertainment is included. Boarding at 12:30pm or so allows for lunch and dinner on the ship on the day you leave. Since we weren't able to board the ship until after 9pm, Carnival compensated everyone for the lunch and the dinner that was missed and was paid for in the cruise fare! People waiting to board had to go and find something to eat for lunch and dinner when they had originally anticipated and paid to eat on the ship. It's not like the $15 for lunch and $25 for dinner per person is a lot or was an outragous amount. It was a very fair amount but it is not like it was too much or anything. It would cover you to go out and buy it like we had to do! That is the only compensation given to us by Carnival. We missed all the entertainment and the Casino never opened at all the first day. By the time we boarded the ship and got to our room it was 10:30pm and there really wasn't anything to do. We didn't ask for anything more from Carnival. They did a great job and the cruise was good. Like everyone else stated, it wasn't Carnival's fault that the ship was delayed! But it also isn't the people waiting to board the ships fault either......

[Knights on the Beach]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sargent_Schultz

I really hope no additional compensation. Why should they? The ship did leave and there is supposed to be no impact to the itinerary.

 

 

We were on this cruise and why shouldn't Carnival compensate the people that were suppose to be able to board around 12:30 pm with OBC when they were not able to board until after 9pm. When you pay for a cruise, all the food and entertainment is included. Boarding at 12:30pm or so allows for lunch and dinner on the ship on the day you leave. Since we weren't able to board the ship until after 9pm, Carnival compensated everyone for the lunch and the dinner that was missed and was paid for in the cruise fare! People waiting to board had to go and find something to eat for lunch and dinner when they had originally anticipated and paid to eat on the ship. It's not like the $15 for lunch and $25 for dinner per person is a lot or was an outragous amount. It was a very fair amount but it is not like it was too much or anything. It would cover you to go out and buy it like we had to do! That is the only compensation given to us by Carnival. We missed all the entertainment and the Casino never opened at all the first day. By the time we boarded the ship and got to our room it was 10:30pm and there really wasn't anything to do. We didn't ask for anything more from Carnival. They did a great job and the cruise was good. Like everyone else stated, it wasn't Carnival's fault that the ship was delayed! But it also isn't the people waiting to board the ships fault either......

 

Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but he did say "I really hope no additional compensation" -- key word being additional. It had already been reported here that OBC was being given to cover lunch and dinner.

[Lovefuninthesun]

Just got off the Inspiration sailing 2/3/11 that was impacted by fog -- could not board the ship until 10:00 PM/set sail until 12:30 AM because the previous sailing was not able to get into port because the port was "closed".....

While waiting for hours and hours in the cruise terminal I spoke directly with the Port of Tampa administration, with the man overseeing "Vessel Traffic" -- he said the port was NOT closed, and that they NEVER CLOSE THE PORT, that it is open 24/7/365 regardless of weather!:mad:

[paleskin]

They should have said the "channel was closed " because that's why we couldn't get into port. We couldn't even see the water below us! I have never seen such thick fog and it was weird to be right in it out at sea like that. A staff member said its very dangerous with the bridge and fishing vessels out there.

[rickcop44]

This is good to know!

 

vfb2girls, where do you live in North Dakota? I grew up in Mandan.