Disappointing end to July 17th Freedom cruise

[cruisinpoler]

I feel your pain and also think RCI handled the situation poorly. we embarked sunday the 24th and had a fiasco to deal with at the port. our car rental shuttle bus driver was kind enoughto stick with us and hover for 3+ hours while we waited to be allowed to be dropped off. communication between RCI staff and port authority was terrible and it was an unfortunate beginning to our cruise. we did hear, however, via 3rd hand info froma crew member on your cruise that the gentleman flatlined twice and had to be resuscitated, but did survive the incident. terrible for everyone involved, worse for that gentleman, but RCI could have taken better care of all customers on both ends.

[cruiseorbust]

As a past passenger waiting to board the Freedom on July 24th I truly felt sorry for the staff on the ship. I can only imagine how crazy it was for all of them with the diversion. Not only for the passengers getting off the ship, but then again the new ones getting on and complaining!! How would you like to have been one of them. It was out of their control, but I bet they took plenty of abuse :(

 

As for the person having a heart attack, I heard that not just one family member wanted to be with the patient, but the whole family (which I believe was a large group) wanted to be with him/her as well. Can you blame them?? Also, the helicopter landing at sea is not an easy or safe adventure always. So given the circumstances RCCL supposidly opted to divert.

 

Now I know this was an inconvenience for everyone, but RCCL did the right thing in my opinon. Put yourself in that family's shoes. What if this had happened to your parent, child, etc.??

 

I hope they had good medical coverage and pray that all worked out for the patient and family. Maybe they didn't have medivac coverage? That usually starts at $25,000. Maybe that came into play as well.

 

Either way, this whole adventure cost RCCL lots of money. Not only for credit to passengers, but fuel, and costs to port in Nassau.

 

Everyone should just thank God that this didn't happen to one of their family members, and if it did what would you want RCCL to do??

[wolfganghowell]

In regards to internet service for crew - Think about it - every single port has internet cafes close by FOR CREW OF CRUISE SHIPS! We've seen crew in ports carrying laptops and spending their free time on land catching up with the world on their computers. Internet service is internet service on board a ship - theirs is no different from the passengers.

 

$150 per person seems a fair amount for travel assistance. Nothing is going to be perfect in an emergency.

[Jimnbigd]

$150 per passenger time 4375 passengers (assuming ship's capacity) = $656,250. I'm not sure how much more you want RCCL to spend on this.

 

Most of us say "Do not fly in the day of the cruise" so we don't miss the ship. But hardly anyone says "Do not fly back the day you return". My step-son and family have joined us on the Voyager of the Seas 3 times now, and every time have flown back on Monday instead of Sunday just in case the ship is delayed in returning. And in 2010 it was delayed due to fog. Other passengers were scrambling to change flights while my step-son and family stayed calm and relaxed. Staying over a day after the cruise means no rushing to the airport, and really extends the vacation another day.

[CptSticky]

$150 per passenger time 4375 passengers (assuming ship's capacity) = $656,250. I'm not sure how much more you want RCCL to spend on this.

 

Most of us say "Do not fly in the day of the cruise" so we don't miss the ship. But hardly anyone says "Do not fly back the day you return". My step-son and family have joined us on the Voyager of the Seas 3 times now, and every time have flown back on Monday instead of Sunday just in case the ship is delayed in returning. And in 2010 it was delayed due to fog. Other passengers were scrambling to change flights while my step-son and family stayed calm and relaxed. Staying over a day after the cruise means no rushing to the airport, and really extends the vacation another day.

Oh come on. That makes entirely too much sense. If we all did that, what would we have to complain about here on CC?

[orville99]

The July 17th-24th Freedom of the Seas cruise was diverted on the last night due to a medical emergency. The passenger had to be sent to the closest port, which happened to be Nassau. So, at 4:00 on Saturday afternoon, we had to go back 4 hours to Nassau, then to Port Canaveral. We started debarking at noon instead of 6 AM.

 

Since this was an Eastern, your return route was to the east of the Abacos. At 4PM on Saturday, your ship was still about 12 hours away from PC. FOS usually gets to the PC pilot boat around 3 AM and ultimately docks between 4AM and 5AM, so Nassau was the closest port that could handle the ship. The captain made the only logical choice.

[Mainer59]

$150 per passenger time 4375 passengers (assuming ship's capacity) = $656,250. I'm not sure how much more you want RCCL to spend on this.

 

 

If everyone is getting that they haven't told me. I would think that amount is for those passengers who had made their own arrangements and had to change. Ours, incuding a hotel stay Sunday night, were covered by RCI.

 

But add to whatever that cost is the additional cost of fuel for the trip to Nassau at 20+ knots plus the 20+ knots to Port C as opposed to the 8 knots they were doing Saturday afternoon and you certainly have a whole lot of money.

[island lady]

Oh come on. That makes entirely too much sense. If we all did that, what would we have to complain about here on CC?

 

Sounds good to me too!....though being recently retired I don't have to worry about putting my nose back into the grindstone early Monday morning. I am sure there are many that don't have that option, as I did not with my (thankfully former ;) ) slave driver boss.

[dunblane.andersons]

Since this was an Eastern, your return route was to the east of the Abacos. At 4PM on Saturday, your ship was still about 12 hours away from PC. FOS usually gets to the PC pilot boat around 3 AM and ultimately docks between 4AM and 5AM, so Nassau was the closest port that could handle the ship. The captain made the only logical choice.

 

We happened to be in our stateroom with the television on showing the deviation in our route and took this picture. You can see our original route down through the Bahamas and then the diversion back in on the way home.

[griffy116]

The ship's doctor has a reponsibility in a decision based on a medical emergency. The Captain has a responsibility in making a decision on requesting a helicopter or going to a nearby port, including the safety of the patient and the passengers onboard. It's an unfortunate situation that the ship delayed and inconvenienced passengers. I saw a post saying that phone and internet usage was offered at no charge, which I think RCCL certainly should have provided. I don't think, however, you will ever see any cruise line say that there was an inconvenience and therefore they will pay for 1st class tickets, overnight stays at 5-star hotels, meals at 5-star restaurants and billing the cruise line. It's just not reasonable. We were on the cruise that disembarked the same day you boarded. Had it happened to us, we would have been frustrated too. I'm sure the passengers that were waiting to board were frustrated also. However, seeing some of the remarks about screening passengers for pre-existing conditions to avoid liability is just not going to happen. Both cruise ships and airplanes are full of people with pre-existing conditions. Neither of these industries would be sustainable if they were all excluded. Their families wouldn't be traveling either in many cases. Almost all of those folks with a pre-exiting condition purchase travel insurance that covers the cruise and flights. I purchase travel insurance that covers the cost of airfare in case of an unforseen emergency that results in me missing either the ship or the airplane. I purchase it from a 3rd party and there are post after post on these boards advising others to do the same. I use a TA who advises me to include the airfare and have coverage dates to include any pre/post cruise dates. While you would still have been inconvenienced, and most likely frustrated, you would have had your flight cost covered.

[orville99]

We happened to be in our stateroom with the television on showing the deviation in our route and took this picture. You can see our original route down through the Bahamas and then the diversion back in on the way home.

 

That looks spot on. It looks like you were about halfway around the Abacos Islands when you turned back

[alexkrn46]

Bottom line the man with the heart attack got proper treatment and is living.

 

I hope you called South West to inform them you would not make your flight and get credit, I don't know if you can get it without letting them know after the fact.

 

Traveling always has challenges. Your original post reminds me of my son when he was in college, he was complaining that he would be spending the day in the airport due to weather, since his ticket was on Southwest, I told him to get in his car and drive. He beat the plane. For $750 you should have been able to rent a nice car one way.

[xxHadleyxx]

Scotty--interesting that the crew has the extremely slow internet. So you're telling me that that vast majority of the staff members we come into contact with, when doing ship's business, are using that super-slow internet we have to pay for? I'm having a hard time believing that, but I ask a lot of questions now of the staff/crew so maybe I'll add that to my list of things to ask next time. I understand there would have to be some security measures--I'm not saying let pax have complete access to any computer onboard no matter if it's a senior officer's or whatever. But there probably were additional computers that could've been used, even with the supervision of staff/crew.

 

Mainer--yes I did hear some muffled announcement about free internet/phone use for those needing to make travel arrangements. Of course, like most other announcements, depending on where you were, it may have been hard to hear--even the captain's announcements were ignored by most people, which I found annoying, since I wanted to hear what he was saying. Is anything ever good enough anymore? If you read my original post, I said that overall I thought RCI and especially the staff/crew did a great job. RCI does a lot of things very well. There are always things, though, that can be improved upon. Everything depends on your perspective.

Well I do know that I often see staff heading to internet cafes when they have time off in port (and have even been asked by a few crew memebers where the nearest one was in a port i was familiar with that was the ship's first stop there). It seems to be THE thing to do. IF they had this mythical faster internet onboard I doubt they would feel the need to use their precious time off finding internet connections elsewhere.

[Scotty G]

Scotty--interesting that the crew has the extremely slow internet. So you're telling me that that vast majority of the staff members we come into contact with, when doing ship's business, are using that super-slow internet we have to pay for?

What you obviously missed is that crew may not use company computer networks for personal use. Those that use computers as part of their job are on the RCL ship and corporate networks. They may not use these for personal use. For personal use they have their own laptops that they usually find a WiFi hotspot to use when on shore. I see many of them doing that at the Merritt Square Mall when they are off the ships in PC. There is a capability that crew have similar to that used by passengers and the speed is identical. I don't know how time is allocated or if they are charged for its use.

[mspamela]

What you obviously missed is that crew may not use company computer networks for personal use. Those that use computers as part of their job are on the RCL ship and corporate networks. They may not use these for personal use. For personal use they have their own laptops that they usually find a WiFi hotspot to use when on shore. I see many of them doing that at the Merritt Square Mall when they are off the ships in PC. There is a capability that crew have similar to that used by passengers and the speed is identical. I don't know how time is allocated or if they are charged for its use.

Wow this whole internet thing is really generating a lot of interest and it sounds like I've ticked you off, Scotty, about the whole thing. I don't live in FL so I don't have the luxury of cruising as much as you do, plus, as I'm still teaching full time, I can only cruise during the summer. So I will defer to your expertise on the internet thing. I should've clarified that I was talking about more senior staff (such as officers, and also those who work at guest relations--on a computer--and the like) rather than "crew" (such as dining room waiters, stateroom attendants, etc). Believe me I know that the cruiselines aren't bending over backwards to "give" them anything they don't have to. I think they should do more for them such as free long distance (a certain amount) or internet time.

 

I would like to repeat that I heard from the captain himself, at the Captain's talk last Friday, that the man survived the medical issue and was much improved. And again, I think the staff and crew did a great job with the whole thing, and kept their spirits up (and ours) when they had to have been exhausted that Sunday, the 24th.

[Vegas Vic]

I agree...what good is a helicopter pad on a ship if they don't use it? Especially if it was a true emergency, it would have been much faster, and actually cheaper than having to offer credits to all the pax. Me thinks the fishy smell was not coming from the sea. RCI kind of fell down on that one from the sounds of it.

 

On our cruise a few years ago, a similar event happened. Although the "timing" was better (the ship had not yet passed Nassau on the way back to port), the passenger who fell seriously ill was kept on board because the medical treatment being received there was better than what they could have done on a long helicopter flight. So the decision was made to keep the passenger on the ship as long as possible and then have the emergency vehicles ready in Nassau. The passenger was transported quite quickly to shore in a lifeboat.

 

(I don't know why people in this forum feel the need to second guess a medical situation which they are not qualified to comment on.)

[Mainer59]

I did a little poking around on internet speed for satelite internet (my assumption for the type used on the ship as I didn't notice a big cable being dragged behind the ship). Most every article I read talked primarily about latency - the delay in signal caused by distance traveled - and how it significantly slows internet speed. The more data you send over a network the more of a factor latency becomes.

 

I then went to the HughsNet website to check advertised speeds. Hughsnet is associated with DirecTV which, if I'm not mistaken, is the television signal provider for RCI. Their speed comparison was to dial-up; not to cable - that sets the tone already. Their top speed internet is 2Mbps. Likely less than half the speed of your home internet connection provided by your cable company. Their top speed is $89 to $109/month and recommended for "1-2 computers with moderate Internet use and light downloading".

 

This form of internet access is slow and expensive. Period. It's why rural states like Maine are pushing cable companies hard to get broadband service to remote areas rather than go with the satelite used for television. I sincerely doubt that there's some "secret crew internet network" that they wouldn't let passengers use. It's a ship; not a hotel.

[sparky-elpaso]

I did a little poking around on internet speed for satelite internet (my assumption for the type used on the ship as I didn't notice a big cable being dragged behind the ship). Most every article I read talked primarily about latency - the delay in signal caused by distance traveled - and how it significantly slows internet speed. The more data you send over a network the more of a factor latency becomes.

 

I then went to the HughsNet website to check advertised speeds. Hughsnet is associated with DirecTV which, if I'm not mistaken, is the television signal provider for RCI. Their speed comparison was to dial-up; not to cable - that sets the tone already. Their top speed internet is 2Mbps. Likely less than half the speed of your home internet connection provided by your cable company. Their top speed is $89 to $109/month and recommended for "1-2 computers with moderate Internet use and light downloading".

 

This form of internet access is slow and expensive. Period. It's why rural states like Maine are pushing cable companies hard to get broadband service to remote areas rather than go with the satelite used for television. I sincerely doubt that there's some "secret crew internet network" that they wouldn't let passengers use. It's a ship; not a hotel.

 

And the ship - unlike your house or a hotel - is MOVING. So the computer system is constantly having to re-adjust to the satellite location. I've heard people refer to the ship's internet speed as S-L-O-W dial-up.

[island lady]

 

On our cruise a few years ago, a similar event happened. Although the "timing" was better (the ship had not yet passed Nassau on the way back to port), the passenger who fell seriously ill was kept on board because the medical treatment being received there was better than what they could have done on a long helicopter flight. So the decision was made to keep the passenger on the ship as long as possible and then have the emergency vehicles ready in Nassau. The passenger was transported quite quickly to shore in a lifeboat.

 

(I don't know why people in this forum feel the need to second guess a medical situation which they are not qualified to comment on.)

 

Sorry, did not mean to offend. I was simply thinking of serious as in needing an emergency operation, that of course the ship would not be able to provide. I agree that all situations are different. Consider me humbled, doctor. :(

 

We were on the Jewel last January, and watched the helicopter come in to whisk a patient off for an emergency operation. Luckily they made it on time and we heard from the Man's relatives that he would be fine thanks to getting him in to the operating room on land. They were obviously glad they did not wait to dock at a major port.

[nbsjcruiser]

One of our friends is a kidney specialist in Nassau.

 

Your comment is rude and uninformed!

 

I agree with you. My DH needed help while in Nassau and he received excellent medical help. The Dr's that helped him were trained by my DH's orthopedic surgeon.

[katiel53]

OP,

Perhaps I missed something regarding the insurance you purchased. YOU didn't have a previously existing condition, so I don't understand what you were told. I would call the TA again and get more info.

 

Did you look at your copy of the policy? I guess I am very confused. Why buy insurance that covers trip interruption if you are responsible for everyone else on the ship?

 

Sorry if I missed something, but this whole insurance thing makes no sense to me.

[powelweb]

$150 per passenger time 4375 passengers (assuming ship's capacity) = $656,250. I'm not sure how much more you want RCCL to spend on this.

 

Most of us say "Do not fly in the day of the cruise" so we don't miss the ship. But hardly anyone says "Do not fly back the day you return". My step-son and family have joined us on the Voyager of the Seas 3 times now, and every time have flown back on Monday instead of Sunday just in case the ship is delayed in returning. And in 2010 it was delayed due to fog. Other passengers were scrambling to change flights while my step-son and family stayed calm and relaxed. Staying over a day after the cruise means no rushing to the airport, and really extends the vacation another day.

 

We were also on a Voyager sailing in 2010 that was delayed due to fog, and missed our return flights home at the end of school vacation week. DH contacted the airline and the earliest they could get us back to Boston was 7pm the next night (voyager docks sunday, our new flight was 7pm Monday).

 

So I said "nah, let's do something fun if we need to take an extra day". And I re-routed us to Tampa sunday night, and we got to visit family for a few hours for a wonderful lunch on Monday. Then we headed home to Boston via baltimore and got in around 10pm Monday night.

[DebJ14]

If you had a TA they would have taken care of this for you - one call does it all.

[MillbrookMom]

I completely understand how at the moment things like this can be very frustraiting and it is very easy to get upset...and we often need someone to take our frustrations out on. I do hope that the OP thinks about this more in the coming weeks and realizes that A) we all need to accept some responsibilty....we know that that our cruise itinerary can change and it can easily cause delays (this is why on our 1st RCI cruise last month we flew in a day early, and out a day late...better safe that sorry)

B) When you didn't book your flight through RCI (which we did not) you really shouldn't expect them do give any compensation or extra help....they did though and I would be very appreciative that they were offering something....a lot of companies would not

C) since you are relatively close to port (I say this as we will easily drive 12 hours to NY area for a cruise, and even drove 5 hrs. to Detroit for cheaper flights) if you have 5 people going it might very well be worth it to drive the next time.

 

Take a deep breath....count to 10 and be happy that it wasn't someone in your family and that you are now home safe and sound....Then take your lessons learned and be proactive to make sure all your bases are covered next time.

[Scotty G]

If Capt Rob was the Captain during this sailing, the following link may show that he had a different perspective other than just being the Master of the Ship. We were glad to have him back at the helm on our May 15th sailing on Freedom.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1413370