New propulsion problem on Millennium

[Oville]

You're on the wrong issue. The bp guy was fired, not for the oil spill or damage to people's livelihood...he was fired for the stupid things he said. The same co uld happen to bayley if he says something dumb or something that commits celebrity to something accidentally. The legal and pr folks would much rather he say nothing.

 

Sorry, I just think it was inappropriate for you to use the BP spill in any way to address Celebrity's current problem. The two events are light years away. I guess I was offended by even bringing up BP at all in this current situation, elephant vs apple.

[cruisestitch]

I had a nice long chat with two of the Go Team this morning, reviewing what they did right

 

1. The most patient and calm staff were sent. I never saw one of them snap at a passenger, or be anything but sympathetic

 

And what they did wrong

 

1. The decision to fly some pax to Seattle, some to Vancouver, some to Anchorage meant for utter confusion.

 

1a. There were cases of families in different cabins with the parents scheduled to go to one city, the children to another

 

1b. Passengers who lived in Vancouver were being flown to Anchorage

 

1c. Passengers who had Celebrity booked (not independent)

post cruise excursions were being flown to Seattle (it appeared that they had dropped off the post cruise manifests)

 

1d. Families with small children were put on late night flights. Like me, they arrived at their hotels at 4 am

 

2. Failure to use the PA system effectively. Announcements were worded Ina confusing manner, and the resultant "clarifications" only made it worse.

 

3. Failure to create and make available

flight manifests : they repeatedly promised to post them on the wall and never did

 

3a. Flight manifests weren't even made available to the Go Team members who were trying to field questions but could not access the manifests

 

4. Use of a poorly ventilated room for 3 purposes simultaneously: a call center, a computer center and the Go team center. At times the sound level was deafening. People were shouting into the phones etc. and all that equipment simply created more heat. They kept promising to lower the temp but never did. My four hours standing in line to enter and standing in line once inside were torturous.

 

5. Failure to organize the airport check in efficiently. Any elementary school teacher could have done a better job. As a results flights were delayed and delayed as the day went on

 

6 fundamentally, the decision to not send all passengers to Anchorage was flawed from the beginning. That's where are return flights were booked from ( with the exception of the handful of B2B pax who actually needed to end up in Vancouver and the few Vancouver residents . One plane for them should have been sufficient and all the other flights should have gone to Anchorage , period,

 

.

[MicCanberra]

I had a nice long chat with two of the Go Team this morning, reviewing what they did right

 

1. The most patient and calm staff were sent. I never saw one of them snap at a passenger, or be anything but sympathetic

 

And what they did wrong

 

1. The decision to fly some pax to Seattle, some to Vancouver, some to Anchorage meant for utter confusion.

 

1a. There were cases of families in different cabins with the parents scheduled to go to one city, the children to another

 

1b. Passengers who lived in Vancouver were being flown to Anchorage

 

1c. Passengers who had Celebrity booked (not independent)

post cruise excursions were being flown to Seattle (it appeared that they had dropped off the post cruise manifests)

 

1d. Families with small children were put on late night flights. Like me, they arrived at their hotels at 4 am

 

2. Failure to use the PA system effectively. Announcements were worded Ina confusing manner, and the resultant "clarifications" only made it worse.

 

3. Failure to create and make available

flight manifests : they repeatedly promised to post them on the wall and never did

 

3a. Flight manifests weren't even made available to the Go Team members who were trying to field questions but could not access the manifests

 

4. Use of a poorly ventilated room for 3 purposes simultaneously: a call center, a computer center and the Go team center. At times the sound level was deafening. People were shouting into the phones etc. and all that equipment simply created more heat. They kept promising to lower the temp but never did. My four hours standing in line to enter and standing in line once inside were torturous.

 

5. Failure to organize the airport check in efficiently. Any elementary school teacher could have done a better job. As a results flights were delayed and delayed as the day went on

 

6 fundamentally, the decision to not send all passengers to Anchorage was flawed from the beginning. That's where are return flights were booked from ( with the exception of the handful of B2B pax who actually needed to end up in Vancouver and the few Vancouver residents . One plane for them should have been sufficient and all the other flights should have gone to Anchorage , period,

 

.

Interesting evaluation, I do hope they take note and therefore can improve the process, if required (hopefully not).:D

[ghstudio]

Summary of real cause of the chaos:

 

1) there was no one in charge

 

2) the mission was to get everyone off the ship...not to accomodate and help passengers

 

3) nothing could be posted or announced without review by hq first

 

Deja vu with the century. I guess this is celebrity's carefully thought out plan for handling these situations.

[sandyss]

We just returned home from Vancouver this afternoon. I wrote the following synopsis of our experiences while on the airplane.

 

We have very mixed feelings about this truncated cruise. The cruise itself, although stranded in Ketchikan, was very enjoyable. We enjoyed our stay on our floating hotel. The service, entertainment, and food were excellent. The remuneration offered by Celebrity seems very fair.

 

Where Celebrity failed was in the logistics of getting passengers out of Ketchikan. The procedure can only be described as chaotic. The 30 people sent to the ship from Celebrity headquarters - the Go Team - weren’t communicating well with Guest Relations. Chaos ensued.

 

On Tuesday, after passengers were told that we would be flown from Ketchikan on chartered aircraft, many of us went to Guest Relations and requested an Anchorage flight (or Vancouver) – for various reasons. We were told that we would be on an Anchorage flight, since we had a flight home from Anchorage scheduled for Friday. Nevertheless, when flight assignments were sent to our cabins very late on Tuesday night, we were assigned to a flight to Vancouver on Wednesday night at 9:30pm and received luggage tags for that flight. I spent a good part of Wednesday morning in a very long line leading to the conference center to request a change to an Anchorage flight, as originally promised by Guest Relations. After around an hour and a half waiting in a long line, one member of the Go Team started a list for flight changes. Her instructions were that we and others who preferred to go to Anchorage, would be placed on flights to Anchorage on Thursday, and to ignore our original flight instructions – we would be receiving new luggage tags for the Anchorage flights later on Wednesday. We were told that we had to make our own hotel reservations in Anchorage, for which we would be reimbursed - up to $250 per night - since Celebrity did not have blocked space there. Many of us booked hotels in Anchorage based upon that directive.

 

After a quick continental breakfast at almost 10:00am, we decided to walk around Ketchikan for awhile (which we could do blindfolded at that point). After a pleasant walk, we returned to the ship and our cabin. Shortly thereafter, there was an announcement by the cruise director, that the additional flights to Anchorage would not happen and that everyone should adhere to their original flight instructions. (This directive was almost a threat - if you didn't get off of the Millennium when you were told to, you would be stranded in Ketchikan.) Again, along with others, we visited the Conference Center to get clarification. We had already booked a hotel in Anchorage. After another very long wait, we were told that only a very few passengers were being moved to Anchorage flights, and that if we didn’t receive new luggage tags within an hour or so, we were to depart on our original flights. Since we didn’t receive new tags, we packed for Vancouver.

 

Throughout the day, the charter flights were delayed more and more. Our 9:30pm flight finally departed around midnight. We arrived in Vancouver around 3:00am (we lost one hour due to the time change). Instead of putting us up in airport hotels, we were all put on busses for the Fairmont in the "city center" (where we did not want to be since we needed to be back at the airport in the late morning today) – the Fairmont is over a half hour away from the airport. We finally arrived at the Fairmont close to 4:00am. There were families with small children on this horribly delayed flight. We felt so sorry for them.

 

Celebrity, again being very non-responsive to the needs of their passengers, had arranged transfers back to the airport, in the morning at 7am, 9am, and 11am. Those were the only choices that we were given. We were told by the Celebrity representatives at the hotel that we would need to be on the 9am transfer, and to meet in the lobby at 20 minutes before 9:00am (even though a 10am transfer would have been ideal for our 12:40pm flight). That allowed us around 3 hours sleep.

 

A few comments about the flight itself. We can’t fault Celebrity for the pouring rain and the puddles that we had to walk through between the ship and the bus, between the bus and the ferry to the airport, and between the ferry and the airport. The weather was out of their control. Nevertheless we were all soaked by the time we walked across the tarmac to climb the steps to our charter plane. The airplane itself, Miami International, had extremely uncomfortable seats – with no padding.

 

There were some people on our trip to Vancouver last night, who were flying to Anchorage today – from Vancouver through San Francisco to Anchorage. That is an example of the lack of planning on the part of Celebrity. The costs of changed flights and hotel rooms and meals should be reimbursed by Celebrity. The poor planning for the routing home has to be much more costly for Celebrity than it would have been if Celebrity had asked for input from the passengers – both in dollars and in this hit to their reputation.

 

In summary, Celebrity had handled the problems with the engine and the extended stay in Ketchikan very well – until Wednesday, when they just wanted to get rid of the passengers as fast as possible. The goodwill generated up until that time was definitely terribly marred by the confusion and stress of our last day on board, and the horrible red-eye flight to Vancouver.

[tinabinab]

In summary, Celebrity had handled the problems with the engine and the extended stay in Ketchikan very well – until Wednesday, when they just wanted to get rid of the passengers as fast as possible. The goodwill generated up until that time was definitely terribly marred by the confusion and stress of our last day on board, and the horrible red-eye flight to Vancouver.

 

I'm happy to report that we arrived home a short while ago - we were also on the "9:30" Vancouver flight followed by the 9am shuttle this morning. I couldn't agree with your post more. Through Tuesday, we were going with the flow and staying positive. Yesterday, on the other hand, was a complete cluster and exercise in frustration.

 

I ended up having to use airline miles to get us home. The change fee + diff in airfare for us through AA would have been $4800 for the four of us ($1200 per person). I simply didn't have it. Using miles only cost us $500 total out of pocket and 50k miles; just hope I can be reimbursed for my used miles. I honestly don't know what we would have done had it not been for those miles. Sending us all back to Vancouver/ Seattle was the most inexcusable thing that they could have done. Prior to learning there was no way we were getting to Anchorage, we had managed to secure a hotel on our own with no problem (as per the go teams instructions). The "not enough rooms" in Anchorage excuse does not fly with me.

 

Anyway, I am exhausted and glad to be home. (...and who ever says THAT after a cruise?!)

[sandyss]

I'm happy to report that we arrived home a short while ago - we were also on the "9:30" Vancouver flight followed by the 9am shuttle this morning. I couldn't agree with your post more. Through Tuesday, we were going with the flow and staying positive. Yesterday, on the other hand, was a complete cluster and exercise in frustration.

 

I ended up having to use airline miles to get us home. The change fee + diff in airfare for us through AA would have been $4800 for the four of us ($1200 per person). I simply didn't have it. Using miles only cost us $500 total out of pocket and 50k miles; just hope I can be reimbursed for my used miles. I honestly don't know what we would have done had it not been for those miles. Sending us all back to Vancouver/ Seattle was the most inexcusable thing that they could have done. Prior to learning there was no way we were getting to Anchorage, we had managed to secure a hotel on our own with no problem (as per the go teams instructions). The "not enough rooms" in Anchorage excuse does not fly with me.

 

Anyway, I am exhausted and glad to be home. (...and who ever says THAT after a cruise?!)

 

It sounds like your flight experience home was even worse than ours. At least United treated us very well - they waived the change fee due to the Millennium situation, but did charge us for the additional cost of the one-way fare (under $200 per person), and we did get on a non-stop flight to San Francisco.

 

The whole debacle of the forced "repatriation" to destinations that we did not want, leaves us with a very negative impression of this cruise - and that is what we will all be talking about with our friends.

[shell15]

We just returned home from Vancouver this afternoon. I wrote the following synopsis of our experiences while on the airplane.

 

We have very mixed feelings about this truncated cruise. The cruise itself, although stranded in Ketchikan, was very enjoyable. We enjoyed our stay on our floating hotel. The service, entertainment, and food were excellent. The remuneration offered by Celebrity seems very fair.

 

Where Celebrity failed was in the logistics of getting passengers out of Ketchikan. The procedure can only be described as chaotic. The 30 people sent to the ship from Celebrity headquarters - the Go Team - weren’t communicating well with Guest Relations. Chaos ensued.

 

On Tuesday, after passengers were told that we would be flown from Ketchikan on chartered aircraft, many of us went to Guest Relations and requested an Anchorage flight (or Vancouver) – for various reasons. We were told that we would be on an Anchorage flight, since we had a flight home from Anchorage scheduled for Friday. Nevertheless, when flight assignments were sent to our cabins very late on Tuesday night, we were assigned to a flight to Vancouver on Wednesday night at 9:30pm and received luggage tags for that flight. I spent a good part of Wednesday morning in a very long line leading to the conference center to request a change to an Anchorage flight, as originally promised by Guest Relations. After around an hour and a half waiting in a long line, one member of the Go Team started a list for flight changes. Her instructions were that we and others who preferred to go to Anchorage, would be placed on flights to Anchorage on Thursday, and to ignore our original flight instructions – we would be receiving new luggage tags for the Anchorage flights later on Wednesday. We were told that we had to make our own hotel reservations in Anchorage, for which we would be reimbursed - up to $250 per night - since Celebrity did not have blocked space there. Many of us booked hotels in Anchorage based upon that directive.

 

After a quick continental breakfast at almost 10:00am, we decided to walk around Ketchikan for awhile (which we could do blindfolded at that point). After a pleasant walk, we returned to the ship and our cabin. Shortly thereafter, there was an announcement by the cruise director, that the additional flights to Anchorage would not happen and that everyone should adhere to their original flight instructions. (This directive was almost a threat - if you didn't get off of the Millennium when you were told to, you would be stranded in Ketchikan.) Again, along with others, we visited the Conference Center to get clarification. We had already booked a hotel in Anchorage. After another very long wait, we were told that only a very few passengers were being moved to Anchorage flights, and that if we didn’t receive new luggage tags within an hour or so, we were to depart on our original flights. Since we didn’t receive new tags, we packed for Vancouver.

 

Throughout the day, the charter flights were delayed more and more. Our 9:30pm flight finally departed around midnight. We arrived in Vancouver around 3:00am (we lost one hour due to the time change). Instead of putting us up in airport hotels, we were all put on busses for the Fairmont in the "city center" (where we did not want to be since we needed to be back at the airport in the late morning today) – the Fairmont is over a half hour away from the airport. We finally arrived at the Fairmont close to 4:00am. There were families with small children on this horribly delayed flight. We felt so sorry for them.

 

Celebrity, again being very non-responsive to the needs of their passengers, had arranged transfers back to the airport, in the morning at 7am, 9am, and 11am. Those were the only choices that we were given. We were told by the Celebrity representatives at the hotel that we would need to be on the 9am transfer, and to meet in the lobby at 20 minutes before 9:00am (even though a 10am transfer would have been ideal for our 12:40pm flight). That allowed us around 3 hours sleep.

 

A few comments about the flight itself. We can’t fault Celebrity for the pouring rain and the puddles that we had to walk through between the ship and the bus, between the bus and the ferry to the airport, and between the ferry and the airport. The weather was out of their control. Nevertheless we were all soaked by the time we walked across the tarmac to climb the steps to our charter plane. The airplane itself, Miami International, had extremely uncomfortable seats – with no padding.

 

There were some people on our trip to Vancouver last night, who were flying to Anchorage today – from Vancouver through San Francisco to Anchorage. That is an example of the lack of planning on the part of Celebrity. The costs of changed flights and hotel rooms and meals should be reimbursed by Celebrity. The poor planning for the routing home has to be much more costly for Celebrity than it would have been if Celebrity had asked for input from the passengers – both in dollars and in this hit to their reputation.

 

In summary, Celebrity had handled the problems with the engine and the extended stay in Ketchikan very well – until Wednesday, when they just wanted to get rid of the passengers as fast as possible. The goodwill generated up until that time was definitely terribly marred by the confusion and stress of our last day on board, and the horrible red-eye flight to Vancouver.

 

I have anxiety just reading this post. I've been following this thread and I just want to express my sincere sympathy to all effected by this mess. I have two young children and I cannot IMAGINE the stress level that this ordeal must have caused....I would have been a mess. I'm so sorry you all had to go through this. Just imagining the chaos onboard, the waiting in lines, the stress of not knowing what to do, on top of being completely exhausted makes me feel so bad for everyone. :(

 

I also feel so sad for the family that had to share with their children the disappointing news of the cancelled cruise. I know that has to be so difficult. I hope they find a fun and exciting alternative.

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, but sorry you had the opportunity/experience to do so. Big hugs!!

[MicCanberra]

I think X will have a lot of fallout for their evacuation processing and really bad communication. At least you both are now home safely.:D

[c-legs]

We just returned home from Vancouver this afternoon. I wrote the following synopsis of our experiences while on the airplane.

 

We have very mixed feelings about this truncated cruise. The cruise itself, although stranded in Ketchikan, was very enjoyable. We enjoyed our stay on our floating hotel. The service, entertainment, and food were excellent. The remuneration offered by Celebrity seems very fair.

 

Where Celebrity failed was in the logistics of getting passengers out of Ketchikan. The procedure can only be described as chaotic. The 30 people sent to the ship from Celebrity headquarters - the Go Team - weren’t communicating well with Guest Relations. Chaos ensued.

 

On Tuesday, after passengers were told that we would be flown from Ketchikan on chartered aircraft, many of us went to Guest Relations and requested an Anchorage flight (or Vancouver) – for various reasons. We were told that we would be on an Anchorage flight, since we had a flight home from Anchorage scheduled for Friday. Nevertheless, when flight assignments were sent to our cabins very late on Tuesday night, we were assigned to a flight to Vancouver on Wednesday night at 9:30pm and received luggage tags for that flight. I spent a good part of Wednesday morning in a very long line leading to the conference center to request a change to an Anchorage flight, as originally promised by Guest Relations. After around an hour and a half waiting in a long line, one member of the Go Team started a list for flight changes. Her instructions were that we and others who preferred to go to Anchorage, would be placed on flights to Anchorage on Thursday, and to ignore our original flight instructions – we would be receiving new luggage tags for the Anchorage flights later on Wednesday. We were told that we had to make our own hotel reservations in Anchorage, for which we would be reimbursed - up to $250 per night - since Celebrity did not have blocked space there. Many of us booked hotels in Anchorage based upon that directive.

 

After a quick continental breakfast at almost 10:00am, we decided to walk around Ketchikan for awhile (which we could do blindfolded at that point). After a pleasant walk, we returned to the ship and our cabin. Shortly thereafter, there was an announcement by the cruise director, that the additional flights to Anchorage would not happen and that everyone should adhere to their original flight instructions. (This directive was almost a threat - if you didn't get off of the Millennium when you were told to, you would be stranded in Ketchikan.) Again, along with others, we visited the Conference Center to get clarification. We had already booked a hotel in Anchorage. After another very long wait, we were told that only a very few passengers were being moved to Anchorage flights, and that if we didn’t receive new luggage tags within an hour or so, we were to depart on our original flights. Since we didn’t receive new tags, we packed for Vancouver.

 

Throughout the day, the charter flights were delayed more and more. Our 9:30pm flight finally departed around midnight. We arrived in Vancouver around 3:00am (we lost one hour due to the time change). Instead of putting us up in airport hotels, we were all put on busses for the Fairmont in the "city center" (where we did not want to be since we needed to be back at the airport in the late morning today) – the Fairmont is over a half hour away from the airport. We finally arrived at the Fairmont close to 4:00am. There were families with small children on this horribly delayed flight. We felt so sorry for them.

 

Celebrity, again being very non-responsive to the needs of their passengers, had arranged transfers back to the airport, in the morning at 7am, 9am, and 11am. Those were the only choices that we were given. We were told by the Celebrity representatives at the hotel that we would need to be on the 9am transfer, and to meet in the lobby at 20 minutes before 9:00am (even though a 10am transfer would have been ideal for our 12:40pm flight). That allowed us around 3 hours sleep.

 

A few comments about the flight itself. We can’t fault Celebrity for the pouring rain and the puddles that we had to walk through between the ship and the bus, between the bus and the ferry to the airport, and between the ferry and the airport. The weather was out of their control. Nevertheless we were all soaked by the time we walked across the tarmac to climb the steps to our charter plane. The airplane itself, Miami International, had extremely uncomfortable seats – with no padding.

 

There were some people on our trip to Vancouver last night, who were flying to Anchorage today – from Vancouver through San Francisco to Anchorage. That is an example of the lack of planning on the part of Celebrity. The costs of changed flights and hotel rooms and meals should be reimbursed by Celebrity. The poor planning for the routing home has to be much more costly for Celebrity than it would have been if Celebrity had asked for input from the passengers – both in dollars and in this hit to their reputation.

 

In summary, Celebrity had handled the problems with the engine and the extended stay in Ketchikan very well – until Wednesday, when they just wanted to get rid of the passengers as fast as possible. The goodwill generated up until that time was definitely terribly marred by the confusion and stress of our last day on board, and the horrible red-eye flight to Vancouver.

Another very well stated recap of a situation which was allowed by Celebrity to reach catastrophic levels....Thank you for your reasonnable and fair synopsis of the whole thing.

[c-legs]

I had a nice long chat with two of the Go Team this morning, reviewing what they did right

 

1. The most patient and calm staff were sent. I never saw one of them snap at a passenger, or be anything but sympathetic

 

And what they did wrong

 

1. The decision to fly some pax to Seattle, some to Vancouver, some to Anchorage meant for utter confusion.

 

1a. There were cases of families in different cabins with the parents scheduled to go to one city, the children to another

 

1b. Passengers who lived in Vancouver were being flown to Anchorage

 

1c. Passengers who had Celebrity booked (not independent)

post cruise excursions were being flown to Seattle (it appeared that they had dropped off the post cruise manifests)

 

1d. Families with small children were put on late night flights. Like me, they arrived at their hotels at 4 am

 

2. Failure to use the PA system effectively. Announcements were worded Ina confusing manner, and the resultant "clarifications" only made it worse.

 

3. Failure to create and make available

flight manifests : they repeatedly promised to post them on the wall and never did

 

3a. Flight manifests weren't even made available to the Go Team members who were trying to field questions but could not access the manifests

 

4. Use of a poorly ventilated room for 3 purposes simultaneously: a call center, a computer center and the Go team center. At times the sound level was deafening. People were shouting into the phones etc. and all that equipment simply created more heat. They kept promising to lower the temp but never did. My four hours standing in line to enter and standing in line once inside were torturous.

 

5. Failure to organize the airport check in efficiently. Any elementary school teacher could have done a better job. As a results flights were delayed and delayed as the day went on

 

6 fundamentally, the decision to not send all passengers to Anchorage was flawed from the beginning. That's where are return flights were booked from ( with the exception of the handful of B2B pax who actually needed to end up in Vancouver and the few Vancouver residents . One plane for them should have been sufficient and all the other flights should have gone to Anchorage , period,

 

.

 

Thank you, cruisestich; This is the best synopsis of disruption and its resulting impact ever presented. Brilliant.

You deserve millions kudos for your fair, cool, calm and collected way of re-capping the whole sequel of events, the good, the bad, and...ultimately, the ugly....And this, from your very first post.!

Your summary ought to be printed/framed/pasted...and forwarded to Bayley's department ''for their perusal''....I doubt anyone in charge will ever see a better report on a disruption and the catastrophic level the company's own people allowed it to reach.

I particularly love point #6 in your current post; nails it right on the head; capsules the whole problem magnificiently. The fact that Celebrity missed that is still mystifying......

Thank you again .

[watson524]

It's about to get really interesting here in Anchorage.... We just got the airport and groups are being told they're being bussed to Talkeetna or Denali tonite that are on post cruise tours. People are getting cranky. I mean really what can be done since I can't imagine there'd be a ton of open hotel rooms in Anchorage but wow I can see where some people are bordering on going bat sh@t crazy. A rep just said everyone was supposed to be in by 3 today but yesterday afternoon the cruise ship changed all the plans when they found out there were no rooms so that's why we got bag tags so late last nite

[moebruin]

Compared to Sandyss I have nothing to complain about but talk about the bumblers who can't do nothing right.

 

I was on the 6.40 to Anchorage because they wanted the boat cleared they have us at 1pm a free excursion to totem poles and more totem poles. Beat nothing so can't complain.

 

When we got to airport were forced to stand in a two hour security line. Two hours because they wouldn't process anyone for the first 90 minutes because the other plane hadn't left. So we are left standing while the seating area is clear and our airplane is just sitting on the tarmac waiting for people to board.

 

Flight was fine and met out your group. Getting luggage was a snap because apparently it was sent on previous plane two hours earlier. The people on the previous plane however were still waiting for their luggage which was apparently on our plane.

 

Could the three stooges have done it better?

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forums mobile app

[Cruisebaza]

So here a few of my first-hand experiences and comments on the Millennium Aug 16th cruise:

 

• First on the Go Team: they did a bang-up job cleaning up the messes created by Guest Services leaders and the Millennium management. The Millennium management (Guest Services), not the Go Team, were responsible for the flying assignment messes and the Go Team were only responsible for the after-the-fact logistics.
  
• Communications were TERRIBLE!! There was no indication of who to see or where to go to handle arrangements and you'd ask three relevant crew members and get four different answers. People (myself included) waited in lines for hours at a time to be told one thing and then find something else happening. I was told twice I was confirmed to Anchorage (my preference) only to find out that what I was told was incorrect! I spend 7 hours on Wednesday trying to figure out where I was going and when as well as trying to get them to send me to where I actually needed to be!
  
• Today (Thursday) the group I was on spent OVER 5 HOURS in a hanger at the Ketchikan airport where a plane was being repaired and in the midst of dust, dirt and grime. Five Hours!!! We were unceremoniously kicked out of the ship and sent there. Again, I give big kudos to the Go Team who tried their best to help make us comfortable. By the way, the chartered plane (Miami air) was actually very nice and very much like a commercial flight (including a movie and snacks)
  
• The Senior Officers (and especially the Captain) were no where to be found. Not once did I see any of them out there trying to get some feedback or help console some VERY UPSET guests. All I heard from the captain and Cruise Director Paul was they were going to assign people to planes and you couldn't change it. So people with flights from Anchorage (at the end of the cruise) were being sent to Seattle and vice versa...
  

There is so much more but I gotta say I have never been so frustrated in my life. The whole thing couldn't have been handled any worse. It's as if they sat in room and asked who has the worst ideas for organizing this?!!The guests were treated like luggage and there was a distinct lack of caring on the part of Celebrity officers and company. This left a very overwhelmed crew (and Go Team) trying to console and help guests. The front line crew were great. No disrespect to them. Celebrity as a company and the management team of the Millennium deserve all the dis-credit. Not to mention not pulling the ship out before the 16th sailing given the re-occurrence of problems.

 

I for one am in favor of a class-action law-suit for negligence. Maybe they will then get the message.

 

Sincerely,

One very upset cruise passenger (who probably needs a drink or a valium...:))

[uktog]

Thanks to everyone who has updated their experiences and glad some are home safely.

 

Celebrity you have a LOT to learn from this debacle.

 

And Mr CEO, even if your hands are tied from speaking by your lawyers, do you not think a physical presence might have helped in a small way. I still struggle as to why Larry Pimentil was able to go straight to the Azamara Quest when they had to abandon a cruise in a muchless developed part of the world re infrastructure and support guests by his presence and the leadership he gave but Mr Bayley could not. Risk of litigation is not the reason as there was the same risk at that point for Azamara.

 

I think the answer may be the differences in leadership style and customer perspective from the two CEOs both of whom would have been advised by the same corporate lawyer.

 

Celebrity, this is not your finest hour and the fault for that goes right to the top

[The_Big_M]

How disappointing to hear the arrangements for people leaving the ship.

 

It's understandable that the issue occurred. However, for Celebrity who is in the vacation and experience business and isn't just a bargain basement carrier, it boggles the mind how they came up with the idea of shuffling customers around places at 3 a.m., and with 3 hours sleep. What were they thinking?

[celebrity]

My heart goes out to all that were so adversely effected. I truly hope Celebrity makes it up to you in a big way. This is a PR nightmare.

[MicCanberra]

My heart goes out to all that were so adversely effected. I truly hope Celebrity makes it up to you in a big way. This is a PR nightmare.

 

I hope that they treat (ensure that the costs are met) people on a case by case basis to repair as some require more assistance than others.:D

[timbom]

Where is the press on all of these problems. I guess if it doesn't bleed it doesn't lead is still true.

[deise17311]

Where is the press on all of these problems. I guess if it doesn't bleed it doesn't lead is still true.

 

Sad that it takes bad press to lead to change...at my employment, we do drills in case of emergency (hurricanes etc) where people are the victims, staff etc...shouldn't companies like cruise lines dealing with thousands of people have some sort of plan in place? I mean really, sending people to the wrong airport even after they tell whomever that it is the wrong one...give me a break...to the naysayers that say Celebrity has a "GO Team"...seems like they have more of a "STOP Team"...this stuff while not serious to some is a real problem to those involved...

[curiouscat]

Wow, I always knew X's management beta/headquarters and the ships were bad but this takes the cake:eek:

 

I think it's time for RCCL corp to get them straightened out.... I know they have been left fairly separate but now they need INTERVENTION !

 

 

 

 

CC

[Shining Clem]

Thanks to everyone who has updated their experiences and glad some are home safely.

Celebrity you have a LOT to learn from this debacle.

 

And Mr CEO, even if your hands are tied from speaking by your lawyers, do you not think a physical presence might have helped in a small way. I still struggle as to why Larry Pimentil was able to go straight to the Azamara Quest when they had to abandon a cruise in a much less developed part of the world re infrastructure and support guests by his presence and the leadership he gave but Mr Bayley could not. Risk of litigation is not the reason as there was the same risk at that point for Azamara.

 

I think the answer may be the differences in leadership style and customer perspective from the two CEOs both of whom would have been advised by the same corporate lawyer.

 

Celebrity, this is not your finest hour and the fault for that goes right to the top

 

Not only did Mr Pimentel of Azamara make it to the Far East, he did it as his wife was undergoing some fairly serious surgery. I think she deserves some credit & thanks too. I know what it is like to be in a helpless situation and not have the person you most want to be there, be away. (Many in our military families go through this all the time, and it is not fun)

 

This dumping of people at random airports with mostly little regard for their expense or timing in getting home is insane. Glad to read United was giving people a bit of a break.

 

As for which hotel people were put up in, while the Fairmont in downtown Vancouver is lovely, there is also a Fairmont at the airport, which would have been much closer. There is also a Holiday Inn Express, with b'fast which was certainly not posh, but just fine for us on the last night. The desk staff goes out of their way to accommodate people transitioning in & out of the airport. (Even has a scale to weigh your luggage before getting to the airport!)

[Cindy]

So here a few of my first-hand experiences and comments on the Millennium Aug 16th cruise:

 

 

The Senior Officers (and especially the Captain) were no where to be found. Not once did I see any of them out there trying to get some feedback or help console some VERY UPSET guests. All I heard from the captain and Cruise Director Paul was they were going to assign people to planes and you couldn't change it. So people with flights from Anchorage (at the end of the cruise) were being sent to Seattle and vice versa...

 

 

There is so much more but I gotta say I have never been so frustrated in my life. The whole thing couldn't have been handled any worse. It's as if they sat in room and asked who has the worst ideas for organizing this?!!The guests were treated like luggage and there was a distinct lack of caring on the part of Celebrity officers and company. This left a very overwhelmed crew (and Go Team) trying to console and help guests. The front line crew were great. No disrespect to them. Celebrity as a company and the management team of the Millennium deserve all the dis-credit. Not to mention not pulling the ship out before the 16th sailing given the re-occurrence of problems.

 

I for one am in favor of a class-action law-suit for negligence. Maybe they will then get the message.

 

Sincerely,

One very upset cruise passenger (who probably needs a drink or a valium...:))

 

Wow! I've heard about the lack of communication several times, and it just blows my mind. ANYBODY with a drop of knowledge about management and human relations knows that's the most important thing you can do. It's especially vital in an emotionally charged situation or a crisis. How could the senior officers have pulled a disappearing act during this time?

 

I kind of agree with the luggage statement given everything I've read since this incident started. I'm especially appalled that they were in such a hurry to get the ship out of there that they were disembarking guests hours before their flights. I don't care how badly they want to get the ship to drydock, their first obligation is to the passengers aboard their failed vessel.

 

Thanks for sharing...I hope today's a better day!

[highcruiser]

Some blogs are posting that shes going to the Bahamas for repair. Guess that means the SAN-FLL cruise on the 22nd of now scrapped. How terriable for those guests.

[Cindy]

Some blogs are posting that shes going to the Bahamas for repair. Guess that means the SAN-FLL cruise on the 22nd of now scrapped. How terriable for those guests.

 

No, the plan is to have the ship back in San Diego on the 22nd to embark those passengers. Still, if I had a reservation for that cruise I would probably already be working on a back-up plan.

 

I don't really understand why they're taking the ship all the way to the Bahamas for a five day repair. Is it a dry dock space issue? Contractual obligation? I had assumed my cruise on the 13th would be safe because a repair would take place somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Does anybody know why they would take the ship all the way across the continent for this?