Caribbean Princess cruise cut short?

[SPacificbound]

No fog yet, possibly Saturday AM.

[caribill]

From the Princess website:

 

 

 

 

Statement on Caribbean Princess Early Arrival Into Houston

 

January 31, 2014

 

Caribbean Princess Update:

 

Note: Following is contradictory:

 

This will lead to the formation of the fog on Friday. There will likely be patchy fog in the morning and early afternoon. However, dense fog should form in the late afternoon and evening hours. Breaks in the fog are not likely until the cold front moves offshore late Sunday morning or early Sunday afternoon. Thus, we are expecting that the ship channel will be closed for parts of Friday, all day Saturday, and Sunday through the afternoon hours.

and

The next cruise will depart tomorrow as scheduled, February 1.

[RDC1]

My father in law said it right. Keith Davis of Austin questioned the fog story.

 

"That's last Tuesday they tell us this, and they've never said anything different," he told KHOU. "I knew then nobody can predict five days in advance. I knew that that wasn't the case. They were just doing that to minimize their damages."

The truth goes on but you do not want to hear :-) got recordings and you tubes.

 

Uh, if you look a couple of entries prior, I posted the text from the Galveston Ship Channel weather report as of the time I posted it today, which is the access point to the bay and the route for both the Port of Galveston and the Port of Houston. They are projecting heavy for for tonight, tomorrow until 1 PM and Saturday Evening after 7pm.

 

 

So if that report pans out then it is a good thing that they are in port. Because if the ship channel is fogged in until 1pm then it would have been 4pm at the earliest that the ship would have docked (takes 3+ hours from the time the ship enters at Galveston until it reaches Houston. That means that there would have been no way to get the new passengers on and out before the expected fog after 7pm. So you would have gotten a Sunday departure.

[casinovisitor]

The lies, and lack of communication was uncalled for. They advised us that we were turning back for fog but would stay on ship. Then the CD became involved for "the fog????" And we were told we would be put at local hotels. Some were informed where the would be staying via a note to their stateroom others were not told until after disembarking and pointed to a bus. We were taken to mystery hotel and told princess would have a rep sent to help with transfers to airports....that's all she wrote....no rep...no transport....no help from customer relations. Calls to princess resulted in us being told that "we did not place anyone in that hotel" despite assurances that their bus had indeed dropped 12 couples here. "Well ma'am all i can tell you is what is written on the latest communication and we don't show your hotel on our list ". After a 2 hour bus drive to deliver us 3 miles from port....yes I said 2 hours. Truly amazing!!!!! And not in a good way. Super shuttle to our rescue to the airport tomorrow at our own expense. Princess said we can submit our bill for "consideration". Very unsavory experience.

[trvlgrl64]

Odd, because at least at one point the weather channel app was showing heavy fog...

 

One thing to note, they would have also had to clear early return with the harbormaster. Be interesting to see what they told the port.

Anyone who says that fog was not expected or predicted is outright wrong. I think it's interesting that the "weather people" in Houston were "snickering" about it when the NWS was talking about it last Tuesday and Wednesday. I live on the Gulf Coast and with the crazy hot/cold weather this year we have had a lot of heavy fog, especially in the evenings and mornings. I am sure that this played into the decision and Princess was in contact with the Port. The outbreak of Noro probably would have not made them change the itinerary alone. It's rare when a ship comes back in early because of it (i.e. RCL Explorer this week) but when it does history has shown that it is usually larger outbreak that they don't feel they can contain. There are huge outbreaks each year and most of those ships don't cut out ports. Cutting out ports and changing the schedule is just part of the game with cruising, sometimes it happens. However, I don't believe for a minute that Princess took this lightly - the costs to them will be high.

[RDC1]

The lies, and lack of communication was uncalled for. They advised us that we were turning back for fog but would stay on ship. Then the CD became involved for "the fog????" And we were told we would be put at local hotels. Some were informed where the would be staying via a note to their stateroom others were not told until after disembarking and pointed to a bus. We were taken to mystery hotel and told princess would have a rep sent to help with transfers to airports....that's all she wrote....no rep...no transport....no help from customer relations. Calls to princess resulted in us being told that "we did not place anyone in that hotel" despite assurances that their bus had indeed dropped 12 couples here. "Well ma'am all i can tell you is what is written on the latest communication and we don't show your hotel on our list ". After a 2 hour bus drive to deliver us 3 miles from port....yes I said 2 hours. Truly amazing!!!!! And not in a good way. Super shuttle to our rescue to the airport tomorrow at our own expense. Princess said we can submit our bill for "consideration". Very unsavory experience.

 

What hotel were you dropped at? Were they expecting you? Was there rooms available? Did you have to pay for the room or was it prepaid?

[trvlgrl64]

you guys need to get out more...belize? what a crappy place. mayan ruins are better in Tulum. and snorkeling as a reason for going on a cruise is a joke. scuba maybe. i have noticed that people who only or mostly cruise on Princess are extremely defensive. why is that?

The Belize Zoo is one of the single best excursions in the Caribbean. It is more of an animal sanctuary where you can interact with jaguars, ocelots, and many others. A wonderful special place that no one should miss if they love animals.

 

If Belize is cancelled on my CB cruise in a few weeks I will be very disappointed - we picked this itinerary so we could go BACK to Belize.

 

Belize also does have some of the best diving, snorkeling in the Caribbean.

 

Sounds like some people don't bother to learn about the port where they are going - Belize City is dumpy but there is so much more to the area!

[trvlgrl64]

I'm wondering what people think about the buffet as a major culprit? I know that on a Carnival noro cruise 2 years ago they determined it came from the water/ice tea station (not sure how).

 

HAL doesn't allow self service at the buffet the first 48 hours (I believe) and they do seem to have rare noro issues.

 

What do you think about avoiding the buffet the first day or two - especially the crazy boarding time lunch rush?

 

I'm on the CB on 2/22 and just considering the best steps to take.

 

Thanks!

[Debe7ing]

I really hope the media won't make this a bigger problem than it is....

 

Sensationalism is getting old.

 

SERIOUSLY!!! They always act like a virus on a sailing has something to do with the ship...when we all know this is the time of year that coincides with people in everyone's circle of friends, work place, church or school coming down with flu...just you go home vs being in your cabin.

 

We have friends that were on this sailing, did not get sick and while it is disappointing to miss a port, when we sailed CB on 7 Dec our return to Bayport was delayed because of fog and we had to anchor before harbor and wait to get into the channel. We ended up arriving at port around 1130 am, and trust me, those folks that had booked very early flights out were not happy about the potential for missing their flights. We were walk off and in the car by 1230 or so, so I think that coming in EARLY vs having folks incur the cost/hassle of missed flights AND to scrub down good was prudent. Heck, we made the port of Belize on our Dec sailing, but it was raining cats and dogs and I would have preferred to has missed it and received a 20% credit on my next cruise had that option been available. VERY fair compensation I think. Can't wait to sail her again a month from today!!! ;) After being one of the "refugees" stuck out at sea several days after Hurricane Ike washed away Galveston (and our car!), I have become WAY more flexible/tolerant. :) Still would take a day at sea over ANY day at work!!! ;)

 

Speaking of work, we live in San Antonio (a 3 hour drive from Bayport) and I can PROMISE you that Friday morning on my drive into work (0430am) there was VERY thick fog here in SA, so I KNOW that it only gets worse the closer you get to the coast when we have these weird temp shifts. GREAT news is it is sunny and 75 today while we were closed down for ice storm last Friday...ONLY in Texas can you get a sunburn and frostbite in the same week! LOL ;)

Edited February 1, 2014 by Debe7ing

[WWCJR]

No fog yet, possibly Saturday AM.

 

Here it is 4:00 AM Saturday morning and the Houston Ship Channel is open with much traffic moving along as seen on Marine Traffic. Also no sign of any fog viewing various webcams in the area including the Bridge Cam on the CB. It looks like a crystal clear morning and the CB would be in Galveston Bay coming in had it returned at the normal time.

 

As for the forecasts of "Dense Sea Fog" the times I checked the forecast for the upper Texas coast and the Galveston Bays on the NOAA website it said POSSIBLE Patchy Sea Fog.

Edited February 1, 2014 by WWCJR

[cruiseapril]

Has there been any discussion here about the possibility of norovirus being easily spread via raw foods? My daughter is an epidemiologist who has researched noro- often it is spread on raw foods such as salads and undercooked or raw seafood. (One would have to wonder about sushi bars and such.) We also know that unwashed hands spread it.

 

Although it is highly likely that a passenger brings noro to a ship, it is also well known that ship sanitation plays a role in an outbreak, as does the health of the crew-especially the galley workers.

 

The CDC tries to establish the source of an outbreak. They consider all avenues of disease transmission. As passengers, we need to wait for the CDC to establish the virus (or bacteria) cause and the route of transmission.

[BridgeMates]

I'm wondering what people think about the buffet as a major culprit? I know that on a Carnival noro cruise 2 years ago they determined it came from the water/ice tea station (not sure how).

HAL doesn't allow self service at the buffet the first 48 hours (I believe) and they do seem to have rare noro issues.

 

Thanks!

 

I think the water/ice tea stations are a good possibility for the noro spread. I see many people filling their personal water bottles on every ship and the lid touches the dispenser. Something to consider.....

We just got back yesterday off the Caribbean Princess and I was glad to see they roped off the beverage stations once the noro outbreak started.

I do remember on our Holland America cruise last year, everything was served by the crew for the first couple of days. Didn't hear anything about noro on the 30 day cruise, but some kind of upper respitory congestion spread like wildfire and it lasted most of us 2-3 weeks.

[dleighb]

I always thought cancelling three days in advance due to "fog" was a lie. I never doubted the possibility as it is Texas and the joke here is that if you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes because it will change. Of course, that reason is exactly why cutting a cruise short due to what the weather will be in three days is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

 

Now, knowing that there is no fog (as we expected), I have proof that our suspicious were justified. I feel the compensation we received if fair UNLESS the ship outright lied to us. I would have been much more satisfied with the compensation if they had simply told us that they had to return early to decontaminate the ship because of the large cases of Norovirus. Also, that might have helped people take the warnings about sanitation more seriously. We took the captain's first announcement seriously, but I know a lot of people didn't and continued to refuse to use the sanitizers.

 

Really. That is my biggest gripe. There might have been a warning about possible fog, but as any Texan will tell you, that isn't enough to justify returning soon. A three day advance decision for possible weather in Texas (excluding an existing hurricane in the gulf) is quite simply dumb.

 

Aside from being lied to and returning early, we enjoyed our cruise. It will not keep us from sailing again. I don't feel my cruise was absolutely ruined over this. It won't even keep me from sailing again from the Port of Houston because fog was only an excuse for returning early. I am sure they have insurance and such against returning early for weather but they probably have nothing for returning early for disease and illness on board. The decision to lie to us was tied to money and not weather out of the port. Although that has been an issue and may continue to be an issue, it is one I am aware of going in. It's the lying. I truly hate that we were lied to, but everybody lies, and there really isn't much you can do about it.

Edited February 1, 2014 by dleighb

[QueenofEverything]

It is 8:30 Saturday morning, not foggy. Check the bridgecam or the Galveston webcam

[casinovisitor]

What hotel were you dropped at? Were they expecting you? Was there rooms available? Did you have to pay for the room or was it prepaid?

 

The hotel was expecting folks but not anyone specific. We got lovely rooms and staff is wonderful. Many calls to Princess confirmed they had no intention of sending a representative out here or providing any type of transport to the airport. A group of us were able to book super shuttle last night after it sunk in that princess has abandoned us. Could you imagine if this occurred during a trip to Europe lets say? Leaves me with a bad taste.

I would love to know how others faired.

Edited February 1, 2014 by casinovisitor
add

[MrMan]

I always thought cancelling three days in advance due to "fog" was a lie. I never doubted the possibility as it is Texas and the joke here is that if you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes because it will change. Of course, that reason is exactly why cutting a cruise short due to what the weather will be in three days is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

 

Now, knowing that there is no fog (as we expected), I have proof that our suspicious were justified. I feel the compensation we received if fair UNLESS the ship outright lied to us. I would have been much more satisfied with the compensation if they had simply told us that they had to return early to decontaminate the ship because of the large cases of Norovirus. Also, that might have helped people take the warnings about sanitation more seriously. We took the captain's first announcement seriously, but I know a lot of people didn't and continued to refuse to use the sanitizers.

 

Really. That is my biggest gripe. There might have been a warning about possible fog, but as any Texan will tell you, that isn't enough to justify returning soon. A three day advance decision for possible weather in Texas (excluding an existing hurricane in the gulf) is quite simply dumb.

 

Aside from being lied to and returning early, we enjoyed our cruise. It will not keep us from sailing again. I don't feel my cruise was absolutely ruined over this. It won't even keep me from sailing again from the Port of Houston because fog was only an excuse for returning early. I am sure they have insurance and such against returning early for weather but they probably have nothing for returning early for disease and illness on board. The decision to lie to us was tied to money and not weather out of the port. Although that has been an issue and may continue to be an issue, it is one I am aware of going in. It's the lying. I truly hate that we were lied to, but everybody lies, and there really isn't much you can do about it.

 

Who are you accusing of lying Princess or National Weather Service. See post above

 

Explain how the Line is doing this to "save money". Ships in home port don't make money, ships at sea do.

Edited February 1, 2014 by MrMan

[Cozumel Parrot]

Wonder why they're angry. I assume they'd rather the ship be unable to enter the harbor, dock hours late, have hundreds miss their flights, and make those waiting to board sit or stand around for hours.

 

In fact, I bet that is exactly what most on board would have preferred. People go on cruises in significant part to visit ports. If you told me that if the cost of visiting Belize is that I'd be hours late disembarking because of fog, I'd be more than happy to disembark hours late in order to visit Belize.

 

And the notion that I should give up a port of call so that the next batch can board on time (and thus make THEIR ports of call) is ... bizarro.

Edited February 1, 2014 by Cozumel Parrot

[Cozumel Parrot]

Who are you accusing of lying Princess or National Weather Service. See post above

 

Explain how the Line is doing this to "save money". Ships in home port don't make money, ships at sea do.

 

By screwing that batch out of their Belize port of call and hurrying back, they save the expense of having to pay for making new travel/lodging arrangements should fog cause those folks to miss flights, etc. Those expenses can pile up, I bet.

[dleighb]

Who are you accusing of lying Princess or National Weather Service. See post above

 

Explain how the Line is doing this to "save money". Ships in home port don't make money, ships at sea do.

 

I do not doubt that there was a warning. There is always a weather warning in Texas over something. Heat, cold, fog. You name it. It's Texas. I believe that the real reason that Princess returned is for the Norovirus and to allow them an extra 24 hours to clean the ship. Better to end an infected cruise early fro decontamination than send the next cruise out late. Without the Norovirus on board, I believe that would have looked at the weather warning and maybe booked it faster from Belize to Houston to try and get into to the port Friday night. IIRC, they have done that before and made it, so it is possible. But with the Norovirus, they used the warning of potential fog as an excuse to return early.

 

This is also a reaction to the poorly handled cruise from a couple weeks ago that did have fog and they were delayed. But, even that cruise managed to arrive in on Saturday despite being told they would not. I would like to know how many times the port has been closed for 48 hours due to fog. I'm sure it has happened, but surely it can't be that often.

 

This move cost Princess loads of money. Loads more than having to help with people missing their flights on Saturday. So if this was weather related, wouldn't they have rather taken the financial hit of rearranging flights as opposed to putting up everyone in a hotel and reimbursing everyone for the one day? I do not believe they would have paid this price for a potential fog warning.

 

The comment on "saving money" is pure speculation. I would imagine (although I do not know for sure) that Cruise Lines have some sort of insurance against weather related issues -- sort of like a workers comp or home owner's insurance. They may get payment assistance if they have to delay or return early for a weather related issue or to cover damage to the ship. Who knows? I could be wrong. And while IF there was an insurance in place to handle this, it wouldn't have covered as much as they had to pay out, it might have at least helped to mitigate the costs. Again, speculation on my part.

 

And, I would much rather leave late due to fog than to miss a port and come in early due to fog. At least if you leave late, you know there is fog. Coming in early for a "chance of fog" and then not to have any (no surprise here) is very frustrating.

[Cozumel Parrot]

And, I would much rather leave late due to fog than to miss a port and come in early due to fog. At least if you leave late, you know there is fog. Coming in early for a "chance of fog" and then not to have any (no surprise here) is very frustrating.

 

Yes. Ports are a major reason people cruise! I want to visit the ports that were advertised. If that means I get off the boat 5 hours late (as I did when we arrived back to Houston on 1/11 but were delayed by fog), so be it, I can more than live with that inconvenience to visit a port. If I was interested primarily in my 'convenience', I would have just stayed at home to begin with and never bothered to get up off my bum, into a car, down the road, onto a plane, etc. to be on a cruise that would take me to exciting destinations.

 

And great point about the relative positions of those leaving and those boarding. As you note, the only way those boarding get delayed is if there IS actual fog, so that is tolerable. But missing a port then finding out the forecast fog that prompted the missed port never materialized? That is a much rawer deal.

Edited February 1, 2014 by Cozumel Parrot

[MrMan]

I do not doubt that there was a warning. There is always a weather warning in Texas over something. Heat, cold, fog. You name it. It's Texas. I believe that the real reason that Princess returned is for the Norovirus and to allow them an extra 24 hours to clean the ship. Better to end an infected cruise early fro decontamination than send the next cruise out late. Without the Norovirus on board, I believe that would have looked at the weather warning and maybe booked it faster from Belize to Houston to try and get into to the port Friday night. IIRC, they have done that before and made it, so it is possible. But with the Norovirus, they used the warning of potential fog as an excuse to return early.

 

This is also a reaction to the poorly handled cruise from a couple weeks ago that did have fog and they were delayed. But, even that cruise managed to arrive in on Saturday despite being told they would not. I would like to know how many times the port has been closed for 48 hours due to fog. I'm sure it has happened, but surely it can't be that often.

 

This move cost Princess loads of money. Loads more than having to help with people missing their flights on Saturday. So if this was weather related, wouldn't they have rather taken the financial hit of rearranging flights as opposed to putting up everyone in a hotel and reimbursing everyone for the one day? I do not believe they would have paid this price for a potential fog warning.

 

The comment on "saving money" is pure speculation. I would imagine (although I do not know for sure) that Cruise Lines have some sort of insurance against weather related issues -- sort of like a workers comp or home owner's insurance. They may get payment assistance if they have to delay or return early for a weather related issue or to cover damage to the ship. Who knows? I could be wrong. And while IF there was an insurance in place to handle this, it wouldn't have covered as much as they had to pay out, it might have at least helped to mitigate the costs. Again, speculation on my part.

 

And, I would much rather leave late due to fog than to miss a port and come in early due to fog. At least if you leave late, you know there is fog. Coming in early for a "chance of fog" and then not to have any (no surprise here) is very frustrating.

You are not looking at it from the Revenue side only the cost side. The ship does not make the big profits from your fare. They make it from the revenue at sea, casino, shore excursions, directing one to Diamonds Intl. These lost revenues "cost" the line more than your hotel room. The Line has little benefit of getting you off the ship early and missing a Port stop that makes them money.

 

I know it disappointing, but there are not some evil minions out there gunning for you. This was not a win for anyone. Stuff happens, weather happens, people get sick and board ship, go to movies, hit the mall without consideration for others . I feel your searching for a nonexistent boggy man

[Tbirdconvert]

It did not come in because of fog. I am a pilot and immediately pulled up the weather warning. It was for the possibly of patchy fog and is still posted as such for the remainder of the week. They thought it better to cut their losses on the passengers that had no choice than to delay the next group. They were going to have hotel costs either way.

 

I was told by one of the passenger service desk people the did not want everyone to think they had to come in early to sanitize the ship. It would not have sounded good. I was also told quite a large number of crew were I'll not the 4 or 5 reported to the cdc.

 

They just should have been honest with us about it and let us know the extent of the illness and what kind of danger we were in of contracting the illness.

 

Their dishonesty is what angers me most.

[Loonbeam]

If I had to guess, this is probably a situation where there is a little truth in everything.

 

Decisions made 3 days prior based on information available that day can't be second guessed based on actual results. If the forecast on Wednesday called for fog on Saturday at that time, that's what they had to go on. Due to the earlier probelms were the possibly overcautious? Yes.

 

Was Noro a factor too? Probably, and they should have been up front about that. It would be interesting to see how many cases were reported BEFORE the decision to change itinerary.

 

From the sound of things, Princess also was not very organized dealing with the early disembarkation, especially in the area of communication. This is a recurring theme with them, probably exacerbated by it being a new port.

 

Princess obviously has room for improvement here, regardless of the actual cause, and as usual that room seems to be in communication and organization. Sadly, its not a lesson they seemed to have learned.

[Tbirdconvert]

I looked at the weather advisory on immediately after they made the announcement and it was for patchy fog the remainder of the week. The captain lied that is all there is to it.

[WWCJR]

If I had to guess, this is probably a situation where there is a little truth in everything.

 

Decisions made 3 days prior based on information available that day can't be second guessed based on actual results. If the forecast on Wednesday called for fog on Saturday at that time, that's what they had to go on. Due to the earlier probelms were the possibly overcautious? Yes.

 

Was Noro a factor too? Probably, and they should have been up front about that. It would be interesting to see how many cases were reported BEFORE the decision to change itinerary.

 

From the sound of things, Princess also was not very organized dealing with the early disembarkation, especially in the area of communication. This is a recurring theme with them, probably exacerbated by it being a new port.

 

Princess obviously has room for improvement here, regardless of the actual cause, and as usual that room seems to be in communication and organization. Sadly, its not a lesson they seemed to have learned.

 

I would agree but it all depends on the source of the forecast and what it actually says. I have been checking the weather forecast for the upper Texas Gulf Coast and Galveston Bay everyday since Tuesday on the NOAA website (search for Galveston Bay weather forecast and select the NOAA one). It has consistently called for the "POSSIBILITY OF PATCHY SEA FOG". It is still calling for that until the front moves through on Sunday. This is far from HEAVY SEA FOG. I guess the real proof is what ACTUALLY happens.

 

I would like when people post weather forecasts for them to state the source of that forecast.