Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Live...mostly...from Anthem

KarinaGW

By KarinaGW,
in Royal Caribbean International

 Share

Recommended Posts

lr657

lr657

Posted
Posted

I am amazed at the positive attitudes of almost everyone sailing on the ship. You must all be exhausted following the rough night you had, yet you all seem to be making the best out of a bad situation. Sorry your cruise has been cut short, but hoping you will book another that will have better weather!

 

I am really disappointed in those that are looking to place blame. Weather is unpredictable. Unless you have been provided with the exact information that was used to determine if the ship would sail and what the best route would be, you have no right to make assumptions and place blame. As previously posted, the captain does not make this decision alone. I don't understand how someone would think that the captain would risk his own life, and the lives of the crew and passengers just to avoid losing money for the cruise line!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
OBX-Cruisers

OBX-Cruisers

Posted
Posted
Glad everyone seems to have weathered the storm. Props to RC for stepping up to the plate in taking care of folks with refunds and credits.

 

One thing though... I always travel in at least a balcony or suite. I can not imagine having a family being forced to stay in an interior cabin during the storm. Scary enough when you can see outside. Being trapped in tuna can would be more than I could happen.

 

From the videos I have seen and people holding their Veranda door shut................I think I may have preferred and inside cabin.

Kudos to the crew who had to endure all of this, pick up the remains and THEN serve breakfast

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Former Goalie

Former Goalie

Posted
Posted
We are on board Anthem. Yesterday was certainly an experience of a lifetime. It has given me new respect for this amazing lady called Anthem of the Seas and her Captain and crew. 150mph winds, 25+ ft waves, driving rain and Anthem took it like a champ. Yes I was scared, but the Captain kept us updated and things calm. We are in a suite on deck 12. All loose items were flug around. Dishes broken, glass in bathroom flung to for and broke. We put our loose items in the sinks and as much as we could away. It was a wild ride. M&Ms from mini bar for dinner. It was certainly an experience of a lifetime. I am in awe of this ship and what she can handle and want to thank the captain and crew for keeping us safe. Still confined to cabin and we are rocking. But we are underway again finally.

Who is the Captain? Interested to know if we've sailed with him/her. Thank you in advance, and smooth sailing, if at all possible!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ArthurUSCG

ArthurUSCG

Posted
Posted

Wow, This makes a strong argument against getting a upper deck state room. The lower rooms would have less lateral distance traveled as the ship rolls.

 

I wounder if the industry would rethink making such tall cruise ships in the future. The amount of sail area on the Anthem is crazy especially with all of the balconies to catch the wind and the 2 concave areas on both sides.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
wolfganghowell

wolfganghowell

Posted
Posted

Based on the logic of some people here, there are a lot of homebuilders that should be sued because they deliberately built houses in areas that are known to have tornadoes. :rolleyes: After all, they knowingly placed them in Tornado Alley! (And yes - I live in a tornado prone area - one missed my neighborhood by about 5 miles last month.) Weather can be scary. Seriously, the only people who have the right to second guess the decisions of the captain and Royall are those that are currently onboard. Most of them seem to be satisfied with how the situation was handled. We are NOT qualified to make judgement calls on this. I highly doubt Royal made their decisions lightly - not only do they have a duty to protect the passengers but their crew as well. And gee, I kinda think the Captain wants to stay safe just for personal reasons. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lovetocruise75

lovetocruise75

Posted
Posted
based on the logic of some people here, there are a lot of homebuilders that should be sued because they deliberately built houses in areas that are known to have tornadoes. :rolleyes: After all, they knowingly placed them in tornado alley! (and yes - i live in a tornado prone area - one missed my neighborhood by about 5 miles last month.) weather can be scary. Seriously, the only people who have the right to second guess the decisions of the captain and royall are those that are currently onboard. Most of them seem to be satisfied with how the situation was handled. We are not qualified to make judgement calls on this. I highly doubt royal made their decisions lightly - not only do they have a duty to protect the passengers but their crew as well. And gee, i kinda think the captain wants to stay safe just for personal reasons. ;)

 

exactly

Link to comment
Share on other sites
gnomelady

gnomelady

Posted
Posted

So glad you all came through this experience safely. Thank you for your true and honest posts of what was going on. I have cruised the outskirts of Hurricane Ida, but you had it worse than we did.

 

Now, as far as the Captain knowing that the storm was that bad, I have one question... Was Jim Cantorie from The Weather Channel doing live remotes from your ship? No? Well, guess what - they didn't know either! (Sorry... the devil made me do it!)

 

Sorry you are going back - enjoy the rest of your cruise and the one in the future to take it's place!

 

Karan

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Big_G

Big_G

Posted
Posted
Just as the speed of the Anthem was too slow to get out of the way or go around it yesterday, I don't think she is fast enough to "catch" the storm as it is heading north.

 

I assume they will tail behind it as they and the storm both move north...

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

That same storm has already dropped 5 inches of snow on my backyard in Rhode Island. They won't catch it now. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SuiteCruiser

SuiteCruiser

Posted
Posted (edited)
I can't tell you the number of times I stepped on the straps of someone's life vest. Also, people who put them on in their staterooms had trouble navigating the stairs. Now they keep them at muster stations. Safer for the drill... which happens each cruise. However, I think it would be wise to let people know where they are kept at muster station. Under an emergency situation your crew member may not be at the muster station soon enough. Just a thought.

 

Just because you have lifejackets in your cabin doesn't mean you bring them to your muster station for the drill. Personally I think if your first plan is to have people retreat to the their cabins because it's not safe, there should be a life jacket in there in case a list turns into a flip and you can't get to your muster station. No harm in duplication.

Edited by SuiteCruiser
Link to comment
Share on other sites
kandj05

kandj05

Posted
Posted
I apologize for posting last night that it was Captain Anders.

 

Apparently he ended his time on the Anthem and disembarked with me on Saturday.

 

The captain who kept everyone safe was Captain Claus Andersen.

 

:)

 

Carol, I was curious what captain had to man the ship during this frightful time. Thanks for letting us know.

 

Kudos Captain Andersen!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
robtulipe

robtulipe

Posted
Posted (edited)
I don't know I might be a little concerned if I was being taken back to the port 3 days early and no where to go til my plane on Saturday.

 

Has this storm calmed down enough to be sailing back toward it?

 

Glad that only cosmetic damage seems to have happened. Kudos to the posters on this thread for the good attitudes. I am sure you had quite a scary night, but will have a great story to tell in the years to come.

 

Most who cruise out of Bayonne drive themselves or have some sort of ground transport to the port so they are very flexible in this respect. This was very obvious on our Anthem Jan.3rd and previous roll calls. We even drove down from Ontario just across the border from NY state for that cruise and several others out of Port Liberty prior to that last cruise.

The time we took to drive wasn't that much longer than having to go through steps necessary to do the hour flight there and it was a lot cheaper. I filled up in Buffalo and used $20 worth of gas to drive to our hotel just north of Newark airport. We got a hotel stay, park, shuttle to port and cruise package that wasn't that much more than we pay for a stay, park and fly package we normally do at BUF airport before flying to a cruise and our car was waiting at the hotel when ever we got back. ;)

 

By the way, gasoline is very inexpensive in the Newark area. I paid $1.64 per US gallon for my fill up. It's almost double that here in Ontario when that price is converted to $CAD per liter. Gasbuddy.com shows today price is $1.55/ gallon where I filled up.

Edited by robtulipe
Link to comment
Share on other sites
waterbugohio

waterbugohio

Posted
Posted
Okay. At this point, actual news is pretty much not going to be a thing. I will, of course, post anything of substance that is reliably reported by a member of Senior Staff. But, I am at this point tired of reading all the blamers so will probably absent myself from this thread in a general sort of way. I leave you with:

 

The Captain was always honest as to the situation.

Knowing something about storms, I completely believe a minor storm took a turn for the worst.

The Captain and Crew have done a brilliant job ok keeping life and ship safe given an incredibly hideous situation NOT OF THEIR MAKING. They continue to do all they can to keep us safe and comfortable.

They have rescheduled all the cancelled shows from yesterday.

They opened all the bars for free booze from 1 til 2 this afternoon.

 

I am, for the most part, also very proud of the passengers on this cruise.

 

Also wanted to thank yu Katrina. You did a great job keeping us all informed. Glad we could "ride along" (sorry, couldn't resist) And I really don't blame you for not wanting to keep up with the thread any longer, since so much negativity here. Go enjoy some drinks, have some fun. And if you have actual news to report, we assume you will.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
kearney

kearney

Posted
Posted

This seems to support the case that this was something that would have been difficult for the captain to anticipate accurately... since its strength seems to have been unexpected. It seems that it could easily have gone the other way and become a nonevent. Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Charles4515

Charles4515

Posted
Posted
Thanks, Patti! I thought I had heard the $300 figure too but I didn't know if it was accurate. So if they had disembarked 5000 passengers in PC, the fine would have been $1.5 million.

 

 

 

We were on a TA a few years ago out of NOLA. We had an unscheduled stop in PC for a medical evacuation (a lady with a broken ankle and her husband.) I heard from the concierge that there was a $600 fine to the company for that. So my thinking was that waivers don't happen much if they don't happen for medical situations.

 

Judy

 

 

They have happened when there is an incident. Waivers were given a few years ago for the Carnival ships that lost power and ended up back at different US ports than they started from. I don't know if they could have gotten a waiver for this incident but I suspect they could have.

 

Not saying though that they should have went to Port Canaveral.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites
4cats,1dog

4cats,1dog

Posted
Posted

Royal shouldn't have a ship in NY/NJ in December- March because the weather. This is not the first time they hit really bad weather. That's why no one cruises from Alaska in February. Royal bring your ship back to Florida for winter months!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Charles4515

Charles4515

Posted
Posted
A good question for all the experts on this board is WHERE the captain should have taken this huge ship after it left port? Baltimore.......nope, bridges too low.......Norfolk.........possible but they were already too far to get there before the storm hit.......so where??

You apparently can't just go back and let people get off..........that would violate the US/US port ban.

Maybe the entire cruise should have been canceled...........but did the weather forecast support such a drastic decision? And if not, how many people would be complaining about a canceled cruise.....if/when the predicted weather did not occur..???

 

 

Going back would not be a violation of the PSA. They are going back now and that won't be a violation.

 

They could have delayed the cruise a day. Or gone back if they had left port and sailed again. They delayed a day a few weeks ago because of the big snowstorm.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...