Anthem keeps docking us around

[reallyitsmema]

It's snowing lightly, but no winds.

 

Yup, but unfortunately, flight was cancelled because of "operational difficulties". Oh well, he is on another flight soon, weather down there is much better than the weather he left in last night from Boston.:eek:

[stipmom]

They are giving people the opportunity to leave between 9p.m. and midnight or stay onboard and go Thursday morning.Those who choose to go tomorrow night must take their own luggage down.For those who stay onboard they will need to go through immigration onboard the ship

[Ocean Boy]

I just read this site for information, otherwise the overly loyalist will drive you nuts. If the ship had sunk in the storm there would be a group saying it could happen to any ship and how it could never be RCCL's fault, just the lay of the land around these parts I guess. I'm D+ but have scaled my cruising back to every couple years, the hand in my wallet every time I turn around has wore thin. Not everyone thinks that way so I keep my opinion to myself, others use different approaches.

Taking the first hand accounts at face value here, I think RCCL owes it to the passengers to keep them updated on anything and everything. Too much info is not a bad thing after a life threating event. If arrival times change as may happen due to port availability and or manpower then say that, "sorry we have to adjust our schedule, the port can not accept us until 6pm because of XYZ". People as a rule are starving for information when there is change or uncertainty, if the reports are correct RCCL dropped the ball here on a number of levels.

 

I completely agree with you there. It takes little effort to keep people up to date on what is happening and doing so can go a long way toward keeping people satisfied. We are talking a PA system here. It isn't as if they have to repeat the story 4000 times to each individual guest. I know that I react much better when I am kept informed.

[Merion_Mom]

you do know that this ship carries 5,000 passengers plus a crew of over 1,600. That is larger than many towns and villages from whence the passengers come from. Moving that many people off the ship through customs (who do not care a whit about circumstances (as they are paid by the government and work by the book) and out to proper transportation does not happen by magic. It is quite possible that the line was given improper information about docking times or possible that one union said ok and the other one said can't get our people there in time for the early docking. There are multiple unions involved in handling any ship in the ports of ny and nj. This is not singapore where one person runs everything and their word is law.

 

4,180 :)

[tbill]

This I have little sympathy for to be honest. I have sympathy for the experience they had on board but anyone goes on a vacation without the financial means to get a hotel for a few nights and buy a few meals extra, even if that would be reimbursed later, really shouldn't be going on the trip.

 

If the ship sailed fine and they came back to a cancelled flight they would have the same problem, they would have spent the cruise funds, if they had travel insurance to cover the days until their flight those wouldn't come immediately and would need someway to have a place to stay too.

 

If the refund is coming through putting it on a credit card, even if you don't like being in debt etc is perfectly fine since the refund would come in to pay off the card.

 

Wow! How cold. Nobody has the right to judge if someone should go on a trip or not. This is the kind of comment that comes from somebody that doesn't have to worry about money and looks down on those that do. People live paycheck to paycheck, work hard and save just enough money to take a nice vacation. There is nothing wrong with that.

[tiessa]

I've been in the position of not knowing if or when we could board or if or when we would depart. My experience was that Royal Caribbean was very bad at communicating with passengers. It is very frustrating to be in the middle of something and have no information passed on to you. A check in message every 2 hours even to say they know nothing new lets you know they are aware of your angst and care. I feel for everyone on this cruise and hope they all make it home safely.

[coaster]

Free food and accommodations for 4 nights and the larger part of Wednesday.... Most passengers unharmed. A slight delay in debarkation due to the logistics of unloading 4 thousand people in the middle of the week when shoreside staff are usually not scheduled to work. Get a grip and deal with it.

 

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[cheezwiz]

Dear Travel Partner,

Please note that the Anthem of the Seas arrival time in Cape Liberty, New Jersey, has been modified. Our original update about the revised arrival time was estimated at 6 a.m. EST on February 10, 2016. Due to reduced speeds on the return voyage, the new estimated arrival time will be alongside in Bayonne at 9 pm EST. As this is an evening arrival and we want to ensure the comfort of our guests, we are encouraging guests to remain on board for a normal disembarkation process on Thursday, February 11th starting at 6 a.m. Those guests that choose to disembark on their own once the ship has cleared on Wednesday evening, may chose this option. Any transportation arrangements you may have secured for February 10th, should be reaccommodated to February 11th

We thank you for your understanding, and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you and your clients. We appreciated your continued support of Royal Caribbean International.

 

This & $5 might get you a frappacino, but probably not a waived airline fee.

[Lizcourt]

I don't often compare cruise lines, since all have their good and bad points, and I have had superb experiences with RCCL in difficult situations on bookings when they went out of their way to help (and were entitled by the terms of our cruise contract to do far, far less than they did) so this is NOT a knock. But every difficult situation should at least have the silver lining of being able to teach something, and here is something I would respectfully suggest RCCL could learn from this: communication.

 

I've noticed that when weather, or any other unusual occurrence affects a Carnival cruise, all you have to do to find out the latest status is go to their website; the info is always either on the first page or the page contains a direct link to a notice, frequently updated, that gives you all the information they know -- where the ship is, what the plan is to avoid/deal with the emergency, and how they think it will affect other sailings -- even if the answer is that they think it WON'T affect the next sailing.

 

As a booked passenger on the February 13 sailing of Anthem (if there is one) I have been searching in vain for a similar source of info from RCCL. Its not on their website. And the only info I have gotten off their facebook page is a response to a question posed by one of my fellow passengers. In fact, not one peep has even been sent to the "messages" section of the "my cruises" booking page on the site. If Anthem hadn't been all over the news -- and if not for the best source of info on the web, the Cruise Critic boards -- those of us on the next sailing wouldn't even know there had been a problem that -- I think we all have to accept -- could likely delay or affect that sailing.

 

And frankly, that annoys me even though I'm safe and warm in my own home. I can't even begin to imagine how much worse it is for people actually on the Anthem to not be told what the cruise line knows with regular updates, even if the update is "no new news" or "right now we're not sure." Every one of us in business knows -- good news or bad news, constant customer communication is the hallmark of customer service.

Edited February 9, 2016 by Lizcourt

[tbill]

I don't often compare cruise lines, since all have their good and bad points, and I have had superb experiences with RCCL in difficult situations on bookings when they went out of their way to help (and were entitled by the terms of our cruise contract to do far, far less than they did) so this is NOT a knock. But every difficult situation should at least have the silver lining of being able to teach something, and here is something I would respectfully suggest RCCL could learn from this: communication.

 

I've noticed that when weather, or any other unusual occurrence affects a Carnival cruise, all you have to do to find out the latest status is go to their website; the info is always either on the first page or the page contains a direct link to a notice, frequently updated, that gives you all the information they know -- where the ship is, what the plan is to avoid/deal with the emergency, and how they think it will affect other sailings.

 

As a booked passenger on the February 13 sailing of Anthem (if there is one) I have been searching in vain for a similar source of info from RCCL. Its not on their website. And the only info I have gotten off their facebook page is a response to a question posed by one of my fellow passengers. In fact, not one peep has even been sent to the "messages" section of the "my cruises" booking page on the site. If Anthem hadn't been all over the news -- and if not for the best source of info on the web, the Cruise Critic boards -- those of us on the next sailing wouldn't even know there had been a problem that -- I think we all have to accept -- could likely delay or affect that sailing.

 

And frankly, that annoys me even though I'm safe and warm in my own home. I can't even begin to imagine how much worse it is for people actually on the Anthem to not be told what the cruise line knows with regular updates, even if the update is "no new news" or "right now we're not sure." Every one of us in business knows -- good news or bad news, constant customer communication is the hallmark of customer service.

 

I feel bad for all of you due to sail on the Anthem this weekend. If the sailing is canceled you deserve to be told immediately so you can make alternate plans. If the sailing in not canceled you have to worry if 2 days is enough to really inspect the ship for damage and to repair all of the known damage any and any newly found damage. It is terrible that you have not been contacted yet. Given the fact that this coming weekend is Valentines Day and President's weekend alternate plans may be hard to make.

[cheezwiz]

Free food and accommodations for 4 nights and the larger part of Wednesday.... Most passengers unharmed. A slight delay in debarkation due to the logistics of unloading 4 thousand people in the middle of the week when shoreside staff are usually not scheduled to work. Get a grip and deal with it.

 

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So, you'll be picking up the tab for the second set of airline change fees for those pax who will now have to pay them? Mighty generous guy!

[conandrob240]

News from the captain just now: we will arrive in Bayonne at 6pm ET, and get the pilot and ideally be fully docked by 9pm ET. He did mention people can stay on the ship overnight if needed. The cruise director and guest relations might be able to help out with travel, but he didn't give any details. He said Full details will be provided at 10pm tonight on channel 22 in stateroom TVs.

 

This is definitely positive, but I personally plan to wait until tomorrow AM to change my return flight again. Make sure no unexpected weather or other issues pop up.

 

What was the reason given for the much delayed port time?

[reallyitsmema]

ABC World News tonight just teased a report of Anthem for after this commercial break, if anyone is interested. Supposedly, response from Captain on why he took ship out.

 

Edit: No new information, Captain information was actually from the video Shaun posted!

Edited February 9, 2016 by reallyitsmema

[tbill]

So, you'll be picking up the tab for the second set of airline change fees for those pax who will now have to pay them? Mighty generous guy!

 

I don't get why some of the posters don't understand that most people don't have unlimited access to funds. It would be nice if everyone lived that way but its simply not the case.

[Nana57]

Are the dining rooms, bars etc. open?

[ESN]

I have to say - it is frustrating dealing with the RC phone reps

 

They keep insisting that "cruise will be departing normally on Saturday 13th"

Which I guess is possible but will certainly be more difficult if ship not empty of previous guests until Thursday morning.

 

Again - I understand that they may not know yet what ship needs but at least be transparent. Tell me honestly you are unsure. I just feel like you cannot trust anything the phone reps are telling you

 

I would rather they tell me weds that the cruise will be delayed or cancelled than wait until Friday.

[jpurdy]

agreed, and maybe its not all the bad and i need to suck it up, honestly i really don't know, all i know is I thought we were going down and I was terrified. All I want is to feel secure and right now Rccl is making me feel the opposite

 

Anyone telling you to be merry and enjoy has NO idea how traumatizing this experiencing was for many passengers. Some will revel in the experience, some will wonder why people are upset and some will want off the ship now to feel land under their feet.

 

Please be understanding of everyone's emotions right now and stop telling them to enjoy. The elation of getting through the experience will soon melt down to anger if not not handled properly.

[cheezwiz]

I don't get why some of the posters don't understand that most people don't have unlimited access to funds. It would be nice if everyone lived that way but its simply not the case.

 

It's either people who don't think before they post or people who just enjoy being snarky. Either way, these folks have had enough to put up with, given the anxiety and disappointment they've experienced over the last few days. I hope they all have a very smooth trip home, however they are traveling.

[Ldyandrea]

You do know that this ship carries 5,000 passengers plus a crew of over 1,600. That is larger than many towns and villages from whence the passengers come from. Moving that many people off the ship through customs (who do not care a whit about circumstances (as they are paid by the government and work by the book) and out to proper transportation does not happen by magic.

 

Just FYI....because this will be a "closed loop" cruise, meaning they never actually stopped anywhere, none of the passengers will have to go through customs. I had this happen on a similar cruise a few years ago. One less hold up, actually....people will be able to just pick up their bags in the terminal and leave.

[tbill]

Just FYI....because this will be a "closed loop" cruise, meaning they never actually stopped anywhere, none of the passengers will have to go through customs. I had this happen on a similar cruise a few years ago. One less hold up, actually....people will be able to just pick up their bags in the terminal and leave.

 

That's good. One less thing that they have to go through.

[conandrob240]

I have to say - it is frustrating dealing with the RC phone reps

 

They keep insisting that "cruise will be departing normally on Saturday 13th"

Which I guess is possible but will certainly be more difficult if ship not empty of previous guests until Thursday morning.

 

Again - I understand that they may not know yet what ship needs but at least be transparent. Tell me honestly you are unsure. I just feel like you cannot trust anything the phone reps are telling you

 

I would rather they tell me weds that the cruise will be delayed or cancelled than wait until Friday.

 

You will not get any information until Thursday at the very earliest. They wont know until the ship gets to port. Calling the RCCL 800# is pointless.

[Ldyandrea]

I have to say - it is frustrating dealing with the RC phone reps

 

They keep insisting that "cruise will be departing normally on Saturday 13th"

Which I guess is possible but will certainly be more difficult if ship not empty of previous guests until Thursday morning.

 

Again - I understand that they may not know yet what ship needs but at least be transparent. Tell me honestly you are unsure. I just feel like you cannot trust anything the phone reps are telling you

 

I would rather they tell me weds that the cruise will be delayed or cancelled than wait until Friday.

 

I can totally understand how frustrating that is, but my guess is that the company is still working through the logistics to figure out how much time they need to make any repairs that must be made before they can sail again, and before they're ready to take on new passengers. The phone reps can only provide the information they've been given, and the company probably feels they would rather provide what they believe is the current time frame until a decision is made to adjust it, rather than just stating that they don't know.

 

Considering how logistics and timing are the key to running any cruise line operation, I think they (all cruise lines) do quite a good job all things considered. When unexpected things like this take place, they do the best they can, but there's no way everyone is going to be completely happy....that's simply impossible, even if everything had happened as it was supposed to on this trip.

 

Communication is critical, however, and they need to make sure that they are communicating a consistent message to all of the passengers.

 

Btw, while I've sailed on RCCL a few times, I'm by no means a "cheerleader" for them. I'm more of a Princess fan, tbh. :p

Edited February 10, 2016 by Ldyandrea

[coaster]

So, you'll be picking up the tab for the second set of airline change fees for those pax who will now have to pay them? Mighty generous guy!

Not sure why anyone would fly to cruise out of NJ in the middle of winter anyway. Aren't there enough departures out of FL this time of year?

 

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[poz222]

Am I the only one thinking that RCCL seems pretty unhelpful with regards to assisting pax in making alternate arrangements? Recently, when CCL had issues onboard the Liberty they were hog tied by the media about providing transportation for clients whose cruise was cut short or allowing them to stay onboard until their regularly scheduled flights? RCCL has made the decision to cut this cruise short (I am guessing so they can do repairs), it is supposed to be freezing and many people have not been able to make firm travel plans (mostly due to lack of certainty for when to make such plans as well as communication issues)... It seems like they are kinda kicking these passengers to the curb and using terms like "your travel and transportation needs". Yes, they are getting a full refund and 50% off, but where is the assistance NOW for their travel needs? Anyone try and price check last minute flights lately? Hotels in NYC? If CCL did this we all know they would be crucified by the media! It is an unfortunate situation for all the passengers but I am a bit disappointed by the seemingly lack of communication and transportation assistance that seems to be currently offered...

[Paul65]

So easy to defend their actions and say they did everything right because no one was killed or severely injured. Many have no compassion, if you had been on that ship you would have felt a lot different. Since it didn't happen to you all is okay

 

I don't think everyone is saying, "all is okay." It's just idiocy of you continually proclaiming all the things they did wrong, when none of us really know all the information. I get it, though, you're one of those types who by into the "corporations are evil" mantra, so if anything goes wrong, you go for the lynch mob mentality.

 

What you are doing is not helpful to anyone, though. It just makes a lot of useless noise.