Journey - Interrupted cruise review

[bbqoug]

My wife and I boarded Journey on April 10^th in Manhattan for the Bermuda and the Old South 11 night itinerary. The sail away out of New York Harbor was breathtaking.

Unfortunately, my father passed away back at home while we spent the 2^nd night on our cruise. We didn’t find out about his death until the 3^rd day when we arrived in Charleston because we didn’t have cell phone service on our sea day. As soon as we found out we knew we would have to cut the cruise short to fly home.

I went down to customer relations to let them know that we were going to have to disembark in Charleston instead of continuing on to Bermuda. Everyone at customer relations was very sympathetic and helpful. We had no idea disembarking early would be a problem. Rafael the documentation officer contacted the officials in Charleston and let us know that we would have to meet with Customs and Border Protection officers the next morning in the Drawing Room. It ends up that we were in violation of the Jones Act or Passenger Services Act because we embarked in one U.S. port (Manhattan) and would be debarking in another U.S. port (Charleston) without first visiting a distant foreign port. We ended up having to pay a fine of $300 each because of this infraction. They then cleared us to exit the ship. Our room steward Lyric and assistant Hosannah were very kind and helped in getting our luggage off the ship so we could catch our new flight.

We had ended up taking a 3 night cruise for the first and hopefully last time. Up until we had to leave we were on our way to having our best cruise ever. We didn’t make it long enough to attend the Chef’s Table & specialty restaurants we had booked, but our meals in Discoveries were very good. The first night the Chef’s Special was a filet of beef with marrow crumble that was so tender and flavorful, I was concerned that anything I ordered in Prime C wouldn’t measure up. Too bad I didn’t get a chance to find out. Our breakfasts from room service, Windows Café, and Discoveries were great, and the Greek Burger we had at The Patio was delicious. I could not fault any of the food on this abbreviated cruise.

Service was also very good with the officers and crew very friendly.

Our CC Meet & Mingle was well attended and fun. We met a lot of very nice fellow passengers that we were looking forward to sailing with.

The second night of the cruise Captain Johannes was greeting people as they entered the dining room. I asked him if he ever turned off the ship’s lights to allow for people to star gaze. He immediately called to tell someone to leave the lights out on deck 11 forward for us that night. We had no idea that this kind act by the captain allowed us to be viewing the beautiful star filled sky as my father was passing away back at home.

We hope our fellow passengers that are still on the cruise are having a fantastic time with good weather.

We will try to be back. It took us 2 years of saving to be able to afford this cruise. Thank goodness I purchased travel insurance, which will pay us back a prorated amount for the cruise time we missed. Also, customer service at Delta was very nice under the circumstance in that they were able to change our original flights with no change fee. Unfortunately I was told by the Travel Insurance company that they will not cover the $600 we have to pay in fines.

We already had a high opinion of Azamara from our previous cruise on Quest. This short cruise and the way they handled our unusual circumstance only added to our opinion.

[uktog]

So sorry to hear of your sad loss.  Hold onto that very special star gazing memory.

[Grandma Cruising]

I’m sorry for your loss and wanted to thank you for posting about your experience during what must be both a very sad, and very busy, time for you.

Its very helpful for people to know about the consequences of having to leave the ship from a different US port than the one at which they embarked. I’m amazed that circumstances like yours are not treated as an exception.

I hope it’s not too long before you come back and enjoy a full cruise with Azamara.

Edited April 16, 2019 by Host Grandma Cruising

[excitedofharpenden]

bbqoug, I’m so sorry to hear the news that your father passed away on the cruise.  I’ve often thought the Jones Act really is ridiculous as far as cruise ships are concerned.  Not originally meant for that purpose and now to hear you had to pay $300 each to leave early because of a bereavement adds salt to the wound.

 

Anyway, good thoughts to you and your family and hopefully we will be reading a full review from you before too long.  I’ve had Lyric as a steward a couple of times.  Nice guy.

 

Phil

[Shawnino]

I am very sorry to read of the OP's loss.

 

And I'm annoyed to read of yet another poor application of the Jones Act, surely one of America's worst pieces of legislation. (Ask the American citizens of Puerto Rico.)

[bbqoug]

Thank you all for your condolences and well wishes.

I asked the CBP officers if the fine could be waived under this circumstance. One of them said "That's a negative." He said if they made one exception then others would want it as well.

 

The fine was actually levied on Azamara who then passed it on to us via our onboard account.

[CruisingChick]

So sorry to hear of your loss.  We are currently on Journey.  Once we left Charleston on Sunday night the ship has been really rocking and rolling. I have never taken so much Dramamine.  Today is a bit better. Yesterday morning was rough. We also are leaving Bermuda on Thursday - 22 hours EARLY as we would not make it back to NYC in time as we will be hitting a storm.  We are expected to dock in NYC at 3 pm on Saturday.  

[DebbieMacG]

Sorry to hear you lost your father, it’s nice to think that you were looking up at the stars at the time of his passing. My father died when I was three years ago and I was told he had become a star in the sky, as a tiny child it held a kind of comfort for me and I hope for you too xx

 

Having to pay several hundred dollars to leave the ship at such a bad time is terrible, the system must be changed to allow for this kind of cicrumstance.

[dabear]

5 minutes ago, DebbieMacG said:

Sorry to hear you lost your father, it’s nice to think that you were looking up at the stars at the time of his passing. My father died when I was three years ago and I was told he had become a star in the sky, as a tiny child it held a kind of comfort for me and I hope for you too xx

 

Having to pay several hundred dollars to leave the ship at such a bad time is terrible, the system must be changed to allow for this kind of cicrumstance.

The Jones Act is more than 100 years old and was passed to protect the US Merchant Marine industry. It applies to foreign documented vessels & does not permit them to dock in 2 consecutive US ports. I don't believe there are any exceptions unless medical emergency of a pax or crew is permitted.

[BBMacLaird]

I'm so sorry to learn of your loss bbqoug. I know you've been participating on our forum for awhile now, and am so sorry about the circumstances that shortened your first cruise with us.

P.s. Thank you for taking the time to let us [the AZ CC community] know about your situation.

 

[Lois R]

I am also on this cruise..........so sorry about your loss......my condolences to you as well.

[bbqoug]

3 hours ago, CruisingChick said:

So sorry to hear of your loss.  We are currently on Journey.  Once we left Charleston on Sunday night the ship has been really rocking and rolling. I have never taken so much Dramamine.  Today is a bit better. Yesterday morning was rough. We also are leaving Bermuda on Thursday - 22 hours EARLY as we would not make it back to NYC in time as we will be hitting a storm.  We are expected to dock in NYC at 3 pm on Saturday.  

Thank you for letting us know how things have been going since we left.

It seems like White Night was scheduled for Thursday evening in Bermuda. Has it now been rescheduled?

That has to be disappointing leaving Bermuda so early. We were really looking forward to our time there.

Best of luck with the rest of your cruise.

 

[bbqoug]

Just now, Lois R said:

I am also on this cruise..........so sorry about your loss......my condolences to you as well.

Thanks Lois. I saw you at the Meet and Greet but never got a chance to speak with you.

Hopefully we can sail together sometime in the future.

 

[bbqoug]

47 minutes ago, BBMacLaird said:

I'm so sorry to learn of your loss bbqoug. I know you've been participating on our forum for awhile now, and am so sorry about the circumstances that shortened your first cruise with us.

P.s. Thank you for taking the time to let us [the AZ CC community] know about your situation.

 

Thank you Bonnie. This was actually our 2nd cruise with Azamara. We enjoyed our cruise on Quest a couple years ago so much that we knew we wanted to sail with Azamara again. This one was starting out to be even better.

 

[Lottie A]

So sorry to hear the sad news about your father's passing bbqoug. 

I do hope you will be back to enjoy an Azamara cruise when you feel the time is right. 

[CruisingChick]

17 hours ago, bbqoug said:

Thank you for letting us know how things have been going since we left.

It seems like White Night was scheduled for Thursday evening in Bermuda. Has it now been rescheduled?

That has to be disappointing leaving Bermuda so early. We were really looking forward to our time there.

Best of luck with the rest of your cruise.

 

Yes, White Night has been rescheduled to tonight 4/17.