What was your worst experience on a cruise ship?

[JRG]

We were playing Bingo on a ship and the game was to get all squares in column B and O and if you were the winner you had to stand up and shout   " I have BO"

 

DW was the winner

[JRG]

We always go the the Spa drawing to try and win the massage.    I dislike it because it eats up 30 minutes of your first day and you are cramming in the gym with everybody and we never win.

 

Last year,  on the Eclipse,  I finally won the drawing,  

 

Unfortunately,   that is the one time I actually left early and she stayed but they play strict rules of golf on board and somebody else got the free massage.

 

 

[Gwendy]

On 12/24/2020 at 3:12 AM, navybankerteacher said:

More likely that they are stuck in dead-end, menial jobs.

Let me think, trying to work with 25 or so 17/18 year olds who attend school to collect govt benefits and have no interest in learning or a bad day if cruising?  I’ll take cruising thanks.  So far (over 30 cruises) no one has sworn at me or threatened me on a cruise unlike my day job.

[sverigecruiser]

28 minutes ago, Gwendy said:

Let me think, trying to work with 25 or so 17/18 year olds who attend school to collect govt benefits and have no interest in learning or a bad day if cruising?  I’ll take cruising thanks.  So far (over 30 cruises) no one has sworn at me or threatened me on a cruise unlike my day job.

 

My students and much younger, this year 7-8 years old, and they still have an interest in learning but threats and swearing still occure every day. I love my job but I love vacation even more so for me a bad day on a cruise is still better than a good day at work!  

[richstowe]

The fact that my worst experience wasn't so horrible for me says something but ...

DW and I went on a 5 day cruise with our 2 teenagers . It was a wonderful cruise on the Fascination out of Jacksonville . They loved it , we loved it . The port is 10 miles or so from the sea along the St. Johns river past Mayport . Returning we experienced FOG !  We floated just off shore waiting to go up the river for hour after hour . Can't blame Carnival for that . The problem was waiting on the stairways for hour after hour waiting to arrive in port . We had early disembarkation because we had a 1500 mile drive to get home . It wasn't pleasant for us but it was hell for others who ended up missing their mid afternoon flights . People shouldn't book early flights but this was very unusual . We finally got off before 1 PM , bruised .The drive home was that much harder but with the memories of a great vacation .

[sparks1093]

On 12/22/2020 at 2:52 PM, navybankerteacher said:

With apologies to the Clancy Brothers:

 

It’s no, nay, never-

No nay never no more- 

Will I sail on NCL;

No, nay never no more.

Ironically enough they are playing on my Pandora station at the moment. As to the original question we've had glitches but the worse experience was due to the weather. We had to sail through the remnants of a nor'easter which delayed the ship's arrival into port by several hours. We were fortunate in that we had driven to the port but others weren't so lucky. 

[Laurie S.]

My worst experience was during pre-boarding--the cruise was wonderful!  My late husband, his best friend, and I went on a 13-day Journeys cruise along the Mexican Riviera on Carnival Miracle.  It was raining when we got there and their machines for check-in were all outside and not functioning well.  My husband was having physical problems and so we were told to go in the Handicapped line.  We waited and waited, and I noticed the regular line was going a lot faster than ours.  There was a jerk at the front of our line with an older relative and they hadn't filled out any of their paperwork and so the staff was doing it then.  I looked around and saw a lot of elderly, disabled people and I blew a gasket.  I walked up to the front and said what's with making all the handicapped passengers stand here in the rain while you're getting everything else through?  Why not let us check in with one of the other machines?  They looked shocked, but all of sudden we were taken to another machine.  I had a number of people in our line thanking me.  We finally get into the dome, where it was freezing (it was February 1st).  We had priority boarding, but again were being forced to wait for others who weren't since we were sitting in the handicapped area.  Getting my husband a wheelchair was another struggle, and I had ordered it.  They told me he can go walk over and get one (in the rain).  I asked why can't I go get one?  Nope, only him.  I swear I almost ripped the idiot's head off.  We finally got on board, but it was a fight all the way.  Great cruise from then on!

[ldubs]

4 hours ago, Laurie S. said:

My worst experience was during pre-boarding--the cruise was wonderful!  My late husband, his best friend, and I went on a 13-day Journeys cruise along the Mexican Riviera on Carnival Miracle.  It was raining when we got there and their machines for check-in were all outside and not functioning well.  My husband was having physical problems and so we were told to go in the Handicapped line.  We waited and waited, and I noticed the regular line was going a lot faster than ours.  There was a jerk at the front of our line with an older relative and they hadn't filled out any of their paperwork and so the staff was doing it then.  I looked around and saw a lot of elderly, disabled people and I blew a gasket.  I walked up to the front and said what's with making all the handicapped passengers stand here in the rain while you're getting everything else through?  Why not let us check in with one of the other machines?  They looked shocked, but all of sudden we were taken to another machine.  I had a number of people in our line thanking me.  We finally get into the dome, where it was freezing (it was February 1st).  We had priority boarding, but again were being forced to wait for others who weren't since we were sitting in the handicapped area.  Getting my husband a wheelchair was another struggle, and I had ordered it.  They told me he can go walk over and get one (in the rain).  I asked why can't I go get one?  Nope, only him.  I swear I almost ripped the idiot's head off.  We finally got on board, but it was a fight all the way.  Great cruise from then on!

 

That is incredible.  I'm sorry to hear some knucklehead would put anyone through that.

 

  

[Fergus]

Our worst experience originated on our cruise, but continued for many days afterward.  This was about 9 years ago, we were cruising right before our son started his senior year of HS.  We had a great cruise, somewhere in the Caribbean, lots of fun.  On the drive home, I started to feel ill, so we stopped at a pharmacy and picked up some meds.  During the 10 hours of the drive, one by one, we all became sick.  Once home, we all collapsed in the house, feeling near death with some crazy virus.  Finally on the 3rd day, we drew straws for one of us to go to the dr and see if they could help (no).  We had no groceries in the house and no energy to go to the store.  My son missed the first several days of his senior year, then DRAGGED himself to school. I missed 2 WEEKS of work (after the week off for the cruise) because my illness turned into pneumonia.  I remember laying on my living room floor one day because I was having shooting pains all over my body; I was thinking, deliriously, what is happening?  Is anyone in this house alive?  Have we all died??  Luckily we all recovered and, just like women with childbirth, we forgot about it and lived to cruise again.

[cruznjan]

I caught a bad cold and had to stay in the cabin a couple of days. They were sea days, so I didn’t miss any ports.

[Laurie S.]

17 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

That is incredible.  I'm sorry to hear some knucklehead would put anyone through that.

 

  

I ended up writing a letter of complaint to Carnival because there a couple more issues on board.  I was given an apology and about a $300 credit for our next cruise.

[Sea42]

My only bad experience was on our first cruise and that was my fault. 25 years ago I didn't know about arranging private shore excursions and I really did not enjoy the ship excursions we participated in. We didn't cruise for many years after that. Once I found CC and learned more about how a cruise could be an experience I would enjoy, we have loved each cruise we've taken.

One nerve wracking cruise experience was when we left home for Copenhagen, not knowing if we would have a ship to sail on. It was the first cruise for the Star Princess after the fire and it was still sitting in a the shipyard being repaired when we left for Denmark. Our TA was useless saying she could not get no information from Princess and Princess told us we would have to communicate with them thru our TA. We went ahead with a back up plan in place to explore as much as the area as we could by ferry.

In the end, we were able to watch the shipboard cameras online and saw that she was on her way a few days after we arrived in Denmark. We and our fellow roll call members were quite relieved and had a wonderful time celebrating at Tivoli Gardens that night! The cruise itself was fantastic!

[FredT]

Back about 5 years ago we booked a cruise around the UK in March on CMV.     BIG mistake.   Weather was horrible, seas were 30-40' every day, rain/sleet/snow.   Out of 6 ports, we made ONE that was scheduled.  But we still enjoyed it, called it an adventure,  and discovered that my DW did NOT get as seasick as she had always been wary of. 

[rkacruiser]

On 12/29/2020 at 10:19 AM, Fergus said:

  Once home, we all collapsed in the house, feeling near death with some crazy virus. 

 

I sympathize with what you experienced!  January 31, 2020, when I got home from my cruises on Volendam, MSC Meraviglia, and Eurodam, I was ill.  I got the bare minimum luggage into my house from the car and collapsed into my Lazy Boy.  Didn't get anything to eat nor did I go to bed.  ( I poured myself a glass of wine, however.  Priorities, you understand.  😄)  There was case of Covid on Meraviglia, but I have never been able to determine if it was before, during, or after my cruise.  I was ill for 5 weeks with many of the Covid symptoms.  I do think I had a touch of the virus.  

[kochleffel]

I had a great time on a cruise in January during which quite a few things went wrong. We did not run aground and weren't set upon by pirates, BUT:

• The ship had a propulsion problem that required a change of itinerary. The port that was replaced, St. Maarten, was the one I most wanted to visit.
• Puerto Rico had an earthquake on the day we were scheduled to dock in San Juan. Docking was delayed until the afternoon, and because electricity was still out in many places, most of the restaurants and shops were closed, as was one of the forts.
• We never got to the cruise line's private island at all, because the seas were too rough for tendering.
• The ship changed course abruptly on the last day to rendezvous with a Coast Guard helicopter for a medical evacuation, heading us back toward a port we had already visited. (It was interesting to watch the helicopter hover beside the top deck to take the patient aboard.)

So what made it a great cruise? The food and entertainment, yes, but most of all the other passengers.

 

[pc_load_letter]

We've never had a bad cruise.

 

We did though have bad passengers to deal with on a cruise to Quebec. A couple ports were cancelled due to weather and you would think that these senior cruisers were told there was no food left on board.

 

Geez, they wanted the cruise line to provide for them something to do from morning till night. We just laughed at them. One gaggle of women were so miffed that all the gym classes were full, they actually told the head trainer to add more classes.

 

I don't know, we couldn't have cared less about missing the port for Anne of Green Gables but was more astounded that people simply want everything provided for them. Was shocked to see it from senior cruisers. I thought that mindset was only from the younger generation. Oh well

[cbr663]

Our worst cruise experience was many years ago now.  My wife and I decided we would try the suite life and booked a Neptune Suite on the Eurodam.  We thought we would try all the formal nights and everything else that the cruise line offered.

 

The cruise started poorly as soon as we entered our suite.  I looked around in disappointment at a heavily solid and obviously dirty suite.  Furniture had noticeable large stains, there was a heavy layer of dust over the entire suite, stains of some sort on the bed skirt and just an overall feeling of it being unclean.

 

We picked up the telephone and called Concierge who immediately sent the Head of Housekeeping to our suite.  He checked over the suite, apologized and asked us to go to the lounge while they cleaned the suite.  A while later they called the lounge to tell us that the suite was ready for us.  Imagine my disappointment walking in and seeing the same soiled furniture and stained bed skirt.

 

This time I called the Concierge again and pointed out again that the suite was not clean.  The Head Housekeeper arrived again and this time I went through the suite with him telling him I wanted the soiled furniture replaced and the stained bed skirt replaced.  He apologized again and we were sent to the lounge to wait.

 

As we waited I realized it was time for muster so we had to go to the suite to retrieve our life jackets (you needed to wear them to muster then).  Just as I opened the door the cleaner stated he was finished and hoped that everything was to my liking.  Imagine his shock when I retrieved the life jacket from the closet and a pair of underwear from a previous passenger fell to the floor.  The cleaner quickly grabbed them and shoved them in his pocket.

 

Things didn’t improve much for us.  We sent out of formal clothes for pressing and it was returned to us soiled.  Again someone from the laundry was sent to our suite to review it and stated that we sent the clothing to them soiled.  I was not impressed with that comment and it took a lot to keep my cool.

 

I was celebrating my birthday on the cruise and my wife planned a special evening for us in the suite that included the delivery of a birthday cake that she had pre-ordered as a surprise.  The surprise was on us as we waited and waited and no cake arrived.

 

There were many other lapses in service, such as being served a creme brulle with ice in it and a Cesar salad without any dressing.  Being served coffee without any spoons.  Dessert without any cutlery.  There were others.

 

All to say that something was definitely wrong on that ship at that time.  I contacted HAL after the cruise and they responded with a free upgrade on my next cruise and $300 OBC.  I was really hesitant to sail again with HAL and luckily we jumped ship and the next cruise was excellent.

[rkacruiser]

On 1/1/2021 at 4:55 PM, cbr663 said:

All to say that something was definitely wrong on that ship at that time. 

 

I experienced similar failures on the Noordam during a 21 day Caribbean cruise a few years ago.  The ship's Master and Hotel Director could have been less guest friendly and concerned.  What attitudes are expressed verbally or non-verbally from Senior leadership influences what the crew's attitudes are frequently are.  That HD''s employment by HAL?  I don't know.  The Master's employment?  Pre-the Covid  shut down, he was still at the helm of a ship.  I hope that I NEVER sail with either of them again!

[BillOh]

On 12/22/2020 at 11:25 AM, ColeThornton said:

I guess I'm lucky.  I have never had a bad experience of any kind on a cruise vacation.

Technically I haven't either, but I came close!   Took a 5 day cruise on Jewel that went to Cozumel and Costa Maya.   We had never been to Costa Maya before and was looking forward to that along with a fun excursion we had planned. The weather was nice and we were surprised we couldn't get off the ship when we docked because the waves were crashing high on the dock and it was flooding the gangway.

 

Initially we were told it would be a see day and we would miss the only port I was looking forward to. But we all quickly noticed we weren't leaving the port area.   The Captain would tell us later that night that he was in an argument with the Harbor Master about returning. We were supposed to talk at the side of the dock open to the ocean and one of the new Disney ships as of 2012 was to have the inside side of the dock at 3pm.  Waves were supposed to quiet down by then, so the captain requested or demanded their spot, and we disembarked about 2 hours later so it was saved!   Disney docked no problem that afternoon.

[cbr663]

17 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I experienced similar failures on the Noordam during a 21 day Caribbean cruise a few years ago.  The ship's Master and Hotel Director could have been less guest friendly and concerned.  What attitudes are expressed verbally or non-verbally from Senior leadership influences what the crew's attitudes are frequently are.  That HD''s employment by HAL?  I don't know.  The Master's employment?  Pre-the Covid  shut down, he was still at the helm of a ship.  I hope that I NEVER sail with either of them again!

 

It's really frustrating when it happens cause there really isn't anything you can do about it.  It's like the whole ship is off.  Almost everyone we met on that cruise were also complaining.  And that brings you down also as you really are trying to enjoy your cruise.

 

We have never sailed on the Eurodam again, and never will.  And even though we didn't have a great experience with the Neptune Suite, we learned enough to discover that for us HAL's suite life is more hype than substance.

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, cbr663 said:

We have never sailed on the Eurodam again, and never will.

 

And that is a tragedy for any company when one experience with their product "turns them off" for any other attempts to try that company's products.

 

I sailed on Noordam again after my disappointing sailing.  I will admit that I had my "fingers crossed" as I walked across the gangway.  Different Senior Management on the ship and a different cruise experience for me!  It was the "Signature of Excellence" cruise experience that I expected.  

[KEN W]

Only 1 bad time was on an RCCL ship....upset stomach all night. Something I ate for dinner didn't sit well. Didn't go ashore that next day.

[cbr663]

21 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

And that is a tragedy for any company when one experience with their product "turns them off" for any other attempts to try that company's products.

 

I sailed on Noordam again after my disappointing sailing.  I will admit that I had my "fingers crossed" as I walked across the gangway.  Different Senior Management on the ship and a different cruise experience for me!  It was the "Signature of Excellence" cruise experience that I expected.  

 

Great to read that a subsequent sailing worked well for you.

 

We have sailed on other HAL ships and the experiences have been great.  It took a big leap of faith though and our next cruise was on the Nieuw Amsterdam in a Veranda cabin and everything was perfect.  

[FredT]

Whats funny is that what is a total disaster to some is minor to others.  Our last cruise was a 28 day Med/Mid east cruise on NCL.   A week before the cruise was scheduled, we got a notice that the ship was still in drydock, and that we were now on a 21 day cruise.  On boarding we found rooms not finished, electrical wires everywhere, painting not done, etc etc.   In our stateroom  we found our (brand new) mattresses still leaning on the wall, no phone (Cord not connected) no door hardware to the bathroom, (In seas, it swung open and closed all night) and the piece de resistance was the fact that they never put the trap under the sink. (The water simply flooded into the drawer below.)

 

For the first FIVE DAYS the line at the front desk went through the atrium out into the hallway.   I felt REALLY sorry for those front desk people.  

 

Having said THAT, we enjoyed ourselves, it was a great cruise, and despite being chased around the globe by the Contra Virus we had a wonderful time.....    

 

It's all an adventure guys... all an adventure. 

Edited January 5, 2021 by FredT

[cruisingguy007]

The worst part, happens on every cruise, was having to get off the ship when the cruise was over. It is a terribly sad moment to return to reality and leave the blissful bubble.