One More Thread About The Sick Ship

[Vernoncruise]

Has anyone on the 3/17 sailing received any response at all from Celebrity or reason as to why they would offer compensation on one sailing and not the other?

[tuggers]

SandyMc, she gets it. Better to just let her be.

[Texasannie]

I've certainly appreciated your posts! I'm SandyMc's sister and I have emailed everyone I could get an email address for, and have written a formal letter to Celebrity - Dan Hanrahan. Too soon to hear from anyone. Who were the other two you mentioned several days ago? And what are their titles? Are they all based in Miami?

[tuggers]

I think they are on the roll call. I'm off to church or I'd look for you!:D

[Aussie Cruisers]

Sandy, Tuggers et al,

 

Katy and I are so sorry to hear about your terrible trip. I could not even imagine how uncomfortable, disappointing, frustrating and furiating your cruise experience was. We were in an inside cabin on the Infinity (2004) and we would have had the most horrible time if it was us. So, we just want to encourage you all to keep on keepin on, and don't lose energy because a few people are just plain stupid and selfish to have any sympathy or empathy for you all.

 

One day we may cruise together and have a great time.... on Princess!

 

Happy Easter.

 

Mark.:p

[SandyMc]

OK guys - I really never meant my original message to degenerate into I said, you said....etc. FinelyCruising - no - we never sailed together. If we had, I would have enjoyed meeting you! Guess that is part of my problem - this was our first Celebrity cruise and we had all looked forward to it SOOOOOO much!

 

My entire family has written to Celebrity with our complaints - and this will be the end of it. I've said many times that we did find things to enjoy on this cruise - and met some great people like NanD. None of us got sick and and I think all of us are looking forward to our next cruise!!

 

Texasannie (Sister) - the CEO is Richard Fain and the guy in charge of Corporate Customer Service is Mike Willis (info courtesy of Tuggers in a previous post).

[FinelyCruising]

SandyMc - Sorry this was not the good first experience you had hoped for. If you enjoyed the food, it was good food I think, the ports were nice and who can tell about the service really, but for the dining room staff we thought were very good on our cruise. The ship, sans bleach, would have been a little tired, and was a bit plain, IMHO, with the Cova Cafe the prettiest room we thought overall. I hope you prevail in your efforts, I can think of no reason that the cruiseline would not be affable to providing the same goodwill for your cruise as we received on ours based on the conditions you described.

[elsje]

OK guys - I really never meant my original message to degenerate into I said, you said....etc. FinelyCruising - no - we never sailed together. If we had, I would have enjoyed meeting you! Guess that is part of my problem - this was our first Celebrity cruise and we had all looked forward to it SOOOOOO much!

 

My entire family has written to Celebrity with our complaints - and this will be the end of it. I've said many times that we did find things to enjoy on this cruise - and met some great people like NanD. None of us got sick and and I think all of us are looking forward to our next cruise!!

 

Texasannie (Sister) - the CEO is Richard Fain and the guy in charge of Corporate Customer Service is Mike Willis (info courtesy of Tuggers in a previous post).

 

Sandy..the bleaching process was totally out of control according to the CDC. Folks that were affected by this have the right to express this feeling. It is not normal that the cruise line did NOT inform passengers of their belaching process and the inconvenience that it caused some of you. It is also not normal that some people who called Celebrity and wanted to cancel their cruise were told they would endure their cancellation fees. I am sure that some travle insurance companies will not pay for some medical expenses incurred by passengers due to bleach inhalation.

 

I hope you and other will not endure another cruise like this. ~ Els

[Yoopergirl]

My wife (I'm borrowing her account) and I were on the 3/17 Mercury cruise. We have followed the threads with great interest, and wish to make the following points:

 

Celebrity did not inform the passengers of the virus until a few days into the cruise. As I recall, the first "official" acknowledgment was in a letter left in our cabin, which stated "As you have already been informed..." Lots of people were scratching their heads over that. We feel that people should have been afforded an opportunity to decide whether they wished to cruise given the circumstances.

 

Bleach was everywhere. We didn't ruin any clothes or become ill because of it, but it did detract from the cruise. The differences from previous cruises has already been covered at length by others.

 

The crew was fantastic. They clearly were working long hours, and yet they all were very friendly. They deserve a lot of credit.

 

We had a good time on this cruise, but the virus issue was always present, and had its effect. We would have appreciated more candor from Celebrity, and if they'd given us accurate information along with a free beach towel to improve our day there'd be no hard feelings.

 

We feel that the passengers of the 3/17 cruise deserve what the passengers on the 3/27 cruise got. We were able to make lemonade out of lemons, but we were expecting lobster tail.

 

Ted

[tuggers]

Ted,

I would suggest you write to D. Hanrahan Pres, Richard Fain CEO with your concerns and also cite the information graciously provided by elsje who has a statement from CDC stating that X was improperly using the spray method to distribute bleach.

Good luck. I too, think the 3/17 cruisers deserve compensation.

[yelapa]

Tuggers..............I have to take issue with your last statement.

 

If there is a problem onboard a ship such as the virus on the Mercury, to miss breakfast or lunch in the dining room is very insignificant!! If part of my vacation in a close quartered environment was disturbed because of something beyond managements control...........I would learn to deal with it in a very positive way.

 

However, the only thing that I have to enjoy, regardless of money, is my health. That, to me, is an issue far greater than no eggs benedict for breakfast.

 

Gail.........your health was affected on this cruise. You state you were lucky that you had inhalers, and that you had to use them. What if you didn't have inhalers? Does the infirmary on the Mercury carry your type of inhalers? You state that you are still are having problems. Have you seen a doctor about this? To me, these are the real issues that anyone needs to be concerned about. Get checked out Gail, make sure that your lungs are OK. You need your health for your next cruise, and the next!!

 

Just my 2 cents worth!!

 

Rick

 

rick, the choice of food itself might not have been the main problem. The fact that "X" chose to make 2000 pax use an eating venue that could only sit about 600 was. The athmosphere got ruined because most people were frustrated with xtremely long lines and no tables to sit at to enjoy your cold food( as by the time you find a clean table food is cold).And as everyone knows , good food is a big selling point when buying a cruise.

Especially a "X" cruise. Also I thought that putting all of us together like that was probably not a good idea since the virus is so easily transmitable.Of course health is the main concern but a cruise line with the status of "X" should have also thought of the negative impact of their handling of the situation.B.T.W Did anyone see any crew member spray the slot machines or the gambling chips? Or the bottles of liquor in the stores? I commented in the "TREASURES" store about THEIR glass cases being clear and was told that they used a different product and wiped it afterwards as people had to be able to see the expensive jewelry. OH REALLY? yelapa

[SandyMc]

They DEFINITELY sprayed the poker machines at the bar in the casino - you could hardly read the screen and many of the buttons stuck! (I love poker machines - these were the tightest I have ever played!)

[Yoopergirl]

Ted,

 

I would suggest you write to D. Hanrahan Pres, Richard Fain CEO with your concerns and also cite the information graciously provided by elsje who has a statement from CDC stating that X was improperly using the spray method to distribute bleach.

 

Good luck. I too, think the 3/17 cruisers deserve compensation.

 

Thanks, Gail. (This is Kay responding now). I have been one of those who has been defensive, and have criticized the complainers, maybe because I basically had a good time on the cruise, despite the negatives. Perhaps I felt their criticisms denigrated my experience. Also, quite possibly I am too accepting of bad circumstances when I am purchasing a service (don't mean to criticize the crew but the handling of the virus by management).

 

However, I was royally irked :mad: to find the 3/27 cruisers were getting compensation, not because they don't deserve it, but because I feel our cruise had all the problems of the following cruise, perhaps more.

 

Do you (or does anyone out there) know the address of Hanrahan? Is it the 1050 Caribbean Way address in Miami? Isn't the Pres. pretty high up to send a letter of complaint? Would Customer Service get more reaction?

 

Has anyone from the 3/17 cruise received any response to a complaint? Just wondering.

 

Kay

[tuggers]

Kay,

Yes, that is the address. I would send it with a return, signed receipt so you know when they get it and who signs for it.

No one has rec'd any answers or satisfaction from Customer Service.

I am a big believer in the tops guys being ultimately responsible. When the ship is having things done like spraying bleach and putting peoples health at risk while wrongly blaming the CDC for the instructions, then I think the top executives are the ones who need to know. If THEY ignore it or sweep it under the carpet I guess we know what kind of company we're sailing with and have invested in.

I think Daniel Hanrahan is EXACTLY the person to write to. So far the silence from Celebrity has been deafening.

JMO

[Megsmom1]

Hi everyone

 

I've been reading these Mercury threads with extreme interest. My DH and I are currently planning to go onboard Mercury in early 2007 to Mexican Riviera. I know this is a long time from now, but it's the best we can do. This will be our 2nd ever cruise, the first being onboard MARINER of RCL.

 

My question is: has there been any reports as to what is going on onboard Mercury these days? Are these problems with NV still occuring, is the bleaching still happening and (selfishly) do I have a reason to be concerned? Do I need to look at a different line/ship?

 

I know that when we were onboard Mariner last year that there were reminders and hand sanitizing everywhere we went. It didn't affect our experience at all, even tho I know that there had been a NV breakout on the ship sometime prior to our cruise.

 

I am truly sorry for everything you all went thru.

[SandyMc]

If anyone was going to hear from Celebrity it would probably be Dave - BuBur - but he's been surprisingly silent the last week or so. Is he on another cruise or does he know something he doesn't want to share? Just curious!

[Pecoraro]

With X not caring about Mercury and whats going on with the sewage on Millenium why would anyone want to take a chance with them.

 

We did once before and it was our worst cruise ever.

[bububr]

I've been banned from walking around by my doctor since they found the fractures in my pelvis from my horse incident in Mazatlan. My computer is in another room down stairs, so its difficult to get to at this point. I'm trying to save up my energy for the Alaska cruise coming up in a few months.

 

Never-the-less....Just so you know, I've written my letters to the appropriate people, and recieved the return receipt cards back last week.

Now I can do nothing but wait and see.

 

The way I see the Mercury situation is that there were four cruises that were affected in one way or another from early March till now. Thats about 8000 people roughly that might make a phone call, send a letter...etc. During the same time the Millenium had its problems with the publicity from the bus accident....and the sewage problems?. Add to this any problems on the other ships plus regular future bookings and ...WOW, I think if it were me I would be overwhelmed. Now I do feel that X kinda dropped the ball on this one, which is NOT typical of them. Knowing that I think corporate is thying to make some sense of this ordeal.

 

I did call customer service at one point and a RCCL agent picked up. They were at first kinda cold and rude....until they realized I wasn't going to yell at them. Once I broke the ice THe info he gave me was that at the current time only the 3/27 cruise passengers were being compensated. There was nothing for the current cruise or the previous. He did think that I should write a letter addressing my concerns to corporate which I had done already, and the call ended with a very nice apology from the agent.

Even though its the role of these folks to book and do some problem solving...they are constantly getting barraged by screaming angry customers. It gets to a point where its not that they don't care about you or your situation, only they are sick of being verbally beat up. They are not the punching bag, nor are they, were they ,the cause of despaire on these past few cruises.

 

I have always received a response from X regarding any issue in the past. However this is a much bigger issue that WAS handled badly, and I am willing to give them a little time to sort things out right now. The end of May beginning of June seems fair to me. If nothing happens I will write another letter, after that.....well although X is my favorite line, I have choices as do we all. I am booked on 4 more cruises through next year, If and only if I find a trend in poor management will I take my business elsewhere.

 

One not so great cruise doesn't make the entire company bad, nor does a difficult problem that was handled badly make the entire management staff incompetant. We all make mistakes sometimes, or have a lack of judgement moment.....I'll be the first to admit I have been guilty of both at one time or another.

 

Dave:eek:

[SandyMc]

Dave - thanks for your response. So sorry you have such a painful injury and hope you're good as new before your next cruise!

 

Everyone in our party has also written letters so we are all in the "wait and see" mode. Nothing more to be done at this point. As you said, everyone must make their own decision on who they wish to cruise on in the future.

[bigbigtuna]

Thanks, Gail. (This is Kay responding now). I have been one of those who has been defensive, and have criticized the complainers, maybe because I basically had a good time on the cruise, despite the negatives. Perhaps I felt their criticisms denigrated my experience. Also, quite possibly I am too accepting of bad circumstances when I am purchasing a service (don't mean to criticize the crew but the handling of the virus by management).

 

However, I was royally irked :mad: to find the 3/27 cruisers were getting compensation, not because they don't deserve it, but because I feel our cruise had all the problems of the following cruise, perhaps more.

 

Do you (or does anyone out there) know the address of Hanrahan? Is it the 1050 Caribbean Way address in Miami? Isn't the Pres. pretty high up to send a letter of complaint? Would Customer Service get more reaction?

 

Has anyone from the 3/17 cruise received any response to a complaint? Just wondering.

 

Kay

 

I have sent three emails to the president, public relations and customer service. Initially the secretary of the president responded but no one had called, written or responded in any way. I sent out letters last friday. Phone calls have not been returned. What a company - If anyone else has had better luck I would like to hear it

[FinelyCruising]

Hi Dave....we went riding with Randi in Mazatlan...were you there with us and I am not remembering you? Yikes....feel better!

[bububr]

No, I wasn't with Randi. I had booked the Beach break on Stone Island. While I was there someone mentioned they had rides for $5.00. So I took the son of our ships tablemates and went. It was great for a while we got to gallop on the beach, walked in the water, went through the groves. About 45 minutes or so then we headed back. Something spooked my horse and it just took off. I couldn't get it to stop. My leg got slammed into a tree and then it threw me. It was very exciting. First time I've been thrown. Anyway, thats the story.

 

Dave:eek:

[NanD]

Hi Everyone...

First...Dave...sorry the effects of your riding accident have lingered. Hope things improve ASAP.

I've been out of pocket for a bit with family and the holiday; checking in now to see if there have been any developments. See no one has noted hearing any response from Celebrity. I can't imagine they intend to ignore us entirely by not responding at all. Sooooo...let's try to keep this going and continue to touch base here. If they're hoping we'll get frustrated and just go away, how about we prove them wrong.

Nan

[tuggers]

Me, too! I would like to prove we are going to stick with it.

[FinelyCruising]

Dave - Holy Cow...What a thing to happen!:eek: