X Strikes Again....

[gizmo]

Freedom of Speech is a wonderful thing.

We have our flag out and red poppies to wear tomorrow. :)

 

 

I am watching the PBS Memorial Day special honoring all those that died for this country. Excellent show.

[sail7seas]

Freedom of Speech is a wonderful thing.

We have our flag out and red poppies to wear tomorrow. :)

 

 

I am watching the PBS Memorial Day special honoring all those that died for this country. Excellent show.

 

Good Going!!! How wonderful hear about such great Patriotism. :cool:

[Quendryth]

I too am a fan of both cruiselines - HAL & Celebrity. They have their good points & bad points which vary from ship to ship, itinerary to itinerary, captain to captain! The list is endless so why lambast either of these lines. To say you "have no intentions of ever sailing Celebrity" is not realistic because like Brian, you too could win a free cruise on X!!!!! I do not know too many individuals who love cruising to turn away from a free one!

 

I have enjoyed ALL my cruises on both these lines because I went with an open mind, knowing "stuff" happens, on ships, in hotels/resorts on land, all inclusive vacations, backyard BBQ's, etc. So, relax and enjoy life. Think of all the military personnel who are giving us the freedom to cruise or not to cruise - on HAl or X or even Carnival on this Memorial Day weekend.

 

I'm done & your'e not! (I'm sure)

 

Love to all & to all a good night!

 

Faith

[kryos]

Agree. This is not just a "X" thing. It can happen on ANY cruise line.

Absolutely true. Mistakes and misunderstandings occur ... but it's how the line handles them that leaves the lasting impression. In this case, apparently Celebrity wasn't very forthcoming in resolving the problem, and that's why the "slamming" of X.

 

As for the "quality" of the cruise ... I don't think anyone here has "slammed" X just because Brian had a lousy cruise on Celebrity. Any one of us could have a lousy experience on a given line, including HAL, while the next poster in the thread writes a glowing review of her experiences on the exact same cruise. The cruise experience itself is always subjective, but the impressions left when a customer service department fails to give service ... those are what causes a line to get "slammed."

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Ine]

This is a mess and so often messes just get messier. But there can't be anyone here who thinks even for a second that this couldn't happen on any cruise line at any time. It's fun to keep slamming Celebrity, but let's be honest. Haven't most of us had stuff like this happen in many venues in life? I sure have.

 

But I sure don't blame you for being upset, Brian. I would be furious and I would definitely write a letter (not email) to the appropriate individual so they have an honest to goodness hard copy account of what happened.

 

All that said, there's no question that someone in your group sure knows how to have one heck of a time if that was only page 1!!!!!:D Yikes!

 

Just remember, you'll get it all ironed out and someday this will be a distant memory.

 

As for those who say "I'll sure never cruise Celebrity", great. But you're missing out on an amazing cruise experience. I will continue to cruise Celebrity as often as possible. This is one person's bad (dare I say "horrific":o ?) experience on one cruise ship. Let's not get nutty.

 

Thanks Heather for this message. Like you we have sailed both HAL and Celebrity and loved them both. We had great cruises, very nice staff, good meals etc. on both lines.

It is too easy to state never to cruise Celebrity if one has never been on board.,

Like I stated in other postings too, no cruise-line is perfect, things can and will go wrong on any line.

[Navy_Chief]

I too am a fan of both cruiselines - HAL & Celebrity. They have their good points & bad points which vary from ship to ship, itinerary to itinerary, captain to captain! The list is endless so why lambast either of these lines. To say you "have no intentions of ever sailing Celebrity" is not realistic because like Brian, you too could win a free cruise on X!!!!! I do not know too many individuals who love cruising to turn away from a free one!

 

I have enjoyed ALL my cruises on both these lines because I went with an open mind, knowing "stuff" happens, on ships, in hotels/resorts on land, all inclusive vacations, backyard BBQ's, etc. So, relax and enjoy life. Think of all the military personnel who are giving us the freedom to cruise or not to cruise - on HAl or X or even Carnival on this Memorial Day weekend.

 

I'm done & your'e not! (I'm sure)

 

Love to all & to all a good night!

 

Faith

 

Faith you have a very good point. Sure, I'd take the freebee but I'll stick to my usual MO and give em cash at the Front Desk to put on my shipboard account, track the spending, and make them acknowedge that it's paid in full at the end just like any other cruise I take. I like to avoid the problems Brian faced. :D That's my freedom as a US Fighting Man (Retired Navy) to treat all curise lines the same. :D And it was my pleasure to serve this great nation. If asked, I would do it all over again in a heartbeat, any chance to go to sea without paying for the privailege is a welcome FreeBee as well. :D A toast to all those still on eternal patrol at sea

[sail7seas]

To say you "have no intentions of ever sailing Celebrity" is not realistic because like Brian, you too could win a free cruise on X!!!!! I do not know too many individuals who love cruising to turn away from a free one!

 

Faith

 

 

 

If you are referring to my post, (?)

 

Above, I wrote:

 

I won't say never but I will say there would have to be a very compelling reason.

 

Winning a free cruise might be that 'compelling reason' :) I referred to. That's what makes my statement 'realistic' for Me. Obviously, I can't speak for anyone else.

 

 

 

 

[HeatherInFlorida]

Oh for heaven's sake, people!!! Let's all get a grip:) !

Personally I could care less whether someone slams this cruise line or that cruise line. But what I have a huge problem with is the reaction of the reader who says that since this one lousy experience occurred, they will therefore never dare darken the door of that cruise line.

This is just plain (if you will forgive me:o ) silly!!

Bad experiences can happen on any cruise line to any one of us at any time. We all have our favorite line. I certainly understand and recognize Sail's opinion of HAL because she literally has a long established relationship with the line. She simply loves it and see's no reason to change ... if it ain't broke, why fix it? Makes sense.

But I just don't love HAL nearly as much and have no relationship with them whatsoever. But I do still think it's a great line. I prefer Celebrity, but that doesn't mean I expect everyone else to feel as I do.

What I do know to be true is that many new people come on these boards everyday. They don't know that there are certain posters who will fight for their personal preference even if it means slamming every other cruise line on the board. As inexperienced cruisers they will read threads like this and think "OMG! I'm never going to sail with this cruise line _____________(fill in the blank)".

I think that's a poor message to be sending. There should be some balance. So every single time I see a thread like this I will post on it in similar fashion. It's my contribution to this cruise board. I can't do much, but I sure can do that :) . You can disagree with me, but I honestly think it would be difficult to do so.

And I will never force anyone down any particular gangplank. There's a cruise line out there for just about everyone ... you just have to find your niches and then realize that things can go wrong no matter which line you may choose.

[cruzin girl]

On my last cruise with Princess I paid my credit card account off the night before the cruise ended. (at least I thought that I did). Low and behold when I checked my statement there was a charge of $6 something for what I do not have a clue. I should have called Princess but I didn't. I am sure that mistakes happen on all of them.

[bepsf]

Heather --

 

You know I always respect your opinion even if I disagree - mostly due to the fairness of your argument.

 

I must say tho that the statement 'one will never cruise w/ a certain company again' isnt quite as silly as one might think.

Let's say for example that you bought a Pontiac from your local dealer and had numerous problems from day one - from the idiot salesman to systems failing and parts falling off the car to being lied to by the service department then taking a financial loss when selling the car to replace it with something more reliable. I could certainly understand why someone might say "Never again, Pontiac", even though we all know that they produce thousands of largely trouble-free cars a year. Well, a cruise is a similar prospect in that it requires an investment of lots of time and treasure. One would hate to have a repeat bad experience - so why tempt fate by making the same "mistake"?

 

Sadly Heather, your tactfullness and objectivity isn't shared by quite a few folks who live over there on the X boards - It's no wonder you came to play in our sandbox ;)

[elmorejj]

Heather, got to agree with everything you said........jean:cool:

[Sayyadina]

Out of morbid curiousity, I went over to the Celebrity boards to see if you posted this new twist in your Mercury experience there. I didn't see it, may have missed it. Did you?

 

While there, I noticed on the first page 3 negative threads (1 about why Celebrity bills itself as a 5 star line when its not, 2 about why the ships are in such disrepair), 1 about the captain's DUI, and a great thread about how great the Prinsendam is:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=339238

 

I notice a lot of people 'over there' are negative about the Mercury. Sorry, why can't we be, too?

 

As for, OMG I'll never cruise with _______! I can say that unless I hear much better things about Celebrity, I will never cruise with them. People who've sworn by them have been saying they've gone downhill. I had a wonderful time on HAL, and all the Celebrity reviews I've read just don't match up.

 

And, as one of my favorite authors said: Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. -Douglas Adams

[HeatherInFlorida]

Sayyadina, you just proved my point. Thank you. A few Celebrity cruisers have said the line has gone downhill, but I'm happy to report not most. You can certainly choose not to cruise on Celebrity, but you should never base that decision solely on what you read here on CC. I'm guessing you missed my review ... there's a link in my signature:) .

 

I am here to tell you I have cruised for many years on many different cruise lines. Celebrity still ranks at the top of my list and I just cruised on the Summit in October 2005. That's a pretty recent experience.

 

Brian, while I can't argue with you on some points, you may have missed my earlier argument. You may choose not to cruise Celebrity based on your experience ... I'd just hate to see someone new to cruising base their negative decision wholly on your experience.

 

Yet people posted right on this thread that they've never cruised Celebrity and now they never will. I'm just saying "stuff happens" everywhere ... don't throw the baby out with the bathwater:) .

 

Also, a car is a machine. A cruiseline's service, etc., is not. You could use the argument that many people have posted horrendous experiences with mechanical problems on the Maasdam so you might choose not to cruise that particular ship. Makes some sense although it wouldn't keep me off the ship.

 

And while I can understand you personally don't want to cruise Mercury (which some people love and some people hate), I still wish you'd try the M class Celebrity ships. I just know those ships are definitely your level of style and besides I would so love to read you eating crow:D .

 

'Nuff said! (by me anyway;) ).

[NoNoNanette]

You may choose not to cruise Celebrity based on your experience ... I'd just hate to see someone new to cruising base their negative decision wholly on your experience.

 

I've got a cruise buddy who did Ensenada to Honolulu. It was her first X cruise, and she LOVED IT.

 

I've got another cruise buddy who tells me that the ships, sheets, towels, etc. are all getting shoddy, and she'd hesitate to book another cruise with them.

 

I'm still looking forward to trying the line. I think that just like other situations, a cruise is very fluid and changeable. What is "wonderful" to one individual, might not be another's cup of tea.

 

We've always been of the thought that WE make our own FUN. And honestly, have never had a "bad" vacation, whether it be a cruise or a land-based trip.

[tech]

I wish we could "Virtual Cruise " that way we could try out some new cruiselines without the expense :D

 

It is fun to try another cruiseline but kinda scary at the same time.

 

You read the pros and cons, try to find a line that you think will be right for you.

 

If like most people, you cannot cruise all that often, you hate to make a mistake in your choice.

 

But it is really difficult at times to figure out what to book.

 

Stay with tried and true or venture forth to the unknown ?:confused:

 

We have stayed with HAL, Princess and Celebrity.

 

So if we strayed, watching our pocketbook and not going too crazy, where would we go ?

 

One hears horror stories about Carnival, NCL, Costa ?

 

Really difficult to make that step.

 

Cruising still remains our favorite way to get away.:)

[Atomica]

Short coastal cruises are sometimes a great way to see if a line 'fits' you. Granted, it may not be the 7 day experience, but it should still give you a taste for the line. That's how I found HAL & the Oosterdam :)

[Navy_Chief]

I'm more than willing to go on any cruise if it gets me out to sea. I'm an open minded person and I'm not that hard to please. So far, I've sailed Carnival and I've sailed HAL. I had a good time on a 5 day Carnival, enough so that I wanted to take another cruise. In steps a 16 day HAL and of course, the experiance was totaly different (It was a great time on Rotterdam). Our next cruise is on Noordam as a matter of conveniance and the crowd fits us, my brother and his DW, and my parents (we don't run with the wild crowd :D). Now the next might be on NCL or maybe X, doesn't matter, they all get treated the same when it comes to the shipboard account, they get AMEX travelers cheques or cash up front so the thing that happened to Brian, doesn't happen to me. I doubt that one bad opinion is going to steer folks away, heck how many times have we read posts from folks in their 30s that have been pushed away from HAL by TAs just to find out the TA was wrong?

[mechcc]

I am here to tell you I have cruised for many years on many different cruise lines. Celebrity still ranks at the top of my list and I just cruised on the Summit in October 2005. That's a pretty recent experience.

 

And while I can understand you personally don't want to cruise Mercury (which some people love and some people hate), I still wish you'd try the M class Celebrity ships. I just know those ships are definitely your level of style and besides I would so love to read you eating crow:D .

 

'Nuff said! (by me anyway;) ).

 

Heather -First I must say that I have always appreciated and valued your opinion. I am also praying that my Summit experience through the Panama Canal coming up in April is as wonderful as yours. With the recent news of how the Pods fail unpredictably on the Summit - praying is a truthful statement. You say M class is Brian's class of ship - are you willing to eat crow should Brian take you up on your offer and suffer the forseen mechanical difficulties and get the absurb compensation from X of $200 shipboard credit while they are sueing the manufactures of the pods for multi millions?

 

Brian had a bad experience with X - I don't blame him for lambasting them on this forum. That's what it's for and that's why the cruiselines read these boards.

[HeatherInFlorida]

............You say M class is Brian's class of ship - are you willing to eat crow should Brian take you up on your offer and suffer the forseen mechanical difficulties and get the absurb compensation from X of $200 shipboard credit while they are sueing the manufactures of the pods for multi millions?

 

.....................

 

Sure, absolutely. I eat crow constantly. You have to when you're as opinionated as I am. I'm always willing to admit when I'm wrong. Happens all the time. If Brian ever does decide to cruise M class and has an equally horrendous experience, my bad ... I'm wrong. But I will be surprised.

 

Have to admit I have absolutely no idea what a "pod" is or that they've been failing on the Summit. Certainly there was no such problem when we cruised. The only problem we had with the Canal is the problems Panama is having running the darned thing. But that's a whole other story ... nothing to do with Celebrity.

 

As for your last comment, I can't tell if that's directed to me. Just in case it is, I do want to point out that I never posted or ever said Brian shouldn't post his experience. I absolutely support that he should. I also feel that people like me should post theirs so a balance is offered. My problem is with people's "all bad" reaction to his post. Brian knows this and we've discussed it quite a bit. No way my posts are a criticism of Brian.

[mechcc]

Sure, absolutely. I eat crow constantly. You have to when you're as opinionated as I am. I'm always willing to admit when I'm wrong. Happens all the time. If Brian ever does decide to cruise M class and has an equally horrendous experience, my bad ... I'm wrong. But I will be surprised.

 

Have to admit I have absolutely no idea what a "pod" is or that they've been failing on the Summit. Certainly there was no such problem when we cruised. The only problem we had with the Canal is the problems Panama is having running the darned thing. But that's a whole other story ... nothing to do with Celebrity.

 

As for your last comment, I can't tell if that's directed to me. Just in case it is, I do want to point out that I never posted or ever said Brian shouldn't post his experience. I absolutely support that he should. I also feel that people like me should post theirs so a balance is offered. My problem is with people's "all bad" reaction to his post. Brian knows this and we've discussed it quite a bit. No way my posts are a criticism of Brian.

 

No the last comment was not a personal directed comment at you. My feeling is that yes, anyone can post a bad review of any cruiseline here based on personal experience, at the same time the poster of a bad comment on any cruiseline should not be subjected to a dismissal of their opinion because it does not agree with the cheerleader of that cruiseline. Many new cruisers come to this forum to learn which cruise line is for them. Same as someone contacting consumer agencies for advice on air conditioning, heating, roofing, etc.

 

Please don't take this to a personal level and say I was critzing you critizing Brian on a personal level. That's beneth both of us.

 

Since I have been reading the X boards since booking an X cruise, the pods have been a mechanical disaster for X and X is suing the manufactures because of their loss of income due to the mechanical faults of the pods. Please read up on the X problems with this issue before you try to totally dismiss mine or anyone else's opinion.

[HeatherInFlorida]

................

 

Please don't take this to a personal level and say I was critzing you critizing Brian on a personal level. That's beneth both of us.

 

..................

 

Maggie, I did not take it to a personal level. I've made that mistake in the past and I try my darndest now not to do that. I think it was an honest mistake for me to assume your comment was directed to me as the rest of your post very clearly was. So I said "just in case", I wanted to respond.

 

Since I've said all I need or want to say on this subject, that's that.

[mechcc]

Heather -First I must say that I have always appreciated and valued your opinion. I am also praying that my Summit experience through the Panama Canal coming up in April is as wonderful as yours. With the recent news of how the Pods fail unpredictably on the Summit - praying is a truthful statement. You say M class is Brian's class of ship - are you willing to eat crow should Brian take you up on your offer and suffer the forseen mechanical difficulties and get the absurb compensation from X of $200 shipboard credit while they are sueing the manufactures of the pods for multi millions?

 

Brian had a bad experience with X - I don't blame him for lambasting them on this forum. That's what it's for and that's why the cruiselines read these boards.

 

Heather - I go back to my original post - there was nothing attacking you in my post, in fact I stated that I valued your opinion. I only stated that the M class ship on X has had predictable problems recently and that Brian had a bad experience on X and should feel free to express that experience. If people decide not to sail on X based on Brian's experience, then that is their choice. Brian is an experienced cruiser, as are you. You have just as much right to counter Brian's experience as Brian does expressing it. That said, I have the right to state that X has had problems lately with the M class ships and do not deserve your dismissal of my opinion as being totally uninformed. For anyone who has have a brain and investigates the claim on their own will find that the M Class X ships do have a problem with their pods.

[GMoney]

Heather - I appreciate and agree with your posts. While I may sometimes have a different opinion than you, I think your bottom line, no-nonsense approach is refreshing without being snide or combative.

 

Beyond that, and back to the larger issue, the fact that a debit card was used surprised me a little, especially when the OP mentioned the "Credit Card company" often, but I now better understand the pain of the OP. VISA and most major banks have protections built into the process to provide provisional credits on unauthorized charges (provided certain criteria are met) within 48 hours, if not sooner, and it sounds like Wells Fargo is honoring this. These protections are valid for both credit and debit cards, but most people are obviously more exposed if there is a debit card issue b/c their actual cash flow is impacted. If Wells Fargo processed the chargeback on Friday afternoon, then hopefully the OP has some relief by now, as most processing happens in batch 7 days a week.

 

Personally, I never use my debit card for anything more than withdrawing cash, but these are individual choices. For those of you who prefer to use debit cards, it might be a good idea to brush up on exactly how your bank handles such issues. For those who may not have a credit card, keep in mind there are many similar stored value products available that could suit your needs - VISA gift cards, VISA Buxx, Visa TravelMoney - to name a few. They come at a price and often carry fees, but they can also provide a nice alternative, some protection and some peace of mind.

 

Going back to post #60 from the OP, I think it's unfair to expect that folks on the X boards would remain objective and tactful (though I suppose tactful might be nice :) ). The OP chose to post on the X board, then place the same post on the HAL board. You could make an arugment that the original post itself was not objective or tactful. I'm always confounded when folks post to an opinion board, and then voice concerns when people express opinions back. It's a two-way street, and you have to take the good with the bad on a open forum like this one.

[dougnewmanatsea]

Today I discussed this with some other ship enthusiasts I had lunch with aboard the delightful SAGA RUBY. I mentioned that I had heard quite a few very negative things about Celebrity lately (I know a few other people who have had rather poor experiences lately, though not on the level of Brian's), and was rather suprised at that.

 

They were surprised too - but it turned out that like me, none had been on Celebrity in a long time.

 

Anyhow, I'm not sure what my point is here ;) , but we were all left wondering how much Celebrity has changed in the past few years.

[Sunshine91]

Like Sayyadina, I too popped over to the X board for a bit. When Brian first posted his Mercury review I was curious about the X-faithful reaction. At that point some of those folks were not only unsupportive, they were nasty & derogative. This past weekend, I thought to myself that all the X-folks can't be all-happy all the time so I took another peek. They're not. There are several threads complaining about various things that X doesn't get right (normal). And the nastiness towards each other continues. I couldn't believe some of the comments I was reading. There was a thread started a couple of weeks ago about the Summit's pod problems & missed ports. The moderators actually posted a "behave yourself & be nice to each other" comment. Unreal. Here folks are mostly pleasant to each other. If one feels a little slighted they simply ask if the comment was intended that way. Usually it wasn't. With this form of communication it's just sometimes hard to tell. Well, over there on X, those nasty comments, there's no mistaking what they mean.

 

Brian - Just curious. Since X charged all of the room's expenses to your card, did Don & Scotty walk off the ship without paying a dime?