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Summit Alaskan cruise disappointment (MERGER OF 5 THREADS ON THIS TOPIC)


Hondu

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The Summit and it's sister ships have a history of problems with their pods. Celebrity chooses to run the risk of running this ship knowing that it has a high risk of breakdown. As a result I can see why some of the passengers would be upset. We have lemon laws for cars, why not ships? This is not a weather or bad seas issue. Celebrity needs to be more responsive to passenger needs and informative to them before they mutiny. We have often missed ports due to weather and sometimes due to just plain inconvenience to the cruise line. There have been no mutinies on those ships. I say the "pirates" deserve better from both Celebrity and the readers.

 

Griswolds

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This, unfortunately, is one of the consequences of having a cruise that is cheap enough to attract passengers who behave in this manner.

 

wealth, or lack of it, in not correlated in any way to behavior. I save up all year just to go on the cheapest cruise I can find and I assure you my family and myself behave respectfully and with class. Now my parents, who taught me these manners, can afford any cruise they want. They claim they have seen the worst behavior in other passengers on Cunard, Crystal and SilverSea. And they have cruised X, HAL, and Carnival as well. I would really take some time and rethink the statement above as well as it's intrinsic meaning. I think it says more about the author than about the subject.

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I have just found Cruise Critic recently--so please don't flame me!

 

My family was aboard Celebrity's Infinity in January 2003, when the ship lost a propulsion pod in the middle of a cruise from FL to San Diego through the Panama Canal. The decision was made by Celebrity to cancel the cruise in Acapulco. All passengers returned to the ship from their day in ACA and were told to have their baggage outside the room by 11:00 pm, and all passengers would be disembarked at 7:00 am the following morning. After a chaotic disembarkation, we were brought to a hotel for a couple of days, then boarded a charter flight to SD (which was diverted to LA). The way the trip ended, the chaos, the lack of information, the constantly-changing third-hand stories from the Celebrity reps that were sent to control the mess...it was just HORRIBLE!

 

We were given a 25% refund, and 50% off a future cruise, to be used within 1 yr, same class of cabin, holidays blacked out, on voyages of less than 14 days--ie, so many restrictions that we personally were unable to use the coupon. There was, as I remember, similar talk of lawsuits, boycotts, lynchings, etc. What ended up hapening? Zip.

 

Here's the point: On 2/1/2003 as we wearily woke up in the LA Airport Hilton, after our "nightmarish" and "traumatic" ordeal was almost over, my wife flipped on the news on CNN while I was getting out of the shower. I still remember the sound of her voice saying "OH MY GOD!," as the wreckage of the Space Shuttle Columbia fell back to earth over Texas.

 

I remember what I said to her: "Those people had a bad trip. We had an adventure."

 

So get some perspective--time will heal these wounds, you will go on other cruises, and 99.9% of the people in the world would love to trade places with you as you endure the unendurable.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Astro

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Just as Celebrity knows that the Millenium class ships have pod problems, so do many of the passengers, maybe not the mutineers, but many passsengers , llike myself are well aware of the risk we take booking these ships. I sailed Summit last Sept not long after she came out of dry dock. I was following the propulsion saga and knew that I was reasonably sure of having an uninterrupted cruise seeing as how the last repairs were less than 90 days prior to sailing.

 

With the exception of the wedding party, those complaining do not seem to understand the true nature of cruising and/ or are seeing an opportunity to grab some $$ for nothing. After 16 cruises I am happier on the ship than on land, and most ( not all) seasoned cruisers will tell you the same thing. We cruise because we love the ship. Now I expct that some others will post different opinions and that is what this board is all about.

 

Most of us have never been compensated for missed ports, and I don't believe for a minute that a large number of passengers would have opted for a full refund if they new that their crusiing speed would be cut by 4-5 knots, resulting in Seattle and Sitka being missed. A few may have, but not a lot.

 

As for the expense of these cruises, that is a topic that could be talked about forever. Everything is relative to your finacnial situation. Most people in financial distress can't or shouldn't take vacations, so lets assume you are not going if you are on the verge of Bankruptcy. This very same cruise in reverse in 9/05 cost me 1350 p/p oceanview for 14 nights(all tax inc) So for less than 100 a night p/p we ate superior food, had great service , stayed at a first class resort. Forget ports we saw or the entertainment. Last time i checked I could not stay at a 5 star land based resort with unlimited meals for less than $100 a night. What you chose to spend beyond this is your business!! For those that paid too much or more than others, perhaps you need a new TA or to book earlier or perhaps you don't care.

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Ok if this were our cruise we would surely also be bitching to some extend too.

I can however understand the situation with the british cruisers to some extent. X/RCCL Customer service in europe have a very lousy record (and I mean very lousy) The british market does tend to pay a premium on most (notice I never said all) cruises. 200 USD isn't very much at todays exchange rate when conciderng cruiserates of over 1.000 Pounds Sterling without flights. I am assuming that they feel X has their money now and once they have gone home they don't have X by the short and curlies anymore and X will just ignore them (as you can see X cannot ingnore them right now)

 

The problem is - is that they not only ruin the rest of the cruise for themselves but the atmosphere onboard goes to the dogs and in the end everyone is affected.

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Heard from my pal on Mercury that a fair number (don't know how many) of folks left the ship in Juneau today (it's far easier getting out from there by air than Ketchikan.)

 

I thought that this thread was about current events on the Summit, what does the Mercury have to do with it?

 

Oh, silly me, forgot about the axe.

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Heard from my pal on Mercury that a fair number (don't know how many) of folks left the ship in Juneau today (it's far easier getting out from there by air than Ketchikan.)

Ok, is this jumping ship the Mercury or the Summit?

This thread is about the Summit or are you trying to confuse the whole thing to grind your axe again. If your friend is talking about the Summit how would he know on the Mercury? If he is not talking about the Summit why are you bringing it up but to keep up your X bashing.

I was on the Summit to Hawaii March 26 sailing and it is a good ship with a captian who is fun and always concerned. He always has passenger safety as his first consideration.

Some people just need their 15 minites of fame and will do anything to grab it.

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First off I think that lawsuits should as a general rule be reserved for injury and/or loss of life. That being said, Celebrity is not exactly holding off on their lawsuit against Rolls Royce/Allstom (sp?). If they knowingly continue to throw the dice and continue to offer cruises on ships with a KNOWN defect, they are rolling the dice that there will not be a breakdown. IMHO, when a breakdown does occur on a propulsion unit with known and repeated problems, full compensation should be offered to those passengers on an affected journey. Passengers should only expect to receive the cruise for which they have purchased, not keep aware of maintenance issues.

 

Like I said before, Cunard/Carnival set a very clear precedence in the industry when they offered full compensation for missed ports due to a malfuctioning/damaged propulsion unit.

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I did not mean to imply that behavior is determined by wealth or lack of it. However, there are some people who have an entitlement mentality and will throw an adult tantrum, without consideration of others, whenever things do not go their way. In my opinion, people who are happy with their lives are less likely to have an entitlement mentality.

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Ok, is this jumping ship the Mercury or the Summit?

This thread is about the Summit or are you trying to confuse the whole thing to grind your axe again. If your friend is talking about the Summit how would he know on the Mercury? If he is not talking about the Summit why are you bringing it up but to keep up your X bashing.

I was on the Summit to Hawaii March 26 sailing and it is a good ship with a captian who is fun and always concerned. He always has passenger safety as his first consideration.

Some people just need their 15 minites of fame and will do anything to grab it.

 

 

Jerry, you are the man:) I would add to your coments, but it would just be redundant:D

Phil

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I did not mean to imply that behavior is determined by wealth or lack of it. However, there are some people who have an entitlement mentality and will throw an adult tantrum, without consideration of others, whenever things do not go their way. In my opinion, people who are happy with their lives are less likely to have an entitlement mentality.

 

ok, i'll take you at your word. :) personally speaking, money does not equal happiness.

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:o :o :o

Oh dear, how embarrassing that it is my countrymen and women who appear to be making a bit of a spectacle of themselves!

Anyone cruising needs to anticipate that these things might happen and make the best of it. What happened to our famous Dunkirk spirit.

I apologise on their behalf if they have ruined anyone else's vacation - how selfish of them!

Please, please don't judge all of us by this benchmark!

 

Tony and Angie

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Hi Phil, Tony, & Angie !

 

From my own point of view... I would NEVER look down at everyone due to the actions of a very few. I only hope everyone else feels the same way.

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Ok if this were our cruise we would surely also be bitching to some extend too.

I can however understand the situation with the british cruisers to some extent. X/RCCL Customer service in europe have a very lousy record (and I mean very lousy) The british market does tend to pay a premium on most (notice I never said all) cruises. 200 USD isn't very much at todays exchange rate when conciderng cruiserates of over 1.000 Pounds Sterling without flights. I am assuming that they feel X has their money now and once they have gone home they don't have X by the short and curlies anymore and X will just ignore them (as you can see X cannot ingnore them right now)

 

The problem is - is that they not only ruin the rest of the cruise for themselves but the atmosphere onboard goes to the dogs and in the end everyone is affected.

 

Well said; agreed.

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Well said; agreed.
I honestly believe that it has little to do with the X/RCCL customer service issue/prices in the UK and everything to do with the QM2 refund (covered widely in the press here) that was briefly discussed on the Celebrity board http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=287397 and elsewhere. Us British are reticent when it comes to complaining, but there's obviously been fuel added to the fire here. I'm afraid that some of the predictions are coming true and this won't be the last.

 

Keel hauling with the hope that Summit is far from barnacle free seems a good option to me;)

 

Phil

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And I come across as such a nice guy, don't I Joan?:D No worries. You will always remain on my good side;)

 

Phil

 

I hope I will too Phil:) and you ARE A NICE GUY:D

 

Hi Joan, nice to see you:)

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