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

[florida_cruiser]

we stood at a complete standstill the day we should have been in sitka, a complete standstill in the middle of nowhere waiting for a pilot ship that the captain knew damn well could not come until 5pm.

 

Try spending thousands and thousands of dollars for a cruise and being disappointed and lied to over and over by the company, staff and crew.

 

Doesn't sound like you quite got what you thought you would when you purchased this cruise. If you read this entire thread you are going to find many posts which state that Celebrity was within its rights to do this to you because of the contract you signed. For them to resort to the fine print language in the contract is deplorable and I for one would be in full support of you obtaining a full refund + your air expenses etc..

 

It is apparent that Celebrity has already partially collected on their lawsuit with the manufacturer with other suits still pending. It only seems appropriate that these funds be escrowed to appease the passengers directly effected. If this particular cruise does get to a class action lawsuit status I would be willing to bet that during discovery it will be revealed that Celebrity was aware of this current condition during the previous cruise and had it within their power to cancel outright this cruise and make repairs right then and there.

 

 

Celebrity will undoubtedly be given another dose of bad press on this one due to their horrible post cruise customer relations. Perhaps now they will wake up and improve their product to the levels that it once was. From the tone of this entire Celebrity Board it certainly appears immenent that their previously rock solid customer base is going to take an enormous hit. If anything, cruisers new to Celebrity are going to think twice before they plunk done their money on the millenium class ships. What are the other options - a very old and tired Galaxy and Mercury with no upgrades planned anytime soon, the even older Zenith, and the only bright spot (maybe) will be the newly remodeled Century. Not much to choose from in my opinion with all the other cruise lines out there with a better product or at the very least a more reliable product history wise.

[notsonewbie]

We just got off Summit after travelling from New Zealand to be on this cruise.

 

This is how it went down from my perspective...

 

As a result of the ship's technical problems, we missed Seattle & Sitka. Additionally, we had reduced time in Ketchikan, didn't get near the Hubbard Glacier and had to travel through the Inside Passage at night.

 

IMHO that's about 70% of the cruise destinations affected? Let's say 50% for the sake of argument.

 

We were given a $200 shipboard credit as compensation. As we were on the ship the two days we should have been at Sitka and Seattle, I would imagine Celebrity got their shipboard credit back pretty quickly through alcohol and the casino.

 

The people leading the revolt were very well mannered and if you didn't agree with them, you could just ignore and go about your business. In fact, we actually treated the revolt as a bit of light entertainment, but as the cruise went on, more problems occurred and more people had had enough.

 

By the end of the cruise, the majority of passengers were upset. We heard a petition had the signatures of over 1,200 passengers of approx 1,900.

 

The service and crew were absolutely fantastic. They were treated very well by all on board (excepting the Hotel Director).

 

In conclusion, we could accept a missed port due to bad weather or something similar - that's what I would regard as acceptable.

 

But this was our once in a lifetime dream trip to Alaska with at least 50% of it affected by a problem that Celebrity most likely knew about before we even left LA and certainly before we left SF.

 

In order to see those amazing sights and places we missed, we'd simply have to start again.

 

What do you think is reasonable compensation for that?

[notsonewbie]

>>Last I heard, it was 1000, but 1200 really exceeds what most people on this board thought.

 

Yep, I heard one of the organisers talking about it just before we got off.

 

Oh, and I can't seem to find that Yahoo group searching for "Celebrity cruise Lawsuit"???

 

One question for the admins/moderators. I see a Celebrity banner on this page as I write...

 

Can you state here that you will remain impartial on this subject? I know how tempting it must be to appease your advertisers.

[griswalds]

It is good to hear from passengers who were on the ill fated cruise. I am pleased to hear that you made the best of a very bad situation. Careful what you read here as many are very critical of you even though they have limted information and feel you are just being greedy.

 

However, I do feel the moderator has been fair even if some postings have been deleted. They try to keep the flaming down etc.

 

Fair compensation? Too late for most of you as how you have lost a wonderful opportunity and $$$ does not make up for that. I am not sure if a free future cruise on the Summit would be considered compensation given the relaibilty of the ship.

 

I say a full refund of the cruise cost as well as airfare is only a start.

 

Good luck to all you "pirates", it has not been a good week for most of you.

 

How were the one on one meetings with the Celebrity team who arrived on the ship to try and resolve issues. Were they helpful?

 

Griswalds

[Host Anne]

As an FYI, the role of a moderator here on Cruise Critic is to ensure that posters are adhering to our Community Guidelines. We are not here to take sides on any issues our member wish to discuss. We are here to ensure that the discussions stay on topic and within the Guidelines.

 

When you have questions regarding the Guidelines, please email myself, Host Walt or our Community Manager, Laura Sterling and we will be more than happy to answer your questions. However, the discussion of board policies, the removal of posts, etc., are not to be posted on the boards themselves, but rather communicated in an email to any of us.

 

For your reference, our email addresses are:

 

Host Anne - Hostanne@cruisecritic.com

Host Walt - Hostwalt@cruisecritic.com

Laura - Community@cruisecritic.com

 

Here's a link to the Community Guidelines: http://www.cruisecritic.com/community/guide.cfm

[notsonewbie]

My wife and I met with the Celebrity reps on the last evening of the trip.

 

We were lucky and only had to wait 2 hours to see them. Many we had met on the cruise gave up waiting on more than one occasion and never actually got to see them.

 

The reps were very nice, but admitted that they were simply there to answer questions and record the complaints. They had no power to consider compensation.

[IrisBob]

and it had nothing to do with mechanical problems. Has anyone ever been on a cruise with an ill passenger that needed to be airlifted??? If you have cruised before you definitely have because I have lost count over how many times this has happened to me. We have changed course and met with emergency personal and yes even missed ports. While all the cranky people complained about the itinerary change I was hopeful that the person would recover and I spent the day enjoying my family and was thankful that we were not the ones faced with a tradgedy.

 

I will sit on a cruise ship going nowhere with my family and being glad for the things I have and not the complaining about the inconveniences of the day. :)

 

Well Said :) Thank You.

[griswalds]

To notsonewbie

 

My apologies if this is already posted. Are you telling me all that you have been offered is a $200 ship board credit, nothing else?

 

This is notsogood, notsonewbie!

 

notsogriswald

 

 

My wife and I met with the Celebrity reps on the last evening of the trip.

 

We were lucky and only had to wait 2 hours to see them. Many we had met on the cruise gave up waiting on more than one occasion and never actually got to see them.

 

The reps were very nice, but admitted that they were simply there to answer questions and record the complaints. They had no power to consider compensation.

[Casshew]

Are you telling me all that you have been offered is a $200 ship board credit

 

I thought all the passengers automatically recieved this, it wasn't an offer to accept or decline.

 

Maybe I'm wrong.

[notsonewbie]

I thought all the passengers automatically recieved this, it wasn't an offer to accept or decline.

 

Maybe I'm wrong.

 

You are right.

 

Another piece of information that I don't know has been posted here. The captain was recorded on video, (which was broadcast to all passenger cabins) agreeing that a full refund would be fair compensation. And that was before the later problems.

[griswalds]

Notsonewbie

 

What will you do next? Were you given the name of someone at Celebrity to contact? Are you part of the "group" that "may" sue?

 

Griswalds

 

 

You are right.

 

Another piece of information that I don't know has been posted here. The captain was recorded on video, (which was broadcast to all passenger cabins) agreeing that a full refund would be fair compensation. And that was before the later problems.

[nansi]

We just returned from the Mercury and had many of the same ports that Summit did. We first heard about the problem in Ketchikan from one of the Summit's crew who was visiting a friend on the Mercury. This was the first Alaskan port that both ships stopped at. He said they were turning around right after Ketchikan and aborting the rest of the itinerary. Much to our surprise, we found them already in port at Jueneau the next day, and figured that maybe due to the reaction of the passengers they'd give them another port...but later we met some Summiters who said they were dropping Sitka and Seattle only.

 

We were supposed to go the Hubbard Glacier from 7am to 11am...but we unexectedly left at 9am (hope no one slept in that morning, thinking that they'd have time to see it)...and on our way out we saw a HAL ship heading in, followed by the Summit.

 

In Prince Rupert, we arrived a little late and the Summit was docked at the only cruise pier in town

and we had to wait until they gathered up some errant passengers (must have been a cruise-sponsered excursion) and by the time we cleared customs it was after 4pm and they cancelled all of Mercury's excursions. People were really pissed off...especially the ones who had booked fishing trips, since Rupert was supposed to be a great place to fish. No whale watching either....So our original time of 1pm-8pm was changed about a month before we sailed to 3pm-8pm....which ended up being 4pm-7pm....enough time to get off, buy some Rupert souvenirs and get back on board....unless of course you had early seating....you had maybe an hour in town before it was time to shower and dress for dinner.

 

The one good thing that the Summit passengers had was they missed the smooth, wonderful, pleasant embarkation we all had in Ensenada....and I say this sarcastically because it was a total fiasco!!!! Not a good way to start off a cruise. :(

[notsonewbie]

Notsonewbie

 

What will you do next? Were you given the name of someone at Celebrity to contact? Are you part of the "group" that "may" sue?

 

Griswalds

 

Well, so far we have not had any explanation on a number of issues and it seems the answers will only come to light if Celebrity are ordered to give them by a court of law. So yes - we have registered our interest in the suit.

 

The first point is - did Celebrity know the ship had a mechanical problem before it left LA?

 

I think they would be in serious trouble if that proves to be the case - let alone all the other points of contention.

 

If it doesn't prove to be the case, the captain most definitely admitted the problem occured before we got to San Francisco, yet we weren't informed until we had left that port and were at sea.

 

If that was purposely timed to stop people leaving the ship on the second day of a 13 day cruise, well... you know where this is going...

 

Sadly, there were so many half-truths and obvious contradictions put forward by Celebrity on the cruise that it's really hard to give them the benefit of the doubt. We actually started out on their side, but it just got harder and harder for us to believe.

 

Sad.

[Drew B]

I, too, was on this cruise and I have only read the first three pages thus far, but have to respond to something before continuing.

 

As background, I loved the cruise despite the problems. I felt that the troublemakers did FAR more to negatively impact my vacation than anything that happened with the mechanics of the ship or the itinerary.

 

HOWEVER, I must take issue with this:

 

John Howell is an excellent CD and I bet he has had to use all his skills and tact over the last week

 

At the original question and answer session in the Celebrity Theater, John did a TERRIBLE job, and probably did much more to stir up the rancor of the guests than to soothe them. He only has one mode - his perky "happy" mode. That mode doesn't work when people aren't in the mood for it, and these people DEFINITELY weren't in the mood. He came across as completely insincere and patronizing. At one point, a guest was literally crying as she talked about having some family event hindered that I believe was supposed to take place in Seattle. John mentioned that he was also celebrating his anniversary during this cruise and he "couldn't be happier". Well, John, first of all, I'm not sure any of us gave a darn about your personal life at that moment, but you should know better than to stand up in front of a room full of disappointed (some very angry) guests and tell them how happy you are. I'm sorry, but I think the guy's a complete jerk.

 

On the complete polar opposite side, Captain Demitrius was WONDERFUL. He was sympathetic, respectful, dignified and strong. I heard that he will be leaving X when his contract ends in a couple of weeks, and I think that is a great loss for the line.

[JLC@SD]

The decision to sail slower was not made in SF..........and according to Celebrity's spoksesman........one 4 or 5 people were not satified with the circumstances.....;)

 

Article Last Updated: 05/17/2006 02:20:25 PM AKDT

 

Cruise ship passengers complain when ship skips port calls

 

A spokesman for Celebrity Cruises says the company has no plans to boost compensation in response to complaints from passengers. A delegation of four passengers from the cruise ship Summit tell the Ketchikan Daily News that they're unhappy with the company's handling of the damaged ship.

 

The two-thousand-passenger Summit left Los Angeles on May 7, for a 15-night cruise to Alaska. During a stop in San Francisco, mechanics discovered metal shavings in the oil system that services the ship's propulsion system. Passengers were not told of the problems. A day or so later, after talking to the propulsion system manufacturer, cruise officials decided to operate the Summit at slower speeds. That meant skipping port calls in Seattle and Sitka.

 

Passengers say they were offered reimbursement of 200 dollars-per-stateroom shipboard credit. The passengers who spoke to the Ketchikan newspaper say they consider that inadequate. But company spokesman Michael Sheehan says there were just four or five people on board who had difficulty accepting the circumstances. He says Celebrity will not change the compensation level. The Summit is scheduled to arrive Saturday in Vancouver, British Columbia, where it will undergo repairs.

http://www.ktva.com/alaska/ci_3833698

[notsonewbie]

The decision to sail slower was not made in SF

 

Yes, this is one of the many inconsistencies...

 

According to the captain, operational certification was issued in SF with the condition that the ship would not exceed 16.5 knots. At least this was how I understood it.

 

This was later contradicted. Anyway, it's all on video.

[wa.mama]

During a stop in San Francisco, mechanics discovered metal shavings in the oil system that services the ship's propulsion system. Passengers were not told of the problems. A day or so later, after talking to the propulsion system manufacturer, cruise officials decided to operate the Summit at slower speeds. That meant skipping port calls in Seattle and Sitka.

 

 

quote from an industry website, http://www.ebearing.com/news2002/032701.htm

 

"The early-stage failures are showing up as spalling, evidenced by metal in the pressurized lubrication system. Oil filters prevent further contamination damage to the bearings, but to reduce thrust loading and prolong bearing life, the drives are being operated at significantly restricted power. Under full power, the motors are capable of using 19.8 megawatts to swing the 18-foot fixed-pitch propellers."

 

There are computers that automatically register the amount of spalling, and apparently there is a protocol that calls for slowing down the speed of the ship to minimize the damage being done to the bearings. The protocol has been standard since 2002, when the pods first began failing. X's decision-making mistake was not in how it chose to operate the ship, but how it chose to deal with the passengers.

 

I am not an expert in maritime mechanics, but as a consumer I do have expectations about basic customer service. Financial compensation from X is not the goal; accountability for their poor choices would suffice.

[notsonewbie]

Yes, well it appears your research provides further evidence that they knew the problem and resulting requirement to reduce speed as it happened - and that was definitely before it even arrived at SF.

[Drew B]

With our courts jammed with frivolous lawsuits.....my immediate thought is that this action is ridiculus.........passengers are pi$$$$$$$$ed because they missed a few ports................but gladly ate the food, slept in the beds, went to the shows...................and want all their money back.

 

 

 

I don't know how they found time to eat/sleep/enjoy shows what with all of the meetings! LOL! Seriously, it got to the point where I would avoid the central atrium entirely and ride up to a higher deck to cross the ship because I didn't want to deal with the angry mob... And unless I wanted to spend my whole vacation in the stateroom, I couldn't POSSIBLY avoid hearing about it no matter how hard I tried. In every dining environment, the computer lab, the gym, the spa, the casino, EVERYWHERE people were talking about it. Endlessly It got really, REALLY annoying!!!

 

I think the worst thing that Celebrity did was to announce the $200 "good-will gesture" (and that is per stateroom, not per person - if you are a family of 4 in a stateroom, it's only $50 per person) so quickly. They should have simply said that they are discussing possible ways to make up for the lost ports and really thought it through before announcing anything. IMO, a fair compensation would be 10-15% of cruise cost PER PERSON or 50% off a future cruise. Both would be amazing. One thing that I haven't read here is that Celebrity eventually DID come through with 30% off a future cruise in addition to the $200 per stateroom. As a result, I ultimately found the outcome fair. BUT they didn't tell this to us until very late in the cruise, so I spent over a week thinking that the original compensation was insultingly low AND having to deal with irate people...

 

One thing I really don't understand, though, and perhaps somebody can help me with it: Many people on board made an enormous deal out of the fact that we weren't told prior to leaving San Francisco, and therefore were not able to leave the ship? Well, why in the world would anybody want to leave the ship? Why get NONE of the vacation you paid for rather than as much of it as you can possibly get? Do these people believe that if they HAD chosen to disembark in San Francisco, that they would have had their money refunded? If so, then why didn't they get off in Ketchikan? Perhaps a few people did (the man who struck the officer, I believe was FORCED off and handed over to local authorities...), but the ship was not noticably less full after the day in Ketchikan...

 

And thank you to the people who have thought of the impact on the crew. I spoke to many of them, and I know this is not easy for them, and yet they continued to do a fantastic job of treating us famously and not allowing their difficulties to impact us. Any issues here are with corporate and not with the wonderful crew of the Summit (with one exception noted in an earlier post).

[cruiser2004]

I to am just off the Summit May 7 cruise. The passenger reaction was increased by the CD John's perky attitude in the face of bad news and the "mis-information" given by Captain Demitrius. As an example of the "mis-information" from the Captain was an anouncement that we were going to anchor for ten hours in mid-ocean to give everyone a better view of the inside passage later in the day. The real reason was that Celebrity had failed to secure a pilot for the trip through the passage. Another example was an announcement that we could not get any where near Hubbard Glacier because there was one ship already at the glacier. Over 1,200 of the 1,900 passengers have signed a form protesting how Celebrity has handled this whole cruise.

Celebrity has now offered passengers a 30% discount coupon off the published fare of a future cruise. The discount that we received for this cruise was more than 30%. Most of the cruisers that I talked to also received at least the same discounts and shipboard credits. Because we missed almost 1/2 of our schedule we are going to join the class action law suit against Celebrity.

[elena7seas]

Does anyone know when the Summit is due to have its next regularly-scheduled drydock? Would an emergency drydock at this time preempt or delay the next regularly scheduled drydock? Is it possible to find out the drydock schedule, and what work is outlined for the next regular drydock?

 

We are on the Summit for a cruise through the Panama Canal beginning November 11th, 2006 and I'm beginning to be a little concerned.

 

We have had a wonderful experience with Celebrity to date, but we want to be able to choose wisely about our next cruise, based on accurate information about Summit's pod replacement history.

 

Thank you to everyone who has provided accurate information, to the best of their ability, in a calm, respectful manner.

[notsonewbie]

One thing I really don't understand, though, and perhaps somebody can help me with it: Many people on board made an enormous deal out of the fact that we weren't told prior to leaving San Francisco, and therefore were not able to leave the ship? Well, why in the world would anybody want to leave the ship?

 

In our case, Seattle and the Hubbard Glacier were our main points of interest. If we had been told they would not eventuate, we'd have certainly chosen to get off the ship and come back when it was fixed. I can picture it now, it would have been just great :rolleyes:

 

If you didn't care so much about the destinations, then I guess you would have stayed on board.

[LauraS]

Yep, I heard one of the organisers talking about it just before we got off.

 

Oh, and I can't seem to find that Yahoo group searching for "Celebrity cruise Lawsuit"???

 

One question for the admins/moderators. I see a Celebrity banner on this page as I write...

 

Can you state here that you will remain impartial on this subject? I know how tempting it must be to appease your advertisers.

 

The thread remains as long as everyone remains civil and follows our Community Guidelines....you can find a link at the top of the page to refresh your memory.

 

And please don't repeatedly post links to other cruise-related websites (that's in the guidelines as well).

[thomasale]

I thought there would have been alot more postings from onboard pax. I am only seeing 3. 2 that didn't feel satisfied and one that did...I'm confused

[zaandam_2]

I just got off of 13 nights on the Summitt, so I speak from experience as one of the passengers that went with an expectation of a grfeat cruise. But 1 thing after another happened. You had to be there to imagine what it was like. Yes we missed 2 ports, giving us 3 sea days in a row twice. But also, other port times were shortened. How would you like to have all of 20 minutes in Hubbard Glacier instead of all day. Also, we got 2 yours of inside passage cruising, instead of hours like we should have. Yet we stood at a complete standstill the day we should have been in sitka, a complete standstill in the middle of nowhere waiting for a pilot ship that the captain knew damn well could not come until 5pm.

Try spending thousands and thousands of dollars for a cruise and being disappointed and lied to over and over by the company, staff and crew. I have cruised 53 times and I know that stuff happens, but not this much, I am proudly part of the class action lawsuit being brought by over 1000 of the passengers

Janet

 

That's a 180 degree turn from your previous post, where you were loving your crusie and belittling other who weren't:

 

I am also on the Summitt and am currently at an internet cafe in Juneau. I have met with the celebrity rep onboard.

A little background, I am a TA with 53 cruises under my belt and am elite member of Celebrity.

I think after seeing it first hand, the behavior of the Brits that have spearheaded this protesting has been disgraceful. I am ashamed to be a fellow passenger. THey are threatening sitins, riots, and are causing the entire staff alot of extra work and heartache. THe staff must continue to "yes sir, yes mamm" the group all the while being yelled at and cursed by this group led by some jerk named Peter. The cruise director John nad the captain showd incredible courage and good taste to stand up in the theater before this mad and hostile crowd. The captain gave us a 2 hour happy hour also and has made his presence very known.

THese people are stirring up everyone else and having disgusting "gatherings" in the main lobby each morning, thus making it impossible to go to Guest services, Conceirge or captains club desks. The sad part is that these animals will have spent the entire 13 night cruise complaining and not enjoyed this wonderful scenery in Alaska. Did they not mention we still get awesome meals, our beautiful cabins, wonderful entertainmenet?

The amount given by Celebrity is not required by them, it is a gesture of good will. Everyone's cruise docs clearly state that6 the captain and/or cruiseline has the right to change itinerary anytime for safety reasons.

 

I end by saying we are loving our cruise, alaska is beautiful, the weather is crisp and cold.

Janet:)