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

[katiebeth]

First of all, my sympathies to all of those on this particular Summit cruise who did not receive the cruise they had paid for and were not "treated famously". It sounds like this was a "true departure" in the worst sense. I think it is easy for others to be critical and make accusations and expect one to "make the best of the situation" when they weren't actually on the sailing.

 

I think what is most disturbing is the way Celebrity handled the situation in terms of not telling the truth to the passengers about what was happening. (i.e. Hubbard Glacier, Inside Passage cruising, Seattle, Sitka, etc.) It is rather shocking and highly unprofessional and flat out unethical.

 

I have read with increasing concern the problems Celebrity has had over the past few months and have grown rather disillusioned with corporate (Mercury bleach cruise, cancellation of Summit, sewage disposal problem on Millennium.etc.) Corporate seems "out of touch" and has the left the impression that they either don't care when problems arise or they are incapable of handling them in and caring and fair manner.

 

We have been Celebrity loyalists for the past few years and have a cruise on the Millennium booked in June for the Med. (which we are really looking forward to I might add). However, our next cruise in December we have decided to try Holland Ameica (something I would not have considered until recently because we have been so pleased with Celebrity).

 

If everything goes well, Celebrity offers an exceptional product. However, things seem to "break down" when a problem arises. It seems that when they are good they are very good, but when they are bad......

 

Anyway, I really hope things improve for Celebrity and corporate "wakes up a smells the coffee" so to speak.

 

Nancy

[griswalds]

After an exhausting trip home and a dramtic cruise, I can understamd why Summit passengers are not making this board priority one in their life. Also if they read many of the negative postings by people who were quick to condem, they may go elsewhere. We can only hope other passengers on the Summit will share their experience both pro and con.

Griswalds

 

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

[Lotsacruising]

Zaandam 2

The reason my post changed is that unfortunately, much more happened as the trip went on. Missing 2 ports was bad, but I was going iwth the flow. But with all the added sea days, not even sea days with scenery, 20 minutes in Hubbard Glacier, shortened port times, lies etc, my opinion changed as I am permitted to do.

[griswalds]

Thank you so much for sharing this information. I hope the situation will be resolved to your satisfaction. It will probably takes years for you to know the outcome. Many years ago we benefited from a class action against Princess. We were not even aware of the action until we got a letter one day which was a court imposed settlement. It was not related to a specific cruise but had more to do with a booking policy. We rec'd a future cruise credit that we later took advantage of. However, our matter was nothing in comparison to your situation. I just cannot fathom a 13 day cruise like the one you were on.

 

Griwalds

 

 

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.

[nmtraveler]

Zaandam 2

The reason my post changed is that unfortunately, much more happened as the trip went on. Missing 2 ports was bad, but I was going iwth the flow. But with all the added sea days, not even sea days with scenery, 20 minutes in Hubbard Glacier, shortened port times, lies etc, my opinion changed as I am permitted to do.

 

We have been there 3 times on X and you never spend more than an hour at the glacier (the ship does about 3 360's in place and then leaves). The times given are for the approximate time you enter Yakutat bay and the time you leave. It's about 30NM from the entrance to the glacier. Ships are scheduled into and out of the bay just like airliners. In our experience, the closest you get to Hubbard glacier is about a half mile.

[griswalds]

Right on lotsa!

 

Your posting shows that you were not quick to judge and you were trying to make the best of the situation. Having been the the Hubbard glacier and docked beside it for hours while we saw ice falling from the glacier, it was the ultimate reason for us for to going Alaska. It was truly spectacular and you were robbed as well as the passengers on the other Celebrity ship.

 

Griwalds

 

 

Zaandam 2

The reason my post changed is that unfortunately, much more happened as the trip went on. Missing 2 ports was bad, but I was going iwth the flow. But with all the added sea days, not even sea days with scenery, 20 minutes in Hubbard Glacier, shortened port times, lies etc, my opinion changed as I am permitted to do.

[greeneg]

Right on lotsa!

 

Your posting shows that you were not quick to judge and you were trying to make the best of the situation. Having been the the Hubbard glacier and docked beside it for hours while we saw ice falling from the glacier, it was the ultimate reason for us for to going Alaska. It was truly spectacular and you were robbed as well as the passengers on the other Celebrity ship.

 

Griwalds

 

Could you possibly share what trip ( ship, cruise line, and when) you were able to spend hours by the Glacier?

 

Just curious.

[shopperwhite]

i was on the summit last may 27th cruise. we missed a port, lost a full day and landed a day early in vancouver. we were given 300.00 u.s. credit per cabin, 20% off next cruise and $100.00 per person hotel credit or airline exchange credit for the change. people were most unhappy but i thought that celebrity handled the problem well at the time. had no idea that this is an ongoing problem.

[TheHappyWanderer]

We spent several hours beside the Hubbard glacier aboard the Mercury. It was the most spectacular thing I have ever seen. But this was nine years ago, and there are many, many more ships now competing for the chance. A few years later we cruised Alaska on Princess and did not even go to the Hubbard glacier and there were too many ships in every port. The poor little towns were just overwhlemed.

 

Now I understand that there are even MOREE ships in each port...I cannot even imagine the congestion.

[karlsselindh]

We also just returned from the fiasco on the Summit. I haven't had time to read all the posts in this thread, and I hope I'm not simply repeating what others have said, but I need to get some of this off my chest.

 

We're not big whiners and were prepared to make the best of things, but the accumulation of problems and the attitude of some of the staff, saying "you signed the contract," made us join with the others in adding our name to the petition to be sent to the CEO and the class action suit. Sure, we know we "signed the contract," but the entire nature of the cruise was changed for almost its full duration, due entirely to the shortcomings of the ship--not because of weather, port problems, etc. When we signed the petition, there were well over 1,000 signatures and people were standing in line to sign.

 

I don't know if it's true, but we heard from fellow passengers that the ship was late in returning to LA from Hawaii on the morning of our cruise, and the problems were suspected then. A passenger who flew into LAX the morning of the cruise told us that their group was held at the airport for hours before being transported to the ship because of "issues" with the ship, and she believes that Celebrity was debating at that time whether or not to cancel the cruise.

 

The captain tried to divert attention from their failure to deliver their advertised product by constantly emphasizing that our safety was their most important concern. Huh? But we felt under the constant cloud of possible disaster--and not reassured--by his occasional public address updates that there were no further signs of engine failure.

 

Another issue that drove me to the edge was the compensation by Celebrity and the way they did it. When we had the meeting with the captain after the problems were first announced, he seemed to be sympathetic. Many passengers felt that they should have been told about the problems in San Francisco and given the option of leaving the cruise and getting a refund, but now they were a "captive audience" on an inferior cruise. The captain said that he couldn't really disagree with that at all. When the $200 per stateroom (not per person!) credit was announced, many of us thought that this was temporary appeasement, and Celebrity would make a more reasonable offer once things were sorted out. But no, a day or two later in a curt message on the front page of Celebrity Today was a statement that the $200/stateroom offer was appropriate and in line with past practice, and it was all we would get. The way that was done increased the downward spiral for us. The waits were long to meet with the customer service representatives who came on board in Ketchikan, and passengers wondered if those who actually got to meet with the representatives were cutting special deals. It was only after the Hubbard debacle (they may as well just given us a postcard of the glacier, for all we saw) and the nighttime-inside-passage-sailing that Celebrity made the 30% offer on a future cruise. That certainly isn't going to do much for those many passengers who came from halfway around the world and spent much time and money to take this cruise. And it probably won't help the elderly couple who told us that they were taking this last cruise because they wanted to experience Alaska, but their health was failing.

 

On other cruises, we hated to leave the ship. On this cruise, we couldn't wait!!!

 

Rich & Lois

[Ammonium]

A couple who cut in front of me in line in Vancouver yesterday were on the Summit. I didn't mind so much that they were rude since they had a horrible story about how their ship broke down in the middle of the cruise and they missed all their ports. I had pictured a situation like Carnival had a few years ago where the ship is floating without power and the passengers are using their ice buckets as toilets. I did not imagine that the ship simply slowed down and missed two ports.

 

Obviously Celebrity did not handle this well. I know I certainly would have been disappointed in missing two ports, but if I was still getting my time on the ship I wouldn't be devastated (and it's not like Seattle and Sitka are once in a lifetime port opportunities). But if the ship was in full mutiny mode, I probably would have had a horrible experience. It seems like these problems took on a life of their own. The cruise lines certainly need to have some safeguards in place to avoid explosive situations like this.

 

One more thing -- it's in the fine print that cruise lines can skip or substitute ports, but it's not like they try to do this to save some money. The ship was unable to go above a certain speed, which made it impossible to follow the itinerary. I don't know how anybody can say that missing these ports is "deplorable". People just need to take it easy and enjoy what they can. Perhaps Celebrity isn't offering enough compensation for their mechanical failure. That can be argued long after the cruise is over. It's pointless to ruin your vacation over a few hundred dollars.

[griswalds]

I know, you are just curious and that is why I love these boards. It is kinda ironic but yes, we were on the ill-fated Summit last year. We were very fortunate to pick up a last minute deal for $850 balcony, 7 day one way from Seward back to Vancouver. It was too good of a deal to pass up even though I knew of the hstory of the Summit. As well I was in Vancouver at the time of sailing so it was perfect timing for me. As well, the ship did not break down while I was on it so that is a bonus as well. The Cruise left Seward on August 19, 2005. My Folio number was 00504343. We had so-so weather, made all the ports and yes a long time at Hubbard. We spent well over 2 hours at Hubbard (asked my SOP) and she agreed for once with me. The ship actually came right along the glacier and stopped dead (no the pods did not quit) and I have a movie shot from our balcony of the glacier calving. You could actually feel the ship rise as the water swelled from the ice dropping into the ocean from the glacier. It was true "Griswald" experience, even you would have been "greeneg" with envy. We were advised on the ship's PA that our captain got the closest and stayed the longest of any Captain. The ship also did a 360 so the balconies on both sides got the "picture" perfect view. We also had time on deck for relaxing hot chocolate mixed with booze in the special Celebrity mugs. The mug is now available for sale. Without a doubt it was the best part of the cruise and if you missed it, in my opinion, you missed the cruise. If your cruise only spent 30 minutes there, that sucks but then many people may have felt that was long enough. Please do not ask me for the name of the bus driver from Anchorage to Seward, as I do not remember it, but we did stop at a wildlife park on the way to Seward, that stop was too long.

Griswalds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Could you possibly share what trip ( ship, cruise line, and when) you were able to spend hours by the Glacier?

 

Just curious.

[Hondu]

The diehard Celebrity Unpaid Cheerleaders keep repeating that its all in the contract. This is bunk. These same cheerleaders would agree that a person should get what they paid for. The Summit passengers certainly did not get what they paid for and due to the extremely poor customer service of the cruise line, mutiny was the only outcome.

 

Time to support the little guys, not the BIG Corporations.

[stan1]

Celebrity chose to continue to sail the Milennium class ships with foreknowledge that the bearings would fail unpredictably, rather than drydock for pod replacement prematurely - as a financial decision, and appropriate in my opinion, considering the facts. One week in drydock (no income)every 18 months rather than 2.5 years is more costly than drydock when needed(18+ months)but Celebrity DID NOT simultaneously agree to compensate its passengers when this statistically certain but date unpredictable event ocurred. In my opinion, that is the crux of the problem - that a Corporate compensation allowance of $200 is inadequate, and immensely less than Cunard provided for a less predictable event. How can Celebrity expect loyalty when it treats passengers shabbily? Although I am a Celebrity multi-cruise passsenger I am looking elsewhere(Princess?).

[tarheelmjfan]

We were advised on the ship's PA that our captain got the closest and stayed the longest of any Captain.

 

LOL :D We were told the same thing on Infinity in June of last year. I wonder how many other sailings have been told that. :p

 

Like you, we had a wonderful experience at Hubbard Glacier. We saw constant calving, & got to stay quite awhile. Just how long, I really don't know. We were too busy watching the Glacier to worry about the time. ;)

 

I wasn't going to mention our experience for fear that those who weren't so lucky would think we were rubbing it in. :o That's not the case. I just thought it was too funny that the captain on your cruise told you the same thing. :D

[florida_cruiser]

but having done this cruise before I wouldn't call the vacation ruined except for having to deal with the nuts on board. I'm sure most of those on board are having a wonderful time and were pleased to have the onboard credit.

 

Based upon the reports of the returning passengers I believe you and some of the other Celebrity diehards owe these fine folks an apology for your remarks. It will be interesting to see if any of you step up to the plate and retract some of your previous comments. You have all been surprisingly absent since the returning passengers have voiced their opinions!!

[CruisinFromTx]

The unfortunate thing about all this, is that Celebrity like any run for profit business has to price its product to meet all its expenses plus make a reasonable profit. If "Big Business" owes it to the little guy, guess who pays...it is not big business it's all the other little guys....

[griswalds]

I can take it knowing that others passengers on other ships have been given the same "build up" to the glacier. It hurts (crushed) but I understand. Besides, I was more intent on responding to the poor cruiser who got only 30 minues at the glacier. I am happy to share the glory with other passengers who got 31 minutes and more at the Hubbard glacier.

 

It would appear that some ships don't even stop at the glacier but "circle beside it"....might miss it if you blinked.

 

Oh well, I do not want to divert our focus from the issue at hand though. If your ship has a long history of breakdowns and you miss the star attraction (hubbard glacier) as well as other problems, none of which were weather related, do you have the right to mutiny and ask for fair compensation? A $200 cabin room credit was given to all so I understand. I am interested in hearing from other passengers who were actually on the ship for the ill fated voyage! How bad was bad? Was there one "ring" leader as suggested or many? Was the casino really shut down and for how long? Seems the CD was not well liked on this cruise.

 

Griswalds

[notsonewbie]

For the record, I think the closest we got to Hubbard was about 3-5 miles. The other ship between us and the glacier was a spec on the horizon.

 

I don't believe you would have been able to see any "calving" except with some very powerful binoculars.

[griswalds]

Notsonewbie, you have truly been ripped off. I am not trying to brag about what we saw at the hubbard glacier, just supporting the value of what you missed. For me that was the cruise. We could see and hear the calving, it was "in your face" you might say!

 

It would appear from other postings that some passengers arriving at the airport were delayed getting on the ship, due to concerns with the ship. This was not a random mechanical breakdown, it was business decision to take a chance with 1800 passengers that you would suck it up and drink lemonade for 13 days.

 

Griswalds

 

 

 

For the record, I think the closest we got to Hubbard was about 3-5 miles. The other ship between us and the glacier was a spec on the horizon.

 

I don't believe you would have been able to see any "calving" except with some very powerful binoculars.

[hobo1937]

Rich and Lois,

 

 

 

We were at LAX that same morning as the Summit passengers waiting to get to the Vision of the Seas. They were telling people both the Vision and Summit were late arriving but when we got onboard the Vision and asked why there had been a delay we were told the ship had come in on time. I did find out the company doing the airport transfers was new and I think the delay getting to the ship was caused by them. Not to say there weren't other issues going on with the Summit. We had a bad experience on RCL's Brillance last Oct but they really did a good job trying to make up for it. I hope Celebrity does the same and all your future cruises are wonderful ones.

[greeneg]

Griswslds, wasn't trying to be anything other than curious. Knowing how crowded the Alaska run can be these days with so many ships doing it, I would have thought that there would be some "normal" reduction in time spent there just to accomodate the increased demand. When we did the Alaska Cruise on Crystal Harmony, we were about 1/4-1/2 mile off of the Glacier's edge and we were there for about 2-2 1/2 hours. The Captain did maneuver the ship so that everyone had a great view. We saw several icebergs calve off of the main glacier. But, my own experience was almost 10 years ago, and at no time did we ever share any port with more than one other cruise ship.

 

Your experience is much more recent than mine, and I would certainly agree that only 20 minutes at Hubbard would have certainly been very disappointing.

 

My own guess is that Celebrity managment will make some sort of additional offer of compensation, that would appear to be the fair thing to do under the circumstances and historically, I think that been the kind of thing that they have done. At least, that's what's always happened to us in our dealings with X, which is why we've stayed with them.

 

Thanks for responding.

[NotAanofCelebrity]

The ship began making loud noises and vibrating as soon as we left San Pedro. The captain made full speed to San Francisco for "maintenance". This "Maintenance" turned out to be an evaluation by Lloyd's of London to assure if we proceeded the ship's Insurance would be in force. We were told that the ship received a clean bill of health that evening after leaving San Francisco 2 hours late. The next morning at seawe were informed that the ship had a maximum speed limit of 17.5 knots imposed upon it. This was reduced from the normal 22.5 knot cruising speed. This speed reduction would cause the elimination of 2 very important ports Seattle and Sitka. This caused great upset aboard and several hundred (not 4 or 5 as purported by Celebrity in the press) met in the grand foyer of the ship and refused to leave until we met with someone in authority. A hastily arranged meeting in the theater resulted in approximately 800 passengers attending, even though the announcement downplayed the meeting. The captain raised this hand when the audience was asked if they were entitled to a full refund.

MANY Passengers felt we were not told of the changed itinerary while we had a chance to vote with our feet and leave the ship in San Francisco. One passenger even going so far as to cry at the meeting and say he was frightened and just wanted to go home.

We requested and were denied rooms to meet in, announcements of the meeting and even paper to create petitions on. A second meeting was held in a bar and the Hotel manager attended. After the meeting I spoke to him and said we were not calling him a liar but rather we were not the entire story and it not in a timely manner. The pointed his finger at me and said "you people will not riot, I have 20 Israeli Mossad aboard and they will stop you and we know the four men who started this and we will take care of them". The captain told passengers later at his cocktail party that this story was untrue. Yet he refused to talk to me and another man who overheard the conversation and confirmed every word.

All the meetings held on board were PEACEFUL and democratic. Upward of 800 people crowded the Grand Foyer on 3 decks to show support. In excess of 1000 passengers signed a petition expressing of displeasure with the $200 / cabin shipboard credit.

Celebrity thought they could placate us with a 2 hour free happy hour beginning at 11:30 am. Most people felt this was yet another slap in the face and abstained from taking anything.

Additionally, 2 customer service representatives from corporate were flown to join the ship in Ketchikan to talk to passengers. The company insisted they talk individually to passengers. The arrangements for these meetings changed a number of times to make meeting with them as difficult and time consuming for passengers as possible. If they worked 24 hours a day (they worked approximately 6-8 hours) they could not have spoken to even half of passengers.

To add insult to injury our visit to Hubbard glacier consisted of a quick circle at what I judged to be at least 5 miles from the Glacier. The Zaandam appeared to be a toy ship near the glacier at our distance. The reason given was that only one ship at time can be near the glacier which anyone who has been there knows is not the case. A passenger monitoring the VHF radio noted that our captain made no effort the contact the Zaandam to ask when they were leaving or if the could speed their departure. Anyone who has been to Alaska know that the glacier experience (up close) is one of the highlights.

My wife and I have taken Alaskan cruises for the past 7 years (6 marvelous cruises on Princess) and looked forward to sitting on deck when sailing through the Inside Passage and marveling at it beauty. Somehow, no pilot was available to take us through so we sat dead still for NINE hours waiting and entered the passage very shortly before the first seating for dinner. By the time we finished dinner there was only about 90 minutes of fading daylight for us to enjoy the beauty. Once again the VHF scanner disproved the captain's assertion that we were waiting for the Fog to lift. The fog lifted approximately 60 minutes after we stopped.

IF your idea of a marvelous Alaskan cruise is to eat, drink, gamble and shop, this was the cruise of cruises. If you took the cruise for the itinerary and love Alaska as we do it was the cruise from HELL.

I must say the crew did its best to pamper us. The notion that we could be treated like sheep and manipulated at every turn, ruined our vacation. The end to our disappointing cruise was that someone deliberately removed all of our colored tags from our bags and we spent 2 anxious hours while Celebrity found them.

We wish you all better cruises in the future.

[wingwoman63]

Interesting thread. A couple of thoughts:

 

1. Several people have mentioned that Celebrity is "making due as best they can" under the circumstances with these ships that have this consistent problem--but in reality, they are rolling the dice with the customer being the loser if they miss out. Missing ports is not the issue; consistently running ships with propulsion problems is the issue. The cruise line figures they can get away with it if there are problems by offering free drinks and a few hundred bucks; some passengers are trying to tell them no, you can't do that to us. I probably would be hanging out by the pool drinking away my $200 bucks with an "oh, well" attitude but I totally understand the passengers that are saying "no way." If they don't , the Celebrity will continue to "roll the dice"--with other people's vacation money!

 

2. Just finished the thread about the drunk captain being arrested in Seattle and posters getting very upset about him taking the safety of his passengers so lightly. All of you saying "whatever Celebrity does is fine" on this thread--what about the safety aspects of running a ship at sea with inconsistent propulsion? What if a storm comes up and the ship is not under full power? This is a far more serious issue than just missing ports--it is darned irresponsible of Celebrity to keep running these ships with these problems. Would you want United Airlines to keep "rolling the dice" with airliner propuslion problems?

 

3. RE: Lawsuit--Celebrity is suing Rolls Royce over this pod issue--many of you seem to support suing the company that didn't deliver what it promised. Why don't you equally support passengers demanding that Celebrity deliver what it promised? Also--Celebrity will get whatever compensation it can from Rolls Royce, and they will NOT pass that onto passengers unless passengers insist or sue. That is the way business works--why is the corporate level different from the individual level? (Not the same issue as missed ports because of weather--these are recurring mechanical problems.)

 

4. RE: cut and pasting--someone in the first two pages misquoted from the Seattle Times, leaving out the nationality of one of the angry passengers--he's American, folks. This quote was misattributed to the Canadian Regan. PLEASE CUT AND PASTE QUOTES CORRECTLY to prevent misinformation--

 

From article in Seattle Times:

 

"Greetings from the prison ship," wrote Dr. Ira Goodkofsky of Sherman Oaks, Calif., to his daughter, Shane Michelle Fox, in an e-mail. "We are literally being held captive on this ship. Two stops have been cancelled and we are spending extra days at sea. There is huge group of passengers trying to get Celebrity to refund our fare and we are protesting as a group. Tomorrow if there is no progress we may hold a sit-in the casino and keep people from gambling."

 

Regan, [Canadian] who has been on a half-dozen Alaskan cruises, said passengers are upset because they were not given the option to disembark when the ship was in California.

"They [the cruise line] waited until we were out in open sea before they told us," he said.

 

Respectfully submitted for your consideration, Wingwoman63

[ocngypz]

Just wondering, what would you have received if you disembarked in SFO?

 

Sorry, but an Alaskan cruise from hell... was the Prisdendam in the 80's.

 

She caught on fire.