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

[JLC@SD]

The Real Story....sounds like the focus was on meeting and complaining.

 

I suspect that "protests" on ships and "democratic" meetings are not welcomed on ships at sea........the Captain is in COMMAND........and they do not like that usurped by committees......:) .

 

If the passengers were unhappy with their cruise.......they should vote with their pocketbooks and avoid Celebrity's product. The problem I have with this entire episode is that some ringleaders thought that by organizing a mob........they could get Celebrity to change minds.

[mahdnc]

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.

 

But it was one heck of a rescue story. Quite an extraordinary effort to save everyone from a sinking ship.

 

Did the passengers get a shipboard credit?

[karfest]

In their disclaimer- members from ******critic are not welcome to join in with our comments unless we were on the "cruise from hell"

 

It sounds to me like they made their own hell. Much more behavior like this from passengers and I might actually give up on cruising. yes, things did not go according to plan- but I think the passengers were downright rude and childish. I hope to never be on a ship with any of them!

[Casshew]

If I was involved in a lawsuit, I would be extremely quiet and leave it up to the lawyers to gather information for my case. I would play it 'close to the vest' so to speak and would not be ranting on public boards.

[starsjohn]

It is so hard to believe that people would waste their hard earned travel money on whinning and complaining. I was on the Summit in O4 when it had problems, and had the best time ever. I still remember viewing the Hubbard glacier at sunset while dressed in my Tuxedo. We arrived at dinner time due to engine problems. I missed dinner but the experience was one in a life time.

[dmk]

I feel very sorry for the other passengers...the ones who were not part of this feud.:( The ones who wanted to put their best foot forward and take their bumps in the road, as life has away of doing.

One could ignore the fact that 2 ports were skipped. How in the world could you ignore these some 1000 angry passengers.:(

You know "S" happens.

[NotAanofCelebrity]

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.

 

None but that is essentially what we got for the entire cruise. We spent more than the $200 onboard credit so we would have lost nothing by getting off in San Francisco except being lied to a lot and threatened with the Mossad.

[cruisePRN]

I think you would have to be there. I would be very upset under the conditions described. When you have planned a trip to Alaska it shouldn't be ruined by Celebrity. It sounds to me like X did nothing to placate the situation. I personally would feel $200 shipboard credit was a joke and a insult.

Why do some people blindly express such loyality? Is seems X can do no wrong because it's your favorite line?

[Host Anne]

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[ocngypz]

Well, it isn't my favorite line. I don't have a favorite line anymore. They went out of business.

 

Do you know how many ports I have missed in 169 sailings? I don't have enough fingers and toes to count them.

 

Do you know how much I have received?

 

Not one red cent, not one mark, franc, shilling, lira, yen.... nothing, nada, rien.

 

I have had Bermuda sailings turn into New England/Maritime Canada sailings.

I have had Eastern Med itineraries turn into Western Med itineraries. I have had Western Caribbean itineraries turned into Eastern and vice versa. And the list goes on.

 

Sooner or later it is going to get to the point where passengers are going to have to sign waivers. And then nobody is going to like it!

[notsonewbie]

It is so hard to believe that people would waste their hard earned travel money on whinning and complaining. I was on the Summit in O4 when it had problems, and had the best time ever. I still remember viewing the Hubbard glacier at sunset while dressed in my Tuxedo. We arrived at dinner time due to engine problems. I missed dinner but the experience was one in a life time.

 

The point I think you miss is that the majority of people don't whine and complain unless they have good reason to.

 

Hubbard at sunset would have been a wonderful thing. Seems you were very lucky. Unfortunately we didn't get near it on this cruise. :(

[FinelyCruising]

Ocn....I like that idea....maybe I'll be with some serious cruisers then and eliminate a whole different group.

[Cachecara]

I too would be very upset under the stated conditions.

From what was described, the cruise just kept getting worse and worse as far as time spent cruising sites listed on the itinerary and ports missed and or then abreviated. Celebrity not having it's act together with unclear communication etc seems to have added fuel to the fire.

I do feel sorry for the staff on board dealing with a situation out of their hands. I'm sure they still continued to give great service regardless.

[cruiser2004]

I was also on this cruise and everything (NotAFanOfCelebrity) said is exactly as it happened. These problems began with Celebrity decision to sail with a ship that could not complete the scheduled voyage. One of the officiers told me that Celebrity is thinking about replacing these defective pods with a GM system. This resulted in skipping two ports and reducing time in other ports. Then the Captain began telling stories such as "the Summit could not go into Hubbard Glacier because one other ship was there and that only one ship was allowed in". Then Celebrity failed to get a pilot for the inside passage. We were told that we were going to wait for ten hours for a light fog to clear. This meant we would cruise the inside passage at dinner time and into the night. We wound up missing about 1/2 of the scheduled cruise. All of this added to passenger unrest.

A few passengers were willing to accept whatever Celibrity did. Over 1200 passengers were not and have signed lists stating that fact.

The bottom line is can any cruise line do and say whatever they wish with no possible recourse from passengers.

[Chorts]

While in Juneau, there was a couple on the helicopter excursion with us that was on Summit......DH and I were on Mercury. They explained that there was a couple due to marry in, I think, Seattle and friends and family would be there for the wedding. They didn't stop in Seattle, so you can imagine how upset this couple was. Other cruisers were meeting family members in Seattle for a family get together. Since the ship didn't stop in Seattle, again, this reunion didn't happen. I can see where these passengers would be very very upset. But, otherwise, stuff really does happen. But to have a hissy fit......I don't get it.

 

I feel badly for those who had very special happenings planned and it didn't happen. That must have been heartbreaking for the couple getting married. But, still.....mutiny? <sigh>

[smj]

I feel badley for all the passangers. Celebrity should treat the passangers with honesty and as their GUEST. Maybe it would have been appropiate to do things like give complimentary wine with dinner, some free shore excursions and a generous discount on a future cruise.

[trcori]

I think the waiver suggestion might not be a bad thing to do. It seems very important for people who take cruises to be very clear on the fact that itineraries can and often will change and it is absolutely the cruise line's right to do that, for whatever factor they think merits the change. That would keep people from making such intricate plans as getting married in a certain port, etc. On our very first X cruise three and a half years ago, the entire itinerary changed the first day at sea -- from Western Caribbean to Eastern Caribbean -- because of weather. I had tours booked in most of the original ports. I knew nothing about the new ports. It was a great cruise anyway ... we just rolled with the proverbial punches. On a ship, you absolutely have to be ready to do that.

 

BTW last year the Summit missed Seattle on either its northbound or southbound repo trip -- I remember because every year, I look forward to going down to Pier 66 to see it on both the spring and fall stops, and I clearly remember one of those stops being canceled, same way it was earlier this month. Did pax on that cruise stage a near-riot? How were they compensated? Just wondering -- TR

[Cuizer2]

If I was involved in a lawsuit, I would be extremely quiet and leave it up to the lawyers to gather information for my case. I would play it 'close to the vest' so to speak and would not be ranting on public boards.

 

That is good advise.

[cruiser2004]

Missing ports because of weather is one thing, but missing ports because of sailing a ship that Celebrity knew would not be able to complete the voyage due to defective pod is another story altogether. NotAFanOfCelebrity has stated exactly what happened and responding to some of the comments on this board is pointless. The facts are the facts and everyone has a right to make up their own mind, I for one will "vote with my pocketbook" and stop sailing on Celebrity until they come up with a reliable power system.

[renebfl]

The issue was...Celebrity new they could not deliver the cruise because of mechanical problems right from the get go. Why did some sit at LAX for 7 hrs on embarktion day. We were told the ship was late from Hawiai-a lie. I think they were contemplating sending us back home then. I have missed caribbean ports ,too. This is an entirely different issue. If I wanted to cruise with no ports, I would have saved $1200 in airfaire and cruised from Florida. This was our once in a lifetime cruise.I spent hrs and hrs researching and dreaming. My dream turned to a nightmare.

[zaandam_2]

notafan - thanks for sharing your experience. sorry about your terrible cruise. i hope you and the other 1000+ keep after celebrity.

[Host Anne]

Celebrity is not alone in these problems and the way they are handled. We were on the Grand Princess in January and were forced to miss Grand Cayman due to a generator problem that caused the ship to go far slower than normal (sound familiar?). We pretty much felt the same way....and what's worse was that Princess knew they would be skipping Grand Cayman for the next several cruises (I never did find out how many cruises in a row were skipped) but they neglected to inform future passengers of the itinerary change until they were on the ship.

 

We had a similar problem on a Princess ship the year before, skipping Barbados. In both cases, we had specific plans for each island that had to be changed. It was disappointing, but no one let it get to the point that things have on Summit.

 

I do think communication or lack thereof, creates a lot of the animosity people feel when they are on board. It's pretty sad when we can get information more quickly here on Cruise Critic than we can as passengers on a ship sometimes.

 

I always try to remind myself that in each of these situations, there are many factors that we are not aware of that come into play. When stuff happens (and it does and always will), our reaction is to quickly determine how we need to change plans (cancel shore excursions, etc) and go on with enjoying our cruise.

 

While I am very sorry that folks had their wedding plans ruined by a missed port, I'd caution against these types of events as there are far too many things that could go wrong in a situation like this. Weddings are stressful enough without adding the worry of possibly missing that port. A better idea would have been to get married in Seattle and then leave from there on a cruise.

 

Finally, I'm not sure how much signing a waiver would help. Most people don't read what they sign and I'm guessing that many have never read their cruise contract. While a waiver might be one more assurance for the cruise line, I don't think it would help much in a situation such as this.

[woodofpine]

Alaska is a huge piece of terra firma the vast majority of which can NOT be seen from a cruise ship. If Alaska rather than cruising was the dead set priority, why not visit by other means...

[Artemis]

Did the Summit cruisers receive $200 + a future cruise credit of 30%?

[griswalds]

Sorry I just couldn't resist. I hope passengers can share their experience on this ill fated cruise without ranting or limiting their ability to sue.

 

Griswalds

 

 

That is good advise.