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

[docjph]

I was on the Summit cruise of 5/7. First I want to say the crew was GREAT. To our waiter Bobbo and assistant waitress Tamera, we miss you.

I have read many of the comments from people calling many of us “cry babies” or “so what if you were at sea, you had a cruise experience”. The first thing I have to say is if I wanted days at sea, I would have taken a “Cruise to Nowhere”, out of New York and saved the airfare to the west coast. How much BINGO can one take at $30.00 a pop per person, twice a day ($120.00 a day) when at sea? How much picturanry, Name That Tune or battle of the sexes trivia can you play? How much time are you going to spend in the pool sailing the North Pacific in May? I have to admit it was funny seeing people on lounge chairs around the pool dressed from head to toe and with a blanket. How many drinks can you down (at 5.95 to 9.95 per drink plus 15% gratuity) a day. I did enjoy the Martini Sampler Special they had twice during the cruise. Six varieties of martinis at 2 oz. each. After a couple of specials you forget about the rest of the day! Did I mention the Wine Auction, the Art Auction or the “diamond and jade specials”, how about the “gold chain by the inch, starting at 99 cents per inch”! If that does not interest you, the Casino is open when we are not in Port.

This cruise was doomed from day one! I was told the ship got in late from Hawaii. When we went to board the ship, we had to go up an escalator and at the top was an enclosed area with a doorway going out to a walkway that led to the gangplank to board the ship. The line backed up and people piled on top of each other at the top of the escalator. People were screaming for help and to stop the escalator. Two people were cut up and hurt pretty badly. Celebrity had no personnel at the top of the escalator. A few days later we were talking to one of the people hurt and they told us Celebrity tried charging them $300.00 for medical care!! After we left port later that night, one of the crewmembers I was talking to told me they had a problem with the ship coming back from Hawaii and that is why they were late. We were to dock in San Francisco on Tuesday at 8 am, but on Monday night the Captain announced we would be docking at 12 am due to some maintenance needed. SF was nice and we were supposed to leave at 6 pm. We sat at the dock in San Francisco till about 7:00, when there was an announcement that it would be another hour till we left. The ship FINALLY left a little after 8:00 pm. Late Wed. morning the Captain announced that due to a bearing problem we would not be docking at Seattle or Sitka because the ship could only due 17.4 knots to be safe instead of 22 knots. Later the Captain stated that Lloyds of London inspected the ship and they were told if they kept the speed of the ship at no more then 17.4 knots per hour they could continue the cruise. The problem with that was at that speed, they could not make all the ports and had to cut time at the rest of the ports. People were very upset and they demanded a meeting. I have to give the Captain credit; he stayed at the meeting until every question was answered. When the captain was asked if he knew about the ship problems while we were in SF, his answer was “I would not insult your intelligence and tell you no”. When someone got up and asked for a show of hands how many people though they should get a full refund, the Captain raised his hand. This was all on video tape. This meeting started about 1 pm PT on Tues. May 10. The same day, at 12:16 pm ET (9:16 am our time) it was posted by South Florida Business Journal; Celebrity will dry-dock Summit and cancel May 20 cruise to Alaska. Passengers will be given a full refund AND a FREE CRUISE!! We did not find out about this until the next day. Celebrity gave us a $200.00 credit per cabin. In Ketchikan we left at 2 pm instead of 4 pm so we had to cancel one of our excursions. We arrived in Skagway late. On May 16th we were suppose to arrive in Hubbard Glacier at 9:00 am and stay till 1:00 pm. We did not arrive until 11:00 am and then we never got near the Glacier. The Captain said it was because there was another ship in there and only one at a time could go in. We left there at 1:00 pm. The only way I could see the Glacier was with a pair of binoculars. On May 18th we were suppose to Cruise the Inside Passage. We did not cruise the first 775 miles of the passage, only the last 225 miles. We arrived at that point of the Inside Passage about 9:00 am. The Captain announced that because of the fog, and that we would not be able to see anything, we would sit in the Bay until 5:00 pm when the fog would lift. By 11:00 am the fog lifted, at 3:30 pm the fog rolled back in. We found out that was a lie, the reason we sat there was because they had no pilot to take us in and he would not arrive until 5:00 pm. At 4:52 pm I was standing on our balcony and watched the pilot boat drop off the pilot. He boarded right below me. Then we took off but you could not see more then 60 feet ahead due to fog. Our dinner was 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. When we left the dinning room the passage was clear so we got to see the Inside Passage for 1 hour then it got dark. There were other things that happened, there were meetings in the grand foyer each day we were out at sea with anywhere from 300 to 600 passengers at each meeting. Over 1000 people signed a petition to join a class action suit. On the last day Celebrity said they were giving us 30% off our next cruise. That means I have to save up the other 70% and the airfare to see what they took away from us.

What are the highlights of a cruise to Alaska? The things you can only see from a ship, Hubbard’s Glacier, the 1000 mile trek along the Inside Passage with wondrous wild life and waterfalls. Spotting whales and orca and just the natural beauty of it all from your balcony or up on deck. If anyone tries to tell me that Hubbard’s Glacier and the Inside Passage are days at sea I must say “no way, those are spectacular sightseeing days”. Why else did we take a cruise? To unpack once, and besides, it’s impossible to drive from town to town in Alaska.

If I had been given the choice of disembarking in SF and taking another cruise, I would have. We saved for 2 years and booked 9 months in advance. I spent 9 months researching as much as I could so that we would have the best experience possible. Unfortunately I did not research Celebrity or the parent Royal Caribbean’s corporate treatment of customers. I hope Celebrity does the right thing on there own without having to file the class action suit.

[brigittetom]

Whoa!!!!!!! docjph and California Oldie,

 

Thank you so much for giving us all the details. It's a real shame that you missed so much. :(

[aarrcc2]

I wasn't on this cruise and have no comments about it one way or the other, BUT...

 

Some people have said that the $200 credit wasn't worth anything if you didn't buy items on the ship.

 

Can't you just cash out the $200 at the casino? Maybe I'm missing something, but shipboard credit seems as good as cash that way.

 

:confused:

 

It didn't have to be used onboard. If not used, it was credited back to your credit card. Yes, it was as good as cash.

[Verystormy]

I agree that the amount was insulting - If i had, had the experience i ceretainly wouldnt consider booking another cruise with them, so a discount off a further cruise is worthless, and as for $200 - last year we were on holiday and one evening we missed the complementary shuttle back to the hotel from town due to it leaving a little early, no big deal and the cost of a taxi was less than $2, when we got back the hotel manager came straight over to us to appologise and wiped £200 from our bill - thats nearly $400.

In that context, i think the offer from celebrity is appaling

[zaandam_2]

california oldie - no, you were not asking too much, IMO. thanks for the details.

[spongerob]

I wanted my dream vacation to be 'not-perfect', but at least 'what was expected'. Is that asking too much?

Maybe. Some of your complaints are based on expectations that might be unreasonable. For instance, you say the captain LIED about Hubbard Glacier. The National Parks Service has placed strict limits on ships entering Glacier Bay (number and time spent) recently. What happened ten years ago should not be used as the basis for accusations of lieing.

 

It's not the captain's responsibility to organize pilots a year in advance. It is just as possible that the authorities made a mistake then had to scramble to get a pilot to the ship.

 

Delays at disembarkation are common, too, and often are not under the control of the cruise line. Planning special events in certain ports, or expecting a ship to be in a specific place at a specific time is, in fact, unreasonable. Itineraries are merely guidelines. They do their best to meet them, but sometimes life gets in the way.

 

I understand disappointment. I'm even sympathetic, to a point. But, from a totally outside, non-biased, not a Celebrity cheerleader viewpoint, I agree that there is some drama being displayed.

[brigittetom]

 

Celebrity chooses to cruise with a ship with a known mechanical flaw. It is not an unforseen event that the ship will be forced to curtail or cut back cruises due to this problem. They have not fulfilled the terms of their contract in providing the product that was purchased.

 

It is not an unforseen event that the ship will be forced to curtail or cut back cruises due this problem. That is where research comes in. If you know in advance that there might be a problem and if missing ports would be a crucial to your cruise, why book on these ships?? There are so many options.

[HurricaneSally]

Mainly because we are NOT cruise newbies, with unreasonable expectations. We cruise because we love to cruise. Not because our heart is particularly set on seeing any one thing in particular.

 

We know that itins change, things happen that cannot be avoided.

 

I agree, Celebrity knows there is a pod problem with the Millie class. It has cost them a ton a money.

 

Lastly, this is a board for people who love to cruise. It is called CruiseCritic and is a great source of information. I only regret that the new people on this boards think it's a cruise complain/criticize, chastise and use it to rally support for their unreasonable demands.

 

I suppose, after this lawsuit is settled, we will never hear from any of you again.

[Susan-M]

 

 

When 1000+ people signed a petition to state their dissatisfaction, that was NOT a 1000 people who were "drama queens". Some people didn't care that they had a 'lesser than perfect' cruise. I wanted my dream vacation to be 'not-perfect', but at least 'what was expected'. Is that asking too much?

 

I think it sounds very reasonable ..... what you were given was not even close to what you had been sold .... with any other service or product, this would be completely unacceptable, esp. when there is a known history of the problem.

 

If you know in advance that there might be a problem and if missing ports would be a crucial to your cruise, why book on these ships?

 

How would the average person know this - unless they are on CC (which probably a low percentage of cruisers are) - do TA's include a warning that the "experience may be less than you expected due to on-going mechanical problems on this ship?"

[Host Anne]

Just a reminder that derrogatory remarks to other posters are not permitted on the boards and they will be removed without notification. If you see a post of this nature, PLEASE hit the red triangle button found at the upper right corner of each post. This allows you to report a problem post.

 

Thanks for your assistance.

[Susan-M]

I only regret that the new people on this boards think it's a cruise complain/criticize, chastise and use it to rally support for their unreasonable demands.

 

What concerns me more is new CC members seeing titles such as, "Summit Drama Queens From Hell" - I wonder what kind of impression that makes?

 

I thought it would be interesting to start a new thread called "Summit Sacrificing Saints From Heaven" for those willing to tolerate the endless inconveniences of the pod problems on the M-Class ships :D

[dkjretired]

I think it sounds very reasonable ..... what you were given was not even close to what you had been sold .... with any other service or product, this would be completely unacceptable, esp. when there is a known history of the problem.

 

Susan brings up a good point for the future. Based upon Celebrity's on going pod problem and the fact that they realistically can't be fixed, does Celebrity have an obligation to notify all potential cruisers. At this point based upon past history, I think they are at a point where they should be telling their customers.

 

Also, IMHO I think that a lawsuit on this stands a very good chance of being successful. I base this on the fact that there is an extensive past history and they knew there was a problem prior to leaving on this cruise. I read somewhere there is videotape of the Captain agreeing the cruisers should receive a refund. At the very least these people should have been given a choice prior to leaving. Others may throw up the contract but contracts are not always absolute.

[Host Anne]

Folks ~ you are missing the point. It's not about positive or negative titles or posts. It's about attacking other posters with derrogatory remarks. There are plenty of pros and cons posted on these boards. Our intent is not to remove negative things. Unfortunately, the negative comments typically get out of hand and turn into one poster attacking another. That's when things are removed.

 

First Celebrity Cruiser ~ I never received an email from you so I'm not sure what you are referring to. My email is hostanne@cruisecritic.com

[Host Walt]

Folks ~ you are missing the point. It's not about positive or negative titles or posts. It's about attacking other posters with derrogatory remarks. There are plenty of pros and cons posted on these boards. Our intent is not to remove negative things. Unfortunately, the negative comments typically get out of hand and turn into one poster attacking another. That's when things are removed.

 

First Celebrity Cruiser ~ I never received an email from you so I'm not sure what you are referring to. My email is hostanne@cruisecritic.com

 

The Community Guidelines are quite clear. Good experiences and bad, fun times and unhappy times, all cruise discussions are permitted.

 

What we Hosts do not do is edit posts. If someone says the waiter was grumpy, or pollyannish, whatever, that's the writer's point of view and it stays. Our job as Hosts is to , "... keep our forum running smoothly, with politeness and good humor." (See the guidelines.)

 

This thread has remained open despite an unusually large number of posts that contain inappropriately negative comments about other members of the Cruise Critic Community.

 

If the personal insults continue, the thread will be closed.

 

Please read the Community Guidelines carefully and please try to comply with them.

 

Thanks.

[docjph]

Celebrity disappointed me. Celebrity lied to me. Celebrity knew the ship could not carry out its itinerary yet they chose to leave SF and wait until the next day to tell us. It was known before we arrived in SF that there was a mechanical problem. It was not a new mechanical problem but one it had before and they knew what effects it would have on the ship.

The following is from the 2006 Celebrity Alaska Travel Guide:

Inside Passage, Alaska

This is one of the most famously beautiful passages in all of the world. It features virtually everything you came to Alaska hoping to see, including rain forests, glaciers, fjords and white-capped peaks. All of which create a setting that’s perfect for viewing whales and sea lions.

We sailed the Inside Passage overnight! Can’t see anything!

Hubbard Glacier, Alaska

Hubbard Glacier is the one glacier in the world that does not move at a glacial pace. Quite the opposite. In fact, in 1986, Hubbard Glacier – the largest tidewater glacier on the North American continent – moved an average of just under 5.5 feet per hour. Keep a watchful eye as you sail through the Yakutat Bay; you may be a witness to geological history.

We never went in to see the Glacier due to the mechanical problems.

This is what they advertised. This is what I paid for. This is what I want along with the ports of Sitka and Seattle! I am not asking for another 13 day cruise, give me a 1-week cruise that covers what I paid for but did not get.

Under Celebrity’s Terms and Conditions, it states, “While every effort will be made to adhere to the specifics shown herein for a cruise/Cruisetour, circumstances may necessitate changes or deviations therefore”. Celebrity did not make every effort, therefore they broke their terms and conditions.

[OuiOnboard]

.

It's not the captain's responsibility to organize pilots a year in advance. It is just as possible that the authorities made a mistake then had to scramble to get a pilot to the ship.

 

We were waiting for this. So now it's time to 'blame Canada'? :D

Some things Celebrity didn't do well...then they weren't forthcoming with information (fudging?)...the Captain was the messenger...and so blame Canada.

 

Keep sailing...Oui :)

[florida_cruiser]

It is just as possible that the authorities made a mistake then had to scramble to get a pilot to the ship.

 

A nine hour scramble - not likely. Just another lie from Celebrity.

[docjph]

We also tipped the barman during the happy hour knowing this was extra work for him. Employees were called back to duty to take care of drink orders.

The 30% discount offer came the last night on the ship after we missed going into Hubbard's Glacier and sat for 9 hours waiting to go into the Inside Passage which we wound up sailing down overnight, in the dark, unable to see the Inside Passage.

Celebrity disappointed me. Celebrity lied to me. Celebrity knew the ship could not carry out its itinerary yet they chose to leave SF and wait until the next day to tell us. It was known before we arrived in SF that there was a mechanical problem. It was not a new mechanical problem but one it had before and they knew what effects it would have on the ship.

The following is from the 2006 Celebrity Alaska Travel Guide:

Inside Passage, Alaska

This is one of the most famously beautiful passages in all of the world. It features virtually everything you came to Alaska hoping to see, including rain forests, glaciers, fjords and white-capped peaks. All of which create a setting that’s perfect for viewing whales and sea lions.

We sailed the Inside Passage overnight! Can’t see anything!

Hubbard Glacier, Alaska

Hubbard Glacier is the one glacier in the world that does not move at a glacial pace. Quite the opposite. In fact, in 1986, Hubbard Glacier – the largest tidewater glacier on the North American continent – moved an average of just under 5.5 feet per hour. Keep a watchful eye as you sail through the Yakutat Bay; you may be a witness to geological history.

We never went in to see the Glacier due to the mechanical problems.

This is what they advertised. This is what I paid for. This is what I want along with the ports of Sitka and Seattle! I am not asking for another 13 day cruise, give me a 1-week cruise that covers what I paid for but did not get.

Under Celebrity’s Terms and Conditions, it states, “While every effort will be made to adhere to the specifics shown herein for a cruise/Cruisetour, circumstances may necessitate changes or deviations therefore”. Celebrity did not make every effort, therefore they broke their terms and conditions.

[sammiedawg]

California Oldie and others, I am so sorry for your problems and agree totally you are due major compensation, full refund is what I would request. Agree future discount off published prices is worthless. Its like getting a discount on rack rates in a hotel. Many people will not be able to take another cruise and probably saved and planned for years for this one. Has anyone in your group gone to the media? .

[dkjretired]

California Oldie and others, I am so sorry for your problems and agree totally you are due major compensation, full refund is what I would request. Agree future discount off published prices is worthless. Its like getting a discount on rack rates in a hotel. Many people will not be able to take another cruise and probably saved and planned for years for this one. Has anyone in your group gone to the media? .

 

In the past with Celebrity, the percent off has been off the best price you can get not rack rates. Just reporting what has been done previously.

[Ma Bell]

That's correct Don it's 30% off the best rate you can find.

 

It's also true that only one large ship is allowed at the face of the glacier at a time. We've been there 8 times and this has always been true. One large ship has to leave before another may enter.

[Old Sea Legs]

QUOTE: "Progress is usually found in the common ground rather than the extremes. Let's pull together and set an example as great cruisers helping a fine cruiseline achieve greatness by handling future incidences better...for they surely will happen. ...cruise well...Oui"

 

Amen! - Old Sea Legs

[judyfssw]

First of all, I'm very sorry about your experiences on the Summit. I, too, think that the captain did not lie about only one ship at a time into Hubbard Glacier. On our two trips there, there was only one ship allowed. Another ship stayed out until we began to leave on both cruises.

[Lois R]

. . . "all of the descriptions that have been posted here do point to a real managemnet problem at Celebrity."

 

The buck stops at the desk of Dan Hanrahan, President of Celebrity. In business, the attitude of those in positions of management in the field almost always reflects that which which proceeds from the top dog at the home office. Dan is a hands-on manager and I believe he was calling the policy shots from Florida.

 

It may very well be time for Jack Williams, president and COO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., to make a change.

 

Jack? Jack left....can't remember what month it was, but since

we are in May 2006...I think it was in 2005. It was in the news

a while back.

[OCruisers]

Like a child throwing a tantrum, some posters are better ignored.

 

How True!!!! :D

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)