Your scariest cruise experience???

[tomc]

I hasten to note that I never did it on a cruise and I picked my company carefully. It did go over well. They knew I'm nuts.

[Enchanted]

hammybee (response to #15) -- I used to carry a zipper up my sleeve. When we'd be having the soup course, I'd pull it out and say, "There's a fly in my soup."

 

LOL- but what a waste of good soup!! :D

 

To all those who replied and commented on my post- all I can say is i wish i knew where to find you when all this happened!!

Maybe HAL HQ is reading all this and would now, a few years later have the compassion to make things right by offering me a free cruise! (and air/transfers) RIGHT!

 

CC is truly a wonderful informative site and i'm so happy I have found you all :)

[Mary Ellen]

First cruise - 40 foot seas on the 9,000 ton (previous) Prinsendam. The screw was coming out of the water. I just knew every bolt and rivet was coming undone. :eek:

[Sailorgirlseattle]

Mine's not an on-board story, and really turned out to be nothing at all, but it was our first cruise, our first trip to Mexico, our honeymoon and I was young and naive.

 

We were sailing Carnival down the Mexican Riviera. The whole trip was filled with mishaps, like the airline sending my clothes to Baltimore instead of LA, ship embarkation delayed because a woman decided to GIVE BIRTH on the gangway during disembarkation, etc.

 

Anyway, we didn't book any shore excursions, just decided to wander the ports on our own. Puerto Vallarta was our first stop and we got off the ship excited to see the town. First person who approached us was an American "inviting" us to tour a condo timeshare deal nearby. We declined, and headed into town. Later, we were about to head back to the ship and ran into the same guy. He "invited" us again, gave a free cheap plastic plaque of something Mexican and said he'd share our cab with us. Ok, we still had time, why not? He jumps into the front seat of the cab and starts speaking Spanish with the cab driver and away we go. Heading off into the jungle, FAST, and AWAY from the ship. We started looking at each other, concerned, and the American says to us "oh, it's just a short cut." Oh? Heading AWAY from the ship is a short cut? Next thing, we are in the jungle, surrounded by trees, etc, and we see a prison coming up on the right. With high cement walls and glass shards on top. UH-OH! Stupid American tourists, WHAT did we get ourselves into?! Then, we passed the prison, merged onto a freeway and headed straight to the wharf. Phwew! Really WAS a shortcut after all!

 

Needless to say though, that we bagged the timeshare thing, the guy took his cheap plaque back, and we returned to the ship early and had a coupla stiff drinks!:D

[PRINSENDAM]

 

 

Although another person who was on the Statendam in October with us disputes that the ship had sewerage problems or only minor problems, I personally know two woman who spent the whole cruise using the public facilities, day and night. quote]

 

 

Damn right I dispute it! The 'FACT' is that ALL ships experience problems of one kind or another... including plumbing problems... at one time or another including STATENDAM! The ship is not a floating malfunctioning sewer as you seem to be suggesting.

 

What cabin were those two ladies in?

 

Stephen.

[tomc]

Enchanted --

LOL- but what a waste of good soup!!

I kept it up my sleeve, said, "OH, there's a fly in my soup," as I pulled it out of my sleeve and held it up. Never touched the soup. I'd never do it on a HAL ship; maybe in the station lunchroom.

 

Can't beat Sailorgirlseattle's, "Ship embarkation delayed because a woman decided to GIVE BIRTH on the gangway during disembarkation."

[jtl513]

How about being wakened by a smoke alarm at 4:45a, seeing smoke coming out of the a/c vent, and seeing an officer run past our cabin saying "Smoke in the boiler room! Smoke in the boiler room" into her walkie-talkie? Within a minute or so other officers were pounding on doors and getting everyone down to their life-boat stations. In about 20 minutes we learned it was an over-heated bearing in an a/c blower for the aft 30 or so cabins of decks 6, 7, an 8. This happened on the 14th cruise of the Noordam, last June.

[CDRMark]

The lamb was overcooked......

 

Mark

[seaisme]

We were sailing with HAL after a hurricane and we came upon a private yacht in the middle of the ocean that was severely damaged and listing and mast broken. The ship turned around and boarded the yacht...everyone on board HAL was anxious about what they would find. The yacht was empty. Later that evening, the Captain came on over the PA system and announced that the family on the yacht had abandoned it during the hurricane and were found by the Coast Guard and were safe.

[Iamthesea]

My parents finally came to our cabin and I filled them in on the nights events. They told me to stay there and they would go and look.

I know had we been in your situation (and getting no where with HAL), that my parents would have invited us to bunk with them,,,especially after getting sick.

 

Three scary cruise moments for me:

1st cruise on Disney with very rough seas on the last night and not being able to find DD after her curfew. After a crew search, she was located in a stairwell with the "last night - stay up all night" group of kids from the teen center. No one told us about this tradition and DD didn't think we would mind. :eek:

 

Leaving on a HAL cruise and being very ill.:( Funny things going on with my brain, body numbness and eye feeling like it was going to pop out. I thought I might be having a stroke, but not wanting to disappoint my cruising partners, I went ahead with the cruise...all awhile taking mega doses of Advil. I had never encountered anything like it! Turns out that I had a weird migraine and have had a few since then.

 

Being in the path of hurricane Wilma, and being stuck off shore of Miami for 2 days.

[PRINSENDAM]

We were sailing with HAL after a hurricane and we came upon a private yacht in the middle of the ocean that was severely damaged and listing and mast broken. The ship turned around and boarded the yacht...everyone on board HAL was anxious about what they would find. The yacht was empty. Later that evening, the Captain came on over the PA system and announced that the family on the yacht had abandoned it during the hurricane and were found by the Coast Guard and were safe.

 

 

 

About nine years ago in Bermuda a local fisherman put out a VHF call that they had spotted a dismasted yacht drifting about ten miles offshore. A friend of mine sitting at our dock heard the call. Without hesitation we hopped into his boat and headed offshore. About an hour later we found the boat, the 38 ft MYSTERY out of Salem MA. It was a little bit rough and I wasn't too keen to jump from one boat to the other! Making a quick inspection of the boat, I could hear water sloshing about inside the cabin. Pushing back the canopy I didn't know what I was going to find.... a dead yachtsman probably! Thankfully there was no body on board. Anyhow, we put a line aboard and towed MYSTERY into port. A search was made for the owner and we discovered that the yacht had been abandoned almost a year before in mid Atlantic and had been drifting ever since.

 

We contacted the owner and claimed a salvage award but he refused to pay so the boat became ours. We did a small amount of work on the boat then sold her locally .... after paying 50% import duty!!!!! Anyhow, I picked up $10,000 for the day's work.

 

Stephen

[Bill S]

We have had two "tense" moments during our cruises with HAL.

The first is when we were on the Statendam and an electical fire occurred in the master distribution panel, disabling the normal electrical system, killing the engines and sending smoke up through some passageways. When you see crew in firefighting gear removing fire extinguishers from the passageways, it gets your attention!

The second time was when our ship, the Amsterdam, became encircled in ice flows down in Antarctic waters. The ship came to a dead stop, did a 360 turn and then started very, oh so slowly, making its way through 3 bands of ice flows. You could cut the tension with a knife up in the Crow's Nest. Before we entered Antarctic waters we were told that the Amsterdam was not "ice-reinforced" and we had to avoid ice at all costs. Well, Captain Harris didn't have a choice - he did a great job getting us out!

[Vic The Parrot]

We were sailing with HAL after a hurricane and we came upon a private yacht in the middle of the ocean that was severely damaged and listing and mast broken. The ship turned around and boarded the yacht...everyone on board HAL was anxious about what they would find. The yacht was empty. Later that evening, the Captain came on over the PA system and announced that the family on the yacht had abandoned it during the hurricane and were found by the Coast Guard and were safe.

 

 

 

Veendam Feb 1996 .... right?

 

 

:)

[hammybee]

I hasten to note that I never did it on a cruise and I picked my company carefully. It did go over well. They knew I'm nuts.

 

Have you sailed with Vic and his spider?

[Enchanted]

I know had we been in your situation (and getting no where with HAL), that my parents would have invited us to bunk with them,,,especially after getting sick.

 

 

I love my parents dearly but have you seen the size of the cabins??? we woulda killed each other. haha

 

Actually, their room didn't smell much better than ours (they were right beside us) only their carpet wasn't wet... and they didn't know i was sick until they came to get me on the morning of disembarkation.

[airlink diva]

My scariest and prehaps funniest(not at the time) was on my back to back Alaskan inside passage cruise. I was in Ketchikan for the second time. Since I did the touristy things on the first time, I just decided to mail some postcards, eat lunch at a small diner that a crew member suggested and buy some drinks at the local store.
My ship wasn't docked in the main area, but about two miles north. I forgot that the ship time was a hour ahead of shore time!
I had just paid for my lunch and was taking my time heading to the dock. All of sudden, the ship horn blared!! It was at this time that I realize that I had to really run to catch the boat :eek: :eek: !! I was so mad at myself and was thinking that if the ship left me, how was I getting to the next (which was the last port) port with only $50 dollars!
The only thing that saved me from missing the boat was a grandmother who had all her grandchildren (from 4 to 17 years old) on the cruise as a treat. They also forgot about adjusting to ship time (I found out later). The two oldest grandkids dashed to the ship yelling "Don't leave!! Don't leave". You had me, a 65 year old and five children running like madmen!! We made the boat due to her two older grandkids who stood at the ship entrance until we got on board!!
I can laugh about it now, but I was scaried out of my wits thinking about missing the boat. Now when I go on shore, I double check when swiping off on the ship time!!

[Copper10-8]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=navy]Maybe not that scary but definitely anxious moments for some: October 1997 East-bound Panama Canal cruise Vancouver-FLL on Veendam. My parents, my wife and I get onboard in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, Captain Jonathan Mercer is the master. We knew ahead of time that hurricane "Pauline" was hovering somewhere south of us but what's a mother to do?[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000080]First port of call for us was Acapulco. Pauline is still south of us and out of the picture. No problemas so everybody gets off Veendam to enjoy their excursions and/or the city itself. About 1:00 PM, we notice that the winds are starting to pick up and the skies are starting to turn dark grey. We're back on the ship but we figure there's gonna be trouble in River City. Pauline had changed her mind (women's prerogative, right?) has made a turn to the north-west and is now making a bee-line for Acapulco. The ships' staff is starting to make desperate attempts to get all of Veendam's pax back onboard. Problem is that at about the same time, the Mexican authorities close down the port of Acapulco to all in and out-bound traffic/vessels. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000080][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000080]At about 5:00 PM, all of Veendam's pax are back onboard. Capt. Mercer talks the authorities in to allowing him to move Veendam into the Bay of Acapulco as opposed to letting her get slammed against the dock by the hurricane-strength winds. He does this but instead of anchoring there like he's supposed to, just keeps on chugging out to sea and then actually out-runs and out-manouvres Pauline getting around her outer edges. We encountered high winds, high seas and a somewhat rough night but by day-break we were in calm seas and blue skies. Unfortunately, Pauline made[COLOR=#000000] [/COLOR][COLOR=navy] landfall as a category 2 hurricane and produced torrential rainfall along the Mexican coastline up to 16 inches. Intense flooding and mudslides in some of the poorest areas of Mexico killed between 230 to 400 people, making it one of the deadliest Eastern Pacific storms in recorded history:(. [/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000080][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000080]We wound up having to by-pass our next port of call, Santa Cruz Huatulco, Mexico but Captain Mercer was our hero on that cruise. Especially after we learned that the Mexican authorities had put an arrest warrant out for him after he disobeyed their orders to stay put in Acapulco. Besides several medical emergencies and evacs, the rest of that cruise was uneventful! [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[Sailorgirlseattle]

[quote name='hammybee']Have you sailed with Vic and his spider?[/quote]

Um, explain please?:eek:

[RuthC]

[quote name='Copper10-8'][FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=#000080]Captain Mercer was our hero on that cruise. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/quote]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=royalblue]He did some fancy manuvering on my crossing to Antarctica, too. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=#4169e1]Jonathan Mercer is one captain that I have utmost confidence in. :) [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[jessemon]

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Red"]
Upon boarding I was informed that the shipment of "Bud Lite" had not been delivered to the bars yet.......:eek:
Scarey:rolleyes: [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[tomc]

[b]hammybee --[/b]

Not sure what you mean about Vic and his spider ... but I think I know. Is he the fellow who left a plastic spider on his dining room table? I bought some rubber cockroaches for just that purpose [i]AFTER[/i] I get to know the waiter and the Lido waiters (I hang out there a lot and always have a lot of fun with them).

[Juanita462]

On our first cruise on the Statendam there was a strong sewer smell for 11 of the 17 days. they told the pax that they didn't know what it was and were working hard to find the cause and fix it. Move forward 2 years and we are on the Statendam again - talked to one of the crew and they knew what it was alright - a valve on the sewer line had broken and flooded the crew quarters and sloshed up the walls with the motion of the ship. One day out from our last stop in Hawaii the smell disappeared and I read in the Hawaiin news that they thought the ship had discharged their sewer water while still too close to the land - don't know if it is true or not.

By the way, we were given $500 each towards another cruise because of the problem.

There were no sewer smells the next time we cruised on her.

[RevNeal]

[quote name='Copper10-8'][FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=navy]We wound up having to by-pass our next port of call, Santa Cruz Huatulco, Mexico but Captain Mercer was our hero on that cruise. Especially after we learned that the Mexican authorities had put an arrest warrant out for him after he disobeyed their orders to stay put in Acapulco. Besides several medical emergencies and evacs, the rest of that cruise was uneventful! [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]

Sounds like a wild, and fun, ride.
My question would be: how did HAL deal with the legal issue for Captain Mercer? Or, is he now restricted from ever visiting Mexico again?

[Copper10-8]

[quote name='revneal']Sounds like a wild, and fun, ride.
My question would be: how did HAL deal with the legal issue for Captain Mercer? Or, is he now restricted from ever visiting Mexico again?[/quote]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=navy]We asked that same question next time we saw him; apparently HAL took care of it through their legal dept. The captain is once again "doing" Mexico on a regular basis on Oosterdam :)

BTW, read you're thinking about the Sea of Cortez on Ryndam! Great choice plus you get a chance (hopefuly) to meet Captain Frans Consen, a very funny guy![/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[RevNeal]

[quote name='Copper10-8'][FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=navy]We asked that same question next time we saw him; apparently HAL took care of it through their legal dept. The captain is once again "doing" Mexico on a regular basis on Oosterdam :)

BTW, read you're thinking about the Sea of Cortez on Ryndam! Great choice plus you get a chance (hopefuly) to meet Captain Frans Consen, a very funny guy![/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]

I was thinking that Mercer was one of the captains of the Oosterdam, so I was curious how it was handled. To put it simply, the captain had the safety of his ship and passengers foremost in his mind, and he did as his judgment and experience dictated. I wouldn't want it any other way.

As for the Ryndam ... I've never cruised aboard her, so it would be the perfect opportunity. Of the options, it's the one I like best ... and not just because of it being the Ryndam. Another option is the Maasdam's 10 day cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale to the Southern Caribbean ("Seafarer"). That looks good, too, but I've been on the Maasdam several times and would like to try the Ryndam. AND, I've been to all those ports, while on the Ryndam's Sea of Cortez Cruise 3 of the ports will be new to me.

I'm not happy about canceling the Statndam (and neither is Christopher, for that matter) but I understand why the Bishop doesn't want me away for a month at that time ... and, for what it's worth, I agree with his reasons. Oh, well ... there will always be another opportunity (or more) to do that (or a similar) itinerary. I was so looking forward to it.

The good news is that the Ryndam cruise (if that's the one we do) is cheaper in several respects (it won't cost as much for the cruise, nor for the airfare, nor for the excursions). If we do that one I may have sufficient funds left to do something else in the Fall (prior to the South America Cruise I'm planning for January 2008).

I wish I could do Lisa's Oosterdam cruise (at nearly the same time in March 2007), but I can't. I MUST be back in Dallas for a morning meeting on March 24, and the Oosterdam cruise overlaps that. (Sorry, Lisa!)