Hurricane Frances info-- post here

[Sea Island Lady]

There in!

 

Sovereign of the Seas is currently docked at Port Everglades. Guests are being assisted with travel arrangements to return home.

 

Sovereign of the Seas will not make its four night cruise scheduled to depart Port Canaveral today. That sailing is cancelled. Guests booked on that sailing will receive a full refund. Travel agent commissions will be protected.

[SWACK]

Tried to get the $19. ship transfer to the airport, but they were sold out

Do you mean they actually left you at a port that had been closed, and just said 'good luck'? They should have done the Port Everglades thing in the first place....

 

What would you have done if you could not get a car? Must have been flippin':eek:

[DM]

As soon as we were close enough for the cell phone to work (since we couldn't get a line out from our stateroom) we called Budget about our reservation for the following day, and learned that they were being evacuated and couldn't provide us with a car. We went directly to the purser's desk and stood in line for a very long time. A woman ahead of us was trying to purchase transfers to the airport, and when she was told that they were no longer available, she began to cry. Several of us in line spoke up and asked what we should do, we were told to look for a taxi or other van service once we got off the ship. I was not thrilled with that idea because I knew that getting four people to the airport would be very costly. (Keep in mind that I was not fully aware of the severity of the situation at this point.) I went back to my cell phone, called Enterprise and was very, very fortunate that they found a car for me and sent their shuttle to pick us up. I felt especially fortunate since I didn't see any taxis once we did get off the ship. I have wondered what others did to get away from the port.

 

The other thing that was interesting was that we were directed to the conference room if we needed assistance making travel arrangements. Since I couldn't get the stateroom telephone to work, I went to the conference room. They told me to wait until my cell phone would work and use that to call my airline. They also handed me a sheet of paper with 3 hotels listed, in case I could not change my flight. I was told that I would be responsible for the hotel charges but should get a discount by mentioning the ship. I called one of the hotels but they had no rooms available. I stopped calling since everyone I spoke to could not get a hotel room either. Again I wonder what others did. My family was really, really, really lucky to get that car.

[yarlenna]

Reading the stories of folks isloated and "abandoned" at the port is quite upsetting. I wonder what could have been done about it. Saying that RCI "should have provided ___" doesn't help. I am asking what resources (that were available) could have been used to help the cruising public in this situation. My second question (and probably the more meaningful one) is what can a passenger do to prevent this sort of thing from happening to them.

[yarlenna]

Do you mean they actually left you at a port that had been closed, and just said 'good luck'? They should have done the Port Everglades thing in the first place....

 

What would you have done if you could not get a car? Must have been flippin':eek:

Port Everglades was under the same hurricane warning. Looking back, we now know where Frances went. At the time, the storm was doing really frightening things - like nearly stopping and changing direction. That storm could have hit anywhere from Miami to South Carolina. Ships do NOT move quickly. Believe me, the folks here in Florida certainly didn't want to inconvenience any tourists. Tourists are the lifeblood of out economy. BUT at that point the local population was being told to participate in the largest evacuation in the history of the state. Gasoline was in very short supply. People, knowing that they might never see their homes again, were scrambling to obtain some of the precious liquid so that they could then sit in hours and hours of traffic in an attempt to save their own lives and the lives of their families. YES the cruise passengers deserved to be taken care of. I read that Orlando International Airport was not considered a good destination. Where exactly did you want them to take the passengers? Problems are easy to identify. Solutions are more difficult.

[DM]

yarlenna,

I don't know what could have been done, that's why I am anxious to learn what others did to secure transportation away from the port. As for asking what a passenger should do to prevent this from happening, I don't think there is anyway to prepare for what happened. I can't say that I should have purchased the ship's transfers to begin with since it would not have done me any good to end up at the airport. I probably would not have gotten a flight out and may have ended up at one of the shelters for the weekend. I think the best anyone can do under the circumstances is look at it as an adventure and hope for the best.

[nrunnion]

Has anyone heard the extent of the damage at the port and how that affects future cruises?

NC

[SWACK]

yarlenna..

 

My response was based upon data available at the time, not a look back...at that time the expected landfall point WAS Canaveral...

 

Canaveral was 15 hours from the Bahamas, we could have been in Miami by dawn.

 

Canaveral is a little town, Miami is not...

 

And finally, to drop people off in a town deserted by local officials is not just a bad move, it is probably illegal.

[boom op]

What happens in the winter when airlines drop you off in airports that are closed due to winter strorms? This was a HURRICANE!!!

[SWACK]

Actually, I live in Buffalo, so snow is a subject I know well...They never leave one airport, heading for another that is already closed. They leave you where you are, or fly you to an airport nearby that is still open. They then bus you to your airport...but they never fly into Buffalo when it's been closed. Been there, done that, bought the T-Shirt.

 

But really, my point was not what they did was wrong, but that they had no concern for where you would go once they left you off at the evacuated port.. all they did was give you phone numbers of place to try and get help. It should have been there responsibility to get you to a safe port..... or at least seem concerned that you could get there...or even a plan as to what to do in certain situations.. I mean Hurricanes can't be a new subject to these folks... can it? :confused:

 

And as bad as snow seems to those in CA or in the south, sitting in a airport or building in a blizzard is rarely a life-threatening event, unlike being left off

at a port with an appoaching hurricane...

[LadyFinn]

Since ships are brought into ports under the guidance and permission of the port authority (Pilots), I strongly doubt any cruiseline did anything illegal.

I would simply guess the decision was made based on where the ship was and where they needed to be within a time frame.

Overall, I think all the cruiselines did a good job.

[SWACK]

Agreed on reaching the port, but to leave people in the port and say good luck, is simply unacceptable... guess you had to be there and see people who count on these people to know what they should do, and to see their fear and dissapointment as they are told that ther are no answers, no cars, and that they have no room either.. bye...

 

I did ok, but not all people are able to adapt to these conditions...nor were there many options for them

[yarlenna]

My understanding was that a bus to the Orlando airport was available at 19 per person. At that point the people were left to the facilities of the local authorities. There were many NEW problems in Florida

1. Extremely limited gasoline and deisel fuel. With no fuel coming into the state and a massive (2+million persons) exodus of people from the state, there was an unforseen transportation crunch. This problem was not limited to cruise passengers. Remember that the local supplies were already somewhat depleted from Charley and that the incoming deliveries were simply insufficient to both take care of current need PLUS another mass evacuation.

2. The last time that Florida experienced two strong storms in the same brief time was about 50 years ago. Back then, there were many fewer people and even fewer cruise ships. I don't recall there being any, but I was very young back then. Hurricanes aren't new here, but they ARE infrequent. In the past 30 years I remember about 4 before this year - and only one of those was severe in the state of Florida. (Other states did have disasterous storms as well.)

3. Francis was a very very large storm. The surface area of the tropical storm/hurricane was larger than the state of Texas. There was really no safe place to go that was easy to get to.

4. Most of the current cruise industry leaving from Florida was built during the past 35 years. The ONLY severe storm in Florida during that time was Andrew. While Andrew was much stronger, it was also a much smaller storm. We didn't even get a breeze in Orlando. The current cruise lines (RCI, Carnival and NCL) all came into existence well after the last time that Florida experienced this kind of frequency of hurricanes. They (as well as most locals) had NO EXPERIENCE with being in Florida in this situation. You may get snow every year. Hurricanes - - well the last severe one was Andrew about ten years ago. The last back to back severe storms were about 50 years ago.

5. At the point where the ships abandoned Port Canaveral, THEY were scrambling for the safety of the ship. The local evacuations were to points inland. Granted, being left in an airport is not fun, but I don't believe they had any options. Most hotels were already overtaxed with folks from Charley. We had a combination of refugees from that storm PLUS workers who had come into the state to participate in Charley's clean up.

6. This storm was very difficult to predict. I don't recall the last time that a storm came to the shoreline and stalled. The watch/warning area essentially covered the entire state except for the panhandle (which got it later.)

7 FINALLY the ships do not have shoreside facilities for transportation. Their responsibility ends when they deposit the passenger on land. At that point, the passenger becomes the responsibility of themselves first, the local authorities, and whatever transportation companies they have contracted with for their further transportation

While I agree that service on RCI has significantly declined over the past few years, I must point out that NOTHING in their history could have prepared them for this pair of storms. They cannot provide a service that they do not have to give. People are at risk in those storms. I do hope that all passengers made it safely home. Thankfully, the loss of life with this storm was relatively small.

As I have said before, it is easy to identify problems. It is much more difficult to identify solutions.

[ExplorerCA]

I guess I was lucky ... I had exactly the opposite opinion of how Royal Caribbean handled our bout with Frances. I was on Explorer and when the port of Miami was closed, we came in a day late. But onboard, we didn't know where Frances would be hour to hour, so we sought to make new plans. To their credit, RCCL made the internet free to those who were looking to book/rebook flights, cars, etc. They also had free phone lines available to those who needed to contact the airlines, etc. They also distributed a form to each cabin asking whether passengers would need hotel accomodations in Miami when we arrived (they were apparently going to make some or all of three other ships available as hotels for those who were stranded without a flight home)

 

When the Coast Guard, dockworkers, etc finally opened up Miami, RCCL did a great job in processing embarkation even though the port was crowded with 6+ ships that had been left at sea while Frances had its way. Unlike the previous poster, we never felt remotely abandoned and instead felt pretty lucky that RCCL was watching out for us.

 

Yes, there was inconvenience involved for passengers onboard ships and those whose cruises were cancelled or postponed. But comparing that to the incredible damage done by this storm (estimated now at five billion dollars), missing a flight or being left to pay a transfer of $19 seems pretty insignificant. My traveling partner had his whole family spread between Leesburg (in central Florida) and Daytona (up in the northeast portion). Now THAT'S something to worry about.

[CaptJackSparrow]

Here's the link:

 

http://www.thenassauguardian.com/religion/281393807746975.php

 

I didn't see any photographs, unless they're somewhere on there that I missed.

[SWACK]

[QUOTE]missing a flight or being left to pay a transfer of $19 seems pretty insignificant.[/QUOTE]

My last comment here.. but it is not the money or the missed flight.. it is the fact that they left some people at the port becasue they did not have enough shuttles available.. people were told the shuttles were sold out, and that they had to find another way out on their own...

[DM]

Swack,
Thanks for explaining about the shuttles. I thought my post was clear regarding the shuttles, but I guess there was some confusion.

Explorer,
I don't believe that anyone on this board is trying to downplay the awful mess that Floridians or their families have had to deal with, we are simply stating our experiences. I'm glad you had a good experience in Miami. Since the cruise lines had more time to plan for debarkation there, they were better able to assist passengers with travel arrangements. My ship's debarkation in Port Canaveral was sort of "last minute" so the cruise line did not have enough time to prepare. Let me again say that my family was very lucky to have been able to find a rental car. I still wonder what others who were not so lucky did to secure transportation away from the port. I am anxious to hear their experiences and also from people who stayed on the ship.
Debbie