An Early/Sad Debarkation from the Constellation...

[BocaRoo]

I thought it might be helpful to others on this forum to post about our very recent experience on the Constellation with regard to our early and unexpected debarkation from the ship. We had booked our November 5-16, 2007 sailing on the Constellation in July, 2006 and were long overdue for this cruise.

 

Sadly, 4 days after embarkation on Thursday, 11/8 we received a call from my husband’s brother that their father had died unexpectedly. If you are concerned about loved ones or situations at home, make sure your family has your cell phone number and is aware that cell phones DO work onboard at sea. Technology has changed; we received the call on my cell phone 4 hours after we left Bermuda, while at sea. Leave your cell phone on and check it regularly. I did have a problem retrieving voicemail and checking my minutes (I have Verizon). I figured out that to check voicemail, I had to call into my own number and access it that way. I was able to use my cell phone for the duration of our trip.

 

I went to Guest Relations to inform them we would be debarking in St. Maarten, the 2nd port on our itinerary, 2 days later on Saturday, 11/10. The Guest Relations staff were very kind and referred me to the Concierge, who would could book flights for us (you will need to give your credit card) from St. Maarten to Chicago. The Concierge did book the flights, but did not offer any other assistance or information of any kind, i.e., how could we get our bags off the ship and to the taxis, etc. I want to mention here that if the X Concierge books your flights, you will see a $30.00 fare handling charge on your credit card as well as the ticket charges. Be sure to get a “Declaration of Interruption of Cruise” form from Guest Relations – and make sure to have someone sign it!!!! Do not be afraid to ask questions and ask for whatever you feel you need in the way of service; you paid for this cruise and X will NOT be refunding you for the unused portion as stated in the cruise ticket contract.

 

Always purchase cruise insurance!!! The following morning I contacted our cruise insurance company, Access America. We are still working on this but should be compensated for the unused portion of the cruise and other expenses. Be sure to save all receipts – you will need them!!!

 

Be sure to cancel all unused shore excursions. They will be credited to your SeaPass account. We did this on Friday morning as soon as the Shore Excursion desk opened. They, too, were very kind and processed the refund quickly and efficiently.

 

Our time onboard until we reached St. Maarten was awful; under the circumstances, we just couldn’t enjoy our remaining time on the ship. Any bright spots we had were provided by the wonderful people we met on our Cruise Critic Roll Call – a truly lovely and caring group of people with whom we hope we will cruise again!!!

 

On Saturday, we settled up with Guest Relations. We had $400 in onboard credit, most of which was unused. This, as well as any other credits (shore excursions) will be credited to the credit card you submitted upon embarkation. Be sure to get a final printout before leaving the ship.

 

Remember to ask for your tipping envelopes – and don’t forget to tip! We tipped everyone for 6 days and added extra for our cabin attendant for his assistance the day we debarked.

 

Final debarkation: what a royal pain! Guest Relations had told us we could ask our cabin attendant to help us get our luggage to the gangway and off the ship. Iszy and his assistant did help us to the gangway – where we had to wait by the security checkpoint for an officer to check us off a list. It was very disorganized and a highly congested area in which to wait, what with passengers trying to debark for shore excursions, etc.!! Iszy helped us get our bags onto the pier and that’s when we were on our own: no assistance from essentially the gangway all the way up the pier, through the St. Maarten Visitors’ Center to the taxi stand with 4 huge bags and 2 carry-ons… When we asked for help or information to get help from the ship’s staff, all we got was shrugs. Thank goodness for wheeled luggage!!!

 

We are home (well before the ship arrived today) and still somewhat shell-shocked from the whole ordeal. Instead of celebrating our anniversary and cruising home from Bayonne to Fort Lauderdale, my husband lost his father and we flew north to a funeral. In retrospect, it would have been nice if X had sent someone to our cabin to see if there was anything we needed or if they could do anything to help us. There is so much to remember to do – especially while you’re in a highly emotional state. A bit of extra attention and TLC - that would have been “Exceeding Expectations.”

 

I hope none of you have to go through the experience we just had, and that by posting this I help someone else, even if by providing one little detail you might not have thought of…

[pamkev]

Jill,

I am so sorry for your loss.:(

[usha]

I'm so very sorry about your losing your father-in-law. I'm also sorry to hear that you didn't get a little more assistance from Celebrity post-disembarkation, but thank goodness you were wise enough to get trip insurance.

[wv4891]

Jill

 

Our thoughts and prayers go out to you and Kevin.

[Fam of 5]

First of all my condolences. I don't post that much, but I feel that this is worth posting. Unfortunately while cruising on NCL I lost my 22 y.o. nephew. I will have to say that I had the complete opposite experience with them. Not only did they make my flight reservations, they sent a lovely platter of fruit and pastries to our rooms. We had the Hotel Director call us to ask if we would like to have leave some of our luggage and they would get it to our home after the end of the scheduled cruise. We were offered an escort to the airport from the ship to help with any custom forms /questions. At such a sad and confusing time, I could not have asked for more help and suport from NCL. They had our cancellations complete and our final invoice brought to us. I found everyone to be so understanding and compassionate since they know what it's like to be away from home and feeling helpless. In our haste to get off the ship, my daughter left her digital camera in her room, and we naturally assumed that we would never see it again. Two weeks after we were home, the camera was delivered with a note that the room steward found it after we were already gone. I will have to say that they made this very difficult time a lot easier for us all. I'm very sorry that you didn't receive that kind of care and attention from Celebrity.

[ecslady]

I am sorry for your loss. Thank you for posting the "what to do" list.

[IngramTXcruisers]

So Sorry about your loss and the confusion on the ship. Thanks for giving us helpful information.

[spearmint]

I'm so very sorry about your losing your father-in-law. I'm also sorry to hear that you didn't get a little more assistance from Celebrity post-disembarkation, but thank goodness you were wise enough to get trip insurance.

 

I couldn't agree more. Also, thank you for posting a "to do" list. It will help others, I have no doubt.

[ccletzgo]

So very sorry for your loss. I assume you have passports? Otherwise, that would have been another issue to deal with..

[negc]

I am very sorry to hear of your loss. I am also sorry to read of your experiences in leaving the ship in St. Maarten to fly home. We had fellow passengers on the Connie TA in September who had to leave the ship when it arrived in Newfoundland for a similar reason (death in the family) but I believe that her experience was much better than yours and from her reports, the concierge and the rest of the ship's staff could not have been more sympathetic or helpful. I hope that you have written Celebrity to advise them of your experience if only so that it doesn't happen to someone else in a similar situation.:)

[HokiePoq]

I am so sorry for your loss. I hope you will be able to schedule an anniversary celebration at a later date...and thanks for the reminder of why we all need cruise insurance.

[BocaRoo]

Thank you all for your kind words... Kevin, who leaves the CC posting to me, is very touched by your condolences, as am I.

 

Yes, our passports were in order - no problems there...

 

Yes, we are planning a "replacement" anniversary cruise within the next few months...

 

...and yes, in light of some of the responses received here, I think I will write to Celebrity. We have two more cruises booked on X as it is our preferred cruiseline. If one doesn't voice dissatisfaction - in any arena or situation - a problem can't be fixed!

[Drew B]

I, too, would like to offer my condolensces.

 

I also want to commend you for your thoughtfulness in remembering to get tip envelopes and tip the staff. Under the circumstances, I don't know if that is something I would think about, but I am very impressed that you didn't let it slip.

[shakespeare]

Jill and Kevin...we were so disheartened to hear the bad news. We really enjoyed meeting you and being a part of the roll call. Please accept our prayers and sympathies for your loss.

 

We enjoyed meeting you both and were sorry your cruise had to end so quickly.

 

Hugs,

Liz

[Lois R]

Jill and Kevin, my heartfelt wishes and sincere condolences go out

to both of you.

 

Jill, we have never met but I have known you on here for a very long

time.

Wishing both of you peace......and hopefully wonderful memories

of your Father In Law.

 

I also agree with Drew, your thoughtfulness about the tipping

under such sad circumstances is definitely commendable.

 

It is quite disappointing X was not as thoughtful......

[kitty9]

I am so very sorry for your loss. My condolences to you and your family.

 

As to your treatment by X, it does not surprise me. When my mom broke her hip on Millennium this past January, they were totally unwilling to help beyond getting me a flight from Nassau to FLL. Mom had to be medically evac'd from the ship, so that was handled by X's Miami office, but for anything else, I was on my own. They promised to assist me with luggage and get me a ride from the pier to the airport, but once we docked, there I was, all alone with absolutely no help. It was an incredibly stressful happening and X was of no help whatsoever.

 

I wish you and your family the best during this difficult time.

[hybrn8]

and this couples' tragedy illustrates just why they are needed. A "proper" concierge would have handled every little detail, including getting you and your luggage on the plane and the employees tipped. I would suggest that should anyone else find themselves requiring this type of assistance, that your first call be to the Hotel Manager. Let him/her know you are leaving all the details in their capable hands and refuse to be shunted from desk to desk. When you are in a state of shock, you should never have to wait in line behind people needing a blow-dryer (or whatever else, you get my drift).

To the OP: Hopefully, fond memories of happier days will sustain you in the difficult days ahead.

[BocaRoo]

Thank you for the additional kind words of sympathy. If I have learned anything, it's that we have a group of compassionate and caring people here on CruiseCritic.com. We do have lovely memories of Kevin's father and are comforted knowing that he died peacefully. Our family is doing better and they have all insisted we book another cruise ASAP. We are moving forward and working on that now...

 

Darcie - that is just awful treatment - you know exactly how we felt!

 

hybrn8 - you are absolutely right in your definition of a "proper" Concierge's duties. The "Concierge" on the Constellation was merely an extension of Guest Relations, and a poor one, at that. I was more impressed by the Guest Relations staff...

[hybrn8]

Last spring we were on a Century transatlantic and I found a place to sit and read which was next to the concierge's desk. I was stunned by some of the advise this friendly and earnest young woman gave fellow passengers, to wit: the euro is the currency of England. She wasn't able to book restaurants, cars/drivers/tours, transport, etc etc. It was a joke. And to learn that you had to pay for this ineptitude is astounding.

[Karynanne]

My sincere condolences to you and your family. I do hope that you and your husband share a wonderful, less stressful, anniversay in the future.

 

Karyn

[C 2 C]

We wish to offer our condolences as well. Having to deal with a family tragedy is difficult at the best of times.

 

I too wish I could say that I'm surprised at the level of assistance provided by Celebrity and Constellation. Unfortunately the comparatively insignificant issues we experienced on Constellation as a result of "Guest Relations" indicates a serious problem with on board management. No one should ever have to deal with serious problems and an unresponsive crew.

[ocngypz]

Jill:

 

I am so sorry to hear about your loss. My prayers are with you and your family at this difficult time.

 

In years past, it was the Social Hostess who personally attended to the needs of the bereaved.

 

Thank you for taking the time to post about your experience.

[stinsowm]

Jill,

 

I am so sorry for Kevin and your loss. I was blessed to have met you both. Please know that you and he are in my family's prayers.

 

Walter

[AstridSJ]

Jill,

 

We too are very blessed to have met you and Kevin and were so sorry to hear about the loss of Kevin's dad. You and Kevin are such a nice couple and Bob and I really enjoyed visiting with you during the few days you were onboard with us.

 

We really hope that we will meet again in the future and I am glad to see that you have another cruise booked to look forward too.

 

Please tell Kevin we said hi.

 

Astrid

[BocaRoo]

Hi, Astrid,

 

Thank you so much! Please read my email to you and Bob... it says it all :) ...

 

Jill & Kevin