Would bad weather and canceled ports ruin your Asia cruise?

[Abby Ruth]

I think that the people who got so upset over what was out of the cruise line's control ruined the balance of the trip for themselves. I'm sure I would have been disappointed, but safety of the passengers and crew is the most important factor. Perhaps there could have been better information related to the passengers, but the cruise line was not obligated to do anything. It appears to me that a few misguided leaders among the passengers helped turn an unfortunate situation into an ugly situation.

[editor@cruisecritic]

One of the hardest things about writing a virtual is that you only get a day at a time in a place -- Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok -- and it's intimidating to try to even capture a bit of the essence of the place. Thanks so much, JAKT, for your nice words re Singapore. They made my day!

 

No segue here, just reflecting on other posts on this thread: the passengers weren't upset that we missed a port or two. It was four in the first six...with not a quality response by the ship staffers. I thought the CD on my trip had great heart and great experience in the region -- but maybe did not have a good enough instinct about dealing with unexpected situations.

 

CSB

 

Have never sailed with this line, but they can't be held responsible for the weather issue. The Pacific has a typhoon season, like it or not. And I would rather have a cruise line and captain make a decision in favour of safety than not.

 

Of course it is disappointing when you don't get to the places you think you are going -- but every ticket says that the internary may change.

 

That said, information, helpful advice, and some kind of compensation at the outset goes a long way. Most people are pretty sensible, and will react that way, even when disappointed.

 

Will be watching for the write-ups of the trip -- lived in Singapore for 3 years and enjoyed the write-up of that. I could smell and taste all my favourites during my read. Of course, you missed the REAL Raffles (I was there 1986-1989) with the REAL Long Bar -- open to the street to catch all the passing sights. It did have no air-conditioning, and most Americans did not like that bit of authencity. Thanks for bringing back a lot of wonderful memories.

[editor@cruisecritic]

I still vote for a sea visit...even if we missed some ports, I got to see Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai for the first time (and had a brief glimpse of Bangkok) and loved them all, would return in a Tokyo-minute (ha ha) but seriously, the trip was worth it for me. And I'll go back.

 

CSB

 

 

So for one's first and maybe only visit to Asia would you recommend land or sea.? I'v seen some land tours that start in Hong Kong, go to Vietnam w/ a couple of cities staying overnite and then on to Singapore.... What kind of land tours do you do??

 

I really want to see the city and stay for dinner and overnite... I thinking cruising is great but not every city is a "port" city that you can see in one day.

 

Thanks

CuriousCat

[Monkeythyme]

There's no way to predict that a typhoon, or typhoons will affect a cruise, even if it's typhoon season. People cruising the Caribbean in August, September and October take that into consideration. Should the cruise lines stop cruising the Caribbean "just in case" there's a hurricane or typhoon?

 

All they would have to do is threaten to cut off the Caribbean during hurricane season, and I would be on my knees promising to be a good boy. The downside is hurricanes, but the upside is calm seas and beautiful weather whenever no hurricane is present, which is about 95% of the time. So, it is a bit of a gamble, but what a payoff!!

[NotAPirate]

I agree that what offered, though late coming, was fair, and that those who railed for more are the reason why we have frivalent lawsuits so prevalent nowadays (YOU were the one that put the HOT coffee between your legs while driving; YOU were the one that decided to climb upon the store shelves to reach the stock on top instead of getting an employee; YOU were the one that ate fast-food every meal of every day and now you're grossly obese...). Where's the personal responsibility that characterizes our grandparents and great-grandparents? Oh, that's right, we 'baby-boomers' and 'gen-Xers' have had just about everything handed to us, we're spoiled and petulant...

 

I voted that the compensation offered was fair. Now, I would like to qualify that opinion. While fair, the deal would have been far better received had it been more timely. Considering that any TA can get you a 36% discount on this particular cruise, and more than 50% on most others, it was actually an offer of 22% at best if based on the advertised price.

As for my own self: While I will sadly admit I wasted the first sixty-three years of my life on land, I am now dedicated to making up for it.

A bad day at sea beats a good day in port.

 

My wife used to work for a national travel agency, and even she can't see where you're coming up with these figures. Most agencies earn only between 10-16% commission from a cruise package (or most any packages, excluding airfare since airlines don't pay commission). So, somewhere there's some misinformation you've been given? Granted, a lengthy cruise like this (19+ days) would net even a modest commission per reservation (10% on, say, $6500 is about $500 {no commission on taxes...}), after overhead most agencies can't afford to give up more than 3-5%, and even that has to be cleared by uppers since it will eventually eat into the bottom-line.

 

Caveat emptor - if an agency (or company, for that matter) is telling you they can offer you a substantial discount of that size, call the provider directly. There's been plenty of times in the past where we've seen cruises offered for "GREAT ROCK-BOTTOM LAST MINUTE DEALS!" and we called Carnival and guess what?, it's the SAME price they're offering -OR- it's on a limited sailing sometime in the off-season for a bunkbed cabin...

[r20312]

I agree communication from Princess staff is a key. In September about 300 of us on Golden Princess experienced a 2 hour on board wait at 6 AM in Los Angeles for a customs inspection that never took place. No Princess staff were about; the Assistant Purser we sought out was very hostile and would not listen that the Customs folks never even showed up! We insisted she stop arguing with passengers that it was a Customs issue, get out from behind a desk to see for herself, and finally our mutiny was avoided by letting us disembark!

[jroyalfuture]

We were not on this trip, but we had another situation on board the Sapphire without any consideration or even an apology from the captain or crew or staff. We were not at all pleased with the cruise director, Peter.

 

I think that the captain and cruise director both are responsible to keep one informed of unexpected situations that may occur. We are planning to avoid the Sapphire for our future cruises.

 

Judy & Jim Corey

Gainesville, Florida

[editor@cruisecritic]

Just checking back in light of the recent Carnival "situation" -- and you make a good and valid point.....

 

Carolyn

 

Carolyn Spencer Brown

Editor

Cruise Critic

 

We were not on this trip, but we had another situation on board the Sapphire without any consideration or even an apology from the captain or crew or staff. We were not at all pleased with the cruise director, Peter.

 

I think that the captain and cruise director both are responsible to keep one informed of unexpected situations that may occur. We are planning to avoid the Sapphire for our future cruises.

 

Judy & Jim Corey

Gainesville, Florida

[trooper 1]

Just checking back in light of the recent Carnival "situation" -- and you make a good and valid point.....

Carolyn

Carolyn Spencer Brown

Editor

Cruise Critic

 

We were on this cruise with you. To resummarize the whole mess. IMO. Princess had absolutely no control over the weather. Had the ship steamed full speed ahead ("Damn the typhoons") to the affected ports we might have been involved in a real sea disaster. However, the captain might (who knows?) have averted the so-called "rebellion" by answering a few questions: "Where are we?" "Why are here?" and, "Where are we going next?" These are some of the questions the "mutineers" were asking. The captain could. or should, have anticipated these in advance and taken some of the arrows out of their quivers. I personally think compensation was not the first thing on the mind of most of the people. Yes, we accepted the generous offer and have already used it for another cruise.