Carnival Hellgend I mean Legend 5-3-09!

[Kurbanfan]

Carnivals attitude seems to be we have made this decision, we are allowed to so just shut up.

 

 

It is the attitude on this board too;)

[tef43]

People in rant-mode don't do well with explanations it seems.

Nor does it appear that they have even a third-grade comprehension level of geography. :rolleyes:

[buckybruce]

"...When we left belize we were doing circle after circle after circle in the ocean and at 10 knots while the valor had passed us at sea as they left belize! So they can make it to there next port of call..."

 

I like that part.

 

Here's a clue: Belize is surrounded by coral reefs. EVERY ship has to sail in and out, very, very slowly, in a very convoluted path.

 

Do you know what Valor's itinerary is? Do you know where they were headed next and how much time they had built into their itinerary to make their ports and return home?

 

What does what Valor did have to do with any other ship?

 

People have explained that it isn't so simple as just rerouting to another port and pulling up to the pier. Are you so naive that you believe a ship can just change course and pull into the nearest port with no advance planning?

 

And how do you know what the cruiseline knew and when they knew it? Did the captain come on the speaker and tell you that he knew weeks ago that they couldn't make Roatan but didn't tell you just to see how PO'd you'd all get? Like it was some game?

 

Yes, people are jumping all over you. Why? Because we're all Carnival cheerleaders and think Carnival is perfect and can do no wrong?

 

NO! Because people can always find boards to complain about things but can't be bothered to find them BEFORE they book their trips/make their plans so that they are informed travelers.

 

THAT is why people give these Negative Nellies a hard time.

 

If someone comes here and posts a review that includes everything, including the good and the bad, they aren't ripped to shreds. It's the ones who just want to vent because THEY couldn't be bothered to do their homework and THEIR expecatations weren't met that aren't well received.

 

Post a review. Put some thought into it. Write like a reasonable adult rather than a spoiled child and people will be much more accepting of your feelings about the "cruise from hell" (which doesn't sound like it was so hellacious after all).

 

 

This is the most rational contribution to this thread I've seen so far.

 

I'm a first cruise newbie....we leave on 05/18/09 onboard Carnival Imagination for an altered cruise that has changed Cozumel to Nassau.

 

Am I pissed off? Not really, because as a first time cruiser the ship is as much as destination as the ports. And besides, anybody who thinks that a 6-8 hour stop in a port means they've "been" to a country iand can check it off their list is a dreamer. You need a land based vacation for that.

 

But it only takes a little research to know that the cruise lines are under no obligation to visit every port on their itinerary. You are paying for accomodation, food, and entertainment. That's it.

 

I want my captain to look out for my safety.

[mixjock]

Number 1 - You do not need to give a TX resident a lecture on Ike. We're all aware of the damage and destruction in our backyard, thank you.

 

Number 2 - Being that you weren't anywhere NEAR TX at the time of this storm, you probably have no idea that as of the Sunday before Ike's landfall, Ike's threat was NOT imminent in Galveston - it was not forecast to come anywhere near here. So anyone who left on that Conquest trip had no way of knowing what was going to happen.

 

Actually I was following it on galveston.com because we had just vacationed in Galveston a couple of weeks earlier and secondly I'm a weather geek and follow (and actually provide weather forecasts for stations across the country) weather around the country especially Hurricanes and yes if my memory serves me it was pretty much reported that the threat was imminent before the Conquest had left, in fact on galveston.com it was debated by many people on your cruise wether or not to go on the cruise or not and many were surprised that they did not cancel the cruise due to Ike. Either way you can't expect Carnival to bring you back to a port that was damaged and let you off on an island that has no way off and no way to provide basic necessities.

[brnsnbrws]

Seems Princess is having port problems and disgruntled pasengers too!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=983723

[gtalum]

I was on the Valor at the same time. We docked in Key West on Saturday, 5/9. We were the only ship in port the entire day. There was room for another ship. The fact is both the Valor and the Legend were in Belize the same day. That was on 5/7. The Valor had tried to dock in Roatan the previous morning, but of course we continued on to Belize. From Belize the Valor went to Key West. Apparently the Legend sailed directly back to Tampa. Could they have stopped in Key West with the Valor. Very good question as to why not. I think that is the biggest question from the people that were on the Legend. Why did the Valor get to go to Key West and they did not. Both ships left Belize at the same time and had basically the same distance to cover. It was well known that the Valor had missed Roatan the previous day, we had talked to people from the Legend while we were in port in Belize. They were scheduled to go to Roatan after leaving Belize. The one thing that may have made a difference was the fact that the Valor was scheduled to go to Key West before leaving Miami. This was a replacement Port for Cozumel.

 

You do realize that Tampa is significantly farther North than Miami, right?

[firefly333]

Actually I was following it on galveston.com because we had just vacationed in Galveston a couple of weeks earlier and secondly I'm a weather geek and follow (and actually provide weather forecasts for stations across the country) weather around the country especially Hurricanes and yes if my memory serves me it was pretty much reported that the threat was imminent before the Conquest had left, in fact on galveston.com it was debated by many people on your cruise wether or not to go on the cruise or not and many were surprised that they did not cancel the cruise due to Ike. .

 

Since you are such a expert, I am surprised you did not know that Conquest left sunday. Ike hit early Saturday morning.... almost a full 6 days later. In fact Ike did not turn toward Galveston until the last 24 hours. In fact, Ike had not even entered the gulf early Sunday morning, it could have gone up the coast of Florida. You asked on your other post if we lost anything .... you are unaware that pretty much everyone lost their car who was on both the Ecstasy and the Conquest?? And say you remember it so well. Believe me, I remember it much more than your memory which has things shaded.

 

Giving you the benefit of the doubt, you MIGHT be thinking of Ecstasy who left 4 days after Conquest, so they kinda knew Ike had a chance of hitting Texas which those on Conquest didnt know when we left for our cruise.

 

I still think Carnival should have helped us book a way home or given us even $20 for missing Galveston. We are all entitled to our opinion. People always say Carnival has no control over the weather as if that is a excuse for service or how things are handled??? Of course Carnival cant control the weather, duuh!!! But they could have handled things better from my perspective. Thats my opinion and since your memory of Ike is so faulty, Ill just move on. We had no idea sunday that Ike would hit past midnight friday/very early Saturday. You are completely mistaken.

[firefly333]

It is the attitude on this board too;)

 

I have noticed on RCL threads people are allowed to complain, but if you are complaining here, you are jumped on every time. No one should dare to complain about Carnival or they will get beat up on Carnival.

 

I would never review a Carnival cruise, because I dont want to be flamed, and heaven forbid I said anything negative. I know better.

[byoung70]

You do realize that Tampa is significantly farther North than Miami, right?

Not that significant from Key West. Are you trying to tell me that a ship can not sail from Key West to Tampa in one day?

[VOLLEYBALLDUDE2000]

I have noticed on RCL threads people are allowed to complain, but if you are complaining here, you are jumped on every time. No one should dare to complain about Carnival or they will get beat up on Carnival.

 

I would never review a Carnival cruise, because I dont want to be flamed, and heaven forbid I said anything negative. I know better.

 

A review is not a complaint.

 

A complaint is: I will NEVER sail Carnival again.

 

On a review you detail the good and the bad

[NCDawg]

Not that significant from Key West. Are you trying to tell me that a ship can not sail from Key West to Tampa in one day?

 

Not when you have to clear immigration upon arrival and then be in the channel by 1:00 a.m. to return to Tampa. The passengers would have had exactally 2 hours in Port.

[byoung70]

You do realize that Tampa is significantly farther North than Miami, right?

One other point, you do realize that the Legend is much smaller than the Valor and has a top cruise speed of 26 knots. 15 hours at 26 knots will get you from the port of Key West to Tampa.

[gtalum]

One other point, you do realize that the Legend is much smaller than the Valor and has a top cruise speed of 26 knots. 15 hours at 26 knots will get you from the port of Key West to Tampa.

 

See above. The ship has to enter the channel by 1 AM. 15 hours travel time means they have to leave Key West by 10 AM.

[golfadj]

Seems to me that Carnival did the right thing in protecting their passengers.

 

Things happen and very often changes are made in itineraries.

 

However telling the passengers what is going on would have been the right thing to do. Also from a customer service point of view offering the passengers a free drink or two would have gone a long way to making everyone happy at little cost to Carnival.

 

Amazing how a group of people getting together to talk about their options is than called a riot. This could have/should have been prevented by a little communication by the part of the captain or CD.

 

Golfadj

[byoung70]

See above. The ship has to enter the channel by 1 AM. 15 hours travel time means they have to leave Key West by 10 AM.

Distance = 286 Nautical Miles

 

 

Time usage = 0 days 11 hours

 

 

Departure from

KEY WEST

Port Code: USEYW

Country: USA - FLORIDA

Longitude: 81°48'W

Latitude: 24°33'N

Date: 11-05-2009

Time: 14:00

Arriving to

TAMPA

Port Code: USTPA

Country: USA - FLORIDA

Longitude: 82°28'W

Latitude: 27°57'N

Date: 12-05-2009

Time: 01:00

 

They wold have to leave by 2:00pm

[KarenMF]

Originally Posted by byoung70

I was on the Valor at the same time. We docked in Key West on Saturday, 5/9. We were the only ship in port the entire day. There was room for another ship. The fact is both the Valor and the Legend were in Belize the same day. That was on 5/7. The Valor had tried to dock in Roatan the previous morning, but of course we continued on to Belize. From Belize the Valor went to Key West. Apparently the Legend sailed directly back to Tampa. Could they have stopped in Key West with the Valor. Very good question as to why not. I think that is the biggest question from the people that were on the Legend. Why did the Valor get to go to Key West and they did not. Both ships left Belize at the same time and had basically the same distance to cover. It was well known that the Valor had missed Roatan the previous day, we had talked to people from the Legend while we were in port in Belize. They were scheduled to go to Roatan after leaving Belize. The one thing that may have made a difference was the fact that the Valor was scheduled to go to Key West before leaving Miami. This was a replacement Port for Cozumel.

 

You do realize that Tampa is significantly farther North than Miami, right?

 

And on the other side of the state!

[BigRed93]

I was on the Liberty last week. We also did not get to stop in Roatan. This was our replacement for Cozumel, so we hadn't had too much time to get comfortable with the idea...;) We were on target for Roatan on Weds. It wasn't until late Weds afternoon that we received an announcement from the CD saying that we would not be docking in Roatan due to the civil unrest. We were told the Valor tried to dock earlier in the day and did not and while they hoped the situation would be easing up, it actually appeared to be worsening and we would not be going there. Instead we would be going to Belize, which we did the next day.

 

Except for the really long lines at the excursion desk of people trying to make last minute changes for a new port, I don't think anyone was truly irate. I just don't get it. Why risk your safety? This situation in Honduras is on and off for months now. Just because they knew about it on Sunday doesn't necessarily mean they can't stop by friday. If Mexico ports were open, or at least being visited by CCL, there would likely not have been a problem, because the options are many within a reasonable amount of sailing time. However, without that option, there aren't many that can be made. It's unfortunate, but a fact, look at the map.

 

If you had to go back to Belize a second day, would your complaint then be that you had to spend 2 days in a run down port with nothing to do?? I like Belize, but there are many that don't due to the tendering process, the town itself, the limited time you spend in port. It's a no win situation for some. Others can just go with the flow. I just can't imagine a meeting over a class action while on a cruise.

[KarenMF]

Originally Posted by gtalum

You do realize that Tampa is significantly farther North than Miami, right?

 

Not that significant from Key West. Are you trying to tell me that a ship can not sail from Key West to Tampa in one day?

 

Ths is NOT nautical miles but it is 165 miles from Key West to Miami and 430 miles from Key West to Tampa.

[carmelinam]

This is what no One understands. the fact that we were lied to because they said they didn't know until 6pm the night before but the valor and liberty knew. Don't thye communicate? By the way Fox 13 tampa called me are you in the tampa area or have contat info of someone who is that was on the ship and wants to do an interview? If so send me your email address! I will forward you the contact.

 

 

We were on the Legend, we found out when we left Belize that Roatan was cancelled, we were very disappointed that we missed Roatan, but it didn't ruin our cruise, we had a great time. Did Carnival handle it the right way? No, they knew before we got to Belize that we were not going to Roatan.

[carmelinam]

We would have loved to stay in belize a few more hours and there would be no complaint. Compensate us by giving us more time at the port we are at. We all would have been happy there!

 

 

I was on the Liberty last week. We also did not get to stop in Roatan. This was our replacement for Cozumel, so we hadn't had too much time to get comfortable with the idea...;) We were on target for Roatan on Weds. It wasn't until late Weds afternoon that we received an announcement from the CD saying that we would not be docking in Roatan due to the civil unrest. We were told the Valor tried to dock earlier in the day and did not and while they hoped the situation would be easing up, it actually appeared to be worsening and we would not be going there. Instead we would be going to Belize, which we did the next day.

 

Except for the really long lines at the excursion desk of people trying to make last minute changes for a new port, I don't think anyone was truly irate. I just don't get it. Why risk your safety? This situation in Honduras is on and off for months now. Just because they knew about it on Sunday doesn't necessarily mean they can't stop by friday. If Mexico ports were open, or at least being visited by CCL, there would likely not have been a problem, because the options are many within a reasonable amount of sailing time. However, without that option, there aren't many that can be made. It's unfortunate, but a fact, look at the map.

 

If you had to go back to Belize a second day, would your complaint then be that you had to spend 2 days in a run down port with nothing to do?? I like Belize, but there are many that don't due to the tendering process, the town itself, the limited time you spend in port. It's a no win situation for some. Others can just go with the flow. I just can't imagine a meeting over a class action while on a cruise.

[byoung70]

Ths is NOT nautical miles but it is 165 miles from Key West to Miami and 430 miles from Key West to Tampa.

 

Distance = 286 Nautical Miles

 

 

Time usage = 0 days 11 hours

 

 

Departure from

KEY WEST

Port Code: USEYW

Country: USA - FLORIDA

Longitude: 81°48'W

Latitude: 24°33'N

Date: 11-05-2009

Time: 14:00

Arriving to

TAMPA

Port Code: USTPA

Country: USA - FLORIDA

Longitude: 82°28'W

Latitude: 27°57'N

Date: 12-05-2009

Time: 01:00

 

[carmelinam]

Very Well said! Thanks

 

 

Seems to me that Carnival did the right thing in protecting their passengers.

 

Things happen and very often changes are made in itineraries.

 

However telling the passengers what is going on would have been the right thing to do. Also from a customer service point of view offering the passengers a free drink or two would have gone a long way to making everyone happy at little cost to Carnival.

 

Amazing how a group of people getting together to talk about their options is than called a riot. This could have/should have been prevented by a little communication by the part of the captain or CD.

 

Golfadj

[PT3296]

I was on the Legend for the 5/3/09 sailing and had a wonderful time. Yes we knew we were getting an extra sea day because of not going to Cozumel, and yes we didn't get notified until the last minute that we were not going to Roatan. Now, aside from me agreeing with those 2 points, let me give you my recap of the trip.

 

First, I took a shuttle bus from Tampa Airport, and when we got to the Port of Tampa, we were all asked if anyone wanted to cancel their trip right then and there for a full credit good through 12/2010. Of course if you're looking at the ship, you're probably not in a position to ditch the trip, but they did give you the opportunity right up until the minute you embarked. I also received a recorded phone message several days before the trip informing me of the same thing.

 

Knowing this, we can safely assume everyone on the ship willingly boarded knowing we were not going to Cozumel and were being issued a $20 credit for the port charge.

 

Everything was going well until the Captain made the announcement that Roatan had been cancelled. This being my 24th Carnival cruise, I can speak with some confidence when I say some things are just beyond anyone's control.

 

Everyone that wanted to make an issue out of this, demanded that we go to another port and demanded a monetary refund of more than an additional $20 port charge. Well, that is easier said than done. We did have some things working against us....however, Carnival Cruise Lines was about the only thing we had working FOR us. I especially liked the suggestion of a passenger during the past guest party when he suggested to the Captain that we go back to Tampa a day early (No, I'm not kidding!).

 

The first issue was Mexico being closed to cruise ships. That meant every ship in every cruise line that was supposed to go to a port in Mexico, was already re-routing to another port (if possible). As most of you know, some ports have docks, and some ports use tenders to shuttle you from the ship to the port of call. Ports of call with docks were at capacity, and ports that use tenders, would not have been able to accomodate more than their regular capacity of ships.

 

Another issue is capacity of your port of call. If there are 3 ships a day in Belize (just as an example) imagine what would happen if 6 or 7 showed up. Even if you did get a tender to get you there, there is a big difference beteween having 6,000 passengers there, and 14,000 passengers there. Not enough buses, cabs, snorkel boats, open seats on excursions, etc. to accomodate everyone. Shopping would be near impossible because of the crowds, and then people would complain about that as well.

 

The next issue was why couldn't we go to Key West on the way back to Tampa? Well, if you've ever been to Key West by ship, you know you don't stay there all that long to begin with. If you've been there, it most likely was your first port of call after leaving another US Port (Miami, Port Everglades, etc.). This meant you DID NOT have to deal with US Customs. Since we had already been to Grand Cayman and Belize, we ALL would have had to do at least a US Customs check, before anyone stepped foot on Key West, if they even had the room for our ship. To check 2,200 passengers (which I belive is what we had on Legend) would have taken hours. By the time we would have been able to go ashore, it would be almost time to leave, and people would again complain about that.

 

So what did Carnival do about it? They provided us with a beautiful day at sea, cancelled the day off for hundreds of staff members, lined up a full day of activities and shows, and did what they do best ... gave us a great vacation. Aside from the weather being perfect, including flat seas, the entertainment was always flowing, the activities never stopped, and the staff and crew on the ship, although being "confronted" by some angry passengers maintained their professionalism and good spirits.

 

I admit I did not read all the posts here, so I'm sorry if I'm saying some thngs you may have read already, but I had enough reading and had to chime in.

 

One other issue was why were we "drifting" so close to Tampa for such a long period of time. Well, if you remember, we had 2 medical emergencies on board that forced us to increase speed to rendezvous with a United States Coast Guard ship for medical evacuation purposes. This increase in speed closed our distance to Tampa, putting us closer to home earlier than we should have been there. Here again Carnival had 2 options. First, see if we could dock early, or second, leave the bars, casino, and shops open, and keep the entertainment going till the last possible minute, for those of us who didn't want this trip to end. Again... Carnival did the right thing.

 

Well Done Carnival....looking forward to cruise 25 very soon!

 

Roy

[fireofficer5]

Key west is almost directly south of tampa.

Look at byoung70's longitude.

[KarenMF]

Originally Posted by KarenMF

Ths is NOT nautical miles but it is 165 miles from Key West to Miami and 430 miles from Key West to Tampa.

 

Distance = 286 Nautical Miles

 

 

Time usage = 0 days 11 hours

 

 

Departure from

KEY WEST

Port Code: USEYW

Country: USA - FLORIDA

Longitude: 81°48'W

Latitude: 24°33'N

Date: 11-05-2009

Time: 14:00

Arriving to

TAMPA

Port Code: USTPA

Country: USA - FLORIDA

Longitude: 82°28'W

Latitude: 27°57'N

Date: 12-05-2009

Time: 01:00

 

 

Thanks - I couldnt find a quick link for nautical miles - what site was that from?