Having only been back from our trip on the Century for two weeks, I keep trying to put myself in the shoes of all those passengers who have been put off the ship in Villefranche-sur-Mer near Nice. I have read that many are floundering for a way to finish out their vacations, in a foreign country, with absolutely no reservations for lodging or transportation. Some have been fortunate enough to finally get through to travel agents back home, who worked through the night to arrange alternate vacation plans. Others found their way without assistance from anyone and are currently traveling through europe making the best of a bad situation. Kudos to all of them!
Century anchored at sea waiting to disembark her passengers so that she can slowly make her way to Marseille for dry dock and repairs to her rudders.
We tend to take for granted that once we reserve our cruise, and make that final payment in full, that we are guaranteed a stress free, enjoyable vacation. Well, I'm guessing there are very few of us that could even imagine what some of these vacationers are going through right now. I, for one, think back to our second day on board, and realize we would have missed every port and all of the wonderful memories we now have of our Mediterranean cruise. It is such a shame for everyone involved, including the crew, when a mechanical failure abruptly turns your cruise vacation upside down. Far from home, not speaking the language, with limited internet and telephone service to contact a loved one or travel agency back home, is a situation I hope never to experience. However, this is not the first, nor will it be the last time something like this occurs. Ships malfunction more often than the avid cruise enthusiast wants to believe. We never expect it to happen during our vacation, and when it does, the results can be devastating to travelers with no contingency plans.
We travel 3-4 times during a 12 month period, and only just recently, in the last few years, have we begun to purchase travel insurance for some of our more extensive and expensive trips. Being able to drive to 4 ports here in Florida, makes our chances of missing a ship, slim to none. More often than not, when we book a 3-hour flight to see family, we don't feel that the expense is a loss we could not overcome, if circumstances forced us to miss the trip. The bottom line is now becoming more clear as I witness first hand, what some of these stranded passengers are experiencing. Not only do you need travel insurance (which should reimburse you AFTER you return home and fill out all the proper documents) to receive repayment for a lost vacation, you need reserve cash and/or a credit card with a generous credit line, in order to purchase an emergency substitute vacation, if and when the situation turns sour. This very lack of contingency planning has left some of these cruisers in a very unpleasant predicament. I'm not quite sure what I would have done, however, the idea of making the best of a sticky wicket, comes quickly to mind.
The cruise line is clearly unable to process revised travel arrangements for the 2000+ passengers on board. The ship is clearly not staffed for an emergency situation that requires these types of transactions. It has been noted that Celebrity, while efficient at taking care of cruise passengers while they are at sea, is lacking in it's experience and ability to handle these situations, once the vacationers are actually no longer on the ship. It is my understanding that the cruise line will reimburse all passengers the full fare 100%, offer a 25% discount on a future cruise and provide them with $250 cash to change current airfare bookings. They also offered to passengers that chose to return to the port of embarkation, buses to get them back to Barcelona (10 hour bus ride because France is in the middle of a transit strike). Please understand the first hurdle for everyone onboard, was to physically get off the ship via a tender. Villefranche is a tender port, which means the ship does not dock, passengers are ferried to shore on small boats...luggage and all. Just think what that would be like for 2000+ passengers....not to mention anyone who is traveling with children and/or a huge amount of luggage (like yours truly).
So bottom line, what do I take away from all of this information and the experiences of my fellow cruise addicted travelers...BE PREPARED!!!!! Whether it is an international cell phone, an IPad, a credit card with a couple thousand in accessible funds or a great travel agent back home who you can rely on morning, noon or night (I'm a do-it-yourself gal, but others swear by their TA). Don't rely on others or the cruise line to come to the rescue during a vacation disaster...be proactive and strike out on your own if need be. The little, teeny, tiny, eensy, weensy bumps (trying to make a comparison here folks--even though I completely understand these people are a 1000 times more unfortunate than we were) we encountered on our recent cruise taught us to pucker up, get out those squeezing machines, and be ready to turn lemons into lemonade. I'll always hope for the best, but being prepared to roll with the punches makes for a more enjoyable adventure on land or at sea.
Hmmm....I may be rethinking our 18-night cruise on this very same ship, the Century, across the Pacific from Hawaii through Tahiti ending in Sydney next year....then again, maybe not. Although I would never be pleased to hear that any interrupted or canceled cruises are in the near future for us.....being stranded on Tahiti would not be an altogether unpleasant situation!
Our itinerary for next fall...keeping our fingers crossed :)
As my fellow cruise addicts like to say....a bad day at sea is ALWAYS better than a good day at work :)
Happy cruising....
No comments:
Post a Comment