by Tim Wood
Last updated: 9:46 PM ET, Tue March 25, 2014
PHOTO: Propulsion issues aboard Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas shortened one itinerary and caused passengers to miss flights while stranding another set of passengers in San Juan for days.
Two major cruise line issues over the last three days - an accident in Houston out of the cruise lines' hands and a series of cruise ship mechanical failures in San Juan - have left cruise passengers with shortened itineraries and frayed nerves to take to social media with their frustrations.
The end result is Carnival Cruise Lines and Princess Cruises both won praise from passengers for their communication in Houston, while Royal Caribbean heard a loud chorus of criticism for their lack of customer support in both Houston and Puerto Rico.
The first event happened on Saturday near Houston. A collision between a cargo ship and a fuel barge spilled upwards of 180,000 gallons of thick oil into the waters south of the Houston Ship Channel, which affects cruises ships sailing out of both Houston and Galveston.
The Carnival Magic and Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas pulled into the port of Galveston 10 hours late Sunday night, slowed due to orders to enter the port waters without creating a large wake. The fear was that such a wake could spread the spill even further.
PHOTO: An oil-covered bird discovered along the shores of the Houston Ship Channel. (courtesy Twitter)
The Caribbean Princess was scheduled to leave Houston's Bayport Cruise Terminal Saturday night and had already boarded the ship when news of the spill broke.
The Carnival Triumph returned to port Monday morning, already behind in a scheduled Monday departure on a five-day cruise to Mexico.
Both Princess and Carnival received high marks from passengers for their immediate reaction to the situation. Carnival informed waiting passengers via their web site and Twitter accounts of updates in a timely fashion, while Princess passengers already onboard report that communication was constant about the status of their departure.
Carnival's Magic set sail midday Tuesday, shortened from a seven-day to a five-day cruise. The ship will visit Grand Cayman Thursday and Cozumel Friday as scheduled.
All Magic guests will receive a two-day prorated refund of their cruise and prorated refund of gratuities. Guests will also receive a 25 percent future cruise discount.
The Triumph needed an extensive removal of oil from the ship's hull and set sail on a four-day cruise to Cozumel at 5 p.m. EST Tuesday. Guests who chose to stay on the cruise will receive a one-day prorated refund and a 25 percent future cruise discount.
Princess allowed guests to stay aboard the ship in Houston and set sail for Cozumel Tuesday. Princess guests will receive a full refund of cruise fare and taxes, fees and port expenses and a 25 percent credit toward a future cruise booked by the end of 2015.
The ship will return to Houston as scheduled on Saturday.
Royal Caribbean originally canceled their cruise on Monday evening after what passengers and families awaiting word called a blackout of information from the cruise line.
Passengers and families hit Twitter and Facebook by early Sunday afternoon, complaining that the cruise line was not posting any kind of updates on their Twitter accounts or Facebook page.
The @RoyalCaribbean account did not have any kind of update until canceling the cruise Monday evening. The @RoyalCaribPR still hasn't posted any news of the event on its page as of Tuesday evening.
Passengers were invited to stay on the ship throughout the week through the regularly scheduled disembarkment Sunday.
"Numerous passengers and family members began bitterly complaining that Royal Caribbean was not notifying them via email, test messaging or telephone, and the cruise line was not utilizing its Twitter or Facebook feeds," said Miami maritime lawyer Jim Walker on his Cruise Law News blog. "People calling the cruise line were placed on hold, or the service representatives didn't know what was going on. It was as if the entire customer relations department has outsourced to a distant village in India."
Then came word at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday evening that Royal Caribbean had reversed its decision. The ship will depart from Galveston Wednesday morning, hit Cozumel on Friday and return to Houston Sunday.
No word yet on how many passengers had left the ship after originally being told the cruise was cancelled.
Series of issues in San Juan
Royal Caribbean faced even bigger problems in San Juan, where its Adventure of the Seas encountered a repeat of propulsion issues that interrupted its last cruise. The ship's crew discovered an oil leakage while docked in St. Kitts.
The ship lost propulsion due to taking one of the the ship's three engines offline. A scheduled stop in the U.S. Virgin Islands was cancelled due to the delay in St. Kitt's and the slow speed of the ship, which arrived in San Juan behind schedule and pulled by tugboat on Sunday.
"My husband and I were aboard the Adventure of the Seas March 16 and looking forward to Aruba and Curacao. Upon arrival the 7th deck smelled of sewer. We heard the 'Bravo Bravo Bravo All Crew Members report to your assigned positions' announcement with no further explanation until the following day. The next announcement was an itinerary change due to an oil leak and propeller problem that was expected to be repaired. Instead of going to Aruba and Curacao we would go to Antigua, St. Marten, and St. Croix," Susan Smith-Sheerer of Kansas City wrote on Facebook.
"After arriving in St. Marten, we received another announcement that repairs were still being completed, but we would remain in St. Marten overnight. Upon leaving St. Marten another announcement was made that we would be traveling at 5 knots but the television indicated 2.8 knots. Then we drifted. We never got to St. Croix. We arrived by tug boat in San Juan at around 11 a.m., waited for over an hour to disembark in a very hot, crowded, angry mob. People wanted off the smelly ship."
That cruise's passengers received a $450 future cruise credit and $150 airfare credit (the ship's late arrival messed up airline departures aplenty).
The crew of the ship, due for a drydock at the end of the month, tried a quick fix to solve the propulsion issues when the ship docked.
Meanwhile, passengers waited in line Sunday in scorching temperatures to board the ship's scheduled 8:30 p.m. departure.
"The passengers in San Juan were congregating in long lines in the hot son [sic] without water or food. There was reportedly a single restroom with long lines. People were suffering, particularly the elderly," Walker said on his blog.
One passenger commented on Cruise Critic that Royal Caribbean "is refusing water and people are leaving in ambulances."
"Some passengers reportedly collapsed due to the heat and lack of water," Walker said on his blog.
One passenger tweeted a photo of a San Juan ambulance which arrived at the port to attend to one of the passenger trying to board the ship.
Passengers finally were allowed to embark late Sunday. According to MarineTraffic.com, the ship was still in port as of Tuesday night but is expected to leave port later this evening.
"I am onboard now and RCL is doing a terrible job communicating with the passengers. Today is day 3 in San Juan and the Captain keeps announcing a projected time to sail and it does not happen," said passenger Tom Heinrich on Facebook. "RCL sent us emails every day last week to promote all their onboard packages, but did not have the courtesy to inform us about the issues with the ship. Trying to board on Sunday was long lines, unorganized and down right unsafe. They need to learn to respect and take care of their passengers!
The ship has been forced to cancel its scheduled stop in Barbados.
The unofficial RCCL fan blog Royal Caribbean Blog has posted a thread to its blog asking for customer feedback on its slew of issues over the past week.
Be careful what you ask for: the company is getting slammed by thoroughly disgusted passengers.
"When we landed in San Juan Sunday afternoon we were told by RC people that the boat was delayed in the morning, and therefore we could not board right away. Instead, they said they were going to take us to a hotel for 'food and beverage.'," one post said. "But they took us directly to the port (tough part of town) where there was a line of, presumably, thousands of people. Nothing was moving, no food, no water, no toilets, no chairs, just lots and lots of people standing in line wondering what was going on. How did no one on the RC ship think to send some water out to people? I paid $7k+ for this treatment???"
"We left the adventure (Monday) morning after this same issue. Refused to give us our money back. Travelled from Australia for our honeymoon and to get this service was rubbish," said another posted. "Boat still in Port over 36 hours after expected departure. I'll be continuing to beat the drum at royal Caribbean about this to get my money back. Managed to book a hotel and get a flight out of San Juan quicker than adventure."
And the folks who were stranded at sea when the problem first occurred were even more pointed with their disdain.
"Was on the Adventure of the Seas when the fixipod unit went out. Poor communication from Royal while onboard. Although we never lost power the food and ac were all working. the Caribbean Sea is not the worst place to be stuck on a ship, but we only booked this trip to see Aruba. Getting back late on Sunday caused us to miss our flight," said "Lee". "Had to rebook for Monday and an overnight hotel stay. Cost exceeded $1000 and Royal is only offering $300. Still fighting with them over the extra costs. No other compensation being offered at this time. At least we made it home, I feel bad for those waiting to go out this week without any notice from Royal. Shame on them!!"
As of Tuesday night, Royal Caribbean had posted an update to its homepage about the Galveston Navigator issues, but had not posted any front-page updates or official Twitter or Facebook updates about the San Juan cruise.
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