RCL Anthem in rough storm yesterday

I followed this on cruise critic where many passengers were posting and updating as the event unfolded. The general consensus on that board was that RCCL crew handled this very professionally and did the absolute best they could given the terrible circumstances. In terms of comp, they certainly went above and beyond IMHO. Based on the cruise contract, they didn't have to do anything. But they comped the cruise, gave everyone 50% off a future cruise, comped the mini-bars in the staterooms, free wi-fi and free open bar this afternoon. They are also still paying the TA commission. I'm impressed. This was, obviously, a terrible, scary situation, but their reaction speaks volumes of their customer service.

I am not questioning their actions afterwards and the compensation - I agree that it was appropriate and generous and demonstrated good customer service. No issue with that. I am wondering how they ended up in this mess in the first place??! I have read other articles that have said that the storm had been "forecast for days" and that this is "inexplicable".......
 
I followed this on cruise critic where many passengers were posting and updating as the event unfolded. The general consensus on that board was that RCCL crew handled this very professionally and did the absolute best they could given the terrible circumstances. In terms of comp, they certainly went above and beyond IMHO. Based on the cruise contract, they didn't have to do anything. But they comped the cruise, gave everyone 50% off a future cruise, comped the mini-bars in the staterooms, free wi-fi and free open bar this afternoon. They are also still paying the TA commission. I'm impressed. This was, obviously, a terrible, scary situation, but their reaction speaks volumes of their customer service.

I concur. It is remarkable compensation, I believe. I feel badly for those who've lost their chance to travel this year for personal reasons; but I'm so glad to know they got through that storm safely.
 
I am beinging to think Anthem is going to be dissected as to why they hit the weather like they did to the Fantasy and Sandy 3 years ago. hat may explain the fast generous compensation.

Were there several ships who decided to stay in NJ while Anthem took off? Or was Anthem all alone?



the cruise ship was caught off guard in an ‘extreme’ hurricane force storm

Being caught off guard sounds like it was different than during Sandy, doesn't it?


and now RCCL will look bad

It doesn't to me. The compensation helps smooth things over. Corporations should know this. DCL should have known this back then.


The general consensus on that board was that RCCL crew handled this very professionally and did the absolute best they could given the terrible circumstances.

Cool.

But they comped the cruise, gave everyone 50% off a future cruise, comped the mini-bars in the staterooms, free wi-fi and free open bar this afternoon. They are also still paying the TA commission.

So cool.

And one of those articles said that the Superbowl reception was perfect LOL.
 
I was mentioning only Anthem., and I also commented it looked by weather map she had no place to run and hide.

Actually is sound just the same as Sandy..........this storm and Sandy both moved different and was much stronger then forecast.



AKK
 


It doesn't to me. The compensation helps smooth things over. Corporations should know this. DCL should have known this back then.
Me neither, in fact how they handled it eases my mind for the next trip. Following this as it happened, it sounds like tha Captain and crew were great and really kept everyone in the loop. While an uncomfortable ride they did everything they could to make it a safe ride.

I have started to see the blame game just like what happened with DCL and Sandy. Sometimes I feel that people forget that this is a ship in the ocean and for some reason the forecasters still can't figure out Mother Nature which can get a lot nastier than expected. This isn't a predictable amusement ride with the ship on rails, weather changes things, I just count myself lucky that we never missed CC in any of our winter cruises, heck we only ever missed 1 port Grand Caymen due to weather.
 
I am not questioning their actions afterwards and the compensation - I agree that it was appropriate and generous and demonstrated good customer service. No issue with that. I am wondering how they ended up in this mess in the first place??! I have read other articles that have said that the storm had been "forecast for days" and that this is "inexplicable".......
The Today Show just did a segment on this. They really questioned RCCL's claim that the storm wasn't predicted or was worse than expected. Al Roker went so far as to physically show the written forecasts calling for this storm - the levels of winds and seas - days in advance and essentially called BS. Not sure how the cruise line can respond to that and I think their compensation speaks to that.
 
Because I have never cruised before and am planning our family's first cruise for next January I have to ask these two questions:
1. Does this happen often/ as in once a season/ every few years/ etc? {Can you tell it freaked me out a little :eek: ?!?}
2. If RC really had no idea that this storm was coming why were they the ONLY ship caught in it? I would think that there are quite a few ships out there at the same time. {totally could be wrong here}

Thanks for calming my nerves :)
 


Listening to weather tales this.morning,the weather people are disagreeing with rcl, and noted that the marine weather forcast was correct.

So the debate will begin.

AKK
 
Listening to weather tales this.morning,the weather people are disagreeing with rcl, and noted that the marine weather forcast was correct.

So the debate will begin.

AKK

What was the actual forecast? I have seen and heard so many different things from people that I have no clue what their agenda is, I don't know what to believe right now?

Just like DCL, I have a hard time believing that RCCL would risk the ship, press, and passengers by sending them into a really bad storm on purpose, maybe I am naive, but monetarily an event like this or Sandy is worse to the bottom line than canceling or completely sailing a different itinerary.
 
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Unless RCCL used Skippy the Weatherman as their forecasting service, they were absolutely foolish to sail into a storm like this.

Their "customer service" is simply trying to quiet the many folks ( and weather forecasters)who knew they made a big mistake in sailing right into the storm.
My own guess is they thought the ship could handle it--which of course it didn't.
 
This is from the official statement to the travel agents that @WebmasterJohn posted:

We will be providing each guest with a future cruise certificate for 50 percent of the cruise fare paid for their February 6, 2016, Anthem of the Seas sailing.

One thing I found interesting - especially also in comparison to what is currently being discussed with the compensation that the Fantasy cruisers got - is that here it is not 50% off the new booking, but a credit of 50% of what people paid for the stormy cruise. Regardless of the discussion about what the weather forecast was and how much at fault RCCI is, I think determining the future cruise credit on the fare that was originally paid is a very fair way of doing it. And I am saying that as someone who regularly tries to book cruises for the lowest price possible and who choses inside staterooms to save money.
 
What was the actual forecast? I have seen and heard so many different things from people that I have no clue what their agenda is, I don't know what to believe right now?

Just like DCL, I have a hard time believing that RCCL would risk the ship, press, and passengers by sending them into a really bad storm on purpose, maybe I am naive, but monetarily an event like this or Sandy is worse to the bottom line than canceling or completely sailing a different itinerary.

They were discussing the weather reports on the radio this morning, a Dr of meteroaloge. (SPL?)....who stated RCCL statement that the weather reports were wrong is totally wrong and the winds and seas and size of the Strom was forcast.

As he put it......Good Luck to the ship trying to prove that (thier statment) in court.

The one map I posted shows a massive Storm and winds ...I don't have the details.
But looking at that map, The Strom is so massive, I don't see where they could have gone, except back north.

C Golf, I agree with you that I find it hard to believe they would take those risks. But unlike Sandy and the Fantasy where the change in the hurricane force was admitted not predicted. This Storm seems to have been predicted.
 
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And of course it was!!

But rather than cancel out 6,000 passengers, they decided to take a chance--and it backfired.
 
They were discussing the weather reports on the radio this morning, a Dr of meteroaloge. (SPL?)....who stated RCCL statement that the weather reports were wrong is totally wrong and the winds and seas and size of the Strom was forcast.

As he put it......Good Luck to the ship trying to prove that (thier statment) in court.

The one map I posted shows a massive Storm and winds ...I don't have the details.
But looking at that map, The Strom is so massive, I don't see where they could have gone, except back north.

C Golf, I agree with you that I find it hard to believe they would take those risks. But unlike Sandy and the Fantasy where the change in the hurricane force was admitted not predicted. This Storm seems to have been predicted.

Wow, not sure what to think now, other than I hope that they learned something from this.
 
The Today Show just did a segment on this. They really questioned RCCL's claim that the storm wasn't predicted or was worse than expected. Al Roker went so far as to physically show the written forecasts calling for this storm - the levels of winds and seas - days in advance and essentially called BS. Not sure how the cruise line can respond to that and I think their compensation speaks to that.

Of course they can't respond and the "compensation" merely intended to quiet folks down and make them forget what really happened.

Bottom line is they deliberately sailed that ship into the storm because there were 6,000 passengers they didn't want to make unhappy. And they probably thought the ship could handle things---
 
Just got off the Dream where we ended up docking at midnight of our Castaway Cay day - several hours early - because of this storm system. We were lucky I believe to have just caught the back edge of it. We were not allowed to go on the island until after lunch, and then only to walk - everything but one bar and an ice cream station was closed. The wind and waves were still crazy strong and delayed our departure until 7pm. Needless to say the ride back to PC was a bit wild. I got a screen shot of the bridge report showing 57 mph headwinds as we left CC. And we were behind the system at this time. Can't imagine what it was like in it. I'm sure the DCL captain would have warned any other captain about the conditions, if that sort of info is shared in the industry??
 
Couldn't the ship have found safe harbor along the east coast? There is some place, maybe not a lot.

Sure they would have missed ports, but that would have been better then the outcome!
 
I don't understand the mechanics here on this, but let me share my experience with rough seas. We were on the Disney Magic in Early Dec 2007, when we sailed near TS Olga on our way to St Martin. We were told we had Gale Force winds, and 40 foot seas. The pools were closed, the shows were closed, the exterior decks were closed (no getting outside on the upper decks or deck 4). The ship rocked and creaked and groaned and it was difficult to walk at times. But there wasn't damage like shown here - what's the difference? This RCCL ship is what - 2 times as large as the Magic? The waves were smaller, the winds were probably the same.
 

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