June 23, 2006
Articles on new RCI and NCL ships
The Boston Herald has articles on Pride of America (cruising around Hawaii) and Freedom of the Seas (the biggest cruise ship). Both articles amount to positive reviews with the first one a better read because the author talks more about vacation experiences.
Also we've got an article on Carnival's new destination, Grand Turk. I don't know how long it will remain so, but:
For now the clear turquoise waters and reef remain pristine.And Royal Caribbean is in trouble, being sued by the State of New Jersey. It seems that due to a possible hurricane threat they decided to go to Canada instead of the Caribbean. Sounds reasonable, right?
It’s a 15-minute boat shuttle to Gibbs Cay, the largest of three small isles off the southeast tip of Grand Turk, where you can snorkel with stingrays. Put “snorkel” in quotes, though, since before you’re knee-deep in the water, a ray is likely to slide up to your legs like a cat, looking for fish food. You can touch if you want to.
I think the issue is that customers deserve a partial refund since a cruise to Canada is cheaper than one to the Caribbean. Passengers did get 42.50 because of cheaper port fees, but I think that Royal Caribbean needs to do more than that. They did offer discounts on a future cruise, but really they should have offered some cash back on the cruise to make up for the changed itinerary.
Posted by James Trotta at June 23, 2006 5:35 PM
Cheating customers seems to be a RCI signature. Their subsidiary, Celebrity Cruise Lines, made air reservations for me that could not be accomplished and American Air Lines refused to honor. Celebrity then refused to make them good. I had to make the changes at my own cost and both Celebrity and RCI refused to reimburse me, despite RCI's promise to do so.
Posted by: Charles Bird at June 24, 2006 2:25 AMWell that dosen't sound very good. I am plannng on booking a cruise on Celebrity but am very anxious. The airfare to Europe is crazy as it is, and these comments about RCI are very unsettling.
Posted by: Patti at June 25, 2006 2:09 AM