The Cruise Ship and Cruise Line Discussion Thread!

[DJeXeL]

^Heat tickets are expensive!! Don't want them to go to waste.

In all seriousness, it is good he's personally going to the ship to offer assistance. Shows integrity.

[Mr Stratosphere]

Absolutely incredible how Royal Caribbean is handling all of this. And all of the reports and posts I've seen on the web has all been positive about the entire situation. Loyal to Royal! Reading a lot of the retweets and Royal Caribbean is allowing the news networks to use their photo to spread the news. No coverups and upfront and honest. Love these guys!

[Mr. Starr]

Story was featured on CNN for a bit and they interviewed two guests who were definitely frightened, but said they would cruise again (with RCCL) because of how the staff successfully handled the situation. I can't imagine being in a situation like this and having flustered crew members not knowing what to do!

[SharkTums]

Wow! So they're still tweeting and to be honest the damage looks worse than what they were first reporting. Still really impressed that so many corporate people are already there and assessing damage and talking to guests.

 

Check out this photo they tweeted:

 

[cfc]

^It looks like that part of the ship was gutted by fire--wonder what caused it? Kudos to the crew for handling it so quickly and so well.

[Meteornotes]

Wow, the photos do look worse that what was initially reported. Good for RCCL for being so up front about all of this, and not trying to hide any of it or not take responsibility.

 

dt

[jray21]

That's pretty extensive damage, but how RCCL dealt with it was amazing. Shows you how stark a contrast there is between RCCL and Carnival.

[Jew]

^It looks like that part of the ship was gutted by fire--wonder what caused it? Kudos to the crew for handling it so quickly and so well.

 

As Elissa mentioned, seems like that was a crew area. Someone was probably doing something stupid...

[OCJ48]

Since it doesn't look like it's been posted yet, RCCL confirmed on Twitter that guests on Grandeur will receive a full refund and a future sailing certificate.

[SharkTums]

^Seems like a more than fair deal!

[donkeyman18]

What a great job on RCCL's part. I never understood why these companies never admit to these mistakes, Just puts them in more controversy.

[ahecht]

From a crewmember's facebook page (via cruisecritic):

[OISU8P]

As Sharktums pointed out. The best part about this story is that they would rather stay on a burnt RCCL ship then be transferred to a "" functional"" Carnival ship.

[Jew]

Since it doesn't look like it's been posted yet, RCCL confirmed on Twitter that guests on Grandeur will receive a full refund and a future sailing certificate.

 

And guests booked on future sailings that are canceled will get a full refund plus 50% off if/when they rebook.

[Dinnwitted]

Since it doesn't look like it's been posted yet, RCCL confirmed on Twitter that guests on Grandeur will receive a full refund and a future sailing certificate.

 

And guests booked on future sailings that are canceled will get a full refund plus 50% off if/when they rebook.

 

That is a great deal. No wonder why RCCL has a better PR record then Carnival does. I would be shocked if anyone spoke negatively of RCCL's response to this issue.

[ernierocker]

^I am sure there are Carnival fanboys that are unjustifiably going to town with this news.

[SharkTums]

And to show what little impact this actually had, I've been on hold over an hour this morning as bookings just opened for their new ship!

 

GRRR!!!!

[Dinnwitted]

And to show what little impact this actually had, I've been on hold over an hour this morning as bookings just opened for their new ship!

 

GRRR!!!!

It seemed like CNN was applauding the efforts of the crew. It seems like RCCL will get POSITIVE publicity for their actions.

[Chroniq]

You have to wonder how many potential cruisers will avoid booking their first one after this string of events this year..

 

This is the coverage CNN is running http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/27/world/americas/bahamas-cruise-line-fire/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

 

(the video starts with a recap of the incidents)

 

If I was on the fence about cruising and an uninformed person, this kind of news coverage might convince me to just take a land based vacation.

 

Also.. Loved this quote via cruise critic-" Kevin Korman

I am on the grandeur right now. my flight is scheduled at 8 pm tonight into Baltimore. We were also offered a hotel in Baltimore tonight. The cruiseline was awesome. Besides how well they conducted the emergency itself, they went above and beyond for all passengers. Adam Goldstein and the Captian walked around comforting passengers most of the afternoon. They offered free starbucks and specialty coffees, soda, internet, phoneline from cabins and reinburst passengers for drink packages, soda packages, along with giving away all the photos you had taken. 100% refund on your cruise ( 50% for people sailing on next weeks cruise). Flight to baltimore or your final destination, air refund if you booked choice air, and all airline change fees for those who did not purchase air through RCI. The air conditioning was fine throughout the cruise. The cruise was allowed to eat lunch and dinner in the windjammer with the passengers. Sure looks like a great company to be employed. I just have to commend everyone involved, espicially the group of firefighters who they honored in the centrum this morning. It was very moving. Looking forward to my next royal caribbean cruise."

[Jew]

^That's a textbook example of how to keep people loyal to your brand...amazing!

[robbalvey]

^ Wait, you mean attending a NBA Basketball game when thousands of your customers and crew are stranded isn't what the CEO is supposed to be doing?!?!?

[Jew]

^I guess that is what you do when don't actually have to do any work in your life!

 

Carnival CEO resume: son of founder. College drop out.

 

Royal Caribbean CEO resume (just his tenure at RCCL):

 

Goldstein has been with the company since 1988. Prior to 2002 he held the positions of Senior Vice President, Total Guest Satisfaction; Senior Vice President, Marketing; Vice President, Marketing; Vice President, International Sales and Marketing; Director, Market Development; and Corporate Secretary to Royal Caribbean's Board of Directors.

 

Goldstein serves on the Board of Directors of the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA). He was National Chair of TIA in 2001. Goldstein also serves on the Board of Trustees of Our Kids, Inc., the nonprofit with oversight responsibility for foster care and related services for approximately 5,000 children in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.

 

In 1998, Advertising Age named Goldstein to the "Marketing 100," the magazine's annual roundup of the best and brightest American and international marketing minds.

 

Goldstein graduated with honors from Princeton University, majoring in public policy at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He also has a law degree from Harvard and an MBA with distinction from INSEAD, the European business school in Fontainebleau, France. Goldstein and his wife, Cheryl, have two children, David and Julie, and live in Miami-Dade County, Fla.

[DirkFunk]

Thing is, Goldstein isn't the equivalent of Mickey Arsion. Richard Fain is. He's not showing up in person for this. That's what the holding company has CEOs of the individual brands for (Goldstein for RCCL, Cahill for Carnival).

[SharkTums]

^Yeah, but funny, I didn't see Richard Fain out at a basketball game either did I?

[DirkFunk]

Well, frankly, I don't think anyone cares about Richard Fain enough to follow him around, no diss to him. He definitely doesn't own an NBA franchise to go see games at. Arison does, and he probably exerts as much control over Pat Riley as he does the individual CEOs of the brands of Carnival Corporation. So really, no one knows what Richard Fain was doing. He could have been at the links, meeting to deal with shareholder issues, snorting lines off a hookers back, whatever. TBH who cares? RCCL did the right thing.