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QM2 deadlock continues as passengers threaten missed ports mutiny

Tuesday January 24 2006

PASSENGERS aboard Cunard flagship Queen Mary 2are continuing to threaten to refuse to leave the ship when it reaches Rio de Janeiro, in a row over compensation for three lost port calls, writes Sandra Speares.

A number of passengers say they will refuse to disembark in Rio when the ship arrives there on Thursday, where a further 1,000 passengers are set to board the QM2 for the next leg of a 38 day cruise.

The protest arises from Cunard’s decision to cancel calls in St Kitts, Barbados and Salvador in order to make up time lost when one of the ship’s propulsion pods had to be taken out of service due to damage sustained while leaving Port Everglades.

Cunard has offered a 50% refund for passengers affected by the lost calls, which were needed for the QM2to arrive in Rio on time to pick up more passengers. However some have protested that compensation is insufficient and say they were not told about the missed port calls before the ship left Fort Lauderdale.

A spokesman for Cunard said that he did not believe the protests to be extensive and 30 to 100 passengers had had three or four meetings with the captain on the issue.

While the spokesman said he understood people were upset, there was “no option” but to sail direct to Rio where about 1,100 passengers are due to disembark.

Cunard says there will be no further cancellations, although there will be shorter calls in Rio, Montevideo and Acapulco for which passengers will be offered compensation in the form of $100 per person onboard credit.

Cunard is not commenting on what is likely to happen when the ship reaches Rio and whether passengers will carry out their threat to stay in their cabins and refuse to disembark.

Meanwhile, the US Coast Guard investigation into the circumstances surrounding the damage to QM2’s fourth pod is continuing and the Cunard spokesman said the company was co-operating fully with the authorities.

2) Casualty Report:-

MARINE
QUEEN MARY 2 (U.K.)

Tuesday January 24 2006

London, Jan 23 -- A press report, dated Jan 22, states: Some passengers on board passenger Queen Mary 2 are threatening a sit-in when the vessel reaches port in Brazil to protest a last-minute change in itinerary, the vessel's operator said today. The vessel left New York on Jan 15 and was scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles on Feb 22. Carrying more than 2,500 passengers, it hit the side of a Florida shipping channel Jan 18, damaging a motor and reducing its speed. The cruise cut stops in Barbados, St. Kitts and Salvador, Brazil, to make up for lost time, said Eric Flounders, a Cunard Line spokesman. Cunard offered 1,000 passengers who had been scheduled to disembark in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a 50% refund to make up for the missing stops, Flounders said. Some were unhappy with the offer and told the captain they would refuse to leave the ship, he said. He said only a small number of passengers were protesting, but he did not know how many. "Cunard takes the view that they are on board, they're enjoying all the facilities of the QM2, all the food, the entertainment and so on, so while we very much regret they're missing the ports, we feel the 50% compensates for that," he said. One passenger, Alan Berg, said that many people on the vessel were extremely unhappy and demanding full refunds. "We have been lied to and misled," Berg said. "We should have been allowed the option of getting off at Fort Lauderdale and not taking the cruise at all. It is not in fact a cruise now but a rather a voyage by sea to Rio. Many guests are on once-in-a-lifetime holidays and I have seen several in tears." Flounders said Cunard did not know until after the vessel left port how much speed it would lose and how many ports of call it would have to skip to reach Rio de Janeiro on time on Jan 26.

HERE

What a pathetic display. This is certainly to be expected from the mass market but not the upper crust of the liner folks

[ 01-23-2006: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

I do see the protesters point of view. Cunard are unable to deliver the itinerary that people have paid for. Now if that has totally ruined your vacation, a 50% refund is unlikely to satisfy you either.

Cunard could surely not offer disembarkation as an option in FLL. Those who boarded in NYC would fall foul of the PSA and be subjected to a fine. Those who joined if FLL would not. It would not be right to have given the option to only some of the pax.

I do not think Cunard should give a penny more in compensation. It sets a precedent for the future and the more people get given bucksheesh the more they will learn to rant and rave over the silliest of things purely for more refunds.

quote:

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Originally posted by PamM:
I do not think Cunard should give a penny more in compensation. It sets a precedent for the future and the more people get given bucksheesh the more they will learn to rant and rave over the silliest of things purely for more refunds.

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Pam, we always tend to disagree on this subject . In my opinion a major change in the stated itinerary due to mechanical failure (or accident) is not the ‘silliest’ of things.

Some might argued that it was not Cunard’s fault, but it was someone’s fault. Maybe it was pilot error or poor workmanship/maintenance etc. It does not alter the outcome.

Cunard sold a specific itinerary and the mechanical failure of their vessel means they are not delivering the goods as promised in the brochure. I think there should be a 'precedent' set for more generous refunds if a holiday is dramatically altered/ruined.

I would not suggest for a moment that big compensation is given for minor things. Anyway, many minor complaints can be put right during a cruise. I once complained about a very dirty cabin carpet. I hope dthey would clean it, but when I returned from an excursion they had actually replaced it!

(If the pod was faulty, I bet Cunard will be quick to demand big compensation from the manufacturers).

[ 01-24-2006: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

quote:

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
Cunard sold a specific itinerary and the mechanical failure of their vessel means they are not delivering the goods as promised in the brochure. I think there should be a 'precedent' set for more generous refunds if a holiday is dramatically altered/ruined.

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The only itinerary that Cunard sold was Fort Lauderdale -> Rio. They are not failing to deliver anything that they have promised to deliver.

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Originally posted by Globaliser:

The only itinerary that Cunard sold was Fort Lauderdale -> Rio. They are not failing to deliver anything that they have promised to deliver.

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Cunard only g'tee to get you to the port of disembarkation from the port of embarkation, not the means or route you will take. One could have been bused to Miami, flown to Recife, taken a ferry to Salvador and onward by train [if there is one] to Rio, and they would still be within the terms of their contract with you. Might be an interesting trip actually They can also subsitute QM2 for any other vessel they may feel like, does not even have to be a Cunard or Carnival Corp one. I doubt things would ever get that far without the option of backing out, but they can do so if they wish.

quote:

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Tempers on cruise boil over
By Jordan Baker
January 25, 2006

TENSIONS aboard the world's most expensive cruise ship are at boiling point, with furious passengers now threatening a class action on top of their refusal to disembark at Rio de Janeiro, an Australian passenger says.

More than a thousand people have attended angry meetings aboard the Queen Mary 2 since stops on its Latin American cruise were cancelled so it could arrive in Rio on time after a propeller pod was damaged in Florida.

David Hayes, a Gold Coast businessman who paid $100,000 to travel from New York to Los Angeles via Cape Horn in one of the royal suites, told the Herald the mood on board was "volatile to the extreme".

Anger at the cancellation of all stops before Rio had been exacerbated by fury at Cunard Line which, passengers alleged, had kept them in the dark. Many were threatening to refuse to disembark at Rio until given enough compensation.

Some passengers were also threatening a class action suit, Mr Hayes said. "There's people all over the place wanting to sue them any way they can," he said.

Many passengers suspected the ship was still trying to make its deadline in Los Angeles on three rather than four propellers and were concerned for their safety. "The ship is literally going flat out," Mr Hayes said. The protest was not a case of rich people throwing tantrums, he said. Some had been saving for the treat of a lifetime or a second honeymoon. Without the port stops, they would be better off at a five-star hotel. "We're now on a very expensive ferry ride."

He described the atmosphere among the 2528 passengers as "poisonous, explosive".

"It's mayhem, it's horrible," Mr Hayes said. "We're trying to get information and they're not giving it to us. There is a mutinous feeling in the air. You can't relax. Everyone around you is strung out like a violin string."

There are 26 Australians travelling from New York to Los Angeles and six disembarking at Rio. Cunard said the accident affected the ship's speed so stops were cancelled to ensure it arrived in Rio on time.

It has offered passengers 50-per-cent refunds.

Sydney Morning Herald

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Originally posted by Globaliser:
[...]
The main error that cruise lines make is that they do not make this fact sufficiently clear in their documentation.

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Originally posted by moodus2:
the passengers are being penalized because of commodore
warwick poor judgement in navagating the queen mary 2 out of the port of ft. lauderdale.

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Yes, the master does hold full reposnsibility for his vessel, but the pilot would have been giving the instructions and only if the master or bridge officers thought the pilot's instructions were erroneous would they have over ridden them. A pilot is far more qualified than any of the officers aboard in his home waters and will know all the channels, currents, winds etc on the back of his hand.

I still have not seen anything stating exactly what was hit, or what the damage to the pod is. As only one pod seems to have sustained damage and nothing else, it seems odd to me. Could there possibly have been a submerged obstruction, container, rock moved, anything.. so many possibilities that would lead to no blame being able to be apportioned to anyone in particular.

I do not think at this stage any fingers can be pointed.

Agreed, but I could enjoy myself and still require to be compensated.

If you need things to be rigidly scripted with no possible changes to enjoy yourself I would suggest you are not really a traveler...

Cruising is probably the vacation that is more 'formulaic' and 'closets' its passengers more than any other type of vacation I can think of. These floating luxury resorts with a touch of 'soft adventure' throw in, are hardly the pursuit of 'real travellers'.

I would suggest you are not really a traveler or perhaps you would be happier in a recreation of traveling like Disney's Epcot center.

Many ships are in fact floating versions of Epcot.

quote:

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Cunard only g'tee to get you to the port of disembarkation from the port of embarkation, not the means or route you will take. One could have been bused to Miami, flown to Recife, taken a ferry to Salvador and onward by train [if there is one] to Rio, and they would still be within the terms of their contract with you. Might be an interesting trip actually They can also subsitute QM2 for any other vessel they may feel like, does not even have to be a Cunard or Carnival Corp one. I doubt things would ever get that far without the option of backing out, but they can do so if they wish.

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Sorry Pam, but here in Brazil we don't have passenger ferries even last passenger trains. We had some in the 1800's and in the begginig of the 1900's but with some presidents who supported GM and others companies, we only have roads today. But i cannot forget that we have a very usefull cargo trains net, but no passengers at all.

quote:

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:

Cruising is probably the vacation that is more 'formulaic' and 'closets' its passengers more than any other type of vacation I can think of. These floating luxury resorts with a touch of 'soft adventure' throw in, are hardly the pursuit of 'real travellers'.

.[/QB]

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