Have not seen any posts on this so here goes:

I received a letter from Radisson about the MINT cruise.....identifying the missed Los Cabos port due to operational issues, the $150pp ship board credit we all received....THEN the $500pp future credit on a future cruise they gave me!!!!!!!! WOW!!!! I really did not miss this port as I had just been there last year for Christmas and this cruise MINT was all about the wonderful LCT people anyway! All I can say is Radisson is one classy act!!! I am using my $500 for 007!!! Anyone else interested in 007??? Voyager - Rome to Monte Carlo.....I'll be celebrating my 40th on board!

Yes heard about it - and wished it would arrive before we boarded WC - no such luck- J

I didn't get anything in the mail at all. Does this apply to all of us? Then again I've been out of town almost constantly the past few weeks.

Lawrence-

I would assume so....I did not contact Radisson regarding Los Cabos.....

We've not received anything yet. Maybe Radisson knows I just love sea days!

My letter was waiting for me when I arrived home from London today. It's dated Jan 27 and postmarked the 28th, so it should be on it's way to all the MINTers. It's $500 per person!! YIPPEE!!!

Perfect since all of you are joining us for MUSH! I know you needed a place to spend it!

Yeah! Talk about a windfall! I would never have expected RSSC to do this ... I'm SO impressed!!

(eagerly parked outside the mailbox now to see if the letter shows up)

Masaki

Do you have to use it by June 2006????

Got my letter a couple of days ago!
Wow - what CLASS!

Me too!!! Wooooo hooooooooo!
....and I agree, Gil, they ARE a class act!!!!

Woo Hoo for you all, yep the more I see of Rad's behavior--even thinking of the Diamond's loss, the more my loyalty grows..r/wes

I think this certificate needs to be used BY June 2006, so will be expired by MUSH. (when the Diamond mess settles down I will find out for sure) Everyone will get one and I will be able to add it to PIP, 007, PARTY, SPIN and BRAVO people or any cruise that is currently on the books. Give it about a week these things do not all necessarily arrive on the same day. If after a week from today you dont have one then contact me.

I do not need a copy of the letter they are added electronically to your account. However, keep the letter if you get one just incase something goes wrong with the "electronic" transfer of the credit. It will make it easier for me to correct if I have the letter.

I will go through and add them to everyone's next upcoming cruise and then send you a new invoice. There is really no point in holding them, use them as soon as you can. So just contact me if you DONT want me to add them.

Yippee - a nice little treat for everyone.

Wow, I'll say that's classy. Just further confirmation of what y'all have taught me....RSSC is one sharp operation. Congrats, MINTERS!!

$1000 off SPIN? Wow, that is not going to hurt one little bit!

Congrats to all you MINTERS! What a nice surprise! RSSC did the same for us last year when we had to miss Ketchikan due the Mariner's propeller problem. I used it toward BRAVO.

Congrats to all!!! What a difference a few letters make. RSSC vs. RCCL. RSSC is truly a class act.

A year ago October, we were on a 7 day cruise of the Med on the Splendour of the Seas. We started and ended in Barcelona with ports of call at Villefranche, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Naples, and Valleta, Malta. We missed Villefranche as we could not unload the tenders due choppy seas. We sat outside the port all day (with no activities going on I might add) before they finally decided to go onto the next port. The CD announced at the evening show, that the good news was no tendering at Livorno.

However the next morning we were told that the port had been shut down (not really an explanation as to why and that we would be going to La Spezia, where you guessed it we tendered in. Because we were doing our own thing they allowed all of the ships tours off first and we could not get off the ship until about 10:30 am losing 3 1/2 hours from the scheduled time and putting us an hour further out from Florence.

Civitavecchia was our next port and yippee, we made it.

The next port was Naples, but because of high winds the captain could not navigate the ship into the channel, so we missed that port.

Our last port was Malta and we made that one.

So on a 7 day cruise we missed 2 1/2 ports.

Now I have been to Cabos and somehow I don't think it compares to what we missed in the Med. On our cruise, there were no onboard credits, no free drinks, and certainly no future cruise credits.

BTW, I wrote a letter to RCCL and got a response that pretty much was equal to the words TOUGH LUCK!!! We have friends that think that RCCL is the best and think that we were ridiculous for even thinking that we were entitled to anything.

They continue to sail RCCL while we spend less money overall than they do to sail on luxury lines like RSSC, Seabourn, and Silversea and get treated exceptionally well.

Sorry for rambling, but this thread hit a nerve with me. Our friends think that we are snobs, because we won't sail with them on RCCL anymore. They actually suffer from reverse snobbery because they say that people that sail on the luxury lines are too stuffy for them (of course all of this is their opinion without ever having sailed on one) and they would not feel comfortable.

BTW, we are booked on the Silver Whisper in May on one of their Silver Sailings. Last night, just for grins I looked up to see what a 7 day RCCL cruise would be in the Med for the same time period. An outside 155 sq ft cabin on the Splendour of the Seas was actually a couple of hundred dollars more than our suite on SS. DUH, which would you choose??? Our friends would have chosen RCCL, but would have spent more money to upgrade to a suite.

Congrats to all!!! What a difference a few letters make. RSSC vs. RCCL. RSSC is truly a class act. A year ago October, we were on a 7 day cruise of the Med on the Splendour of the Seas. We started and ended in Barcelona with ports of call at Villefranche, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Naples, and Valleta, Malta. We missed Villefranche as we could not unload the tenders due choppy seas. We sat outside the port all day (with no activities going on I might add) before they finally decided to go onto the next port. The CD announced at the evening show, that the good news was no tendering at Livorno.

However the next morning we were told that the port had been shut down (not really an explanation as to why and that we would be going to La Spezia, where you guessed it we tendered in. Because we were doing our own thing they allowed all of the ships tours off first and we could not get off the ship until about 10:30 am losing 3 1/2 hours from the scheduled time and putting us an hour further out from Florence.

Civitavecchia was our next port and yippee, we made it.

The next port was Naples, but because of high winds the captain could not navigate the ship into the channel, so we missed that port.

Our last port was Malta and we made that one.

So on a 7 day cruise we missed 2 1/2 ports.

Now I have been to Cabos and somehow I don't think it compares to what we missed in the Med. On our cruise, there were no onboard credits, no free drinks, and certainly no future cruise credits.

BTW, I wrote a letter to RCCL and got a response that pretty much was equal to the words TOUGH LUCK!!! We have friends that think that RCCL is the best and think that we were ridiculous for even thinking that we were entitled to anything.

They continue to sail RCCL while we spend less money overall than they do to sail on luxury lines like RSSC, Seabourn, and Silversea and get treated exceptionally well.

Sorry for rambling, but this thread hit a nerve with me. Our friends think that we are snobs, because we won't sail with them on RCCL anymore. They actually suffer from reverse snobbery because they say that people that sail on the luxury lines are too stuffy for them (of course all of this is their opinion without ever having sailed on one) and they would not feel comfortable.

BTW, we are booked on the Silver Whisper in May on one of their Silver Sailings. Last night, just for grins I looked up to see what a 7 day RCCL cruise would be in the Med for the same time period. An outside 155 sq ft cabin on the Splendour of the Seas was actually a couple of hundred dollars more than our suite on SS. DUH, which would you choose??? Our friends would have chosen RCCL, but would have spent more money to upgrade to a suite.

I saw this a little earlier but didn't respond -- Just back from a canal cruise, as in (bad) root canal. The Vicodin is starting to kick in ...

This is OUTRAGEOUSLY good news. I'm shocked at RSSC's largesse (and class)!

Bill

Thank you thank you thank you Ngaire.
Because of her our cruise on the Diamond 02/15/05
just qualified!

Oh Bill, Sorry about the root canal! I had one that went haywire a few months ago, I hope you don't have complications as I did! I feel for you!!

You MINTERS lucked out really well! How generous of Radisson!

We'd like to "adopt" any that are not being used for our BRAVO cruise! Now, don't all rush at once to "donate!" :angel2:

I cut out an article in today's Los Angeles Times that all of you might find interesting:

Question: My husband and I booked a seven-day golf cruise to the Mexican Riviera last year on the Radisson Seven Seas Mariner. Upon boarding the ship in November, we discovered that one of the three scheduled ports, Cabo San Lucas, had been canceled. A letter posted on our stateroom door said the itinerary change was due to "unforeseen circumstances."

The captain later told us that the ship's propeller had been damaged in Alaska five months before, forcing the ship to sail at a reduced speed. We also learned that Radisson Seven Seas made similar adjustments to every remaining itinerary until the ship's planned dry docking in December. Although the cruise line had ample time to fix the problem or notify booked passengers of any possible changes, it did neither.

We expect more from a company that advertises "six-star" service. Why did it wait until the last minute to tell us about this problem? And why weren't we compensated properly?

Bonnie Adamick

Thousand Oaks


Answer: Port cancellations seem to have become as rampant as flight delays.

Cruise lines blame the problem on the quadruple threats of weather, mechanical malfunctions, port crowding and enhanced security. But frequent cruisers grumble that lines are taking advantage of one-sided contracts that let them scrub any stop, for any reason.

"It's a complaint we hear frequently but can do little about," said Bryant VanBrakle, secretary of the Federal Maritime Commission, the agency whose responsibilities include advising passengers how to file claims against cruise operators.

Cruise passengers, unlike air travelers, have few legal rights. If the cruise line doesn't deliver the advertised itinerary, travelers are not necessarily due compensation. Adamick paid $3,000 per person for the cruise; she received $150 in shipboard credit for losing one-third of her port calls.

Adamick, however, was in a good position to argue for more: Radisson knew the ship was damaged and still decided to sail.

The Mariner, like some other ships, has fancy propellers, or "pods," that make the liner fuel-efficient, easier to maneuver and smoother to ride — but also more prone to damage and breakdowns.

"In the past two years, we've seen an increase in missed ports and cancellations as a result of this," said Mike Driscoll, editor of the industry newsletter Cruiseweek. Carnival and Celebrity have been hardest hit by propeller problems and have doled out millions in compensation to aggrieved passengers. In 2003, Celebrity filed a $300-million suit against the manufacturer for these losses; the case has not yet been resolved.

When we called Radisson Seven Seas, the company conceded that it handled the Mariner situation poorly. The ship's pod, which is more exposed than older ones, scraped an iceberg in Alaska in June. The cruise line made temporary repairs, allowing the Mariner to complete the year's sailings at a reduced speed before dry docking in December.

But Adamick's Nov. 12 itinerary was "too tightly scheduled" for a handicapped ship, said Mike Conroy, president of Radisson Seven Seas. Strong headwinds and currents along the coast, congestion at Cabo and security checks, he said, typically make this sail a scramble anyway. "We talked about it three months before and knew we'd have a challenge," Conroy said.

The line chose to try the original itinerary on Adamick's cruise even after the ship ran into delays 10 days earlier.

"Based on the information from our captain, we thought we could make up the time … but we were wrong," Conroy said.

Radisson Seven Seas should have given Adamick and her husband cash or credit for one lost day, or about $430 per person, said San Francisco-based travel attorney Al Anolik, author of "Traveler's Rights: Your Legal Guide to Fair Treatment and Full Value."

"The contract says the line is not responsible for itinerary changes due to mechanicals, but they're also required to keep a public service vessel in good working condition," he said.

"The cruise line just can't say, 'We'll take care of it in December.' Radisson took the shot and lost."

In the end, Radisson made good for our reader — and the 646 other guests onboard. Upon receiving our phone call and revisiting the guest comment cards, the cruise line discovered that it had received about 40 complaints about the missed port and the compensation.

"In hindsight, we could have been more generous upfront," Conroy said. "We have reevaluated the situation and as a gesture of goodwill are offering all guests on published fares an additional $500 per person future cruise credit."

Although cruise passengers can't protect themselves from eleventh-hour itinerary changes, they can take steps to minimize loss. Here's how:

• Choose ships, not ports. Make vacation decisions based on the ship's amenities and general destination, not specific ports of call. Be aware that port cancellations can affect weddings, meetings with relatives, golf tee times and other land-based activities, said Kathy Sudeikis, president of the American Society of Travel Agents.

• Track troubles. Before booking one of the newer ships, research its track record online. Cruisejunkie.com (www.cruisejunkie.com/events.html) keeps tabs on problems at sea reported by the media and passengers. It features three years of incidents by cruise line, ship and compensation offered.

• Scrutinize itineraries. If a schedule includes lots of short stops, chances are one or more of those ports, particularly the congested ones, could get cut. That's because the time it would take to disembark and clear customs might consume most of the stay.

• Be wary of West Coast cruises. Lines often delay repairs until a ship repositions. And if trouble strikes, you may be on a route with fewer stops for an emergency fix, said Cruiseweek's Driscoll. The West Coast is one of those places. "For this reason, we're hearing about a lot of problems on Alaskan and Mexican Riviera itineraries," he said. A reputable cruise agent can steer you toward voyages that are least likely to encounter trouble. If problems do arise, the agent should be able to negotiate a better itinerary or a settlement.

• Demand a reasonable response. Missing a port does not command the same compensation as a canceled cruise. Mariner passengers, for example, cannot expect the same compensation as recent cruisers on its sister ship the Navigator; that vessel caught fire Jan. 17, forcing a cancellation. Guests could choose between a full refund or another seven-day cruise plus $1,000 in cruise credit per person.

• Protect your investment. Buying travel insurance, preferably from an independent provider, is the best way to recoup losses if problems arise. Cruise lines prefer to compensate in future credit, not cash; by paying with plastic, you may get help from your credit card company in winning a cash refund.

• Register your gripes. Contact your local Better Business Bureau (www.bbbonline.org/consumer) or state attorney general's office (www.naag.org, then click on the link for "the attorneys general"). The BBB often arbitrates on behalf of travel consumers. The Federal Maritime Commission (www.fmc.gov) maintains a little-publicized consumer hotline, (202) 523-5725, where you can register a complaint. The agency gets about 200 complaints a year and often will intervene for consumers with cruise line disputes. It does not have jurisdiction over the lines, however, and cannot take action against them.

• Consider suing. "Forum selection" clauses in cruise contracts may make it hard for consumers to sue because the clause generally requires filing suit in the nation or state where the line is registered, and often that's overseas. California residents, however, are protected by the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, which allows them to file suit locally, regardless of where the cruise line is located.

Interesting article; the delays that were encountered 10 days earlier were on our cruise. I guess our token "pause" in Cabo counted as a port call, we haven't heard anything. Luckily, we were on for the ship experience most of all, even though Cabo was the one port we were really looking forward to.

I had been watching the port times change for several months, and had talked about it here. Still think we got far more than our money's worth out of that cruise.

Kathy - ahhh, the reason for the $500 cruise credit becomes apparent ... :)

Masaki

Thanks for posting this, Kathy.

Kathy,

Good article!

You know. Jan & I think we made out like bandits on the "MINT" cruise. The $150 shipboard was great and then to have this additional $500 was fantastic.
Now I can see where maybe some of our 646 fellow cruisers may not have been as happy because they were not part of our "fun loving" group, but for us it was a great cruise.

We were on the Navigator from Montreal to Tampa, and missed two "Grand" ports, Grand Turk and Grand Cayman, because (they said) the water was too rough to tender. Obviously the case in Grand Turk, and perhaps the case in the Caymans, but we passed by rather close and it didn't look like there was much left to see there; the place looked devistated. And we stopped at San Andreas very briefly, no one could get off, to satisfy the Jones Act, I guess. No one offered us any suite or future cruise credit, they did proclaim "open bar" for the rest of the day at least once, but that was it! We really wanted to see both places we skipped, because we haven't been to either. Maybe I'll write Radisson and ask, even though they can't do anything about the weather or seas. They could be careful about choosing itineraries, and keep track of how often they have to bypass a port because of weather or high seas or other problems. The way they lay out itineraries is a big mystery, anyway. Even the cruise consultants sometimes have to throw up their hands.