Cruise Bruise Blog
May 28, 2009
May 28, 2009
Missing Port Of Calls Becoming Increasing Disappointment To Passengers
Missing ports during a cruise has become an increasing problem of late. People book a cruise, often way in advance, make plans to meet friends and family members who live in foreign ports and book shore excursions based on the itinerary the cruise line promotes in their brochure. Most never give a thought that there might be itinerary changes, sometimes suddenly, without warning.
Recent reasons for missing ports are pirate attacks, rough weather, civil unrest in the port city or surrounding area, increased crime in the port city or surrounding area, illness outbreaks ashore and aboard, mechanical failure of the ship and failure of the cruise line to make proper arrangements to call at the port.
Post displeasure about missing ports, even when the cruise line should have known they would miss the port before the cruise embarked, but didn't tell passengers before they boarded, and the jackals will chew you up in a pro-industry online forum that is suppose to be critical of the cruise industry. Lucy Fernandez found this out the hard way.
Fernandez's cruise left Tampa on May 3 for seven days and was scheduled to stop in Cozumel, Belize, Roatan in Honduras and Grand Cayman Island.
Of course Cozumel was canceled because of the Mexican Swine Flu H1N1 outbreak. Passengers knew that before they boarded. What they didn't know until they got to Belize, was that Honduras would be canceled too, due to "civil unrest".
I understand that not everybody is exceptionally well-education on history, physical geography, politics and meteorology. It is the reason I try to provide maps with a story, to give a visual idea of a situation. Not understanding those topics leaves the passenger to rely on the cruise line to make good decisions and to keep the passenger informed of changes due to any one of these topics influencing changes to cruise itinerary.
Fernandez says that of the seven days on that voyage only 18 hours were not at sea, that is her main complaint.
Going back to the fall of 2008, specifically November 5, 2008 the cruise lines were well aware of the civil unrest in Roatan, Honduras. Carnival Glory left port that day almost immediately after arriving, because of civil unrest. Other ships missed calls due to protests. With some reports saying on that day, " the situation in Roatan seems to be worsening".
That was six months before Fernandez's cruise. Passengers had every reason to be angry, because while the cruise line did tell passengers in advance that they would be missing Mexico, they did not tell them they would be missing Honduras as well. Had they told passengers in advance that they would missed two of the four nations, many may have opted for the refund. That would mean the ship would have sailed with an unprofitable occupancy.
The real anger came because while Carnival had known for months Roatan was a problem, they had not changed their itinerary to remove Roatan completely. Why? Roatan's proximity to Belize allows the cruise lines to stop at two countries with very little fuel usage.
Roatan is an island off the coast of mainland Honduras, about 130 miles away from Belize City, the primary port of call in Belize. Within the larger scope of the oceans, these two ports are close neighbors. Couple these two with Cozumel, Mexico, also an island and you have three countries to call at, all within a relatively short distance.
In fact, by choosing two islands off the coast of the mainlands, the cruise lines give passengers a "foreign destination" without having the extra mileage of calling at the mainland, an especially important fuel saver when combined with the Cayman Islands.
Other than in Europe, this would be difficult to pull off in most regions of the world. In the Caribbean, the three ports are all found in a more or less cove. The choices for alternatives call at ports, with an eye on fuel consumption are very limited.
If the alternative adds excessive fuel consumption, reducing the profitability of the voyage, the cruise industry policy is to just miss the port and not substitute it. The passenger will suffer, not the cruise line. The passenger is kept on board longer, they spend more money aboard. It is obviously to the cruise line's advantage all the way around.
In fact, the United States State Department has had warnings on Honduras for a long time.
"Crime is endemic in Honduras and requires a high degree of caution by U.S. visitors and residents alike. U.S. citizens have been the victims of a wide range of crimes, including murder, kidnapping, rape, assault, and property crimes. Sixty-two U.S. citizens have been murdered in Honduras since 1995; only twenty cases have been resolved.
Four U.S citizens were murdered in Honduras in 2007, six in 2006, and ten in 2005. Kidnappings of U.S. citizens have occurred in Honduras, including two incidents in 2007. Poverty, gangs, and low apprehension and conviction rates of criminals contribute to a critical crime rate, including horrific acts of mass murder. With a total of 3,855 murders in 2007, and a population of approximately 7.3 million people, Honduras has one of the world’s highest per capita murder rates."
