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| Tug - Port of Naples Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
It turns out, there really was a "Murphy" and he really had a "law." But it's not what you think!
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| Driving The Amalfi Coast Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
LATER THAT afternoon, the captain came on and said: "still working on it." He would have a more detailed explanation/announcement in the morning. The next morning, our worst thoughts were confirmed. They couldn't fix it. They did not feel that it was in the best interests of the passengers to try to continue the cruise on auxiliary power and so Princess had decided that the remainder of the cruise would be cancelled. We would make as good speed as possible to Naples, where they would bring in Princess Engineers (it turns out they actually took the ship back to its point of manufacture in northern Italy). During the previous day, when reached by various news agencies, Princess released the following "official statement:"
Official statement from Princess Cruises:
Today (Sep 22 13) at approximately 1:30 pm local time, Royal Princess experienced a power outage. Power is currently in the process of being restored, and in the meantime an emergency backup generator has been used to provide essential services, such as toilets. The ship is not in any danger, and the Captain has been keeping passengers regularly informed about the situation. The ship is currently on the seventh day of a 12-day Mediterranean cruise that departed Venice on September 15. There are 3,594 passengers and 1,336 crew members onboard.
AS BAD as things seemed, it actually got better. And in 20/20 hindsight, maybe a whole lot better
MY FIRST reaction was crestfallen disappointment. I had been so looking forward to Rome and especially the Amalfi Coast. In those days the primary focus of my serious photography was "landscape." The Amalfi Coast promised spectacular landscape, and we had a tour scheduled with a very highly recommended Italian tour company: Rome In Limo. At the same time, we are really pretty even-keeled people. We knew it was not Princess' fault and that "life" (or whatever other word you might substitute in there) happens. The age-worn saying: "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade" comes to mind.
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| Positano, Italy Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
AS BAD as things seemed, it actually got better. And in 20/20 hindsight, maybe a whole lot better! We knew that Princess was a subsidiary company of Carnival Cruise Lines. We had heard absolutely nothing good about Carnival, its ships, and its handling of the at sea disasters of the past few months. That worried us. But immediately following the heartbreaking announcement that the cruise was being cancelled, they also told us what Princess was going to do about the situation. I have to give them great credit. They handled it like a top-drawer company should when they have let down their customers. They first announced that we would receive a full refund of our entire cruise cost (interesting, because they had certainly provided some value by completing the first half of the cruise). Absolutely the right thing to do. Second, they promised to get everyone home, making whatever flight changes and arrangements were necessary (this one proved to be more of a challenge than immediately met the eye). Next, they offered us a 20% discount on any new Princess Cruise that was scheduled within a certain time period (I don't remember the exact duration, but we used it in the fall of 2015). Finally, they noted that it would take an extra day at auxiliary power to limp into Naples, and that after we were there, it would take a couple additional days to get everyone off the ship and on the way home. So, while we were in port in Naples, we were free to continue occupancy of our stateroom, get on and off the ship as we pleased, and take advantage of all the on-ship amenities, including the buffet, dining rooms, specialty restaurants, etc. That worked out well for us, as we spent two more nights on board after docking. We arrived at Naples in the wee hours of the morning and, hearing some commotion, I awoke and watched from our balcony as two tugboats worked to turn our ship around in the harbor. I am thinking that because they didn't have full power, they didn't want to take and chances. Thus, the tugs. It was fun to watch (I have since been into the port of Naples several times. It is a very narrow port. It seems to me that every large ship that turns around in the port is turned by tugs, as was our recent Celebrity Edge ship).
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| Amalfi, Italy Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
THE LOGISTICS of getting everyone home was - predictably - a mess. We were originally supposed to terminate in Barcelona, and most passengers had flights arranged from Barcelona home, several days hence. While there is an airport in Naples, there was also a huge convention going on there at this same time and flights were nearly impossible. They ended up bussing a large number of passengers to Rome to fly out of FCO. We got our "travel orders" the morning after we arrived at Naples. We were to put our bags out that night, and we would disembark from the ship at 2:00 a.m (that's correct - a.m.!) to be bussed to FCO for our flight home. At the time we were living in Saginaw, Michigan. There was a problem. Our new flight was to Flint, Michigan, 45 minutes away from Saginaw. I suppose we could have rented a car, driven it to the Saginaw airport, and then picked up our car. But that wasn't "getting us home," in our view. Thinking this was what she earned her living for, we contacted our Travel Agent. She got right on it and told us not to get on the bus, and to wait to hear from her. When she did get back to us later that day, she had made alternate reservations, out of Rome, a day later, taking us home to Saginaw. We spoke to passenger service (which was a zoo, with long lines). The ship people were overwhelmed. But they were as helpful and courteous as possible. She told us to keep all our receipts and she was confident that Princess would take care of us. We ended up flying out on Alitalia 2 days later with connections from Chicago to Saginaw. Even that didn't go smoothly, but we kept "landing on our feet." More on that below.
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| Amalfi, Italy Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
HAVING AN extra day now, we decided to see what we could do to salvage the rest of our trip. We contacted Rome In Limo to see if they would possibly have the Amalfi tour available for the day we were in port - a day later than scheduled. Unfortunately, they had no ability to do it that day. They did tell us to let them know if there was anything else they could do. A day later, we decided to ask them to limo us to Rome and the hotel we were staying in near FCO. Our friends, Scott and Pam had originally planned to spend 3 days in Barcelona at the end of the cruise. They made arrangements to go to Rome and stay there a couple days and then fly to Barcelona. We teamed up and split the cost of the Rome In Limo drive. In the meantime, since we couldn't get a tour, we had been told we might be able to get a taxi to take us up the coast. We walked out on the street and found a guy. He spoke about 2 words of English, but it was enough. It wasn't a tour, but he did get us up the coast, with a couple stops for photos. In the end, not a complete loss. The four of us had spent some time together already during the week and we made the best of it and enjoyed our day.
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| The Spanish Steps - Rome, Italy Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
THE NEXT morning, we were picked up at the port by the Rome In Limo driver, who took us to Rome. Our hotel was near the airport. We wanted to be sure there were no problems getting there, and we expected crowds, given the past several days issues. Scott and Pam had booked a hotel in Rome, however. So, our driver took us to our hotel, where we were able to drop our bags and check in. Then we joined them for the ride back into Rome. Since we didn't leave until the next morning, we thought maybe we could see some of Rome. It worked out pretty well. Their hotel was very close to the Coloseum, the ancient ruins, The Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Fountain. We saw all of them in a pretty busy afternoon of walking around Rome. We then took the Metro to a bus stop, where we picked up a shuttle back to our hotel. Pretty adventurous of us. 😀
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| Trevi Fountain - Rome, Italy Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
HERE IS how we looked at it, though, in hindsight. When we got home, we sent Princess every single receipt for every out-of-pocket-expense we had after we reached Naples. Within a couple weeks they sent us a check for the entire amount - no questions asked. So. We go a 7-day Mediterranean Cruise, a day on the Amalfi Coast, and a 1/2 day in Rome. And, since they reimbursed us for our cruise cost, and all the later incidentals, the only cost to us was the airfare. And we would certainly plan to go back and do a "makeup" cruise. And for that, we had the money, and the 20% discount. Really pretty good lemonade!
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| The Coliseum - Rome, Italy Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
ON THE morning of our scheduled flight, we took the hotel shuttle to the FCO international terminal. We were in for a shock when we walked in. I have never seen lines so long for check in, and I have been flying for many years. We got in the line, hoping we would get checked in before the flight left. But one other detail had happened that I neglected to mention. By hook or crook, our travel agent had booked us in business class! My wife left me in line to "placehold" while she walked up (it was seriously nearly out of sight) to see if there was a separate check-in line for business class. There was! We walked up and stood in a line of about four people in front of us. Once ticketed and checked in, she pointed us to the Alitalia Lounge. Win-win. Especially when the next thing to go wrong did go wrong. 😅Our flight was scheduled to leave somewhere mid-morning. But it was delayed. It turns out it was delayed for an entire day. If you have to spend a whole day in an airport, make it in one of the airline lounges. That experience, coupled with the onboard experience of being able to lie flat and actually sleep some, spoiled us. It wasn't the last time we flew coach. But close. We are now "spending our childrens' inheritance," and fly business class on these long trips out of the country. We finally boarded about 6:00 p.m. (Rome time). We "did the math" and realized we weren't going to make our connection to Saginaw. But we would be back in the U.S. and through customs. That was all that really mattered to us at that point. Ultimately, the airlines put us up at their cost overnight in Chicago and had us on the first flight out the next morning. Quite an adventure. For the most part, though, a successful adventure. Would we do it again? Absolutely. And we did, two years later, this time enticing our good friends, Paul and Linda to join us! But in between, we would cruise 2 more times in the Caribbean; both times on Celebrity Ships.
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| Rome, Italy Copyright Andy Richards 2013 |
YOU MAY wonder, as I did, why there was such a difference in the response and attitude of two cruise lines under the same parent? Carnival Corporation maintains 9 cruise lines, including Princess and Holland America in the U.S. I did some research and read that while Carnival did acquire both Princess and Holland America at some point that they have corporately taken a hands-off approach and allowed these lines to continue their own management.
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