Cruise Ship Blues: The Underside of the Cruise Ship Industry (27 page)

The nature of compensation varies widely. Sometimes it makes sense, other times it doesn’t. Maybe it depends on how important the cruise line thinks you are. Why else would the same company offer a partial refund to one group of passengers on a grounded cruise ship, and an entire free cruise to another group of passengers who were given unclean cabins?

Upgrades

In recent years cruise lines have produced expectations for upgrades and freebies. Increasingly, passengers book a cruise and expect their accommodations to be upgraded when they arrive on the ship. The expectation comes in part from travel agents who, like passengers, base expectations on past cruise line behavior. They know of cases where a person has been upgraded. Expectations are reinforced by stories told on Internet discussion groups or among friends. In most cases, there is no ready explanation for an upgrade.

An upgrade may be given for a number of reasons. Someone else might request the cabin you reserved; to accommodate that request, you are upgraded to another cabin without reason to ask why. An upgrade may be given to a repeat passenger as a gesture of goodwill, to a new passenger in order to breed loyalty, or to compensate a past passenger for a problem or disappointment on a previous cruise.

No matter the reason for an upgrade, the effect is an increasing awareness that upgrades are given. Many passengers have come to expect upgrades and are disappointed when one is not provided.

Freebies

Cruise lines have also undermined customer satisfaction by giving freebies. At one extreme are compensation packages given when cruises have been canceled or accidents have occurred at sea. In these situations passengers are often offered a refund and a free cruise for their inconvenience. Although appropriate in certain circumstances, this practice does produce awareness that sometimes free cruises are given. Passengers with less serious problems don’t always distinguish between their disappointment and these more serious situations; they expect that they, too, deserve a free cruise.

A traditional response to problems aboard cruise ships is to send a complimentary bottle of wine to a passenger’s cabin or dinner table. It is uncanny how predictable this is. In June 2001 I appeared on a syndicated call-in radio talk show. One caller began telling a story about an accident involving a slip and fall on a cruise ship. Her husband required stitches but was not seriously injured. As the woman was about to finish her story, I said, “Let me guess. A bottle of wine was sent to your table that night.” She responded, “How did you know? One was sent with a signed card from the hotel manager.”

The practice of giving a bottle of wine to ameliorate a problem has become so common that some passengers complain purely with the intent of getting that free bottle of wine.

•    There is a problem with your plumbing? Have a bottle of wine on us.

•    Your room isn't properly cleaned? Accept this gift of a bottle of wine.

•    You found something in your food? Here's a bottle of wine.

Indeed, the response has become so routine that some passengers have begun to scam the cruise line. An executive chef with Norwegian Cruise Lines indicated that almost once a week a passenger puts something in his or her food, calls the maitre d' over, and asks for compensation. Even though the object in the food is clearly not something that could have originated in the galley, the passenger receives a free bottle of wine and is pleased with his or her efforts.

cruise lines are sincere in their gestures, but they are also aware of this cult of expectation. In some ways, they play into it — it’s easy to provide something of minimal cost that keeps people happy in the process. The negative side, however, is the growing skepticism about complaints. Very often, crew members view all passenger complaints as attempts to get something for free. The result is that justified complaints can be overlooked or dismissed.

I have many times had a concern dismissed with a response along the lines of “Other passengers haven’t mentioned that.” The statement invalidates my concern and makes me feel as though the problem is me, not the situation in question. The lesson quickly learned is that if you need to complain, be sure it is about something “normal.” Be prepared to have your complaint dismissed if it is anything that has not been heard before, or

PROBLEMS WITH AIR CONDITIONING

On five separate cruises I have experienced problems with air conditioning. In one case, there was no air conditioning at all; in the other cases, the air conditioning was inadequate. In each case, when the matter was brought to the attention of the purser's desk, the response was that staff were unaware of any problem with the air conditioning. They simply denied that the problem existed.

•    Regency Cruises'
Regent Sea
was on its fourth cruise in a row without air conditioning. Staff had been sleeping on the outside decks for the past couple of weeks because of the heat in their cabins, but they were instructed to say that there was no problem. Four days into the cruise, after assurances that repairs were under way, passengers were notified that there was no air conditioning.

•    Norwegian Cruise Line's
Norwegian Sea
had its air conditioning turned off for maintenance. Despite dozens of complaints, the purser's desk insisted that there were no problems.Passengers were told that the problem must be isolated to their own cabin and that a technician would be down to make repairs. After seven or eight hours, the system was turned back on.

ignored if it is something like air conditioning over which the person you are talking to has absolutely no control, and no better idea than you if something is wrong or whether it will be fixed.

DEALING WITH THE UNUSUAL

Dealing with an unusual problem can be even more frustrating. A cabin that is not properly cleaned, a service provider who falls short of performance expectations, or a room with malfunctioning air conditioning can each become difficult to deal with. Your complaint will be taken and an effort made to fix the problem, but there is no guarantee that the situation will change. Repeated attempts to have something corrected are often fruitless. Complaining to the cruise line after you get home often only increases your frustration.

•    Holland America Line's
Rotterdam
was well known for having problems with its air conditioning during the ship's first year of operation. On a cruise shortly after its first-year anniversary, I had a cabin that never got cool enough for a comfortable night's sleep. After five attempts to have the problem repaired, I discussed the situation with the passenger relations manager. She responded that the ship had never had any problems with the air conditioning. Rather than argue the point, I moved along. As I walked by the purser's desk, I overheard a passenger from a suite, who had the same complaint, being told, "Yes, there's a problem." The proposed solution? The passenger was told to prop a trashcan in the doorway to the veranda as a means of improving air circulation.

•    While occupying a suite aboard Holland America Line's
Statendam,
I experienced problems with the air conditioning. Because it was denied that the problem existed, it took four calls, and almost six hours, before a repair-person was sent. The cause turned out to be a faulty thermostat. The air-conditioning engineer volunteered that there was a design problem with all Statendam-class ships and that the air conditioning is a habitual problem on each of them.

Once, I arrived onboard Norwegian Cruise Line’s
Windward
only to find my veranda cabin was unclean: there was a broken wine glass on the carpet, mildew stains on the shower curtain, and splatters of some sort of liquid on the walls. After I complained, most of the glass was swept up and the shower curtain was replaced with one that was clean but badly frayed and unsightly; the walls were left as they were. Because the room steward had been forced to “fix” the deficiencies, his service during the cruise included a heavy dose of attitude. We ended up suffering for our expectation of a clean cabin.

In the case of the
Windward,
at least an effort was made to rectify the situation. However, I could cite other situations in which problems were not addressed at all.

There are two reasons why a problem is likely to be ignored. First, the ship is a small community where the staff lives; the members have to get along with one another. There are implications for supervisors when they criticize or must discipline a worker. Doing so may affect the supervisor’s reputation, his or her relationship with others in the small community, and could disrupt arrangements where the workers share a portion of their tips. It is easier to ignore a passenger than it is to ignore the people who you live with after the passenger is gone.

The second reason is simpler. Because most passengers will not complain, those who do are easily labeled as “too demanding” or “too picky.” Rather than their complaint or concern being taken seriously, these passengers are viewed as the problem. All future interactions with the passenger are viewed through that label. I had an experience on an ultraluxury line where staff justified giving poor service by labeling my partner and me as “difficult passengers.” They told managers that those passengers (us) simply “got what they deserved.” Corporate managers “bought” the label. They dismissed a threatening telephone call made to our cabin by a member of the dining room staff, forgave a maitre d’ who raised his voice to us, and initially refused to deal with me. I was only taken seriously following correspondence with the board of directors of the cruise line’s parent company.

The list of unexpected problems can range from the severe, such as a sexual assault, to a minor nuisance, such as a waiter providing unacceptable service. It is impractical to try to provide a comprehensive list — you could always find one more item to add. But what’s interesting here is how cruise lines handle complaints; responses vary widely and are often inconsistent. At times it even seems that cruise lines work against their own interests in dealing with problems.

Rather than try to summarize the range of things that can go wrong, and the likely responses, it may be more instructive to look at several items from the media, chosen in part because they illustrate the cruise industry’s attitude about problems brought to them by their customers. Some of the cases are extreme, but that makes them that much more instructive.

Sorry, Your Clothes Have Been Incinerated

In 1997 a couple traveling on a Royal Caribbean Cruise Line vessel handed £1,000 (about $1,650) worth of dirty laundry to the cabin steward. They were later told that their clothes had been accidentally incinerated. After several months of correspondence following the cruise, “the couple were told that the ship’s insurance limited compensation payments to £92 [$150] per person.”
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A local newspaper intervened on behalf of the couple, but to the best of my knowledge the outcome was never reported.

Your Injury Isn’t Our Fault — Talk to Our Lawyer

In December 1996 Baseball Hall-of-Famer Eddie Mathews had an accident while vacationing on Carnival Cruise Line. In January 1998 he filed a lawsuit against the company claiming he had been permanently disabled after falling from one of the cruise line’s tenders (the lifeboats used to transport passengers to and from the ship while anchored at port).

Mathews broke a hip, fractured his spine and had more than one stroke as a result of the accident which happened when the tender moved away just as Mathews was stepping on to a pier in Grand Cayman. Mathews promptly fell between the pier and the tender and, while hanging between them, was crushed when the tender swung back towards him.
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