Mobile is a small southern town right on the Gulf of Mexico in Alabama. There was not much there at all until the local city council legalized casino gambling in the 1990s. This brought a fledgling hotel industry that has maintained a decent business although it has never gone much beyond the small town stage.

But Mobile rallied when Carnival agreed to place it oldest and smallest ship, the Holiday, there back in 2001 for two trial weeks. The city pulled out the stops and managed to get Carnival to extend the initial trial to seven weeks. Months of planning and spending on new dock facilities followed to convince Carnival to come back. Carnival finally agreed to move the Holiday there permanently in October 2004.

Several years of happy cruising from Mobile follow – only interrupted by Hurricane Katrina when Carnival leased the ship to the government to house aid workers. In 2007 received the “Port of the Year” designation from Carnival. The line soon announced it was replacing the Holiday with a bigger ship.

In August 2008, Carnival announces that Fantasy will leave New Orleans and replace the Holiday in Mobile. The Holiday was traded to a British company and has since been renamed. To accommodate the larger ship (600 additional passengers per week) the city council decides to build 450 new parking spots, a crew center and a Carnival warehouse.

Before Fantasy arrives Mobile learns it will get the newer, already refurbished, Carnival Elation, although the two ships are the same size. In Sept. 2009 the city orders a new gangway, built in Spain, at the cost of 2.6 million dollars to accommodate the new ship.

As late as last month, February 15, Carnival says bookings are up at record levels. Mobile has no idea that the company is planning any changes.

March 10, 2011, Carnival announces in a press release, with no notice to Mobile officials, that the Elation is leaving Mobile in October, and that there will be no replacement. Mobile officials say they are stunned, and shocked that they did not receive any prior notice that the change was set to take place.

Carnival says the decision is purely monetary – that while the ship was sailing full they could not raise the prices there without losing demand. The company cites a new energy emission standards set to take effect between 2011 and 2020 where all ships will have to burn cleaner but more expensive fuel up to 200 miles from the coast in the Gulf of Mexico.

“The itineraries from Mobile require much higher relative fuel costs to operate and those fuel costs will become even more unfavorable with the implementation of the new (emission) requirements starting in 2012,” Carnival Chief Executive Officer Gerry Cahill said in a written statement.

Cahill also said that while Mobile’s cruises were always full, Carnival had to offer below-average prices to book them.
“We have made every effort to drive higher demand and pricing through our sales and marketing initiatives and the deployment of a newer class of ship in 2009,” he said. “However, we have not been successful in achieving a sustainable level of acceptable pricing.”

All of this comes as a surprise to the City of Mobile, which up until yesterday thought everything was just peachy.

Related posts:

1. Carnival Splendor Returns to Service
2. Cruise Lines Venturing Back to Mexico
3. Carnival Magic – Best Carnival Ship Yet?

We do occasionally see people coming out and publicly praising a cruise line for their handling of a customer service issue. However, it’s much more common to see complaints of rather pathetic attempts at resolving customer service issues.

I believe much of this arises because the cruise lines don’t seem to have any standard policies which customers can read and understand easily and simply. The quality of the experience dealing with Customer Service departments seems to rely entirely on the luck of the draw, dependant on whether a customer with an issue finds a sympathetic or unsympathetic ear during their initial contact.

After 30 years in the hospitality industry my experience taught me that though on rare occasion a new problem occurs, the vast majority of customer service issues are reoccurring (with some variances), and can be dealt with effectively and quickly by having a set resolution policy in place.

The only complication in that system is making the determination as to whether the customer making the complaint has a valid issue which should put the resolution machinery into effect. That means having a well trained customer service staff, and that’s where the cruise lines systems seem to fail too often.

Granted, as anyone with much time spent working in those departments will tell you, it’s somewhat difficult to not get cynical after spending time dealing with customer complaints. It is difficult dealing with people who expect perfection, when you’re dealing with imperfect products, or when perfection is in the eyes of the customer. But better training, and set policies would simplify this process.

I believe the Customer Service departments don’t have much vision into just how much an unsatisfied customer, with valid complaints, can cost them in lost future revenues. Instead they concentrate too much on minimizing the immediate, short term, cost of resolving the matter.

In this regard, my own story is an example. In 1995 I sailed on the second sailing of the Celebrity Century, along with 11 other family members. I won’t go into all the details of my complaints at the time, but a combination of “new ship glitches” along with service and stateroom issues, and what I felt were inappropriate responses by the onboard management dealing with them, left me unhappy about that cruise experience. I believed I had valid and defensible complaints and wrote a letter to Celebrity attempting to address them. Their response (if memory serves me) was an offer for a 10% -15% discount on a cruise, to be used on a future booking, valid for 12 months. I felt the $300 -$400 value of that offer was not adequate compensation, and declined the offer… and didn’t sail on a Celebrity Cruise Lines ship again for 6 years (until I decided to give them another chance).

During that 6 year time frame I became a message board monitor and hosted live on-line chats for Cruise Critic on AOL, and went on to become a writer and ship reviewer for CruiseMates. During that time I “talked” to thousands of cruisers, and put in place a group cruise program for CruiseMates. During that time frame I also went on perhaps 18-20 cruises… and none of them were on Celebrity Cruise Line. 

I discussed this with a friend who is an Actuary, and combining dollars I personally spent on those cruises with that spent by people cruising with me over that six year period, he said he would conservatively “guesstimate” my situation may have resulted in $400,000 + of lost revenue for Celebrity.

Now my story may not be the norm. But I suspect most people who have similar unsatisfactory resolutions to their problems are more vocal than I when sharing their dissatisfaction with others. I quit cruising on the cruise line for some time, but others, more vocal “word of mouth” types, sharing their dissatisfaction could have cost the cruise line even more revenue.

In my case, an apology admitting the problem was theirs not mine, rather than sending me a “gesture of good faith” letter, and a couple of hundred more dollars in compensation, would have meant they’d have received at least a significant portion of that missing revenue.

They needed to step up and accept responsibility for their failures, just as I implore passengers to accept their responsibilities in the partnership. The combination of the two is what creates great cruise experiences.

- A View From The Kuki Side of Cruising -

Related posts:

1. Cruise Ship Service Is About More Than Just Service
2. What the Cruise Lines Do Badly
3. Are Cruise Travel Agents Justified in Charging Service Fees?

Sure, the mechanics of booking cruises, working with clients, customer service, etc. can be learned, but how about all the other things that almost seem intuitive?

So, I thought I would come to the CruiseMates community for answers. I tend to think this community probably has better answers than the travel industry does.

So, here’s my questions:

What do you look for in a travel agent? Is your primary concern one of price or of service? Do you have a regular travel agent, or do you book each cruise with a different one — often the one that will give you the best price? If you do have a regular agent, why do you stick with her?  Does she offer superior service to the point that, within reason, you wouldn’t care if another agency was offering your cruise at a lower price? And, if your agent’s price is initially higher, would you give her the chance to match a lower price you obtained elsewhere before pulling your booking?

The reason I ask these questions is because I’ve discovered that the cruise lines give ALL agents pretty much the same price for a cabin.  Sure, some agencies can possibly have group space reserved on a certain sailing, but those group prices are pretty much the same.  The bookings only accrue certain amenities not available to a single booking.  For example, maybe all the cabins in the group will get a bottle of champagne in the stateroom and a $50 per cabin onboard credit.  Where the differences seem to come into play with price is that some high volume agents may offer ”discounts” that come out of the commission they would make on the booking.  Some cruise lines have disallowed this practice, but some still do permit “rebating.”  And on the surface, this discounting sounds like a great idea.  It seems a good way to increase bookings for your agency, and since a lot of bookings with the same cruise line often results in a higher rate of commission paid to the agency, the “rebate” the agent gives her client should result in the same basic amount of commission for the agent anyway.  But do you get the same degree of service from the large discount agencies?  I honestly don’t know, but my experience says no.

The problem I’ve noticed with the large discount agencies is one of service.  It seems they are primarily order taking mills, and that they are pretty slim on personal service.  But, of course, my experience is rather limited.  Maybe some of you have better experiences  If you use a large discount travel agency, are you happy with the service you get from them?

The reason I ask this is because I booked a couple of cruises through one of the “biggies” in the industry and got what I thought was a good rate for my cabin.  However, I was still a relatively new cruiser at the time, and could have really benefited from some saavy advice.  I made two bookings with this agency, both in the same year.  Both bookings were with Princess, by my own choice.

The next year, when I wanted to book another cruise, a message board friend referred me to her travel agent.  When I got that agent on the phone and told her I was a solo cruiser wanted to book a sailing on Princess, this agent seemed a bit taken aback.  She told me that Princess gives absolutely no break to solos — 200% single supplement, so why would I want to sail Princess?  I was shocked.  I never knew that.  In fact, I was still a relatively new cruiser with little “inside” knowledge of the industry.  I only wished my previous agent had told me that.  I only wonder how great her knowledge of the industry really was.  Maybe she didn’t even know there were other cruise lines that wouldn’t charge me a 200% single supplement.

Right there, with that one piece of advice, this travel agent earned my loyalty.  She made me aware that I was wasting my money — spending more for a cruise than I needed to.  She then proceeded to ask me some questions, trying to determine what I looked for in a sailing, and then steered me to another cruise line where I could get a better deal as a solo, yet still get the type of cruise I was looking for.

So, what’s more important to you?  Is price the guiding factor?  Or, do you prefer dealing with someone who offers personalized service and whose knowledge of the cruise industry you have confidence in?  Do the two have to be mutually exclusive?  Have you been fortunate enough to find a travel agent who offers BOTH discounted prices AND excellent service?

The next question I have regards loyalty.  Are you “married” to your travel agent.  In other words, do you prefer to make all of your bookings with her, not even shopping with others?  If so, has this relationship been one you’ve developed over the course of years and many bookings with her?  Do you stick with her mainly because she is comfortable for you to deal with?  Do you just have a great rapport with her, such that you don’t care if you are paying a little bit more?

Or, are you a person who prefers to get the best deal possible, and don’t care which agent you book with, just as long as you are getting the best possible price?  Do you consider each cruise a separate transaction, shopping it around with many agencies, rather than sticking with one particular agent?  Have you been successful in this strategy or have you often met with frustration dealing with some of these agents, either because of service issues or perhaps simply because they were difficult to communicate with?

Finally, how do you feel about “brick and mortar” travel agencies versus long-distance ones? Do you prefer dealing with an agent whose place of business you can just walk into when you want to make a booking?  Or, do you usually make your bookings online or over the telephone, with a travel agent you’ve never met face to face?  Do you feel one type of travel agent is better, or doesn’t it matter to you?  Do you feel that dealing face to face with an agent is somehow more satisfying than via the internet or on the telephone?

And, on a related topic, what do you think is an acceptable amount of time for your travel agent to get back to you in response to an email or telephone message?  Is the next day acceptable, or do you expect ot hear back within the hour?  What about when your agent is on her own cruise?  Does she have someone backing her up in case you have a question or a problem with your booking?

I ask these questions because they are things I have been thinking about quite a bit lately.  And I can’t think of a better place to seek answers than right here in our CruiseMates community.  So, would you mind helping me out and giving me your thoughts?

Related posts:

1. When is a Travel Agent A Travel Agent?
2. You Should Interview A Travel Agent As If You Were Hiring An Employee
3. Are Cruise Travel Agents Justified in Charging Service Fees?

People rarely if EVER just “fall” from a cruise ship – they jump, they dive, they inch out beyond the safety barriers and either lose their grip or just let go. Once the initial act is effected, they essentially “fall” through the air and into the sea. But what we are missing in almost every media report is the details of what happened immediately before the act of “falling” occured.

Last week we had a woman who was reported as missing. This case was probably the closest case to the infamous George Allen Smith case we have had yet. George Smith was the newlywed who went overboard during a cruise on a Royal Caribbean ship in the Adriatic Sea in 2005.

In that case, there were signs of an argument before he disappeared. There were even traces of blood below the balcony where he apparently “fell short” on his way down. This was a sad case, as they all are, but the media could not get enough of speculating about the circumstances and trying to prove there was foul play involved.

In the end, no one was ever charged in that case, and the one person who probably knows more details about it than anyone in the world, Jennifer Hagel (Smith), his new bride at the time, has subsequently announced that she fully believes it was a suicide. She said George was taking lots of prescription drugs that did not mix well with alcohol, as well as anti-depressants for his mental state, and that the night he disappeared he had been drinking excessively.

Through all the speculation, lawsuits and countercharges from his family (who were not there) her story has held up. This is despite the highly unusual circumstances where she could not even account for her own whereabouts at the time of his demise due to her own inebriation.

Jennifer Seitz, who apparently died last week after “falling” from Norwegian Pearl near Cancun, also is believed to have committed suicide. This time the media accusations and innuendo did not last nearly as long as the George Smith case because her very own mother was also on board, and she and the rest of the family all come forward to say that Jennifer was depressed, possibly bi-polar, and that they believe she chose her own fate.

Yesterday, we got yet another report of someone “falling” from a cruise ship. We are even told that he was a crewmember and that his friends (one report even says his family) saw him fall. Excuse me – but where are the details here? How did he fall? That is the the crux of the story, the main factor that puts the entire event into perspective.

Was he drinking? It was just after 1:00 am on New Years Day. Was he out on a railing doing a Kate Winslet “I’m flying?” impersonation. Was he on or off duty?

Hello, media? Please learn to ask the right questions before you report these stories. They should not even be reported unless you can say what the circumstances preceding the “fall” are – or at the very least be prepared to say “we do not yet know how or why the person got around the extensive safety systems in place on the ship.”

Why? Because there ARE extensive safety systems, but a large number of uninformed people who have never been on a ship simply do not get that. I have never seen a single story in a major newspaper about someone “falling” from a cruise ship where some idiot in the “comments” fields below the article doesn’t write something like “well, I’m am sure a crewmember killed them and dumped the body.” Outrageous innuendo and lies!

Even last week, for Jennifer Seitz, I was reading the report in the Miami Herald and someone made that comment, “I’ll bet a crewmember killed her, it happens all the time. It is time for Congress to do something about these floating death traps.”

Puleeeeezzzeeee People! How many times do you have to hear the facts before they intrude on your over-active imagination. No crewmember has ever even been accused of killing a passenger, at least that I know of in recent (post-1990) history. Certainly, no crewmember, or passenger, has ever even been tried or convicted of murder of a passenger on a cruise ship.

“It happens all the time?” Stop watching Jerry Springer and start taking some pride in having at least a modicum of awareness about the real world. What is the problem here? Is it too much violence on TV and Movies, is it people who live in a fantasy world, or is just a lack of care or respect for the truth?

Cruise Ships are by far the safest vacations ever. No passenger or crewmember has ever just “fallen” from a ship unless they were intentionally doing something they were not supposed to be doing.

As least as far as we know – because right now as I write this we still have a media report “pending” that a crewmember has “fallen” off of a cruise ship – but it has not yet been reported how this happened.

Carnival Sensation Crewmember Falls – Update
We know a little more from new reports about the Sensation crewmember who “fell” overboard from the ship. Various TV and radio web sites in Florida say he was either standing on or near the railing and taking pictures.

We assume they mean he was shooting pictures, not posing for them, but we are not sure. He was off duty, and being early after midnight on New Years Day (Eve) he had likely been drinking.

Some passengers said he was standing on a tall place close to the railing and that when the wind came up he lost his balance control. Another report says he was standing “on the railing” but that could mean on a lower crossbar, not the top of the railing. Exactky where he was standing is really not clear, yet.

In either case – it was obviously an accident, but it also has to be said that it was improper procedure to be standing anyplace where a loss of balance could mean going over the edge. So, the young man is not without some responsibility for what happened.

We are sorry for the young man and never mean to take these stories lightly. This is actually one of the first cases of a person “accidentally” going overboard who was not flagrantly doing something he should not have been doing. It is possible the seas were fairly rough and he normally would have felt fairly secure wherever he was standing under normal conditions. But conditions were not normal.

In any case – we are sad it happened, but relieved it did not happen to a passenger. Even with the shared responsibility that would have led to assumptions about cruise ship safety that really are not warranted. The safety is there, it is just up to people to use common sense.

* I am referring to the ships that belong to CLIA, the Cruise Lines International Assn, which includes all of the brands commonly known to American passengers; Carnival, Royal Caribbean, NCL, Princess, Holland America, Windstar, Cunard, Oceania, Silversea, Regent, Seabourn, Seadream, Costa, MSC and more.

Related posts:

1. Cruise Crime Act 2009 Questions
2. Cruise Ship Engine Explosions
3. Stand Up for Your Right to Cruise

The first thing you will notice is that cruise prices are already on sale. You can see the Carnival “October Recharge Sale Event” the company is sponsoring now. We also see the NCL “Pity the Procrastinator” sale. Royal Caribbean is offering bargains on short cruises right now.

Cruise lines have always used highly fluid pricing to attract customers. I would expect to see some of the most affordable cruise prices in years in the next few months. Now, they naturally expect to make up the difference with what you spend onboard, but no one is required to spend anything onboard if you don’t want to, and in fact most people do spend less onboard during economic downturns.

Another very interesting change we are seeing is in the Dollar to Euro exchange rate. We are back to about $1.35 to one Euro. Last summer it was closer $1.60. Now, this current change in relative value is being caused by a SLOWDOWN in the European economy, something we have not seen for five years.

With the dollar getting stronger and the European economy getting weaker, cruises to Europe should be far more reasonable in the future than they were last summer. Furthermore, the European economy is expected to lag the U.S. economy by about two years. This means Europe should be even more affordable once the U.S. economy starts to recover and should stay that way for one or two seasons.

2009 could be the best year to cruise Europe since 2000.

With the credit crunch and the change in Dollar/Euro exchange rate, the cruise lines that have financing and can afford to build new ships have an advantage. Rumors have circulated that NCL cancelled the F3 project, but my personal gut feeling is that it is just on hold as NCL partner Apollo Management renegotiates the price. The ability to raise almost $1 billion in credit is a rare asset these days, and the shipyards should appreciate every penny they can get.

It should be noted that Royal Caribbean did secure financing for both of its new ships “Oasis and Allure of the Seas” from Scandinavian sources.

Meanwhile, other cruise lines which do NOT have new ships in production; Princess (after Ruby which will debut next month), Carnival (which has but one new ship on order) and Holland America (no new ships on order) have all recently announced extensive upgrades to their current fleet. Upgrading the existing fleet is always an advantage to a slowdown in new shipbuilding. These are all Carnival Corp. cruise lines.

Notably, Royal Caribbean International has six new ships on order, including the two new Mega-mega-ships Oasis and Allure, and four of the Solstice class for Celebrity. The unanswered question right now is whether the passenger market will be there for these new ships as they arrive. I believe it definitely will be for Oasis because it is so groundbreaking. Whether the Celebrity Solstice class debuts are right-timed remains to be seen. We will know more after initial reactions to Celebrity Solstice which debuts in November. If it works out, great, if not the third and fourth ship building schedules could be slowed down.

So far Solstice looks beautiful and fully in line with Celebrity Cruiser’s expectations. It has a beautiful and tasteful design, especially in the pool and spa areas. The cabins are about 20% larger which should make them very appealing.

Fuel prices are falling, hovering around $90/barrel, and even lower. This is down from $147/barrel back in February. This gives the cruise lines much more flexibility in pricing and itinerary offerings. It also helps to mitigate airline prices for getting to cruises.

If anyone has any other thoughts on economy and cruising – please comment below.

Related posts:

1. Cruise Economy – How Bad is it Really?
2. State of the Cruise Industry
3. Inside the Cruise Business

Click here to read the article Beware Hidden Costs Aboard Ship, on shore by Paul Kandarian.

His said he prefers the telephone because “it makes it easier to quote people.” What he meant: “it makes it easier to MIS-quote people.”

I am not sure how Paul Kandarian managed to misinterpret my words in such a convoluted way, but I wish I had a record of this interview. I have been sadly misrepresented.

This article twisted many of my words around, in some cases out of context and in some cases simply not the words I said. In addition, in many places the way the article is written infers many of the things Paul Kandarian is saying are actually attributable to me. It makes ME look foolish as a cruise expert, as if I don’t know what I am talking about.

First he quotes me as saying:

“The way cruise lines put it, they’re not hidden costs; they’re optional costs,” said Paul Motter, editor of Cruisemates.com, an online trade publication. “No one is required to drink or go ashore. You choose to do it.”

What I said was, “no one is required to drink alcohol or take a shore excursion.” You can drink fruit juice, iced tea or lemonade, and you can walk off the ship and see the local sights on your own. I never said anything about tap water.

here is another example, :… he wrote:

“If you don’t know [what's included], ask your travel agent or look on the cruise line’s website; it’s usually outlined.”

Two things that usually aren’t outlined are fuel surcharges and taxes, which Motter said generally make up less than 5 percent of the total cost. The average fuel levy is $10 per person per day, he said, capped at $140 for 14 days.

I prefaced this statement by saying “when you speak of ‘hidden costs’ there are two different areas; first let’s talk about the advertised price of the cruise – both in travel agent websites and in cruise line sites.” The advertised price is solely what I was referring to when I said taxes and fuel charges are not disclosed. I never said those are hidden costs not disclosed on the cruise line web site, I just said they are not in the advertised price. But I did say you will definitely see them in your final tally before you make a deposit. I feel what he wrote is very misleading and misrepresentative of what I said.

Then he wrote:

Some luxury lines such as Miami-based Seabourn – part of Carnival Corp. – are all-inclusive but expensive. You can expect to pay as much as 50 percent more than what you would for a conventional cruise, Motter said.

I don’t remember what I said, but if I said 50% I meant that as a minimum. Luxury lines can cost a lot more than 50% more than a Carnival cruise. They can cost up to 500% more.

He then writes about all-inclusive cruises:

And those may or may not include shore excursions, but do include tips and alcohol,” he said, adding that lines don’t make money from excursions, which can cost more than $150 per person, depending on the activities.

I would never say cruise lines do not make money from shore excursions. In fact they are one of the leading additive revenue streams for cruise lines. I don’t even know where he got the idea that I said they don’t make money from shore excursions as this as it is not a statement I believe to be true.

He then wrote this…

You don’t have to tip, of course, but cruise workers are notoriously poorly paid. A typical stateroom attendant might get $400 a week in tips, Motter said, but when you realize these people are usually from poor countries, work long hours and weeks, and are away from home for months at a time, it might make you want to dig deeper.

First, the article gives the impression that I am recommending one might tip higher – which I would not do.

Now, let me make the following clear: the $400 figure I gave is the aggregate figure for tips that any single cruise worker “might” make on one cruise. In the old days of cash tips, the recommendations per guest per day were as follows: room steward ($3.50), waiter ($3.50), busboy ($1.50), Maitre D’ ($1.00)

Therefore, if a room steward has 10 cabins, 2 people tipping $3.50 per day = $49/week per cabin or $490/week. Now, there were always some non-tippers and crewpeople sometimes tip their underlings, but it roughly equalled about $400/week from tips. So, that part is correct. This is actually a respectable wage for the average crewmember from a less economically advantaged nation, and one reason I would not recommend tipping more.

But this is the most egregious misrepresentation of what I said; in this section he wrote:

Industry standards for tipping run $8-$15 per guest per worker (waiter, assistant waiter, stateroom attendant, etc.), and many cruise lines have instituted a system of charging guests for those tips. …

That is ridiculous – Paul Kandarian went on a cruise and he should know he was not charged $8 to $15 per guest per worker. That would be $24 to $45 per person per day, according to the article, or more if you believe the … he wrote after naming three job positions that supposedly each get up $15 per day. That would have added over $90 in tips per day to his final statement. Is this what he saw?

When the cruise lines started putting tips on guest accounts they summed it up at $10 per GUEST TOTAL – NOT PER WORKER. They added up all the recommended tips and summed it up at roughly $10.00/day per guest. Once they collect it they distribute it among all the crew onboard roughly according to the distribution guidelines I outlined above: room steward ($3.50), waiter ($3.50), busboy ($1.50) and Maitre D’ ($1.00). In truth, they have their own ways of distributing that tip money which they do not disclose.

Finally, he wrote:
Want to call home? No problem – at $8 a minute.

Almost every cruise ship now has cellphone access onboard – roaming rates do apply, but the average cost is $3.50 per minute. No one uses the room telephone to call home anymore.

Bottom line, I am embarassed by the way this article presents my knowledge of the cruise industry and I have written them to tell them how I feel.

Never again will I do a phone interview without seeing a draft of the article before it is printed. I have been misquoted before, but never this badly.

Related posts:

1. Bloggers Must Give Full Disclosure
2. When Good Cruises Go Bad
3. Cruise Economy – How Bad is it Really?