When storms force your cruise to skip ports of call, don’t sit idly in your cabin watching the whitecaps break menacingly against the ship. Go find your fellow passengers and stage a mutiny! At least that is what passengers onboard the Sapphire Princess did when two typhoons kept the ship from planned port calls in Vietnam, Japan, and Taiwan.
At one point, with passengers assembled in the ship’s theater, she said, “the attorney jumped up and grabbed the microphone away from the assistant cruise director and said: ‘We’re taking over the stage! We have a petition!’”There was once a time on the bounding main when a captain would not kowtow to rebels armed merely with a petition, but the world is now watching everything. News accounts in London and elsewhere were following the plight of the storm-tossed Sapphire Princess.
“There was a big shouting match with the captain,” she said. “One passenger was telling everybody he was captain of a yacht back home.” He stormed the bridge with Google Earth printouts, she said, and demanded to show the captain how to navigate around the storm.
As the ship approached its final port, near Beijing, a few passengers threatened to barricade themselves in their staterooms unless they got $1,000 in chits and a free cruise. Resistance collapsed when the captain noted that the police in Beijing would probably not be in the mood for negotiation, Ms. Spencer Brown said.
Cruise ship officers are trained to run ships, not public relations campaigns. The absence of information allows fear and paranoia to breed, leading scared and confused passengers to harangue crew members who are unable to properly explain their actions.
Modern mutiny is not about careening headfirst into storms to scoop up trinkets from exotic locales. Like any customer response, its purpose is to escalate—albeit with outlandish drama—a complaint to decision makers who can offer a solution. The would-be pirates onboard the Sapphire Pricess didn’t win a free tip or a grand of casino blow, but Princess did offer $250 for onboard spending and a 50% discount on a future cruise.
Growing Rebellion on the High Seas [NYT]
(Photo: The Associated Press)
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@homerjay: Or you can stage a mutiny.
From the story it appears that the ship wasn’t stopping anywhere — it had already missed 3 scheduled stops and was going to sail by a 4th before the passengers mutinied.
One may reasonably infer that Princess should have cancelled or delayed the cruise, and offered refunds instead.
FWIW I know an avid cruise-goer who wouldn’t go with Princess or Carnival even if you paid her. She’ll only go with Celebrity or better. It’s not that she’s rich, but she books those cruises months in advance, sometimes over a year. You do get what you pay for, but it also pays off to have a trustworthy travel agent.
@clevershark: Would that be the travel agent who can predict typhoon weather over 12 months in the future? Because I’d like to discuss some lottery tickets with her…
I think the main problem in this situation is that cruise customers think/act like they are staying in a hotel, when really they are taking a voyage on a ship. These are two very different things, even though on the surface they might seem similar (bedrooms, restaurants, casino, etc.) If you can’t get figure out the difference between a resort hotel and a ship and the associated realities, then you should stay away from ships and stick to club med.
@BEERAD: I admire your creativity in reading what I wrote, I really do.
Seems a couple times a year I hear about some cruise ships disaster vacation. Unfortunately weather happens and you miss ports sometimes. I would be pissed and want compensation, but stage a mutiny? Not worth it. I think I’d be even more pissed about the vacation time I lost than the money. The vacation time can’t be replaced.
@bravo369:
From what I understand, they generally don’t offer partial refunds on a cruise you’ve taken if something like this were to happen. Instead, they offer a discount toward your NEXT cruise. Nice how their reparations are designed to earn them more money.
Well I hope the next time there’s a bus tour somewhere and FALLING ROCKS make everyone panic, the asshole who says “I KNOW WHAT I’M DOING, I DRIVE A SEGWAY! LET ME TAKE THE STEERING DEVICE!” gets thrown out of the bus, no discounts.
Omg that’s hilarious. I felt like I was reading something from The Onion.
i would avoid cruise ships in general like they are the plague. who wants to spend that much money being with people you hardly know or even like for a week with shitty food and getting seasick over rough waters.
ick! the worst are when your dad drags you on a cruise with his girlfriends family! (Who you hate) umm not like that has happened to me or anything….
@Ausoleil:
I do not know about this particular ship, but most cruise ships have brigs.
Under maritime law, the captain has almost dictator like powers at sea, and these folks are lucky as hell he didn’t toss them in the brig and then hand them over to the authorities when he got back to land.
Also, as noted earlier, only members of the crew can mutiny, not passengers.
@CelesteD: That is exactly why I don’t read The Onion. Every one of those stories come true soon enough.
I think the word they use when passengers take over a ship is “piracy”.
I could be wrong though. >:)
@forgottenpassword: “It like getting ONLY a free night’s stay (as compensation )at a hotel that was infested with bedbugs instead of giving you your money back.”
Sorry to say, it’s not even in the same league. Bedbugs, roaches, and other pests are problems that can be eliminated by competent staff. Last time I checked, cruise lines don’t have weather dominators…unless they’re a secret front for Cobra.
Seriously though, weather’s a risk with any vacation. It’s just one factor that should be considered before booking a trip. After all, if you booked a cabin in the mountains in winter and got snowed in, would you sue the cabin owner because you can’t get out and see any of the sights?
The captain diverted the ship to avoid a storm and these people, led by an attorney (what a surprise) rebel.
I wonder how many of them have ever been on a ship during a storm at sea. I’ve been on two, one being the Sapphire Princess about 4 years ago near Austrailia, the other being just 18 months as we sailed the Pacific on our way to Hawaii.
It isn’t fun! On the contrary, it is a nightmare physically & psychologically. People were literally knocked down, galley doors swung open and dishes hit the floor shattering. Giant waves slammed into the ship with horrific force. And they’re mad because he avoided it?
Princess has nothing to apologize for. If these people want an apology, or money, or compensation, maybe they should ask God.
I wish I could say I didn’t get it…I’m getting so old @Tonguetied:
Well, I work for Princess Cruises; I am not a spokesperson nor am I making a comment on behalf of Princess Cruises or it’s affiliates.
I will say however, The Captain is always right. That is why he is the Captain. I sailed through storms on the Sapphire and it’s interesting to say the least. The way I look at it, if a pilot of a plane said he thought it would be too dangerous to fly — I think I would be okay with that…… duh.
In closing, We are there for your vacation pleasure. We try our extra best to entertain you when the ship can’t dock, but sometimes “Shit Happens – no point bitching about it”