DH and I are avid cruisers and try to manage at least two per year. We've had a few unpleasant experiences but nothing of this magnitude.
On one of our earliest cruises, the ship was several hours late arriving back in Florida due to very dense fog. Our return flight wasn't until after noon so we were able to disembark and get to the airport in plenty of time. Passengers who had booked earlier flights were SOL and there was a lot of angst and frustration for those folks who had already missed early flights or had no hope of making a flight. We learned a valuable lesson from this experience and never book a return flight before noon. We also had one close call when traffic delayed our arrival at the cruise terminal barely in time to embark the ship. Whenever possible, we fly to the port city the day prior to sailing: the ship doesn't wait for late-arrivals.
We've missed scheduled ports of call due to poor weather conditions. While we understand from experience that "ship happens"
, plenty of passengers have conniptions when they're not going to be able to visit a port on the itinerary. Best advice for these folks is that you shouldn't book a cruise in order to reach a specific port because you can't count on the ship getting you there.
On another one of our cruises, there was a power failure that affected only certain parts of the ship. We noticed that lights flickered but didn't even realize that the power had gone out in other areas of the vessel until we heard about it from other passengers.
Probably the most "exciting" shipboard adventure was an early morning (6:00) announcement in staterooms that the ship had altered course during the wee hours because a passenger required immediate medical attention. The ship was being steered into position close enough to Nassau so that a helicopter could hover above the vessel for an evacuation. Upper decks of the ship were closed, furniture battened down, pools partially drained and covered, etc. so that no one would be injured while the rescue transport hovered above the ship. Passengers on one side of the vessel were instructed to remain inside their staterooms and not stay on balconies. The entire operation took about an hour and was captured on video by many passengers.
I hope and pray that there are no serious medical issues for anyone onboard the
Splendor and that the ship will arrive in Ensenada safely. It's certainly not the dream vacation that passengers had hoped for, but they will have plenty of stories to share with family and friends. I'd make the best of it because I know that "ship happens".
BDE
