Your thoughts on a Refund or Credit

[vladimir]

Where would you put the crew you had to leave behind? How would you feel if you were the guest that the captain said had to stay behind because you had sniffles, and how would the vessel operator shift the massive costs of such a decision to the guest who brought the sickness on the boat?

Shoe on a different foot. You come on the boat and get sick. No one in the crew is sick until your last day, and everyone in the crew gets it. Now, the Captain and owner says to you "You got the crew sick, and we have to cancel the next trip. Direct loss of revenue is $35,000, and refunding everyone's airfare on the next trip will cost an additional $18,000. Please write a check for $43,000 to compensate for the losses while we sit in port and get healthy.

Or doesn't it work that way?

The way it used to work was $35k + $18k equaled $53K.

 

[Wookie]

I'm drinking....

 

[KeithG]

Seems like everyone is getting Americanitis. I had a bad time, it must be someone else's fault, I must sue everyone in sight (and a few people hiding behind those rocks over there).

Life happens. In our modern 1st world culture it is over whelming great (way better than just okay). Every now and then something bad happens. Which is a surprise and a bit of a shock. But get over it.

The other day I was on the subway, on a plane, at the ball game, drinking at a bar, shopping for wedding gifts, buying groceries, ... And I got sick later. Who can I blame? It's not my fault! (in your best Jim belushi voice).

I stand with Wookie - suck it up, get on with life. It could be WAY worse.

---------- Post added August 17th, 2013 at 09:07 PM ----------

And I refuse to reference another thread about Egypt as an example of "worse".

 

[Lorenzoid]

I can envision a Customer's Bill of Rights that includes the right to have a healthy crew free from contagious diseases. But that would increase the cost of the trip when the need to have replacement crew waiting on call is factored in. Some people might be willing to pay for that benefit--much like insurance--but others would not. It would also be difficult to implement, since in most cases it's not immediately apparent who is contagious. I suspect most people would rather pay less and gamble on getting sick.

 

[Griffo]

Hey all, i'm back in Oz so can contribute a bit of an update. Just to clarify, I hadn't actually originally thought of asking for a refund, it was in dinner-time discussions with other guests that the whole topic came up. And I had and still have very mixed opinions - if I had gotten sick then I understand that I have zero right to ask for a refund, and to do so would be quite outrageous. However I got sick from the crew who had been sick during the previous trip as well (as I later found out) and most of the crew were going to be sick for the trip after mine (which started 4 hours after we left the ship). With no down-time and everybody working through it, what might have been a 5 day flu for them kept on and on and I suffered the downside of that. They kept working, they didn't get better, and they passed it onto me. I did after all pay thousands of dollars for the privilege of catching their cold. Normally I would write it off as part of real life, but the slight disregard on their part about their effect of their actions is what got me slightly on the side that maybe I should ask for a credit.

I was however annoyed, but at the same time admiring of the crew. They had to battle through an awful sickness where they had to keep the customers entertained, and they unlike the guests didn't even have anywhere to escape - there was 3 cabins for 15 crew and they had no air-con unlike us. I ended up tipping them quite well as I couldn't imagine working through the way that I felt, but still felt they should have probably at least hidden away as much as possible in isolation rather than battling through. At work we call it "presenteeism" and we work very hard to force people to go home on full pay rather than infecting the whole office. But I can also appreciate that in the Philippines that they may not get paid if they go home sick.

Just to answer some questions that have been asked, NO I was not on the GBR, I was in the Philippines. It was week 6 of a 6 week holiday and until I boarded the ship I had not come across anyone who was visibly sick. The person who welcomed us was constantly sniffling etc when we came on board - I wasn't that worried because I thought she only had a little cold, not a full blown flu. There were no special procedures evident or any discussion that the crew was sick until the first time that a guide was unable to dive when we were told that he had a fever of 39C (102F).

By the end of the cruise 3 guests and most of the crew were sick- the crew probably because of the cramped crew cabins. The sick crew normally slept during the day in the lounge though. Not that I blame them at all - those cabins in 90F humid days must have been hell with a fever.

So I understand all of Wookies points that you can't just cancel a cruise because some sick passenger came on board and infected the crew, but it's also pretty **** as a full paying customer to be infected BY the staff. If i'd got it from a random on a plane there, then that's just life, but it's a bit like the airline losing your luggage and then going "oh well that happens some times" and refusing to look for it.

 

[Wookie]

So I understand all of Wookies points that you can't just cancel a cruise because some sick passenger came on board and infected the crew, but it's also pretty **** as a full paying customer to be infected BY the staff. If i'd got it from a random on a plane there, then that's just life, but it's a bit like the airline losing your luggage and then going "oh well that happens some times" and refusing to look for it.

So, what would you have the operator do at the beginning of the trip. As I said, we will tell you if someone is sick if we know they are sick, and give you the choice of boarding or not. Is that fair? Understand the refunds are rarely given for any circumstance unless the boat completely fails its mission, or the boat doesn't leave the dock, so compensation on the back end is unlikely, especially since 16 folks didn't get sick. Leaving a crewmember behind is next to impossible, these folks live on the boat. Picking up replacement crew is also next to impossible, we train our crew for a month, including classes in Ft. Lauderdale, so we just can't call the LDS and see if they have an extra DM hanging around.

 

[supergaijin]

Picking up replacement crew is also next to impossible

This is what we're talking about here: a boat- not a hotel, nor an airline.

From a different thread but worth repeating:

FACTS about boats:

• everything on a boat gets wet
• nothing on a boat every really dries
• everything on a boat smells like a boat; where things break, get wet, and never really dry
• anything that doesn't smell like a boat smells like people who live on a boat
• everything mechanical on a boat is very loud (until it breaks; then it becomes very quiet)
• everything non-mechanical on a boat creaks and/or rattles (until it breaks in; then it gets very quiet; that's usually the day before it breaks)
• everything on a boat is small
• if something is not small, it's not on the boat
• if something is not available on the island/mainland, it's not on the boat
• if something is not on the boat, it's not on the boat
• if you need something specific but didn't bring it, it's not on the boat
• even things that are usually on the boat are often not on the boat
• most things that happen on a boat happen simply "because it's a boat"

At least OzGriffo is philosophical about it. He must secretly be a Kiwi I reckon.

 

[gekodivebali]

This reminds me of divers who want a 2/3 refund of the price of a 3 tank trip because they got seasick after the first dive and did not do the other 2 dives. Naturally they refused the complimentary sea sickness tablet. Naturally their refund is refused. Naturally they go to Tripadvisor to claim that all is wrong with that operator...

 

[jkyle]

If only DAN offered insurance with coverage for such a thing. #sarcasism

 

[SailNaked]

what would the operator do if you said, " hey the crew is sick and anyone that wants to stay here is welcome to" and all of the passengers raised their hand to stay.

you could also say, hey we only have one engine, who wants to stay here and who wants to risk it?

how soon did the boat operator know that the crew was sick? I agree that it may be difficult to find other crew but certainly not impossible.

I think the operator has a responsibility to provide a clean hazard free environment to a reasonable level. knowing in advance that the crew was sick is something that should be adressed with as much effort as possible. that said maybe a full refund is unreasonable but there is some responsibility to keep the passengers whole.