s/o If you were on a cruise ship without electricity, what kind of passenger would you be?

[dirty ethel rackham]

I would be cranky - can't stand bad smells and the lack of food would be a hypoglycemia melt-down nightmare. I would try my best to not be a pain in the patooty, but can't guarantee it. If I had my children with me, I would try to put on a "can-do" attitude, but I would be very assertive that their needs were being met. I have a couple of kids who are like me in that they can't go long without eating.

[6packofun]

I tend to be a better person in emergencies, honestly. LOL I might complain a bit towards the end, but I'd try really hard to make the best of it and maybe try to help others see it in a different light. I *am* a complainer, really. But not in those sort of situations for some reason.

 

I would never file a lawsuit over something like that. Personal injury--REAL injury--maybe, to get my medical expenses paid for but not a poopy cruise.

[SKL]

As long as I had some way of going to the toilet and washing myself, I would probably be pretty chill. Knowing, of course, that I would be getting my money back and then some. :)

 

If I had no access to a flush toilet or soap & water, that would be hard to deal with on a boat. It would intensify the element of "there's no way out of here." I would be wondering why it was taking so long to get us to a port.

[Garga]

Go with the flow. See it as an adventure. Sock away as many stories as I could about the other crabby passengers and turn them into funny stories to blog about.

 

I am a Pollyanna.

 

One thing that makes me crabby is when people refuse to even try to see things as an adventure. They wear me down real quick.

[Eagle]

I wouldn't panic until my ipad ran out of batteries. At which point it would become a true disaster.

[Laura Corin]

I think I'd be okay. I've done enough much rougher travelling - peeing at a public toilet in rural China in 1986 and having your undercarriage inspected by all the villagers in the line? - so I'd probably do okay. I'd want my money back plus a bit: perhaps enough to take a more expensive cruise in the future.

 

Laura

[Mom in High Heels]

It totally depends on who was with me.

 

Me and Dh? I'd get a book and enjoy the lack of motors.

 

Me and a baby or child? I would be complaining. You always pack extra, but unless you packed a LOT extra, you had no diapers and no formula. That would get old VERY fast.

 

Otherwise, I take that stuff in stride.

 

Just to address the diaper/formula issue, they actually have that stuff in the ship store and I bet they wouldn't charge for them in a situation like that.

 

I think I would be pretty chill about it. There are worse things in the world to deal with. I'm certain it would suck, but complaining and groaning won't change it. As long as we had food and a place to sleep (a compelling argument for a balcony cabin), we'd be fine. I'm a pretty high maintenance kind of girl, but I have a strong sense of adventure, so I'd just look at it as an adventure.

 

On our most recent cruise, there was a problem with the suction system in the toilets for 12 cabins, ours being one of them, on 3 separate days. It lasted 3-4 hours each day and they worked on it every day, but until we got to a port where they could pick up the part to fix it, they could only do what they could to get it working temporarily. We were on the top cabin deck and if we needed to use the toilet, had to go up a deck to the public baths. We were on the aft of the ship and the toilets on the next level were midship. It was a long way to go, but what other option did we have? Of course this isn't nearly as bad as what the people on the Triumph went through.

[dm379]

I wouldn't complain to the crew but I would to dh. I would feel bad for the crew because I'm sure they would be getting yelled at and blamed from other passengers. My nook's battery lasts weeks so I would be good. My kids are old enough to be able to deal and I'm the only one with medical problems so it wouldn't be too big a deal for us. I would be stressed about whatever situation we had for the dog, the house and all that. And I'm not nice when I'm stressed.

 

But I would probably sue. Dh is on salary but I'm not and 5 days is a lot of income to miss. $500 wouldn't cover it. My boss is a bit of a jerk and I could see getting fired for no call/no show.

[Donna]

I would make the best of it. My family does a lot of camping and are pretty good at roughing it. I would not be happy without showers but as long as we had food and water and someplace to sleep, we'd be fine. I am sure those in charge and the crew would not be having a good time either so I wouldn't complain to them though dh and I would joke with each other about how something like this would happen on our vacation.

 

I would hope the cruise company would reimburse my vacation expenses or offer another cruise (on a working ship) as compensation. I would not sue.

[NotSoObvious]

Unhappy.

 

I spent 7 days during hurricane sandy with no electricity. I did have hot water though none of my neighbors did. Food was takeout (expensive and gets old after 1 meal)

 

Lack of toilets would put me over the edge.

 

 

This. Until you've been without power for a week in your own home, I think you can only hope you'd remain civil.

I would NOT be happy and probably be close to a nervous breakdown. The smell alone would be overwhelming. If I had my kids with me, it would be worse, especially if they couldn't eat.

 

Then again, I began to get twitchy on a normal cruise, so... Lots of people, little control, not my kind of vacation.

[Mom in High Heels]

This. Until you've been without power for a week in your own home, I think you can only hope you'd remain civil.

I would NOT be happy and probably be close to a nervous breakdown. The smell alone would be overwhelming. If I had my kids with me, it would be worse, especially if they couldn't eat.

 

Then again, I began to get twitchy on a normal cruise, so... Lots of people, little control, not my kind of vacation.

 

 

 

I've been without power due to hurricanes and winter storms for extended periods (the longest being 15 days when I was young after Hurricane Frederick), so I do know what it's like not to have it. It stinks, but if you're on the ship, it's not like you can go anywhere, so you can either be miserable, or do what you can to not be miserable.

[justamouse]

Just to address the diaper/formula issue, they actually have that stuff in the ship store and I bet they wouldn't charge for them in a situation like that.

 

 

 

They were saying in the interviews that diapers and formula had run out and they were asking the mothers to please share what they had.

 

I've been without electric for a week. Was it hard? Yes, but not melt down mode. And I've done it in cold, with the kids, having to wear hats and layers to bed. No electric on a cruise ship, glorified camping.

[hillfarm]

I'm a take charge kind of person. I'd have probably gotten my family squared away on deck somewhere, took command of the ship, hailed a few passing ships, gotten everyone offloaded and taken in to port, recycled the ship for scrap metal (if I was mad enough), and demanded that I be paid a good hourly rate for my work on behalf of the company.

 

I would not be a complainer, but I am the kind of person people complain about ("take a number and get over it...") I wouldn't complain to the crew at all - they didn't cause the problem, they are literally in the same boat I am in, possibly being treated even worse, and yelling at them would not suddenly make them miraculously able to fix the problem.

 

However, if the company officials kept giving us misinformation or promises that they had no intentions of keeping, there would be hell to pay. Things happen, please don't compound the problem by telling lies.

 

I would expect to be refunded the cost of the trip and any fees for getting home late. If the company refused to do what was fair, then I would total up the amount in dispute and work that off in negative PR. They can spend as much as they want in positive PR, but if one person is truly discontent and makes their case known to the world, it can end up costing the company much more than they gain with the positive PR they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars developing and placing.

 

But truthfully, none of this would be likely to happen, as we are more camping people than cruise people.

[SKL]

Of course, given that I'm a partner in a company of workaholics, there would be a lot of stress over the dying batteries of my cell phone and computer. But secretly, I would be glad (unless there was a true client emergency or government deadline or something).

[FaithManor]

Well, truthfully, I'm a "get er done" kind of person, so while everyone else is panicking and flopping around complaining and contacting their favorite news media about their plight, blogging for their friends, and taking cell phone videos, I'd have staked out the farthest, remotest, corner of the deck, gathered blankets, pillows, books, whatever it took to make us as comfortable as possible, and then rustled up water bottles and foods such as mixed nuts, dried fruits, and whatever non-refrigerated food I could hustle, and made a life for us away from the crowd.

 

Now, that said, one would not find me on a cruise ship. I like to camp, dh and the kids, even with my parents who are blast to camp with. BUT, I do not do "sardine in a can" very well at all. I have never had the slightest desire to go spend a vacation bottlenecked on a boat with other people. I tolerate airplanes as a means to get myself somewhere else that I will enjoy, and I don't mind a few hours on the train, but boats, cabins without windows or little port windows, thousands of people all herded into one floating can, I would not be there!

 

Complaining wouldn't make the situation any better. Coffee...I'd steal coffee probably. :D If nothing else, we'd eat the grounds just to remain civil! When I got off the ship, I'd sue for a full refund plus some inconvenience money, but nothing big.

 

Dh says that if the ship were listing close enough to land that he had a view of it and could get an idea what the currents are doing, he'd be tempted to swim for it. Of course, swimming two or three miles in the ocean would be a big adventure for him and since he has done it before, I have no doubt he'd be capable. However, he'd be going alone. For whatever reason, I can tread water in strong current for over an hour, and on a lazy ocean day, for several hours, but my swim strokes in and of themselves, just aren't that strong. So, he can brave the sharks while I lean against the railing with my horded coffee grounds and cashews! But, if I see land and there's a rowboat, I could be out of there. If we had the boys with us, definitely! Hey, three teenage boys can row for shore...it would be good for them. :biggrinjester:

 

Faith