Catalina Island, DR: A Lovely Afternoon at the Beach But Dreadful Service Continues on Board

March 26, 2019

CATALINA ISLAND, Dominican Republic – I swam, walked a nature trail, and enjoyed some sunny beach time this afternoon at the first port of call on my 17-night Caribbean and trans-Atlantic voyage. It was good medicine for the numerous headaches I’m dealing with aboard Costa Pacific, where the facilities and customer service have been abysmal.

Got up about 12:30 a.m. aboard Costa Pacifica in the Port of La Romana, Dominican Republic. I had arrived on board yesterday afternoon after a horrendous boarding experience, and my luggage hadn’t been delivered when I went to bed about 9 p.m. Opened my door to get my suitcase – but it’s not there!

Picked up the phone to call reception. The telephone in my cabin doesn’t work! It’s one fail after another so far for Costa Pacifica. What a nightmare!

I put on the clothes I wore yesterday and took the phone to the front desk to ask for a new one that functions and to inquire about my missing luggage. The agent apologized and said they had some misplaced bags that are still being located. There’s a young couple at the desk who are missing a bag. This is now 11 hours after arrival! How infuriating.

Returned to my cabin and climbed back into bed at 12:55, but it took past 3 a.m. for me to be able to fall asleep again. Ugh.

I arose again at 6:28 a.m. and opened my door. Still no suitcase outside my door! I went back up to reception. An agent takes me to a room with about a dozen bags. A few, but not all, are tagged “For Inspection.” Mine has no tag. I identified my suitcase, luggage tag with my name and cabin number still attached. Agent lady looked baffled.

“I’m sorry sir,” she said. “I have no idea why this wasn’t delivered.”

Then she sent me on my way with my bag and broken phone, explaining, “We don’t have any extra phones, so we’ll have to send someone to fix this one.”

Back in my cabin, I hooked up my laptop to the television with an HDMI cable. I always travel with such a cable so I can watch videos saved on my computer to a bigger screen. But I can’t get the cabin TV to switch to HDMI input! The TV appears to be programmed to block changing inputs from the ship’s cable TV. I’ve never seen anything like this!

All these problems, and we haven’t even left port yet!

Went upstairs to eat breakfast and watch our short voyage from La Romana to Catalina Island, five miles offshore.

Looks like there’s a nice beach on this uninhabited island, but the weather is all cloudy so not worth going ashore unless conditions improve. Couldn’t handle much activity ashore today anyway after yesterday’s excruciating ordeal.

On my way down to my stateroom, I took a working phone off the wall in a Deck 4 corridor and left my broken one on the floor with a note that it needs repair.

Finally got to unpacking in my cabin at 9:26. First time in my 20+ cruises I didn’t receive my checked luggage until the second day of the cruise! It’s so terrible to be experiencing all these cascading problems at the start of my voyage!

Cabin Attendant & Supervisor Come to See Everything That’s Troublesome

I made a list of things needed in my cabin including six more clothes hangers, firmer pillows, and merging the two beds into one.

I just can’t believe how many things are awful. It’s exhausting and certainly diminishes my enjoyment of starting this 11-week nomadic journey. I just kinda want to go “home” to be honest. The only problem is I’ve chosen not to have a home!

Read yesterday’s and todays cruise newsletters. My cabin attendant, Usha, and a housekeeping supervisor came by to deal with my problem list. They made several phone calls to try to sort out the TV problem. Finally I was put on the phone with a guest-services representative who told me it’s company policy to not allow any devices to connect to the cabin televisions for “safety reasons” because they want guests to be able to hear emergency announcements. The ship’s cable TV system is programmed to go off during any emergency situation so guests may hear all announcements, she explained.

I couldn’t believe the idiocrasy of this policy. When I told the rep I could be watching a video or listening to music on my laptop, tablet, or phone and that none of these devices would be silenced during an emergency, she had no response but to repeat again the company policy that no device may be plugged into the cabin TVs. I was fuming. I will have to take the TV apart and see if there’s a way to perform a factory reset to override this unique blockade feature, something I’ve never encountered on any other ship or any of the thousands of hotels I’ve stayed in around the world. Good thing I travel with screwdrivers.

Regarding the bed situation, the housekeeping manager explained my cabin is only designed for two beds. They can’t be put together because of the space, she pointed out – there’d only be a couple inches between the edge of the bed and the desk/refrigerator cabinet. I couldn’t believe Costa would assign a solo traveler to a cabin designed specifically for two passengers who don’t sleep together! I just wanted to scream at the top of my lungs.

THESE ARE NOT DIFFICULT OR EXTRAORDINARY THINGS PEOPLE!!!

I was told Usha would return at 1 p.m. to bring more pillows and hangers, and to make up my cabin.

Why do the worst cruiselines always have the best itineraries? Mom and I have taken two previous Costa cruises in the Indian Ocean and were not impressed with the on-board experience, but the destinations (Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar, Reunion, Maldives, and Sri Lanka) were fantastic – and not visited by other cruiselines. Likewise I chose this cruise to get a Caribbean voyage plus a trans-Atlantic sailing combined into one trip. I’ll be visiting French islands (Martinique and Guadeloupe) rarely called at by American cruiselines as well as the British territory of Gibraltar, all places I’ve never seen.

After all the customer-service headaches, I finished reading the cruise newsletter at 11:34 a.m., continued packing, and got dressed to go ashore.

Before I left, I circled in red marker all the stains, holes, and graffiti on my sheets (gross!) for Usha to haul away and replace with ones that aren’t filthy dirty.

A Nice Relaxing Afternoon at the Beach on Catalina Island

After the hell of yesterday and this morning, I was finally able to have some fun on Catalina Island, a Dominican Republic natural monument five miles south of La Romana. Part of it is leased to Costa Cruises as a beach stop for its passengers. It turned out to be a lovely afternoon despite the cloudy morning.

Took a tender ashore shortly after noon.

Catalina Island is a nice place with a white-sand beach, lunch facility (included in the cruise fare), a nature trail, and a swimming zone. Ahhhhh, now this is more like it.

First I ate lunch. My only gripe about my time ashore today: the smallest cups in the world (a mere 15 cl). Who comes up with this crap?!

I went for a wonderful half-hour swim after lunch and walked the nature trail. The water is so cool and refreshing — the perfect temperature (unlike the incredibly warm water in French Polynesia.)

Ended my time ashore reading on the beach.

Catalina Island also features numerous shops for those wanting to pick up some souvenirs from the Dominican Republic.

Tendered back to the ship about 4 p.m. Went up top for sail-away. We are now en route to St. Kitts Island, St. Kitts & Nevis, 422 miles to the east-southeast.

Returned to my cabin at 5:50 to continue unpacking and watch TiVo on my laptop. Sure wish I could view in the larger TV screen! Up to the dinner buffet at 7:10.

After my lack of sleep and exasperation dealing with all the dreadful service, I got ready for bed early. Again there’s loud music coming into my cabin from the theater. Damnit.

Watched some more TiVo before bed at 8:29 p.m.