Our cruise on Navigator of the Seas, March 23-30, 2014 from Galveston, Texas, will likely forever be our most unusual experience in cruising. It’s one we will never forget. As best my research revealed, never has the port of Galveston been closed due to an oil spill. It was our eighteenth Royal Caribbean cruise since 2006, and our first cruise as Diamond Plus members. Let me preface my report by saying that, given the fact that Royal Caribbean was not at fault for what happened with the oil spill, they really delivered the WOW to us this week, taking care of us with refunds, future credits, and reimbursements for expenses. Given the situation, they did handle it “Royally”, and did everything they could to create a positive experience for us. For many, however, it was a rollercoaster of a week for all parties.

We live about nine hours from the port, so Galveston is a drivable port for us. The ports for our sailing were to have been Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel. We left home on Friday, visited with friends in Eastern Texas on Friday night, and drove on to Galveston, arriving Saturday at noon. Not long after arriving, we heard word that a 585-foot bulk carrier vessel, named Summer Wind, had struck a barge holding 160,000 gallons of heavy bunker oil. This happened near the Texas City dike where all ships must pass through to go to port in Houston or Galveston, the “Y” as they refer to it. As the evening progressed, we saw news report after report on television and on the internet that all of the oil was leaking out and that hundreds of people had been dispatched to try to lessen the environmental impact of the spill. We met with friends from Cruise Critic and had a lovely dinner and visit with our Cruise Critic friends.

On Sunday morning, we woke up and at 8:50 a.m. we have a notice from Royal Caribbean that we should not come to the port due to fog, which has been an issue several times since Navigator arrived in Galveston in February. We went to the front desk of the SpringHill Suites where we stayed, and asked for an extended checkout, and were told we had to be out by 1 p.m. or pay for another night. Read more