Public hits O-jet for poor service

Oceanjet fastcrafts hit snag anew for placing supposed “valued” passengers to an ordeal of an inconvenient sea travel—an ironic clinch of a Holy Week vacation.
Gerry Guidaben of DOLE-Bohol shared a sad experience taking Oceanjet-7 in his return home on Saturday from a fine vacation in Camiguin with family.
Even the supposed air-conditioned accommodation felt like an ordeal in a furnace the whole trip, aside from the misunderstanding with other passengers regarding the seat assignment.
Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) Head Norma Enriquez thought the problem on the poor airconditioning had already been addressed by the management of the fast craft since it occurred in the past.
She said the recent incident reported by Guidaben will be raised to Marina-Cebu and discuss the matter with Oceanjet management.
Enriquez hinted that another investigation on the poor services of the fastcraft company would be conducted to address the recent incident.
According to Guidaben, the aircondition of Oceanjet-7 on their way to Camiguin from Jagna was still working on Thursday. But their trip home on Saturday was an ordeal.
First, they were surprised why their seats were already taken by passengers from Cagayan who supposedly took the non-aircon accommodation.
They learned that the crew allowed them to go down to the air-con accommodation since there were still few passengers when the fast craft left Cagayan.
The bulk of the passengers were from Binoni in Camiguin bound for Jagna.
The confusion even resulted to altercation because the passengers from Cagayan no longer wanted to return to their original seats in non-aircon accommodation upstairs.
According to Guidaben, the crew even advised them to just spread out to the remaining vacant seats.
He explained that it would be difficult on their part because they have kids with them and he needs to watch over them in the entire trip.
Guidaben said his wife even pointed out that it would be unfair for the crew to drive them from their seats in favor of those who were not even assigned to the seats.
The crew also asked them to share their seats with their children when in fact, they paid for their (children) seats.
As they sailed, passengers noticed that the aircondition was not functioning.

Most of the passengers went to the open-air area upstairs and they feared that the fastcraft might go out-balanced. Some took off their shirts.

The crew even advised those who sought ventilation by the front portion to go back to their seats, but never tried to solve the problem when the passengers told them that it was very hot inside.

Several passengers, including one of their children, turned pale and dizzy because of poor ventilation.

Guidaben said they had to bear the inconvenience until they reached Jagna only to learn later that the aircondition in the fast craft was just set to “fan” level as overheard from a crew who finally checked it when the last passenger—who happened to be Guidaben’s kid—stepped down.

An administrative officer of DepEd-City shared similar experience of other DepEd-City officials on March 14.

According to the DepEd official, he took the Weesam after having enough of Oceanjet. But the other officials who took the 6 p.m. Oceanjet-8 trip when they returned home from a seminar in Cebu had to bear the inconvenience of poor airconditioning.

The passengers sweat throughout the trip, except those who went up to the open air area of the vessel.