Hurricane Sandy Update

Hurricane Sandy Update

Thursday, October 25, 2012

At Norwegian Cruise Line, the safety and security of our guests and crew is of the utmost importance. Therefore, the company is closely monitoring the path of Hurricane Sandy and has made the following modifications to its affected itineraries:

Norwegian Pearl is calling in Costa Maya today, returning as scheduled to Miami on Saturday.

Norwegian Sky is spending the day at sea today and is expected to have a delayed arrival into Miami on Friday, October 26 at approximately 9 am.

Embarkation for the ship’s three-day cruise will now begin at 2 pm. We ask all embarking guests to please arrive at the terminal no earlier than 2 pm. The ship’s departure is now scheduled for 7 pm.

Norwegian Jewel will now call in Norfolk, Virginia on Friday (instead of Charleston, South Carolina), returning to New York as scheduled on Sunday.

Norwegian Gem will cancel its call in Samana, Dominican Republic, on Friday, and will proceed to New York to arrive as scheduled on Monday.

Guests on board all impacted Norwegian ships will be kept up to date by the ship’s Captain.

At this time, all cruises embarking on October 27, 28 and 29, 2012 are expected to depart as scheduled; however, if the storm’s path changes, we may need to make modifications to the itineraries as necessary. Embarking guests are encouraged to continue to monitor ncl.com for any possible changes. We appreciate our guests’ understanding.

What a mess so late in the season. Looks bad up here in the NY area for Monday into Tuesday. The Gem is due back Monday.

I was waiting for the 1st Gem 9 day to return to see if NCL was charging for the Cayo Levantado excursion. Looks like I won't get an answer.

Safe trip back for everyone!

So they finally put something up on the website? About time...My DW and her friends are on the Pearl right now, and the only way I could find out what was going on was from short updates from her.

It's been obvious since Monday that the itineraries of all the Caribbean cruise ships would be changed, but not a word on the NCL website until today. Not the best of performances by NCL.

NCL was posting updates on Facebook. I saw posts about the ships yesterday.

So they finally put something up on the website? About time...My DW and her friends are on the Pearl right now, and the only way I could find out what was going on was from short updates from her.

 

It's been obvious since Monday that the itineraries of all the Caribbean cruise ships would be changed, but not a word on the NCL website until today. Not the best of performances by NCL.[/

I don't understand why?---all the others just posted today and this evening ?

So they finally put something up on the website? About time...My DW and her friends are on the Pearl right now, and the only way I could find out what was going on was from short updates from her.

 

It's been obvious since Monday that the itineraries of all the Caribbean cruise ships would be changed, but not a word on the NCL website until today. Not the best of performances by NCL.

It's entirely possible that NCL was working to identify alternative ports that can accommodate their ships on such short notice. It's not easy having to alter plans unexpectedly. And as another poster mentioned, the info has been available on their FB page since yesterday. The only change today is the port stop for the Jewel.

So they finally put something up on the website? About time...My DW and her friends are on the Pearl right now, and the only way I could find out what was going on was from short updates from her.

 

It's been obvious since Monday that the itineraries of all the Caribbean cruise ships would be changed, but not a word on the NCL website until today. Not the best of performances by NCL.

They had a weather alert on their site yesterday and updated it today. I. Think it was plenty of information & I am sure they will be updating throughout the weekend. I don't know how much more you could expect.

I was just looking to see what NCL was doing about Sandy, especially Bermuda. About 7:15 PM Princess Cruise sent us an e-mail saying that we will not be sailing to Bermuda this Sat. out of NY. They don't know what they are going to do with us so I guess we just have to fly there and find out.

At this point, forecasting models are converging - and it looks with some certainty that it will be a major disruption up & down the East Coast, and Sandy is going to hit somewhere in the NE.

Needless to say, folks coming back from to ports and heading out in the next several days in the impact area will most definitely be rocking & rolling - seas will be rough, and the wind will blowing across the deck - Bonine & other "motion" remedies will be in order. We aren't scheduled to sail on the GEM for another 13 days out of NY, so we are relatively safe -

For anyone flying to the ports on the East Coast, this is going to get very "interesting" this weekend - airlines are known to take preemptive measures to cancel flights, ground their planes and hold their crews until the event can be de-escalated. The following link is to a discussion thread over at FlyerTalk about impacts on UA operations - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-mileageplus-consolidated/1400771-hurricane-sandy-potential-impact-uas-operations.html

NYC was surprised last Oct. 30th (2011) by an early snow storm that downed utilities and disrupted travel, etc. - it looks like we will be heading to Home Depot in the morning to restock certain items after stopping at the grocery story, not taking chances ... plus, I will most likely go on alert/standby for being on call 24/7 to roll for reserve duties as needs arise ...

Wishing all happy cruising, safe travel & yes, is your "Go Kit" ready ?

I work for the National Weather Service and in our daily briefings today, it looks like the path of Sandy should bring it ashore as a tropical system, low category 1 storm around the DelMarVa peninsula, but will have a major impact from Providence, Rhode Island to Back Bay, Virginia. Since the DelMarVa peninsula as well as the Jersey Shore are so flat, storm surge in those areas could be a huge problem. Remember that it isn't the wind that kills the most people, it is the storm surge.

This storm is wildly hard to track. Hurricanes don't usually veer west this time of year, so this is unusual. In fact, one of the models used shows the storm just spinning out to sea, another shows the storm hitting Long Island, coming ashore, then turning south to hit Long Island again. The vast majority of models, though, show the DelMarVa and southern Jersey as the projected path for early Tuesday.

In addition, the storm should absorb a major cold front over the western Appalachian Mountains and be a major snow event all along the Appalachian mountains.

If you are in the area, take the proper precautions.

For those cruising out of New York over the weekend, have a fun, safe trip and remain flexible if ports change, and if there are rough seas.

Oh, I forgot to put a link to the National Hurricane Center website with the tracking map. Anyway, here it is:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at3+shtml/153813.shtml?gm_track#contents