Roseflyer

11 hours ago, bonvoyagie said:

The problem is the next port, Victoria , is a long ways away and takes almost 2 days sailing near top speed to do.

Yes that is the problem with Ketchikan.  Either the cruise has to leave by 2pm on the southbound journey to make Victoria or it doesn’t arrive until 2pm on the northbound journey from Seattle.  If you cruise out of Seattle, the Ketchikan port is short changed.  If you cruise out of Vancouver, then you can get the full day.

15 minutes ago, omahabob said:

Therein lies the problem. I have little doubt NCL will drop this tour operator, or demand strict quality control measures in the future. Even though NCL wasn't responsible, it's bad PR, and they definitely don't want that.

Unfortunately there is little choice in Ketchikan.  It’s hard to find quality summertime employees to support seasonal work in Alaska. This isn’t Cozumel with the infrastructure to support 4 to 5 cruise ships.  It’s a small city in Alaska with a population of 8,000-12,000 depending on time of year.  

To anyone saying NCL did the right thing by not holding the boat since their terms and conditions don’t commit to holding the boat, any lawyer will tear that apart since they advertise that they will hold the boat.  You can’t advertise that you will adhere to a policy and then change the policy in terms and conditions.  Judges will quickly toss that out.  A bus being full and being told to wait for the next certainly sounds like an “unforeseen circumstance”

”#7. You’ll never miss the boat with a Norwegian Cruise Line Shore Excursion. If for some reason your self-booked destination tour is running late because of traffic or any unforeseen circumstances, you’re taking the chance that your ship may sail away without you. But, if you’ve booked your Shore Excursions with Norwegian Cruise Line directly, they’ll always wait for even the tardiest of tours to return to their ship before sailing. More valuable peace of mind!”

https://www.ncl.com/travel-blog/reasons-to-book-shore-excursions-with-norwegian

From what I read, there weren’t enough seats in the excursion bus back from the lumberjack show.  The family was told there would be another bus, but it didn’t show up.  That sounds like it is NCL’s fault since the excursion was booked through NCL.

NCL customer service failed here.  They refunded only 20% of the cruise, out of pocket expenses and fees.  While technically that is something to make the family whole, it didn’t address the fact that NCL destroyed their vacation.  While I can see this being an honest mistake of people getting on the wrong bus leading to not enough seats on the last bus, that isn’t this family’s fault.  
 

NCL should have refunded the whole cruise as a gesture of goodwill and offered a full future cruise credit.  If they had, this would not have been news damaging the brand.  I can expect that at least some people will second guess booking shore excursions through the cruise line due to bad press.  NCL could have avoided that, but chose to go the cheap way out and provide the minimum level of reimbursement.  For those quoting contract terms and conditions, that never helps with branding.  It doesn’t look good from a brand perspective when NCL says they messed up, and chose to only compensate them for air travel and 20%.

19 hours ago, omahabob said:

NCL makes plenty of mistakes, but they didn't this time. They are not responsible for passengers not getting on the bus back to the ship. They adhered to policy. If passengers on an NCL excursion cannot make it back, and the ship can no longer wait, they take ownership for getting them to the next port, which they tried to do. But, since the passengers didn't take their passports with them, that couldn't be done. So they went home, and NCL is covering that. NCL did nothing wrong here, but the passengers did to at least some extent. Obviously the excursion operator really screwed up, and they bear the brunt of the blame. I would question the timing of the phone calls the passengers made. It should have been obvious they wouldn't make it back on time, so I have to wonder why NCL didn't go into their cabin to get their passports, and give them to the port agent. I thought that was standard practice. I would also question how long it took NCL to figure all this out. Communication is not their strong suit, so I imagine a lot of confusion and head scratching on their part. But I learned long ago to never, ever trust news reporting on stuff like this.

why do you say NCL didn’t make mistakes?  It appears the excursion bus was full and didn’t have enough seats.  The family was told to wait for the next bus, which didn’t come.  Not having enough seats on the excursion bus absolutely is an NCL problem since this was a shore excursion booked through NCL.

Any idea why Quantum of the seas is at anchor in the middle of Elliott bay today?  It was supposed to go to Alaska for the last cruise of the year but is currently in the middle of the harbor off Seattle causing delays as ferries and other traffic have to yield to it

Weather is great for the arrival in Long Beach.  Will have no problems getting out.  Where it goes is the question

What flight are you on? Are you making a connection? There are three flights from Chicago to San Juan and they all arrive before 4pm. If you are arriving at 445, that implies you are making a connection. That is far too risky in my opinion in December.

The first flight of the day is usually the best and it arrives before 3pm, which should be ok.

Flat tipping allows the cruise line to stabilize revenue. The revenue varies over the course of the year since cruise prices can vary widely. For example cruises in early December are half the price of holiday cruises. Although tips aren’t directly tied to staff wages the costs are consistent regardless of season and what revenue the cabin fares generate.

It takes about 5 hours by train to get from Boston to Newark. You can get off at either Newark airport or Newark Penn and get a taxi from there. If you book early enough it is only $50 per person. Cheaper than flying and flights between Boston and Newark are commonly late. I wouldn’t fly personally. The train is more comfortable anyway.

People say bad things about Newark, but it is just a train station with taxis out front. I recommend it over getting a taxi from New York Penn and the traffic getting to New Jersey.

Cruise lines send representatives (often friends and family of employees, or travel agents on promotional trips, etc) on excursions to monitor the service and ensure everything is up to standard and report back with issues.

Many bus lines now do have cameras installed.

It was a ship sponsored tour.

 

I still just can't understand how the bus crashed in broad daylight on a straight road with no other vehicle involved when there was no rain. Even if a tire blew you wouldn't think that would cause a bus to flip over.

I was in a tour van that passed that area shortly before the accident. It is a perfectly straight section of road with fairly wide shoulders. It's a two lane road with no divider in the center. There were many tour busses leaving at the same time. There are a number of vehicles that travel at different speeds, so overtaking is common from traffic in both directions. We passed a number of busses and one bus passed us in the van.

There was a drainage ditch on both sides of the road despite the whole area being flat. A top heavy vehicle like a bus can flip on its side if it goes off the side of the road due to the drop off of about 5-8 feet. From what I saw of the bus when passing the bus, it appeared to roll on its side and then end up hitting the other side of the drainage ditch rather hard head on destroying the front of the bus. All the windows on that side were broken. It is very tragic and I hope that explanation of what I saw doesn't offend anyone.

So sorry for those affected. It was very sad seeing the bus yesterday as we drove past it on our way back to the ship. The guide on our own van said he was friends with the guide on the bus which crashed. It's very sad to reflect on the fact that my family passed the accident site minutes earlier and those who lost family members.

For those curious, the ship sailed sometime after midnight. There were some people who left the ship in Costa Maya. We saw crew removing belongings and suitcases from a room down the hall from ours last evening. The ship did arrive in Cozumel on time. There haven't been shipwide announcements, but a number of people have been at guest relations, which I think is a good way of handling the event.

I saw the bus after it has been turned back over while on our way back to Costa Maya. Very tragic scene.

We are still wondering what's going to happen. The ship is still in Costa Maya with the gangplank out.

What is going to happen with the ship? We are still in Costa Maya. Some are wondering if the ship will go to Cozumel tomorrow at all. There haven't been announcements during this unfortunate tragedy.

We are on Equinox and were late to arrive back from a shore excursion (through native choice) to the same destination that the tour group was going. We were held up waiting for them to tow the bus. We saw the damage and it was apparent that it went off the highway into a ditch and rolled on its side. The road is perfectly straight in that section and in good condition.

The ship is still waiting along with both other ships in port even though Royal Caribbean pulled their gangway, Celebrity still has theirs out. When we boarded, they had photos of those who were late and checking everyone off. We also saw people disembarking with their luggage including one person who was injured.

I feel so sad for those on the bus and their families.

Well even though we haven't paid our final payment we were assigned our cabin. We did a verandah GTY. We have been assigned cabin 6176......

I was surprised to see assignments since we haven't final paid.

 

Thanks for the relies! And tips!! I really Appreciate them!

 

 

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Keep an eye out on price drops within 30 days after final payment. We actually booked a cruise on Equinox after final payment. Booked balcony guarantee and within a week were assigned an obstructed view 2C cabin like yours. Three weeks later there were some price drops and we were able to upgrade all the way to Conceirge Class cabins right next to each other for no cost. The sale that allowed us to upgrade only lasted a few days, but keep your eyes open for price drops within 75 days of departure for a chance to upgrade.

Thanks for sharing we are doing the same cruise in two weeks on Equinox so I appreciate you posting.

I was planning on booking shorter excursions for our December cruise and was able to take advantage of the discount. Unfortunately it was not 20% off. One excursion we wanted was 5% off and the other was full price.

Cruises out of Puerto Rico to islands hit by recent hurricanes are heavily discounted probably because people canceled or rescheduled. It is unlikely that they will visit all the ports according to the schedule provided or that some activities on the islands may not be available due to the recovery effort. If you are willing to have your vacation impacted by infrastructure issues, especially Puerto Rico possibly not having adequate hotels and resources, you can get a cheap cruise.

Meanwhile western caribbean cruises are just as expensive as normal. I suspect many people are favoring itineraries going to Mexico/Grand Cayman/Jamaica who have been unaffected by recent hurricanes.

I disagree. Most, if not all, of the "perks" you mention are marketing ploys. There needs to be a basic package all the airlines agree on that can be used measure the real costs of a ticket and allow accurate comparisons between them when making purchase decisions. Without congressional mandates this is never going to happen.

regards

Bill

There are mandates to show the entire price including taxes when booking and provide and explanation of baggage fees.

The only airline with free domestic baggage in the US is Southwest and usually travel agents like Choice Air don't usually book on Southwest. At least you get a carry on with Delta.

Some of the storm track paths are now projecting that the hurricane will stall out off the cost of Florida or the Carolina's. The path is uncertain, but the hurricane could linger off the coast for a while longer. Even if Port Canaveral opens up, if the hurricane is just off shore, I doubt ships will be sailing to the port this weekend.

I recommend not using Uber at LGA. The Uber drivers have to wait outside the terminal area and then meet you at the curb. With how bad the traffic is during construction you could be waiting 20 minutes for your uber and then it can be hard to find the correct car.

Other users recommend a car service. It works if you have a chauffeur pick you up inside baggage claim. Otherwise I suggest just waiting in the taxi line. Be warned in the evenings the taxi lines can also extend over 20 minutes. New York taxi drivers can be scary drivers. On Sunday I was almost in a head on collision in a taxi in NYC.

In short unless you pay someone to stand and wait for you with a sign, don't expect to get out of LGA quickly.

On your way back to the airport I recommend Uber. I think Uber is best for a pickup taking you to the airport. You don't have to plan ahead like you do with car service and rarely do you wait more than 5-10 minutes for an Uber in NYC.

How bad is the Grand Central parkway near the airport on the weekend?

In the morning it is fine. In the afternoon it is backed up just like every other freeway or parkway in Queens, Brooklyn or Manhattan.