julig22

And 1 picture I saw shows a scooter in the mix, although I suppose it could be something they rented. But if it belongs to a passenger, that would be lots of fun trying to get it up a ladder.

That's a maybe they communicated with the authorities. Was this before or after the final tender returned to shore to drop off the passports of the missing passengers? And the passenger manifest completed, ship cleared for departure. So much missing information. Like when did this conversation take place. Note, the press says they called the captain - yea, I'm sure they have his cell phone # on speed dial. As has been pointed out numerous times in this thread, it's not a simple task to just take on passengers while out at sea. Especially sick, elderly and pregnant passengers. By your logic, no airline, bus, train or ship should be allowed to ever move forward until everyone who wants to board, even if they are late. Wouldn't that be morally right, after all they bought a ticket and have somewhere they need to be, forget about the other hundred - or few thousand - others who will be kept waiting. Or the costs and risks involved in waiting. Why isn't the tour guide getting raked over the coals on this? Nowhere does it say that they were unavoidably detained - just apparently irresponsible. My opinion. Speaking as someone who had to spend the night in the airport not that long ago because the last plane of the day left without me - and it was the airline who delayed my flight, then messed up my ticket so even tho I made it to the gate in time, I couldn't board. Neither could a couple of other families with small children who arrived after me. And I'm 70 years old, sleeping in the airport isn't exactly a piece of cake.

maybe, maybe not. My guess is that it depends on the ship, they seem to have different accounting systems so sometimes it works, most times it does not.

Since you are onboard now, ask whether or not they will carry it over for you. They might be able to do that.

I would have to 100% agree. I also won't mention the nationalities involved but I've been on cruises where large groups will take over the buffet, push past people in line, talk through presentations, block the elevators while they try to decide what to do next and so forth.

I'm pretty sure if you take the early morning train they will take your luggage to the ship - although I went in a day early, so mine went to my hotel. There is a free city shuttle that goes to the train station and the cruise terminal.

I actually had the same thought. There was a picture of a person with crutches but I don't know if it was the actual person or just a stock photo. I believe that some paraplegics can maneuver with the help of braces and walkers. I think the limit is 100 pounds if they need assistance from the crew.

As long as the train is operating (mid-May), NCL should have the Anchorage to Seward afternoon train as an option. Board the train at the airport. Another option is to take the early morning Alaska Train - boards in downtown Anchorage, arrives in time to take an afternoon excursion in Seward - the Kenai fjords are well worth it!

For this specific cruise, the ship had everyone's passport, no need to go to rooms. It also wasn't "anchored" but yes, it wouldn't be an easy task getting passengers onboard after the tender operation ceased. None of the articles actually give a time line - meaning that by the time the alleged phone call was made, the tenders could have already been lifted, after making a final trip to leave passports at the port.

On some ships, the bottom part, below the railing, is also solid.

According to what I had from last August, there was no posted info on lunch at Cagney's - but if they make special arrangements for suites it might not be posted for the general public - which is entirely possible, since I'm pretty sure one of the MDRs (probably the Palace) is also open but unadvertised. Garden Cafe was open for lunch until 3:30, Great Outdoors 3-5 pm. Based on that, I would guess 3:30 also for Cagney's and any MDR that's open.

Several posts in this thread have already directly addressed that issue.

Buenos Aires had a special "tourist" conversion rate when I was there last year. Within the city, you basically got double. So absolutely they were happy taking USD!

Um, no. First, they said they were looking for 2 nights in London, which is what you get with a 2-day deviation. Just no guarantee of when you will arrive. No deviation would mean they ARRIVE on the 10th. 1 day deviation means ARRIVING on the 9th. 2 day deviation means ARRIVING on the 8th. I'm assuming a "NCL reservationist" is someone on the chat line or a PCC - who got it wrong. Which isn't uncommon. Plus, it doesn't appear that they have actually received anything, just information.

No, it is not correct. You should arrive in London sometime on the 8th if your cruise is on the 10th. When you leave depends on how long it takes to get there, plus time differences.

I would be shocked to learn that the CG actually got involved at all. Anything is possible I suppose but I have my doubts LOL. Yes, I know the articles say the coast guard was involved but the reporters weren't there and the "facts" as relayed by the "abandoned" couple seem to have been creatively presented to sensationalize the incident, in favor of the "abandoned" passengers.

Why? Have you ever seen how boarding a ship at sea works after the platforms used for the tenders have been pulled up and stowed? No way would those passengers have been physically able to board the ship. And there is the question of the ship manifest, passports, etc. Lots of stories of pier runners being left behind - just because the ship is still there doesn't mean boarding is possible for any number of reasons. The Port Pilot Boarding a Cruise Ship (cruisedeals.expert)

Why do you have to wait to book? Book now, apply the 10% when it becomes available. Assuming the cruise you want to book is more than 5 months away.

I suspect there is more to the story, above and beyond the press lumping everything together as if the situations were the same. But it would be interesting to know if, on an NCL-booked excursion, who takes responsibility if someone is injured? I'd be looking to the tour guide at least for assistance with any land-based arrangements and communication with NCL if I was injured in a foreign country. Then let the various insurance companies fight out who pays.

From someone on the cruise, posted on another site. Note the point on the difficulty with simply transferring someone from another small boat on the fly. If you've ever seen how the pilots join the ship at sea, you'd understand. And yes, it's a different setup when they are using tenders. Hi everybody, admin here, and I am on the NCL Dawn sailing that the news article in another post is mentioned. I made this a comment in the OP, but figured since I'm on board I would give my two cents in its own post and you are all welcome to respond. I also don't mind if somebody posts the article, but would hope most people will understand that as we local news stations will jump on anything to get ratings and that might attract attention. They often don't have all the facts. I do want to address a few things This cruise has been visiting very much third world very poor countries along the coast of West Africa. There are a number of cruisers that like to save a few dollars and book their own shore excursions. Yes I have done the same thing in a few places I actually did a private excursion at this location. We are given strict instructions about boarding time and when people choose to think rules do not apply to them, there are issues. One thing to correct is our ship really was never anchored They actually do a special positioning something with ships no anchor was ever dropped. When people do not show up to check into the ship the ship knows because we sign in and off the ship. For this particular itinerary, NCL has collected and been holding our passports so the passports for the guests that did not come back aboard were given to the port agent for when those guests decided to maybe come back to the port. These people are not stranded They just now have to spend money out of their pocket to make it to our next port stop which is in Gambia. Of course they will have to do this at their own expense and then they will be allowed to reboard the ship. Generally when you are at a tender port, once all the tenders are back they have to be hoisted into place the doors or gangway area where the tenders are launched from are sealed up so that the ship can proceed, all of which is a process that I could not even begin to explain. Transporting from some other small boat to the large cruise ship, maybe like the experienced pilot harbors that come aboard is done through a small opening and people are highly trained to do this exchange. Seven people who cannot follow a simple rule to arrive back to the tender location on time, should we expect them to be responsible enough to actually be able to get on the ship from a small vessel. This particular cruise has more experienced cruisers than any I have been on and I am Diamond status with NCL and have probably been on 40 or more cruises with NCL. In my opinion these people went to the media because they were upset and they are trying to look for their 15 minutes of fame and trying to put the blame of themselves onto others. Most any cruiser especially an experienced cruiser knows that there are risks when taking and doing private excursions. This has been talked about multiple times on this cruise before this incident even happened. Just had to give my two cents on the situation since I am actually on this cruise.

Flights and transfers are also quite appealing to this frequent but solo female traveler. Unless I'm taking a cruise-tour, I do book my own hotels since NCL insists on charging double for those. But my flights are usually good because leg #1 is always going to be to a hub in my case, leaving fewer options for NCL. And I'm flexible, don't really care if I have to leave for the airport at 4 am or arrive home after midnight. Those are usually the same flights I'd be booking on my own anyway. Since I'm solo, it's usually fairly easy to get a decent seat. And if there is an issue with flights (whether or not NCL booked them), 1 seat on another last-minute flight is sometimes easier to get.

No, not necessarily. You are also paying to get early notification. And someone recently posted that they got the exact same flight without paying.

I don't know who the captain is but yea, there's more to the story. If allowing the passengers to board the ship would have been a possibility, it would have happened. Not too long ago I ended up spending the night in the SeaTac airport because they closed the door on me, plus 6-8 passengers coming from a delayed flight. I was there before the gate closed but there was an issue with my ticket (thanks AirCanada) and nope, not waiting. The other passengers were in sight. Nope, not waiting. And this was the last flight of the night, no connecting flight schedule to keep. But for some reason they couldn't/wouldn't wait. So it happens. Planes, trains, busses, ships don't wait.

A solo balcony is no different than a regular balcony, other than cost. But from what I've seen, they may be what NCL considers as "less desirable" due to location. So PrivaSea (enclosed) forward or aft balconies. You should be able to look at a newer deck plan to see the locations. Note - I happen to like the PrivaSea balconies since I go to colder locations.

Maybe they didn't call the captain directly but there is always port info, including how to contact the ship. Which is exactly what they should do. But it's up to the captain at that point to decide if they can wait. If they waited to call until after all the tenders were back at the ship and lifted, it was probably too late.