wampuscat7

I hate to say it, but lounge chairs on top of one another is going to be par for the course for cruises. That said, every ship I've been on has other outdoor areas that were far less populated. (They may just not be the areas directly next to the very small pools.) And you can always sit on your own balcony, if you have one. Cruise ships, by nature, cram a lot of people into a small area. In my limited experience, embarkation day and debarkation day are the worst. I'm sure certain ship designs are better than others at dispersing the people and can't speak to the Encore specifically. In additi

This was to be our first NCL cruise. We were excited to try NCL. We've done 1 RCL in the past and several Carnival. We were disappointed after our last Carnival cruise and needed a break, although their product was fine, we missed the Oasis-class RCL ship. I think each line had a different pros and cons in their responses. We're debating taking the cash so we can skip over to RCL. We're looking at booking for October or next spring.

I would be interested to know how the customs and screening process goes for those disembarking today, considering what has happened at the airports. I know someone who was in line at O'Hare for 6+ hours to get through customs and health screening. yesterday.

This is exactly why is was interesting to me to read Carnival's policy. They are giving people until December to request a refund vs. the credit. That way people can take the credit (which is automatic), wait on it to see how things go, and still request a refudn later (via a form). I get the impression that the cruise lines ceasing operations was somewhat forced, but it is apparent that some line were more prepared than others and some are making this easier on their customers than others.

There was a post today on the RCI board where a crew member said her contract was canceled with no notice. So who is to say that NCL, or any cruise line, will retain all of its staff while shut down? I mean, I would hope so, but I could see lines cutting down to a skeleton staff to save money.

More importantly (to me anyway), will the staff stay on board? Will they be fed? Will they be compensated?

NCL's website is the worst. The fact that operations are suspended and it's being reported BEFORE NCL bothers to tell its own staff or guests makes me really question their business practices. (As if the lying to customers wasn't enough.)

Some of us were joking at work today about how many new Netflix, Disney+, and Hulu subscriptions are going to be purchased in the coming month.

It is a mind-boggling situation, frankly. The Washington Post and Miami Herald have picked up the story now. (RCI is cancelling as well.) So hopefully info is passed down to the NCL folks and TAs soon. I'm sorry you are in this situation. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article241176211.html

NCL isn't known for great internal communication. It's not on the NCL website yet, and not on mainstream news. People aren't receiving any emails or calls from NCL. Unless you are sailing this weekend, I would not inundate the low-wage call center workers. It's bound to just cause frustration. I do feel badly for anyone who is traveling today to try to board a ship tomorrow.

Not to mention Iran, who downplayed the possibility of Covid-19 and now has one of the worst growth rates.

I don't necessarily disagree with you. I'm just fascinated by the whole situation. I've got no expertise. I have to look to the doctors and infectious disease experts, the WHO, the CDC, etc. Frankly, with how divisive our country already is, I hope a crisis such as this will bring us together, to work together, to support each other, but I fear it will not.

I saw this today and thought it was interesting.

Princess had Covid-19 on two ships. No known cases have been on NCL ships. Princess is fighting more of a battle with regard to maintaining customers.

No one should be allowed to be taken advantage of by a company knowingly giving false information. Doesn't matter if they are smart or not.