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NCL Epic passenger overboard?


Cruzntime
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We were a group of 3, ages 38, 47, and 67. The spring breakers didn't really bother us.... They did kind of overwhelm the pool deck and the outside bars. Their large groups probably made some of the restaurant service slower as well. But the ones we interacted with were really nice.

 

I wonder how shocked many of them were when they saw their bar tab!

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FYI, there is no "Florida University." There is an University of Florida and a Florida State University, but neither of those were on spring break this week. There are a number of Florida colleges on spring break this week, so I'm sure it was one of them.;p

Actually ... I spoke to several of the students on board and there were large groups from UF... and UNC. So spring break or not.... lots of Gators on board with us.

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Not trying to be technical, but there were many many spring breakers, all from Florida. Either way, none of them acted responsibly or respectfully.

So let me correct myself since everyone likes to correct someone~ ~like it matters ~ to say COLLEGE STUDENTS FROM FLORIDA

I also was on the cruise and will agree there were a lot of college kids not behaving. Pushing in line at bars, being loud and obnoxious..... but we also met and talked with many that were respectful young people. Even holding doors and having pleasant conversations while waiting in line or riding in taxis. My husband and I (both mid 40s) were shocked at the behavior of many of the women my moms age! They were loud and obnoxious and drunk. We saw that many times too. We met nice people of that age group too. Maybe they bad behavior fed more bad behavior... but it wasn’t ALL the college kids or JUST the college kids. We enjoyed our cruise.

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I don't blame NCL for the spring breakers at all, they are in the business to sell out the ship and make money. With cruising it's always buyer beware. You will encounter spring breakers this time of year, young children in the summertime and holiday season. This is why it's important to do as much research as possible when booking high volume times of year.

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This whole thread reminds me of my first cruise. I was the spring breaker (and I hope I was respectful, but I know there were many of us!), But we had someone go overboard during our cruise, and it ended up being a crew member. The found her alive, about 10 hours later.

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A group of 32 of us were on the Epic when this happened. In fact, 5 of us were eating dinner in the steak house and watched as crew members all went out back to try to locate her. Crew was immediately on top of it. As far as the college kids... We didn't mind them in the least. We partied right along with them. Take the time to talk to them. Yes, the outside bars were constantly packed- have patience. We stayed on the 13th floor. Most college students went to club Bliss at night. We went to H20- had the best time.

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At the bar Maltings we hardly saw any college kids and Alan was an amazing bartender!!!

 

 

JennaMae

 

Maltings was my go-to bad on the Epic during out last cruise, Glad to hear Alan is still serving. He looked after us well...other than the hangover from working through the Whisky menu.

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I have to say, this was my family’s first and last cruise with NCL. We encountered so many logistical issues... now mix in a bunch of drunk kids (from Florida, no less) and the entire trip was more stressful than relaxing. By the time we got off the ship this morning, my husband, 7-year old son and I would have given just about anything to be anywhere but there. What a waste of our hard-earned money. NCL, we gave you a shot. Now Back to Royal Caribbean!

 

Wouldn't it be possible that Royal Caribbean gets Spring Break crowds also at this time of year? I'll bet that they do. Just saying. Try cruising during a different time period to see.

 

I was happy to hear that the woman was successfully rescued.

 

BTW, this incident was just announced this morning on ABC News.

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:):)

Wouldn't it be possible that Royal Caribbean gets Spring Break crowds also at this time of year? I'll bet that they do. Just saying. Try cruising during a different time period to see.

 

I was happy to hear that the woman was successfully rescued.

 

BTW, this incident was just announced this morning on ABC News.

I saw it, loved how they said she fell into the frigid waters of the Atlantic. Not sure that word means what they think it does.

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Same here.... I'm also going with a large group (somewhere around 600-700 I think) but we are a respectful group that also parties. These reports were making me worry too.

 

On a weird side note.... last year I went on the Carnival Liberty right after that guy jumped overboard, this year I'm going on the Epic right after the lady went overboard.... I'm booked for Epic again Early next March so if your on the boat before that, HOLD ON and don't climb any rails for crying out loud!!

 

 

Everything comes in 3s.

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As a 29 year old party girl I would definitely say they overwhelmed the ship. They were university of Florida students. Most of them were wearing Greek letters. Individually many of them seemed like decent kids but they OVERWHELMED everything. I’ve been on the Dawn out of NOLA and a 6 day on the escape and it was a very different vibe. Extremely hard to get drinks at almost ANY bar. I was in a studio so I didn’t hear them in the halls. They were almost all 4 to a room. I’m curious what the capacity was. This has lead me to decide to cancel a future cruise and stick to land based vacations. I wouldn’t have minded some spring breakers but the sheer numbers of them was insane.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

I am on a cruise April 1. Before selecting a cruise I did a search and spent an hour counting how many schools had spring break by week. Actually this year April is a slower month. Also I picked a longer cruise. Is this sailing a 7 day or one of the shorter cruises? Someone once told me that 7 day sailing don't tend to have as many kids... a money thing.... I wish I could recall the site I used to determine spring break schedule...but before giving up on cruises...consider longer ones and look for who is on break. Now I have not found one covering high schools and grammar schools... my next challenge

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This cruise was possibly one of the worst experiences my wife and I have ever had while on vacation. This was our first cruise, so we don't have much to compare with. We are told by a lot of people that NCL was the quite cruiseline, compared to Carnival and Royal Caribbean. The shear amount of drunk people (collage aged or other) was intolerable. We are not alcohol drinkers (got that out of our systems long ago) so we just purchased the soda package, but how difficult it was to order a drink was horrible. The bed in our mini suite was horrible, I'd have to say that we have slept on better mattresses at motel 6. And many more issues to add to those. Due to the stress my wife endured on this cruise this may possibly be our first and only cruise. The only cruise we may take in the near future will be a Disney cruise next year with our 3 children. If we decide to ever cruise ourselves again we will be going Princess or Celebrity only. Also as far as this incident with the woman going overboard, I was in the smoking area on Deck 15 when this occurred. She lowered herself from the sundeck on 16 and placed her feet on the pipe that runs along the glass on 15. She lost her footing due to her drunken/high state and how windy it was. I saw this first hand. People did try to reach through the openings of the glass, but we're unable to reach her before she fell. I am thankful she did not die. But from my understanding she will be charged with some kind of crime. Also, as to her age, I did not get a good look at her before she fell, but from what I could see, I'd say she was definitely over the ago of 40 .

 

From the reports of this cruise I would not blame you for never wanting to cruise again. However, what is described as the behavior on this cruise is different than I have experienced. Factors to consider when picking a cruise that is not so, well let's say, "lively" are:

 

1. cruise line -- Carnival, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean are the most likely to have partiers on them; their ships cater to young people (zip lines, rock climbing walls, etc.) and they market themselves (sometimes) as party ships; they are generally less expensive than other lines, which also attracts families and younger people; luxury lines are going to be fun but not drunken party boats (even with all drinks complimentary)

 

2. length of cruise -- the longer the cruise the more likely to have older cruisers; four-day and seven-day cruises are cheaper and attract people who are in school or working; longer cruises attract more retirees

 

3. time of year -- when school is out, more kids will be on the cruise, including young adults; there is no set time for "spring break" but avoiding spring and summer will reduce the chances of a large number of young adults and kids

 

4. "all-you-can-drink" packages -- a lot of cruise lines have these now and they are going to encourage a lot of drinking (or cater to people who do a lot of drinking); if you can find a cruise line that does not offer these drink packages, you are more likely to avoid these problems (although, as noted above, all-inclusive luxury lines do not present a problem).

 

 

Good luck on your next vacation--whether on the seas or on land.

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Clearly this is not just a "Carnival thing". Anywhere you go during Spring break is a mess. I hate when stuff like this hurts the cruise industry. A good chunk of the people who have never cruised before only hear "college parties on the boat" and "people falling off" not knowing what the facts are.

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If you live in the U.S. and expect to go on a short cruise from the U.S. in March and not have it be overrun with drunk college students, you must live under a rock.

 

I've seen posts that say things like, in my little hometown, Spring Break is the last week of March, so I figured the entire country would be on break at the exact same time. How was I supposed to know the second week of March would have college kids on board? :rolleyes:

 

smh

 

If you sail in March on a short cruise and have a bad time because of drunk kids, you have yourself to blame just as much as the drunk kids.

 

No matter where or when you are cruising, DO YOUR RESEARCH. I'm heading to Australia in a few weeks, and I looked up when spring/Easter break is for every territory, and took that into account, as well as the length of the cruise, and the ship I'll be on. I did the same for my cruise a few years ago in the Mediterranean, which was during summer holidays. The length of cruise, ports, and cruise line made me think that kids wouldn't be much of a problem, and I was right. You can cruise during spring break, and summer holidays, just pick the right itinerary and ship and you'll be JUST fine.

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Anyone who witnessed the passenger going overboard, might want to contact the cruise line. News reports say the woman was sitting on the rail trying for a selfie. If she did voluntarily go over the side and climb outside the ship from deck 16 to 15... she is clearly at fault. My concern is that friends and family are trying to rewrite history to imply that NCL is somehow at fault. So if the facts are different, important to get the correct info to those in authority. I was on Oasis when a passenger jumped off the ship and onto the lifeboat davit and ultimately fell into the water, never to be seen again. The odd thing was that his spouse video taped the whole encounter... from the time security arrived at their cabin, after reports of a fight and through the victim running out of the cabin towards the balcony. Who starts a video BEFORE anything happens.

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If you live in the U.S. and expect to go on a short cruise from the U.S. in March and not have it be overrun with drunk college students, you must live under a rock.

 

I've seen posts that say things like, in my little hometown, Spring Break is the last week of March, so I figured the entire country would be on break at the exact same time. How was I supposed to know the second week of March would have college kids on board? :rolleyes:

 

smh

 

If you sail in March on a short cruise and have a bad time because of drunk kids, you have yourself to blame just as much as the drunk kids.

 

No matter where or when you are cruising, DO YOUR RESEARCH. I'm heading to Australia in a few weeks, and I looked up when spring/Easter break is for every territory, and took that into account, as well as the length of the cruise, and the ship I'll be on. I did the same for my cruise a few years ago in the Mediterranean, which was during summer holidays. The length of cruise, ports, and cruise line made me think that kids wouldn't be much of a problem, and I was right. You can cruise during spring break, and summer holidays, just pick the right itinerary and ship and you'll be JUST fine.

 

 

Thought I had read it was a 52 year old. That's hardly a drunken college kid!

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As a 29 year old party girl I would definitely say they overwhelmed the ship. This has lead me to decide to cancel a future cruise and stick to land based vacations. I wouldn’t have minded some spring breakers but the sheer numbers of them was insane.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Please don't let this unfortunate experience keep you from cruising again. Cruising is a wonderful way to travel and see many different places, not to mention the exceptional value you receive for your money. Next time, try another cruise line, or a different time of year. Please don't give up !

Edited by Boatdrill
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My hats off to the captain and entire staff of the NCL Epic. Its very rare to rescue a passenger falling or jumping overboard. Even more challenging it happened at night. There is a 15% chance of finding and rescuing someone alive. The quick actions of the captain and crew no doubt saved a life.

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