Not going well on Sun cruise .

My husband and I wouldn’t dream of being loyal to a particular cruise line. It’s too restrictive and the so called perks are a drop in the corporate bucket. We look at the price, the itinerary and what the ship has to offer. That’s it. I hope you have a great time on whatever cruise you choose!

which cruise line do you favor? Looking for opinions on which cruise line to choose.

which cruise line do you favor? Looking for opinions on which cruise line to choose.

Just curious and totally late to this conversation, so it may have already been addressed...do they discount these fares heavily when they do a respositioning or enter dry dock "construction" zone cruise?

Well, the CEO is the only one who makes the decisions, complaining to others is like pushing a rock up a hill and waiting for it to fall down, so you can push it up again.

 

There was a ton of national news stories about the Breakaway and it did nothing, as the compensation offered originally still stands. So call me a skeptical.

This is very different than the Breakaway situation. This was 100%, entirely, completely in NCL's control.

You can expect a storm at sea sailing in the Atlantic in the winter.

You don't expect a cruise ship to be a floating construction zone.

I am so angry. I have cruised on HAL, RC and Celebrity and I know how precious time is on the ocean on a beautiful ship. How dare they offer only 25%!! are you KIDDING ME?? They have to replace what they took from you. I have read this thread, gone to the Facebook page and looked at the pictures and videos. I don't know what I would have done but it might have involved a mental breakdown at the front desk.

Your cruise was expensive. You planned for it. Looked forward to it. How dare they make your memories into THIS. And to know that head office planned it all. IS this now the new normal? Will more of us experience pre dry dock construction that saves the cruise lines time and money?

We all need to be angry. This must never happen to any cruiser again so we all have to be loud with our wallets.

Please fight. I will do my part by never cruising on NCL until the passengers are 100% reimbursed. And YES, I was pricing a Bermuda on NCL in Sept. Not anymore. A corporation that treats customers like this does not get my business.

No, actually it’s called a cruise line’s worst nightmare and I, for one, am thoroughly enjoying it. To the poor passengers on this trip from hell - you have my full sympathy. However, know this - NCL will take a hit for this one in terms of reputation and I would suspect, future cancelled cruises.

But ... wait ... NCL said "we continuously aim to offer the best vacation experience for all our guests," There, that fixes it. /s

Try Celebrity or Crystal, they both are awesome.

I am so glad to hear it! We are going on a Celebrity cruise next month, and a Crystal cruise next December. Never been on either. :-)

I think it is time to look at this what what it really was and is:

Fraud: wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain.

Fraud: A false representation of a matter of fact—whether by words or by conduct, by false or misleading allegations, or by concealment of what should have been disclosed—that deceives and is intended to deceive another so that the individual will act upon it to her or his legal injury.

It is clear to me that NCL knew the level of work that they would be doing on this cruise. It is also clear that they knew about the required closing of major parts of the ship. It is also clear that they want the financial gain of running the ship with passengers to dry dock.

"by false or misleading allegations, or by concealment of what should have been disclosed" Can anyone here say that NCL should not have disclosed what was going to be done on the ship while cruising to dry dock? Even if they told guest the ship was going to dry dock, that is not enough. We guests are not experts on Cruise ship operations (Some of us think we are) and the average guest had no way of knowing the level of impact.

I am not a lawyer, I would be interested in hearing from more lawyers about this. To me as a person who has owned and operated business and work with many lawyers this seems to be clearly fraud at the least.

And if it is fraud the passenger have every right to be made whole again. If I was consulting for NCL I would tell them to refund every single guest in full, offer a large future cruise credit and try to turn this around.

Do not forget the damage to future cruises, several people in this thread have cancelled bookings. This is playing out across major news, and growing. It will not go away they cannot hide from this. If it is found to be fraud anyone who disputes the payment will be refunded and NCL could face many other problems.

Just curious and totally late to this conversation, so it may have already been addressed...do they discount these fares heavily when they do a respositioning or enter dry dock "construction" zone cruise?

Well, even if the prices are heavily discounted, that is no excuse for not letting passengers know ahead of time that there will be work going on(areas closed, fumes, etc). I may decide to book or may decide not to book, BUT, I should have the option to decide. None of these passengers had that option from the posts. Just be honest NCL!!

This should have never happened, period. Even when you go to Disneyland there are signs saying which rides are closed that day near the ticket office and you have the option to pay your entrance fee or leave. Passengers should have been informed. Maybe 70% would have still gone on the cruise and if they cut the price enough and published it was a "construction cruise" they may have filled the ship and there would not be all the problems now.

which cruise line do you favor? Looking for opinions on which cruise line to choose.

Again it always depends on price, itinerary and what the ship has to offer. If I had to pick one line it might be RCCL.

Just curious and totally late to this conversation, so it may have already been addressed...do they discount these fares heavily when they do a respositioning or enter dry dock "construction" zone cruise?

No discount here on this cruise - and no notice of anything before we boarded the ship.

More media coverage...

• https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/04/03/bc-familys-panama-canal-cruise-turned-into-noisy-construction-zone.html
  
• http://www.news1130.com/2018/04/03/jackhammers-fumes-turn-b-c-familys-panama-canal-cruise-into-construction-zone/
  
• https://www.revelstokereview.com/news/b-c-familys-panama-canal-cruise-turned-into-construction-zone/
  
• http://canoe.com/news/national/grinding-jackhammering-noise-fumes-ruin-b-c-familys-panama-canal-cruise
  
• https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/222711/Cruise-becomes-nightmare
  

Just curious, why is the media mostly Canadian for a US based cruise? I'm surprised the US media hasn't picked up on it yet.

Just curious, why is the media mostly Canadian for a US based cruise? I'm surprised the US media hasn't picked up on it yet.

While the cruise left via Miami, there were a lot of Canadians and other nationalities on board. Imagine travelling from Australia or Europe and experiencing this cruise :(

I expect the US media will start picking the story up at some point.

At Norwegian Cruise Line, we continuously aim to offer the best vacation experience for all our guests. As part of our Norwegian Edge program, Norwegian Sun is currently undergoing enhancements to better serve our guests. The program is a significant investment designed to ensure every ship across the fleet delivers a consistently high-quality experience to all of our guests. While we do our utmost to minimize any impact on the guest experience when these enhancements are taking place, we recognize that in this situation our guests have experienced some inconvenience. As a gesture of our gratitude for our guests' patience and understanding, we will be extending a future cruise credit of 25% of their cruise fare paid, which can be applied towards another cruise of their choice from now through March 31, 2019.

Somebody should seriously alert the real Norwegian Cruise Line! They've obviously been hacked by someone, probably their competitors, trying their best to anger NCL customers and potential future customers. No company in their right mind would post something so obviously insincere and untrue.

"The program is a significant investment designed to ensure every ship across the fleet delivers a consistently high-quality experience to all of our guests."

Subjecting paying customers to that kind of odor and mess, in the confined space of a ship, has nothing to do with delivering a consistently high-quality experience to all of your guests. Granted, it might be an attempt to spruce up the ship for future guests at the expense of current ones, but a "consistently high-quality experience" means giving that high-quality experience to every guest, even the ones that book a cruise before dry dock.

It's not like this was out of NCL's control. The Norwegian Edge program is something NCL did intentionally. They claim it is a significant investment, and they're probably right. It wasn't an accident, an Act of God, a storm, or other situation beyond their control. They spent a lot of money knowingly scheduling this and planning it, knowing how it would impact the experiences of their guests. They planned to screw these guests over, hoping they could pacify them with the offer of 25% off on a cruise during the coming year.

which cruise line do you favor? Looking for opinions on which cruise line to choose.

We were quite happy with NCL (since we didn't take this cruise), but Princess is our overall favorite cruise line. You'll find a lot more similarities than differences among the mainstream lines, which makes it easy to favor itinerary or price.

This is really sad considering it was the Panama Canal, which is a very big cruise for most people. It started in Miami and ended in LA, and had to involve at least one way airfare in addition to the cruise fare. They shouldn't do this on a Caribbean cruise, but this honestly could have been a dream cruise for passengers.

Regarding the 25% off future cruise, based on past experience and reports that will likely be 25% off base fare excluding port fees/taxes.

While the cruise left via Miami, there were a lot of Canadians and other nationalities on board. Imagine travelling from Australia or Europe and experiencing this cruise :(

I expect the US media will start picking the story up at some point.

Ditto!

I feel sorry for all the cruisers on that ship but even more so for those who traveled great distances to be on that cruise. When we did our PC cruise this past December there were a lot of foreign nationals onboard, Asians, Europeans, etc. The airfare to cross the oceans isn’t cheap and coupled with the cruise fare, some people invested a heck of a lot of money to have a lousy PC experience. A 25% credit is a slap in the face to anyone on that cruise.

Somebody should seriously alert the real Norwegian Cruise Line! They've obviously been hacked by someone, probably their competitors, trying their best to anger NCL customers and potential future customers. No company in their right mind would post something so obviously insincere and untrue.

Companies should never respond in social media. Ever. Unless it's a person at the company posting under her or his name. The statement by NCL is a typical case of a social media marketing department crafting a message that hits all the talking points and yet doesn't communicate any of them. They should not say anything on CC, or have someone - a real person - responding.

Companies should never respond in social media. Ever. Unless it's a person at the company posting under her or his name. The statement by NCL is a typical case of a social media marketing department crafting a message that hits all the talking points and yet doesn't communicate any of them. They should not say anything on CC, or have someone - a real person - responding.

Mostly agree, but I also recall, in 1994, when Intel was having a minor public relations crisis regarding a newly discovered bug in the flagship Pentium chips. Andy Grove, then CEO of Intel, posted on usenet using his real name. He was dismissive of customer's concerns, and his postings did a lot to inflame the crisis. So even a personal reply from a human being in charge isn't necessarily helpful.

Actions speak louder than words. The company's action was to obviously and intentionally do heavy construction work during a cruise, which has the clear effect of sacrificing the service to some customers. When they do that, getting out in front of the public and touting the policy of "providing a consistent high-quality experience to all guests" just makes people angry at the lie.

A company that truly tries to deliver a consistent, high quality experience would know that their success in that goal is determined, not by the best experience they deliver when things are going right, but instead by the worst experience delivered. The worst guest experience should still be pretty good.

And when it's not, a company's first response should be to really bend over backwards to make it right. Not to try and lie to the public that you have a policy of delivering a consistent, high quality experience..

Guys, dont most experienced cruisers know not to book the last cruise prior to going into drydock for such conditions, and the first one after dry dock, or the first 3 cruises with a new ship. This is when they are working the bugs out, starting or finishing drydock repairs. Come on folks dont be STUPID, search the cruises for the ship you book and see that they are not going into dry dock (ie- no planned cruise before or after the ship you want to sail on). These folks probably got a good price because of pre-drydock and are now complaining when they should have done their HOMEWOK prior to booking the ship!! STUPID PEOPLE

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Typo. I meant she got a $5300 bill for medic visit for breathing, heart issues.

 

So you are sure they did not have these conditions prior to boarding? Sounds like when you get an antibiotic (see more on medical service below) they were sick getting on and should have filled out their medical card truthfully! Shame on them. Antiboitics are for infections, not breating issues, they got better when they got to the final port! And they should have had the travel insurance, regardless, to cover medical services. Dont be stupid folks!

Guys, dont most experienced cruisers know not to book the last cruise prior to going into drydock for such conditions, and the first one after dry dock, or the first 3 cruises with a new ship. This is when they are working the bugs out, starting or finishing drydock repairs. Come on folks dont be STUPID, search the cruises for the ship you book and see that they are not going into dry dock (ie- no planned cruise before or after the ship you want to sail on). These folks probably got a good price because of pre-drydock and are now complaining when they should have done their HOMEWOK prior to booking the ship!! STUPID PEOPLE

Cruises just before/after drydocks are generaly NOT discounted in any way.

There is also not always possible to know when they release cruises whether there's a dry dock planned, or not. An empty slot in a schedule could as well mean a charter or just the fact that the next cruise is not set in stone yet.

On Norwegian's website there are pictures of every ship in system saying when it was built and when it was last re-furbished. Ships are usually dry docked every 5 years. From there check breaks in the itinerary that sometimes is an indication do to further research. A good travel agent or PCC usually has ways of finding out dry dock information.

The Edge Enhancements Program was announced in January 2016. As I understand it, every ship will eventually get the Enhancements. You can go to Norwegian's website--Media Center-- 21 January 2016 for more information.

I wish they'd say something like, "Truth be told, we're all very gung ho on our Edge improvements, and we just got carried away and didn't think this through. In hindsight, this reno project was far too big to do at sea, and we sincerely regret putting our valued customers though this. I wish we'd made a better decision on this one. Effected passengers, please let us make this up to you by significantly discounting your next cruise. And future passengers, take comfort in knowing we will never do anything like this again."