Dawn's Adrift!

[smeyer418]

I don't why people get crazy. I expect there will be some communications problems when things like this happens and no the employees won't have all the answers.

 

NCL got charter planes within 24 hours and has most people back in Miami on the same day they were do. That is a tremendous feat.

 

I have told the story about being on plane taking off from LGA that struck birds damaged an engine and made an emergency landing at JFK. When we were getting off the plane, we were told that Delta was going to fly another plane down for a 3:30 take off. We were sent to a line that was rebooking us and when we got to the front we were told that our flight would be at 8 pm. I asked nicely what about the 3:30 extra flight and got yelled at because I was telling him him business. (his exact words were do you want to come back here and do the booking? what 3:30 flight.) he went to check and yes there was a 3;30 flight, he apologized profusely(and give me about 20 free drink coupons taking some from the next employee)...

 

Needless to say the extra flight also had free drinks. when we were coming back to NY the following week we had the same service crew and I asked if the drinks were still free....they were....its a long time ago...

 

But the point is that you need to remember that this things are going wrong for the crew too and information takes time even with computers today to make it to everyone who needs to know....

[wiseguy]

Glad everyone is back safely in Miami, good job NCL! Sorry to hear that the next cruise has been cancelled, what a disappointment for everyone that was supposed to leave tomorrow.

 

6 of us are booked on the Dawn's Christmas cruise scheduled to leave on Dec 18th...I hope NCl let's us know soon how long the repairs will take, I would like to try to book something else if they are going to cancel it. We have to use our airfare from Chicago to Miami either way, it's non refundable and one ticket was purchased with miles.

 

I guess I am nervous as I was booked on NCL's Norway shortly after the explosion of one of the boilers several years ago, needless to say they did cancel the cruise but it took them several weeks to do so.

 

Keeping my fingers crossed!

[Don Haynes]

Keep in mind folks that whatever NCL does to fix the ship will have to be approved by the insurance company as well. While NCL may be able to fix it in days, who knows really, insurance companies have their own time line. Its been my experience insurance companies are eager to take your premiums but are stingy at paying off any claims....

[IWORK2CRUISE]

our flight from San Juan to Ft Lauderdale landed 10 minutes early and we were in the hot tub in the renasissance by 4.

 

Again i can not say enough about the staff and crew during the day we were at drift, the captain came on every half hour or so and gave us updates.

 

thisDUFFMAN began this thread with a wonderful attitude and morning was a mess getting off the ship, everyone went down to deck 4 before they were supposed to, and it was a huge mess.

 

other then that found a great driver to get us to the airport 10 bucks a person for our group of 8, even gave us an hour tour of old san juan for that price. he was great.

 

We kind of went with the flow, did not want this to ruin our vacation, but the things i heard coming out of other guests mouths was unbelievable. i was in the internet cafe this morning around 5 and heard this woman screaming at one on the workers at the front desk 2 floors below me, why people take things out on these poor people is beyond me.

 

i also heard a lot of people grumbling about conspiricy theories and ncl knew this and that and did not tell us. do people really think they want to upset people. i just do not get people.

 

My only regret was this being my first cruise as a silver latitudes i missed my get together that was cancelled.

 

i can not wait to start planning my next cruise.

DUFFMAN began this thread with a wonderful attitude and PIESHOPS continues along on the same note.

I have some concern as we are on the Dawn in January. It seems that there will be plenty of time between now and then to address the elecrtical problems so I am not truly worried.

It is very nice to know that NCL seems to have offered very generous compensation to the passengers and that they are also being well cared for in transferring back to FL.

No one ever expects to have difficulties and how you view and experience them makes all the difference in the world. Screaming and yelling at someone who is just trying to do their job under unusual circumstances is so uncalled for.

Happy travels to all of the Dawn passengers.

[CinAndTheCity]

I'm hoping this gets fixed in time for sailing next Friday. If not, I hope I can get on the Pearl sailing next Saturday instead.

[ruby_red]

We got the msg from NCL when we landed in Miami for the Dawn cruise. After getting to the hotel we called Melissa (NCL PCC) and she was able to get us a minisuite on the Jewel (had a mini in the Dawn). We still get the 50% credit towards the next cruise. We only had to pay $120 extra for the 7 day Jewel and felt that was a steal. We are on our own for airfare home since its a new sailing. Not a problem since we are getting to sail at least!

[new_guy]

What, no superstitious Bermuda Triangle posts?

;)

[SDTraveler78]

Ruby red-- good for you getting placed onto a different ship.... that is what has upset me...we called at 6am this morning when we landed in San Francisco (from San Diego en route to Miami) and they said there was no availability on any other cruises....what time did you call this morning to get your new cruise booked??

 

Let me vent a bit here folks.... I would have traded 7 days of good cruising with 2 days no power/water with a 75% refund and 50% off next cruise versus cancellation of cruise w/ refund, 50% off next cruise-- I am out 160 dollars of baggage fees, a week of blown vacation at work, 400 dollars for hotel rooms that were beyond their cancellation cut-off, almost 1000 dollars of airfare for my party of 7 just to get back to their respective homes..... folks who say don't get upset--- put yourself in this situation and have the NCL customer service reps treat you like crap.....

 

Here is my original posting on our unfortunate Saturday travels that we have been looking forward to for months:

I really wish Norwegian would have cancelled this cruise sooner to give customers more than a 24 hour advanced notice.... the SEVEN of us completed our first leg of flights to miami in San Francisco...I turned my phone on and had a recorded message from NCL stating that the cruise had been cancelled. We are now in San Francisco trying to figure out what to do from here....two parties left back home for Texas... two others decided to divert and plan a totally new trip to Hawaii.... and the last 3 of us are here in a hotel room devastated. We had the garden villa- 30th birthday celebration complete with limos to and from airports/ hotel in miami, etc etc. Not to mention the week of vacation everyone took. The kicker was the HORRIBLE customer service provided by NCL when I called- a supervisor by the name of Ken at ext. 6373 was beyond rude. His lack of professionalism, empathy for the situation, and downright rudeness was shocking. His comments such as "there is nothing i can do for you- there are 2500+ people in your situation.... quit trying to coerse me into something I can't provide you" left me speechless. This man has no idea what the meaning of customer service is and should be demoted or fired. I have raved about NCL to friends and family and until today was sincerely loyal to NCL. We shall see how the company will handle this situation in the future days to weeks- this will be the true test in determining my future loyalty to NCL.

I am sorry to all of the fellow cruisers that had their vacations cancelled. Hopefully we shall meet on a future cruise :-)

 

Pete

[sue402001]

We are safely back in Miami. Whew, that was a long night.

 

Now I need to hit the tiki bar! :D

 

Thank you so much for being a great human being Duff Man! I'm so happy to hear that you are back in Miami and your ordeal is over.

 

Since I'm not there, I'll have a drink for you here! :D

 

 

our flight from San Juan to Ft Lauderdale landed 10 minutes early and we were in the hot tub in the renasissance by 4.

 

I can not wait to start planning my next cruise.

 

Glad to hear that your back too pieshops! Hope your enjoying the hot tub!

 

We got the msg from NCL when we landed in Miami for the Dawn cruise. After getting to the hotel we called Melissa (NCL PCC) and she was able to get us a minisuite on the Jewel (had a mini in the Dawn). We still get the 50% credit towards the next cruise. We only had to pay $120 extra for the 7 day Jewel and felt that was a steal. We are on our own for airfare home since its a new sailing. Not a problem since we are getting to sail at least!

 

I was wondering what they were going to do for those that had already left for Miami ruby_red, glad to hear that you'll still be sailing.

 

Now it's just a waiting game to see what happens with our cruise on the 4th. We leave for Miami on the 2nd so hopefully we'll know by then if we need to make other arrangements. :rolleyes:

[rossbabsy]

Ruby red-- good for you getting placed onto a different ship.... that is what has upset me...we called at 6am this morning when we landed in San Francisco (from San Diego en route to Miami) and they said there was no availability on any other cruises....what time did you call this morning to get your new cruise booked??

 

Let me vent a bit here folks.... I would have traded 7 days of good cruising with 2 days no power/water with a 75% refund and 50% off next cruise versus cancellation of cruise w/ refund, 50% off next cruise-- I am out 160 dollars of baggage fees, a week of blown vacation at work, 400 dollars for hotel rooms that were beyond their cancellation cut-off, almost 1000 dollars of airfare for my party of 7 just to get back to their respective homes..... folks who say don't get upset--- put yourself in this situation and have the NCL customer service reps treat you like crap.....

 

Here is my original posting on our unfortunate Saturday travels that we have been looking forward to for months:

I really wish Norwegian would have cancelled this cruise sooner to give customers more than a 24 hour advanced notice.... the SEVEN of us completed our first leg of flights to miami in San Francisco...I turned my phone on and had a recorded message from NCL stating that the cruise had been cancelled. We are now in San Francisco trying to figure out what to do from here....two parties left back home for Texas... two others decided to divert and plan a totally new trip to Hawaii.... and the last 3 of us are here in a hotel room devastated. We had the garden villa- 30th birthday celebration complete with limos to and from airports/ hotel in miami, etc etc. Not to mention the week of vacation everyone took. The kicker was the HORRIBLE customer service provided by NCL when I called- a supervisor by the name of Ken at ext. 6373 was beyond rude. His lack of professionalism, empathy for the situation, and downright rudeness was shocking. His comments such as "there is nothing i can do for you- there are 2500+ people in your situation.... quit trying to coerse me into something I can't provide you" left me speechless. This man has no idea what the meaning of customer service is and should be demoted or fired. I have raved about NCL to friends and family and until today was sincerely loyal to NCL. We shall see how the company will handle this situation in the future days to weeks- this will be the true test in determining my future loyalty to NCL.

I am sorry to all of the fellow cruisers that had their vacations cancelled. Hopefully we shall meet on a future cruise :-)

 

Pete

 

I know its a big disappointment. Sorry for your bad experience with the head office. Thank goodness no one was hurt and it appears that arrangements were made for all passengers. It sounds like the crew did an excellent job.

 

We sail on the DAWN this Friday 12/4. Hopefully the DAWN will be ready. If it Isn't in tip top shape they won't sail. Safety First.

 

As for your cash outlay, with such a large expense, didn't you take insurance??

 

Barbara

[nseagirl]

I am toasting you with a glass of wine right now :D:eek::D!!

[SDTraveler78]

nope... (on the insurance) tough lesson i guess.... felt that cancellation for a cruise is such an unlikely event that it wasn't worth spending the extra money... oh well-- I understand that emergencies occur, I am most upset at the horrid customer service offered by NCL this morning..... all the cruises going out of Miami and they couldn't get us on another one? Surprising to me.....

This was such a special event for us-- to coordinate 7 people to come from different areas of the country to celebrate a 30th b-day and bon voyage prior to a loved one leaving for Afghanistan on Dec. 29th was a difficult feat to accomplish and is unspeakably disappointing and heartbreaking for us. The likelihood of coordinating our very special garden villa prior to the 29th and everyone receiving permission for another week vacation is about zero percent... c'est la vie i guess.....

[bocamom61]

Ruby red-- good for you getting placed onto a different ship.... that is what has upset me...we called at 6am this morning when we landed in San Francisco (from San Diego en route to Miami) and they said there was no availability on any other cruises....what time did you call this morning to get your new cruise booked??

 

Let me vent a bit here folks.... I would have traded 7 days of good cruising with 2 days no power/water with a 75% refund and 50% off next cruise versus cancellation of cruise w/ refund, 50% off next cruise-- I am out 160 dollars of baggage fees, a week of blown vacation at work, 400 dollars for hotel rooms that were beyond their cancellation cut-off, almost 1000 dollars of airfare for my party of 7 just to get back to their respective homes..... folks who say don't get upset--- put yourself in this situation and have the NCL customer service reps treat you like crap.....

 

Here is my original posting on our unfortunate Saturday travels that we have been looking forward to for months:

I really wish Norwegian would have cancelled this cruise sooner to give customers more than a 24 hour advanced notice.... the SEVEN of us completed our first leg of flights to miami in San Francisco...I turned my phone on and had a recorded message from NCL stating that the cruise had been cancelled. We are now in San Francisco trying to figure out what to do from here....two parties left back home for Texas... two others decided to divert and plan a totally new trip to Hawaii.... and the last 3 of us are here in a hotel room devastated. We had the garden villa- 30th birthday celebration complete with limos to and from airports/ hotel in miami, etc etc. Not to mention the week of vacation everyone took. The kicker was the HORRIBLE customer service provided by NCL when I called- a supervisor by the name of Ken at ext. 6373 was beyond rude. His lack of professionalism, empathy for the situation, and downright rudeness was shocking. His comments such as "there is nothing i can do for you- there are 2500+ people in your situation.... quit trying to coerse me into something I can't provide you" left me speechless. This man has no idea what the meaning of customer service is and should be demoted or fired. I have raved about NCL to friends and family and until today was sincerely loyal to NCL. We shall see how the company will handle this situation in the future days to weeks- this will be the true test in determining my future loyalty to NCL.

I am sorry to all of the fellow cruisers that had their vacations cancelled. Hopefully we shall meet on a future cruise :-)

 

Pete

 

Pete, I am so sorry about your cruise. There really is no excuse for the reps lack of empathy. Even if there was nothing he could do for you right away he should have been sympathetic, apologetic and kind. I hope you get some fair offer/alternatives. Good luck!

[alwalaska]

Well, it's my honeymoon...so if there is a forseeable issue, I would still have time to find an alternate place. I can't switch weeks...so it's not just about insurance. It's about the fact I want a nice honeymoon :)

 

Typically, things get fixed faster than that, BUT, like someone else said, ship parts are very large and can be hard to come by. Also, someone else said they had a minor problem on this ship with a power outage back in August.

 

If there is another ship and itinerary that you like, you may want to switch just to put your mind at ease.

 

You never know when something can go wrong. There are accidents, weather, mechanical issues, etc that can arise and you just never know, no matter what your vacation is.

 

Good luck and have a wonderful honeymoon no matter what you decide.

[HlGHMAlNTENENCE]

Actually the power outtage started on Thursday evening (Thanksgiving dinner) in the Aqua Dining room. Waiter told us the dinner would be delayed because the AC went out in the kitchen, no big deal. I figured it would run late because they were busy, holiday and all. About 20mins later we started to sweat (this was about 9pm). Halfway thru dinner, the fire alarms started going off, waiter told us there was no fire but when the kitchen gets a certain temp. they go off as a precautionary measure. Poor waiters and waitresses were dripping with sweat when they came out of the kitchen with food. I can only imagine the cooks!

 

One thing that has not been mentioned on the news or on this board is that they scheduled 7 chartered flights out of Puerto Rico, however, this was ONLY for their "gold, silver, bronze" members. It didn't matter if you have small children, if you were older, handicapped, if you had flights to catch.

It's BULLSH*T.

I stood in line in the Atrium for 1.5hrs only to find out I was not scheduled on a flight Sat or Sun, they wouldn't send us to a hotel in Puerto Rico for the night, and said MAYBE I could be flown home Monday or Tuesday while remaining on the ship. SERIOUSLY!!! My husband went online and scheduled flights out of our own pocket ($987) because I started to get claustrophobic and my 5year old daughter was hysterical.

I can say living in S. Florida for 31 yrs. and living through hurricanes Katrina, Wilma etc and not have power for weeks on end was the same thing I felt on that ship. Toilets that didn't flush, walking in other peoples waste on the floor, sleeping Friday night on the pool deck in a lawn chair because our room was 95+ degrees, no ice for hours at a time, eating BBQ on the grill for two days straight (grilled food that wasn't hot, cold food that was warm), the Atrium desk girls were clueless, we actually found out about getting 75% off our paid for cruise and 50% off a future cruise from the INTERNET because no one bothered to mention that to us at all!!

The first day I thought MAYBE NCL was making the best of a bad situation and I gave them the benefit of the doubt but this morning was chaos and they cared more about their appearance than about the poor people stuck on that ship.

Being a first time NCL cruiser I can guarantee you that I will NEVER be going again. Not even with my 50% off. Good luck future NCL people!

[HlGHMAlNTENENCE]

I don't why people get crazy. I expect there will be some communications problems when things like this happens and no the employees won't have all the answers.

 

NCL got charter planes within 24 hours and has most people back in Miami on the same day they were do. That is a tremendous feat.

 

 

Hahah!! "Most" people is only if you were "gold, silver, or bronze" medallion. They flew 2-3 flights home today. Had another 3-4 scheduled for tomorrow. That left another 684 NOT on flights. No plans for future flights. As of when I left the ship at 2pm, they wouldn't send us to a hotel with AC and the power went out AGAIN when I was walking off the gangway (no idea how long it was out).

I seriously doubt you'd consider 2-3 flights of people "most".

[airlinerob]

Everyone needs to realize that this was not something within NCL's control. I work for an airline, and the same thing happens at airlines - when something breaks, you have to "work" to try to accomodate everyone. It sometimes takes a few days if it's busy and flights are full.

 

They also have a limited number of people who are able to jump in to try to reaccomodate people. The same thing happens at an airline. Sometimes when a flight cancels it can take a many hours to reaccomodate everyone. It's NOT an easy task.

 

It sucks when it affects you, but you need to realize - they really are trying to do their best. And, I commend them for doing as much as they have done. A 75% refund and 50% refund on a future cruise is incredible compensation. Much more than they are really needing to give. Since the cruise was almost over, it would have been nice to give a 25% refund and discount on a future cruise.

 

They know that it is a bad situation, and they are doing their best to compensate everyone for their PATIENCE.

 

Unfortunately, not everyone has patience... I guess people who are "High Maintenance" don't either. :-) LOL

 

Have a good day!

[halos]

nope... (on the insurance) tough lesson i guess.... felt that cancellation for a cruise is such an unlikely event that it wasn't worth spending the extra money... oh well-- I understand that emergencies occur, I am most upset at the horrid customer service offered by NCL this morning..... all the cruises going out of Miami and they couldn't get us on another one? Surprising to me.....

This was such a special event for us-- to coordinate 7 people to come from different areas of the country to celebrate a 30th b-day and bon voyage prior to a loved one leaving for Afghanistan on Dec. 29th was a difficult feat to accomplish and is unspeakably disappointing and heartbreaking for us. The likelihood of coordinating our very special garden villa prior to the 29th and everyone receiving permission for another week vacation is about zero percent... c'est la vie i guess.....

 

:( I am truly, truly sorry :( I can't imagine your disappointment.

 

Being a first time NCL cruiser I can guarantee you that I will NEVER be going again. Not even with my 50% off. Good luck future NCL people!

 

I can't imagine dealing with a 5 year old on a cruise that's a good cruise let alone when soemthting like this happens :( I'm sorry this happened to you (AND everyone else on that ship, including the crew that had to work under these horrid conditions with a bunch of irate passengers!) I do want to say that before you go thinking that another line would have handled this perfectly, you should go through all the boards here every day for a couple months and see just how the 'other lines' handle bad situations...I've been a member here for a lot of years and from what I have read here, NCL did pretty good.

If you look at the CCL boards right now, there are law suits being threatened....

maybe once you have time to calm down you'll see thinsg differently.

 

 

 

*sigh*...so much for the 'Breath of Fresh Air' :rolleyes:

[lawdoc]

Hahah!! "Most" people is only if you were "gold, silver, or bronze" medallion. They flew 2-3 flights home today. Had another 3-4 scheduled for tomorrow. That left another 684 NOT on flights. No plans for future flights. As of when I left the ship at 2pm, they wouldn't send us to a hotel with AC and the power went out AGAIN when I was walking off the gangway (no idea how long it was out).

I seriously doubt you'd consider 2-3 flights of people "most".

 

Did you ever think it is the weekend after Thanksgiving??? I bet airlines are booked up! NCL is probably paying out the rear for those charter flights.

[HlGHMAlNTENENCE]

"High Maintenence" is an silly nickname I was given a long time ago because how UN-High Maintenance I really am.

I guess when the rest of the ship gets home on Monday or Tuesday we'll see how they fared as well. I only hope they picked up more food and ice while in Puerto Rico so they rest of the shop were comfortable!

Unlike airlines, NCL should have at least tried to get people into hotels and into some AC. And let me tell you that those of us who booked their own tickets had no problem getting onto last minute flights. There were 2 shuttles of us (50+) leaving the ship with tickets we bought on OUR OWN. Flights were available on Air Tran, JetBlue, American. We checked them all. Guess they didn't really try to hard!

[uneamie]

maybe you should make a reservation on one of the other ships and have them put a courtesy hold until Monday by then more should be known....

 

PS I like the Dawn but the 7 day itineraries from NY to Florida did a number on her engines.

 

Hmm...why is that? Are they not built for this? :confused:

[lakeuser2002]

We just made it home after living through the chaos.

 

Yes, power went out on Friday about 9:00AM. We were adrift until about 3:00PM with some lights but no A/C off and on. They then got us moving about 8mph in the afternoon... we were about 100 miles north of San Juan and 1000 miles to Miami. I had my gps and easily realized that there was no hope. After the sun set, I noticed we were turning east so I figured that we were heading to San Juan. My wife and I were heading down to the front desk when they mad the announcement about not making it to Miami. No other announcement on travel arrangements so we talked to the front desk and they let us use the 'desk phone' to make other arrangements out and they gave us the the NCL customer relations card to call for reimbursement. A couple of hours later they announced that they were going to pay for travel back to Miami, hotel in Miami, and bus/taxi costs. I went back down and ask about the costs to change flights home from San Juan and they said probably not... so I changed them back to return from Miami after using their chartered planes. Today (Sat) by noon they had lists for 3 fights today, and 3 tomorrow and we weren't on any of them. They couldn't say when we would get back to Miami (obviously missing our original flights), so we changed our return flights again to fly out of San Juan.

 

So, we are glad to be home. After only a couple of hours sleep in 90deg weather with our cabin doors open to try to get some airflow and with our kids sleeping on the floor (they had an inside room...), we weren't going to put ourselves through another night.

 

Oh, and I talked to my 85 year old father who is still on the boat with no A/C (it comes and goes), he still does not have a promise on when he will get home (likely Monday or Tuesday).

 

So, for some the chartered plans worked, for many, it didn't. with 2000 people, and 250 per plane, simple math says that two planes with 3 or 4 trips per day... it won't work.

 

We will be requesting reimbursement for our return trip costs...

 

NCL needs to have a 'crisis plan' for how to deal with this. The announcements should of been sooner. When they did them the should of been more clear. They should of communicated the charter plans better (rather than 2 lists in the morning, a couple more later... but no answer for those not on the lists).

 

Sure, getting back 75% of the trip cost is good (probably fair), but there should of been much better execution of the resolution for all.

[uneamie]

I hope the passengers left the full $12/day even for the cancelled days - they OWE that money!!

 

Hmm...why would they owe "service fees" for days that were canceled? I don't generally pay for things that I do not get......so why should they be entitled to pay that they did not work for?

[halos]

We just made it home after living through the chaos.

 

Sure, getting back 75% of the trip cost is good (probably fair), but there should of been much better execution of the resolution for all.

 

It seems to me that since there were other passengers (who posted here) and said that NCL handled this well...none of them mentioning 'chaos', that it isn't as much about what or what NCL didn't do, or how THEY handled things, but how each passenger did.

[Scottp49]

This is insane. I have never sailed NCL and will NEVER sail NCL. I was comtemplating doing one to Hawaii, but NOT NOW! They could have at least made sure everyone had a decent (mid-priced) hotel room to stay in until air accomodations were made!!