Aboard Dream, 7/21/05 cruise

[seashellt]

Wow! Now I'm not sure if we should book the private fishing charter in Ketchikan as we had planned. If we arrive late, then have to wait to get off the ship, we'll be paying $400 for no more than a couple of hours of fishing instead of the planned 4 hours! The only thing my hubby REALLY wants to do is fish, so he will be extremely unhappy if we don't get to do it at least once! :( And if we knew for sure that we will get to Seward early, we could definitely plan something for there! But, as another poster said, NCL won't give any helpful info at this point. I'm perfectly content to just figure out what to do when we get there, but hubby is a little antsy about the fishing thing:p .

Does anyone know if we will be refunded/credited any port charges, since we are missing Sitka? Seems like they should... some of the earlier sailings recevied a ship credit, but the current cruisers have not received anything.

 

So are any of you booked for the 9/1 sailing?

[Velvet Teddy Bear]

KATYBIRD... where did you see or hear that the motors were not being repaired while in Alaska.....when are they going to do it.....I am on the 10/15/05 cruise out of Houston..(the first one when they get there)...I sure hope its done before they arrive........jim

[katybird]

KATYBIRD... where did you see or hear that the motors were not being repaired while in Alaska.....when are they going to do it.....I am on the 10/15/05 cruise out of Houston..(the first one when they get there)...I sure hope its done before they arrive........jim

 

I read it several times on these boards.

Below is a quote i cut and pasted as one reference. This post was under 'Dream Itinerary"

I have no "official" word from NCL.

Let's hope they get it fixed ASAP and you have a great cruise!

KAty

MickyBridges vbmenu_register("postmenu_4278647", true);

Cool Cruiser

Join Date: Jun 2005

Posts: 16

 

 

I was on the Dream earlier this week and attended a talk by the Chief Engineer ... Stig Something. He said a piston/crankshaft (?) blew due to metal fatigue at the end of May which set off a chain reaction that ended up blowing a hole in the engine block. Sounded like the engine was well and truly knackered and there was no chance of it being fixed until they were in dry dock. Someone asked why they didn't carry a spare engine and he said it was impractical becuase they are the size of the main theatre !

 

You could tell looking out of the back into the water that one side (there's two engines on each side) was doing more than it's fair share of the work. I think he said as a result they are only travelling at 17 kph (?) instead of 22 hence the need to sacrifice stoppage time in order to get back on time.

[Polish Falcon]

I am GLAD you are having a Great Cruise....

I am Glad to hear the Food & Service is fine......

 

Given the Decades of Collective NCL cruising Experience on this board, I would hope that someone would advise you on the best method to request shipboard credit for missing Sitka due a blown engine months before you sailed.

 

I hope the rest of your cruise goes as well as the beginning!

[sunshine 229]

I read this on another thread here:

July 25th, 2005, 10:40 PM

DeepWaterMariner vbmenu_register("postmenu_4301744", true);

Cool Cruiser

Join Date: Dec 2002

Location: Houston, TX

Posts: 250

 

 

One of the Dreams main engines has been down for several cruises and will be for several more. The chief engineer explained the problem during a Q&A with officers on our last cruise. The engine threw a rod, bent the crank shaft, ruined the cam shaft, with the rod coming completely through the engine block. The loss of the engine lowers the speed of the Dream by about 2 knots. NCL has contracted with a company to fix the block and straighten the crank shaft as well as supplying a new cam shaft. All these repairs are supposed to be done while the ship remains in operation. No schedule was given for the completion of the repairs.

 

The Dream is the first ship I've sailed on in years that had a ballroom dance team. They performed in several shows and gave dance lessons. There is ballroom dancing most nights in the Stardust Lounge before the nightly entertainment.

__________________

DeepWaterMariner

 

50 Cruises and counting...

 

 

 

 

This was on the "thoughts on the Dream' thread. ( on page three of the NCL board as I post this). that is what made me think that the engine might be repaired by Sept.

 

Of course, this seems to be what cruisers on one of the previous cruises were told by the captain. Is it accurate or is it just something that the Captain said to make the problem seem not too serious? I have no way of knowing. How honest does NCL tend to be in this type of situation?

[JACKWC]

Was Suzy Atkins still the Cruise Director on the Dream - we thought she was great!:D Carl on the other hand had the real irritating job of disembarkation announcements WOO-WOO

[hotspur]

Was Suzy Atkins still the Cruise Director on the Dream - we thought she was great!:D

We thought she was the best CD we've had on our six cruises.

[marylandcrab]

We have not booked any excursions yet because of the port changes and everything on the NCL excursion web site does not take into account the changes. I feel that we will have to book with NCL as hopefully their tour operators will take into account the time changes. However, it would be nice if they updated the information to reflect the new port times. Any suggestions:confused:

[seattleadjuster]

Hey, you're the only game in town when you go to Seward. The tour operators will either take the schedule change into account, or sit around for the day.

 

When we initially came into Seward on the 6/30 cruise, the internet service operator on the pier said that the Dream was the talk of the town -- with rumors floating around. He stated that he heard that the Dream would be staying in Seward as long as it took to repair the engine!!!! That didn't sound reasonable, and it turned out not to be true.

 

My conclusion from our trip: as there is only one ship a day in Seward, everybody in Seward knows about the Dream situation and adjusts accordingly.

[SomeBeach]

Just a thought.....

 

Is it possible NCL can't update times to far in advance because they don't know when the ship could arrive. There has to be some stress added to the other engine/engines (was told,don't remember how many it had) with one being down and adjustments to speed may have to be made. Or if they run into certain types of weather conditions, would that have an effect?

In any event, it will make trying to decide what to do difficult but as someone said, the excursion people will try to adjust. The only place a problem could arise is if they deal with more than one line on the same day. I know most excursions are only for one ship, a few years ago I went on one that had 5 people but from 3 different ships. Our 6/20 cruise, we were the only ship in Whittier and PR but Juneau and Ketc had several ships. We were late to PR (nobody cared) and delayed in docking in Ketc (another ship was late leaving) based on new schedule received day we sailed.

Good luck to all future cruisers.

[drjpreston]

Sorry not to have posted this sooner: the Juneau public library, on the top floor of a multi-story building right at dockside--has many PCs with internet access.

 

Thanks for the hint.

 

Dr Jim

[DeepWaterMariner]

Sunshine, I don't think the description of the engine problem made it seem less serious than it is. Putting a piston rod through the block and bending the crank shaft is about as serious an engine problem as it gets. I was surprised that the engine could be fixed while the ship is in operation but considering that there are no plans to replace the engine then the repairs would be made in place even if the ship was in dry dock so why couldn't they be done while the ship runs on it's other three engines. Anyway, time will tell.

[sunshine 229]

Sunshine, I don't think the description of the engine problem made it seem less serious than it is. Putting a piston rod through the block and bending the crank shaft is about as serious an engine problem as it gets. I was surprised that the engine could be fixed while the ship is in operation but considering that there are no plans to replace the engine then the repairs would be made in place even if the ship was in dry dock so why couldn't they be done while the ship runs on it's other three engines. Anyway, time will tell.

 

Sorry, I didn't mean t

to imply that the damage to the engine wasn't serious but IMO by implying that the repair can be made while the ship continues to run, it makes the problem to the ship's schedule less serious. If they stated that the repair had to be done in dry dock, then no doubt. everyone with an upcoming cruise would be wondering if it was their cruise that would be cancelled.

 

I also don't know that they were just saying this to give a false impression it just has seemed in the past that the company prefers to give out a best possble scenerio picture and that things don't always work out as they say they will.

[EODMAN]

8/1: We are on the August 11 cruise and although we have been to all of the cities several times it was mostly non-cruising. Where do the ships dock? In walking distance of the Cities? Plan to go back to the Sealife center in Seward. A fabulous museum of sea birds and large mammals. In May 04 they had a very intertaining Octupus in one of the displays. Enjoy you cruise. Any help on locations for disembarking appreciated. Don

[Dandylyon]

Hi all! It's been a very long day, but we're back home now, safe and sound.

 

EODMAN, the ships dock within walking distance everywhere, depending on what you consider walking distance. Those that are a little further away provide shuttles, either free or for a small charge.

 

Regarding adjustments in excursion times: We booked all of our excursions on-line well before departing. Any time changes were just adjusted "on the fly," and we didn't have any problems with any of ours. However, some people did have problems. For example, those who hoped to take the train to Anchorage (from Seward) were unable to do that because the trip was too long for our port time. Some passengers were disappointed because they had planned two excursions for one day and were only able to do one. I had one excursion cancelled, but it had nothing to do with our port times; it was because it was too windy on the Kenai Fjords to go out that far. We only booked one excursion "outside" NCL--horseback riding in the Yukon with Southeast tours in Skagway. I was a bit concerned that we would have a problem, but it turned out that we had more time in Skagway than planned. I think that this is one of the main difficulties with all of the changes--if you plan independent trips. If you are unable to get a refund or cancel on short notice, you might be in for some problems, so you should consider this carefully.

 

Yes, Soozy was the cruise director for our cruise--she is great. Very upbeat and funny too. If you speak to her she makes you feel that you are part of the family. She genuinely wants each passenger to have a great vacation. Darin was the assistant cruise director and he also did a great job when Soozy was unavailable.

 

Regarding missing Sitka and itinerary adjustments: I DO think that NCL could handle this problem better. As much as we enjoyed our cruise, the way that they are dealing with this situation has left a bad taste in our mouths for sailing with NCL in the future. We would choose another line first before considering NCL. Once again, this is a customer (no) service issue. We could not have asked for better service from any shipboard personnel.

 

BTW, I didn't find any diapers in our cabin, filled or not (I looked).

 

I'll try to get back on tomorrow to do a review sort of thing before I forget all the details (mind like Swiss cheese).

[Joyce and Tim]

Hi All,

 

We also just returned from the trip. I concur with Dandylyon's comments on just about everything. Mostly a great trip, wonderful staff (our favorite was DJ Patrick) but it was soooo disappointing to miss Sitka and even worse was the way it was handled by NCL. Would love some advice on who should receive our complaints down at the main office, and if there is a chance for compensation of some kind.

 

Random thoughts...

Shore excursions: we booked independently ahead of time, always with the provision that if the ship's schedule causes us to miss it, we'd be refunded (including the rental car we got in Skagway). Itineraries do change at the last minute, so we always mention it ahead of time. It is true that most of these small towns are aware of the comings and goings of the various ships and adjustments are sometimes made.

 

The change in itinerary caused us to change one all day excursion to an evening one, in Seward. We called as soon as we learned about the change. We loved the whale watching with Captain Larry in Juneau. We saw several humpbacks but no orcas. We did see them in the Inside Passage on the last day, so that was a treat.

 

World's best deal in internet time: Prince Rupert has a store that sells print/computer stuff. Kaien Printers is the name. (Brick building on the corner across the street from the museum. "4 RENT" signs in upper windows. It's almost the first thing you come to as you leave the ship walking toward town.) Price is a flat $3 and you can stay online all day if you want! The couple is very friendly, offering free coffee and homemade cookies, and advice on the busses, etc. We were the only ones there (so far that day) --it seemed undiscovered!

 

We had an outside cabin on deck 7 and it was kind of fun to watch the people walking by all day. Once in a while one would stop and use our window for a mirror to adjust their hair...a little comical for us sitting on the other side. The only bad thing that happened there was on the very last night, when we returned to the cabin sometime after midnight, there was a disturbing strong smell...like burning rubber. I called reception and was told they were aware of it and were fixing it. My husband is not an alarmist (usually) but he refused to sleep there. We took our pillows and curled up in chairs in the reception area. (Some wonderful staff member even covered me with a blanket!) Eventually, the smell dissipated and we returned, about 2AM. Never did learn what it was. The staff members we asked as we were debarking acted surprised but it seemed maybe they knew more than they were saying. Anyway, it was apparently not serious, but anytime it smells like something may be burning on a ship, we try to get away from it.

 

BTW, the medical emergency mentioned earlier turned out to be (according to the captain) a staff member having a baby 2 months early. He said it was a baby girl and weighed 600 grams and was doing fine. Mighty small...about a pound?? I never learned any more about it. Anyone? I hope she is fine.

 

 

The food was good enough not to complain about but not so wonderful that I wanted to overeat. There is a nice variety, including vegetarian choices every meal. The trattoria is excellent--I recommend having a few dinners there (although sometimes it has the same menu as the main dining rooms.)

 

There were lots of babies, kids and teens on the cruise. The teens, especially, all seemed to be having fun together. I was impressed by how well the staff in the child care area seemed to be doing. Also, it was a nice change from many cruises where we (58 and 60) are on the young side of the crowd!

 

Bad timing: todays cache of mail contained two vouchers for future NCL cruises due to the class action suit going back some years. I think they are $30 each. I guess we'll have to book another NCL cruise.

Also my Cruise Critic t-shirt arrived while we were gone, given when they included my photo in the newsletter. (THANKS, CC!!!) It will have to wait til next time too!

Good to be home...sort of.