Norwegian Jewelt 10-9-16 Sailing

[Willystyle 77]

Norwegian Jewel stranded in Puerto Vallarta since early Wednesday. Mazatlan port cancelled already and Cabo San Lucas port unlikely as NCL as not updated passengers.

[BirdTravels]

What is the reason for the missed port call today?

[Willystyle 77]

Missed port call due to ongoing maintenance.

[kjquilts]

Here is copy of itinerary change notice posted on the 10/9 Jewel roll call thread

 

Dear Valued Guests & Travel Partners:

Norwegian Cruise Line has important information for you regarding Norwegian Jewel's 7-Day Mexican Riviera sailing from Los Angeles on October 9, 2016. All guests booked on this sailing need to be aware of this change and travel professionals are asked to forward this information to their clients.

 

In order to conduct maintenance to Norwegian Jewel's Azipod propulsion system, the itinerary has changed.

The ship will now overnight in Puerto Vallarta on Wednesday, October 12, 2016 and will no longer call on Mazatlán on Thursday, October 13, 2016.

 

Please review the revised itinerary information below.

Original Arrive Depart

Sun Los Angeles, California 4:00 pm

Mon At Sea

Tue At Sea

Wed Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 9:00 am 6:00 pm

Thu Mazatlan, Mexico 8:00 am 5:00 pm

Fri Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 7:00 am 3:00 pm

Sat At Sea

Sun Los Angeles, California 8:00 am

 

 

Revised Arrive Depart

Sun Los Angeles, California 4:00 pm

Mon At Sea

Tue At Sea

Wed Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 9:00 am overnight

Thu Puerto Vallarta, Mexico overnight 3:00 pm

Fri Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 7:00 am 3:00 pm

Sat At Sea

Sun Los Angeles, California 8:00 am

 

If you pre-booked shore excursions through Norwegian Cruise Line, your pre-booked shore excursion reservations will be cancelled and credited to your onboard account.

 

Thank you for your understanding. If you have any questions, please contact us at 800-327-7030 (Monday through Friday from 8am to midnight ET and

Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 9pm ET). We look forward to welcoming you aboard Norwegian Jewel.

 

Sincerely,

Vivian Ewart

Vice President, Passenger Services

[FBegg]

Thank you for posting the itinerary change info :)

Edited October 14, 2016 by FBegg

[kjquilts]

Thank you for posting the itinerary change info :)

 

 

You are welcome. When I saw the first post I had to check the roll call thread to see if anything was posted there. We're booked on the Jewel for Panama Canal Feb 5th.

[FBegg]

We're scheduled to leave this Sunday on the Jewel, I was a bit concerned at first, thanks.

[CindyLouWho2]

Hmm...my cruise to Alaska in August on the Jewel was brought back a day early and we had to completely miss Skagway for the same repair, sounds like they have not really gotten it fixed. I was devastated that we lost out on a third of the Alaska we were to see, once in a life time trip. Hope they really get the issue addressed.

[Willystyle 77]

No this maintenance event went well beyond the overnight expected based on the original itinerary change.

 

It now appears we will miss Cabo in addition to Mazatlan and not much info has been provided by NCL.

[Rileyz]

While I have staunchly supported NCL with the hurricane itinerary changes I cannot with maintenance issues. I feel like significant compensation is due under those circumstances. The Jewel sounds like it needs a week off.:(

[chengkp75]

I don't deal with the compensation part of these discussions, but I would ask how far in advance the original notice of itinerary change was posted.

 

I'd also ask whether there are divers working on the ship. If this is an underwater maintenance, and given that Jewel's only US port is LA, I'm not surprised they're doing it in Mexico. Port regulations to get a diver in the water in LA harbor are very difficult. Given that Jewel had a drydock last year, this sounds like an unexpected seal leakage on one or more pods, and perhaps the divers ran into more difficulties than normal and hence the further delay.

[mking8288]

Yikes - this isn't good ... Jewel surely has its share of Azipod maintenance issues.

 

Had to dig a bit into older posts on their Roll Calls - it seemed NCL knew about this since early October & email those on the Oct 9th sailing on or before the 4th of October ... while many of us were focused on Hurricane Matthew

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=51230585&postcount=381

[FBegg]

As far as compensation, I see (at 5:42 PST) on FB that Norwegian responded to someone who posted and is currently on the ship that they are issuing $50 OBC to passengers.

"Norwegian Cruise Line Apologies for the inconvenience, we will be providing guests a $50 onboard credit."

 

I wonder if the ship is underway? I hope so, would hate to see the passengers miss 2 out of the 3 ports scheduled.:confused:

Edited October 14, 2016 by FBegg

[punkincc]

As far as compensation, I see (at 5:42 PST) on FB that Norwegian responded to someone who posted and is currently on the ship that they are issuing $50 OBC to passengers.

"Norwegian Cruise Line Apologies for the inconvenience, we will be providing guests a $50 onboard credit."

 

I wonder if the ship is underway? I hope so, would hate to see the passengers miss 2 out of the 3 ports scheduled.:confused:

 

Cruise Critic confirmed at 11:00 am Eestern that the Jewel was unable to make it's call in Cabo San Lucas today. See sticky at the top of this page.

 

So they missed Puerto Vallarta, overnighted in Mazatlan, and missed Cabo. The CC post indicated that a $50 "per cabin" OBC was being issued, which in most cases equates to a $25 OBC per person. Not much compensation, although we all know NCL is not required to offer anything.

 

So it's unclear to me, are they still in Mazatlan?

[mking8288]

Jewel's live webcam was offline but on again (picked up by the satellites :D ... we just don't know how good their broadband connectivity are, at the moment)

 

That, along with AIS data that I can find, indicating that ship is heading north doing 21 knots, not too far but off the coast south of Cabo.

 

Since NCL announced that they were going to skip Cabo, doubtful it will make a quick stop but likely - possibly - just heading back to Los Angeles early as her homeport and more repairs/inspections, etc. as needed.

 

Give Marine Traffic's mobile app site a try and see/decide for yourself. ;)

[dexddd]

Cruise Critic confirmed at 11:00 am Eestern that the Jewel was unable to make it's call in Cabo San Lucas today. See sticky at the top of this page.

 

So they missed Puerto Vallarta, overnighted in Mazatlan, and missed Cabo. The CC post indicated that a $50 "per cabin" OBC was being issued, which in most cases equates to a $25 OBC per person. Not much compensation, although we all know NCL is not required to offer anything.

 

So it's unclear to me, are they still in Mazatlan?

 

From the other article and what I've read on this one I'm not sure either. Sounds like it though.

 

And if I get it right, they missed two of three ports and all they got was $50?

[punkincc]

From the other article and what I've read on this one I'm not sure either. Sounds like it though.

 

And if I get it right, they missed two of three ports and all they got was $50?

 

Well, technically they were in a port on two out of the three scheduled port days, as they had a second day in Mazatlan instead of Puerto Vallarta, but I would not be happy with a Mexican cruise that gave me only one port out of the three I expected to see. I would not be happy with a $25 pp OBC compensation.

[marelind]

I am currently on board burning my internet minutes to clarify. We were on the ship for the previous week and this week. We were told Tuesday last week that we would be overnighting in PV and skipping Mazatlan entirely. The Freestye Daily Wednesday night for Thursday said all aboard would be at 2:30 for a 3:00 departure.. Then on Thursday we were told the all. Aboard would be 5 and if we left by 10. We could be in Cabo by 11 Am. At that point DH and I knew we would most likely wave as we passed. By Cabo. It. Was confirmed this morning with the. Letter. Outlining the situation with the $50 credit. The atrium is filled with people who are upset. I understand, but I'd rather have them fix it than get stuck with one azipod and getting back to LA Sunday night or Monday.

 

(Sorry for the typos with extra periods, the keyboard was acting up.)

[punkincc]

I am currently on board burning my internet minutes to clarify. We were on the ship for the previous week and this week. We were told Tuesday last week that we would be overnighting in PV and skipping Mazatlan entirely. The Freestye Daily Wednesday night for Thursday said all aboard would be at 2:30 for a 3:00 departure.. Then on Thursday we were told the all. Aboard would be 5 and if we left by 10. We could be in Cabo by 11 Am. At that point DH and I knew we would most likely wave as we passed. By Cabo. It. Was confirmed this morning with the. Letter. Outlining the situation with the $50 credit. The atrium is filled with people who are upset. I understand, but I'd rather have them fix it than get stuck with one azipod and getting back to LA Sunday night or Monday.

 

(Sorry for the typos with extra periods, the keyboard was acting up.)

 

Sorry if I caused any confusion with my previous posts where I indicated the overnight port was Mazatlan rather than Puerto Vallarta.

 

Has there been any official info onboard re whether the problem was successfully repaired in Puerto, or are they just slowly making their way back to home port for repairs there? If so, the following cruise could be impacted.

 

I agree getting safely back and on schedule is primary, But, mechanical malfunction is not something which is totally out of NCL's control, like the need to skip ports due to weather. Things do happen, but it's NCL's responsibility to maintain the ship to get you to where they say your're going. And the blame for those missed ports is theirs. I think they owe you more than $25 pp. or $50 per cabin.

[suesings]

Wow, I would be so bummed if I missed Cabo. That is my favorite port. :(:(

 

$50 doesn't seem like much to miss two ports (although I am not a Mazatlan fan).

 

I know they need to fix anything wrong with the ship, but the missing Cabo would be tough for me.

 

I sure hope they get the ship completely fixed by our cruise next month.

[deliver42]

This problem is not on just the Jewel. RCCL and Celebrity have also had azipod problems. It has to be in the design. I understand it makes the ship far more maneuverable, but at what cost? I'm sure the companies don't appreciate the problems, and, of course, the passengers also suffer due to missed ports. I don't know what kind of compensation the other lines offer, but I agree that $25.00 per person seems pretty cheap on their part. Of course, they don't have to do anything, but neither option is good PR.

[chengkp75]

This problem is not on just the Jewel. RCCL and Celebrity have also had azipod problems. It has to be in the design. I understand it makes the ship far more maneuverable, but at what cost? I'm sure the companies don't appreciate the problems, and, of course, the passengers also suffer due to missed ports. I don't know what kind of compensation the other lines offer, but I agree that $25.00 per person seems pretty cheap on their part. Of course, they don't have to do anything, but neither option is good PR.

 

"Azipod problems" is a pretty broad brush. The historical problems with azipods is with the thrust bearings, which in the first generation pods could not be repaired without drydocking, but can be renewed on later models from within the pod. I don't believe the Jewel is having a problem with the thrust bearing, I believe she either has a leaking seal (letting lubricating oil leak into the sea) or a knicked or bent propeller blade. Both of these problems can be dealt with by divers in the water, and neither one is unique to azipods, as older shafted propeller ships have the same problems all the time, and are usually caused by striking something floating underwater or from tangling fishing nets into the shaft seal.

[Willystyle 77]

To confirm, Mazatlan was missed altogether to get the extra time in Puerto Vallarta for NCL to do in water diver maintenance on the ABB Azipo,d. The maintenance didn't go well and took far longer and the ship finally left Puerto Vallarta at about 12:30 am Puerto Vallarta time. Prior to that we were told we would stop in Cabo, but this morning no public announcements, but a note in the door saying we are missing Cabo to get back to Los Angeles in time for current passengers to meet flight connections. NOTHING was said about the next itinerary.

 

This is terrible for passengers who were looking forward to the stop in Cabo. Definitely this cruise was not as sold or provided as promised.

 

The $50 credit per state room is an absolute insult and not customer friendly.

[NoName]

NCL, this is not acceptable. :mad: I agree that when you need to make changes due to Mother Nature....you are off the hook....BUT...these passengers deserve 50% of cruise fare refunded!

 

You keep 50% as you did feed and house them, but give them 50% back for changing their vacation plans due to YOUR problems.

 

Kim

[Willystyle 77]

Norwegian Jewel stranded in Puerto Vallarta since early Wednesday. Mazatlan port cancelled already and Cabo San Lucas port unlikely as NCL as not updated passengers.

 

Update at 5:30 PM ship time Friday: So we go to guest services to discuss this issue and were first given the $50 per stateroom canned line and the customer service representative, Mitzi Bennet told us we would also get our prepaid service charges back AND 50 percent off of a future cruise and direct Ed us to the next desk. We go to this desk and were told that wasn't the case and the customer service representative was misinformed.

 

I guess this is why there is already an on ship petition with nearly 1100 signatures for NCL to do the right thing here.

 

Truly 50 percent off s future cruise is the minimum they should do.

 

More information to follow.