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Norwegian Escape - Miami - Sept 02 - 09 Hurricane Irma

deltaalphalima

By deltaalphalima,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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Vacationdreamer<><

Vacationdreamer<><

Posted
Posted
Hey all, on the Escape now and we're sailing into Miami at the moment. Last two days (since we left Harvest Caye) have been gorgeous weather and smooth sailing. Miami mostly sunny and clear. Most know the general details of our plans, but I'll recap: We expect to dock Miami about 3pm. Everyone has been given the option to disembark or stay on the ship. We will sail again promptly at 8pm. US citizens staying with the ship may get off (say to move a car or pick up medication) and re-board before we leave at 8pm. Non-US citizens staying with the ship are not being allowed to get off and re-board later due to an expedited customs process. We have been advised NCL cannot predict when we will return to port or what port we will eventually return to.

 

 

 

I thought I'd post a few details of how (relatively well) they're treating us:

 

 

 

1) you have seen the public post about a pro-rated refund for the missed cruise days (regardless of whether you stay on the ship or disembark) along with a future cruise credit of 25% of your total fare paid.

 

 

 

2) there will be no additional charge for those staying with the ship regardless of how long we stay at sea. The one exception is they will be charging the daily service fee of $13.99/each.

 

 

 

3) they are honoring all on board packages until Saturday (unlimited drinks, dining plans, unlimited internet, thermal suite...etc). Starting Sunday these items will carry their normal charges.

 

 

 

4) the crew have been very upbeat and are doing a good job of adding as much "programming" as possible. Lots of activities, demonstrations, movies...etc have been added. Additional comedy shows have been added with the comedians running through fresh material and even improvising quite a bit (lots if jokes about the hurricane and in board situation). Sounds like they will be staying on board with us for the duration. I'm a bit unclear as to the plan for the big shows - we were booked for "For the Record" this evening, but it doesn't appear on the schedule.

 

 

 

If you have any questions, shoot. I'll try to check in here occasionally but rest assured if you have family and friends aboard, we are being well cared for. I expect we will have some minor weather but it's clear we will be WELL away.from the hurricane and should be relatively smooth sailing.

 

 

 

Thank you for this update. Prayers for all.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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mking8288 "Live from...." Rare

mking8288

Posted
Posted
I'm on the escape now Also... they are treating us great. I'm from dc. Couldn't decide to rent and drive to dc or stay on?? With fuel shortages in Florida it's a hard decision....
Frustrating and recognized that onboard NCL ships, access to latest news can be a real challenge - thankfully, you are docked & still have full access to cellular services in the port.

 

Not sure if you can even find a car rental place open near cruise terminal and/or MIA airport with any vehicle to do a one-way rental; and, a full tank of gasoline.

 

Major cable news & local news channel are confirming fuel shortage, with 1/3 of the MIA area station out of gas, waiting for urgent tanker delivery as more mandatory evacuation orders are issue for coastal & south Florida - with a limit of $30 per vehicle fueling, that's about 10 gallons. Airports are jammed with hundreds of flyers with no confirmed seats and on standby to go anywhere as airlines are preparing to cancel more flights tomorrow leading to a shutdown, while facilities are still technically open.

 

If the storm remained on its latest 5 PM forecasted track, additional evacuation might be called for those in GA, SC and even NC, with I-95 becoming even more jammed. (as much as 10 million residents & visitors on a massive, grand scale emergency evacuation to get out of harm's way ...)

 

IMO and if I am in your situation - I would stay onboard and ride out this monster storm on the ship for the next 3 to 4 days, until the port Condition Zulu are changed to Condition Recovery (we always travel with an extra week's personal medications ... and there's always 3 day's worth in my daypack.)

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tlhuddle

tlhuddle

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Staying on the ship seems a far better option to me. Why chance getting stuck at an airport through a storm when you can extend your vacation on the ship? I suppose some FL locals will want to get off and secure their homes.

 

Edit: I wonder if they will let people off the ship to move their car to a higher parking lot deck and get back on?

 

My dad had called when they got to port and he was going to get off and move their vehicle.

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Medtech2

Medtech2

Posted
Posted
On the ship the announcement was made that they are sailing to Cozumel. Will arrive there on Saturday.

 

I'm in Charleston, working the week-end in a hospital, possibly having to stay there through the storm. I would love to be stuck on a cruise ship going to Cozumel! NCL has really been treating their customers right during this time.

 

Safe travels!

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Time2CruiseAgain

Time2CruiseAgain

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We were on the Escape and as we live in the Gulf Coast of Florida, we got off to take care of things and be with our children. NCL did it right! To add to ocdb8tr, they added The Weather Channel to the tv channel line up, so we were able to keep up to date. Also, as soon as the decision was made, NCL gave everyone 15 free internet minutes to touch base with family. This was our first NCL cruise and they did it right. We will sail on them again! Soon!

 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Forums mobile app

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mking8288 "Live from...." Rare

mking8288

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Posted

NCL posted, under Weather Alert, on its own website @ 0300 UTC that:

 

Hurricane Irma

September 7th at 11:00 PM (3:00 AM UTC)

Norwegian Cruise Line is continuing to closely watch the forecasted path of major Hurricane Irma. Further to our update from this afternoon, Norwegian Escape and Norwegian Sky have both safely departed from PortMiami. Norwegian Escape is sailing at full capacity with approximately 4,000 displaced guests from both ships that were unable to secure flights back home.

 

All cancelled sailings are as follows:

The Sky is - another news source cited - sailing with Miami-based NCL staff & family members who choose to evacuate & shelter onboard.

Safe at sea ... they must be well prepared to deal with what Florida Governor called a "nuclear hurricane" - expected to lost electricity and running water, and serious doubts that high-rise building will not shatter with a direct hit/landfall in Miami as a Cat-3 plus monster storm. Wind & rain arriving tomorrow (Saturday) morning - conditions then rapidly worsen.

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roger001

roger001

Posted
Posted

What a mess. The new projected track has shifted west slightly with it hitting FLA a bit SW of Miami at 8am Sunday with 145 mph winds. However, it then travels up the entire state of Fla with it still having 75mph winds at almost the Georgia line at 8am Monday. There is no way to guess at the near future of cruises or anything until all the destruction is determined. The entire state of Fla is just going to be a massive mess I'm afraid. With the evacuation, there will be no one left for a few days to even begin cleanup or service anything.

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BirdTravels "Live from...." Rare

BirdTravels

Posted
Posted
Lucky cruisers on this cruise! Free cruise days plus 25% off of your next one. How can you beat that? I am going on my first NCL cruise in 5 weeks. It sounds like this company does the right thing for it's passengers.

Yes. NCL does the right thing for its passengers.

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mking8288 "Live from...." Rare

mking8288

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Yes, indeed - smart decision to stay onboard, including the 500 from the Sky that reportedly transferred over & joined, now safely out of harm's way - must be crowded where they are today - several dozen cruise & cargo ships, etc. riding out this hurricane.

 

Those that opted to leave the ship and tried to get on a flight to fly home, perhaps not so lucky if their flights got cancelled or only managed to get on the long standby lists ... Miami news reported that many luggage were stranded on the ground in addition to folks unable to get on any flight. Oversea tourists now sheltered in place somewhere ... yikes.

 

For anyone hanging around (and, nobody should be out & about) - watch out & look up as wind gust continued to increase ... those skyscrapper's construction crane are at risk of collapsing & crashing down, heads up.

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garycarla

garycarla

Posted
Posted
Escape started sailing from Cozumel towards Miami on Monday at 5 PM.

Any idea when it might reach Miami port?

Miami port seems to be open today.

 

Actually... it is not fully open. They hope to clear the channel and open late today.

 

PortMiami is open. The Port Tunnel is also now open.

U.S. Coast Guard cleared truck and gate operations for Seaboard Marine container terminal. However, the port will remain closed for marine traffic at least through 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12. Upon conclusion of side sonar underwater inspections by NOAA we will update the public as to the opening of PORTMIAMI's navigational channels.

Truck and gate operations will be closed on Tuesday, Sept. 12 for POMTOC and SFCT container terminals

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mking8288 "Live from...." Rare

mking8288

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Miami Herald news quoted NCL that the Escape will dock 9/14 - Thursday last night with ship en route - conflicted with AIS data being reported, due in 9/13 - Wed. This is a link to their site - free access - to get latest info at a local level: http://www.miamiherald.com/

 

MIA (airport) is graudually resuming limited flight services today, same as Orlando (MCO) which actually had a few special flights flow in & took off (JetBlue & Southwest) - ground operations & catering could still be challenged, as electricity (1.5 million still without power in south FL this morning) is gradually being restored - flyers are asked to only go to the airport if they have a confirmed flight & seat assignments - a huge backlog of stranded flyers for the past few days & long list of standbys.

 

For those on the Escape or in similar situations now, please be mindful & check with the airlines ... Might need to consider car rentals (if available) and/or taking a bus to go further north, away from the Florida coast, to connect with available flights.

 

Stay safe & keep those cell phones fully charged - the cleanup and recovery across Florida is going to take a while ... and elsewhere.

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TraceyJ907

TraceyJ907

Posted
Posted
I'm on the escape now Also... they are treating us great. I'm from dc. Couldn't decide to rent and drive to dc or stay on?? With fuel shortages in Florida it's a hard decision....

 

 

 

Hi. It's Tracey. I ran into your husband on the shuttle to the airport. Did he get home safely? He told us you stayed on. Safe travels home.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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Kat1824

Kat1824

Posted
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We were on that cruise and got off in Miami when they docked thanks for the what seemed like a 4 mile walk OMG. Also I would of liked the option to just get a refund for the extra 25% not sure I will cruise again. We had to get home to secure everything before the storm hit and that drive took us over 8 hours. Glad we had fueled up the car before we parked and left for the cruise. Not saying they didn't do it right but for those who were trying to change flights they should of given out more than 15 minutes of free internet.

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