Epic Interrupted

[Briji04]

We have been told to have our luggage ready between 1-5pm. They will begin easy walk off at 8-9pm tonight. The last tag color scheduled to be called at 1145 pm. ALL passengers must disembark. On board accounts will close at 5 pm. They have turned the specialty restaurants into MDR for dinner service this evening. Alternatively La Cucina will be an Italian buffet. 

 

Those staying on board must meet in either the Bliss Lounge or Theatre at 10pm. How they plan on getting ppl back on board so quick is still a mystery. Our luggage will be kept in the terminal in a “secured location”. We may bring a carry on back on the ship. 

 

 We will be allowed to come and go but must be off the ship by 9 am Sunday morning. 

[Briji04]

4 minutes ago, Briji04 said:

We have been told to have our luggage ready between 1-5pm. They will begin easy walk off at 8-9pm tonight. The last tag color scheduled to be called at 1145 pm. ALL passengers must disembark. On board accounts will close at 5 pm. They have turned the specialty restaurants into MDR for dinner service this evening. Alternatively La Cucina will be an Italian buffet. 

 

Those staying on board must meet in either the Bliss Lounge or Theatre at 10pm. How they plan on getting ppl back on board so quick is still a mystery. Our luggage will be kept in the terminal in a “secured location”. We may bring a carry on back on the ship. 

 

 We will be allowed to come and go but must be off the ship by 9 am Sunday morning. 

 

[Briji04]

Forget what I just said. They just announced we will be arrive at 3pm now. Walk off at 3-4pm all other luggage tags being at 430. They will close the on board accounts at 1pm. They did not say anything about staying the night on the ship. 

[ChrisCJSU]

8 minutes ago, Briji04 said:

We have been told to have our luggage ready between 1-5pm. They will begin easy walk off at 8-9pm tonight. The last tag color scheduled to be called at 1145 pm. ALL passengers must disembark. On board accounts will close at 5 pm. They have turned the specialty restaurants into MDR for dinner service this evening. Alternatively La Cucina will be an Italian buffet. 

 

Those staying on board must meet in either the Bliss Lounge or Theatre at 10pm. How they plan on getting ppl back on board so quick is still a mystery. Our luggage will be kept in the terminal in a “secured location”. We may bring a carry on back on the ship. 

 

 We will be allowed to come and go but must be off the ship by 9 am Sunday morning. 

The whole process will run smoothly 🙄

 

[ChrisCJSU]

3 minutes ago, Briji04 said:

Forget what I just said. They just announced we will be arrive at 3pm now. Walk off at 3-4pm all other luggage tags being at 430. They will close the on board accounts at 1pm. They did not say anything about staying the night on the ship. 

 

Sounds like they are operating by the seat of their pants. 

[anthonyg1996]

21 hours ago, ggooglyboogly said:

 

Strongly disagree - if he is found to be grossly negligent, he'll be disciplined.  They will be able to scrutinize everything about this approach.  Ships are equipped with voyage data recorders (similar to black boxes on airplanes) so they'll know everything said on the bridge, and they'll have all the RADAR / ECDIS (chart plotter) / weather / Azipod angle & speed / various other information so they'll know EXACTLY what happened.  

 

Berthing is always dangerous, the ship is one giant sail, one gust in the wrong direction could theoretically push the ship against a pier even if a captain does everything perfectly.  

 

 

Absolutely right 

[etmanch]

20 minutes ago, Briji04 said:

Forget what I just said. They just announced we will be arrive at 3pm now. Walk off at 3-4pm all other luggage tags being at 430. They will close the on board accounts at 1pm. They did not say anything about staying the night on the ship. 

Thanks for keeping us all updated. We have friends on this cruise so getting updates from you is appreciated.

I see the ship is now moving at 17.4kn.  I am going to assume they want to get everyone off the ship as soon as possible so probably no overnight on ship tonight. Hope everyone can find a hotel for the night.

 

 

[SeaTheW0rld]

24 minutes ago, Briji04 said:

Forget what I just said. They just announced we will be arrive at 3pm now. Walk off at 3-4pm all other luggage tags being at 430. They will close the on board accounts at 1pm. They did not say anything about staying the night on the ship. 

 

Interesting.  They could debark the current pax and say "we got you back on the right date, you get nothing".  Embark the next load of pax and say "you embarked on the right day, you get nothing".   

 

🤪

[luv2kroooz]

23 minutes ago, Briji04 said:

Forget what I just said. They just announced we will be arrive at 3pm now. Walk off at 3-4pm all other luggage tags being at 430. They will close the on board accounts at 1pm. They did not say anything about staying the night on the ship. 

 

I think this is a better plan than the previous plan that had the ship arriving at 8pm and customs apparently requiring passengers to disembark Saturday evening and then reboard.

 

I also think NCL will have to allow current passengers to use the ship as a floating hotel overnight on Saturday. Based on NCL's prior communcation, many people have likely planned to spend Saturday evening onboard. Passengers original plans have been turned upside down so they have no meals, lodging, or airfare lined up for Saturday evening.

 

This will take lots of patience. Based on my January Epic cruise, the terminal NCL uses in Port Canaveral is outdated and, in my opinion, not equipped to handle a ship the size of Epic.

[luv2kroooz]

1 minute ago, SeaTheW0rld said:

 

Interesting.  They could debark the current pax and say "we got you back on the right date, you get nothing".  Embark the next load of pax and say "you embarked on the right day, you get nothing".   

 

🤪

Except for the fact that they just communicated 18 hours ago, and told passengers not to come to the terminal until Sunday AM.

[Briji04]

13 minutes ago, blcruising said:

This will take lots of patience. Based on my January Epic cruise, the terminal NCL uses in Port Canaveral is outdated and, in my opinion, not equipped to handle a ship the size of Epic.

This was discussed during the meet and greet. Hotel Director said they plan to install the facial recognition kiosks like at the international airports. Of course, there was no time line given. 

[Mattnvick]

So you could potentially have passengers that had an 8pm or so flight home tonight. Had cancelled it because NCL told them they wouldnt be back til after it would have departed. Picked up a $500 change fee and now find they are actually going to arrive at 3pm and could easily have made their original flight? Ouch!!

Edited February 16, 2019 by Mattnvick

[rabidstoat]

4 minutes ago, Mattnvick said:

So you could potentially have passengers that had an 8pm or so flight home tonight. Had cancelled it because NCL told them they wouldnt be back til after it would have departed. Picked up a $500 change fee and now find they are actually going to arrive at 3pm and could easily have made their original flight? Ouch!!

 

My friend on the Epic just posted this: "Now I am ready to mutiny. At 8:42 f---AM, in a deep sleep cuz I thought I could sleep in cuz we weren't getting in til tonight, off goes the ship's gong. "Good news." We'll be getting into port early. I could have made my original flight, and we have to get our luggage out earlier and do the customs thing. I haven't packed at all. Does she repeat the announcement so I can write down all the various time deadlines? No."

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, ChrisCJSU said:

 

Sounds like they are operating by the seat of their pants. 

More like they are doing their best to get the ship back and to give people the maximum flexibility on getting home on schedule or close to schedule. If I were on the ship, I would want nothing less. Would you expect less than best effort?  

[Mattnvick]

1 minute ago, rabidstoat said:

 

My friend on the Epic just posted this: "Now I am ready to mutiny. At 8:42 f---AM, in a deep sleep cuz I thought I could sleep in cuz we weren't getting in til tonight, off goes the ship's gong. "Good news." We'll be getting into port early. I could have made my original flight, and we have to get our luggage out earlier and do the customs thing. I haven't packed at all. Does she repeat the announcement so I can write down all the various time deadlines? No."

 

Figured it would impact at least some people. So sad. No wonder he/ she is not happy. Its turning into  gong show.

 

They really thought pax that had been told to cancel due to late arrival were  going to view this as " good news" good news for who NCL? 

 

That announcer should keep her head well below the parapet. Im sure a lot of people would love to chat to her about why she  thinks this  is " good news" 😱 

[itchintocruise]

 

What a disorganized discombobulated circus of corporate incompetency and lack of communication. We have family on this cruise and have been actively following this thread. We have only cruised NCL once and seeing how they are handling this crisis, I am in no hurry to book a cruise with them.

[eme]

Did anyone catch the code to call from your cabin without charge?

[Mattnvick]

11 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Would you expect less than best effort?  

 

If that's their best effort then wow is all i can say.

 

Their "best effort" has had pax cancel flights they could now have made and picked up change charges for their efforts. 

[ChrisCJSU]

9 minutes ago, itchintocruise said:

 

What a disorganized discombobulated circus of corporate incompetency and lack of communication. We have family on this cruise and have been actively following this thread. We have only cruised NCL once and seeing how they are handling this crisis, I am in no hurry to book a cruise with them.

I agree...this is such a mess!

[mking8288]

Did the Epic somehow magically restored additional power and speed up to 17+ knots in the last 12 hours as it had been going no faster than 14 knots since leaving San Juan. That would explain the sudden news of earlier but still delayed arriving monkey plans ?? 

 

NCL crisis communication planners got a long way to go above & beyond.

[mking8288]

2 hours ago, Briji04 said:

... Those staying on board must meet in either the Bliss Lounge or Theatre at 10pm ... Our luggage will be kept in the terminal in a “secured location”. We may bring a carry on back on the ship. We will be allowed to come and go but must be off the ship by 9 am Sunday morning. 

 

Indeed, if this is still NCL's "monkey" plan C.2a for this evening.  Kudo & thank you for posting and trying to help the critics informed, updated in the middle of the chaos (thankfully, no medevac got into the way ...)   

 

Get ready for lights, camera, videos and action on the pier later on - as some/most of you know, this is all over the news media circus, around the world as I heard from "my" oversea folks.  

 

I am wondering if NCL decide that they will offer complimentary, standby housing overnight for those arriving today, unaware & showing up with nowhere & no place to go/stay (i.e. hotels nearby all booked/sold out, etc.) instead of running cruise terminal cot housing inside the building - letting those who can, wish or just wanted to get off the ship this afternoon/evening - free up those cabins, do a quick turnaround cleaning & then on a standby, first come - first served basis, a cabin for those on the shorterned 5 days, to be on the ship by late evening ?? - a floating hotel on the pier for the next 2 days, until they finished the repairs, inspected & cleared to sail, etc. 

 

All these can and should be handled differently & better, and communicated in a more coherent fashion, which NCL isn't - as seen by us - as coming up far short and inadequate.  

[chengkp75]

15 hours ago, happysailor1001 said:

I do not think CBP will make any exceptions, they are bound by the regulations they enforce.  The fine is per passenger, additional fines may be imposed for the ship itself.  I know 9 years ago the fine for violation of the Jones Act was $425, fee was passed onto to me by the cruise line.  I had to get off the ship after sailing from Miami the day before.  

 

13 hours ago, happysailor1001 said:

 

With all due respect to *cheng*.  CBP does not give out Administrative Waivers without a challenge.  NCL may have suffered a mechanical failure, but this was not an "Act of God" .  Not every cruise line have had 100% success in arguing similar cases in the past.  With all due respect to *cheng* at least 2 videos from the incident in San Juan clearly shows the Epic Bridge team failed to line up the the ship correctly for making the port turn into the basin where pier is.  The Captain or Staff Captain would have taken the Con from the pilot a few minutes after passing the Coast Guard Station in San Juan.  The person at the control would have to make a decision on how wide of a turn to make towards the pier.  AIS providers showed Easterly Wind around 20 knots when the Epic docked, which would have been on the Starboard beam of the Epic as she turned to the north.  Where the cruise ships dock in San Juan there are minimal currents if any.

With all due respects, I don't know what you mean by a "challenge".  Yes, documentation is required, but from personal experience, I know that CBP very readily gives out PVSA waivers (and it is the PVSA, not the Jones Act) for missed ports due to mechanical difficulties.  The biggest is probably the Norwegian Star back in 2004, when she lost one azipod, and could not make it to Fanning Island, the closest foreign port to the Hawaiian Islands, so she continued to sail a strictly Hawaiian Island itinerary for 2-3 months, carrying a couple of thousand passengers each week, until a drydock berth could be arranged.

 

With all due respect, were you on the bridge of the Epic?  Whether the Captain or Staff Captain would have taken the conn for the docking is not a given.  It depends on the Captain, the pilot, the familiarity between the two, and the local harbor regulations.  While most NCL Captains will take control of the helm, telegraph, and thrusters on the bridge wing for docking, it is quite common for the pilot to still have the conn, and be directing the Captain on how to maneuver the ship, particularly when tugs are involved, as they were here.  I don't know the tidal currents in San Juan harbor, but there was some unusual condition that necessitated the actual use of the tugs, rather than the more common "just standing by" that most cruise ships use, since they don't like the tugs dirty, black tires rubbing on their pristine white hull.  I'm home from my ship now, so I will try to see all the video of the incident, to see if your statement of the incorrect turn into the berth is correct or not.

[happysailor1001]

27 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

 

Indeed, if this is still NCL's "monkey" plan C.2a for this evening.  Kudo & thank you for posting and trying to help the critics informed, updated in the middle of the chaos (thankfully, no medevac got into the way ...)   

 

Get ready for lights, camera, videos and action on the pier later on - as some/most of you know, this is all over the news media circus, around the world as I heard from "my" oversea folks.  

 

I am wondering if NCL decide that they will offer complimentary, standby housing overnight for those arriving today, unaware & showing up with nowhere & no place to go/stay (i.e. hotels nearby all booked/sold out, etc.) instead of running cruise terminal cot housing inside the building - letting those who can, wish or just wanted to get off the ship this afternoon/evening - free up those cabins, do a quick turnaround cleaning & then on a standby, first come - first served basis, a cabin for those on the shorterned 5 days, to be on the ship by late evening ?? - a floating hotel on the pier for the next 2 days, until they finished the repairs, inspected & cleared to sail, etc. 

 

All these can and should be handled differently & better, and communicated in a more coherent fashion, which NCL isn't - as seen by us - as coming up far short and inadequate.  

 

As per today's schedule in Port Canaveral there is a Carnival ship due to sail from Port Canaveral around 4pm, followed by a second ship.  The Epic has probably been given a time slot to arrive and maybe why you have seen a higher speed earlier today.  If they arrive around 3PM they will probably be told to wait until last cruise ship has departed.  Coast Guard will probably require the Epic to have at least 2 tug boats as escort on the way to the berth. 

[PTC DAWG]

Obviously, from some of the comments on this thread, people cruise without good trip insurance...

Edited February 16, 2019 by PTC DAWG

[chengkp75]

1 minute ago, happysailor1001 said:

 

As per today's schedule in Port Canaveral there is a Carnival ship due to sail from Port Canaveral around 4pm, followed by a second ship.  The Epic has probably been given a time slot to arrive and maybe why you have seen a higher speed earlier today.  If they arrive around 3PM they will probably be told to wait until last cruise ship has departed.  Coast Guard will probably require the Epic to have at least 2 tug boats as escort on the way to the berth. 

If there is nothing wrong with either the steering or the actual propulsion system, as opposed to the diesel generators, which is what has been stated in the past, then no, the USCG will not require a tug escort, as the ship will have its original redundancy in propulsion and steering, and nothing affects the navigation of the vessel.  Even with only 4 diesels, the ship has more than sufficient power for all harbor evolutions.