Dorian spoiled it, NCL cruise

[smplybcause]

There's really no good way for them to handle it. Add in that this storm was so far from the norm with how slow it was moving and thus very unpredictable...with the ports increasing their status quicker than they were actually predicting the winds. Though I am still a little confused why NCL decided to disembark in NOLA when POM was open the next day. 

 

There's plenty of people that were pissed off on Royal's board that they didn't cancel the M-F cruise and instead just delayed it until the 4th - so they only got 1 full day on board and in total less than 48 hours on board. 

[cruisinmeme]

35 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

I have a cruise coming up that I have been paying on for over a year.  If it got cancelled, I would be so upset and disappointed because of the sacrifices I have been making.  So I am 100% sympathetic to those who had their cruise cancelled or altered.  I lived in the cone of uncertainty for almost a week.  I was impacted too with a mad rush of gasoline, food, and supplies.  I personally disagreed with closing the port of Miami.  In reality the cruise that went to New Orleans could have ported in Miami with no problems.  The cruise that got cancelled could have sailed out of Miami with no problems.  We barely had wind and rain in Miami.   However, the closing of the port had nothing to do with NCL.  Also, its important to remember that cruise lines take no chances anymore and this is not just with storms.  I was reading a review where a woman had a heart palpitation and the ship's doctor ordered her off the ship immediately.  When she got to the local hospital in port, the doctor did tests and asked why she was there.  She had to go through a process to get back on the ship and was very upset and frustrated with NCL.  But lets review. NCL and other cruise lines have been recently sued for wrongful death with passengers dying because they alleged the ship's doctor did not take their condition seriously.  This is the same situation with hurricanes and storms.  During the last 5 years there have been incidents where captains took small chances that backfired and people were terrified and felt they were going to die.  All of these incidents went viral on social media.  Of course cruise lines are gun shy and wont take any chances when it comes to hurricanes and especially Dorian which violated very norm when it came to storm tracking.  To this day, there is still a political debate going on where Dorian was supposed to go.  That is how insane this storm has become.  I was reading all the negative reviews of the Breakaway and the constant second guessing of NCL.  You cant have it both ways. You cant complain that your cruise is cancelled or rerouted because of hurricane Dorian and then complain if the cruise ran into Dorian's path and you were in fear of your life.  Its very easy to arm chair quarterback and second guess storm tracking.  I even believe the closing of Port Miami was an over reaction but they chose the side of caution.  As many complaining about their cruise's impact from Dorian, there would be 50 times as many complaining and blaming NCL for their poor decisions to take a chance and sail around Dorian.  Sorry, you cant have it both ways.  Over 2500 people are missing in the Bahamas and lives destroyed.  Perspective please.  Everyone on the Breakaway arrived safe in New Orleans and arrived home to home still standing. 

Very well said and on point but you can bet the unhappy campers didn’t GET IT.   I believe somewhere along the line i probably ask if this group of grumbles would of rather rode out a cat 5 hurricane on a cruise ship.

[DaCruiseBug]

1 hour ago, Capitan Obvious said:

 

 

 

So either NCL ignored the port authority's warnings or NCL wasn't warned.

 

You can't both be right. Can we pick and stick with one set of facts?

 

I'm still wondering when someone will advocate for the port to issue compensation to NCL for not giving them prompt and unchanging information on which to base their decisions.

 

Too many people with their hand out...

 

There was NO WARNING issued by the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard said the port was closing 12 hours before the forecast arrival of tropical storm winds. This wasn’t a warning...this was them saying what was going to happen. The Coast Guard doesn’t warn companies, they tell them what’s gonna happen and it’s up to the cruise lines to prepare and adjust their operation accordingly. Both RCL and CCL immediately delayed their sailings to 9/4...meanwhile NCL thought they were gonna sneak into the port after the Coast Guard said the port was gonna be closed.

its called negligence...or incompetency...either way the customers were screwed over because it.

[graphicguy]

41 minutes ago, cruisinmeme said:

Very well said and on point but you can bet the unhappy campers didn’t GET IT.   I believe somewhere along the line i probably ask if this group of grumbles would of rather rode out a cat 5 hurricane on a cruise ship.

Well....I actually called to ask NCL if I could cancel my cruise on 8/29.  They said I could, but I would forfeit my fare.  I got it.  I thought NCL knew more than I did, and I trusted them.  I was wrong on both counts.

 

BTW.... I was booked in the Haven.  If I had followed through on that cancellation, I would have eaten over $4K in fares and they still would have cancelled the cruise.

 

Another BTW....both my TA and myself tried to call NCL for updates, only to be on hold for hours and not being able to contact them, until my TA finally, while being on hold, for  5+ hours on 8/31 (from 6:00 p.m. to around 11:20 p.m.) said to do what I thought was safest.

 

NCL finally texted me at 4:00 a.m. on 9/1 telling me the cruise was cancelled.  That was 5 hours before I was supposed to embark on my sailing. 

Edited September 11, 2019 by graphicguy

[Capitan Obvious]

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

Fake News?  What?  Dorian happened.  The chronology of events are outlined in the above posts.  I was there for the entire thing. There's nothing fake about it.  

Well...you said they were warned, and the poster in post #15 said there was no warning. Again...both of you can't be right. One has to be true, and the other has to be "fake news".

 

You two should figure this out between yourselves. I'm not stating one way or the other. I just want you two to pick a story.

[Capitan Obvious]

19 minutes ago, DaCruiseBug said:

 

There was NO WARNING issued by the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard said the port was closing 12 hours before the forecast arrival of tropical storm winds. This wasn’t a warning...this was them saying what was going to happen. The Coast Guard doesn’t warn companies, they tell them what’s gonna happen and it’s up to the cruise lines to prepare and adjust their operation accordingly. Both RCL and CCL immediately delayed their sailings to 9/4...meanwhile NCL thought they were gonna sneak into the port after the Coast Guard said the port was gonna be closed.

its called negligence...or incompetency...either way the customers were screwed over because it.

 

 

You said there was NO WARNING issued, but then said that their announcement of what was going to happen wasn't a warning?  Huh?

 

warn·ing

/ˈwôrniNG/

noun

noun: warning; plural noun: warnings

a statement or event that indicates a possible or impending danger, problem, or other unpleasant situation

 

Sounds like a warning to me.

 

[Cb2534]

I could get behind the whole "NCL didn't know or it was a Port Authority decision that was beyond their control" but that argument quickly loses credibility when other cruise lines were faced with the exact same situation and managed to communicate in a more timely manner which helped their passengers avoid all of these extra costs.  

 

I also don't understand the people on this forum who are implying that customers should suck up a loss of $1,000s of dollars because the hurricane was so terrible.     This issue relates to poor business practices of NCL.  I don't feel the complaint in any way attempts to minimize or make the facts of Dorian any more or less horrifying so why try to make people feel bad they are addressing this?   

[Deeliteful]

4 hours ago, MotownVoice said:

When I hold the two images side by side of a family on a luxury cruise losing money, and those poor people lumbering on and off that half destroyed tug boat to be shuttled to the main land with nothing but the clothes on their backs and horror in their heads because they have nothing left to go home to ... it makes me a little queasy to be empathetic.

I think the phrase, "Dorian spoiled my cruise" is what did it for me.

Unusual situation, I know.

A terrible title for the thread I agree.

 

[graphicguy]

2 minutes ago, Capitan Obvious said:

Well...you said they were warned, and the poster in post #15 said there was no warning. Again...both of you can't be right. One has to be true, and the other has to be "fake news".

 

You two should figure this out between yourselves. I'm not stating one way or the other. I just want you two to pick a story.

I gave you the chronology of the events.  I was in Miami when they happened.  I was booked on the cruise.  I know how we were ignored or misinformed by NCL.  I don't know how this is so difficult to follow.

 

The Gov of FL issued a state of emergency.  The Captain of the Port of Miami also said the Hurricane was coming as a CAT 2-5 and the port would likely close.  NCL ignored all of that trying to get the previous week's passengers off, and us on, the Breakaway.  How much more did NCL need in order for them to give us a "heads-up" that the cruise likely was not going to happen?  That would have saved so much time and money for the passengers waiting to embark on 9/1. 

 

I guess it could have been worse.  If the Captain of the Port of Miami hadn't forced NCL to cancel the cruise, we could have shown up, the Hurricane would have hit while we were either on the ship, or just sailing from port, and the passengers who disembarked would have been caught, and we would have been stuck, IN A HURRICANE.

 

Still don't know where you're getting how any of this is "fake".

[DaCruiseBug]

This is what the Coast Guard issued at 12pm on Saturday 8/31. NCL said to it's customers to get to the port at 8am on 9/1 and that they would provide an update by 3pm on 8/31. The update from NCL about the Breakaway wasn't made public until 8-9pm on 8/31. Yet the Coast Guard provided this update at noon.

 

NCL could have easily issued a statement within 1 hour about postponing the cruise since the Breakaway would NOT be allowed back into port. So people like graphicguy that had a 3-4pm flight could just stay home. Instead NCL had their head so far up their own a$$es and didn't care about their customers...they ONLY cared about $$$$$.

[newmexicoNita]

Capt Obvious brings up good points. It seems like, though NCL didn't handle this situation too well, they did the best as they say it at the time. Port of Miami is as much to blame as anyone but they were looking out for the ships it sounds like. One thing seems to keep coming up when we think of cruising and Dorian: at first NCL was criticized for not making decisions quickly enough and not for making decisions before it was necessary. I think the entire Dorean thing was maybe the part of too quick decisions by everyone Of course on the other hand we all know hurricanes have their own minds and businesses have to react very quickly. Often they make the wrong choice. NCL seems to have been the company that made poor decisions on this one 

[PelicanBill]

Thanks @DaCruiseBug for posting the Yankee notice.

 

So here's what happened.  Condition X-Ray was set for several days. That warns that soon the port will give the order order to leave port (condition Yankee).  Breakway had been planning the extended stay in Cozumel, and a Tuesday return and shortened following sail, because they though the port would be closed Sunday.  When Dorian slowed down, NCL and others took a bet - that the port would remain open through Tuesday, and so they and others began to hurry toward Miami.That's when Breakway made the call to cut the Cozumel visit short again.

 

While on the way, on Sunday, the coast guard set Condition Yankee which says ships may not arrive.  NCL and the others lost the bet here. Ships all turned around and sailed west.  Now they were looking at Wednesday for a return, but not sure what time.

 

The theory is that so many ships were now lined up to come to Miami that there was not room for all of them. NCL made the call to cancel the next Breakway cruise and give up on a space in Miami, and go to New Orleans where they had recently based Breakway and so they know how to handle the ship there.

 

Why did they not just wait one more day and go to Miami Thursday?  nobody knows. Perhaps they were concerned about the food and supplies on board for more days. Although those onboard report only minor food items running out. 

[graphicguy]

Announcements were critical in this whole ordeal.  NCL couldn’t even hit their own time frames on updates.  The few times they did communicate with me, they would set an absolute  “no later than” time they would update us.  They missed those times 100%.  That also contributed to us not having timely information to save ourselves time and money.

 

Neither myself, nor my TA could get through to NCL.  The only time I did get through was Thursday, 8/29 to ask if I could cancel the cruise because of the impending Hurricane.  I was told I could, but I would forfeit the entire fare ($4K+).  

 

I didn’t start getting texts from NCL until Friday 8/30 (the day before I was flying out)...

 

”This is an important message from Norwegian Cruise line regarding the Sept 1 sailing of the Norwegian Breakaway.  We are closely monitoring Hurricane Dorian.......(etc).......  All guests will be updated by 8 pm tomorrow.....etc........”

 

No notice at 8, or 8:30, or 8:45, but get the following at 9:15......

 

Same as above....closely monitoring.....etc, etc....really no type of update, at all.  They just kept repeating the same message....and always late.

 

Then, Saturday, 8/31 I get a text at 9:00 p.m., after NCL texted they’d update me at 3:00 p.m., or likely sooner, and to call the 866 number.  I did.  Nothing stated in the pre-recorded message other than they’re monitoring everything.

 

Same day, at 10:00 p.m. I get another note to call the 866 number stating the sailing was moved to 9/4.

 

Around 11:45 p.m. on 8/31 I get a text stating I needed to be at the pier at 9:00 a.m. to board the 9/1 cruise, as it will sail earlier than planned.

 

Around 4:00 a.m., 9/1, I get a robo call telling me the cruise is canceled.  The same robo call kept calling with the same message until 11:41 p.m.  That was followed up by a text stating the cruise was cancelled.

 

As mentioned above, this was a full 4 days after the Gov of FL declared a state of emergency, and well after the Captain of the Port of Miami closed the port.

 

If NCL would have followed the Governor, and cancelled the cruise when he declared a state of emergency, I would have been able to get my flight changed due to weather with no change fee, and I wouldn’t have incurred hotel and incidental costs associated with the trip.  I wouldn’t have flown to Miami at all.

 

It was a comedy of errors and clearly an attempt by NCL to not lose revenue, regardless of the impending storm.  They ONLY WAY they cancelled the cruise is when they were forced to by the closure of the port.  

Edited September 12, 2019 by graphicguy

[smplybcause]

Not excusing, but Royal wasn't hitting their time frames for updates either. 

[DaCruiseBug]

1 hour ago, smplybcause said:

Not excusing, but Royal wasn't hitting their time frames for updates either. 

 

Maybe...but they never tried to get everyone to rush to the port at 8am the day before the ship was supposed to sail. That's what threw a lot of people off.

[graphicguy]

10 hours ago, smplybcause said:

Not excusing, but Royal wasn't hitting their time frames for updates either. 

Really? I heard they made the decision to change the itinerary, they informed everyone immediately and didn’t continue to flip flop. 

[smplybcause]

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

Really? I heard they made the decision to change the itinerary, they informed everyone immediately and didn’t continue to flip flop. 

 

That has nothing to do with what I quoted or stated. Royal routinely didn't post updates until hours after they said they would - like saying they'd update at 3pm but it didn't happen until 7pm.

 

So yes, really. 

[Sotermarler]

 

 

On 9/11/2019 at 11:56 AM, smplybcause said:

 

That's not entirely true. If you happened to have already left on the trip then travel insurance would have kicked in - as delay/interruption coverage doesn't kick in until your trip does. But if you fail to start your trip it doesn't cover it unless you failed to leave for a covered reason. A bit of a sticky wicket with the hurricane, but actually leaving on the trip is the only way travel insurance covers the delays/interruptions from it (at least that I know of).

Does getting in the car and heading to the airport count as starting a trip? Just curio

[smplybcause]

52 minutes ago, Sotermarler said:

 

 

Does getting in the car and heading to the airport count as starting a trip? Just curio

 

I'm honestly not sure. I would think it would, but I'm also sure there's a definition of what counts as starting the trip in your specific travel insurance documents. 

[K_e_short]

For all those complaining about the way NCL handled the situation with Hurricane Dorian, I'm assuming that you will be booking with another cruise line for future cruises?

 

Doesn't make sense to come in here and complain yet continue to give such a horrible company your business.

 

 

[DaCruiseBug]

On 9/12/2019 at 7:46 PM, graphicguy said:

Really? I heard they made the decision to change the itinerary, they informed everyone immediately and didn’t continue to flip flop. 

 

They did. They never tried to rush everyone to the port. They delayed their sailings to the 4th immediately...meanwhile NCL was trying to get everyone to the port at 8am and the Breakaway to rush back to Miami.