Passengers on Norwegian Spirit is mad about itinerary changes

[esm54687]

I blame FDR for this catastrophic cruise and bet if Andy Stuart had his way the cruise would have unicorns and rainbows and lobster 

Edited October 10, 2019 by esm54687

[Taters]

Honestly, when NCL saw that the weather for the cruise was going to be horrible, they should have simply headed for the Med.  There would have been warm ports, nicer weather and even though they'd changed the itinerary completely, people would have had less to complain about.   

[smplybcause]

1 hour ago, Dolebludger said:

All:

 

We have  better weather forecasting now than before. Am I wrong to say that a ship shouldn’t depart in non-navigable winds that are forecasted to exist along the planned itinerary?  I think they should cancel, put arriving passengers up, and bought them airline tickets to get home. Then the cruise line should refund their entire fare. Nobody would be happy, but they would be more happy than with a cruise under these conditions. More and more, we cruisers are needing to book our cruises rather early to get the accommodations we want. We need to book long before there is any weather forecast for our itinerary. But the cruise lines get these forecasts hourly or less. They should act in regard to these. 

 

It may be better, but it's still not exact. There have been plenty of storms that turned when the models said they wouldn't, that had higher winds or waves than the models said, that moved faster or slower than the model. 

 

Not to mention what counts as bad enough weather to cancel? 10 feet waves? 15 knot winds? What about weather systems that pop up out of the blue? 

 

The only way cruise lines would put people up in hotels is if the cost of cruises went up significantly to cover that. And frankly I'd rather have my money back or be on the ship than be subject to whatever hotel has last minute availability - probably in the middle of nowhere. And giving refunds would also include increasing the rates a lot. 

[mianmike]

4 hours ago, rugerdog said:

Hey Mike & Mia!  

 

Maybe we should have considered staging a mutiny on board 😁

 

Hope all is going well.

 

Darlene

 

Ha ha!  We came close!

[knittinggirl]

We had some bad weather on our recent Voyage of the Vikings.  We missed one port and left two early.  In fact, the captain announced that he was stopping tender service at one of them, and I wondered how they were going to get the passengers already ashore back aboard.  We were SO glad we hadn't gone ashore!

 

He ordered more crew to the tenders to act as spotters, and eventually got them back aboard.  We had some nasty weather, and ended up moving all the glassware on our cabins to the floor, when it started moving.

 

Weather in the North Atlantic can be bad, and sometime after the tender ports, we started seeing a few passengers w/injuries.

Edited October 10, 2019 by knittinggirl

[2spring]

I AM on this cruise and the information we received verbally and written was quite clear.  Not sure where you are coming from, but definitely not the case for a rebellion of any sort.  I am disappointed we didn’t make all the stops in our itinerary, but the explanations and updates from the Captain and crew about weather conditions and safety of the passengers & ship were acceptable to me.  I don’t ever want to be put in a dangerous situation on a cruise just to make a port.  We were refunded port charges, all excursion costs for ports we didn’t stop in, plus 25% of the base rate of this cruise to use for a future cruise.  I find that very generous!  I did not find any stale food never missed a meal and never had any sewer issues in my cabin, nor did anyone else I talked to.  We DID get a letter mid cruise about not throwing anything into the toilets other than toilet paper.  Perhaps there was a problem then?  I, for one, am very happy with my cruise.

[kiwi57]

7 hours ago, SakeDad said:

And I'll bet the same people saying there was no food are the same classless families that LOAD UP plates full of food to take out of the buffets or to the pools despite being told it's not allowed.

Couldn’t take any food out to the pool because it was always closed. Also, NCL restaurant manager admitted that they messed up by not having food available at times people were looking for dinner (4:30-5:00, particularly) and they should have arranged to have had other venues open earlier when they cancelled the only option.

[david_sobe]

6 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

All:

 

We have  better weather forecasting now than before. Am I wrong to say that a ship shouldn’t depart in non-navigable winds that are forecasted to exist along the planned itinerary?  I think they should cancel, put arriving passengers up, and bought them airline tickets to get home. Then the cruise line should refund their entire fare. Nobody would be happy, but they would be more happy than with a cruise under these conditions. More and more, we cruisers are needing to book our cruises rather early to get the accommodations we want. We need to book long before there is any weather forecast for our itinerary. But the cruise lines get these forecasts hourly or less. They should act in regard to these. 

Far more would be outraged and angry if they arrived for embarkation only to find the entire cruise was cancelled because of winds.  The cruise contract allows ships to skip ports, stay in ports, or move to other ports due to circumstances.  This time of year in that area of the globe this is nothing new.  IMHO they are even extra cautious because of the Viking cruise.  The captain kept everyone safe and out of harm's way even though that may have meant missing a few ports.  I agree it sucks to miss ports if that is the reason you are traveling to that part of the world.  Personally, I would want my cruise to go on instead of being cancelled.  

There are people that have weddings planned in the Virgin Islands and the wedding parties travel via cruises from Miami.  During hurricane season sometimes the ships get rerouted and the bridal party freaks out.  Not only did they miss their wedding but lose all the money associated with it.  These are the chances you take while taking a vacation on the high seas.  Safety first.  Clearly the captain kept everyone safe during the cruise.

[kiwi57]

10 hours ago, APDMOM said:

I hope NCL does not give in to the demands for refunds.  It would only encourage this type of behavior.  

 

...and the “poor, poor” people who had NO place to find food between 3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. on one day. (Rolling my eyes big time at that comment) 🤦‍♀️

Many people eat dinner between 4:30 and 5:00. And on a cruise ship, no complimentary food available at dinnertime is not something one normally experiences. The restaurant manager admitted the oversight and apologized for their mistake in not having any venue available to guests after cancelling the barbecue, and the large group he was speaking to was very calm and collected; not starving, just hungry and looking for some dinner. Your eye roll reaction to that might look like reasonable request to someone else.  If I had said they had closed the bars for that same time frame, I’m sure I would get a different response from people here. Different strokes, that’s fine.  But that is not the point. I was just trying to point out one of the dozens of reasons, big and small, slightly annoying or vacation-changing that accumulated since day one which caused some people to reach a place of frustration on that ship that became unnecessarily ugly. There was absolutely no reason for the high level of poor behavior of the folks shown on the videos. But not every passenger fell into that group. Some just made the best of it. 

 

[UFMOM]

4 minutes ago, kiwi57 said:

Many people eat dinner between 4:30 and 5:00.

 

 

All of my NCL cruises the main dining room and the buffet, open at 5:00 pm for dinner. Have never seen either open at 4:30.

 

Mary Ann

 

 

[Beer Belly]

This is what people need to understand...........although, the condition of facilities not working would be my main complaint.

 

Colleen McDaniel, editor-in-chief of the review and news site Cruise Critic, said in an email that minor itinerary changes aren’t out of the ordinary, especially during hurricane season. And, she said, strict cruise line contracts give operators the right to change their plans whenever necessary.

“When itinerary changes happen, we do tend to see disappointment from guests. But for the most part, cruisers understand that these changes can happen and are usually a result of the lines dealing with situations outside of their control,” she said. “During hurricane season, we’ve seen complete itineraries swapped — sometimes Caribbean cruises are redeployed to New England to avoid storms, for instance."It’s never an ideal situation, and we do hear disappointment, but it’s a result of unsafe conditions and cruise lines reacting so as to keep passengers as safe as possible.”

Edited October 10, 2019 by Beer Belly

[newmexicoNita]

7 hours ago, Taters said:

Honestly, when NCL saw that the weather for the cruise was going to be horrible, they should have simply headed for the Med.  There would have been warm ports, nicer weather and even though they'd changed the itinerary completely, people would have had less to complain about.   

I think all who feel like you do are naive. Are you right about what they should have done? Probably but you can bet all Hell would have broken loose if that had been the decision. Remember Dorian, only about a month ago? 

[Reader0108598]

10 hours ago, FLAHAM said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2019/10/09/certain-point-you-just-lose-it-passengers-revolt-riot-aboard-norwegian-spirit-cruise-ship/

Yeah we all get dissapointed when we miss a port but ewe all know it happens! They cannot control the weather!! The bathroom situation is different!

[newmexicoNita]

4 hours ago, 2spring said:

I AM on this cruise and the information we received verbally and written was quite clear.  Not sure where you are coming from, but definitely not the case for a rebellion of any sort.  I am disappointed we didn’t make all the stops in our itinerary, but the explanations and updates from the Captain and crew about weather conditions and safety of the passengers & ship were acceptable to me.  I don’t ever want to be put in a dangerous situation on a cruise just to make a port.  We were refunded port charges, all excursion costs for ports we didn’t stop in, plus 25% of the base rate of this cruise to use for a future cruise.  I find that very generous!  I did not find any stale food never missed a meal and never had any sewer issues in my cabin, nor did anyone else I talked to.  We DID get a letter mid cruise about not throwing anything into the toilets other than toilet paper.  Perhaps there was a problem then?  I, for one, am very happy with my cruise.

Thank for a sensible and 1st hand report.

[Floridiana]

13 hours ago, pc_load_letter said:

But yes, I would love to know from someone who is "in the know" how  or what determines who gets a dock vs tendering.

 

The harbormaster decides.

 

Edited October 10, 2019 by Floridiana

[newmexicoNita]

As most us know, this isn't really news but OP thanks for posting anyway. I think rioting is never acceptable and I mean never!!! Also I wonder how many people would have raised holy H@LL had the decision to go right into the winds had been made, especially if there had been injuries because of the capt decision? 

[salzdt]

10 hours ago, FLAHAM said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2019/10/09/certain-point-you-just-lose-it-passengers-revolt-riot-aboard-norwegian-spirit-cruise-ship/

 

10 hours ago, FLAHAM said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2019/10/09/certain-point-you-just-lose-it-passengers-revolt-riot-aboard-norwegian-spirit-cruise-ship/

 

29 minutes ago, newmexicoNita said:

As most us know, this isn't really news but OP thanks for posting anyway. I think rioting is never acceptable and I mean never!!! Also I wonder how many people would have raised holy H@LL had the decision to go right into the winds had been made, especially if there had been injuries because of the capt decision? 

Agree, the Captain makes decision to keep everyone safe!  Hope That those who rioted will see that their actions were not good behavior!

[Laszlo]

I love the headline... "At A Certain Point You Just Loose It"

 

Were these people in a War? Mass Flooding? Hurricane? Earthquake?

 

[chengkp75]

2 hours ago, Reader0108598 said:

The bathroom situation is different!

So, there is a report of one cabin and one public toilet not working.  Were they repaired?  How soon?  What was found to be the cause of the failure?  Most likely upset people flushing stuff down the toilet.

[Cruisercl]

8 hours ago, Taters said:

Honestly, when NCL saw that the weather for the cruise was going to be horrible, they should have simply headed for the Med.  There would have been warm ports, nicer weather and even though they'd changed the itinerary completely, people would have had less to complain about.   

Hahaha.....they can't just 'head for the Med'.  A ship cannot just show up at a port and expect to be able to dock.

I hope your comment was tongue in cheek.

Have a good day! 😊

[Markanddonna]

I'm not sure any cruise ship would be fun in those weather conditions. The pools, pool deck, and sports areas would all be closed and everyone would either be in their cabins or crowded in the public indoor areas.

[SeaShark]

This whole episode is just another example of how, when the possibility of compensation is on the table, the drama goes up to 11 as does the level of bad behavior.

 

The entire incident is nothing but an attempted gimme, gimme, gimme from some opportunistic passengers. 

[smplybcause]

1 hour ago, Cruisercl said:

Hahaha.....they can't just 'head for the Med'.  A ship cannot just show up at a port and expect to be able to dock.

I hope your comment was tongue in cheek.

Have a good day! 😊

I doubt it was. They're probably basing this on Caribbean cruises which can, to a certain extent, change directions and find another port. But those Caribbean ports rely on cruises and as such build a lot of piers to handle a lot of ships. Several ports were more or less built by cruise lines. 

[Reader0108598]

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

So, there is a report of one cabin and one public toilet not working.  Were they repaired?  How soon?  What was found to be the cause of the failure?  Most likely upset people flushing stuff down the toilet.

Thank you always respect your posts and appreciate them!🙂 I have been on 30 cruises things happen ! I did clog the toilet I was using tissues and flushing them totally my fault I clogged the whole line  (First cruise) so embarrased! Where is the red face! lol I am a fixer guess I was just trying to make the poster feel better my bad! Please keep posting always ! 🙂
 

Edited October 10, 2019 by Reader0108598

[ukbecky]

1 hour ago, smplybcause said:

I doubt it was. They're probably basing this on Caribbean cruises which can, to a certain extent, change directions and find another port. But those Caribbean ports rely on cruises and as such build a lot of piers to handle a lot of ships. Several ports were more or less built by cruise lines. 

 

It makes perfect sense.

When it was determined that the weather was going to make the itinerary impossible, a different itinerary could've been lined up in a safer area - just as cruises suddenly head to Canada if storms are in the Atlantic. Yes, it would be disappointing, but it would avoid this constant scrambling and changing that aggravates the situation.

 

Weather is understandable, confusion is not. Not when sailing is their business.

 

There are many huge shipping ports in the Med, and other parts of Europe, that could have been possible substitutions. Most times we have come into port and shared dock space with freighters, ferries and even military ships all over the world. Devoted cruise terminals are rare.

 

NCL has proven time and again that it knows how to substitute ports. Not sure why they flail about, when weather is involved.