Do NCL charter flights wait?

[boxedmoon]

On our upcoming Star trip from Reykjavik to Tromso, the disembark start time was updated to 4am.

The NCL flight we just got has us on a 6am charter flight which does not seem like enough time to disembark, transfer, and check into the airline. I called NCL and the air department claims that the plane will wait because it is a charter. We also have the NCL transfer booked.

 

Anyone have experience with NCL charter flights and if they wait for everyone to make it?

[cruiseny4life]

If it's a charter flight, NCL likely knows what's happening. I think you'll be fine since every single person on the flight is going to be in the same....uhhh....plane? 

[boxedmoon]

10 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

If it's a charter flight, NCL likely knows what's happening. I think you'll be fine since every single person on the flight is going to be in the same....uhhh....plane? 

I don't trust NCL too much 😀

Never expected that using the BOGO would have resulted in this situation with a charter that on paper looks like most people would not make it.

[cruiseny4life]

13 minutes ago, boxedmoon said:

I don't trust NCL too much 😀

Never expected that using the BOGO would have resulted in this situation with a charter that on paper looks like most people would not make it.

I don't really blame you...but given it's a charter...are you also using NCL transfers? 

[boxedmoon]

Yes using the NCL transfer. There is also another charter at 7am based on the other site group.

[Asawi]

Tromsö is a very small airport and I'm guessing it's not an international flight (Oslo?) so airport timing isn't as crucial as on a big airport and/or international flight. 

[boxedmoon]

Just now, Asawi said:

Tromsö is a very small airport and I'm guessing it's not an international flight (Oslo?) so airport timing isn't as crucial as on a big airport and/or international flight. 

It's international to Frankfurt.

[Asawi]

Just now, boxedmoon said:

It's international to Frankfurt.

Ok. I guess that's why they fly out so early. Still it should be all right, even though it sounds really tight. 

[julig22]

2 hours ago, boxedmoon said:

I don't trust NCL too much 😀

Never expected that using the BOGO would have resulted in this situation with a charter that on paper looks like most people would not make it.

I'd trust NCL with a charter, assuming you get to the charter flight on time.

Can you give some details? I'm on the following cruise, leaving from Tromso. And still no flight info. I've requested a 1-day deviation but would be OK with a charter instead. What is the flight itinerary? I know when they do charters to Papeete, they leave from LAX.

[boxedmoon]

6 minutes ago, julig22 said:

I'd trust NCL with a charter, assuming you get to the charter flight on time.

Can you give some details? I'm on the following cruise, leaving from Tromso. And still no flight info. I've requested a 1-day deviation but would be OK with a charter instead. What is the flight itinerary? I know when they do charters to Papeete, they leave from LAX.

The charter is for the same day departure from Tromso. With a deviation into Tromso I don't think they'll use it but I could be wrong.

They are using Condor and Wizz airlines for the charters I know of, both going to Frankfurt before another flight back to the US. The Condor charter is a 757-300 with all economy seats to Frankfurt.

[julig22]

4 minutes ago, boxedmoon said:

The charter is for the same day departure from Tromso. With a deviation into Tromso I don't think they'll use it but I could be wrong.

They are using Condor and Wizz airlines for the charters I know of, both going to Frankfurt before another flight back to the US. The Condor charter is a 757-300 with all economy seats to Frankfurt.

Thanks. I wouldn't expect a charter with a deviation, they'll just cancel the deviation request if they choose the charter route. But from my location they can fly me to Tromso from Oslo on the appropriate date, so we'll see.

[boxedmoon]

1 minute ago, julig22 said:

Thanks. I wouldn't expect a charter with a deviation, they'll just cancel the deviation request if they choose the charter route. But from my location they can fly me to Tromso from Oslo on the appropriate date, so we'll see.

Using sites like Kayak instead of Google flight search shows most options with Tromso flights.

[julig22]

13 minutes ago, boxedmoon said:

Using sites like Kayak instead of Google flight search shows most options with Tromso flights.

Oops, not Oslo, it's Helsinki. I've only been able to find 2 flights that would meet NCL's criteria - and those didn't show on Kayak LOL.

[BirdTravels]

4 hours ago, boxedmoon said:

On our upcoming Star trip from Reykjavik to Tromso, the disembark start time was updated to 4am.

The NCL flight we just got has us on a 6am charter flight which does not seem like enough time to disembark, transfer, and check into the airline. I called NCL and the air department claims that the plane will wait because it is a charter. We also have the NCL transfer booked.

 

Anyone have experience with NCL charter flights and if they wait for everyone to make it?

No. If you decide to sleep in or have a leisurely breakfast and miss your transfer, you will be stuck on your own in Norway. 

 

Obviously, if the ship is late and there is noone on the plane, they will not depart. But like pier runners, the plane does not wait for everyone to show up. They leave once the last transfer bus arrives. 

[boxedmoon]

As a follow up to my original question, here is how NCL handled the charter.

 

The day before we were told to go to Bliss for check in. The original plan was for us to be given boarding passes and luggage tags right then, but with the bad internet access they couldn't. This caused long lines and on the go process changes by the officer staff who started handling out numbers. There apparently were some people trying to cut in line with the pre number process people and a few shouting matches happened. Security had to be called. Some lucky people did get their passes and tags then.

 

NCL only had two printing stations setup.

 

The plan changed to they would take your information and deliver the passes and tags later. Which processed the line but deferred the printing until later.

 

Bags were originally supposed to be out by 7PM for NCL to take them to the airport for us and be check through to our first US or Canada destination, but many people had to wait until nearly midnight despite being told we would get everything by 7PM.

 

Next we got told to meet at Aqua at 3:15AM for a 3:30AM disembark and shuttle to the airport. This also didn't go to NCL's plan, with a huge line forming at Aqua and up the main staircase which went in a loop to nowhere. I suspect they were trying to validate shuttle tickets but not everyone had repurchased so ended up telling everyone to just go to deck 5 to actually disembark. No one checked transfer tickets. Also no one was checking that you actually needed to be on the early disembark for the charter flights.

When I asked an officer crew about the useless line at Aqua, they replied/lied it was to wait for the buses to be ready, but we had just seen a large group of people skip Aqua and go to deck 5 earlier. It was a mess.

 

We got to the airport and through security with plenty of time.

There were some corporate NCL employees who were organizing the charter process onboard the ship and charter plane.

 

Overall NCL was way too optimistic about a process to check in about 400 people for two charter flights while onboard. The officer staff seemed to be making it up as they went and did not care that their poor planning wasted many people half a day waiting around and little sleep.

Edited Tuesday at 04:57 PM by boxedmoon

[julig22]

Reverse process, charter flights from Frankfurt to Tromso. 1 arriving 1 day pre-cruise, 1 arriving day of. In both cases, there were people on connecting flights that were delayed, charters waited. But they weren't very long delays, so that probably helped.