Ozcruiser28

Dear NCL. You have failed miserably if you actually tried to minimise the guest experience of passengers on this cruise of the Norwegian Sun. Your communication to passengers was woeful because there wasn’t any. You should be ashamed that you put your paying customers through this saga. You used toxic substances on board and I believe put the health of your passengers at risk. Your staff had respirators, goggles and overalls while they were using these chemicals. Why would anyone accept your offer of a credit on another cruise in the next 11 months? A lot of us have to save for years to have a nice holiday and you have ruined it by trying to cut costs on your refurbishment. Why would you even think that we would trust you again with our hard-earned money? Your offer is unsatisfactory. Only a full cash refund with additional compensation for other costs incurred would be acceptable. It is shocking that on the penultimate day of the cruise you are finally cleaning up the ship and disposing of all evidence of toxic materials prior to the ship entering US waters. I’ve attached a photo of the chemicals used. We noticed that you disposed of the many empty containers in Encenata and have photographic evidence.

Although it's difficult to shown how dirty the ship is, I've attached 4 photos showing the "horror". Regarding the muster stations and life boats, the area was closed for around 3 days. For some of this time the doors leading onto the deck were locked, so there was no way of getting there in an emergency. The most frustrating thing was that Guest Services didn't have a consistent answer on what to do in an emergency. I was told that they would "probably" open the decks. Someone else was told that the captain would allocate new muster areas and let us know (presumably during the time that he was trying to stop the boat from sinking). Another person was told to go to the lifeboats on the side of the ship that were open. This is not Guest Services fault. I'm sure that they are as much in the dark as we are.

There wasn't any communication before the cruise that work would be going on. There was no communication throughout the cruise about what work would be going on and what would be closed. In fact, the daily newsletter said that the jogging deck (which is the same deck that the muster stations) would be open all day when it was only fully open on a few days.

Yesterday they started scrubbing the inside of the main funnel (it's the 4th photo but hard to see that someone is inside). A lot of white paper-like substance rained down on the deck. It went into the buffet at the back of the ship which they had to eventually close. Who knows what it is or if it was toxic. Again, no information. Just all of a sudden men are climbing into the funnel and stuff starts coming out.

Finally, last night, we received a communication from the Vice President of Passenger Services saying that they "understand that some of these enhancements have affected your experience with us and we apologize for the inconvenience". Their initial offer is a credit of 25% of the cruise fare paid that can be used against another NCL cruise before March 31, 2019. This of course assumes that I ever want to trust NCL again. It's nice that have recognized that the cruise is substandard. They need to quickly come to a better understanding of how substandard it is and make an offer that reflects this.

Thanks to bostongal965 for giving a link to some more photos and to everyone who has given supportive comments.

The cruise is for 15 days and goes from Miami to Los Angeles via the Panama Canal with stops in Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Mexico.

I’ve uploaded 2 photos showing the muster stations closed as well as the doors to the muster stations. When I asked Guest Services what I should do if there was an emergency, I was told that they would “probably” open the deck that was closed. Someone else was told that the captain would allocate new muster locations and advise us (no doubt while he was trying to stop the boat from sinking) and someone else was told to all go to random muster stations on the side of the ship that was open. I don’t know what the point of the mandatory emergency drill was on day 1.

I believe that the proof of great customer service isn’t found when things go right, but found when things go wrong. In this case NCL has failed dismally and should be ashamed of themselves.

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with how the Captain was treated. He was given the opportunity to acknowledge the problems with a group of passengers who are exceptionally upset and he completely misread the mood. My sympathies lie with the passengers who have paid a large amount of money for a cruise that is substandard. The blame for this goes with NCL's Head Office who have scheduled this construction knowing that passengers will be on board the ship. If they accepted responsibility and made some sort of statement to the passengers it might calm the situation down. But as of yet they have not done that.

I am currently on the Sun. We have been advised by ship staff that it is a construction zone. Access to public space is severely limited. There is no access to half the muster stations and lifeboats which seems to be a violation of safety laws. Decks we CAN access are fillled with toxic fumes and dust. Many passengers are suffering from eye irritations. Ship is dirty and unsafe. The Observation Lounge was packed (sitting room for 300 and many standing) with concerned passengers on Sunday and the captain showed no leadership, said safety standards are being enforced (which is blatantly false) and refused to accept responsibility for any issues. He stormed out after about 3 minutes to loud boos from all the passengers. I’d recommend that you reconsider any cruising with NCL.