dmwnc1959

5 minutes ago, Ashlynkat said:

Another point that has not been mentioned is that we were traveling through the Gulf of Guinea which, like the waters by Somalia, has significant piracy issues. We found out yesterday that the ship had been carrying extra security personnel and arms as safety precautions. The Gambian navy went out to meet us yesterday to retrieve the ammunition as we are now out of danger and there are apparently restrictions about cruise ships carrying these things. 
 

I don’t know how much the piracy risk played into the Captain’s decision back in São Tomé but it’s worth noting. 

Wow, imagine that, a ship sailing through pirate infested water so dangerous that it required extra security and ammunition? Maybe they should’ve canceled the entire itinerary. 

10 minutes ago, blackwing said:

You're right.  People take non-cruise sponsored excursions all the time.  But 99% of those people make sure that whatever non-cruise sponsored excursion they take will get them back to the boat on time. 

And 100% of passengers have zero control of whether or not they get back to the ship on time, whether it’s booked through the cruise line or independently. Anything can happen from a vehicle breakdown to extreme inclement weather. Once the passenger steps off of the ship, everything is outside of their control.

1 minute ago, Menocchio said:

I've had some Senegalese food. It's amazing. I'd definitely go there if I ever have the chance. But I might never have the chance.

 

I might go to the Bahamas someday just because I'm bored and it's cheaper and easier to get to than even many places in the continental USA.

I’ve had some great Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, too, might go back to Philadelphia but I heard it’s dangerous. 

7 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

...and ships will continue to sail at over 100% capacity....and more people will book NCL sponsored excursions instead of booking independent excursions.  

Of course people book NCL shore excursions, of course ships are sailing at 100% capacity, and of course, despite the fact that you may want to deny this, people book independent shore excursions even in places like Alaska. That’s a simple fact.

6 minutes ago, Woofbite said:

Sorry, but I disagree.  You can't cure stupid and adults who can't keep track of time and circumstances probably should just stay sequestered at home and avoid venturing out into the real world.

 

 

So, based on this, you know all of the details of exactly what happened while they were out on their shore excursion, you know exactly why it was late, and you know exactly why they couldn’t make it back to the ship. How nice of you to make blanket condemnation of people that do non-cruise line sponsored shore excursions. 

15 minutes ago, thistimeplease said:

Not sure where you are reading that people believe NCL is wrong.  I have read countless articles regarding this and so far most people who have commented feel NCL did the right thing.  It is stated numerous times that if someone isn't back to the ship on time the ship will leave you there.  If you can't follow directions don't leave the ship.  Sorry I'm with NCL on this.

It’s been stated here that people also believe that every circumstance is different. The all-aboard time for the Bahamas or Jamaica is different than whatever circumstances led to the this incident. The next port of call could’ve easily been delayed, and as it was eventually canceled due to inclement weather.
 

Not falling for the NCL corporate washing their hands of this. The appear to feel somewhat responsible by reimbursing the passengers of all their expenses of catching up to the ship.

😁

Just now, Menocchio said:

Gambia and Senegal are also rated as more safe than many Caribbean countries. 

Which explains why sooooo many people are just flocking to those countries rather than go to the Caribbean. It’s so much safer. 😎

18 minutes ago, srz948 said:

We were on Celebrity last May and took an all day excursion from Warnemunde to Berlin… there was NO WAY we weren't booking thru Celebrity… to save a few bucks. 

Yes, a six-hour roundtrip train ride through Germany and a 7-square mile island off of the coast of Africa are exactly the same. 

1 minute ago, Menocchio said:

Sao Tome and Principe has a Level 1 travel advisor from the US State Department. The Bahamas is Level 2. Jamaica is Level 3. The Mexican state where Acapulco is located is Level 4.

 

We point and laugh at Caribbean pier runners. It's an entire genre on YouTube and TikTok. Those people are also being "abandoned", and often in less safe countries than Sao Tome. How long should the captain have waited for them? 

 

Or do they wait only in Africa because westerners think of Africa as a writhing morass of cannibal warlords and think of the Caribbean as friendly beaches with steel drums? 

The Bahamas, Jamaica, and Mexico are a stone’s throw from the US. 
 

If I miss the ship in the Caribbean or Mexico  I can simply catch a routine daily scheduled flight back to the US. 

São Tomé has zero diplomatic representation from the US to assist if passengers are left behind. Next stop, Angola. And it’s not just São Tomé, but the subsequent countries that the passengers had to transit through in order to get to the ship.
 

The Caribbean isn’t Europe and isn’t Africa. These things simply cannot be compared as equals. 

23 minutes ago, MommaBear55 said:

But would you have risked returning late by taking a non cruise sponsored excursion? 

People do this all the time. Quite literally, all the time. On tons of different itineraries all over the world. People have even died doing non-cruise sponsored excursions.
 

Maybe instead of abandoning his passengers, the captain and the cruise line could’ve fined the passengers, or removed them at the next board of call, or done something other than leaving them behind on an island to then be forced to transit 7 more mid-African countries to catch up with a ship.
 

There absolutely has to be circumstances where the cruise line has to put the safety of those passengers first, regardless. Oh, wait, they had the shareholders to think of. 

9 minutes ago, gjr said:

If NCL waited for them here, will they now need to wait for every late passenger in every port?  Do this once, and every passenger will expect the ship to wait for them everywhere. 

 

Sorry, not sorry.  NCL was absolutely right

I think it would be different if this was in the Bahamas, or Australia, or Bermuda, or Italy, or somewhere that wasn’t bordering Third World country status. Africa is not safe by any stretch of the imagination. Yes, these people were on an independent tour. NCL was wrong. NCL put their passengers in danger. NCL favored the almighty dollar. NCL abandoned their passengers. 
 

I’m not an NCL cheerleader, I’m not an NCL shareholder, and I’m not an NCL corporate shill. And in the court of non-Cruise Critic public opinion, NCL is guilty. 
 

GUILTY. 

😎

Just now, BirdTravels said:

You are basing you numerous assumptions on a click-bait news article which is probably only 25% factual. 

Doesn’t matter. That’s what the vast majority of the public will see. That NCL has failed.

1 minute ago, sammee said:

Wow, unbelievable. Just saw this too. They created their own situation but yet they insist on finger pointing and blaming NCL.

6 minutes ago, gjr said:

And the Today hosts sure tried to play that NCL was the bad guy.  

And that’s all it takes in the court of public opinion. 
 

NCL has utterly failed. 

NCL is taking a huge black eye for this. Huge. It’s all over the news. Regardless of how you feel about the media's reporting of this, NCL looks like the bad guy. Bad. 
 

Despite of what we know, despite how informed we may be, and despite of what we may think as morally or ethically right, or right based on the shareholders (really, really, the shareholders?), in the court of public opinion they are guilty of absolute abandonment. Guilty of possibly putting their passengers in grave danger. And guilty of absolutely failing on their job to keep passengers out of harm’s way.

Guilty. Guilty. GUILTY.

NCL is looking like a bunch of corporate goons. 
 

😎

1 hour ago, deejuliet said:

I have not done the gold panning tour so I cannot speak to that. However, I have gone to Mendenhall glacier. We did a combined Mendenhall and whale watching trip and we loved it! On the whale watching trip we saw lots of fins, tails and backs and it was very cool. At Mendenhall we went to the visitors center and walked the trail to the glacier. We saw a bear. on. the. trail!!! That was our favorite part!

I’ve also never done the panning for gold excursion, just really not my thing. I have been lucky enough to have cruised Alaska five times already and did the Mt. Robert’s tramway, the Gold Creek salmon bake, a whale watching cruise, as well as glacier flight-seeing out to the Taku Glacier Lodge for a salmon bake, and one helicopter tour that actually landed on the Taku glacier where we got out and hiked around a bit. Some of that was really freaking expensive. There’s a ton of stuff to do even if it’s just walking around town. Try and enjoy one of the local restaurants if there’s not too many ships in town. Have two more cruises booked for Alaska - one in 2025, the other in 2026. 
 

https://alaskafjordlines.com/wp-content/uploads/onlinewalkingmap.pdf

You could probably also just go to YouTube and search Juneau Downtown Walking Tour and come up with some really good videos. This one is sort of a walking tour with no commentary but some captioned descriptions, always find these kind of nice.

😁

7 hours ago, Cruisergal1981 said:

Would you recommend going to Mendenhall glacier on our own or doing a panning for gold (no salmon bake) tour? I’ve very torn on both. Help! 

I don’t know if you’ve read this recent thread about access to Mendenhall through public transportation or Uber. It’s worth a read. You may want to sign up for a ship tour.
 

Also, linked below is a page from the NCL Shore excursions (I’m not sure which cruise on you’re taking) in Juneau to give you an idea of what’s available based on your own personal interests. 
 

https://www.ncl.com/shore-excursions/search?destination=Alaska+Cruises&port=JNU&sort=price&sortOrder=asc&perPage=12

2 hours ago, Candycane10 said:

We will be on the Discovery Princess May 4th from Vancouver.  I am prone to sea sickness.  Hoping that the seas will be calm in the inside passage.  Isn’t this usually the case.  Calmer than the Caribbean?  
Thanks in advance Crusin Candy

If you’re able to take any kind of motion sickness medicine like Bonine - which is basically a small, chewable, ‘cherry’ flavored tablet - I’ve always started taking these a full 24 hours before I even get on the airplane to fly down to the port. By the time I get on the ship it’s well into my system, and the effects of sea sickness (for me at least) are always significantly reduced. 

Just now, erisajd said:

but it prob gonna be cloudy and or raining!  

It is Alaska! 😉 Prepare and pack (rain parka, umbrella, layers, and ‘waterproof’) for the worst, hope for the best. Of the times I’ve been to Ketchikan it rained once, and it was a torrential downpour. But it didn’t last. And of the times I’ve been to Glacier Bay and College Fjord it only rained once. As the old saying goes for Alaska, if you don’t like the weather wait 15 minutes. 🤣

8 minutes ago, jeh10641 said:

Thanks for the clarification. That looks like a great voyage.

Jim

Fingers crossed, and weather cooperating, it’ll be fairly impressive. I’ve cruised Alaska five times - on a repositioning cruise; northbound, southbound, and roundtrip from Vancouver; and one cruise a long time ago on Cruise West, that started in Juneau and ended in Victoria visiting some pretty amazing places most cruises ships never go to. The Canadian Inside Passage was the most memorable. 
 

😁

17 minutes ago, jeh10641 said:

Is the pink line the route? It looks like it is going through land.

Jim

 
It’s a very, very narrow passage mostly used by inland ferries, small boats, and on rarer occasion smaller cruise ships. I took a screenshot from Marine Traffic and used red arrows to point towards the Canadian Inside Passage.

In the first image Prince Rupert is circled in the upper left corner, and Grenville Channel (the dotted line) leads away from that heading basically southeast. 

The second screenshot has Bella Bella circled in the Canadian Inside Passage area that Noordam will navigate. 
 

Bumping an old thread for any current updates on Noordam. Any large-scale drydockings or refurbishments planned in the next two years? 

I did a little mock up of the track I remember us doing years ago through the Canadian Inside Passage from Prince Rupert. I still remember this part of it quite vividly. One main aspect of my job in the US Navy was navigational charts. Also included here is the text from Holland-America for comparison.

“The ship overnights in Prince Rupert before scenic cruising in Greenville Channel, past the first nation’s village of Bella Bella, Johnstone Strait and Seymour Narrows.”

The third image would be a rough estimate of the transit from the end of the Seymour Narrows to Nainamo, Vancouver, and Seattle.

Overall track 

😁

5 minutes ago, zqvol said:

We’ve done the 26 Glaciers tour. Very nice, but I would book directly and not through the ship as the price is about double. 
 

BTW there is nothing in Whittier, and it is too far and difficult to go anywhere else. 

I’ll definitely have to take a look! Is there a link you can provide? 

So, this is new stop for NCL? I know Whittier is already pretty well established for the likes of Princess Cruises and Holland-America.
 

Looking at what opportunities you may think would be available (even with independent tour operators) for those doing an NCL B2B where the turn-around day is in Whittier. Right now there is nothing at all is showing up on the general NCL Shore Excursions page for any itinerary that starts or ends there (i.e. Asia, Hawaii, Panama Canal, Alaska). 
 

For turnaround guests (5am-8pm) it looks rather limited. PCL and HAL sites show these and they look really promising. Hoping NCL will offer these as well. Shame they couldn’t go into Anchorage for the day. 
 

8 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

It's weird...those that plan have to pay more. Oh well. Tis the world we're in. I know I'm blessed to be able to book two to three months out. I can't think of any place a cruise ship could take me that I (personally) would classify as rare, exotic, unique, or once-in-a-lifetime. I'm sure plenty of folks disagree with me. I can, however, think of many land-based adventures that I would classify using those terms. Well, except for once-in-a-lifetime. That term is far too overused. It seems everything is now one of those. But, I totally understand your point. Maybe when I'm seventy, a trip to Antarctica will be considered that for me. And, I'd be upset if the highlight of the trip was suddenly taken away (after final payment, of course).

The Northwest Passage, Antarctica, Nile River, Solar Eclipse cruises, the Galápagos Islands or Easter Island, a circumnavigation of Australia, the Amazon River, Arctic cruises for the Northern Lights, World Cruises visiting ports for the first time ever, even the Panama Canal can be a once-in-lifetime cruise for many people. Many take part in these rare, exotic, or unique event cruises, anniversary cruises celebrating a cruise line’s legacy, even a rare rendezvous cruise of a line’s entire fleet (i.e. Cunard), etc. 

My cruise next year on Norwegian Jade is a once-in-a-lifetime event for me, spending 32-nights from Florida through the Panama Canal, all the way up the California coast to Whittier, Alaska, then back down to Vancouver. 

And the cruise I’ve booked for 2026 on Holland-America is most definitely rare. For the Alaska Inside Passage the vast majority of every single ship for every Alaska season transits either on the outside of Vancouver Island or (once clear of the Johnstone Strait) the open waters of the inside passage getting to Ketchikan and beyond. This cruise is a rare transit of the entire Canadian Inside Passage narrows of the Glenville Strait between Prince Rupert, BC then south towards Bella Bella and Goose Bay. That in of itself is a very rare cruise for any mass-market ship. 
 

So, in both incidences of these cruises, I’ll be booking flights and hotel a year out from departure or as soon as they become available. 
 

It’s nice that Norwegian gave at least one year notice on most all of these cancellations, saved a lot of people from a lot of headaches.