Cruise canceled by NCL

[pixiedustdawn]

I spoke with the TA & they have no answers from NCL. It is the NCL revenue department that canceled the booking. They are not in until Monday!

 

 

 

I will let you know on Monday what they say. I am sure it is over booked, over capacity but one would expect in this technology era that their computer system should not be able to take bookings & process cc & issue a reservation after capacity has been reached!

 

 

Is this an agent you know? I personally have never heard of actually booking it, getting a reservation number, being charged in full and then Norwegian canceling.

 

Is your money back on your Credit Card? If not there may be a bigger problem brewing. Did you call Norwegian yourself to inquire about this? Don't wait for Monday!!

[sfaaa]

It is a common practice for airlines and hotels to overbook in anticipation of a few no shows. Not sure if cruise ships use the same business model to max their revenue.

[Single Cruiser]

It's not the ship's total lifeboat capacity that's the issue, it's the number of passengers booked in the cabins that are assigned to your particular lifeboat.

 

If your lifeboat has a capacity of 100 and 100 passengers are already booked into the cabins assigned to that lifeboat, no additional passengers can be booked into a cabin assigned to that lifeboat, even if there are available empty cabins or additional berths available in already booked cabins. If there are 98 passengers already assigned to the lifeboat and there's an empty available cabin in that lifeboat's section at most two passengers can be booked into that empty cabin, even if the cabin has three or four berths.

 

In which case that's just bad design/planning. There's more than enough capacity with all berths filled so at the design stage surely you'd allocate cabins according to max occupancy.

[njhorseman]

In which case that's just bad design/planning. There's more than enough capacity with all berths filled so at the design stage surely you'd allocate cabins according to max occupancy.

 

No...it's an intentional feature of the ships' design. They want three and four passenger cabins available over a broad spectrum of cabin categories and locations to offer passengers the best chance of booking exactly what they want and as a result the number of theoretically available berths in a lifeboat's section can be greater than the lifeboat capacity.

 

The lifeboat capacity problem generally only arises when you're booking close to the sailing date, which is the case with they OP...they were trying to book a 4 passenger cabin only 8 days prior to the cruise. The idea is to give those who book reasonably early the chance to get exactly what they want, while those who book late in the process naturally only have the leftovers available.

Edited December 21, 2014 by njhorseman

[punkincc]

But it does makes me wonder whey they just don't add a few more lifeboats so that all cabins in each zone could be booked to full capacity without exceeding the number of lifeboat berths. I'm sure it is a trade off having to do with ship size and space allocation.

[$hip$hape]

If you get a refund from the TA, call NCL and try to rebook everything the way you want it. They might be better equipt to help you at this late date.

 

Please reply to us and let us know how things worked out.

I'm curious. IF the OP also booked flights (on their own) , would they have lost their flight money?

I don't think the airlines give refunds for cancelled cruises.

Edited December 21, 2014 by $hip$hape

[rvsullivan]

But it does makes me wonder whey they just don't add a few more lifeboats so that all cabins in each zone could be booked to full capacity without exceeding the number of lifeboat berths. I'm sure it is a trade off having to do with ship size and space allocation.

 

And where would they put these lifeboats? Looking at the sides of the ships, the lifeboat decks are full. Each room is permanently assigned a lifeboat station, they don't change from cruise to cruise. This issue is only one for late bookings and that's a risk you take for waiting for the "cheap" fares at the end.

[Single Cruiser]

No...it's an intentional feature of the ships' design. They want three and four passenger cabins available over a broad spectrum of cabin categories and locations to offer passengers the best chance of booking exactly what they want and as a result the number of theoretically available berths in a lifeboat's section can be greater than the lifeboat capacity.

 

The lifeboat capacity problem generally only arises when you're booking close to the sailing date, which is the case with they OP...they were trying to book a 4 passenger cabin only 8 days prior to the cruise. The idea is to give those who book reasonably early the chance to get exactly what they want, while those who book late in the process naturally only have the leftovers available.

 

Nope. Still makes no sense to me. A ship is designed with say 4200 lower berths, it then has a further 400 upper berths thus making a maximum capacity of 4600. As one of the ex Mariners previously posted lifeboat capacity is set to the max 4600+ a percentage about 15%. Thus as maritime law dictates a space is available for all berths, a raft space for all crew.

There would be no sense building additional 3/4berth Cabins if they could never be used.

 

As others have said the OP case is most likely double booking or ALL cabins with 3/4 berths full. Rather than admit an overbooking it's a easy cop out to say lifeboat capacity!!

[triptolemus]

Nope. Still makes no sense to me. A ship is designed with say 4200 lower berths, it then has a further 400 upper berths thus making a maximum capacity of 4600. As one of the ex Mariners previously posted lifeboat capacity is set to the max 4600+ a percentage about 15%. Thus as maritime law dictates a space is available for all berths, a raft space for all crew.

There would be no sense building additional 3/4berth Cabins if they could never be used.

 

As others have said the OP case is most likely double booking or ALL cabins with 3/4 berths full. Rather than admit an overbooking it's a easy cop out to say lifeboat capacity!!

 

Sounds like you've got it all figured out. Tell me, why are you not working as a emergency procedures coordinator in the industry? Seems like you could learn 'em a thing or two about running a cruise ship.

[garycarla]

Nope. Still makes no sense to me....

There would be no sense building additional 3/4berth Cabins if they could never be used.

..

 

This particular case could be a simple overbooking. MAYBE.

 

But, as to running in to issues from time to time. It is so easy to understand, and to think it happens due to poor planning is a big jump.

 

They would be foolish to build out lifeboat capacity assuming that every possible berth in a section would be booked. In reality, a high number of people book a 2 person cabin. If a particular cruise somehow wound up with all the 3 and 4 berth cabins being booked full, then they will run into an over capacity situation. Not going to happen often, but it can happen. It just plain happens.

 

To assume the people building these ships are not doing there job is a big assumption.

[punkincc]

And where would they put these lifeboats? Looking at the sides of the ships, the lifeboat decks are full. Each room is permanently assigned a lifeboat station, they don't change from cruise to cruise. This issue is only one for late bookings and that's a risk you take for waiting for the "cheap" fares at the end.

 

I agree, it's generally not an issue, and there is no way it could be done on existing ships. But are you saying it is impossible to design a ship which would have sufficient life boat space for max capacity in all cabins? They could do it, IF they wanted to. It costs them a few paying customers on each cruise probably, but evidently cost analysis said it was not worth the expense and they are probably correct.

[Single Cruiser]

But it does makes me wonder whey they just don't add a few more lifeboats so that all cabins in each zone could be booked to full capacity without exceeding the number of lifeboat berths. I'm sure it is a trade off having to do with ship size and space allocation.

 

There is plenty of lifeboat space.

 

The stats for the away class are:

 

length oa

324m

beam

39.7m

draught

8.3m

passengers, lower berths

3,969

passengers, maximum

4,941

crew

1,640

main engines

MAN 48V60CR, 2 x 12V and 2 x 14V, total power installed 62,400kW

service speed

21.5 knots

pods

2 x ABB XO, 17.5mW each

bow thrusters

3 x Brunvoll, 3mW each

stabilisers

1 pair Fincantieri, each 21,5m2

lifeboats

12 x 305-person Hatecke

tender boats

6 x 267-person Hatecke

 

So a maximum with all upper berths filled of 4941.

12*305 + 6*267 =5,262 spaces

When built the cabins are allocated a boat accordingly to max occupancy.

[insidecabin]

Don't forget redundancy.

 

The assumption that every lifeboat and raft can be used is NOT part of the plan.

[Single Cruiser]

Don't forget redundancy.

 

The assumption that every lifeboat and raft can be used is NOT part of the plan.

 

Yep. SOLAS has that covered with ensuring life rafts equal to capacity on either side of the ship. Hence why you see dozens of those sealed containers.

 

Anyhow the point I was trying to make which some people just like to argue about on these boards is that why would you design a ship with certain cabins capable of 3/4 passengers but never be able to use that capacity. Speaking with crew the limits they've told me are 1) qty of children - I.e. Not all 3/4 berths can be non-adults (youth club capacity and safety). 2) if a lifeboat is out of service. In most cases the capacity onboard is several hundred below the 5200 which allows them to work/maintenance on lifeboats during a cruise. I.e. 4000 pax means 3 boats could be out of service..

[njhorseman]

Nope. Still makes no sense to me.

 

No disagreement there.

[sljordan1]

I heard from our TA today & we are back on the cruise with an upgrade to a mini suite & they have assigned a room # to us. I have now got a new res#. When I asked them what the reason for the cancelation was, they said they never got a clear explain action?!

 

I was quite sure we wouldn't be going, but we are! So now I am all excited & feel confident that we have our room # 12236 - so we should be good!

[david_sobe]

Congratulations to the OP. Have a wonderful cruise. Very strange there was no explanation. Congrats on the upgrade too. Come back and give us a review !

[garycarla]

I heard from our TA today & we are back on the cruise with an upgrade to a mini suite & they have assigned a room # to us. I have now got a new res#. When I asked them what the reason for the cancelation was, they said they never got a clear explain action?!

 

I was quite sure we wouldn't be going, but we are! So now I am all excited & feel confident that we have our room # 12236 - so we should be good!

 

 

Well, well,well..

 

Lookie there!

[Single Cruiser]

I heard from our TA today & we are back on the cruise with an upgrade to a mini suite & they have assigned a room # to us. I have now got a new res#. When I asked them what the reason for the cancelation was, they said they never got a clear explain action?!

 

I was quite sure we wouldn't be going, but we are! So now I am all excited & feel confident that we have our room # 12236 - so we should be good!

 

Excellent news :)

[jaja]

Good news! (and thanks for the update!)..

[3DBeach]

I'm happy to hear you're going!! Have a great time!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[NMLady]

I heard from our TA today & we are back on the cruise with an upgrade to a mini suite & they have assigned a room # to us. I have now got a new res#. When I asked them what the reason for the cancelation was, they said they never got a clear explain action?!

 

I was quite sure we wouldn't be going, but we are! So now I am all excited & feel confident that we have our room # 12236 - so we should be good!

 

Yay!! And congrats on the upgrade. Nice touch for the stress caused.

[justhere]

There is plenty of lifeboat space.

 

The stats for the away class are:

 

length oa

324m

beam

39.7m

draught

8.3m

passengers, lower berths

3,969

passengers, maximum

4,941

crew

1,640

main engines

MAN 48V60CR, 2 x 12V and 2 x 14V, total power installed 62,400kW

service speed

21.5 knots

pods

2 x ABB XO, 17.5mW each

bow thrusters

3 x Brunvoll, 3mW each

stabilisers

1 pair Fincantieri, each 21,5m2

lifeboats

12 x 305-person Hatecke

tender boats

6 x 267-person Hatecke

 

So a maximum with all upper berths filled of 4941.

12*305 + 6*267 =5,262 spaces

When built the cabins are allocated a boat accordingly to max occupancy.

I have no idea if you are right or wrong but do have a question. Based on what you have posted, if the ship was at full capacity what would the 1,319 crew members do who don't fit on the lifeboats?

[CantanaLobo]

I have no idea if you are right or wrong but do have a question. Based on what you have posted, if the ship was at full capacity what would the 1,319 crew members do who don't fit on the lifeboats?

The crew gets to slum on the liferafts. Those oil drum shaped containers near the lifeboats contain inflatable liferafts.