What time did you get off the NCL Star in Tampa?

[mikenhe]

That does not sound bad at all lol

 

if you live near tampa its fine.

 

a pain if you are getting on it though.

[bitsey66]

I can't figure out how to delete my original post, seeing how I thought I was still on the roll call thread, I'll just erase my post which would've made no sense to your question and say Have a Wonderful Cruise!!! :D

Edited October 15, 2015 by bitsey66

[NMLady]

I can't figure out how to delete my original post, seeing how I thought I was still on the roll call thread, I'll just erase my post which would've made no sense to your question and say Have a Wonderful Cruise!!! :D

 

Posts cannot be edited after 20 minutes. Posts cannot be deleted at all, not even the first minute. That is why you sometimes see a post that simply says Delete.

I like your method better, saying Have a Wonderful cruise.

[NMLady]

yes, our flight is at 10:10. I know we're going to have to hustle, and I plan to. It seems we MAY just make it, if we can truly walk off the ship at 8am and bust a move. ...

 

edit: We just looked and are also on for daylight savings so it looks like we also get that hour. That might be just what we need!!

 

I am not sure what you mean by get the hour. If your flight is 10:10am that will be the time that you are on as well since ship changes time to correspond with port.

[bitsey66]

Posts cannot be edited after 20 minutes. Posts cannot be deleted at all, not even the first minute. That is why you sometimes see a post that simply says Delete.

 

I like your method better, saying Have a Wonderful cruise.

 

 

Ahh no wonder! I did not know that! Thank you! [emoji4]

[NMLady]

Ahh no wonder! I did not know that! Thank you! [emoji4]

 

You're welcome.

[denas]

How often is the port fogged in during Janaury? We are cruising on the Star in January, and specifically took the 3 pm flight rather than the 10:30 flight because I had heard about fog. But now people are saying that sometimes it is even later? Just curious how often fog is an issue

[coffeeaddiction12345]

I am not sure what you mean by get the hour. If your flight is 10:10am that will be the time that you are on as well since ship changes time to correspond with port.

 

 

It means that it will be 2:00AM for 2 hours becayse it's daylight savings time ending. So the cruise will be bringing us back to tampa, it will be 2am, then it will be 2am again-- but the ship will obviously still be driving along for that 'extra' hour and will arrive (hopefully!) earlier because the clocks rolled back. In other words, we travel the same distance but receive an extra hour due to daylight savings.

Edited October 20, 2015 by coffeeaddiction12345

[Heartgrove]

It means that it will be 2:00AM for 2 hours becayse it's daylight savings time ending. So the cruise will be bringing us back to tampa, it will be 2am, then it will be 2am again-- but the ship will obviously still be driving along for that 'extra' hour and will arrive (hopefully!) earlier because the clocks rolled back. In other words, we travel the same distance but receive an extra hour due to daylight savings.

 

Not intending to be a naysayer but I'm pretty sure that would be not the case.

 

Arrival time in a port is more complicated than driving a car to a destination. Longshoremen are scheduled for work, NCL pays for the time the ship is docked, an opportunity to conserve fuel, the Harbor Pilot needs to come aboard, transportation for the pilot, Customs officials scheduled time, etc.; and the list goes on. Scheduled time is usually a scheduled time.

[mousecrazy]

Here's a link to the "Traffic List" for the Tampa Bay Pilots...you can see the time when the pilots "pick up" the Star for routing into the port. It's usually 3:15am from what I've noticed...not sure why 10/25 is different? Maybe has something to do with the recent azipod problems??

 

http://tampabaypilots.com/traffic/

Edited October 22, 2015 by mousecrazy

[Homosassa]

It means that it will be 2:00AM for 2 hours becayse it's daylight savings time ending. So the cruise will be bringing us back to tampa, it will be 2am, then it will be 2am again-- but the ship will obviously still be driving along for that 'extra' hour and will arrive (hopefully!) earlier because the clocks rolled back. In other words, we travel the same distance but receive an extra hour due to daylight savings.

 

Ah, no. When a ship has a time zone change between the last port and the debarkation port and there is sea day between the two ports, the time change will usually occur the night between the last port of call and the sea day, not the night between the sea day and the debarkation port.

 

You will not gain the extra hour the night before debarkation and any delays will not have an one hour cushion for the time change as it will have already occurred on board ship.

 

That being said, besides fog, there is currently quite a bit of road construction on both the interstates and surface roads in the Tampa area that regularly turns road travel into an exercise in patience. Weekends are not free from the traffic problem. A Sunday drive down to the port area from our house to the port area which would normally take about 20 minutes from passing the airport to the port area stretched out to 45 minutes and we were going to a business about 15 minutes from the actual dock area.

 

Traveling through the area early in the morning (before 7 AM) is not a guarantee of avoiding the back ups. There has been complete closure of portions of the interstates for construction with rerouting of the traffic through the surface roads. Fun times are had by all.

 

Tampa Airport recommends arriving 90 minutes before flight time to allow check in, travel to the terminal areas and going through security.

[coffeeaddiction12345]

Just wanted to give an update in case anyone finds their way to this thread, I know I had looked high and low for information and it was hard to come by.

 

We arrived this morning at about 6:20AM to the pier in Tampa, fully docked. We were in Spinnaker at 6:00am, and we were 6th in line to disembark. NCL reps told us in spinnaker that customs officials were on the ship already around 7.

 

At 7:15 the cruise director said we would probably be cleared in about an hour, most people (passengers) thought we would be off the boat by 8. However, it was truly 8:15 when the doors opened for us to leave (no announcement was made by the CD, though I assume he made the announcement shortly after we got off). We were off the boat and through customs right away. No lines since we were among the first off the ship. We hopped in a cab around 8:25 and we were sitting at our gate (checked in, and through security) at 9:04am. We ran in to no traffic, no construction, and the drive was extremely quick. I was actually very shocked we made it and even more shocked we had time to wait around.

 

I would never repeat the experience, nor do I advocate people getting flights that early, but we made it with time to spare. However, we never would have made it if we weren't one of the first people in line in spinnaker. It was PACKED and we were very thankful to have gotten there early enough to not be in the very, very long line that had formed.

 

Overall, it was helpful that Southwest Airlines has express check in in Tampa, and their security line was very efficient. I'll never risk before noon again, though!

Edited November 2, 2015 by coffeeaddiction12345

[Ron_L]

I'm glad that it worked out for you! How was your cruise?

[coffeeaddiction12345]

I'm glad that it worked out for you! How was your cruise?

 

Thanks Ron! The ports were wonderful, but I must admit the service was the worst service I've had on NCL yet (this was my 5th cruise with them). I was in the elevator with the cruise director and everyone on the elevator was complaining to him about the terrible service, and he said they will be meeting about it so I hope it improves for your cruise! It had mostly to do with bar lines, and service at the free restaurants. Every port we went to, people were complaining to each other about the service. It was remarkably bad. Still had a great time though!

 

I see you are going in 2 weeks- be sure to check out the comedian (Fred Beville), he was wonderful. I will post my dailies soon for the cruise, I know others were interested in them. Also note: they also cancelled ALL dining reservations that were made in advance (some sort of glitch in their system), so be sure to double check any of yours you made online ahead of time.

Edited November 2, 2015 by coffeeaddiction12345

[Ron_L]

Thanks Ron! The ports were wonderful, but I must admit the service was the worst service I've had on NCL yet (this was my 5th cruise with them). I was in the elevator with the cruise director and everyone on the elevator was complaining to him about the terrible service, and he said they will be meeting about it so I hope it improves for your cruise! It had mostly to do with bar lines, and service at the free restaurants. Every port we went to, people were complaining to each other about the service. It was remarkably bad. Still had a great time though!

 

I see you are going in 2 weeks- be sure to check out the comedian (Fred Beville), he was wonderful. I will post my dailies soon for the cruise, I know others were interested in them. Also note: they also cancelled ALL dining reservations that were made in advance (some sort of glitch in their system), so be sure to double check any of yours you made online ahead of time.

 

Thanks! I hope they listen and the service issues improve! Also thanks for the heads-up on the reservations.

 

We will check out the comedian. We love going to comedy clubs around here.

 

I'll look forward to seeing the dailies!

[JimeBeMe]

Thanks Ron! The ports were wonderful, but I must admit the service was the worst service I've had on NCL yet (this was my 5th cruise with them). I was in the elevator with the cruise director and everyone on the elevator was complaining to him about the terrible service, and he said they will be meeting about it so I hope it improves for your cruise! It had mostly to do with bar lines, and service at the free restaurants. Every port we went to, people were complaining to each other about the service. It was remarkably bad. Still had a great time though!

 

I see you are going in 2 weeks- be sure to check out the comedian (Fred Beville), he was wonderful. I will post my dailies soon for the cruise, I know others were interested in them. Also note: they also cancelled ALL dining reservations that were made in advance (some sort of glitch in their system), so be sure to double check any of yours you made online ahead of time.

 

Glad you made the flight - I was thinking of you when they had not cleared anyone but self walk offs by 9:00. That was definitely one of the slowest clearances I have seen in a half dozen cruises out of Tampa.

 

And I agree with everything else you said. The pain and suffering of understaffed, overworked bartenders and wait staff was present all the time. Waits in the Spinnaker lounge for a drink were frequently in the 20-30 minute range. Incredibly, we were told time and again that they were out of this (limes) or that (Guinness) by bartenders too lazy to look for the desired item or too overworked to spend the time to reach in a fridge. They might as well have made the drinks by the pitcher and lined up the drinks they wanted to sell on the bar and worked on the honor system (think rum punch on an all you can drink catamaran excursion).

 

We did not have UBP, so my personal pain was that after lousy bar service, I still had to pay outrageous prices and that big fat 18% tip.

 

NCL has created a service issue with the UBP promotion that ends up affecting almost everybody on board in some way or another. We were told that they have fewer bar staff by about a half dozen and fewer drink servers/waiters by about 10 than they had before leaving the Baltic too. Management on board (hotel director, food and beverage manager, assistant beverage managers) are well aware of the problems. They do not have solutions.

 

As we made our way off the ship in Tampa November 1, we were told of a chilling situation - the November 1 cruise had over 2,000 guests signed up for the UBP (ours had close to 1200). I guess misery loves company - and there will be a lot of that when this group comes back.

[lovemydentist]

Just wondering what time people were able to disembark the ship in Tampa (Star).

 

We have a very early flight- not our choice but the flight was a gift. We can't afford to change it so we're crossing our fingers we'll make it, just trying to get a sense of exactly what time you were cleared to disembark? We plan to wake up at 5am to wait in line and be among the first off.

We didn’t dock until 8:00 am. Not sure an early flight would be advisable.

[mousecrazy]

 

 

As we made our way off the ship in Tampa November 1, we were told of a chilling situation - the November 1 cruise had over 2,000 guests signed up for the UBP (ours had close to 1200). I guess misery loves company - and there will be a lot of that when this group comes back.

 

 

Sorry to be a little off topic...but the double occupancy capacity of the Star is 2344, so 2000 UBP doesn't sound likely.

Edited November 2, 2015 by mousecrazy

[coffeeaddiction12345]

Ron and others, I posted dailies for the cruise plus a small review :)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2276094

[JimeBeMe]

Sorry to be a little off topic...but the double occupancy capacity of the Star is 2344, so 2000 UBP doesn't sound likely.

 

I understand your skepticism (and perhaps share it, as we were fed a line or two every now and then with our dinners and drinks). But so you know the source, it came from the assistant restaurant manager working in the restaurant where we had dinner the last evening, and was confirmed with a nod and a brief comment from the hotel director as we walked off the gangway. Nobody used exact figures, though, and the HD's comment could have been "Closer to 2000 than 1000 people on UBP next week". (I believe the restaurant manager said "800 more than we had this week" and we were told earlier at Guest Services that they had over 1200 with UBP on our cruise.)

 

I for one hope they figure out how to serve everyone in a timely manner, whether they have UBP or not. It's what will set NCL apart if they can pull it off.

[jpcdds6]

I understand your skepticism (and perhaps share it, as we were fed a line or two every now and then with our dinners and drinks). But so you know the source, it came from the assistant restaurant manager working in the restaurant where we had dinner the last evening, and was confirmed with a nod and a brief comment from the hotel director as we walked off the gangway. Nobody used exact figures, though, and the HD's comment could have been "Closer to 2000 than 1000 people on UBP next week". (I believe the restaurant manager said "800 more than we had this week" and we were told earlier at Guest Services that they had over 1200 with UBP on our cruise.)

 

I for one hope they figure out how to serve everyone in a timely manner, whether they have UBP or not. It's what will set NCL apart if they can pull it off.

Is the Star the only ship having this degree of service issues? It has to be due to low staffing via transfers to other ships. They are in the hospitality industry, and to allow this type of problem to continue would be inexcusable. I hope they are rectifying the situation as I type this.

[gpb11]

I for one hope they figure out how to serve everyone in a timely manner, whether they have UBP or not. It's what will set NCL apart if they can pull it off.

 

Well, either they're going to adjust things or customers will go elsewhere.

 

Hundreds, if not thousands, of college town bars handle packed house crowds regularly. It's not rocket science; it's a matter of staffing, training, and logistics. Whomever was in charge of this failed miserably to understand his/her clientele and anticipate the demand.

 

The Star during the week of Oct 19th was my first NCL experience. Overall I had fun, but there were severe issues they need to sort out. If it appears they're actually improving, I may consider giving them a second try.

 

Time will tell, either they'll right the ship or do substantial harm to their reputation.

[coffeeaddiction12345]

Well, either they're going to adjust things or customers will go elsewhere.

 

Hundreds, if not thousands, of college town bars handle packed house crowds regularly. It's not rocket science; it's a matter of staffing, training, and logistics. Whomever was in charge of this failed miserably to understand his/her clientele and anticipate the demand.

 

The Star during the week of Oct 19th was my first NCL experience. Overall I had fun, but there were severe issues they need to sort out. If it appears they're actually improving, I may consider giving them a second try.

 

Time will tell, either they'll right the ship or do substantial harm to their reputation.

 

Yeah, we were/are NCL loyalists, but we will be trying another line next time. I have NO DOUBT the bigger mega ships aren't having these issues (at least to this degree) - I think they're hanging the smaller ships out to dry.

[Rede411]

I was on Breakaway in September and only once did I have to wait for Bar service but that was during peak dinner times. You would think with a smaller ship, there would be better service (this being the reason why some cruisers adore the smaller ships vs. the Mega ones) I will be headed on Star in February. I am hoping the infinite wait times for Bar service are addressed by then. From what I've read from reviews it can be hit or miss.....