Star azipod propulsion problem

[susan0000]

Oh and very clearly went over that this includes the port fees that we paid for ports we are no longer going to. There will be no other reimbursement so they are really not giving us 20% because most of that is just to reimburse the port fees! In the real world you pay to be transported somewhere and if you don't get there they reimburse but I guess they don't have to play by the same game. The other poster here can get a refund if he doesn't cruise only because he is Australian and their maritime laws say they have to here in US we don't have that so we are out of luck! Go or loose everything! Thanks NCL

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[pieshops]

The following was emailed to Vivian Ewart last week and she responded to our NCL Star Feb 6th 2017 sailing...

 

** Email I just Received from Vivian Ewert;***

Leon;

At this time the last sailing affected by the Azipod issues is Jan 11, 2017.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Vivian

Vivian Ewart| Vice President, Passenger Services

vewart@ncl.com

305-436-4011 | fax 305-436-4036

NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE

7665 Corporate Center Drive | Miami FL 33126

 

Do not email Vivian if you want any kind of answer

 

Responses from her are scrips taken off a menu of answers, you are not getting an answer for the real person rather a bunch of people in the Philippines whose job it is to answer the company line, same as twitter responses. They only respond what they are told to respond to.

 

If you want to email someone at NCL like Andy Stuart type the first letter of the first name and the last name as follows astuart at NCL dot com. Same applies for anyone in the company

[BettyNL]

The following was emailed to Vivian Ewart last week and she responded to our NCL Star Feb 6th 2017 sailing...

 

** Email I just Received from Vivian Ewert;***

Leon;

At this time the last sailing affected by the Azipod issues is Jan 11, 2017.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Vivian

Vivian Ewart| Vice President, Passenger Services

vewart@ncl.com

305-436-4011 | fax 305-436-4036

NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE

7665 Corporate Center Drive | Miami FL 33126

 

Why does she keep mentioning JANUARY 11, 2017 ??

 

Doesn't anybody else find that strange ?? 😱😱

[Pope Francis]

Why does she keep mentioning JANUARY 11, 2017 ??

 

Doesn't anybody else find that strange ?? 😱😱

 

I am taking that to mean...That is the day that they expect to ship to be fixed...People want to argue, disagree and complain about the post I have listed...I am not the enemy...If you want an answer and/or a different answer...I suggest you get your own from NCL which I am not!!!

[ilovepigs]

I am on the 16 Jan out of Hong Kong and all we have been offered is 200 dollers per cabin, not even per person

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Aburn09]

From what I've read from other posts NCL have contacted passengers sailing on the 16th January too about itinerary changes so it doesn't sound like the Azipod is going to be fixed until after that ?

[Hoya NICU RN]

I am taking that to mean...That is the day that they expect to ship to be fixed...People want to argue, disagree and complain about the post I have listed...I am not the enemy...If you want an answer and/or a different answer...I suggest you get your own from NCL which I am not!!!

I think she just screwed up with the date, and said Jan 11 instead of Jan 16. Our itinerary is definitely changed for the cruise leaving Jan 16, to include skipping Ho Chi Minh City and Thailand, and spending two nights in Singapore instead of one. It seems to me that they expect to finally fix the problem (maybe getting parts?) during the Singapore stay. This would explain why they expect this cruise to be the last affected.

 

Sent from my XT1254 using Forums mobile app

[Aburn09]

This is our old and new itinerary for the 5th January.......extra sea days back to back and two days 8n Singapore and Vietnam :(

[aussie cruzer]

Ncl has posted new itinerary from Hong Kong to Sydney,Australia days ago.

 

No change of ports from Singapore south to Sydney....Ncl must be confident that the ship will be fixed by then.

[Nmwoods]

As someone who was on this ship for the 12/11 sailing ... I do not think that NCL handled the situation to the best of their ability. Some passengers were told one thing while others were told something else. We were told that we COULD NOT GET OFF and still get the refund (by both Miami and customer service staff on board). And because the cruise was NOT cancelled we could not 100% guarantee our insurance would cover it. We ended up stuck on board only to find out later we could have gotten off had we just gotten the LUCKY staffer. But our travel agent continued to be told by NCL Miami that we could not get off and get a refund .. after hours was finally told the truth. I'm sorry that I'm not happy with the 100% refund (which wasn't really 100% - we got all but about 344 back) and 50% off another cruise (which also is slightly misleading based on passengers experience trying to use it). It may have been fine had all staffers on board known what to tell people but we got totally screwed and ended up stuck on the ship for 5 straight days when we could have been off the boat. If I wanted to be on the ship for 5 straight days and didn't want to see any ports, I could have driven 30 miles from my house and gotten on a ship. Not flown 1/2 way around the world. Even more frustrating is that it sounds like if you were loud and obnoxious you may have gotten additional money back and or from this post we learned others got flights back and everything. That is frustrating and not fair for others who are trying to be decent and are just frustrated and sad that a once in a lifetime trip turne out to be not so much that ... and the people who are telling us we should just be happy with what we got ... that is completely disrespectful.

[Son of a son of a ...]

Breakaway October 9, 2016 to Bermuda. They did the same thing when they got everyone onboard and announce a new itinerary during muster drill. We have one more cruise with NCL because other family already bought air tix. Thereafter, we are shifting our travel $$ to Royal. Many new ships and other lines to try!

[susan0000]

As someone who was on this ship for the 12/11 sailing ... I do not think that NCL handled the situation to the best of their ability. Some passengers were told one thing while others were told something else. We were told that we COULD NOT GET OFF and still get the refund (by both Miami and customer service staff on board). And because the cruise was NOT cancelled we could not 100% guarantee our insurance would cover it. We ended up stuck on board only to find out later we could have gotten off had we just gotten the LUCKY staffer. But our travel agent continued to be told by NCL Miami that we could not get off and get a refund .. after hours was finally told the truth. I'm sorry that I'm not happy with the 100% refund (which wasn't really 100% - we got all but about 344 back) and 50% off another cruise (which also is slightly misleading based on passengers experience trying to use it). It may have been fine had all staffers on board known what to tell people but we got totally screwed and ended up stuck on the ship for 5 straight days when we could have been off the boat. If I wanted to be on the ship for 5 straight days and didn't want to see any ports, I could have driven 30 miles from my house and gotten on a ship. Not flown 1/2 way around the world. Even more frustrating is that it sounds like if you were loud and obnoxious you may have gotten additional money back and or from this post we learned others got flights back and everything. That is frustrating and not fair for others who are trying to be decent and are just frustrated and sad that a once in a lifetime trip turne out to be not so much that ... and the people who are telling us we should just be happy with what we got ... that is completely disrespectful.

 

 

I completely agree with you! That's exactly what we have been saying!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Nmwoods]

I completely agree with you! That's exactly what we have been saying!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

finally someone sane !!! Thanks for validating that I'm not crazy to feel this way.

[Level six]

As someone who was on this ship for the 12/11 sailing ... I do not think that NCL handled the situation to the best of their ability. Some passengers were told one thing while others were told something else. We were told that we COULD NOT GET OFF and still get the refund (by both Miami and customer service staff on board). And because the cruise was NOT cancelled we could not 100% guarantee our insurance would cover it. We ended up stuck on board only to find out later we could have gotten off had we just gotten the LUCKY staffer. But our travel agent continued to be told by NCL Miami that we could not get off and get a refund .. after hours was finally told the truth. I'm sorry that I'm not happy with the 100% refund (which wasn't really 100% - we got all but about 344 back) and 50% off another cruise (which also is slightly misleading based on passengers experience trying to use it). It may have been fine had all staffers on board known what to tell people but we got totally screwed and ended up stuck on the ship for 5 straight days when we could have been off the boat. If I wanted to be on the ship for 5 straight days and didn't want to see any ports, I could have driven 30 miles from my house and gotten on a ship. Not flown 1/2 way around the world. Even more frustrating is that it sounds like if you were loud and obnoxious you may have gotten additional money back and or from this post we learned others got flights back and everything. That is frustrating and not fair for others who are trying to be decent and are just frustrated and sad that a once in a lifetime trip turne out to be not so much that ... and the people who are telling us we should just be happy with what we got ... that is completely disrespectful.

 

Totally agree, we were there too and told the same thing. I think the worst part was the lack of good information and communication on NCL's part. You got a different story from every guest service person on board. NO ONE knew anything. And, the story changed as the day went on. So bad.

 

Don't let people tell you how you should feel. Even if they were there, they might have gotten different things. We didn't get anything extra from NCL. No extra compensation, etc. A free cruise, but really.............it was a horrible 4 days at sea(almost everyone was sea sick the ship was rocking so much). PLus, the horrible flu that was on the ship, how fun is that? We had to pay the onboard Doctor almost more than the cruise cost just to get some medicine!!

We paid for a double entry "landing card to Vietnam" only to be left in the middle of no where for one and a half days.

On NCL's own website(and visa central) it said "no visa needed for Sanya", only to be told we did need one or had to take a NCL shore excursion!

So, literally, by the time we paid for Visa, paid for shore excursion, paid for doctor, paid service charge............we still owed money to NCL, even with the "free" cruise credit.

 

And that was our 11 day cruise. 3 days docked in Singapore with at least and hour wait to get on and off the ship due to immigration. 4 horrible sea days. 2 days docked in Chang May in the middle of no where and 1 day in Sanya, where visa needed............really?

 

I also would have gotten off in Singapore and driven/flown or used other means of transportation had I known it was possible, but we were told it was not. We also traveled far at great expense, to see these exciting ports. I was at least lucky to have been onboard before Singapore for 21 days, but for those who had just joined the cruise, like you........I feel really bad for them.

 

Yes, NCL did give us the cruise free, but it would have just been better if they had just given us a refund, paid for airfare to our desired destination (we would have just gone to Bangkok or Hong kong), fixed the ship in Singapore, canceled the next cruise and be done with all this. They are ruining thousands of peoples vacation!! Ours and the thousands that are traveling to get on a ship that is not going where they thought it would.

 

It is not easy to get vacation, plan a trip, pay for airfare, etc and then be told, oops..............not going to these places.

 

I don't care who says what........if you were not there, you do not know!! If you were there and got extra stuff, good for you, I just tried to enjoy what was left of our cruise instead of fighting at the desk all day.

 

I, for one will probably not even use the 50% off, not worth it to use NCL!

Just bad management from top to bottom. Not NCL fault that ship broke, but all their fault on how they handled it.

[Nmwoods]

I knew I liked you from the beginning LevelSix :-)

 

And I'm so sorry you got the flu -- luckily we didn't but we really didn't leave our room much on those rough days ... we just spent our time trying to rebook travel once we learned we could get off the ship.

 

We did end up getting off in Chan May and were able to salvage a couple days but like you said -- that doesn't even begin to cover the issue.

 

And not that it helps but I'm so glad we weren't the only ones who were told we couldn't get off !! And this was our first cruise and more than likely our last (or at least last for a very long time) so we are not planning on using the 50% either (although we heard from other's on board that it isn't even a true 50% off .. that it is only 50% off what you paid for this cruise).

 

The whole thing is just a big mess and I'm hopeful NCL will do something to make it right. I just wrote them a big letter. I tried to be very fair and respectful but it is just not right that some folks got additional money or even more and others didn't.

 

Hope your future vacations are worry and issue free :-)

Edited December 26, 2016 by Nmwoods

[BirdTravels]

Breakaway October 9, 2016 to Bermuda. They did the same thing when they got everyone onboard and announce a new itinerary during muster drill. We have one more cruise with NCL because other family already bought air tix. Thereafter, we are shifting our travel $$ to Royal. Many new ships and other lines to try!

 

Ah,,,, yeah

 

Being from Florida, you probably knew that there were two hurricanes blocking your way and that there was a 100% probability that your itinerary was going to change. Going north right into the Remains of hurricane Mathew didnt make any sense. And going south you had to avoid the second hurricane over bumerda.

 

NCL is not like Royal who sails thier ships into the middle of storms. Resulting in the cancellation of their cruise, stomach turning weather for their passengers, damage to their newest ships, and one burned out azipod and one damaged azipod putting their passengers at risk.

Edited December 26, 2016 by BirdTravels

[chengkp75]

Ah,,,, yeah

 

Being from Florida, you probably knew that there were two hurricanes blocking your way and that there was a 100% probability that your itinerary was going to change. Going north right into the Remains of hurricane Mathew didnt make any sense. And going south you had to avoid the second hurricane over bumerda.

 

NCL is not like Royal who sails thier ships into the middle of storms. Resulting in the cancellation of their cruise, stomach turning weather for their passengers, damage to their newest ships, and one burned out azipod and one damaged azipod putting their passengers at risk.

 

In fairness, the Anthem had a burned out clutch on the azimuthing system of the pod, which did not affect its ability to be used if needed, and not sure what other damage was done to the other pod you are referring to.

[karoo]

This is our old and new itinerary for the 5th January.......extra sea days back to back and two days 8n Singapore and Vietnam :(

 

Only one extra sea day! Unless they've changed it again, but that is the itinerary NCL sent me.

[MargateKev]

Only one extra sea day! Unless they've changed it again, but that is the itinerary NCL sent me.

We have lost a lot of sea miles, gained an extra day in our embarkation port and Phu My and also lost our 3 port days in Thailand.

Would anyone have booked this cruise with that itinerary? [emoji15]

[casofilia]

We have lost a lot of sea miles, gained an extra day in our embarkation port and Phu My and also lost our 3 port days in Thailand.

Would anyone have booked this cruise with that itinerary? [emoji15]

 

Only if it was at a "giveaway" price with lots of perks AND we didn't have to travel to get it!!

[karoo]

Has anyone been able to contact Norwegian above the TA level? I want to talk to someone! No refund of port charges that's rediculous!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

I'm assuming we won't be getting a refund or much of a refund as the port charges doing an overnight in Singapore, longer port times will actually increase the port charges which they will probably write off rather than charge us. If the port charges are less it will probably be refunded as credit onto your onboard account, which is what has happened when we've missed ports before both on NCL and other cruise lines. From memory our initial outlay for port charges for the total cruise with our initial booking wasn't huge.

[karoo]

Only if it was at a "giveaway" price with lots of perks AND we didn't have to travel to get it!!

 

I have to admit I probably still would have! I don't actually mind the new itinerary. (Although I would have liked to visit Koh Samui and Nha Trang - it's certainly not worth stressing over! JMO) Maybe next year when the Jewel does a similar itinerary. The Jewel has a much better layout and more public areas than the Star (JMO). But then again, I might actually get around to getting that Brazilian visa and go back to cruise SA on the Sun. Mind you if the itinerary changes again and we lose more stops I would reconsider. Also if the cruise was shortened due to a dry dock or there is some other reason we couldn't board on the 5th January I would definitely cancel. I would only be the cost of changing the airfare -$100 Aus out of pocket (which would be put into credit on my FF account). I always/usually book free cancellation for my hotels, so as long as I know 48 hours in advance I can cancel with no charge. So if more changes come which I don't like then I'm out. I'll get my 100% refund and change my plans. All easily done online.

[MargateKev]

I'm assuming we won't be getting a refund or much of a refund as the port charges doing an overnight in Singapore, longer port times will actually increase the port charges which they will probably write off rather than charge us. If the port charges are less it will probably be refunded as credit onto your onboard account, which is what has happened when we've missed ports before both on NCL and other cruise lines. From memory our initial outlay for port charges for the total cruise with our initial booking wasn't huge.

I'm still waiting for NCL to advise the exact OBC that will be applied to try and work out what we receive, as it will be somewhat less than 20% of what we paid.

[BirdTravels]

In fairness, the Anthem had a burned out clutch on the azimuthing system of the pod, which did not affect its ability to be used if needed, and not sure what other damage was done to the other pod you are referring to.

 

I will defer to you on the specifics. All four clutches on the port azipod were burned out and the unit had to be shut down. During the repair, they had to replace all of the clutchs on both port and starboard units. I jumped to a conclusion that you would not do that kind of maint on the starboard units on a new ship, under the supervision of the US and Bahamas coast guard, if there wasn't some damage

Edited December 27, 2016 by BirdTravels

[karoo]

I'm still waiting for NCL to advise the exact OBC that will be applied to try and work out what we receive, as it will be somewhat less than 20% of what we paid.

 

 

The NCL rep didn't know for sure as basically he works online booking cruises and trying to help with other information. He was helpful clarifying the visa situation. He thought basically it would be 20% of the original fare paid. If you've been comped it would be 20% of what you actually paid. I used 2 Cruise Next certificates, but they count as cash as I purchased them prior to using them. I asked about the cost of upgrading to a balcony. I would not expect 20% of the cost of the upgrade as I would have purchased this knowing the itinerary was changed. He confirmed that would be right- it's the original fare paid before the change- the initial cost. I'm not overly worried- what ever I get is a bonus as I've had itineraries changed before across all cruise lines and got nothing back. He said he would speak to his supervisor, get it clarified and get back to me. The NCL office is closed still due to public holidays. I'm hoping we don't lose more port days or we have a delayed embarkation, then I would probably cancel and get a refund.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Edited December 27, 2016 by karoo