Cruise cut short Gem Oct 31, 2017

[Gershep]

The saga continues for those unable to fly back..an estimated 90-100 folks. NCL secured 10 cabins on a Royal Caribbean ship schedule to dock in Barbados on Monday Nov 13, 2017 and will arrive in Ft. Laud Nov 16, 2017. Amtrak back to NYC from there. All rooms now filled, with NCL looking for additional passage for remaining passengers.

 

 

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I know they are giving full refunds and future cruise credit for the cancelled cruise are they doing anything for you guys that are on board now? I might have missed that in this post.

[GUEST080219]

The saga continues for those unable to fly back..an estimated 90-100 folks. NCL secured 10 cabins on a Royal Caribbean ship schedule to dock in Barbados on Monday Nov 13, 2017 and will arrive in Ft. Laud Nov 16, 2017. Amtrak back to NYC from there. All rooms now filled, with NCL looking for additional passage for remaining passengers.

 

 

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How did people qualify as unable to fly? I guess if they knew the options all people not having a strict time schedule would opt for another short cruise.

[buggins0402]

A look at cruisetimetables and the port schedule shows that there isn't much headed in that direction that is scheduled to return to Florida. The mass markets generally RT from San Juan when doing a southern itinerary. The foreign ships go back to other Caribbean ports. The higher end lines are heading to more exotic locations.

[lisaem79]

Jesus just reading this thread is giving me a panic attack.

 

Me too! I'm sad for all those passengers, talk about an unforgettable vacation. I pray this doesn't happen often as I'm heading on my first cruise in 1 week.

[PelicanBill]

Thanks for telling us all about this. Most unusual and interesting to the rest of us!

[WashyWashyHappyHappy95]

Amtrak from Ft. Lauderdale to NYC?! That's like a 24 hour train ride.

[fstuff1]

The saga continues for those unable to fly back..an estimated 90-100 folks. NCL secured 10 cabins on a Royal Caribbean ship schedule to dock in Barbados on Monday Nov 13, 2017 and will arrive in Ft. Laud Nov 16, 2017. Amtrak back to NYC from there. All rooms now filled, with NCL looking for additional passage for remaining passengers.

 

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for those going on the RCL ship, where will these people stay between sat when the Gem leaves, and Mon when the RCL ship arrives??? :confused:

[j2thesea]

Captain just announced that the Gem will not be returning to NYC on the current cruise due to engine troubles. Passengers will disembark in Barbados and take a chartered flight back to New York.

Has anyone had this experience and specifically how they might deal with passengers that can't or don't fly?

 

 

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Thanks for posting this. All of us on the Nov. 21st sailing are holding our breath with all this drama.

 

 

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[Wizpharm2]

for those going on the RCL ship, where will these people stay between sat when the Gem leaves, and Mon when the RCL ship arrives??? :confused:

 

 

 

Need to correct this post...ship leaving on Monday is Holland America arriving in Ft Laud Nov 19.

 

Gem is not leaving Barbados. It will undergo repairs there. NCL has not yet informed those not flying, with or without a ship to transfer to, when they are getting off the Gem. They have discussed leaving folks on board thru Sunday, then moving to a hotel...at whose cost has not been addressed. The timely may depend on when the repairs begin as this will probably might affect services on board (toilets, air conditioning, etc)

 

 

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[Wizpharm2]

How did people qualify as unable to fly? I guess if they knew the options all people not having a strict time schedule would opt for another short cruise.

 

 

 

We are not exactly sure what the process was. We heard they may have run names against a database to check for recent flights, but not sure that is even possible. It appears to really be self identified. Many removed themselves from the list when it appeared they would need an additional 10 days to get home...some folks appear to have jobs they need to get back to!

 

 

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[e150club]

Thought some might be interested in the plan for those currently on the Gem. We are docking around 1am in Barbados. Four flights are scheduled on Friday and three flights for Saturday. All are charters flying to Newark. All guests will need to clear Immigration on board the ship on Friday. Three flights leave Friday morning, one flight Friday evening and three flights Sat. morning. Everyone was assigned a flight/departure time based on post cruise information submitted to the ship on Thursday morning. Luggage needs to be outside you room by 10pm for morning departures.

 

Now here's the kicker, the departure times (leaving the ship) for Friday flights are 3:30am, 5:30am, 6:30am and 5:30pm. Immigration processes starts 1 & 1/2 hours before departure (that's 2am for the first group).

Sat departures at 4am, 5am, and 6am...but these folks will have already cleared immigration on Friday.

 

Breakfast buffet will be available beginning at 1am

 

No news yet for those folks that can't fly.

 

 

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I feel bad for you and everyone on board that is dealing with this. Wow just Wow. Breakfast at 1am thats when I'd be at O'Sheehans getting wings and a beer. Will the bars be open?

[fstuff1]

Need to correct this post...ship leaving on Monday is Holland America arriving in Ft Laud Nov 19.

 

Gem is not leaving Barbados. It will undergo repairs there. NCL has not yet informed those not flying, with or without a ship to transfer to, when they are getting off the Gem. They have discussed leaving folks on board thru Sunday, then moving to a hotel...at whose cost has not been addressed. The timely may depend on when the repairs begin as this will probably might affect services on board (toilets, air conditioning, etc)

 

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thx for the update.

 

im on the 11/21 cruise.

so lets say they start repairs on sun 11/12 and have to be in ny for my cruise on 11/21.

allowing 2 days travel time from barbados to ny, they have 7 days to do the repairs.

 

hopefully, if they needed parts, it got shipped days ago.

[Wizpharm2]

Plans for tomorrow's charter flights have changed. First group will now leave the ship at 3am for a 7:10am flight to JFK. Other groups leave the ship at 4am and 5am for flights to Newark. Most on these passengers have return flights home from those airports....it will be a very long day as flights from Barbados north are over 5 hours, then most have additional flight(s) to get home.

 

The non-flyers not on the Holland American transfer to Ft Lauderdale, will be moved to a hotel on Sunday while the ship is repaired. Once complete, folks will re-board the Gem and set sail for NYC. They expect to get into NYC on the evening of 11/20 or the morning of 11/21....Good news for those on the 11/21 cruise... Happy Turkey Day sailing!

 

 

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[emilysmimi]

We were also on this cruise. We have been up since 245am New York time...we left on the 3rd flight out of Barbados and landed in Newark a little after 2pm. They chartered Air Canada 777’s which were very nice. Flight was smooth. I can’t say the same for after we landed. NCL had a few poor ladies to face 400 cranky passengers and I would describe the process of getting any info as chaotic. The only places they would take people were to the pier or Penn station. They only offered overnight accommodations for people with flights booked for tomorrow. There were several people that had come to the pier on chartered buses which would not return for them until tomorrow. They were told they would be driven to Penn station and then they would have to find their own way home. I felt terrible for them. We had used the Park, sleep, ride plan offered by the Hilton Garden Inn in Ridgefield Park N.J. They picked us up at Newark and drove us back to the hotel. By this time it was after 6pm and we felt that it wouldn’t be safe for us to drive home to Massachusetts so we opted to stay in NJ, at our own expense, better safe than sorry. Sadly, the whole experience was not what you would want for your dream vacation...

[Wizpharm2]

I know they are giving full refunds and future cruise credit for the cancelled cruise are they doing anything for you guys that are on board now? I might have missed that in this post.

 

 

 

On board guests getting 25% future cruise credit.

 

 

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[*Luv2Cruz*]

We were also on this cruise. We have been up since 245am New York time...we left on the 3rd flight out of Barbados and landed in Newark a little after 2pm. They chartered Air Canada 777’s which were very nice. Flight was smooth. I can’t say the same for after we landed. NCL had a few poor ladies to face 400 cranky passengers and I would describe the process of getting any info as chaotic. The only places they would take people were to the pier or Penn station. They only offered overnight accommodations for people with flights booked for tomorrow. There were several people that had come to the pier on chartered buses which would not return for them until tomorrow. They were told they would be driven to Penn station and then they would have to find their own way home. I felt terrible for them. We had used the Park, sleep, ride plan offered by the Hilton Garden Inn in Ridgefield Park N.J. They picked us up at Newark and drove us back to the hotel. By this time it was after 6pm and we felt that it wouldn’t be safe for us to drive home to Massachusetts so we opted to stay in NJ, at our own expense, better safe than sorry. Sadly, the whole experience was not what you would want for your dream vacation...

 

On board guests getting 25% future cruise credit.

 

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So sorry this happened and I hope you all have a safe trip home!:eek::)

[calmpets]

I'm curious why they aren't booking people who won't fly on the NCL Jade. She is supposed to be in Barbados today, and arrives back in Miami on 11/16, according to cruisett.com.

[Wizpharm2]

I'm curious why they aren't booking people who won't fly on the NCL Jade. She is supposed to be in Barbados today, and arrives back in Miami on 11/16, according to cruisett.com.

 

 

 

Was the Jade's route changed due to hurricane damage?

 

 

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[buggins0402]

Cruisetimetables shows her in Bonaire.

[calmpets]

Was the Jade's route changed due to hurricane damage?

 

 

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Cruisetimetables shows her in Bonaire.

You're right, it looks like cruisett is out of date. My bad! ********** shows her in Bonaire today, then Curacao & Aruba before heading back to Miami. So many cruise ship locators, so little time! ;p

[amberjohn]

Hello,

I was also on the GEM and agree with the previous poster. Told to get up at 4am Friday to do paperwork which took less than 5 minutes then told we had to be on supplied transportation at 6:30am for a 10am flight. Waited in line at airport for 75 minutes in long pants and jackets. Went through several checks and then flight left late. Flight went fine but the "hellish day" got bad once we landed. No porters to assist with baggage, had to lug 5 bags (wife and I) throughout many checks and around airport and were told and wait for NCL rep. We were brought upstairs where there was one rep (and many passengers) using a phone to tell us where to go. He had many of us going to the wrong places. We were told we had to go a hotel in Manhattan. Our car was at the Hampton Inn in NJ. We had to take a cab ($80) on our own to the right hotel. When we got to hotel it was 6pm (a 14 hour day). We were to exhausted to drive home so we stayed the night ($130). Lots more details but I'll stop here. Hoping to get some money back, we'll see?

[fastpitchdad]

Hello,

I was also on the GEM and agree with the previous poster. Told to get up at 4am Friday to do paperwork which took less than 5 minutes then told we had to be on supplied transportation at 6:30am for a 10am flight. Waited in line at airport for 75 minutes in long pants and jackets. Went through several checks and then flight left late. Flight went fine but the "hellish day" got bad once we landed. No porters to assist with baggage, had to lug 5 bags (wife and I) throughout many checks and around airport and were told and wait for NCL rep. We were brought upstairs where there was one rep (and many passengers) using a phone to tell us where to go. He had many of us going to the wrong places. We were told we had to go a hotel in Manhattan. Our car was at the Hampton Inn in NJ. We had to take a cab ($80) on our own to the right hotel. When we got to hotel it was 6pm (a 14 hour day). We were to exhausted to drive home so we stayed the night ($130). Lots more details but I'll stop here. Hoping to get some money back, we'll see?

 

Glad you made it back...I can imagine that you are exhausted. I would definitely send NCL the bill for the cab and hotel.

[maggie cruises]

What would you do if you had to fly out on a medical emergency?

 

 

 

Wouldn't they be in a stretcher then?

 

If the medical emergency was one that could not be dealt with on a ship or port then a stretcher it would have to be right?

 

A broken wrist etc that can be set in Barbados isn't an emergency however if serious surgery is needed to fix it and can only be done back in the states do you really think you are boarding the plane like a regular pax or God forbid you had a stroke or heart attack and that's why you are returning ... you are not boarding that plane sitting upright. Do you really think a major medical emergency evacuation patient is sitting in coach?

 

I think not. You are boarding as a medically incapacitated patient hopefully accompanied by a nurse that your travel insurance company sent and hopefully in a medicated state on a stretcher.

 

 

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[maggie cruises]

Glad you made it back...I can imagine that you are exhausted. I would definitely send NCL the bill for the cab and hotel.

 

 

 

Easier to file with your travel insurance.

 

Oh...some pax don't get insurance? They will next time

 

 

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[jm485]

Easier to file with your travel insurance.

 

Oh...some pax don't get insurance? They will next time

 

 

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Why should customers be expected to buy travel insurance to protect themselves against operational issues that are the fault of the cruise line?

 

Simply throwing their hands up and saying “so sad, too bad” is simply not acceptable. The expense of ensuring that customers don’t have economic losses as a result of a company’s operational issues should rest with the company.

 

 

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