Cruise cut short Gem Oct 31, 2017

[GateGuardian]

Must have been a terrible experience considering the highlight of the travel from the posts seem to be the Air Canada flight, which is at best a mediocre airline.

[maggie cruises]

I'll take that bet.

 

Insurance companies don't earn profits by just paying out left and right.

 

 

 

No they earn profits by investing in real estate. Everyone knows that or they should know that

 

 

 

However, a situation such as this current Gem fiasco is why you need insurance

 

Payout might be very small, perhaps for a one night hotel stay if you missed your flight once back in NYC for example

 

In 2004 I was delayed returning by 4 days due to a hurricane

 

On the day I was due to return which was a Saturday I had a relative picking me up at JFK at zero cost to me as a favor

 

on the Tuesday when I finally returned midday and my relative was at his job of course, I had to get a limo that fit 6

 

$175 one way

 

Insurance covered it as well as the phone calls I needed to make from my cabin to arrange this. I had a cell at the time that did not have international capabilities but due to my family dynamic I needed to be sure an SUV limo was waiting for us

 

 

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Edited November 13, 2017 by maggie cruises

[NLH Arizona]

ChiefMike, thank you for a play by play account, without drama. Glad you made it home safely and that you get your much needed rest and food. I agree that 25% should be increased. You said, you think your cruise ended on the 7th, leaving 4 bad days (36% of the cruise), thus I feel that 50% would have been a fair offer, but I'm sure others would think it should be more and some less. It was totally unfortunate and hopefully NCL learned from their mistakes and, God forbid, if it ever happens again, they will handle some of the things differently.

[jenn_m]

As far as compensation goes, 25-50% may be fair, but it should be a refund, NOT a discount off of a future cruise. I think a lot of these people will be hesitant to cruise again in the future and they should be refunded for the portion of the vacation that they didn't get.

[fstuff1]

As far as compensation goes, 25-50% may be fair, but it should be a refund, NOT a discount off of a future cruise. I think a lot of these people will be hesitant to cruise again in the future and they should be refunded for the portion of the vacation that they didn't get.

that makes no sense from a business perspective.

if u think they're not coming back, why give them a refund? thats lost revenues.

 

giving them a discount on a future cruise is killing 2 birds at once.

u keep the $ they gave you already, and entice them to come back

[jenn_m]

that makes no sense from a business perspective.

if u think they're not coming back, why give them a refund? thats lost revenues.

 

giving them a discount on a future cruise is killing 2 birds at once.

u keep the $ they gave you already, and entice them to come back

 

Ok, but even if those people don't come back as a future customer, others are watching. I'm a frequent cruiser and probably won't cruise on NCL again due to the way this is being handled.

[ColeThornton]

Ok, but even if those people don't come back as a future customer, others are watching. I'm a frequent cruiser and probably won't cruise on NCL again due to the way this is being handled.

 

 

That's always your choice to do with your vacation dollars as you see fit. However, since you watch what NCL does, as do many others, are you aware of all the excellent things that NCL did to help people during the devastating time period of those back to back hurricanes?

 

Point being, all of the cruise lines have done things to tick off some portion of the traveling populace and all of them have done very good things.

 

Cheers.

[NLH Arizona]

Ok, but even if those people don't come back as a future customer, others are watching. I'm a frequent cruiser and probably won't cruise on NCL again due to the way this is being handled.

People will forget about this, when the cost of the cruise is priced where they want it to be.

[marilyn_g]

I do have empathy for those who have a sincere fear of flying or medical difficulty with long flights. For that reason alone cruising is a wonderful way to travel and see more of the world.

 

For me personally, I've been encouraged by reading what NCL has done for those who were on this cruise. I remember a few years ago reading horror stories of folks stuck on Carnival ships under very uncomfortable conditions. Friends who didn't cruise loved to point out those stories about it to me. It's encouraging to me to hear what NCL is doing to get them safely back to their port of departure even with a super long day of traveling.

Not all.

[zqvol]

Passengers experienced a broken ship and broken rescue organized by NCL on the GEM 11 day sailing round trip from New York on 10/31 to the Caribbean.

 

People were heading to the ship’s medical doctor for stress and it even brought on a panic attack in at least one person. Many people who have never flown in their lives and did not want to fly were told they had no other choice.

 

The passengers became very concerned when the captain announced that they would not be heading to St. Thomas but would stop in Grenada instead due to the ship’s broken azipod. The ship was at the time only doing 7 knots.

 

Many people felt NCL squeezed in Grenada to say they made all five stops instead of letting the passengers enjoy extra time in Barbados where the ship was “destined” to be repaired according to rumor. Additionally, it was also rumored that NCL was aware there were issues but went ahead with this sailing.

 

NCL left as many as 70 people with special diets without food with their “rescue” from Barbados to the US even though they, NCL, have a department onboard for such services.

 

The “inconvenience” started before the 9am flight from Barbados to NY hotels around 6pm NY time. Passengers were told to eat breakfast aboard ship in the early morning hours starting with the first group. I guess as early as 2am? People were able to eat some but due to the early hours it did not work well.

 

 

They had one food choice for everyone including diabetics and Gluten free people on the chartered rescue planes. It was a sandwich, KitKat bar, pretzels and a beverage for hours. One can only say it was truly lovely for gluten free and diabetics! Food was not provided again until 6pm at hotels that also had no accommodation for special needs diets.

 

 

NCL actually had passengers up as early as 2am(???) to go through immigration in groups. We were in the third group that was suppose to be by the bistro at around 5am but the loud speaker came on earlier (no idea what time) and told us to report immediately. The folks that went out in some of the very first groups off the boat ended up being the last to arrive that evening at area hotels. May I say planning???

 

The chaos and lack of planning at the EWR airport left passengers missing the lunch that was scheduled at 2pm-3pm at the provided hotels. One person fell to the ground at the airport due to stress. Many never made it to the assigned hotels before 5:30.

 

NCL has offered a 25 discount opf fare paid on this trip less taxes, port fees, etc., etc., to passengers on their next cruise for their inconvenience, while the upcoming cruise that was cancelled is receiving 50 discount on their next cruise without living through the evacuation.

 

See this news article...

 

http://abc7ny.com/amp/travel/norwegian-gem-passengers-stranded-in-newark/2630677/

 

This post is full of opinion and very short on facts.

[zqvol]

It's easy to talk about the situation when you are not involved.

 

All these negative comments about people without insurance, people who can't fly, and people with the panic attack are just unnecessary.

 

Honestly, there is no way to satisfy everybody in this situation, especially those with special needs. There is nothing wrong with people expecting proper compensation.

 

NCL is responsible for maintaining the ship. As much as you think people are being greedy for expecting compensation, NCL is also being greedy for running the ship 24/7/365.

 

Would you have said the same if an airline company pushes the plane to limit and have you stranded or take transportation that you are not comfortable with taking? Cruiselines are unregulated. It's not like FAA that can ground the planes if they want to.

 

Lots of incorrect information in this post about regulations. Cruise lines are NOT unregulated.

[zqvol]

They could have chartered the Bahamas Paradise Celebration. It’s been done before chartered that is when 2 day cruise planned. Could have chartered for 4 days, 2 runs.

 

 

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It is at least 2 days at sea between Miami and Bridgetown. Each run would have been a minimum of 4 days.

[zqvol]

I am both GF and diabetic and there was very little in that sandwich. As breakfast was before 5am and we did not get food again till 6pm that night, the three tbls of stuffing did nothing. Thank goodness I do not have a severe reaction to gluten or I would not have been able to eat the barely there filling as it would have been contaminated.

 

There is also gluten in KitKat bars and pretzels.

 

I did have a personal snack that I was permitted but it did not carry over till 6.

 

NCL has 70 people with food allergies and they should have made plans for them.

 

 

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What happened to personal responsibility. People with food issues should have taken it upon themselves to make sure that they took food with them off the ship. It is at least a six hour flight to NY from Bridgetown. Airline food is notoriously bad, even on regular flights, if it is even provided. There reaches a point where we have to take responsibility for ourselves.

[marilyn_g]

Travel is always an adventure. Many times things go as planned, many times they do not.

 

It is the times when things do not that make life interesting.

 

And yes, I do have a horror story that we lived through and that we still tell with a smile. Short version: a charter flight from Baltimore to Frankfurt, Germany in 1980.We ended up in Atlanta in a pier of the airport that was at that point not finished, had to spend the night (no access to our luggage) and flew out the next day at the last possible moment to arrive in Frankfurt before the airport closed for the night (around 11 PM) which made our arrival 16 hours late. No catering was available for the meals so sacks of Chicka-filet fried chicken sandwiches were purchased by the airline. We could have as many as we wanted during the flight.

 

Did we stop traveling? No, and many of our best experiences have been when things didn't go as plan and we adapted and went with the flow.

 

Attitude is everything.

 

So, you agree that dumping a elderly couple in their 90's at a closed Pier without a representative after dark is just part if the adventure? Thank goodness for fellow travelers stepping up to help each other out.

[marilyn_g]

I'm diabetic and if I was given a sandwich, I would simply remove one of the pieces of bread (someone could remove both pieces, as well as gluten free could do the same) and would be fine.

 

Also, did those with specialy dietary restrictions ask the night before for special food or take something from the buffet, knowing that there is not always the food that they might need.

 

You are not allowed to take food off cruise ships. You sign the customs forms stating that. You didn't see the sandwich. Fine for me, grateful to have it, hunger made it tasty (and we had time for breakfast), but not for diabetics. If you threw out the roll, you could have scraped maybe 1.5 tablespoons of chicken mush. If that.

[marilyn_g]

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

More than that, 26 - 30 NYPenn. Our favorite way to get to Miami and Ft Lauderdale cruise ports from DC is Amtrak. Less hassle.

[marilyn_g]

This post is full of opinion and very short on facts.

Were you there?

[marilyn_g]

As far as compensation goes, 25-50% may be fair, but it should be a refund, NOT a discount off of a future cruise. I think a lot of these people will be hesitant to cruise again in the future and they should be refunded for the portion of the vacation that they didn't get.

Jenn, that's the issue. I'm not interested in "compensation". We deserve an apology. It was our 4th cruise this year, we loved the ship, crew, even enjoyed the change of itinerary. Hated the thought of flying home, but hey, they said an extra day in Barbados. Cool. We'd adjust. But, that isn't what happened. They had multiple days, they should have had plans in place. They should have talked to us, not at us. Finally, if they couldn't handle something that should have been just minor inconvenient in a professional way, how can I trust them in a real emergency?

 

We have deposits on two future cruises.

[broberts]

I am not sure what you expected. Of course the people at the airport were subcontracted vendor employees that were dealing with an unexpected situation. I am sure the vendors felt like they were trying to herd cats.

 

If this is the case, the fault is ill preparation and poor communications on the part of NCL.

 

What happened to personal responsibility. People with food issues should have taken it upon themselves to make sure that they took food with them off the ship. It is at least a six hour flight to NY from Bridgetown. Airline food is notoriously bad, even on regular flights, if it is even provided. There reaches a point where we have to take responsibility for ourselves.

 

Perhaps the fact that Barbados, like most countries has laws banning import of certain food stuffs prevented the thoughtful from following this advice.

 

 

The passengers did not break the ship. They should not suffer from the fact that it broke.

 

Cruise lines make very good profits operating ships. If one breaks it is the cruise line's responsibility.

[NLH Arizona]

You are not allowed to take food off cruise ships. You sign the customs forms stating that. You didn't see the sandwich. Fine for me, grateful to have it, hunger made it tasty (and we had time for breakfast), but not for diabetics. If you threw out the roll, you could have scraped maybe 1.5 tablespoons of chicken mush. If that.

I'd bet my last dollar, that if someone went to NCL and said they were diabetic and was afraid that there was no food they could eat either at the airport or on the plane, NCL would make something for them and make sure they could take it with them (there would be no uncooked fruits, vegetables, meats, etc.) or had it delivered to the airline, but I would bet that not one person did that. Like I said, better to be prepared, than be a victim.

 

BTW, if all you want is an apology, then why not call Customer Service and tell them that is all you want and you might get a call back from a Supervisor giving you that apology.

Edited November 14, 2017 by NLH Arizona

[Alegeeter]

Ok, but even if those people don't come back as a future customer, others are watching. I'm a frequent cruiser and probably won't cruise on NCL again due to the way this is being handled.

 

Can't sail Carnival because of the Triumph.

No more Royal because of the Anthem.

Won't sail Norwegian because of the Gem.

It's only a matter of time until you'll cross off every major cruise line if one event deters you.

 

It was only a couple years ago when no one would eat at Chipotle anymore and only a few months since everyone vowed not to fly United. Time passes, and one bad publicity story won't sick the ship. I like puns.

 

Honestly, it sounds like things weren't glamorous and I do feel badly for those whose vacations were cut short and were stressed but from what I'm reading it sounds like NCL handled things pretty decently up until Newark airport.

[mamagina]

Following

 

 

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[j2thesea]

Is anyone on this forum still on the Gem waiting to sail back to NY? The 11/21 cruisers are pretty anxious as to what is going on with her down in Barbados. Any info would be super appreciated.

 

 

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[Sam Ting]

Miscommunication was an issue before the cruise even left. My wife and I were on this cruise and the trip home was 17 hours of misery.

 

It all started from the initial email emailed directly tome saying we expect to have your itinerary within 2 weeks that then went to over 3 weeks with them then sending to my travel agent instead of me which then said to wait another week.

 

Then to hear on Nov 7th the dreaded news about the Azipod Propulsion issue was disheartening and immediately increased the stress level of just about everyone on board. Also found out from others that the people on the cruise leaving the 11th were notified the day before about their trip being cancelled and they failed to inform the current passengers there was an issue.

 

NCL was accommodating in allowing passengers to make free calls to back home to inform families about the situation, but we would still have to wait 2 more days to get more information, that would be Nov 9th.

 

Nov 8th we had to fill out forms with our destination information, flights involved, airport etc… This was used to calculate who would be on what flights home. Of course there were those that were not flying under any condition,either due to fear, medical issues or whatever else. They somehow conveyed to Guest Services this and were dealt with separately.

 

Nov 9th the Captain comes on the PA system around 1pm saying that everything has been finalized and there would be no deviation from what your assigned travel plans were going to be. It wasn’t till about 7pm that we finally got the letters stating our plans, of course people were upset that it took that long after it sounded like it should be in our cabins within an hour.

 

People were informed that those assigned to flights Friday would need to have their luggage packed and outside their door by 10pm that night. Some were scheduled to leave the ship and be bussed to the airport at 5am. Apparently they were woken between 2 and 3am to go through Customs on the ship to mark them as “Arrived in Barbados” so they could then clear customs at the airport to “Leave Barbados”.

 

All through the night I kept hearing announcements for those leaving the boat to proceed to different areas and around 4am heard my group announced to start proceeding to customs. At this point of not getting any sleep I closed my balcony door and went to sleep. Woke up to more announcements around 6:30 saying the same thing and that it was “final call”. So we went to the designated area to a line that went from the Magenta dining room, through La Bistro, through the Casino and into the Stardust Theatre.

 

I was scheduled to go through Customs on ship at 8, I got on line at 7 and it took an hour to get to the Custom Agents. Leaving to get back to my room there was no line and they were still calling “last call” for another hour…

 

Friday evening seemed weird with so many people already gone, 7pm an announcement came across the PA saying that everyone would need to now leave the ship at new times. There were 3 flights remaining, I was the 2nd flight. Was originally supposed to leave at 5am, now informed groups to leave at 3, 3:30 and 4.

 

Walked off the ship at 3:30 to sit on a bus for 30 minutes then park outside the airport for another 30 minutes. They were offloading 2 busses at a time. Every 5-10 minutes our bus would move up, but only after us waking up our bus driver who kept falling asleep. Finally get off the bus and try to find our luggage then join the appropriate line for our flight only to find out that our ticket agents won’t start our line till 6am. Nice since we’re outside the airport and the sun is coming up as well as the temperature. There was 1 NCL rep for each flight and saw her 2 or 3 times. No water being distributed, just lovely…

 

Finally get to the ticket agent at 7:45 to hear that my wife and I aren’t sitting together, it turned out that there was an aisle between us so it wasn’t as bad as others that were in completely different rows. Got into the terminal after going through customs and hardly any seats since it is now a packed house. First and third flights are delayed and peoples patience growing thinner and thinner.

 

Plane ride was great, Air Canada 777-300 with majority of rows holding 10 people and 64 rows in total, got into Newark and then had to do customs again, get luggage then customs again. Found a Rep with an NCL clipboard and was directed to the end of the terminal to busses. Got on bus and waited yet another hour. Had people on our bus going to the pier and the rest of us to the train station. We decided to take the train since we had no idea what times we would be getting to Manhatten and didn’t know what to tell our ride to pick us up since everything kept changing. Once on the train it was uneventful, but by the time I walked into my house it was a full 17 hours from start to finish. Only a crossiant egg sandwich and pretzels and Kit-Kat was provided. Extremely tired and hungry and in need of a vacation now.

 

To offer any kind of kick back to us only in the form of us booking another cruise is insulting. That makes it a wash for them. NCL posted that they had a record 3Q profit of $400M despite $14 million hit from hurricanes. (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-bz-norwegian-cruise-3q2017-results-20171109-story.html) They can do something better than offer us 25% off on a future cruise based on what was spent on this cruise. They had a similar situation in January with the NCL Star and all guests onboard were provided a full refund,as well as a 50% future cruise credit. (https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7527) I feel that this cruise “ended” on Nov 7th when informed of the propulsion issue and that stressed everyone I spoke to on the ship. It’s an insult that they offered 25% on future cruising. Most people on this cruise were elderly and doubt that they would be doing this vacation again. I just hope that NCL does the right thing based on the feedback that all their passengers had from this adventure.

 

So basically what your saying is the situation sucked and their handling of the situation sucked even more(for the customers anyway)!?

[bones774]

Is anyone on this forum still on the Gem waiting to sail back to NY? The 11/21 cruisers are pretty anxious as to what is going on with her down in Barbados. Any info would be super appreciated.

 

 

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I don't think any pax are onboard as work is being done, i've heard something that may be a legal technicality as the ship is out of service and pax are not allowed onboard. I'm sure quite a few people would've volunteered to stay aboard, a free week of food and board!