NCL Escape 40 pax missed embarkation!

[DonTheRadioGuy]

We are leaving Minnesota on Super Bowl Sunday. Hopefully we won't run into delays with the big game in town. We are leaving that day for a cruise leaving on Monday. Living in MinneSNOWta we always leave a day early in the winter months. Hopefully we will be watching the Vikings playing at US Bank Stadium in Minnesota from our hotel room in Miami that night. :D

You might have had a harder time the day after when everyone would be leaving.

 

I have never been to the Super Bowl, but I go to Wrestlemania every year, and it's in the same stadiums. I never have had a delay at the airport the next morning.

[DirtyDawg]

You might have had a harder time the day after when everyone would be leaving.

 

I have never been to the Super Bowl, but I go to Wrestlemania every year, and it's in the same stadiums. I never have had a delay at the airport the next morning.

 

Wrestlemania? :confused:

 

I thought that had gone the way of leisure suits, disco, and Dodo birds. :cool:

[DonTheRadioGuy]

Wrestlemania? :confused:

 

I thought that had gone the way of leisure suits, disco, and Dodo birds. :cool:

Au contraire...

 

It gets bigger every year. It's an entire week of events now. The stadium show on Sunday, then full arena shows on Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday.

 

I only do Saturday and Sunday. But many do all five nights.

 

Two years ago, they did 101,000 at the Cowboys stadium.

[BirdTravels]

We are leaving Minnesota on Super Bowl Sunday. Hopefully we won't run into delays with the big game in town. We are leaving that day for a cruise leaving on Monday. Living in MinneSNOWta we always leave a day early in the winter months. Hopefully we will be watching the Vikings playing at US Bank Stadium in Minnesota from our hotel room in Miami that night.:D

 

You realize that because of the SB, airlines will be changing their schedules to accommodate travelers willing to pay $$$$ to get to the big game. Especially once the teams are decided. While you feel happy and secure now, monitor your flight constantly to ensure it is not changed or cancelled as you get close to game day.

[BirdTravels]

Aww! You poor baby! How did you survive such an inconvenience?

LD Silver,

 

How did posting this demeaning message make you feel about yourself?

[LD Silver]

LD Silver,

 

How did posting this demeaning message make you feel?

 

You're commenting on someone posting a demeaning message?

 

Oh that is rich! Pot meet kettle.

 

Keep padding that post count.

[Loonbeam]

The ship has contracted with the port for a set of services for a specific period of time. After that they have to pay a premium rate for (at minimum) some of the check in workers, the harbor pilot, the line tenders, port security, porters etc. In addition, they have to possibly either burn additional fuel or purchase more onshore power, plus cannot begin water generation.

 

Also, they have to delay opening the casino and shops, they will be charging port taxes on beverages for extra time (which may involve changes to the POS System and cause passenger confusion), keep their security and some luggage staff later.

 

Meanwhile there is no guarantee that the tour company can arrange transport for 40 people to the pier 30-40 mins away immediately upon air arrival (which happened at 3:30 BEFORE baggage claim). Do they wait until 5:30? 6:00? 7:00?

 

Finally, for various reasons (including but not limited to, tides, lighting, other traffic, need for berth), all of the above aside, when the harbormaster says you go, you go.

 

Now its true, absent the last part, the cruise line COULD decide to delay, taking all of the above into account. And they probably would if it was there problem. But in scenarios where the problem is not of their making at all, and likely to be covered by the tour company and/or travel insurance, its not the right call to accommodate 40 passengers at the possible expense of the company and the other 3460 pax aboard (who among other things may have made plans for sailaway including dinner times and are paying the extra drink taxes, etc).

 

Where’s the compassion and understanding. That is so typical of the conservative attitude and lack of accommodation for special needs situations I find prevalent by so many members of this board. For that many passengers, they should have held the ship. We clear customs and immiigration in Canada, so once they landed at FLL they were in domestic, and could have been at the terminal Lickety split, probably by 5 at the latest. I don’t know about the rest of you but if it meant simply waiting at the port for another hour on a fun ship with lots to do so FORTY more people could Enjoy their vacation, I would have been happy to say “sure, please do!” What a shame. Where’s the compassion.

[beerman2]

Er sorry why should they? if you chose to cut it fine then so be it.

 

 

 

It was because of SunWing NOT weather that the flight was delayed.

 

 

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[DirtyDawg]

I'd love to actually get a first hand account from one of those 40 pax.

[Casino Comp Chick]

Exactly!

 

And I'm going to worry more about those still suffering from the hurricane damage to their homes & island instead of the changed ports of call on my cruise.

 

Exactly!

 

2 (y)(y) up,

[rbschultz]

I'd love to actually get a first hand account from one of those 40 pax.

 

There is one on the Norwegian Escape facebook group.

[CI66774]

Where’s the compassion and understanding. That is so typical of the conservative attitude and lack of accommodation for special needs situations I find prevalent by so many members of this board. For that many passengers, they should have held the ship. We clear customs and immiigration in Canada, so once they landed at FLL they were in domestic, and could have been at the terminal Lickety split, probably by 5 at the latest. I don’t know about the rest of you but if it meant simply waiting at the port for another hour on a fun ship with lots to do so FORTY more people could Enjoy their vacation, I would have been happy to say “sure, please do!” What a shame. Where’s the compassion.

 

Whoa! "Conservative" attitude? I call BS on that allegation. I have compassion for anyone who misses their trip regardless of the circumstances. But don't bring conservative vs. liberal into the mix;.

[beerman2]

I'd love to actually get a first hand account from one of those 40 pax.

First hand account pertaining to which part

1) Late Departure

2) SunWings responsibilities

3) Pax out of pocket expense

4)NCL's involvement

 

Let's let the people involved enjoy what is left of their cruise.

 

Yes you will probably get a better "feel" on FB of the trials and tribulations.

[European_CruiseGirl]

Er sorry why should they? if you chose to cut it fine then so be it.

 

 

 

Because it was a package trip including flight and cruise arranged by Sunwing. It was the travel agency's (Sunwing) decision to fly them in the day of.

 

 

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[kfnesq]

I’m in a NCL FB group and one of the members was on that plane. She was posting live. Everyone was rooting for her to make it! It was pretty nerve racking. Happy to hear that they will be joining the ship tomorrow.

 

We typically fly in the night before, but once we took Amtrak to NYC the morning of. I’m in the DC area so it was only a 3.5 hour ride, but I booked the 6am train and was a nervous wreck the whole time lol. I’ll never do that again!

 

 

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Ha, we did the same thing recently (Amtrak to NYC from the DC area on the day of)! I also got the 6am train ("just in case") and of course there were no issues and we were there super early. BUT... I had angst about it the whole time too! Next time I might spring for the $$$$ hotel in NYC the day before. Just to be on the super-safe side!

[navybankerteacher]

The only time she got snippy was when people stated the obvious “ you should have flown in the day before.”

 

The SunWing trip wasn’t offered the day before.

 

 

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If a service provider only offers a "service" which puts you at risk, you should consider a different provider. The common sense rule of flying the day before is not rescinded just because some travel group lacks common sense.

[chengkp75]

Oh, so it might have been cheaper for Sunwing to pay for hotels and flights to get the PAX to the cruise, rather than paying NCL and the PoM to hold the ship?

 

So, how do you propose that Sunwing and NCL reach a contractual agreement that Sunwing will pay for any demurrage (delay to ship) costs? Say "trust me" over the phone? What? And, as others have said, knowing the pilot operations of the Florida ports, the cruise ships are given priority for entering and leaving port for a fixed window, and after that window they are at the mercy of traffic and pilot availability as to when they can sail, and in many cases you don't know your pilot time until a couple of hours before sailing. So a half hour delay for guests could have resulted in a 4 hour delay, since the cargo ships coming into/out of the port have been stacking up waiting on the almighty cruise ships. So this adds variability to the time at the dock, the time available to get to the next port, and hence the amount of fuel required to get there. How is all of this negotiated between Sunwing and NCL, in the first place, and how does Sunwing know whether it is cheaper to fly the guests to the next port or not. Your expectations are completely unrealistic. And, yes, I believe it was cheaper for Sunwing to fly the 40 guests to Jamaica than to pay an hour or two of demurrage for the ship.

 

And despite the almost holy respect it holds here on CC, the fact is that the cruise lines themselves will not always wait for a delayed flight or excursion, if it is cheaper to fly the guests onward over holding the ship if there are concerns like tide windows or arrival windows that must be met at the next port. And this is with the cruise line footing the flight and hotel bills themselves, so Sunwing would of course be better off flying the late guests.

Edited January 2, 2018 by chengkp75

[beerman2]

If a service provider only offers a "service" which puts you at risk, you should consider a different provider. The common sense rule of flying the day before is not rescinded just because some travel group lacks common sense.

That's why some choose ( me included) to do things themselves, thus "controlling " booking flights, cruises.

 

It's my dime, my time. The only time would be a charter to AI's. They will be there when we arrive.

[marktwothousand]

If there are small boats capable of catching up to the ship, could the passengers have chartered one and then asked NCL to lower a tender ship into the water to meet up with it, so the PAX could have been picked up without having to go all the way to Jamaica?

[ColeThornton]

If there are small boats capable of catching up to the ship, could the passengers have chartered one and then asked NCL to lower a tender ship into the water to meet up with it, so the PAX could have been picked up without having to go all the way to Jamaica?

 

 

Seriously, stop making yourself look silly.

[ColinIllinois]

If there are small boats capable of catching up to the ship, could the passengers have chartered one and then asked NCL to lower a tender ship into the water to meet up with it, so the PAX could have been picked up without having to go all the way to Jamaica?

 

 

That might have been an option if those 40 passengers couldn't find a plane to parachute them on to the pool deck. :cool:

[chengkp75]

If there are small boats capable of catching up to the ship, could the passengers have chartered one and then asked NCL to lower a tender ship into the water to meet up with it, so the PAX could have been picked up without having to go all the way to Jamaica?

 

Trying to transfer passengers from one small boat to another, and then from the tender to the ship in the open ocean would be extremely dangerous, and no cruise line would do that because of liability issues. Also, the "small boat" would have to be certified to carry the 40 pax, and there would be immigration legalities for both the boat for disembarking the pax at sea, as well as the cruise ship for embarking them at sea in a non-emergency situation. This would only work if the ship was still within the port confines or the offshore anchorage, and a pilot boat or some such would agree to take the pax out to the ship. That would have been within an hour of sailing, and again would have required the boat operator and the cruise line to agree to the liability of transferring people at sea. While I have heard of this in some Caribbean ports, I seriously doubt that it would happen in any US port.

[marktwothousand]

Sorry, I don’t know 100% how cruising works, but i’m Just saying... technically it should be possible to hook up with a cruise ship on the ocean and transfer PAX.

 

 

Actually in a way I’m surprised there’s not a whole “water taxi” industry just FOR late passengers. Considering this happens frequently, maybe it’s something an entrepreneur could look into.

[Casino Comp Chick]

Sorry, I don’t know 100% how cruising works, but i’m Just saying... technically it should be possible to hook up with a cruise ship on the ocean and transfer PAX.

 

 

Actually in a way I’m surprised there’s not a whole “water taxi” industry just FOR late passengers. Considering this happens frequently, maybe it’s something an entrepreneur could look into.

 

They do have a way for late passengers to catch up to the ship, it is called “fly to the next port”.

 

The cost of Liability insurance would squash that idea in about 1 and a half seconds if they could even find a company willing to take that risk on.

[sanger727]

Sorry, I don’t know 100% how cruising works, but i’m Just saying... technically it should be possible to hook up with a cruise ship on the ocean and transfer PAX.

 

 

Actually in a way I’m surprised there’s not a whole “water taxi” industry just FOR late passengers. Considering this happens frequently, maybe it’s something an entrepreneur could look into.

 

 

 

I’m not sure if you are serious or just being argumentative; but you are trying waaaay to hard. Passengers aren’t too late to board but still in a window where a small boat could reasonably catch up often enough for there to be a ‘need’ here. This whole situation is actually really simply: 1. Make the boarding period or 2. Fly to the next port. I’m not sure why you label this attitude as ‘conservative’; I’m a liberal but people who act as those the world should cater to them, no matter how much they screw up; give liberals a bad name.

 

 

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