Epic Interrupted

[hallux]

1 hour ago, david_sobe said:

Ok just to recap because I scrolled back several pages and still not sure what is happening.

The cruise where the ship had issues, passengers are getting a 100% future credit cruise

 

Current cruise is arriving one day late and next Epic sailing is only 5 days and passengers have a right to cancel or take 50% off cruise and get 50% future cruise credit.

 

Is this correct?

If so, while unfortunate the compensation is really good

3 hours ago, Briji04 said:

We have been offered 300$ change fee for air tickets and 100% credit. 

 

@david_sobe Not quite.  See the text I quoted below yours.  The current cruise is the one where the issue occurred, the info above is the offer to them.  The offer to the next sailing, a day late (though really 2 since it's a floating hotel at the pier the first day), and a shortened cruise at 50% off or cancel for a full refund, if I'm reading things right.

[happysailor1001]

24 minutes ago, jwkde said:

Would they make exceptions for ships with 'issues' trying to limp home?

I do not think CBP will make any exceptions, they are bound by the regulations they enforce.  The fine is per passenger, additional fines may be imposed for the ship itself.  I know 9 years ago the fine for violation of the Jones Act was $425, fee was passed onto to me by the cruise line.  I had to get off the ship after sailing from Miami the day before.  

[mking8288]

1 hour ago, happysailor1001 said:

I do not think CBP will make any exceptions ... had to get off the ship after sailing from Miami the day before.  

 

No, NCL will get a waiver for this due to unforeseen circumstances - see the comments on PVSA by *cheng* (one of our respected, "resident" expert on these matters - post #83) - in reply to the question that I set up, anticipating that this could come up ...  

 

 * * * Latest AIS "live" tracking data * * * 

Last night, 24 hours ago, we tracked the Epic sailing out of San Juan & managed to get up to almost 18 knots - ETA to making a stop at Freeport was given as 8 p.m. (maybe 10 p.m.) AST/local time.  Well, Epic's cruise speed has been below 13 knots all day and currently at 13.1 - passing way north of Nassau, nowhere near GSC and still (very roughly) 100+ nm east of Freeport as tracked by MarineTraffic or 8+ hours in getting there, if they are still going to make a quick stop ... closer to daybreak.  

 

Distance (additional) to PC in Florida is about 150 nm, and at 13 knots - 12 more hours at sea, for a Saturday evening arrival. 

Edited February 16, 2019 by mking8288

[johare]

4 hours ago, MrMarc said:

Want to put pressure on Norwegian?  Video the passengers chanting and post it...

 

They were supposed to be in Freeport at 10pm tonight.  Looking at the tracking site, they're still 80+ NM from Freeport and moving at 13kt.  Looks like 3am would be more realistic....assuming they don't have any docking incidents.  

[MrMarc]

16 minutes ago, johare said:

 

They were supposed to be in Freeport at 10pm tonight.  Looking at the tracking site, they're still 80+ NM from Freeport and moving at 13kt.  Looks like 3am would be more realistic....assuming they don't have any docking incidents.  

They are heading straight back to Port Canaveral, eta 8:00 p.m. tomorrow night, then the next cruise will board on Sunday afternoon and leave Monday for 5 days.   This thread is getting long, so it's hard to keep up.

[MrMarc]

It is almost humorous to see all of the other cruise ships zip past her, you can almost hear her: "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..."

[hallux]

1 minute ago, MrMarc said:

It is almost humorous to see all of the other cruise ships zip past her, you can almost hear her: "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..."

 

lol, right now it looks like Bliss is on an intercepting course...

[rabidstoat]

So here is the latest I heard from someone on the Epic: they are indeed allowed to stay on the ship Saturday night given their expected late arrival at port on Saturday. However, currently the word on the street-- er, word on the deck I guess, is that everyone will be required to disembark first to go through customs on arrival at Port Canaveral. Worse, their luggage has to go through customs, they have to pack everything off and haul it off the boat, then turn around and drag it back onto the boat.

 

I'm not sure if this is true or not but it is the current ship rumor. With luck they'll only have to go through with passports, at least, and can do their luggage inspection the next morning. Maybe the port only wants to staff customs once and not twice? I don't know.

 

In positive news, the ship comedians have been taking advantage of the state of affairs to joke around in their comedy routines. Tonight one of them said that he felt like they were two announcements shy of a mutiny.

[happysailor1001]

17 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

 

No, NCL will get a waiver for this due to unforeseen circumstances - see the comments on PVSA by *cheng* (one of our respected, "resident" expert on these matters - post #83) - in reply to the question that I set up, anticipating that this could come up ...  

 

 * * * Latest AIS "live" tracking data * * * 

Last night, 24 hours ago, we tracked the Epic sailing out of San Juan & managed to get up to almost 18 knots - ETA to making a stop at Freeport was given as 8 p.m. (maybe 10 p.m.) AST/local time.  Well, Epic's cruise speed has been below 13 knots all day and currently at 13.1 - passing way north of Nassau, nowhere near GSC and still (very roughly) 100+ nm east of Freeport as tracked by MarineTraffic or 8+ hours in getting there, if they are still going to make a quick stop ... closer to daybreak.  

 

Distance (additional) to PC in Florida is about 150 nm, and at 13 knots - 12 more hours at sea, for a Saturday evening arrival. 

 

With all due respect to *cheng*.  CBP does not give out Administrative Waivers without a challenge.  NCL may have suffered a mechanical failure, but this was not an "Act of God" .  Not every cruise line have had 100% success in arguing similar cases in the past.  With all due respect to *cheng* at least 2 videos from the incident in San Juan clearly shows the Epic Bridge team failed to line up the the ship correctly for making the port turn into the basin where pier is.  The Captain or Staff Captain would have taken the Con from the pilot a few minutes after passing the Coast Guard Station in San Juan.  The person at the control would have to make a decision on how wide of a turn to make towards the pier.  AIS providers showed Easterly Wind around 20 knots when the Epic docked, which would have been on the Starboard beam of the Epic as she turned to the north.  Where the cruise ships dock in San Juan there are minimal currents if any.

[johare]

6 minutes ago, rabidstoat said:

So here is the latest I heard from someone on the Epic: they are indeed allowed to stay on the ship Saturday night given their expected late arrival at port on Saturday. However, currently the word on the street-- er, word on the deck I guess, is that everyone will be required to disembark first to go through customs on arrival at Port Canaveral. Worse, their luggage has to go through customs, they have to pack everything off and haul it off the boat, then turn around and drag it back onto the boat.

 

I'm not sure if this is true or not but it is the current ship rumor. With luck they'll only have to go through with passports, at least, and can do their luggage inspection the next morning. Maybe the port only wants to staff customs once and not twice? I don't know.

 

In positive news, the ship comedians have been taking advantage of the state of affairs to joke around in their comedy routines. Tonight one of them said that he felt like they were two announcements shy of a mutiny.

 

What I heard is that once the luggage is taken off the ship, it will be locked up in the customs holding area until Sunday morning. Not sure if that's just for those getting back on the ship or everyone.

 

 

Edited February 16, 2019 by johare

[rabidstoat]

2 minutes ago, johare said:

 

What I heard is that once the luggage is taken off the ship, it will be locked up in the customs holding area until Sunday morning. Not sure if that's just for those getting back on the ship or everyone.

 

Yeah, my Epic source just clarified from a clarification she got: checked baggage does not have to be dragged back on board. It sounds like they might have to take any overnight carry-on off and on again, but that's unclear.

It does sound like they have to clear customs on arrival though, and not the next morning. And from other comments, it sounds like the ship might already be running behind schedule. If they end up limping into port at 2am and making everyone spend a few hours clearing customs at that hour, I anticipate cranky passengers.

[hallux]

@happysailor1001 I'm not sure what one has to do with the other.  The incident in San Juan wouldn't have happened if they didn't have a mechanical problem.  I'm not saying the mechanical problem caused the issue in SJ, but they wouldn't have been there when they were if they didn't have the breakdown (it was a diversion, right?).

 

The cruise line has decided that the best course of action is to skip all foreign ports in order to return to Florida within a decent time frame - THAT is what the waiver would be for.  The return to Florida without stopping in a foreign port is due to a mechanical problem, NOT due to the damage from trying to dock in SJ...

[MrMarc]

This just keeps getting better and better.  While it makes sense that Customs does not keep the terminal totally staffed 24 hours a day, you would think that there would be a better solution.  Hopefully, someone will come up with one.  

[johare]

6 minutes ago, hallux said:

@happysailor1001 I'm not sure what one has to do with the other.  The incident in San Juan wouldn't have happened if they didn't have a mechanical problem.  I'm not saying the mechanical problem caused the issue in SJ, but they wouldn't have been there when they were if they didn't have the breakdown (it was a diversion, right?).

 

The cruise line has decided that the best course of action is to skip all foreign ports in order to return to Florida within a decent time frame - THAT is what the waiver would be for.  The return to Florida without stopping in a foreign port is due to a mechanical problem, NOT due to the damage from trying to dock in SJ...

 

Yes, but though they are limping along, they have passed several foreign ports that they could have made a stop at. Will they be given a waiver when they actually make a choice not to stop in order to attempt to stay as close as possible to a schedule? The weather isn't stopping them. The ship is capable of making a stop. NCL is just choosing to save time if they skip Freeport.

Edited February 16, 2019 by johare

[hallux]

You would think they could post a couple guards by the ship to monitor for exit attempts.  They should be allowed to be along side the pier with the gangway doors secured, the only problem would be people trying to "exit" the ship by other means. 

 

Alternatively, couldn't they hang outside the port for a daybreak tie-up?  I realize they want to get to work on the problem that caused this but unless they have parts, people or tools waiting on the pier at 2 AM, they're not going to accomplish too much in a couple hours.  If they're delayed too much more it's all a moot point anyway, they'll be sailing in around normal time anyway.  The only issue becomes passengers having to pack and lose access to their suitcase on Sat. with official disembarkation on Sunday. 

 

FWIW - The Marine Traffic site still lists FPO as the current destination, that may still be stopped at to satisfy the foreign port need.

[Cruz3r4life]

8 minutes ago, johare said:

 

Yes, but though they are limping along, they have passed several foreign ports that they could have made a stop at. Will they be given a waiver when they actually make a choice not to stop in order to attempt to stay as close as possible to a schedule? The weather isn't stopping them. The ship is capable of making a stop. NCL is just choosing to save time if they skip Freeport.

 

 

Well if the ship still has some mechanical issues, NCL could possibly argue that they needed to get back to the home port vs. risking a stop somewhere and potentially getting stranded.  Given that they are not going to sail the ship again until Monday vs. Sunday and that they haven't had their foot on the gas to make it into PC at a decent hour on Saturday where they could at least unload the current group of passengers and help reduce the compensation they are giving out makes me believe that there is still some kind of issue with the ship

[MrMarc]

If they had decided to totally skip Freeport when they left San Juan, Would it have been a different/shorter course back to Port Canaveral?

[don't-use-real-name]

25 minutes ago, Cruz3r4life said:

 

 

Well if the ship still has some mechanical issues, NCL could possibly argue that they needed to get back to the home port vs. risking a stop somewhere and potentially getting stranded.  Given that they are not going to sail the ship again until Monday vs. Sunday and that they haven't had their foot on the gas to make it into PC at a decent hour on Saturday where they could at least unload the current group of passengers and help reduce the compensation they are giving out makes me believe that there is still some kind of issue with the ship

 

You maybe on to something here -

maybe the stop at Freeport is not so much a mechanical problem but an electrical one.

 

There must be a reason method to this madness.

[SeaTheW0rld]

4 hours ago, johare said:

 

What I heard is that once the luggage is taken off the ship, it will be locked up in the customs holding area until Sunday morning. Not sure if that's just for those getting back on the ship or everyone.

 

 

 

I'm surprised she didn't try and sell something before/after the announcement. 

[SeaTheW0rld]

[don't-use-real-name]

Strange it appears that the EPIC did not port call at Freeport -or- just exchanged pleasantries and proceeded on to PC.

Maybe a service supply ship made contact with the EPIC and loaded pieces and parts to repair what is wrong.

 

Anyway the EPIC is on its way to PC ETA 2000 hours Sunday the 16th LINK:

 

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:372755/zoom:13

[SeaTheW0rld]

2 minutes ago, don't-use-real-name said:

Strange it appears that the EPIC did not port call at Freeport -or- just exchanged pleasantries and proceeded on to PC.

Maybe a service supply ship made contact with the EPIC and loaded pieces and parts to repair what is wrong.

 

Anyway the EPIC is on its way to PC ETA 2000 hours Sunday the 16th LINK:

 

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:372755/zoom:13

 

I can't find the post #, but someone thought it would be a drive-by with a pilot boat dropping off the port-visit paperwork. The fake news headline will be "Limping cruise ship turned away from port".

[johare]

Doesn’t look like the ship stopped in Freeport. If that’s the case, why would the passengers even have to go through customs?

[dexddd]

16 hours ago, blcruising said:

It really is unbelievable in today's day and age. It isn't acceptable either. NCL is constantly tripping over itself on these types of issues. There is Facebook, Twitter,and email, etc. How hard is it to post an update stating....at this time we expect to sail or at this time we expect to have a delay, etc. I truly feel for those in transit that have no information or communication. I hope it all works out. I will tell you, Carnival, would have been all over this via Facebook, Twitter, etc. 

 

Same thing happened on our 2016 POA trip that was delayed one day.  We were at first airport and luckily saw a post on CC. Never got text, email the whole time.  No alert on NCL page so for those say NCL will alert you, not necessarily.

 

When we got home there was message on machine after we left from home.  And yes, NCL had all of our other contact info.

 

This is not unusual that CC ers will alert you sooner than NCL.

Edited February 16, 2019 by dexddd

[ggooglyboogly]

10 hours ago, hallux said:

You would think they could post a couple guards by the ship to monitor for exit attempts.  They should be allowed to be along side the pier with the gangway doors secured, the only problem would be people trying to "exit" the ship by other means. 

 

Alternatively, couldn't they hang outside the port for a daybreak tie-up?  I realize they want to get to work on the problem that caused this but unless they have parts, people or tools waiting on the pier at 2 AM, they're not going to accomplish too much in a couple hours.  If they're delayed too much more it's all a moot point anyway, they'll be sailing in around normal time anyway.  The only issue becomes passengers having to pack and lose access to their suitcase on Sat. with official disembarkation on Sunday. 

 

FWIW - The Marine Traffic site still lists FPO as the current destination, that may still be stopped at to satisfy the foreign port need.

 

I assume they're trying to berth on arrival so they can get going on the repairs ASAP.