Passengers on Norwegian Spirit is mad about itinerary changes

[luckyinpa]

20 minutes ago, salty dingo said:

Mutiny is over dramatic. Passengers did not take up arms and overpower the crew and sieze control of the vessel.

 

 

 

you would fail miserably with a job in  the American media and social media world 😉

gotta pump it up and milk it for all it's worth..until tomorrow when we find out the next mutiny

[pc_load_letter]

I have to give my mea culpa for not knowing all the facts before I made my post. My post was made under the notion I thought people were mad at missing a couple ports. I had no idea it was such a disaster of a cruise.

 

That being said, I don't think I would ever take such a long cruise on such a small ship. I understand you're supposed to be in the those ports during the day but I feel I would get stir crazy with a small ship, with not much to do, for so many nights.

 

[April42749]

Article starts off with "they were promised".  If anyone read the contract, or any cruise contract, nobody is ever promised a port.

[pc_load_letter]

1 hour ago, salty dingo said:

A sea day is still lots of fun. 

 

Did anyone not see the four page thread on this already going above?

 

Never the less, I would not consider broken glass, closed bars, flipped chairs, closed pool deck and 30 foot waves as a "fun" sea day.

 

Also, the ship is really small. As another person who is on the ship posted, it's not the Bliss and has next to nothing to do on board. You should check it out. It's a good read.

[Bethcb]

Mutiny wasn’t my word. It was from the article. Of course it wasn’t mutiny!! 

[hallux]

1 minute ago, pc_load_letter said:

Did anyone not see the four page thread on this already going above?

Maybe someone can get the threads merged?  Or this one locked since it's duplicate?

[salty dingo]

7 minutes ago, pc_load_letter said:

Never the less, I would not consider broken glass, closed bars, flipped chairs, closed pool deck and 30 foot waves as a "fun" sea day.

It's still due to the weather and not worthy of a refund. Airlines don't compensate you when weather is the reason for disappointment and neither should a cruise line.

 

There have been many threads on missed ports and disappointments over the years. My personal favorite complaint was the couple who made plans to get married during a port day in Grand Cayman and guests flew in, while the ship with the bride and groom never docked. Ouch!

 

I would be disappointed too, for sure, but blame the weather and not the cruise line.

[Nymich]

Where do you draw the line?  If I was CEO I would look at all video tape and anyone who was abusive to my staff and I would ban them from NCL. 

 

This would include anyone who appeared to be contributing to a disturbance that could create unrest.

Edited October 9, 2019 by Nymich

[ppcox]

1 hour ago, pc_load_letter said:

I have to give my mea culpa for not knowing all the facts before I made my post. My post was made under the notion I thought people were mad at missing a couple ports. I had no idea it was such a disaster of a cruise.

 

That being said, I don't think I would ever take such a long cruise on such a small ship. I understand you're supposed to be in the those ports during the day but I feel I would get stir crazy with a small ship, with not much to do, for so many nights.

 

I would have agreed with you a 14 day cruise on the Spirit with just a few spaced out ports might be too much, but the original cruise had only 2 sea days with 3 overnight stays ( Amsterdam , Reykjavik and  Dublin) that is different prospect.

 

[K.T.B.]

First of all I'll say this:  I've never been on a NCL cruise, nor have I been on a cruise where a port was missed for any reason.

 

With that said, the people on that cruise need to take a step back and look at the reasons why safety is paramount.  While I'd also be upset, I wouldn't be upset with the cruise line.  Sometimes vacations just don't work out because of weather, it could happen with any vacation.  But as for that 25% credit?  I'll take it if they don't want it!

 

By the way, the one time I had a cruise "affected" by high winds was a cruise I had sailing out of Long Beach.  High winds forced us to go to San Pedro to board the ship.  We were instructed to go to Long Beach as scheduled and Carnival would transport us, free of charge, to the new port.  It did not cost us any time nor did it delay us leaving.  But to heard the complaints from the people on board, it was like someone called their momma a bad name.  Matter of fact, the only "negative" I can think of about the change of port is that it was Memorial Day weekend and the USS Iowa is stationed in San Pedro, so they had a TON of visitors to that port that weekend, making traffic a nightmare.  I wasn't driving, so I didn't care.

 

Anyway, props to the NCL crew that had to deal with that chaos.  They excelled under extremely difficult circumstances.

[FredT]

LOL... After reading this thread, I was struck how similar it was to a trip we took in March of 2 years ago on Cruise and Maritime Voyages around the British Isles.  Not only did we miss 5 of 6 ports, but we ended up in the same Scottish port ( Greenock ) that they did.  (And yes, it was snowing, and yes it was on s Sunday, so yes it was abandoned.).   For the guy who made the "they must be Americans" comment, our trip was 90% Brits, and they were JUST as furious!   For anyone curious what we went through for 4 days, her is a short vid of a rescue off our ship on day 3.   

 

[Cruisercl]

Hahaha....This whole situation makes me laugh.😊

Classic entitlement and immaturity.

 

None of the issues were NCL caused.

The loudmouth unhappy passengers are a good example of pure ignorance.  I hope they do not cruise on NCL again, I would not want them on my cruise, or anywhere else really.

I have been on cruises where things were altered because of weather, even really bad weather like was described. Those cruisers needed to be mature adults and read what they signed up for rather than blame the cruise line, my thoughts are they did not.  They all signed the contract. The onus is on them for not being informed of the possibilities when on a cruise ship on the sea. The cruise line can only do so much; it is not their fault people choose ignorance.

It really is shameful.

I commend NCL for looking after passenger safety rather than risking lives and risking the ship.

Sheesh!

 

PS-We took the Sun on a PC cruise and loved it! ☺

Edited October 9, 2019 by Cruisercl
eta

[momilani]

When first I read of this situation, I came to this site to see if other (esp. more experienced) cruisers saw this the way that I did: a captain and cruise line acting in the interest of safety of passengers and crew with a (probably small but vocal and potentially dangerous) group of angry, hyper-entitled folks protesting.  I was not disappointed in the responses I’ve read.  Common sense prevails here, as usual.  

One of my biggest peeves about cruising is the entitled attitude of some passengers.  There’s always a handful of malcontents aboard, and I avoid them once identified. I’d far rather the captain exercise common sense risk management and miss a couple ports than try to jack**s us through unsafe conditions and get us injured or worse.  I agree with some here that the particularly vociferous and threatening passengers should be banned in the future.  I’d certainly not want to encounter that kind of person on my ship!

[Cruiser933]

On 10/8/2019 at 3:04 PM, pc_load_letter said:

I am happy that I am in agreement with everyone here.

 

The wife and I returned last week from the NCL Gen which was sailing from Boston to Quebec. We hit Bar Harbor,  Halifax and Sydney but missed the last two ports. I can't even remember the names but one is where Anna Green Gables is located\inspired?

 

Never the less, the wind was 30+ mph and with the last two ports tender ports, the captain said it was too dangerous and skipped them.

 

Well, you would have thought we hit an iceberg. I have never seen so many pissed off people in my life. My wife was cracking me up because she outright told some complaining lady to stuff it when when were waiting in line for dinner. My wife said, you know, I am not doing laundry, I am not cleaning the house, I am not working. Sure, we missed a couple ports but we having a good time with family and we're just going to enjoy our drink package.

 

I almost lost it when I was coming out of the fitness area and a bunch of old ladies were complaining that the ship should offer more classes when at sea and they were mad they couldn't get any classes. Eye roll please.

 

The ship did offer plenty of additional activities and while had this been a summer time cruise with no rain, I get how people felt cramped in the interior. But put on a jacket, get a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy the view. The temps on the back of the ship were not that bad and there was plenty of seating.

 

The wife and I had a great time and NCL was great. Food was excellent. Shows were great. Ship looked great. I could have really done without the people.

I was on this same cruise but have a bit of a different opinion.  The ports missed were Charlottetown PEI and Saguenay, Quebec.  My main issue with what happened is that these were tender ports, but were never advertised as such.  We found out the night before that we would need to pick up tender tickets in the morning and got up early both days waiting for the tender announcement only to find out the ports had been canceled.  Other ships were docked at these ports while we were forced to tender.  Yes, additional activities were added, but they were all pretty lame, mostly additional bingo and deal or no deal.  Too many activities took place in the atrium which was overflowing with people while other venues sat empty.

 

We really had poor locations in all ports.  We had the furthest tender spot in Bar Harbor and we were docked in an industrial area of Quebec City.  The captain did get us in to Quebec City early due to the missed port (at least that was what they said but I noticed there was an emergency medical evacuation in Quebec City).  Unfortunately when we got off in Quebec City that night we were simply dumped in an industrial port with no guidance as to where to go to get out of the port area.

 

We received compensation of about $15 for the missed ports.  I guess we didn't get much because nobody stormed guest services.  Passengers were clearly disappointed, but handled it well.  I did notice some people ended the cruise a day early since we got into Quebec City a night early.  I also heard a few people in Quebec City the next day say they were first time cruisers with NCL and would never sail with NCL again.

 

As for me, I enjoyed the cruise and bought CruiseNext certificates.  The food, service and most entertainment was good.  We only saw the first show, Swing, which we did not really enjoy since it wasn't our taste in music.  We skipped the last show since it was only shown while we were docked in Quebec City and we were among the many anxious to get off and see the city after three days at sea due to the canceled ports.  It would have been nice if they had added performance of that show on our unscheduled sea days.  It did all leave me with a lower opinion of NCL though.  I understand the importance of safety and that you are not guaranteed to make it to a port, but I was mislead into thinking we would be docked at those ports, and feel like NCL was too cheap to pay the higher fee to dock instead of tendering.  If I am wrong and this is not how port assignments are made, please let me know.

[pc_load_letter]

18 minutes ago, Cruiser933 said:

I was on this same cruise but have a bit of a different opinion.  The ports missed were Charlottetown PEI and Saguenay, Quebec.  My main issue with what happened is that these were tender ports, but were never advertised as such.  We found out the night before that we would need to pick up tender tickets in the morning and got up early both days waiting for the tender announcement only to find out the ports had been canceled.  Other ships were docked at these ports while we were forced to tender.  Yes, additional activities were added, but they were all pretty lame, mostly additional bingo and deal or no deal.  Too many activities took place in the atrium which was overflowing with people while other venues sat empty.

 

We really had poor locations in all ports.  We had the furthest tender spot in Bar Harbor and we were docked in an industrial area of Quebec City.  The captain did get us in to Quebec City early due to the missed port (at least that was what they said but I noticed there was an emergency medical evacuation in Quebec City).  Unfortunately when we got off in Quebec City that night we were simply dumped in an industrial port with no guidance as to where to go to get out of the port area.

 

We received compensation of about $15 for the missed ports.  I guess we didn't get much because nobody stormed guest services.  Passengers were clearly disappointed, but handled it well.  I did notice some people ended the cruise a day early since we got into Quebec City a night early.  I also heard a few people in Quebec City the next day say they were first time cruisers with NCL and would never sail with NCL again.

 

As for me, I enjoyed the cruise and bought CruiseNext certificates.  The food, service and most entertainment was good.  We only saw the first show, Swing, which we did not really enjoy since it wasn't our taste in music.  We skipped the last show since it was only shown while we were docked in Quebec City and we were among the many anxious to get off and see the city after three days at sea due to the canceled ports.  It would have been nice if they had added performance of that show on our unscheduled sea days.  It did all leave me with a lower opinion of NCL though.  I understand the importance of safety and that you are not guaranteed to make it to a port, but I was mislead into thinking we would be docked at those ports, and feel like NCL was too cheap to pay the higher fee to dock instead of tendering.  If I am wrong and this is not how port assignments are made, please let me know.

 

Yes, my wife did complain to me about having to get down early for tender tickets but she took it with a grain of salt as we both go to the fitness area at 6:30 anyways.

 

I frankly couldn't have cared less about missing those ports. Sydney was a joke and the ships really have no business going there.

 

I am 43 and still enjoyed swing. We really enjoyed all the shows, singers and the comedian. The irish guy was not that funny to me but the older generation liked him it seemed. I thought the ukrainian brothers show was meh.

 

But yes, I would love to know from someone who is "in the know" how  or what determines who gets a dock vs tendering. In the med, we've been on cruises before where we've been the first ship and still tendered. Who knows, those things could be scheduled months in advance.

 

We were in Quebec for another two days so we stayed on the ship and enjoyed our drink package and some of the music on board. I do agree that the docking location was bad. Over the next two days, we saw ships dock right there at the base of the Citadel and thought...wow, that's a pretty nice location. But we lucked out because a shuttle that stopped at four different hotels was there and we took it for $5 per person and it took about ten minutes to get to the Hilton just outside the city walls.

 

But that port is clearly undergoing some construction so it looks like they are experiencing some growing pains.

 

I enjoyed the cruise but really, the older folks who felt necessary to chew out fitness staff and other crew really made me cringe. I would not hesitate to cruise with NCL again. 

[kathy49]

what a nightmare....I say with global warming it is clear...winds and storms are stronger these days and the North Sea is notorious for storms and winds....why pick this itinerary and at this time of the year? I don't blame the Captain...sounds to me like to whole cruise should have been cancelled. The smart ones got off rather than riot on board.

[mugtech]

Just saw the protesting idiots on ABC News.  Congrats on being network nitwits, something to show your grandchildren.

[Cruisercl]

1 hour ago, Cruiser933 said:

I was on this same cruise but have a bit of a different opinion.  The ports missed were Charlottetown PEI and Saguenay, Quebec.  My main issue with what happened is that these were tender ports, but were never advertised as such.  We found out the night before that we would need to pick up tender tickets in the morning and got up early both days waiting for the tender announcement only to find out the ports had been canceled.  Other ships were docked at these ports while we were forced to tender.  Yes, additional activities were added, but they were all pretty lame, mostly additional bingo and deal or no deal.  Too many activities took place in the atrium which was overflowing with people while other venues sat empty.

 

We really had poor locations in all ports.  We had the furthest tender spot in Bar Harbor and we were docked in an industrial area of Quebec City.  The captain did get us in to Quebec City early due to the missed port (at least that was what they said but I noticed there was an emergency medical evacuation in Quebec City).  Unfortunately when we got off in Quebec City that night we were simply dumped in an industrial port with no guidance as to where to go to get out of the port area.

 

We received compensation of about $15 for the missed ports.  I guess we didn't get much because nobody stormed guest services.  Passengers were clearly disappointed, but handled it well.  I did notice some people ended the cruise a day early since we got into Quebec City a night early.  I also heard a few people in Quebec City the next day say they were first time cruisers with NCL and would never sail with NCL again.

 

As for me, I enjoyed the cruise and bought CruiseNext certificates.  The food, service and most entertainment was good.  We only saw the first show, Swing, which we did not really enjoy since it wasn't our taste in music.  We skipped the last show since it was only shown while we were docked in Quebec City and we were among the many anxious to get off and see the city after three days at sea due to the canceled ports.  It would have been nice if they had added performance of that show on our unscheduled sea days.  It did all leave me with a lower opinion of NCL though.  I understand the importance of safety and that you are not guaranteed to make it to a port, but I was mislead into thinking we would be docked at those ports, and feel like NCL was too cheap to pay the higher fee to dock instead of tendering.  If I am wrong and this is not how port assignments are made, please let me know.

Not sure which part is the cruise line's fault; everthing you spoke about is part of a cruise and its possibilities.

Your expectations of what should have happened are nothing but speculation of your personal taste.

As far as the place of docking, every cruise line has their issues; lots of ports are industrial ports.  I have been on cruises where the Capatin had to dock at a different one than was originally scheduled. Usually tendering ports are listed on the itinerary before you cruise. Most cruise docks are not like what is pictured in the Caribbean photos.

Have you cruised before; it appears not?

Very glad you had a good time!!

Edited October 9, 2019 by Cruisercl
edit

[APDMOM]

I hope NCL does not give in to the demands for refunds.  It would only encourage this type of behavior.  

 

...and the “poor, poor” people who had NO place to find food between 3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. on one day. (Rolling my eyes big time at that comment) 🤦‍♀️

[Cruisercl]

5 minutes ago, APDMOM said:

I hope NCL does not give in to the demands for refunds.  It would only encourage this type of behavior.  

 

...and the “poor, poor” people who had NO place to find food between 3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. on one day. (Rolling my eyes big time at that comment) 🤦‍♀️

OMG, no kidding!!! No food for 1 1/2 hours...hahaha. 🤣

 

[Cruiser933]

13 minutes ago, Cruisercl said:

Not sure which part is the cruise line's fault; everthing you spoke about is part of a cruise and its possibilities.

Your expectations of what should have happened are nothing but speculation of your personal taste.

As far as the place of docking, every cruise line has their issues; lots of ports are industrial ports.  I have been on cruises where the Capatin had to dock at a different one one than was originally scheduled. Usually tendering ports are listed on the itinerary before you cruise. Most cruise docks are not like what is pictured in the Caribbean photos.

Have you cruised before; it appears not?

Very glad you had a good time!!

I have cruised multiple times with multiple lines. Only Bar Harbor was advertised as a tender port.  I probably would not have booked this cruise had I known three ports would have tenders.

[Covepointcruiser]

I really hope that NCL does not give the passengers any more credit.   I realize it is a disappointment, however you can’t control the weather.   The Captain was keeping the passengers safe and as comfortable as possible.  If they had lost power, missed meals and drinks, they might have a valid point.   So sorry about the weather in October but this can occur during any month of the year.   Ports are always a gamble,  if they are not considered safe for any reason, you won’t be going there.

[Cruiser933]

Regarding the Gem cruise, we also enjoyed the comedian and thought the Irish guy and brothers were just meh. I like some swing but didn’t really enjoy the show although the singers and dancers were good. I had been looking forward to the other show but was anxious to see Quebec City.  We rented a car in Sydney and drove to the Fortress of Louisbourg which we enjoyed.

[Cruisercl]

13 minutes ago, Cruiser933 said:

I have cruised multiple times with multiple lines. Only Bar Harbor was advertised as a tender port.  I probably would not have booked this cruise had I known three ports would have tenders.

Oh, ok. I do know there are ports that are always tendered and are listed on the itinerary; ie Grand Cayman, NCL private island, some ports on a BI cruise and Lahaina. 

I usually pay attention to this because I am not a tendering fan either; they are usually listed.

[Noxequifans]

When we cruise we always anticipate missing a port or ports  ..... it is a part of cruising.