Passengers on Norwegian Spirit is mad about itinerary changes

[LaCal]

Would of been extra time in the casino for me 😜🍹🍹💰💰

 

 

[NitaBcruising]

Plain and simple, read the cruise contract!

Also, don't go on a small ship if you like the lack of activities! Just in case! Hey, RCI has a ton of huge ships, with a lot of fun stuff for bored people to do. (oh yeah, but maybe not when the weather is inclement! 😉)  

I am also peeved with the news reporting of this incident.  This a.m. on ABC, they showed the video, then one news anchor said something about the cruise line needing to do something for these people. Argh! Sensationalism at it's worst. 

My last cruise we missed all of our ports. They changed, due to bad weather. We had been to all the ones they changed to, but what can you do? Nothing, enjoy what we had. 

[GA Dave]

Per wikipedia:

In addition to being the easternmost Category 5 Atlantic hurricane on record, Lorenzo featured the highest accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) index of any Atlantic tropical cyclone on record to the east of 45°W.[20] Additionally, Lorenzo spent more days as a major hurricane east of 45°W than any previous cyclone on record, surpassing Carrie of 1957.

 

So, this was a once-in-a-lifetime type of weather event for that area.  Even the GFS and Euro models had Lorenzo dying long before it hit the Azores, let alone Great Britain.  Weather is a part of cruising, just like it is part of flying, and there is no excuse for the type of behavior shown in that video.  If they pulled that on an aircraft nowadays, they would be immediately arrested on federal charges.

Edited October 10, 2019 by GA Dave

[NoWhiners]

8 hours ago, kiwi57 said:

Couldn’t take any food out to the pool because it was always closed. Also, NCL restaurant manager admitted that they messed up by not having food available at times people were looking for dinner (4:30-5:00, particularly) and they should have arranged to have had other venues open earlier when they cancelled the only option.

 

Honestly, I get that NCL had to deal with weather and unhappy pax but I don't understand why they couldn't have put out some sandwiches, cheese, fruit, other small snacks for people that first day. Depending on when you are able to board, you may not have eaten since breakfast or maybe an early lunch, so I have sympathy for people not able to get any free food before 6 pm. It isn't that they can't go for 90 minutes, it's that they may not have eaten for awhile. My blood sugar drops if I don't eat something every 6 hours or so and my hands start to shake, so I feel for people caught in this trap.

[Barb Nahoumi]

Everyone needs to read the small print on the  contract when booking a cruise.  On the terms of carriage, it is stated that the captain my alter any itinerary, or cancel any port, for the safety of the passengers, crew, and the vessel.

 

Perhaps contracts need to eliminate small print, making it larger to reduce the possibility of any misunderstanding.  Read it folks,  and prepare for anything that can happen on a ship.  Ships are not land hotels, and they are subject to anything that mother nature throws their way.

[Taters]

4 hours ago, Cruisercl said:

Hahaha.....they can't just 'head for the Med'.  A ship cannot just show up at a port and expect to be able to dock.

I hope your comment was tongue in cheek.

Have a good day! 😊

Well, I didn't feel the need to add anything about planning the new ports, as I've been on cruises where itineraries have changed.  Yes - NCL has the ability to schedule ports last minute. 

 

Have a good day!

[jacketwatch]

Well listening to a few people shouting doesn’t qualify anyone to say there was no European accent. That’s ridiculous and don’t generalize. 
 

As was stated weather dictates deviation from itineraries. You just have to accept that. C ‘est la vie. 
 

As for other allegations like spoiled food and toilets out of order the question is how widespread was this?  If it was a few public toilets well big deal. I would like to know about cases of food poisoning, closed restaurants etc. Is it embellishment or much more.

 

Finally don’t paint all people from a group or ethnicity with one stroke from the same brush. There’s too much of that already.

 

JM2C

[Cruisercl]

17 minutes ago, Taters said:

Well, I didn't feel the need to add anything about planning the new ports, as I've been on cruises where itineraries have changed.  Yes - NCL has the ability to schedule ports last minute. 

 

Have a good day!

It appears that you may not understand that there a great many logistics involved in going to a new port. The cruise lines can only go where everything can work out; any change of port is always planned, if possible, on a short term notice basis. I am sure there are different kinds of laws around it not to say safety arrangements.

No just heading to another port without the logistics being worked out in advanced; sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. Lots of variables need to be aligned.

Have a nice day! 😊

[Cruiser_1977]

Did anyone notice in the video of the guy complaining about his toilet, that he had those wet wipes on the floor? Those are NOT to be used in the toilet. He probably caused the problem! https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7551905/Cruise-ship-passengers-5-300-mystical-fjords-tour-rebel-tell-crew-want-liner.html#v-410565814734338462

[Ms.Eva]

Thank you to all who have posted here; I like reading all views and opinions.  
When you take a cruise, when you're at sea, stuff happens.

 

In early January 2008, my mother and two of our friends were returning from a Caribbean holiday cruise on the Noordam, at the time is was a pretty new ship from Holland America.  We had just left the last port, San Juan when BAM, suddenly we hit high seas.  The ship started rocking, it was so bad that many people got sick; the show couldn't go on because of the sea conditions, but the crew was great, they were very helpful.  I was afraid it was going to get worse as we headed north.  I got seasick and one of the servers gave me ginger, a green apple and salt, which made me feel a bit better.  My mom and I were able to watch one of those Bourne Identity movies (lots of action, not much dialogue), with the satellite going in and out, I had to take a Dramamine and I went to sleep.  The next day the seas were calm, when we got to the north Atlantic, even calmer.  

 

When you're at sea, anything is possible.

[johnritt]

When younger and poorer,  we aways cruised in the fall.  Why?  Because cruising was much cheaper in the fall and we could afford it.  We sailed the older ships too because they were cheaper.  I've even sailed on the spirit in hurricane season and remember liking the ship.  It's not huge but it's no rowboat either.

 

We always knew we could run into weather and took the discount and rolled the dice and usually got lucky.

 

These guys rolled the dice and lost.  

[FredT]

The last time I saw a "bunch" of public restrooms closed on a cruise ship it was because it WAS rough out, and a number of passengers did not make it to the stalls before loosing it......  That was on a Cruise and Maritime Voyages trip (Also canceled most of the ports due to weather.)   ((ALSO resulted in a "riot" of upset passangers, but then again they were mostly Brits..    ))

[dexddd]

Well, the "story" has made the splash page on msn.com with the Washington Post story.  Interestingly enough, one of the complainers is named "McNutt".

 

What a mob scene.  At least the Spirit has a beautiful atrium.  If bad weather, I think the Spirit would be pretty good for having room inside to do things compared to being on the BA or GA and having to be inside.  The Spirit has the beautiful front lounge, a nice sized buffet area, the multi-floor atrium, beautiful MDRs, and a large casino.  Blue Lagoon is tiny though.

 

Despite being the oldest in the fleet, we really like it.

[iheartbda]

On 10/8/2019 at 12:33 AM, ollienbertsmum said:

I sympathise, I have missed ports - last year we missed Naples because of storms.  We chose to sail in the autumn.   

 

Perhaps the mistake is not making it clear enough to passengers that if you sail in the autumn you might get stormy weather.  The small print needs to be bigger.  I am sure that this captain is dying a little every time he has to change the schedule - so passengers protesting with words like "shame on you" is ridiculous.  It would make more sense to put up posters saying "weather gods, shame on you".

I can’t agree about the fine print. It is the passenger’s responsibility to read the fine print. Even if it was made larger, and even in red letters, there will be those who won’t read it. I would like to know the percentage of people who actually read the cruise contract. I very much dislike the “no one told me” people.

[e2011]

Bunch of cry babies.  No refund. Take your future discount or get off at the next port and fly home.

[zonacruiser25]

On 10/9/2019 at 2:02 AM, david_sobe said:

If NCL had cancelled the cruise from the beginning there would have been angry riots at the port.  What?  Cancel a cruise because of wind?
If NCL had sailed into the storm and people started falling down all over the ship angry riots would be blaming the captain and NCL for putting their lives in danger.

Once the ship set sail, what could they do if a port was a risk because of a hurricane, another port had a broken down ship in its berth, etc.

Everyone is sympathetic but there are not realistic options.  These are the risks of a vacation on the high seas.

Agree!  I was lucky in the Navy since I was on Submarines.  If there was bad weather, we just went a little deeper till it was smooth sailing!  Not an option on ships that are not designed to sink!

[Doris&Nereus]

On 10/9/2019 at 11:53 PM, Taters said:

Honestly, when NCL saw that the weather for the cruise was going to be horrible, they should have simply headed for the Med.  There would have been warm ports, nicer weather and even though they'd changed the itinerary completely, people would have had less to complain about.   

Yes, Taters you are correct. We were on The Royal princess out of Southampton to New York on Sept. 10, 2018. We were supposed to go to Belfast, Norway, and Canada; but the weather was bad, so the ship went to Spain and Azores. It was a beautiful trip, and I'm so happy that the decision was made to go South. We had been to all of those ports before, but we were able to go on different tours ,and the weather was great, seas smooth as glass. No, I don't want rough seas on my trip.  Also, we have been on many cruises, and some TA's that missed ports due to weather.    

[newmexicoNita]

13 hours ago, iheartbda said:

I can’t agree about the fine print. It is the passenger’s responsibility to read the fine print. Even if it was made larger, and even in red letters, there will be those who won’t read it. I would like to know the percentage of people who actually read the cruise contract. I very much dislike the “no one told me” people.

Don't think you have a legit point here. Do people read small print? Many do not, that part is correct but still the point is very clear: it says in print thus and so. If we do not read it that is our problem. Cruise lines do the best they can to keep us safe and if that means changing course we should be happy the capt is concerned for our safety. Of course there are way to many who say: no one told me. your are right on that one 

[Woodinville]

On 10/8/2019 at 5:10 PM, Woodinville said:

It sure looked like rough seas on this voyage all around ... but the en masse protest I've never seen before, so I wrote it up for

Securely Travel - https://securelytravel.com/travel/norwegian-spirit-passengers-protest-at-sea/ and ask two questions:

 

1. Do the passengers have a beef, or are they acting in a truculent manner?
2. Norwegian is offering all aboard 25 percent credit toward a future cruise, is that enough given that mother nature and prudence dictated the at sea changes?

The cruise will be back on the 11th ... no doubt with a lot of detailed perspective.

 

Safe Sailing,

CB

 

The Norwegian Spirit has returned to Southhampton.

Many passengers are talking legal action to extract a refund from NCL. 

While others are hailing the crew as performing admirably in the face of adverse weather. 

CB

[iheartbda]

47 minutes ago, newmexicoNita said:

Don't think you have a legit point here. Do people read small print? Many do not, that part is correct but still the point is very clear: it says in print thus and so. If we do not read it that is our problem. Cruise lines do the best they can to keep us safe and if that means changing course we should be happy the capt is concerned for our safety. Of course there are way to many who say: no one told me. your are right on that one 

I am confused. You say I don’t have a legit point yet you seem to agree with what I posted. What part is not legit?

[Floridiana]

Cruising with those passengers? What  horror!

 

We were on a cruise around South America where we couldn't access Punta Arenas and Ushuaia due to bad weather. There were quite a lot of passengers who accused the captain of lying that there wasn't actually a storm according to the weather report they had found. No riot but bad feelings and grumbling. 

[geoherb]

I was on a Princess cruise doing a transatlantic from September 22 to October 8. We missed two ports: Portland, England, due to high winds and Ponta Delgada in the Azores due to Hurricane Lorenzo. I'm glad the captain steered our ship away from the storm to keep us safe (and more comfortable). All we received was our port fees returned (as well as a great cruise).

[Shawnino]

Bottom of the Barrel decision from a Bottom of the Barrel line.

[Diver2014]

1 hour ago, Shawnino said:

Bottom of the Barrel decision from a Bottom of the Barrel line.

 

so everyone can safely assume we'll never run into you on an NCL cruise? 

[salty dingo]

2 hours ago, Woodinville said:

Many passengers are talking legal action to extract a refund from NCL. 

That's not a realistic option. When taking a cruise, passengers basically give away any legal rights to sue as they could normally do on land. The maritime law is different and the ship's flag (Bahamas, I think) dictates which courts handle the dispute.

 

So lots of luck with the "legal action"!