Norwegian Sky 9/25-10/2 - worst cruise ever, worst vacation ever

[NCMtnBoys]

Gosh, when you said worst cruise ever, and worst vacation ever... I expected to read things like your toilet in your room overflowed with raw sewage and got everything wet and contaminated, or someone was walking by your table in the buffet and spilled their food all over you resulting in severe burns, or you were sitting in the theater watching a show and a light from above fell on your head resulting in having to be airlifted off the ship to the nearest hospital. I'd hate to read how you felt about your cruise/vacation if those thigs - actual really bad things - happened to you.

 

[ogredave]

Just now, SeaShark said:

Its actually the lack of responses, sport. You'll note that you "forgot" to explain the time lost on this unproductive thread...

 

I just did but I put it in the edit instead, sport.

 

If you think time at home is comparable to time on vacation, we'll never agree.

[nferr]

5 minutes ago, ogredave said:

 

See $50 excursion credit lost.

 You didn't lose anything there. It cost you nothing.

[GeezerCouple]

21 minutes ago, ogredave said:

 

It's called opportunity cost.  And have you never heard time is money?

 

It's nice that everyone here can afford to be so generous w/their time and money.  Wish some of it came my way.

 

Could you buy my saddle?

 

Sure, time is money.  And it pays that way, SOMETIMES.

If you miss your appointment with some professional, they might bill you anyway.

But if they are running late, or need to cancel, how often do they pay you for your "time" spent waiting (even if the appointment isn't just late, but ends up cancelled... oh, say, because the surgery had complications and the surgeon spent a few extra hours at the operating and recovery rooms and didn't get to the office upstairs that morning at all...)?

 

But what about if you buy a movie ticket, and the film breaks part way through.

Do you expect your money back?  Sure.  I would, too.

But do I expect the movie theater to pay for my "wasted time"?  Nope, it would never have occurred to me.

And in your case, your "time" was spent on, dare I say it... a luxurious cruise!  

... with your choice of food, beverages, relaxation, on the ship you selected.

 

But you only want to argue.

Perhaps if you stumble across this thread in a year or so, you'll have put things in perspective.

This IS a *very* "first world problem", as I'm sure you realize.

 

DH has a wonderful example of how this might work:  Decades ago, when DH was also a professional, he was waiting for something like a doctor's visit, sitting in the waiting room.  He waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  Finally, he went up to the receptionist and said:  "I've been waiting here since <time>.  Please tell Dr. X that after another 10 minutes, I'll need to start charging my regular fee for my time waiting."  The receptionist got very flustered, and asked him to wait, as she disappeared in back.  A few minutes later, someone called him to the door to see the doctor.  DH still laughs a LOT about that.  Needless to say, he wasn't going to bill anything at all.  He might have left, however.  And he wouldn't have expected to be "compensated for his time waiting'.  He meant that "waiting/billing" comment as a joke.

 

But you are clearly just wanting to argue with NCL and everyone else here and who knows where else.

 

Good luck with that.

As SeaShark mentioned, how much more of YOUR time are you planning to spend arguing with *all* of us?  That should tell *all* of us how much you yourself value your time.

 

About that "credit" for something you never even used/paid for (the excursion, where the costg was refunded, right?):

I'm noticing these $50 and $100 credits toward certain items at the local luxury shop nearby.  But they don't have my size, or they are all out.  Let's see, I *really* was (REALLY, I SWEAR!!) going to buy 100 of them!  I'll wait for the store to refund those "credits" to me.  Yup.  Yes indeedy...

GC

 

[EllieinNJ]

On our cruise last month I found the excursion desk extremely helpful.  In Halifax we waited over 2 hours standing on a line to get the stickers for the hoho bus purchased through NCL.  Meanwhile people were boarding immediately who had just purchased tickets at the port.  We spoke very nicely to the excursion desk.  They apologized and gave us back half the price.  In addition sent a cheese tray and a bottle of wine to our cabin.

[ogredave]

1 minute ago, nferr said:

 You didn't lose anything there. It cost you nothing.

 

I disagree, I feel it's factored into the cost.  But I don't think we'll agree on this so it is what it is.

[SeaShark]

7 minutes ago, ogredave said:

 

I disagree on the awareness, but ok?  NCL actually acknowledged that they did not respond about the excursion and apologized for it.  But ok ..

 

You do know you keep answering questions with questions, then complaining about responses, right?

 

Regarding time - comparing time at home vs. time in a foreign country on vacation isn't even remotely the same.

 

Not the edit you think it is. Nobody even tried to day time at home and time in a foreign country was remotely the same. Especially given that the time at home is what allows you to have that time in a foreign country. Try again.

 

6 minutes ago, ogredave said:

 

See $50 excursion credit lost.

 

Not lost. You were given $50 off of any excursion taken. You don't get paid when you don't take one...regardless of the reason.

 

"$50 Shore Excursion Credit has no monetary value, are non-refundable, non-transferable and cannot be exchanged for actual currency of any value.'

 

 

Still not sure what you think this is going to accomplish....NCL already gave you far more than I've seen anyone in this thread offer.

[ogredave]

1 minute ago, EllieinNJ said:

On our cruise last month I found the excursion desk extremely helpful.  In Halifax we waited over 2 hours standing on a line to get the stickers for the hoho bus purchased through NCL.  Meanwhile people were boarding immediately who had just purchased tickets at the port.  We spoke very nicely to the excursion desk.  They apologized and gave us back half the price.  In addition sent a cheese tray and a bottle of wine to our cabin.

 

I promise you I was much friendlier on board than I am now 🙂  Like I mentioned in the original post, I tried working it out w/customer relations before posting this complaint. 

[destar]

28 minutes ago, ogredave said:

Could you buy my saddle?

What size of saddle do you need?

[mafig]

Why did you book a cruise during hurricane season?

 

 

[MsTabbyKats]

25 minutes ago, ogredave said:

 

I just did but I put it in the edit instead, sport.

 

If you think time at home is comparable to time on vacation, we'll never agree.

But u didn't answer my question:  Did you have insurance?

[KeithJenner]

4 hours ago, tony s said:

Until it happens to you…

I’ve had ports cancelled due to weather. I’ve had ports cancelled due to someone jumping overboard and us spending the day looking for them. On our last cruise we arrived at the port to find that the itinerary had completely changed, which resulted in a lot of rearranging and a bit of lost cash due to non refundable bookings,.

 

We could have grumbled at all of these. We could have had the “worst vacation ever” if that’s what we choose. But instead, we always chose to have a good time, even if it doesn’t give us a great story for the internet.

 

The world is a mess at the moment, and we are lucky enough to be able to go away and relax on holiday. I’d feel pretty bad about myself if I allowed some changed plans to make me feel that I was in some way hard done by,.

[j603]

"Worst cuise ever" should only be used for the unfortunate poop ship cruise over at Carnival a few years back. That is the only worse cruise ever. OP take a cruise where feces is literally slide down the walls of your Stateroom, then see how it compares to an itemary change and an excursion mishap.

[MotownVoice]

Every single thing you’re complaining about was forewarned in this document, which clearly you didn’t take the 20 minutes to read:

 

https://www.ncl.com/about/terms-and-conditions

 

Oh wait.   I know.    Your “time is valuable”.   Maybe they should have paid you to read it.  

[Sea saw 56]

The only way you get the $50 credit per port is if you actually take the tour.  At that point it reduces the cost you paid by $50.  If you don't spend the money for the tour, no credit is due.

Sorry you had a bad experience though.

[GeezerCouple]

16 minutes ago, j603 said:

"Worst cuise ever" should only be used for the unfortunate poop ship cruise over at Carnival a few years back. That is the only worse cruise ever. OP take a cruise where feces is literally slide down the walls of your Stateroom, then see how it compares to an itemary change and an excursion mishap.

 

Yeah, that must have been pretty horrible.   I remember reading about that.  Ugh.

I genuinely can't even imagine.  

(I assume some people must have gotten rather sick from... assorted things...?  I've always wondered about some of the consequences.)

 

However, there was also this Costa ship a few years ago...  I daresay that in recent history, that may take the biscuit for "worst cruise" (in "recent history"; I suspect the Titanic would have beat the Costa ship...  THOSE were indeed real tragedies, as were some unfortunate others!).

 

As I wrote above, this NCL excursion (not the entire cruise, dare I say?) is a FIRST WORLD PROBLEM.

You are actually quite fortunate, in the scheme of things, to have THIS problem be what you "need" to spend your time dealing with.

... rather than finding food for your children, or finding somewhere warm for your family, or medicine that is desperately needed...

 

Put it in perspective already!

You *could* have "moved on" by now and been doing something... enjoyable! Or relaxing.  Or enjoyable *and* relaxing!  (All you are doing is giving the rest of us various sorts of private thoughts as we read and perhaps respond to your sad tale of woe...)

 

I'll bid you adieu now, and hope that we don't meet on some future cruise.

Cheerio!

 

P.S.  Username checks out!

GC

Edited October 23, 2022 by GeezerCouple

[dolfan1980]

1 hour ago, ogredave said:

 

Would you expect someone else to have more responses than the OP? 

 

Compensation is the only thing I can ask for - how could I get my time back? 

I think the responses you've received here are almost unanimous.  You've used a lot more of your time and life complaining about this and worried about it.  Sometimes you just need to roll with the punches a little more.  I think everyone gets it, it sucks when plans change.  But you didn't really have any losses.  I like the approach here in Canada, you can't sue for losses you can't really monetize.  This compensate me for everything approach in US and others places for litigation sucks IMO.

[BirdTravels]

6 hours ago, ogredave said:

I've been holding off on posting this in hopes that NCL would somehow make it right, or even do something, but I guess my expectations were too high.

 

TLDR - Our entire itinerary changed due to storm with 0 notice.  Only found out at port during boarding.  Nothing offered, no alternatives.  Replacement ports not as desirable, then Norwegian's excursion partner literally crashed their boat in Nassau and our excursion got cancelled at 1 PM with a 4:30 PM all-aboard time.  Again nothing offered, no alternatives.  Out of the replacement ports, Nassau is the most valuable, and it was ruined.  Realistically, what can you do when you find out at 1 PM?  We weren't the only upset party complaining.

 

 

Basically, it started off on the wrong foot.  When you get to NCL check-in at the port, the first thing they did was hand you a completely new itinerary.  I asked - there was no option to change, cancel, anything.  At the front desk they literally told me they'd open a ticket and I'd have to work with the Miami office after the cruise.  I understand it's within there T&C's, but this is just about the poorest way to handle it.  Imagine if you had booked your own excursions - which I've done here in the past by coordinating with other forum members.  That would have been a nightmare.

 

Then the ports - George Town, Roatan, Harvest Caye, and Cozumel (4 different, non-US countries) were replaced with San Juan, St. Thomas, Road Town, and Nassau (2 non-US countries).

 

We get to San Juan Puerto Rico at 5PM and leave at midnight.  The attractions are all closed by the time you get off the boat!  The forts are closed, you can't go in.  Even NCL's own excursions end at 9:30 PM.  Basically, this felt like filler/fluff.

 

Next 2 ports - US Virgin Island (St. Thomas), British Virgin Island (Road Town).  Well, I guess they're ok except they're almost the same as the other.  At least by this point we've actually left the country we departed from.

 

Nassau - this is a nice port, lots more excursions, Atlantis, etc.  We got here late 10:20 AM instead of 10 AM, but our excursion was planned for 1 PM.  We are outside on the dock at 1 PM when the excursion team tells us the excursion partner crashed their boat and is cancelling our excursion.  There was a lot of disappointment and frustration, among many other emotions.  At the point in time, there were no more excursions left.  The staff apologized but there was nothing they could do.  Multiple parties went to the front desk, etc. to complain.  Nothing was done.

 

Now we've come home and I've gone back and forth with guest relations.  Basically response are sorry but we are within our rights to do this. 

 

I've told them multiple times.  Sorry is not good enough.  Customers are spending thousands and you want to hide behind T&Cs - that's not right.  Vacations are supposed to be great memories.  The sad thing is we like cruising, and if you look at our demographics and do some math .. well this will cost you more in the long run.

 

This is literally the worst vacation we've ever had.  Thanks Norwegian.

Sorry about your cruise. 

 

I am sorry that you decided to book a cruise at peak hurricane season and a storm caused a deviation in your itinerary. 

 

I am sorry that the cruise line exercised the clause in the contract that you signed that allows them to change itineraries to keep passengers and crew safe. The clause that allows for change without any compensation. And that the cruise line executed the clause and did not compensate you, per the contract you signed. 

 

Everyone has a sad story, yours is no different. You are not entitled to any compensation. And the cruise line did not offer any. As a shareholder, I am happy with NCL's decision. 

 

I am sorry your tour got cancelled. It happens all the time right now (maybe not for your exact reason). Tour providers have cancelled many tours at the last minute for all cruise lines due to COVID, staffing shortages, and resources. We have had 7 or 8 cancelled over the past year. No complaints here. 

 

Since we cruise multiple times a year, and during the storm season. We have had changes made to our itinerary. We had a change made last month. We had one cruise last year miss a port and reschedule other port calls because the ship had to turn around toward land to medivac a sick passenger for lifesaving medical treatment. That is exactly what I signed up to. No complaints from me. 

Edited October 23, 2022 by BirdTravels

[GUT2407]

Sounds like cruising isn’t for the OP. Sure I’ve had changed itineraries, missed ports, excursions cancelled, and a couple of times been disappointed, but not to the degree being shown here. 
 

Once I booked to visit one port, and really that was the only reason I booked that cruise, we missed that port due to a Cyclone, but it far from ruined our entire cruise.

[wally4ever]

My first cruise, last December, ended terribly.  My wife came down with COVID on morning 3, which happened to be Christmas Day, and got quarantined.  My daughter and I tested negative, but were still isolated for the remainder of the cruise (in a downgraded cabin, I'll add).  NCL never reimbursed us for anything... no specialty dining, no excursion refund, no beverage package refund, nothing.  They even charged us for the crappy pay-per-view movies they told us would be free.

 

So what did I do when I got home?  I scheduled a solo cruise for myself over spring break while everybody else was working/in school, had a blast, and then scheduled another cruise for this Christmas.

 

[Redacted] happens sometimes.  

[Adian80]

"Worst vacation ever" LOLOLOL Your vacation sounds amazing compared to mine. I do hear you that you're frustrated, but you were safe on a ship being entertained. I would have gladly exchange places with you at that time.  Here's the worst vacation I was on at that exact same time and honestly mine could have been way worse.

 

We started our drive to  Friday morning and all was going well when my car shuddered and died on interstate 24 just north of Clarksville. Unfortunately we were in a construction zone that was down to one lane when it happened, but I was able to maneuver us into the ditch. We called 911 because we were not in a safe location (it was very narrow and semis were barely able to pass us) and a tow truck. The towing company fortunately brought an additional off duty driver so that all 4 of us would have a ride to a safe location, but the extra driver was only able to take us as far as the next exit.

 

The kiddos and I waited for a Lyft to take us to Hertz while Matt rode with the towing company to drop off our car. Once at Hertz I was told that they didn't have a car big enough for us but, while she was showing me a smaller car to see if everything would fit someone returned the right size vehicle! Unfortunately, that's where our luck ran out. After picking my husband up at the dealership he noticed that the tires on the vehicle we rented were in very poor shape and there was a gouge in the sidewall of one of the tires. They put in a work order to have the tires replaced at Discount Tires down the street. After waiting for 3 hours to get an approval for the tires Hertz declined replacement and left us stranded.

 

The manager at the Hertz in Clarksville wasn't giving up on getting us home safely and went above and beyond for us. We headed to a hotel and he started the roadside assistance process to tow our rented vehicle to Nashville and have a replacement vehicle delivered to us from Nashville. Unfortunately they wouldn't deliver the vehicle, but I was able to ride with the driver to the Nashville Airport to get a replacement. Once arriving at the airport I waited in line for an hour for them to tell me that they wouldn't do the exchange without me filling out an incident report admitting to being at fault for the damages. There was absolutely no way I was doing that, so I called the manager back at the Clarksville location. There was a notation on our rental agreement stating what had happened and I had a case number that they were supposed to look at, but they refused to help me. The manager at Clarksville then called the General Manager of Nashville at home on a Saturday. Three minutes later the process to exchange our vehicle began. Ten minutes later I was back on the road to pick up my family at the hotel in Clarksville and we were on our way home.

 

We all arrived safely at home   We have no idea how long it will be before our car is diagnosed and fixed. It could be months according the the dealership. They're down to 2 engine techs and have 4 other cars sitting there with the same problem. I'm hopeful that it'll be covered under our warranty, but who knows. The most important thing is were all safe and we have a second vehicle for transportation.

Edited October 23, 2022 by Adian80

[stormynow]

Wonder what the OP does or did do for a living. Thinking his or her time is so valuable.

[FlGoodShips]

3 hours ago, ogredave said:

 

I've said it multiple times already, something beyond the refund.  At least the token $50 lost credit would have been something - something I technically paid for as part of my package. 

 

Compared to the cost of this vacation that's a drop in the bucket.

 

Sometimes we do not use the $50 excursion credit for a port. Does not mean NCL owes us $50. 

Stuff happens. Hope you enjoyed the time on the ship...food, drinks, entertainment, activities.

Smile. Life is too short. Just enjoy life itself.

[graphicguy]

Why did I click on this thread?

[roomba920]

I completely understand your frustration.

I was on the Norwegian Jade in Greece the same week as your cruise.

They also changed our itinerary, but we weren't even told at check in inside the terminal where we had free WIFI. They told us onboard. They flipped the itinerary around, dropped one port and shortened the hours while in the other ports.

We had a dinner reservation in Santorini at sunset. We were originally scheduled to be there till 9:00 pm, but they shortened it to 3:30 pm, and we had no internet to inform the restaurant of the change.