Family of nine left behind in remote Alaska, charged $9K by Norwegian Cruise Lines

[Distinctive-Destinations]

37 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

 

Do you have proof NCL called?

No. But that wasn’t the point. They likely did not have nine numbers to call as you baselessly claimed.

 

Matter of fact, it is possible that the family put someone else not there as the emergency contact down, meaning no one on the cruise could have been called.

[karatemom2]

4 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

But what if the tour operator didn’t inform the shores team that they didn’t have all of the passengers? Sounds like the tour operator thought there was another bus.

 
The Shorex team still could have connected the dots when a group of passengers was missing - they would have all been on the manifest for that tour. Seems like common sense they would then be reaching out to the tour operator to ask about the NINE missing people. But that requires a level of attention and service that apparently some here thinks is not at all the responsibility of NCL who is pocketing money for a shore excursion that supposed to include return transport to the ship. How terribly naive of these people to think they would get what they paid for. 

[julig22]

5 minutes ago, omahabob said:

The family said they did. They're provided the number for the port agent, who works for NCL, not the port authority.

Sure, the family said they called. That wasn't my point. You keep asserting that they called BEFORE NCL tried to call them. Where was that timeline posted?

Note, NCL said they tried to call, so that must also be true since that's what's been reported.

[omahabob]

8 minutes ago, karatemom2 said:

 
The Shorex team still could have connected the dots when a group of passengers was missing - they would have all been on the manifest for that tour...

They didn't need to. The passengers had already contacted NCL, who was well aware that they were likely going to be overdue.

Edited July 20 by omahabob

[omahabob]

15 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Sure, the family said they called. That wasn't my point. You keep asserting that they called BEFORE NCL tried to call them. Where was that timeline posted?

It was in their interview, which has been mentioned here several times. I don't know where the reporting came from that NCL couldn't contact them. They contacted NCL almost immediately. But I do know the news media is well known for being notoriously inaccuarate.

Edited July 21 by omahabob

[luv2kroooz]

52 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

So people like something, people show loyalty, and your only conclusion is that they must be employees? Following that logic, do you also believe that people who are against NCL are employees of their competition?

 

Edited July 21 by luv2kroooz

[julig22]

2 minutes ago, omahabob said:

I don't know where the reporting came from that NCL couldn't contact them. They contacted NCL almost immediately.

Umm, from the NCL response that was also posted. And what is immediately? As soon as the bus left without them or after they realized that there wasn't another bus coming.

[fmrlkr]

Not sure if this is the best place to ask this question, however, it was something I was wondering about.  Background: We were on a NCL Alaska cruise last spring and booked the Lumberjack show.  We received a ticket and then a sticker for our bus into Ketchikan from Ward Cove.  This bus was specifically for our Lumberjack excursion.  When we arrived they dropped us off at the show and instructed us on where to catch the shuttle to go back to Ward Cove. I remember(?) the busses were lining up near the Visitors Center. This shuttle was not specifically for our excursion, it was a continuous line of busses taking cruise passengers back to Ward Cove and was, I believe for all NCL passengers going back to Ward Cove not for specific excursions.  We were told when the last bus left to go back.  We enjoyed the show, then did some shopping, not as much as I wanted but we wanted to catch the shuttle.  There was a line but the busses filled up and ran.  The individuals running the line to catch the shuttle were very knowledgeable and helpful.  There were more busses after ours.  We are going again in September and have booked the lumberjack show because we are fans of puns and dad jokes.  Questions:  The excursion description says there is time for shopping.  Is there a specific bus for our booked excursion that we have to be on at a specific time, or, like last year, will there be continuous shuttles up until a certain time?  Will the line of busses be where they were last year?  Has anyone done this excursion this year, and what was your experience?  I am going under the impression that NCL will make sure that anyone waiting will not be left behind, however, I want to be prepared.

[omahabob]

19 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Umm, from the NCL response that was also posted. And what is immediately? As soon as the bus left without them or after they realized that there wasn't another bus coming.

The latter. I don't know where that NCL response came from, but the NCL port agent got them to the port as the ship was leaving, so they were well aware of the delay. Regardless, the family says they called NCL first, when they realized they would be late, meaning they weren't yet.

Edited July 21 by omahabob

[julig22]

9 minutes ago, fmrlkr said:

Not sure if this is the best place to ask this question, however, it was something I was wondering about.  Background: We were on a NCL Alaska cruise last spring and booked the Lumberjack show.  We received a ticket and then a sticker for our bus into Ketchikan from Ward Cove.  This bus was specifically for our Lumberjack excursion.  When we arrived they dropped us off at the show and instructed us on where to catch the shuttle to go back to Ward Cove. I remember(?) the busses were lining up near the Visitors Center. This shuttle was not specifically for our excursion, it was a continuous line of busses taking cruise passengers back to Ward Cove and was, I believe for all NCL passengers going back to Ward Cove not for specific excursions.  We were told when the last bus left to go back.  We enjoyed the show, then did some shopping, not as much as I wanted but we wanted to catch the shuttle.  There was a line but the busses filled up and ran.  The individuals running the line to catch the shuttle were very knowledgeable and helpful.  There were more busses after ours.  We are going again in September and have booked the lumberjack show because we are fans of puns and dad jokes.  Questions:  The excursion description says there is time for shopping.  Is there a specific bus for our booked excursion that we have to be on at a specific time, or, like last year, will there be continuous shuttles up until a certain time?  Will the line of busses be where they were last year?  Has anyone done this excursion this year, and what was your experience?  I am going under the impression that NCL will make sure that anyone waiting will not be left behind, however, I want to be prepared.

There are multiple scenarios. If your excursion ends with the lumberjack show and the show ends close to sail time, there should be busses specifically for NCL tours. I believe when I went, I was on the same bus that had brought me to the show in the first place. If there is additional time for shopping, then you might be directed to the shuttle. The shuttle usually stops running about 1.5 hours before sail time.

In this case, there were additional complications. Another ship in Ward Cove (probably also on ship excursions). But on the other hand, the shuttle should have still been running, since the other ship wasn't leaving for a few more hours.

[yakcruiser]

The short port times are why I will not do a 7-day cruise out of Seattle on NCL. The 9&10 day cruises usually have full day stops in both Ketchikan and Victoria. And they are bringing the Joy in 26 to do the longer trips. 

[bonvoyagie]

10 hours ago, zqvol said:

The distances between ports in SE Alaska is so short that NCL could easily add 5 or 6 hours to the stop and still make the next port. 

The problem is the next port, Victoria , is a long ways away and takes almost 2 days sailing near top speed to do.

[ontheweb]

14 hours ago, omahabob said:

They do bear a responsibility to make sure things get done right, as I already said. And, as I also said, I'm sure there's all kinds of stuff going on behind the scenes in that regard. They do not bear a financial compensation liability for mistakes made by a tour operator. That's a very important difference you and several others seem to be missing here.

Since as I have posted earlier, they make a point of letting you know that you can feel safe as they have properly vetted the tour operator, why should they not bear responsibility? And why do you think they eventually took responsibility?

 

I do think cruise lines take this pledge seriously. I know once on a different cruise line, I had an excursion cancelled by the cruise line and their explanation was they could no longer vouch for the tour operator.

Edited July 21 by ontheweb

[Roseflyer]

11 hours ago, bonvoyagie said:

The problem is the next port, Victoria , is a long ways away and takes almost 2 days sailing near top speed to do.

Yes that is the problem with Ketchikan.  Either the cruise has to leave by 2pm on the southbound journey to make Victoria or it doesn’t arrive until 2pm on the northbound journey from Seattle.  If you cruise out of Seattle, the Ketchikan port is short changed.  If you cruise out of Vancouver, then you can get the full day.

[dexddd]

19 hours ago, Distinctive-Destinations said:

I doubt any of the 6 small kids were down as an emergency contact, whether they have phones or not. At most I’d say the three adults were down. The grandmother might be under the umbrella of the mother or father, taking it to two. Then there’s always the chance that just one number was entered for the whole party.

More guessing.

[Distinctive-Destinations]

13 hours ago, bonvoyagie said:

The problem is the next port, Victoria , is a long ways away and takes almost 2 days sailing near top speed to do.

I don’t quite follow this Victoria timeline that several of you have now mentioned. Yes it is a long trip, but if they left Ketchikan say an hour later, wouldn’t they have just arrived an hour or so later at Victoria? The port wouldn’t be cancelled.

Edited July 21 by Distinctive-Destinations

[Distinctive-Destinations]

3 minutes ago, dexddd said:

More guessing.

I’d say the actual guess was the original post that I was replying to: that NCL could just call any of their nine numbers. That’s a guess because they could have any number of usable phones from zero on up. Nine is a guess, not knowing the number isn’t.

[mjkacmom]

6 minutes ago, dexddd said:

More guessing.

I think everyone is guessing, but I would never in a million years give out my minor kids’ phone numbers, or my parents.

[Wayward Son]

17 minutes ago, Distinctive-Destinations said:

wouldn’t they have just arrived an hour or so later at Victoria? The port wouldn’t be cancelled.

 

If I recall, they are only in Victoria 4-hours to begin with.

 

[julig22]

1 hour ago, Distinctive-Destinations said:

I don’t quite follow this Victoria timeline that several of you have now mentioned. Yes it is a long trip, but if they left Ketchikan say an hour later, wouldn’t they have just arrived an hour or so later at Victoria? The port wouldn’t be cancelled.

It's only a 4 hour stop for 7-day cruises from Seattle, from 8pm-midnight. Hardly a stop to begin with. But required.

[Distinctive-Destinations]

19 minutes ago, julig22 said:

It's only a 4 hour stop for 7-day cruises from Seattle, from 8pm-midnight. Hardly a stop to begin with. But required.

I’ve been on the cruise, I realize that. They could leave Victoria a hour later too. 

[Wayward Son]

6 minutes ago, Distinctive-Destinations said:

I’ve been on the cruise, I realize that. They could leave Victoria a hour later too. 

 

Sure. Because 9:00 pm -1:00 am instead of 8-12 would make the the other 4000 passengers so much happier. It seems that many feel that the 9 is greater than the 4000. That's not the way the world works.

 

[omahabob]

7 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Since as I have posted earlier, they make a point of letting you know that you can feel safe as they have properly vetted the tour operator, why should they not bear responsibility? And why do you think they eventually took responsibility?

You should read my comment again. I did say they have a quality responsibility, and are responsible for vetting. I said they do not bear responsibility for, or a financial compensation liability for, mistakes made by a tour operator. Their contract plainly says so. They didn't take responsibility for that mistake, because they weren't responsible for it, and they did not compensate for it. They reimbursed cruise interruption expenses in accordance with their published policy and contract. They also reimbursed the fine and offered a future cruise discount as a goodwill gesture.

[omahabob]

3 hours ago, Distinctive-Destinations said:

I don’t quite follow this Victoria timeline that several of you have now mentioned. Yes it is a long trip, but if they left Ketchikan say an hour later, wouldn’t they have just arrived an hour or so later at Victoria? The port wouldn’t be cancelled.

There are so many variables that could affect that. An hour late could cancel some scheduled excursions. Making up time burns more fuel, which costs $$$. Some ports have established arrival/depature time restrictions, either for congestion or other reasons. I don't know if Vancouver does. There could be a scheduled activity for the ship itself. We don't know all the factors, but it may not be just a matter of being a bit late.

Edited July 21 by omahabob

[Goldenknight]

21 hours ago, SeaShark said:

IMHO, here is the problem overlooked in all of the shorex hand-wringing. 

 

When a tour operator returns at the conclusion of a tour, they inform the ship's shorex folks that the tour is over and they have returned.  . . . 

 

 

 

 

NCL seemingly had every reason to believe the tour was over and these guests wandered off on their own.

THIS!

 

NCL did absolutely nothing wrong.  

 

If there were 150 people on this excursion, it's noteworthy that everyone else made it back to the ship on time except this family.  Now, the 3 adults in this family are not going to admit to anyone, especially now, that when the show ended, they decided to go shopping, buy drinks, or use the restrooms. They gambled on there being more buses, ready to take them at their whim.  Moreover, it is not the duty of the tour operator or bus drivers to search the town, looking for the missing family who chose to take their time when the show ended.  

 

There are always people who luv2whine  and sometimes pesky facts get in the way of their whining.  

 

The only unfortunate aspect of this is NCL paying out any reimbursement whatsoever for poor decisions made by people who won't take responsibility for themselves.  The show (tour) ended, get on a bus like all of the other NCL guests who managed to board on time.