Circusboy354
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Posts posted by Circusboy354
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Is the full $175 credit from RCI? Or is $100 from RCI and $75 from your TA?
A TA credit may not be available until sailing.
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Travel insurance must be purchased from your country of residence, that is correct but where you book your cruise is irrelevant as long as you have cover for that country. I’ve had a small claim on one and there was no question of booking location.
With the exception on one NCL cruise that was much cheaper in the UK I book all my cruises through agents in the US. I use a website where agents compete for the best deal and have used maybe 6 different agents found on this site without any problem.
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If you call you can get 5 in the grand loft suite. We did that on Ovation last year and were so impressed were booked again at the end of this year.
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Take the aft elevators to deck 7, then if you're in one of the three elevators that doesn't go to deck 6 get out and press the 'down' elevator call button.
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I've said it several times, but NCL should have emptied the ship in Singapore on December 11th. Given everyone money to fly home or try to patch together a vacation that included the ports that we missed (Bangkok, HCMC, Ko Samui) and fixed the ***** ship! Why have they lied over and over to all these passengers? I was one of the "lucky" ones who got 100% refund and 50% FCC, but it still was not what I paid for and I definitely will not use my 50% FCC, I have no confidence in this company anymore. NCL has no concern for the well being or the safety of their passengers or crew. No excuse...............No excuse or amount of money can makeup for this.
I disagree, I'm glad the ship wasn't 'emptied', we enjoyed our cruise even though it wasn't what was planned.
As the part had to be manufactured for the first azipod issue cancelling one or even two cruises would not have helped. I do think though that NCL should have given passengers the option to cancel for a refund on any of the effected cruises. I think the 100% refund and 50% credit was overly generous for us who stayed onboard and caused issues on the following cruises that were offered less.
The Star is far from being my favourite ship (nothing to do with the pod issues) but she has an amazing crew and we had a fantastic cruise.
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The original itinerary for the Jan. 16 sailing was revised and now misses 1 port in Viet Nam and 1 port in Thailand and adds an overnight in Singapore.
Revised Arrive Depart
Mon Hong Kong, China 6:00 pm
Tue At Sea
Wed At Sea
Thu Nha Trang, Viet Nam 8:00 am 5:00 pm
Fri At Sea
Sat At Sea
Sun Singapore, Singapore 8:00 am overnight
Mon Singapore, Singapore 6:00 pm
Tue At Sea
Wed At Sea
Thu Benoa (Bali), Indonesia 7:00 am 6:00 pm
Fri Komodo, Indonesia 9:00 am 5:00 pm
Sat At Sea
Sun Darwin, Australia 8:00 am 6:00 pm
Mon At Sea
Tue At Sea
Wed Cairns, Australia 8:00 am 5:00 pm
Thu Airlie Beach, Australia 10:00 am 6:00 pm
Fri At Sea
Sat Brisbane, Australia 8:00 am 6:00 pm
Sun At Sea
Mon Sydney, Australia 7:00 am
The current sailing, Jan. 5, is from Singapore to Hong Kong with 4 ports. It seems unlikely that the part was made over the holidays. If it arrives during the current sailing, how long does it usually take to install? Wondering if there is a chance the overnight in Singapore on the Jan 16 sailing may not be needed.
From Sydney in Feb. the Star is set to go to Auckland and then back to Singapore.
It was my understanding when we were onboard that the plan was to complete the repair during the added overnight in Singapore on the Hong Kong - Sydney sailing. I've no idea though if everything is still going to schedule though.
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Thanks that is very helpful. Who was the Hotel Director on your sailing?
We got off the ship on Dec 22nd, then it was Djamel.
Around 200 crew we're changing that day so I'm not sure if he's still on board.
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My apologies for the misinformation. I'd have sworn he said that he wasn't looking forward to going through India again.
Both are correct, Hanno leaves the ship when it returns to Singapore in a couple of weeks and rejoins in Singapore when the ship returns from Australia.
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Our son loved his and put them under the bed every morning so they didn't get damaged, we were on a 21 night cruise so had a large zoo at the end.
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Sadly, they might have to cancel a cruise or two in order to correct the problem. Safety First.
I'm on the Star right now and can give some insight. The problem occured as we were scheduled to leave Singapore. We waited in port for technicians to fly in to sign off, along with the local authorities and coastguard that the ship was safe to sail with one Azipod. The issue is too technical for me to understand but I do know a dry dock is NOT required. A replacement part has to be manufactured and this is what's taking time, in addition when the part is ready it can only be replaced when the ship is secured in port - hence the overnights. The area of the engine/pod they need to work in is extremely small and tight, I'm not 100% sure about this but it's my understanding that this could add a little to the total time. Now that the problem has been identified they don't think the issue will be as ongoing as was initially thought.
I was told today that this is the 2nd time in 20 years (out of 300 + pods) that this particular issue has occured in so spare parts are not available, hence the reason for the part being manufactured now.
Although we missed some ports we still had a great time, I for one am glad the itinerary was changed instead of the cruise being cancelled unnecessarily.
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Thank you so much for all your helpful updates. This one particularly. Sounds like they don't know for sure when the part will arrive and have scheduled overnights on the next 2 cruises to be ready for it.
So the provisioning (food and drink and choices) have been ok? I can imagine it has been a challenge in these first time ports and with the NCL Miami procedures.
I didn't ask that as I didn't want to be seen to carrying out an interrogation, I think the problem was properly identified in Chan May and that would explain the updated itineraries being sent out the last couple of days.
It was explained that out of 300 pods in operation this is only the second time in 20 years this fault has developed, hence the need for the part to be manufactured.
Since the ship left Europe supplies have been ordered 6 weeks in advance so there's no issue there. We were on the Dubai-Singapore leg and seen the transition of products from European to US after a supply reached the ship in Cochin.
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The ship does not need a dry dock, however it's not a quick fix either. The particular issue needs a part to be manufactured, hence the delay and the repair can only take place when the ship is secured in port, hence the number of overnight stays. There was no exact timeframe given other than its shorter than initially envisaged.
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Just talked to my PCC at NCL. They have nothing on our cruise. (NCL Star 2-06-2017 to 2-18-2017 from Sydney to Auckland NZ), We can probably gather that our itinerary will change as well as the Jan cruise prior to us just did so they will not have the boat fixed prior to our getting on the ship. No agreement on a date that we would hear something. All this means is that NCL has no comment and everything you are hearing here and on C.C. is probably correct!
It will depend largely on the distance between ports and the amount of time allowed in the original schedule. A lot of journeys have a lot of spare time built in, for example before Singapore we left Port Klang with a sea day inbetween, for a lot of the day we sailed at 6 knots, when we sailed from Nha Trang to Chan May we sailed at around 14 knots on one pod. The Thai ports have been cancelled due to the long distances between ports, with one pod the ship cannot travel that fast.
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I saw another post that a different ncl ship just missed 2 ports and only got port fees and 50 obc ... So agree these refunds look good
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I think that's standard for missing ports 50 OBC. On the morning after, when we sat out in Singapore Harbour waiting news on what was happening I was thinking through scenarios in my mind from similar instances I've read about on here. I said to my wife we'll probably either all have to be off the ship by tomorrow morning with a full refund and $300 for flight changes or the ship will go slowly to Hong Kong, we'll miss most ports and get a 25% refund. I was extremely happy with the offer and we looked at doing our own thing but at the end of the day we decided to stay onboard for the adventure.
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My travel agent was hopeless. Said NCL needed a decision by the end of the day. Either had to cancel and get full refund or do cruise and get half back. Didn't have much choice. I'm just seeing it now as a mode of transport from Hong Kong to Singapore, not even thinking or planning any ports as may end up not stopping at all. I don't have any faith in NCL and will never cruise with them again, regardless of a future 50% off. I will eAt and drink my way around the boat and ensure I get my monies worth. Have bought lots of books today and even travel scrabble to try and make it more bearable. Trying to be a bit positive but getting increasingly hard!
The way it's worked here and I'm assuming for anyone going on 22nd Dec with 50% refund is that the refund is made to as refundable credit to your shipboard account. Ours was done without asking by the end of the day they announced the problem and refund. A check / cheque will be issued directly from NCL after the cruise.
I think you are being unfair to NCL, this isn't something planned - it's a breakdown. I understand you are disappointed at losing some ports, especially if they were the ones that interested you most but as someone onboard as this played out I can honestly say they are doing their best. 50% refund is a great deal as the duration of the cruise hasn't been altered and the terms and conditions of booking that we all signed up to allow the cruise line to change and cancel any any every port without any refund. I was once on a Celebrity Transatlantic that was calling overnight at Bermuda then overnight at New York, due to rough seas in the Atlantic we missed Bermuda and went straight to New York and were only told at boarding - there was no refund at all.
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Due to the weather the other ship didn't stop in Chan May today so we're full speed (as much as you can get on one engine) to Chan May, expected to arrive around 3pm. Sea Levels have dropped back to moderate now but it's still overcast with a little rain.
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We've had a day and a half of rough seas with overcast skies and some rain. It's the wet season in this area so it's to be expected. In about an hour I managed to work out flights and hotels when we were in Singapore. If there are certain cities you want to see and prefer good weather you may be best to cancel, take the refund and book a land based trip.
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I am not experienced with these matters but the refund and 50% sounded very reasonable to us but wondering why the cruise for 22nd which is similarly affected is not getting the exact same offer?
Also, considering ncl has made it clear that further itinerary changes are possible and the ports they are stopping at are industrial ports a long way from the "attractions" shouldn't excursions or at least shuttles be put on at no charge????
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I would say the difference is we were already onboard and had infact left the berth before the announcement. I thought it was an exceptional offer - I expected port fees back and maybe an additional 20%.
NCL can't offer shuttles buses in Chan May - they can't get the number of buses required, some of the ships excursions are sold out for our tour due to the lack of buses.
I assume the reason we're arriving at 7pm tomorrow is to allow work on the pods, we've been told there will be no taxis so effectively people can't get into one of the nearby towns easily.
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There is another ship in port at Chan May tomorrow, they leave at 6pm and we're docking at 7pm for an overnight, Sanya and our arrival in Hong Kong remain unchanged. Although it's been challenging I feel that NCL have done all they can to make the best out of our situation.
I've seen complaints from those on the 22nd Dec sailing, as far as I can tell they are still putting a plan in place to have three ports, all with overnight stays to allow them to work on the Azipod. It's a shame they will probably miss some of the ports that in my opinion would be the better ports in that itinerary but at the end of the day it's something out of everyones control now.
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Sorry to hear that & thank you for keeping us updated with onboard news ... Was wondering as it's Saturday in VN but Friday evening in the US mainland. Marinetraffic tracking not updating but obviously, ship is still at sea with light chops, cloudy skies, etc. and not appeared to be anywhere near the coastline.
Chan May in 2 days - isn't that also going to be a tendering port, hopefully - it will give folks a chance to exercise those sea legs. Hopefully, luck will be on your side.
The revised schedule with the conflicting departure time, it seemed, has to do with sailing/leaving HK at 7 AM originally scheduled for 12/23, Friday morning and now pushed back to the afternoon instead ... which, would make sense to give the technicans & specialists more time to stay onboard to do any repairs to the electrical components associated with the azipod, instead of rushing her out to see.
It seemed that the Star left late night earlier in the week doing around 10 knots but took her as fast as almost 13 knots, based on posted tracking data ... and, assumption is that until the systems are fully repaired and operationally safe, she isn't and hasn't been able to go any faster than 10 to 12 knots. Is that a fair assumption ?
We left Singapore at Midnight Tuesday into Wednesday and have been at sea since, doing an average of 10 knots, from what I've noticed as low as 6 and high as 14 for a short period. Chan May is docked, they're currently trying to see if that's available tomorrow and have another reschedule.
I was really surprised and almost amused to see a large number of people around the ship at 7.30 am this morning with backpacks etc thinking they were going ashore.
At this stage I think we're just on a surprise adventure now, the only guarantee is that we'll be in Hong Kong on or before the 22nd. Right after they official announcement that Nha Trang was cancelled the internet went down for an hour. Sea conditions last night were 'very rough' and have been downgraded today to 'rough' although it feels rougher now than earlier.
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Unfortunately Nha Trang, our first port has now officially been cancelled due to the weather / tendering conditions. Such a shame, I think it was the highlight of our revised itinerary.
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My theory is a dry dock will occur between the cruise going out on the 22nd Dec and the 5th Jan. Yesterday for the first time a new 7 day itinerary was added. Bangkok to Hong Kong leaving 9th Jan. Too much of a coincidence. Where? Unsure if there's dry dock facilities in Bangkok or whether it will be done in Singapore. If Bangkok maybe both the next two cruises will be shortened to allow for time in dry dock. This is just me guessing.
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Don't read too much into the 7 day from Bangkok. It's been about for a week or more from time to time along with a 4 day from Singapore - Bangkok. I think they've been selling it into different markets, I met someone on this sailing a few days ago who was meant to disembark in Bangkok, so I think they may have been selling segments on this sailing pretty late on to fill the ship.
Royal Caribbean Star Class - Royal Genie
in Cabin Selection Tips
Posted
I think the disembarkation process in Sydney is genie dependent. We’ve had Genie service twice in Sydney (same Genie: the wonderful Wendy) and on both occasions she personally escorted through luggage claim, customs and to our car, although we still had to fight for elevators even with her priority elevator card. This year Wendy won’t be on the ship for our sailing so it will be interesting how this is handled with a different genie.