bay guy

On 6/6/2022 at 12:17 PM, maybesomeday said:

I will go on Magic again, but NEVER again out of Norfolk.  Workers were busting their tails, but the infrastructure is just not able to handle the volume of people.  

From what I saw a couple of weeks ago, the staff wasn't trained well to be efficient. As an example, when we went through the X-ray and metal detector station, the person who was supposed to view the X-ray scanner screen was checking passengers in wheelchairs. while she was doing that, the person running the metal detector stopped letting passengers through. Therefore, hand held baggage couldn't be x-rayed and many passengers wouldn't go through the metal detector because they wanted to stay with their hand held bags, phones etc. However, those passengers who didn't have to wait for handheld bags etc, who could have gone through the metal detector, got backed up as well.

Also, many passengers didn't show up at their assigned boarding times, trying to get on early and that jammed things up even more.

11 minutes ago, pcvtmom said:

Thanks for your take on the cruise.  We board Magic on Saturday, for the first time out of Norfolk. Did you use the parking suggested on the Carnival website, or were you dropped off (I see you're from VB)? I'm slightly concerned about the parking.

 We were dropped off and picked up which worked out well. We considered getting a cab to take us back home but found out that no cabs were coming to the terminal area unless you actually called for one. Having cruised out of Norfolk a few times, we figured someone else would snag our cab before they found us so our great neighbor drove us to and from.

The buses to and from the parking area seemed to be moving back and forth fairly smoothly. The only problem I saw was that you had to wait for the bus to get several passengers aboard before it left. I'm not familiar with where the parking area was but lots of people were using it.

Have a great time. The new cruise director just took over for the cruise after ours.

Also, if someone in your party needs wheelchair assistance, as we did for my wife, the wheelchair folks are by the elevator. That was great because we had priority for processing and we were on board within 15 minutes of getting the chair for her. Same thing coming off, They had the wheelchair assistance set up at the guest services desk on the ship.

We just returned from the four day trip to Bermuda. Everyone at the Norfolk cruise terminal did a great job getting passengers aboard. One criticism is that the folks who designed the terminal should have added a couple more elevators for those who have to use wheelchair assistance.

The ship was in great shape and the staff was wonderful. Constantly cleaning and always greeting us in the hallways and asking if we needed anything.

For reasons out of our control, we ate at three different tables for dinner. In all three cases, the dining room staff did an excellent job and we completed out 3-4 course dinners in about an hour. Other passengers were complaining about the slow service but we didn't experience that at all.

The only criticism I have is the quality of preparation of the entrees both in Lido and in the main dining room. From looking at the food, it looked like they had good quality beef, chicken and fish but, for the most part, everything was over cooked and, by the time we got it, was almost too tough to eat. To show you how poorly we thought the main dining food was prepared, we actually ate sandwiches from the deli bar and enjoyed those more than any dinner entree we had.

Activities were OK. I felt the advertising of $1000 and $5000 bingo jackpots was deceptive once you heard the stipulations to possibly win those amounts. Simon London and his cruise staff did an excellent job with entertainment over all.

We used Travel Insured International a couple of years ago and found their rates and coverage to be excellent compared to other insurers. Be sure to pay a few extra dollars to make the medical insurance part of the travel policy primary to your regular health insurance. It will save you a lot od extra work if you have any medical claims while on the trip.

REOVA, thanks for asking. It’s been a very slow process. It turns out she developed Guillain Barre while on board which has damaged the nerves in her legs and diaphragm which cause some walking difficulty and breathing issues if she exerts herself.

shes improving but I don’t believe she’ll get to the point where either of us would feel comfortable leaving the country for a trip.

We hope you’re doing well. We remember how kind you were to us.

4 hours ago, gadabout60 said:

 

Many posts on that particular blog seemed to suggest entitlement and newbies not being their sort of people that it has put me off a world cruise with HAL

My DW and I were on the first half of the 2018 WC. Despite her developing a problem which hindered her walking ability during the majority of the trip, we had a great time.

We met many great people from all over the US and world.

As with any large group of people, you always have that one set of people who believe they're more entitled than others and often "scheme" to get what they want. This showed up in the process to obtain tender tickets and, surprisingly, with the crafts classes which had poor Henk trying to come up with processes to thwart those efforts. In several instances, we heard the words, "I'm a President's Club member" or "I'm a Five Star member" cards pulled out when those less accommodating passengers wanted to throw their status around to get their way. However, it tended to be the same small number of passengers in those groups who did so and we quickly learned who to stay away from.

That being said, overall, the majority of passengers and especially all of the staff were extremely friendly and helpful which went a long way towards allowing us to enjoy our trip after my DW developed her health issues.

If health issues allow, we would both go on another WC in a heartbeat.

rkacruiser, I agree with trying to schedule tour a little later. However, in some ports with a limited number of port hours, an early tour is the only timing that works. I found that some of those who obtained early tender tickets didn't have scheduled tours and just wanted to go ashore to walk around a little. Of course, that's their prerogative, but some system to help those who choose private tours would be beneficial.

I agree with more 1 or 2 night over nights. One major issue is the tender tickets and their distribution. It's almost impossible to plan an early independent tour in tender ports because you're not assured of getting an early tender.

I realize the tender tickets are a touchy subject and, unfortunately, many people come up with various schemes to circumvent the rules. However, there should be a way for those passengers with both ship and independent tours to somehow have preference over those, even high loyalty members, not going on tours first thing in the morning. A good system would be preferable to having to start lining up at 6 a.m. to get an early ticket.

Perhaps a sign of some degree of normalcy returning to the cruise industry. One of the three NCL ships, which have been temporarily berthed in Norfolk, VA, left the port this morning.

I realize the pandemic caused everyone to learn how to deal with business in a whole new way. However, through monitoring the HAL World Cruise bloggers' posts, it seemed like HAL's initial response wasn't well thought out and there have been too many stops and starts and reverses during the process. This includes initially only handling return flights from Australia for passengers who had booked their original flights through HAL to problems processing refunds in a timely manner to the changing process about how luggage is going to be returned to those passengers.

Those missteps invariably end up being the responsibility of those at the top. The fact that many of the World Cruise passengers are at the top tier of the HAL loyalty program was most likely a big factor in his dismissal because those passengers are not shy about expressing their displeasure.

Three NCL ships will be docked in Norfolk, Virginia, until at least the end of June. My understanding is that each ship has a minimal number of crew members on board in order to just maintain the ship systems.

I'm not sure of the names of the ships but I just saw the first one entering the shipping channel into the Norfolk harbor. I'm sure the crews will be treated well by local officials and citizens and I hope this may lead to NCL originating cruises from our port in the future.

First, if she has been quarantined on the ship and they have no cases, CDC should have allowed her off. Also, requiring HAL to provide charter flights in a case like this is ridiculous. Anyone taking a commercial flight right now probably only has to pass a screening test and an asymptomatic Covid carrier could easily be allowed on the flight.

This is an example of some stupid government bureaucrat not using common sense and I'm sure, as explained by the captain, allowing her to violate what CDC had instructed the ship to do could have made it more difficult for other ships because the stupid bureaucrat who put up that roadblock would probably get their panties in a bunch and take that out on other HAL ships trying to disembark crew.

...

FLL is probably the best port to use for these ships for the following reasons

1) Hospital access for those who are critically ill and can't be cared for on board.

2) Quick easy access to the airport, which is basically minutes away, for the charter flights HAL is using to get passengers back close to home versus the almost hour drive to MIA, MCO and JAX from the port.

3) While holding those passengers and crew who are on board due to infection or quarantine, easy access to port services for resupply and easy fast access to hospitals if someone becomes critically ill.

It's called compassion for your fellow human being and a "not in my backyard" mentality isn't welcome in such tragic circumstances. For God's sake, the bodies of four dead people have been laying on that ship for over a week. How do you think the medical staff on board is feeling about losing those passengers to the virus and being helpless to save them?

I didn't check airline specific sites but did check Kayak last night and fares from Perth to Dallas were averaging about $700 for coach. That is more than reasonable for that length of trip.

Kathi, just out of curiosity, I checked Kayak for flights from Perth to Dallas and found most coach fares in the $700 range. Of course, if someone wants to travel business class, it's going to cost a lot. I've seen one way business class to Europe, even in low season, be $3000.

I know you won't fly to Dallas but just thought I'd use a major hub for comparison. Hopefully, your travel agent or HAL can find a reasonable flight schedule for you. Most of the schedules I saw were a minimum of 26 hours!

Roy, I don't know you but you seem like a gentleman and sounds like you have a great deal of compassion and understanding regarding your situation and that of thousands of others in the same figurative boat. (no pun intended) I think one issue the cruise lines dealt with which delayed their planning was not being sure when or where their ships would be allowed to dock and disembark passengers. Amsterdam was supposed to stop in two or three other ports before it reached Fremantle, all of which were canceled, and HAL apparently didn't know if the ship would be allowed to dock and disembark in Fremantle.

Someone else on the Cruise Critic site has mentioned that a Celebrity ship was supposed to be allowed to dock and disembark passengers in Chile. Instead, the government has now said it may refuel and reprovision there but can't disembark passengers and the ship will now have to sail to San Diego to do so. Imagine if flights had been booked from Chile for those passengers and now had to be canceled and redone when Chile changed its mind.

At least Australia seems to have decided to use Fremantle as a disembarkation port for several ships over a period of time.

Safe travels to you.

MMDown Under, I don't really understand why this is such bad publicity for Cunard, or any cruise line for that matter. I'm sure that everyone is working as hard as they can to take care of their passengers. Businesses all over the world have been affected by orders from their governments to shut down or limit the number of staff working in their offices. Not every company is set up to switch quickly to remote working. NO ONE is responsible for this mess the world finds itself dealing with.

Also, as the airlines drastically cut their flight schedules, especially international flights, I would imagine it has been extremely difficult to even find flights within Australia, let alone out of Australia back to the US or other international destinations. Even within the US, flight schedules have been cut down to bare bones levels. I imagine it's difficult to put together any type of smooth flight connection schedule without hours or even a day or so between trip legs.

At least Cunard, and I'm sure HAL, have been able to make arrangements for their clients to stay in hotels while they make travel arrangements for flights out of Australia.

Instead of people being the "squeaky wheel" and interfering with the work of those trying to help them, it's time for a GREAT DEAL of patience. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the cruise line passengers end up having to stay in Australia for a couple of weeks, perhaps even more, before they are able to head home. I would hope that Australian immigration officials would be understanding in that regard.

When I saw that some passengers on the Amsterdam were being rude and threatening to staff on board and canceling future HAL cruises in retaliation for not being able to get their way, I was extremely disappointed but not surprised. Sadly, many people have become so self centered that they don't care how their actions impact others as long as they get their way. They forget that the staff members on the ship have their own personal things to worry about with their own families who are perhaps thousands of miles away from them. They are people trying to help others, not personal servants.

I wonder if Miss Dolly will also have to disembark since she lives on the ship full time?

Why am I not surprised that some people are giving negative comments, threats and canceling future cruises to punish HAL? Even in the most trying of times when people need to be more understanding and patient, some people think it's all about them and have no compassion for others. I'm sure the Guest Services staff on board need a Xanax, or three, after each shift after dealing with self important assholes.

HAL should have made air arrangements for everyone on board but I would imagine that their home office staff is overloaded trying to deal with all the cancellations for future cruises plus trying to figure out how to handle the staff on board their ships who now have now passengers to care for and are losing significant tip income.

It will be interesting to see how those passengers who can't fly, due to medical conditions, are going to be handled and how they're going to get back home.

Kathi, very sorry about the trip being canceled but glad to hear that the Australian government has relented to allow the ship to dock in Freemantle and allow everyone to fly home. I know that Rodney and Marilyn are relieved, along with other Australians and, I imagine, a few from New Zealand, to have a shorter trip home.

Hope you're able to obtain a reasonable flight schedule home. I would imagine you may have to stay in Perth for a few days before you get a flight home.

Also, most US airlines have drastically cut their flight schedules within the US.

Please take care and let us know when you get back home.

Kathi, thanks for your updates. You are definitely having the adventure of a lifetime on this ever changing cruise. I'm hoping the Australian government will let the ship dock and refuel and resupply and allow Australian citizens to disembark and that HAL will be able to coordinate the logistics to let you all cruise back home. I hope that if they arrange that type of return that all the passengers are understanding and not driving the folks at Guest Services crazy with a bunch of childish complaints.

Kathi, I laughed when you mentioned looking for the possum fur yarn in New Zealand. I remember when we were with you on the 2018 GWV that you had to explain the difference between their possums and those we have in the US. Glad you were successful in your search.

The cruise line staff don't create the questions, as stated by several above. They usually read them from books of trivia questions. You're obviously outnumbered with your outrage over Kathi posting some of the questions each day. In so many words, "Get over it."

Kathi, does Nancy Grace have the same assistant that was with her on the 2018 GWV? I’ve forgotten her name but she was very nice to work with.