4 cruisers

On 7/30/2022 at 9:22 AM, asnaleah said:

I know the water is safe to drink, but the amount of sodium makes my ankles swell. On Regent, they use the Vero system. It was fine, there are fill stations all over the ship, and we were each given our own metal water bottle. Curious, @terrydtxif you are familiar with Vero.

I am the same!!!!!!!!  I actually pack a rolling carry on bag with my Aquafina!  

YES!  It does take some footwork to get reimbursed but we got everything back except the insurance cost, of course!  Ours was covid cancellation.  ;-(

On 6/21/2021 at 2:45 PM, ysolde said:

Yup, you're right.  I went to your link on Amazon.  Lots and lots of people complaining that this product tastes funny -- like water that has somehow gone "off," if that were possible.  It's a terrible product, and certainly not one I will ever purchase on land.  Too bad I have no choice, if I am to drink water on NCL.

It was truly awful water (had it on our Alaska cruise in August).  I am glad they have changed brand but hope it will be better!  Oh and my ankles swelled with the stuff!

9 hours ago, jennjess said:

No the excursions were booked through NCL they should refund me for those and the pre-paid gratuities, drinks package etc..

Sorry, but in our case, the insurance takes over.  They ask for receipts of those charges and then include that in the refund check.  We used NCL's insurance.

8 hours ago, jennjess said:

How did we muck this up?  He needed a diagnosis which we boarded the ship to get.  It might just have been a sprain and we could have continued with the cruise.  It was not sadly and we had to leave the ship for proper treatment.  Not sure why anyone thinks it was a mistake to make use of the ship's medical service for a diagnosis as we paid for that service and had every right to get onboard.

 

Still haven't received a reply from the emails I sent to guest relations almost a month ago now or a refund for the excursions etc. I pre-paid.

This is where I don't see NCL's responsibility.  Your insurance needs to reimburse your shore excursions, not NCL...I believe....

On 5/22/2022 at 1:45 PM, The Shrike said:

Offensive?  Wanting a company to cater to you because of something that occurred completely outside of their sphere of influence is offensive.
You took that quote out of context.  It is offensive that they judged this woman for NOT keeping her child in the hospital in Athens but waiting to have the ships' doctor look at him the next morning. Covid alone would keep me out of that hospital waiting room....I know what the medical language barrier can be...Greek is very different!  I agree that asking more of NCL at that point was a bit much.  Especially since they had private insurance.  All I can say is if you cruise, you need the top insurance you can get!

On 6/12/2022 at 1:52 PM, ChiefMateJRK said:

A few weeks back we had a number of reports of the struggles that Pride of America was having getting back up to speed, but lately it's been pretty quiet.  Did things die down or is it just the calm before the (next) storm?

I sometimes wonder if we are censored here.  I am enjoying the group on FB.  Most people are making the best of the beauty of Hawaii and the good attitudes of the crew.  We are up for that! 😉. 

17 hours ago, SeaShark said:

 

You missed the post. They went, found a line, and decided they didn't want to wait...so they left and figured they'd just see the ship's doctor once they embarked for their cruise.

So many facets to this whole situation.  I am thinking about Covid and the ER in Athens.  That alone is daunting.  Language barrier is another tough one!  Having a skateboarding kid, we have had two broken arms.  One was way more severe than the other.  Pain levels were each different.  Im sure the Mom felt she was making the best decision to get her son checked out by the doctor on the ship.

I guess, all in all, too much was expected by the poster from NCL.  It just stirred up a lot of fellow cruisers' less than stellar communications we have experienced with NCL.  

Just now, mjkacmom said:

I just don’t see how it would be helpful for NCL to contact them again, and ask how he was doing.

Well, weren't they trying to meet the cruise at the next port?  It's all just sad.  Some vacations do turn out like that!..Been there, done that.  I am just reflecting on other communication issues with NCL.

8 hours ago, jennjess said:

We should have disembarked the Jade today but a week ago Saturday we arrived in Athens and my son fell and broke his wrist that night.  Not knowing if it was broken or not (it was painful) we boarded and went to the medical centre for an x-ray and it was deemed that he needed hospital treatment and we were disembarked after only an hour onboard and billed almost $400.  The port agent took us to a hospital and left.  One phone call from someone in the USA to ask how it was going, they never got back to us at all.  The hospital we were dropped at wanted 3000 euros up front to do the necessary operation (we already had confirmation from the insurance that the cost would be covered) so we left and went to a hotel for the night.  NCL had supposedly booked this room for us but they hadn't and we had to pay.

Next day we went to a different hospital organised by our travel/health insurer and he was admitted and had the operation on Tuesday with payment guaranteed by them.

He was released on Wednesday and we decided to try to get back onboard, but as everything seemed to go against us, after flying to the next port the ship couldn't dock due to bad weather and we were again stranded.

Decided that we should just go home from that point and took the first flight back home.

Anyway nobody from the ship has contacted us since day one and now I don't know if any of our pre-paid excursions, gratuities or free st sea drink packages will be refunded.

I think my travel insurance will cover most of the cruise cost eventually.  I found it very difficult to contact anyone at NCL for help or advice, my cell phone will not call 0800 numbers.

All in all not the fun filled relaxing holiday we had hoped for.

 

so, did you have NCL's trip insurance or private?

Just now, mlgb said:

Did you not read the part where the hotel offered a doctor's visit for 150 Euro? 

No I did not see that.

 My Mom in law broke her wrist on a cruise and had it set on board...granted this was years ago.  Best recovery and "fix!"

 I just remember when we ended up in ER in Venice the day before a Holland America cruise and I insisted we board in the morning and have an assessment by the ship's doctor instead of hospitalization in Venice....It was dehydration (very hot day in Venice plus, diabetic, etc). Every situation is obviously different.  

Many of us have been having issues with NCL's communication lately.  I think this is where I am looking at it from.

2 hours ago, billslowsky said:

No.  Reality.

You know, until you have experienced this poster's experience, you should probably just stop.  Have you ever experienced finding medical care for a child in Greece?  

NCL is NOT good at communication.  That is a fact.  You can argue that, but many of us have experienced it first hand.  There are other cruise lines that are WAY more service oriented.  That is FACT.  You will say we should cruise elsewhere...we most likely will.  Your "Snarky" viewpoint is offensive.

12 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

A little more involvement from the company?

 

How about your hotel? What involvement did they give you? Did they go to the hospital with you, sit with you, address all of your concerns?

How about the airline or train company that transported you from your home to the port? What involvement did they give you? Did they go to the hospital with you, sit with you, address all of your concerns?

 

I just am not quite understand why you feel that NCL owed you this level of care? And again...what about the luggage? Did you leave it onboard awaiting your return from treatment, or did you take it with you?

 

 

And as an aside...take it for what it is worth...but you've come here to throw shade at a company for "customer service not good". Now we hear that a family member was injured, you went to a medical facility, and when you saw that there was a long line, just figured "I'm not going through this...we can wait and use NCL's medical facilities instead". Not providing a family member medical care because it was busy...that is MY idea of "customer service not good". I think, given that you had a incident pre-boarding, the NCL met their obligation for care...just my two cents.

10 minutes ago, billslowsky said:

"when we board our cruise, that is our home away from home"

 

I must have missed that in the contract.

cute.

8 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

I’m sorry for the injury but I don’t know what you expect from NCL but a refund for incidentals. The injury occurred before he even got on the ship. I’m so glad you had insurance and this story shows how important that is.

Wait a second…when we board our cruise, that is our home away from home.  They paid and yes, insurance should kick in.  Not being able to receive council from NCL is NOT acceptable.  

So So sorry😞

21 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

 

 

I totally agree.  No way to know how many bookings NCL cancelled. 

 

NCL actually did tell me 21 bookings were cancelled on the previous cruiser's cruise!  We called after receiving a confirmation that OUR cruise had been cancelled!!!  It happens that they just then had sent a cancellation regarding our Covid cancellation on April 23rd!  We almost had heart attacks!  We thought it was our re-booked cruise on July 30th!  

All is well so far, for us.  I feel really badly for the cruiser who was cancelled and the lack of help they are receiving from NCL.  

2 hours ago, Paphillyguy said:

Tell that to several people, I know that died from Covid.  Oh yea you can't because they are dead.  People that believe this virus has not caused deaths are just ignorant.  

I am obviously referring to the latest variant.

On 5/17/2022 at 11:42 PM, GeroWA said:

I see what you mean - I tried to do a dummy booking for July and the earliest I could get a cruise was December 24th.

 

Something definitely wrong here (at least I hope so) as I am booked  to sail on July 23rd.

Fingers crossed

I'm hoping yours is a go!  We board as you get off!  Fingers and toes crossed!

18 hours ago, jimsig said:

Double triple etc boosted almost doesn't matter as much as when you got your last shot.  The longer you go from getting a shot the effectiveness wears off.  Someone who is double vaxed 1 month ago should do better then someone who was triple vaxed 4-5 months ago.  Granted covid affects people different but in the grand scheme of things it more of a time from your last shot thing then the number of shots you have had.  

We were vaxed a year ago.  This virus was nothing.  I wouldn't have tested had we not been cruising the following weekend.  That is your theory.  I happen to disagree.  Getting this virus has not been killing people.  I would rather have the natural immunity at this point.  Just my opinion.

16 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Read this:

https://www.travelpulse.com/news/cruise/ncl-limits-occupancy-aboard-pride-of-america-sailings.html

 

There's nothing ominous and NCL's president explains exactly what is happening.  Other than this thread, we've seen no other reports of cancelled sailings.  Sold out/not available is the same thing.

 

“As of yesterday, we have every voyage through the end of October on a stop sell, so you can’t even book this product before November right now.”

I was thinking that the back log of cruisers on Pride of America is HUGE.  Many of us had to use our air credit by a certain date (ours is Dec 2022).  We struggled to get the category we had previously booked in.  Finally one popped up on July 30th sailing so we grabbed it.  I am hoping that they are literally sold out for the summer at their current capacity.  

I hate hearing the "C" word regarding our much anticipated and prepared for vacation cruises!  I am so sorry for the original poster.  

We are platinum with NCL (not a big deal, but we have sailed with the quite a bit) but we are not fond of the way they communicate with us.

I hope we all get more answers soon!

We can only hope!  Keeping positive thoughts and eyes open!

1 minute ago, 4 cruisers said:

We just missed our Pride of America April 23rd sailing due to my husband's positive test three days before we were to fly to Hawaii.  We would have thought it was an allergy but knowing the cruise was coming up, opted to drive through the one hour test at our local mall.  He was positive!  We both then drove through Walgreens and tested...he was still positive but I was negative.  I caught it 8 days later.  He took Paxlovid and I didn't.  My case was way less than his!  The Paxlovid he had was made in China and Italy.  In retrospect, I would not suggest taking it.  Just our two cents!

Oh and we are only double vaxed.  I asked the Riverside County Health Dept. if they are seeing triple vaxed people getting this strain and she said "Yes."

We are hoping not to have to get boosted for Europe in late September.  I got super sick with Moderna, second dose.

I am hoping the original poster is happily on their cruise!  Rebooking is NOT as easy as they were hoping...We finally are booked on July 30th minus $1,400 trip insurance, rise in airfare, $1400 for next cruise insurance, loss of onboard credit....I am now grateful we both caught it! 😉

 

 

Oh, and I tested negative on day 6!  No Paxlovid!

On 5/9/2022 at 1:06 PM, CrazyTrain2 said:

Take the Oral anti-virals (Paxlovid).  Tell your healthcare provider to script them up for you and take them immediately upon any symptoms.

 

You will go Covid negative much sooner.

We just missed our Pride of America April 23rd sailing due to my husband's positive test three days before we were to fly to Hawaii.  We would have thought it was an allergy but knowing the cruise was coming up, opted to drive through the one hour test at our local mall.  He was positive!  We both then drove through Walgreens and tested...he was still positive but I was negative.  I caught it 8 days later.  He took Paxlovid and I didn't.  My case was way less than his!  The Paxlovid he had was made in China and Italy.  In retrospect, I would not suggest taking it.  Just our two cents!

Oh and we are only double vaxed.  I asked the Riverside County Health Dept. if they are seeing triple vaxed people getting this strain and she said "Yes."

We are hoping not to have to get boosted for Europe in late September.  I got super sick with Moderna, second dose.

I am hoping the original poster is happily on their cruise!  Rebooking is NOT as easy as they were hoping...We finally are booked on July 30th minus $1,400 trip insurance, rise in airfare, $1400 for next cruise insurance, loss of onboard credit....I am now grateful we both caught it! 😉

3 hours ago, zounds said:

Sailing May 28 and I'm still trying to find solid info on Covid testing at the cruise terminal in Hon.  I've been researching local providers as well, but am getting a little frustrated.  Does NCL do antigen test at the pier and what is the cost ?  Thanks very much if you can help.

We ordered the test kits from NCL.  I think for peace of mind, this is the best option!  My husband tested positive 2 days before we were to fly to Hawaii....We are re- booked for July 30th and will use the kits we purchased for that cruise!

Post when you get home!!!!