Blondie008

Screwing up Southampton was unforgiveable and beggars belief.

BEST statement of the thread!:')

Doesn't look right, either (thank you for the photos, ja2nowak). I have no idea what NCL and the port of Brest were thinking. OK, the port of Brest was thinking $$$, fair enough I guess, but come on, NCL! I do recall some ports with a single gangway (but not that long and steep and exposed), but only on the smaller ships, not for 4000 passengers!

 

 

The Hotel Director had four days to think about ways to manage the lines on board, and again, I am interested to people's suggestions about that in hindsight. The major complaint seems to be that the officers were not there so that passengers could express their frustration at them. I don't know how constructive that would have been, in any case it would not have made the line move faster.

 

The line can only move faster if there are more immigration agents processing the passengers. I don't know who is responsible for that, but I doubt that it's the ship's Hotel Director. If there truly were 12 agents waiting for the ship at 8am, then there was a miscommunication at some level, but the ship did not have FOUR days to coordinate this with Southampton. The delayed arrival was apparently caused by the "explosion" which only happened the evening before. I honestly don't know what the procedure is when port times have to be adjusted at the last minute. Does the Captain contact the port, does the port contact UK Border Force, or is the Hotel Director supposed to get on the phone and take care of all of this :rolleyes:?

 

Let me be clear, I am not blaming Border Force. Even if they were informed the night before about the delay, it may have been too late to make more agents available that afternoon. And the delay is ultimately NCL's fault, since it's their stupid azipod. It's just hard for me to identify any specific bad decision on NCL's part here, or what NCL should have done differently to avoid what passengers had to go through in Southampton.

What would have helped - was complete honesty -

And officer presence in riotous situations. Or even security for goodness sake.

IF they had given crystal clear instructions the night before on times for each deck to be at the Tropicana - it would have gone a long way to help.

They didn't.

Many were confused as the note put out was the note which was given out for the supposedly stop in the azores.

They then made announcements the next day saying "ignore the note"

Oh its difficult to explain but the final outcome was - that the night before Southampton there was no revised crystal clear instructions given to guests.

Throw that on top of mass crowd control all on deck 7

And no one there for example to say "okay, you are looking at 3 hours - 2 hours, 40 minutes blah blah - just BE HONEST!

For those not getting off the ship - a simple instruction to say "look - to even clear this line is going to take 4 hours, why don't you take yourself off to the spa and come back at blah blah"

The SPA thermal suites have no announcement tannoy.

We had no clue how long we were going to wait -

The lack of officer presence was abysmal. Control of the decks would have been a help.

If each group came into the line as they were told over the tannoy (but not the night before because they kept moving the goal posts) - then there might have been less frustration and certainly less people being assaulted and trod upon.

The officers totally body swerved the whole situation and in my book - Management who hide away - should be ashamed.

So what if they had to take some flack -

They are trained to handle it - or they should be.

We had a notice put on our beds the night before, the night before or was it the night before that? , Southampton. I actually had an early alarm call set - and had room service breakfast ordered early as I read from this notice that we had to go do immigration the next day.

We got up - and I re read the note - only to discover it was the exact same piece of paper that had been put through our doors the days before the Azores.

I called guest services (having had my early rise) - to check

"oh sorry Mrs X" "there has been some confusion - no, you don't need to do immigration today"...

It was THIS kind of sheer disorganisation that made the whole thing go belly up after belly up

One long pile of falling dominoes...............

They needed to re organise - send out proper instructions - and ensure that these were adhered to.

We have done immigration on board in St Thomas many many times. And often there can be just a few immigration officers - But you are given your allocated time to appear in X place - and you go as instructed. Sure there is a line - but you organise your day around that - and you take your place in your allocated line - as advised.

THIS was just a free for all "every man for himself" scenario gone horribly wrong!

You asked what constructive thing could have been done? Another note put in rooms the night before Southampton - giving crystal clear instructions - THAT might just have helped a little! There was NO NOTE - the only note put out was that confusing one on the wrong night repeating the instructions for the Azores....

Oh honestly - this is as tiring as the line itself....

Visit London from Southampton - forget it its 70 miles away.

 

With the M3 closed and various other matters you would be lucky to see the outskirts.

 

Also let me tell you I drove today a Saturday Southampton to London and I know the cuts 3 hours!!!!

I agree with you - however NCL continued to sell people numerous excursions - right up until the last - And others - made arrangements by train etc. London was their highlight - and for some a dream.

I met one poor man who hadn't seen his friend in 40 years - they had planned a re-union to detail - it didn't happen -

There were stories after stories after stories of people who had just no chance.

There were those who went ahead on their excursion - and all they saw was the traffic and a drive across London as everything was closed by the time they got there.

THEY didn't get full refunds....

It was hard on the ship that night to get away from any of the nightmare chat.

We personally would have been 100% fine if only someone had given us a reasonable time so that we could leave the queue - and return at an appropriate time. We were told to stay in line - And you know that way where you cannot see the end of the line, and you think "oh maybe they are bringing extra staff on board" - "will we stay, do we go" - Then you reach the point of "no return"....

Waste of a day - (to add to the other wasted days).

On a positive note we did meet a lovely bunch of Aussies in the line, whom we joked with along the way. These were the moments which helped us hold on to our sanity.

I know for a fact, they did not make their trip -

Most of the London and surrounding area tours were allowing around 3-4 hours spending time actually AT the tour - and on top of that - around 4-5 hours travel total.

But to put people on a bus, after all that queuing - fully knowing that by the time they got there the attractions would be closed - was beyond ridiculous!

I absolutely loved the Getaway! 16 nights on board - and never a dull moment (ignoring the TA issues) -

This ship is just fantastic!

Hard to determine top "to dos" - btw - I saw your youtube on FB this morning! Great Job!

In no order: (and to add to existing!)

La Cucina - never ever a favourite on ANY other NCL ship - on Getaway - its fabulous! Choose a seat by the window for outdoor views OR - if you like "the buzz" - ask for a table by the entrance - you catch all the music going on around the ship- and its a great spot for people watching - love it!

Have a Jalapeno Mjoito at Sugarcane - okay - its a $3 upcharge - but ooooooooooh what a yummy pre dinner drink - that perfect slice of cold cucumber - hot and spice jalapenos - its soooooooo good!

With drinks in mind - do shots at 3am in O'Sheehans! "The naughty gang" always hang out in two places - either Sunset Bar outdoors - or in O'Sheehans in the wee sma' hours.

Pull up a chair in O'Sheehans at 1pm in the day - grab a bar lunch and watch a fab movie on the big screen -

Glow Party - that's a given - but can YOU be the one up on that podium????;)

Embarkation Day - head for Margarittaville - top shelf Margarittas - and great food for very little $$$s - nice space - great vibe - lovely staff!

Thermal Suites - our number one priority I guess - in fact, no - don't go there, they are awful - very noisy - nothing special - give those a miss ;p

Spice H20 - dance in the rain in the water features - go wild on the dance floor - and knock back a Tequilla!

Buy tat in the dollar store - everyone needs some tat in their lives to keep them grounded :)

If you are tired - or jet lagged - note the essentials store has "5 hour wide awake" fruit shots at the counter - we open them there are then - knock em' back and "Tzing" - get over it jet lag!

I would have liked to have added lobster rolls to this list but sadly Ocean Blue was the ONLY restaurant on the ship where service was not good :( and that includes the outdoor lunch bar

Million Dollar Quartet - I don't know how much longer they are on - but if you can - book your seats NOW!!! Its the BEST show at sea ever ever ever!

Do Svedka Ice Bar at noon (lots of invites going around) and drink so many vodka cocktails you are on karaoke by 3pm :o DO wear socks into the Ice Bar or youre gonna get wee numb tootsies!

Aaaaaaaaaah the list goes on - I think after Getaway we cannot now go back to smaller ships. Epic and Getaway have us spoiled - so many choices - so much variety.

Roll on the next one!!

You haven't lived until you have been on a Costa ship and attended the Ventriloquist show in five different languages :'):'):') - What a talent - We were howlin (for all the wrong reasons poor man!).......

But even on Costa - the first language spoken is English - even before Italian.

NCL - English (varieties of!) all the way.

Isn't that what Brexit was all about? The UK voted to leave the EU. I guess this is one of the effects of that.

AND THIS is when CC really needs a facepalm emoji!

READ the real news - keep up with global issues - If you are going to voice an opinion please make it an informed one!

Wear it!!

I wore long gowns twice on the Getaway 16 nighter which is by far more casual than the Jade will be in Europe. AND - it was lovely to see quite a few ladies dressed in evening dress not just on "Norwegian Night Out" but - on nights perhaps they were going to Le Bistro - or who knows - maybe just for the sake of it. There were only 70 Brits on board our cruise - and yet - the gowns were def out and about - Indeed - tuxes too here and there :)

I love NCL as you can do as you wish - dress up - OR NOT -

wear your gowns and enjoy them - no one will care - and most likely you will get compliments..

Jade for sure in August - going to be a more elegant cruise than say a Bahamas/Caribbean - or Epic 7 dayer from Barcelona - go for it!

She's a lovely wee ship - hope Carlos is on board for you - he is an absolute joy in the Martini Bar! He puts the Party in Piano!

I was also on this ship. I know the weather causes issues and that NCL has no control over it. No problem. I know the crew was as disappointed as us to miss the Azores. But, for Brest and Southampton the lack of organization and officer presence was my biggest issue.

 

In Brest we were in line for almost two hours before giving up. The line was on both deck 6 and 7. There were no officers in sight leaving just crew members who had no answers to deal with annoyed and angry passengers who had been waiting for a long time. By the time we would have made it down the treacherous, overloaded gangway and onto the bus it would have given us an hour in town. It simply wasn't worth the trouble only to come back and wait another hour and a half in the rain to board. And the 20 person max was indeed being ignored as another poster states. It was scary and many were on deck 8 watching people attempt to get back on having issues. The line wrapped around the front of the ship. It was terrible.

 

So yeah, I'm glad that we didn't get off. Our friends that did had horrible excursions and came back to the above mess.

 

And yes, NCL is not at fault for the UK immigration mess but they are at fault for the lack of presence of officers and line organization a second time. My friends who had excursions had 45 minutes in London before being forced to head back. They were issued refunds but would much rather have skipped the trip and gone pub hopping with our group.

 

Rotterdam overnight was a good consolation prize. I enjoyed it. I can't complain much other than being disappointed about missing Zeebrugge.

 

Disembarkation was smooth. Not much to say there other than hearing some were being given a hard time days later about not having a passport stamp for entering the country when flying out of Copenhagen. But I enjoyed myself because of my friends, the udp, and the ubp. But little things like the awful DJ who didn't know how to play any different music, my mediocre steward, and the jutter throughout the trip from one of the engines was annoying.

First pic must have been taken really early on huh? The latter pic must have been after we got back on, the gazebos were only being erected after we returned - and it looks like someone at some point must have got a grip on the two way traffic on the gangway. What the pics dont really portray is when there were 50+ people on at the same time - the wind howling, the ramp bouncing, the rain bucketing down - and just mass madness -

My husband jokingly calls Brest "The Left T*T of France" - (get it - breast?) - He's not far wrong :')

We too were on the Getaway transatlantic.

There is more to the crazy events than has been mentioned so far.

We could not get in to Ponta because of strong winds and there is no blame attached to NCL for that.

Instead of sailing to Brest in three days we chugged along much slower to arrive on the Thursday.

I had mentioned to friends that I had never seen a cruise itinerary that included Brest and indeed I was told that we were the first cruise ship to call there.

 

This begs the question as to why this commercial port was selected.

 

Did the NCL ops people do there homework properly given that it was a tidal port and that on that day the second ramp could not be used for most of the day as deck 4 was BELOW the level of the jetty.

 

The one remaining ramp was very steep, it was raining and getting off the ship was therefore very slow.

 

There were many elderly people that unfortunately were slow and needed assistance from the 10 or more crew members who were doing a great job helping people to get down the ramp.

 

This sowed down the whole process and as others have said the queue to get off stretched all along deck 7 and down to deck 6.

 

For those returning to the ship it was even worse. Many people needed assistance to get up the steep ramp, some needing three crew members to help.. People in wheel chairs had to be lifted up the ramp and their wheelchairs carried separately.

 

The ramp had a sign saying max 20 persons and this was completely dis-regarded. The port director spent most of his time sitting in a small portacabin oblivious the what was going on.

 

We were due to depart after 3.30pm. The second ramp was brought into use at 2.50 but even then the loval handyman had to go and get woon to make a ramp for wheelchairs.

 

All in all most people had to queue for 1hour 40 minutes to return to the ship.

 

It is possible that NCL were mis-led by the port authority but they certainly did not appear to have carried out their own checks.

 

I don't know how the azipod was damaged but were were told that arrival at Southampton would be delayed until mid day (from 8am).

 

Given that NCL had FOUR days to organise immigration at Southampton what ensued showed that they were totally out of their depth.

 

The immigration process did not commence till around 2pm and details of the queues and the time taken have been accurately described in earlier posts .

 

I joined the queue at about 3pm. I was asking a female crew member how long it would take and she could only shrug her shoulders. There was an officer nearby and I said "you have 3 stripes on your shoulder how do you explain this fiasco" to which his reply was " three and a half actually" At that point the completely stressed hotel director appeared. I then asked him why this was happening to which he replied that he was too busy to discuss the matter and promptly fled. He was responsible for the lack of organisation and for not arranging things better with the immigration people.

 

After a 2 hour wait I finally got to the front, there were only 3 immigration officers actually there at that point but there had been a fourth.

 

The officer that checked my passport was the senior one and I said to him that NCL were blaming Immigration and asked for his view. He told me that he had 12 officers ready to meet the ship at 8am but after he was informed that the arrival was delayed he had to re-deploy his limited resources elsewhere as there were other ships in port.

 

The hotel director in my opinion completely bottled it. The liaison with immigration was VERY poor. Crew members all seem to have been told to blame immigration which as already mentioned was not true.

 

So there you have it.

A poor choice of port at Brest, a complete lack of proper research. At least NCL recognised this and gave each guest $100 OBC.

 

A complete farce regarding immigration. Do the maths. Four officers to check almost 4000 passengers was going to take several hours.

 

Many of the earlier posts may not have explained all the facts as well as others, but some of the replies seem oblivious as to where the blame lay.

 

Make no mistake the blame for Brest and immigration rest with NCL.

The weather and missed ports, well weather is weather.

HALLELUJAH!!!!!

I can understand why NCL cheerleaders are giving us a hard time - but its difficult for those who were there, to actually get across, without sounding whiney, just how ridiculous it all was.

I personally have a further three cruises booked - I loved Getaway - but NCL are going to have to hold their hands up to we 3800+ for this -

The Hotel Director bottled it ;p - sums it up hahaha!!

And the "Three stripes" comment - Honestly - if the officers had been even half as good as the actual staff on board it would have been sorted to perfection! The staff on board (ie waiting staff, bars, housekeeping etc etc) are all tip top!

Three and a half stripes - Bwhahahahahahahahahahaa

I have yet to comprise my letter of complaint - I need a whole day in order to put together all my facts and figures. I wrote down every time I called guest services, and to whom I spoke. I wrote down their comments - and their lack of response.

Thanks for your invaluable input.

I was amongst that crazy line returning in Brest when people were coming and going on the wet ramp at the same time - it was during this they erected the gazebos at the port side. Before that everyone was just getting soaked to the skin -

My heart honest to God, was in my mouth trying to keep safe, keep others safe - and for those who had mobility issues - oh my goodness - As I said before - the issues at Brest must have broken every health and saftey regulation ever made!

Oh and BTW - Brest was a waste of time - peein doon rain and not much to see or do - Certainly wasnt worth risking life or limb for :')

I am imagining there will be many fellow Americans on board - perhaps speak to the cruise director and see if he can thrown together something for you all - depending on how many there are.

Getaway is an awesome ship - any excuse for another party will be forthcoming pretty easily :D

Or bring some red white and blue glow sticks and make your own July4th in the Bliss Lounge

Whatever - its a fantastic ship - and it parties well!!!

Won't that be the case in about 6 months?

No - going to be a good bit longer - possibly even 2-3 years - who knows

BUT - at least we know its coming :)

The U.K. is not in Schengen, so they maintain additional entry procedures even if the ship already went through immigration in France or Portugal (which it did, even though they didn't make everyone line up and see an immigration officer face to face).

 

France cannot carry out U.K. immigration procedures. There was no point boarding U.K. agents in Brest, because there would have been no time to do immigration on board, with the stop in Southampton scheduled for the following morning. They were originally supposed to do it during the two or three sea days after the Azores (I'm guessing the stickers on your passports were somehow supposed to be useful during that process). It takes a long time to get 4000 people cleared to enter the U.K., because your borders are closed. I was under the impression that you were happy about that?

Thank you for the explanation- rgrds.

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The only complaint that I can see here is that you had to walk up a higher gangway than you are used to doing. I suggest that you sail some of the luxury lines where you have to go up a stair way to board the ship from a tender instead of up a slopped ramp.

 

 

quote]

 

I have to tell you as a commercial fisherman who is used to working in 30 foot tides and wild seas - your comment is hilarious!

THAT gangway when overloaded with passengers going up and down on it at the same time in the pissin rain was treachourous!

I am fully able -

The gangway would have been fine if it was monitored correctly - but as has been said - it was a shambolic mess...

When we got off early on it was pretty fine - one way traffic - no problem to able bodied people as we are..

Getting back on - it outlawed every safety regulation there is.. I just kept head down and squeezed on by as fast as I could to make It safely to the top - squeeze being the operative word - for some coming down were as wide as the gangway itself!

It was a 20 person gangway with at LEAST 50 going up and down in wet slippy surface - bouncing in the wind - ......

What is it with CC people who feel the need to fight at every opportunity?

I LOVED the Getaway as I said - and 90% of our cruise was amazing -

It was the lack of honesty and safety that disappointed me - it was - no matter who says what - a total mess!

Give me strength!

Could you say more about these stickers? How did these get on people's passports? What were they for?

 

The stickers were put on our passports at check in in Miami - I actually wondered whether or not that was "proper" - as I thought (could be wrong) there were rules in regards to placing stickers on passports?

I have no idea why this was done - first time ever for sure for us - there seemed to be colour codes also, and your cabin number was on the sticker.

The problem with your idea is that once word gets around that they are checking stickers, people will just peel off the stickers. Or even if they don't, every person that you catch from the wrong deck will have a story about how they are with someone from the right deck and they absolutely have to stay together, or how they have some other special situation and so-and-so gave them permission to get in line early…

 

I agree - you are probably right...

 

It does sound like the people in line were in a foul mood, but if you sent officers to start pulling people out of line, you would have a full-blown riot… That's why they don't do anything. The problem is the passengers. Not all of them, but some consistently large proportion of them.

 

It was indeed not far short of being a riot..... it was insane - just madness...

There may be restrictions on doing this board if the ship is actually docked in the UK, but yes, they could have escorted you all off as a group at an appointed time. It's not something I would expect the ship to think of doing spontaneously (especially since they weren't planning to have to do immigration in Southampton in the first place). But in the future if UK guests find themselves in this situation, it would be something to suggest on board, before the day.

 

Again, what is your concrete suggestion of a back-up plan? Board the UK immigration officials in Miami? Airlift them onto the ship in the mid-Atlantic?

 

I guess I thought immigration could have been done in France - It was the first port of entry. How do they do it in the Azores? Couldn't France have carried out the procedure - or indeed - UK customs boarded in Brest - ?? I don't know - I just know it was a mess and honesty would have been the best policy all round.

I don't understand why France can accept foreign visitors and the UK cannot ....

As I say, something I will raise with our MSP.

I'm afraid the back-up plan, if they are unable to do UK immigration on board, is to do it in port when the ship reaches the UK. Or in this case, I suppose they could have cancelled Southampton. Would that have been an acceptable back-up plan for you?

Sure, why not, for me personally - but I am not that selfish that I would wish the +3000 people who wanted to visit London denial of that opportunity - although I doubt any of them actually made their tours anyway....

Rotterdam had a 24 hour stop - perhaps could have organised immigration there.

Is the UK the only European country to offer customs services???

But hey - I was told the next day at guest services we are no longer in the EU

what absolute nonsense...

Could you suggest concretely what could have been done on board to make the immigration process go more smoothly in Southampton?

 

First of all, you mentioned that people were called off the ship deck by deck, but everyone just tried to go at the same time. I'm sure that's what happened — I've witnessed this sort of thing myself, many times — but what would you suggest the ship's staff and officers do about it, concretely?

 

Second, you wondered why NCL didn't arrange a separate line for UK passport holders. That's not necessarily a bad idea, and it could be implemented in a number of ways. What would be the best way to do it, in your opinion?

Think I have answered this in another post. Many of us suggested that an officer walk the line asking people to show the front of their passports as ALL had a sticker on them which showed your deck number,

We asked that those who were clearly in line long before their deck was called, were asked to go remain in the public areas as directed.

A lower grade office said to me he thought this was a good idea but he would need permission from his supervisor - that of course was never granted,

Instead - there were thousands of irate people - and no officer presence - NOT ONCE on deck 7 did any officer walk that line!

Not one officer checked on the safety of their guests - One lady told me the battery on her husbands oxygen was running low - he hated using his oxygen but was getting anxious and required it - and she finally left the line to find an officer (presumably on deck 6) to have her and her husband pulled from the line.

I can also tell you - there were others "pulling strings" who were lead through kitchens and brought out in the Tropicana - and they were NOT ill people...... I guess it was a "who's who" situ on that one... One guy bragged about this to me later that day - hmmmm -

To make matters worse, we had been in the line earlier on, and left it as one crew member told us it was for shore excursions - at THAT point - there were chaps from decks 5+6 who were NOT on a shorex sat there ..... we know that for a fact....

We left for O sheehans and waited for our deck (14) to be called - which - was the CORRECT and POLITE thing to do.

The problem is when we returned more than half the ship and some had got in line ...

One crew member told me if we were deck 14 to go up to the front but that was met with abuse abuse abuse along the way - so we found a safe stop and hung fire.

We were now half the length of the ship behind where we were originally -

That wasn't the point. We smiled through it, met some lovely folks, and at least crew came with cold juices and waters for us at some point ...

I really felt sorry for the people who had booked tours and had no chance of seeing their once in a lifetime experience to London - and elderly people standing for hours and been shoved and shuffled by rude people.

Uk residents could easily have been cleared in under 15 minutes, how difficult would that have been huh? Its not rocket science. Small room - one appointed official - 15 minutes, job done.

What gets me is there was NO back up plan for the Azores not being a possibility. In over twenty years of TA cruising we have STILL never made it into the Azores - In fact, we always joke that they don't really exist they are just a dot on the globe lol

NCL must have that knowledge - there was no back up plan

Just one mishmash after another....

I honestly can't understand people. If you would have moved yourself to guest services at deck 6 when they announced the delays and cancellations you would have seen all of them!

The captain even made an impromptu q&a in the atrium and was there for almost an hour responding to passengers who were rather calm and understand that **** happens sometimes special with this kind of special itinerary were there is long distance and new one time ports of calls. As it's not its usual journey.

The proof is the debarkation was spot on as it was it's regular home port. Even better than Miami from what I heard.

I have seen the hotel director several times during the cruise with a pocket book in hand always ready to help

I personally requested some refund from guest services and was promptly dealt the next day To my satisfaction. And mind you I was in s studio not a fancysuite .

So I suggest you don't libel person for no reason.

And why on earth would I remove myself from my place in the eternal line to go to deck 6-

I asked one crew could they please ask for an officer to go down the line, asking people to show their passport as every person's passport had a sticker with the deck number on it, and if they were not in the appropriate line, could they go to the public areas as directed and come back when their deck was called. This assistant responded to me on this very positively saying he quote "thought this was a great idea" but he would have to contact his supervisor.

No, my suggestion didn't happen - and their response was merely for the cruise director to once again ask people to wait in public areas until their deck was called.

There were NO OFFICERS in the line area - and no, no one did the suggested "show your deck number".

There were chants of FOURTEEN FOURTEEN FOURTEEN going on (ie if you were not on deck 14 you should not be there). There were three men in front of us (and another lovely party whom became close family by the end of the line haha) - who said to me "what the h&ll does that mean" I answered saying, well - there are thousands of people in this line and clearly not all are on deck 14 - He said to me "Well we are not on fourteen - what the F are YOU going to do about it!"......:mad:

It was this kind of behaviour - oh and the "I just need to go to the restrooms" which went on and on and on and on.

I asked a crew member - look - if we leave the line, just forget about getting off today - and go to the spa - what time should we come back to ensure we go through immigration,,, his answer was precisely "urm say 3 o clock (it was half past three at this point), 4 o clock, 5 o clock - eeeeeeeeeeh - just wait - you need to stay here to do your immigration"

In hindsight now we would have walked away from the line and just gone sat in a bar until it all blew over.

And yes, I was cross that as a UK citizen - I was standing in a ridiculous line to enter my own country. In the USA we are made to go through long slow non eu queues - whilst USA residents whizz by -

There were only 70 Brits on board, we did not require passport stamps - why did they not just call us and let us all go in ten minutes.

Deck 6 may well have had officers who knows - the chaos and where they were needed was on deck 7! We ASKED the lower crew member who was at the midship stairway could an officer come up to deck 7 - it totally needed crowd control it was beyond acceptable - and yes - something else happened to me in this queue which I am not discussing here -

I am not an angry person by nature. If the crew had been up front with us to start with we could have gone away to the spa for the day and just R&Rd - but he specifically told us to stay in our line as we needed to do immigration as per the instructions...

Perhaps you were happy with the missing of Brugges and the overnight in Rotterdam - I have zero longing to return to Amsterdam - and Rotterdam was also in riots due to the football - oh and shops closed....

Brugges - I adore - and would rather have had a late arrival in beautiful brugges, than yet another wasted port. (ie Rotterdam) - Amsterdam might appeal to you, but to many of us Brits we have been there, seen the stag and hen parties, wore the t-shirts and never will return.

I am not sure what deck you were on but clearly you were one of the FEW polite people who actually waited on their deck number being called.

Hundreds of people were calling for an officer to come up. There were two security officers at the mid stairways (they never budged from there just leaned elbows over railing chit chat chit chat) - and many of us approached them to ask for some control -

we were ALL ignored.

A REALLY nice Australian man - he tried - polite, courteous and in a nice manner - he too was ignored...

Women tried - we all bloomin tried.....

Say what you like but again but please hear me yet again there were NO OFFICERS IN THIS CHAOS!

deck 6 was not the deck of the mayhem......... It was I would imagine full of the nicer people who actually followed the guidelines..

It was simple - one officer - walk the line - show your passport - if you are not on the deck called, remove yourself until such time you are.,

Enough said......

No face-to-face entry interview does not equate to "no immigration control". Each country inspects the passenger manifest and decides what kinds of entry procedures to put in place. If there are undesirable people on board, they have options (tell the ship not to let them off, board the ship to arrest them, refuse entry to the whole ship). If the ship is deemed low-risk, the procedures can be relaxed (but still in accordance with EU/Schengen requirements).

 

In this particular case, the ship would have been particularly low-risk given that UK border authorities were supposed to have processed all of the passengers face-to-face on board (and shared any relevant information with France before the ship landed in Brest). As we know, this didn't happen, but someone wanting to sneak into Europe would not have booked this cruise counting on the fact that UK officials would not be able to board.

 

If your position is that the same, full-strength entry protocols should be applied to all arriving travelers, regardless of the circumstances, that is a legitimate opinion. Close the borders, why not. But it is not compatible with the current style of cruising (with one day port stops in a different country every day).

 

I'm sure NCL could have done some things better on this sailing, but the delays in Southampton were due to UK immigration. They know that they cannot process 4000 passengers in a reasonable amount of time upon arrival; that's why immigration officials are embarked ahead of time to process passengers on board. It takes all day (for a medium-sized ship, maybe more for the Breakaway, obviously depending on how many officials there are). If for some reason they don't manage to do it on board, as in this case, you can 100% expect long delays when the ship reaches the UK, no matter how many of the ship's officers are on board managing the lines.

Sorry - but unless you were physically there - please don't even attempt to defend NCL on this one - they were bang bang bang our of order on this cruise - and that immigration process was mishandled beyond levels of acceptance on ALL counts!

I am really not surprised at the UK customs issue - they are understaffed (do not argue on this one it is a fact) and simply can not handle these numbers with other ships in port. NCL have had over the year other issues with Southampton (Epic September 2015) and they are not the main user of the port. We need to protect our borders!

It wasn't the customs guys fault - and hey - there were only 70 Brits on board and the customs guy said to me "Why didn't ncl pull us in a UK line which would have processed in under ten minutes".. The customs guys were fine.

The French - hey - why did they allow +3000 NON EU citizens to enter Europe with no immigration control - that's what gets me - I am with you - close the Borders! Doesn't give us much confidence does it..

The problems in Southampton were caused by sheer lack of managed line control

There were decks called number by number but of course everyone went at the same time - this resulted in a line of thousands of tired, squabbling people and NOT ONE OFFICER took control.

The cruise director came over the tannoy calling each deck - but even that was a mess as he was calling decks whilst the line was still +2000 long -

It was bedlam - and believe you me - a friendly customs officer with a smile and a quick glance at our OWN COUNTRY' passports - was a welcome sight indeed!

I have just arrived home from this cruise and I will agree with the OP - NCL really mishandled every single mishap on this cruise. The lack of officer presence, the appalling lack of safety in Brest, the endless shambolic organisation of getting people through immigration in UK - not an officer in sight and the calls for queuing by deck were ignored - quite frankly it was an appalling example of so called management.

I LOVED the Getaway - the ship - the staff - the bartenders, housekeeping, waiters, food = ten out of ten. The officers - wow - who else saw them on that final day - we really began to think they were just images on the NCL TV channel.. ...

This needs expanding on - but for sure there are thousands of people who will be putting in official complaints about the management of this cruise.

That gangway in Brest - my God - how no one was seriously injured beats me - It must have outlawed every health and safety aspect there is! I was petrified going up a "MAX 20 person" gangway which was soaking wet -bouncing like crazy with at least 50 people on it (trying to go up and down at the same time) and again, NOT ONE OFFICER present to control the situation! It was awful just awful!

Yes, we have done many TAs - more than most - and we expect port drops - it happens.

Its HOW it was handled that was the issue.

The football hooliganism in Rotterdam didn't come close to the riots on the lines on deck 7 - and NOT ONE OFFICER was present - they ALL HID!

And why on earth did France allow non EU citizens to come into the EU ??? That one beats me? I am actually going to raise this subject with our local MSP as to why France allows non EU citizens to come freely into Europe.. Immigration should have been done at the first port of entry into Europe - which was FRANCE!

Guest services actually told me that the UK is no longer a part of the EU - I died laughing...seriously??????????

Complaints were ignored - no follow ups by guest services. Hey - not even a plate of strawberries...

No phone call - no response - nada!

Unless you were there - you will never know how badly the events of this cruise were managed.

Fantastic food, ship and crew - The Captain and his sidekicks including guest services, staff captain and hotel director! - nil point!

Cruise director(s) Silas and Tahani = ten out of ten! Good job mateys - the ONLY ones who tried hard to hold it together!

I have never in our history of cruising seen so many people treated so appallingly, and that includes being on a broken down Costa ship -

More to follow on this one - I have no doubt!

NCL must be preparing themselves for the 3800 complaints they are about to receive! I have never heard so many people express such disgust at the same time - one after the other after the other....

If we didn't laugh we would have cried..

Fab ship - fab food - amongst the best in fact..

Officers - shame on you - how funny we all finally got to see some of you as we left the ship

Hey - best debarkation ever!!!! 45 minutes early mind you - but super organised for those with airport transfers - awesome job!

$100 pp does not compensate for the losses and sheer stress and anguish caused.

Lousy job Captain and the beards in Miami calling the shots!

Outcome will go on I am sure,.....

Heartfelt tears and love to you and yours <3

You will somehow, find comfort in time, in knowing you all shared your Dad's final days - God Bless XX

Being a Transatlantic SPA passes online will have sold out early doors.

They do keep a small amount of passes to sell on board. You might want to be quick off the mark. They wont sell day passes on a TA.

Are the saunas and steam rooms in the Thermal Suite mixed or are they separated for men and women? What is mixed and what is not?

Depends on the ship -

The bigger ships have unisex facilities but some of the smaller ships such as Jade, have separate saunas, Jacuzzis, rest loungers etc.

Which ship?

We have always tipped in Europe

We give the baggage porters 5 euro (have it ready in hand). We tip the driver who takes us from airport to port.

And we tip crew in $$s - No matter which cruiseline we are on.

It is no different from anywhere else in the world - And yes - we have been on Epic in Europe and tips for sure were being handed over.

Tipping IS acceptable here in the UK too - Our staff (who earn more than minimum!) love and appreciate their hard earned tips - we don't take any of them.

I would need to receive awful poor service not to side tip on top of grats.

Share the love and all that ;)

I didn't knew that it was only entertainment staff, I thought that it could be anyone not busy with their ordinary work.

 

Entertainment staff are paid to entertain so I assume that they have that part in their contract, I just didn't knew that all are entertainment staff.

Actually sometimes I see chefs, cabin stewards and/or laundry staff - and do feel for them as I am pretty sure they are honestly grabbing an opportunity to be out on the pier in the fresh air..

Some go months on end with no port leave....

No harm for me! Maybe you should read the post you quoted? I said that it doesn't really bother me.

 

Do I think that it's silly? YES!

 

Is it a problem for me? NO!

 

It's a good thing that people are different and I have no problem with that you don't agree with me but please, read the post you are quoating!

Sorry - think our English is being misconstrued here - I was answering your "pop" at me with another -

I get your point and my apologies for mis-quoting :*