Dawn's Adrift!

[pieshops]

Edie ( mooloo)

 

I am glad you made it back to London, we had a great time with you and your mother in Samana, that port and tour was one of the highlights of our trip.

 

We had quite the adventure of a trip didn't we.

 

i am sorry it took you so long to get home and had such a hard time saturday.

 

We made our own arrangements and got back to Ft lauderdale early saturday afternoon.

 

I wanted to say goodbye to you guys but then the outage happened and all hell broke loose.

 

Hopefully one day we will come to London and we can meet for some fish and chips.

 

Say hi to your mom for us.

[Planer's Edge]

 

Speaking of which - John (our cruise director) where were you? He dissappeared and could be heard arranging the bingo finals etc, but was not seen from the beginning to end of the crisis.

Just curious. What exactly did you expect John Ibrahim to do in this situation? Other than to take abuse from all of the whiners. If he was arranging bingo it sounds like he was doing his job providing "entertainment" for the passengers.

 

PE

[smeyer418]

I would hide too. there was almost a mutiny on the QM2 when it first came out and that was against the Captain because of missed ports and poor food service.

[MrPete]

I would hide too. there was almost a mutiny on the QM2 when it first came out and that was against the Captain because of missed ports and poor food service.

 

Actually, after reading here over the years, that's exactly what I would do.....HIDE.

 

Even the videos some post on YouTube when things go bad are VERY HARD TO WATCH.

 

Lynch mobs.

 

The nice thing is it sounds like that didn't happen on this one.

[smeyer418]

http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/shipposition.phtml?call=C6FT7

[MrPete]

What am I missing here?

 

Nita

 

Compassion for those that had to endure this.

[Red_Dawn]

no a/c that is true - no water that is not true, there was never a point on friday or saturday that water was not available either bottle or tap, and there was electric to run essential things, friday evening the lights worked, showers worked, etc, we were however asked to conserve.

 

There was no water because the toilets couldn't flush for a few hours. If I would have guessed this would have happened I'd have filled the tub with water.

 

I asked this before of you, what does the stringray story have anything to do with this?

 

Nothing. I made a statement about this being my first cruise and that I saw things I'd never expect. People here made a case out of it so I had to defend myself.

 

Who was in poor health?

 

The people with oxygen tanks. They were on the same ship as you and I.

 

Since you have decided to "gracefully" re- enter the conversation would you mind answeing the questions i asked you in previous posts?

 

I'm not here to offend you or anyone else. I never complained once to the staff on board, nor did I expect anything. I did what I had to in order to get home, just like you. I was surprised at the generous refund. I expected no more than $500. It was an inconvenience at most for me. I've been through Hurricaines here in Florida, I can live without electricity, a/c, and water because I'm preparred for it. However, It was the lack of communication through NCL that disturbed me the most which I wasn't preparred for.

[Mooloo]

Edie ( mooloo)

 

I am glad you made it back to London, we had a great time with you and your mother in Samana, that port and tour was one of the highlights of our trip.

 

We had quite the adventure of a trip didn't we.

 

i am sorry it took you so long to get home and had such a hard time saturday.

 

We made our own arrangements and got back to Ft lauderdale early saturday afternoon.

 

I wanted to say goodbye to you guys but then the outage happened and all hell broke loose.

 

Hopefully one day we will come to London and we can meet for some fish and chips.

 

Say hi to your mom for us.

Hi David!!!!

 

We had such a good time, your kids are so cute & well behaved (6 God children, so sanity after spending time with children a priority for me:p) - will be sending you some pics & video I took ~ not v good quality I'm afraid as relying on camcorder after camera pcked up.

 

Wished I'd made our own arrangements to at least get back to Miami too, but at the time, they were still talking to passengers and were seemingly interested in sorting things out, so it seemed better to stay out of their way and let them get on with things. My mum had a hard time of it and I had a few scary moments icing her down & trying to hydrate her on Saturday when her temp went up before they partially sorted the a/c late afternoon about 4ish. She couldn't make it off the ship as it was just too much for her & I cheated by getting off the boat a couple of times, enjoying the a/c in the terminal spending 10 or so mins outside, enjoying the a/c and coming back on board to see to her. So, can describe the terminal area of SJ really well!

 

Spent some of the day after they got limited a/c back nr deck 7's reception desk (access to ice from the java bar) and it was interesting watching people's reaction, especially when one of the front of house staff informed a guy this was an 'act of God' not NCL's fault. I swear I saw the explosion start from his toes. Less impressive was seeing the Guest Services Manager sprinting and refusing to speak to passengers and the Hotel Director in a massive argument with someone, and not making the remotest effort to sound concilliatory.

 

BTW, I can confirm they did announce refunds of own arrangements and didn't renege or several hours.

 

Please come to London soon! Will arrange to be your personal tour guide & do location scouting for you all if you want to explore the rest of the country - keep in touch :)

[pieshops]

the toilets did not flush because of a lack of water they dod not work because the vacuum system is electrical and that was not working at the time, the toilets did work later in the day.

 

why should someone with oxygen not be on the ship, should they just stay home and not do anything?

 

Again i ask if you would mind adressing the questions i asked you in earlier posts.

[MrPete]

I'm not sure who here decided that being without electricity, a/c, and water is acceptable.

 

A good experiment for those that do, and are at home, is to turn off all their electricity in their house, and turn the water off to their toilets for 24 hours, and report back.

 

I know how frustrated I am when I lose power, even for a couple of hours.

 

Sea or no sea, I can't imagine it to be pleasant.

[AuntieBarb]

Having been on the Dawn many times and as well holding the officers & crew in high regard, I find it difficult to believe NCL truly dropped the ball in handling this unfortunate incident.

 

However, one thing I continually hear throughout the complaints is "lack of communication". The only feasible means of communicating with everyone on board is either on paper via stateroom delivery or through the PA system. Hourly updates on paper would seem ridiculous to me, except for when charter flights were arranged.

 

Now if passengers happen to be in a rather loud environment when an announcement is made (Venetian or Pool Deck for example), it's often difficult to hear such announcements. Even more so, there is a problem when passengers are in their staterooms unless the ship's main channel is tuned in on the TV or the stateroom door is open to the hallway. Most announcements cannot be heard in the stateroom otherwise. Even if you rush to change the TV channel or open the door, much of the initial announcement can be missed entirely.

 

Mind you some announcements come through to the stateroom loud and clear, but they are few and far between. I have to assume there is an issue with speaker systems and where the announcement originates from. This problem has been a complaint of mine since we first sailed on the Dawn.

 

Could this be why there seems to be such conflict over what NCL was communicating to passengers?

[Planer's Edge]

 

Again i ask if you would mind adressing the questions i asked you in earlier posts.

He can't because that does not fit his agenda.:mad:

 

PE

[BIG_Steve]

The receiver of the information is suspect as well. When I used to communicate info out to my org, I got everything from compliance, to "I didn't know". And I learned who could do what.

 

Some people are just lame.

 

All I can say to that is: AMEN

[BIG_Steve]

There could be many reasons for not accepting this offered assistance. Insurance is the one that comes most quickly to my mind. That is the only reason given for why tours are not allowed in the engine room. Maybe it applies to anyone entering the engine room no matter how qualified they might think they are.

 

Another thing that comes to mind is the the old saying about too many cooks in the kitchen. Maybe??

 

PE

 

More likely, the engineers didn't have time to train the volunteer and wait for him to say "I'm sorry, I have no clue."

[johnql]

Having been on the Dawn many times and as well holding the officers & crew in high regard, I find it difficult to believe NCL truly dropped the ball in handling this unfortunate incident.

 

However, one thing I continually hear throughout the complaints is "lack of communication". The only feasible means of communicating with everyone on board is either on paper via stateroom delivery or through the PA system. Hourly updates on paper would seem ridiculous to me, except for when charter flights were arranged.

 

Now if passengers happen to be in a rather loud environment when an announcement is made (Venetian or Pool Deck for example), it's often difficult to hear such announcements. Even more so, there is a problem when passengers are in their staterooms unless the ship's main channel is tuned in on the TV or the stateroom door is open to the hallway. Most announcements cannot be heard in the stateroom otherwise. Even if you rush to change the TV channel or open the door, much of the initial announcement can be missed entirely.

 

Mind you some announcements come through to the stateroom loud and clear, but they are few and far between. I have to assume there is an issue with speaker systems and where the announcement originates from. This problem has been a complaint of mine since we first sailed on the Dawn.

 

Could this be why there seems to be such conflict over what NCL was communicating to passengers?

I think that's part of it but here's my take:

 

They're damned if they do and damned if they don't. It's truly a no-win situation. In this kind of emergency (almost any kind of emergency, really), people want answers and they want definitive answers - and they want them NOW! The problem is that in an emergency, circumstances and facts are fluid, constantly evolving. If an announcement is made, then an hour later something different is announced, some people will complain that they were lied to or misinformed initially. No, that's not the case because the original statement may have been accurate when it was announced. Then, if there isn't anything new to announce, people will complain that no announcements are being made. If they are made, no one wants to hear that there's nothing new to report. Impatience and anxiety rule the day when patience and flexiblity are needed.

[lakeuser2002]

Having been on the Dawn many times and as well holding the officers & crew in high regard, I find it difficult to believe NCL truly dropped the ball in handling this unfortunate incident.

 

However, one thing I continually hear throughout the complaints is "lack of communication". The only feasible means of communicating with everyone on board is either on paper via stateroom delivery or through the PA system. Hourly updates on paper would seem ridiculous to me, except for when charter flights were arranged.

 

Now if passengers happen to be in a rather loud environment when an announcement is made (Venetian or Pool Deck for example), it's often difficult to hear such announcements. Even more so, there is a problem when passengers are in their staterooms unless the ship's main channel is tuned in on the TV or the stateroom door is open to the hallway. Most announcements cannot be heard in the stateroom otherwise. Even if you rush to change the TV channel or open the door, much of the initial announcement can be missed entirely.

 

Mind you some announcements come through to the stateroom loud and clear, but they are few and far between. I have to assume there is an issue with speaker systems and where the announcement originates from. This problem has been a complaint of mine since we first sailed on the Dawn.

 

Could this be why there seems to be such conflict over what NCL was communicating to passengers?

 

For us hearing the announcement was never an issue. Sometimes the announcement went through all speakers (including the stateroom's), but other times it was just in the public areas... but our stateroom door was never close trying to get a little breeze.

 

The conflict in communication was that the information over the speakers was usually not very helpful. Mostly general info. Specifics where very hard to come by (if at all). The only thing I trused after a while was the printed sheets as they showed up (unannounced) throughout Saturday.

[BIG_Steve]

You don't think San Juan could handle 10 more planes in 24 hours? During our 4 hours at the airport the runways and gates didn't seem to be anywhere near capacity. There was large gaps between planes taking off and landing. Did you see something I missed?

 

And we can agree to disagree that 10 planes couldn't be found in 24 hours (or 5 doing 2 round trips). I think they found 2 for Sat., and added one more on Sun. It may have taken 4 hours to find plans and pilots (if a plan had been pre-arranged), 6 hours to get them to San Juan (depending on where in the country they got them). I'd be curious if they searched beyond MIA and FLL (or even Florida).

 

Plus, I know that there were planes with vacant seats leaving San Juan on Saturday. With a plan... they could of been used.

 

Any company in NCLs position has to make a decision regarding what their legal and contractual obligations are, and whether they will exceed them, and by how much. We'll never know IF more planes were available, or whether NCL simply capped the resources they were willing to commit.

 

It's over, they did what they did.

[jmcdon7230]

I've been following this thread very closely as we are booked for the Dec. 4th cruise.

 

Along with the usual items (electrical strip, duct tape), I dropped a flashlight into the suitcase as I packed this afternoon. :-0

 

A question that has crossed my mind is: should NCL offer those of us who are booked on Friday's cruise the option of canceling or rescheduling?

 

Not that I would do it, but my wife is getting squeamish about the situation, especially after watching the YouTube video.

[johnql]

A question that has crossed my mind is: should NCL offer those of us who are booked on Friday's cruise the option of canceling or rescheduling?

I don't see why they should. As long as they have concluded that the ship is seaworthy, there shouldn't be any problems, right?

[AuntieBarb]

A question that has crossed my mind is: should NCL offer those of us who are booked on Friday's cruise the option of canceling or rescheduling?

 

No!

[lakeuser2002]

I've been following this thread very closely as we are booked for the Dec. 4th cruise.

 

Along with the usual items (electrical strip, duct tape), I dropped a flashlight into the suitcase as I packed this afternoon. :-0

 

A question that has crossed my mind is: should NCL offer those of us who are booked on Friday's cruise the option of canceling or rescheduling?

 

Not that I would do it, but my wife is getting squeamish about the situation, especially after watching the YouTube video.

 

After living through it, I wouldn't hesitate going on the cruise. The video showed the worst part/conditions. Not likely to occur again. If they did, I'm sure that NCL will have learned some from the first event and will improve.

 

And if you're lucky, maybe power would go out and you'ld be stuck on Tortolla for a few days (we joked that we would of been happy had we been stranded there. Rent a car and find a deserted beach like we did... nice local with a 12volt blender making us pina colata's for $4 each!!!).

[BIG_Steve]

I've been following this thread very closely as we are booked for the Dec. 4th cruise.

 

Along with the usual items (electrical strip, duct tape), I dropped a flashlight into the suitcase as I packed this afternoon. :-0

 

A question that has crossed my mind is: should NCL offer those of us who are booked on Friday's cruise the option of canceling or rescheduling?

 

Not that I would do it, but my wife is getting squeamish about the situation, especially after watching the YouTube video.

 

I don't see why, seeing how the ship is repaired. If I were in charge, I'd make darn sure the ship was good to go, then show the next few batches of cruisers the time of their lives.

[jaja]

Thank you NCL for posting...

[fin]

Interesting thread. Many of the posts by those WHO WERE THERE are very well written in comparison with some of those of the snipers who were not.

[sbhdmh]

I have just finished reading all 23 pages of posts on this thread. One thought kept going through my mind the whole time - wouldn't it have been in NCL's best interest to encourage as many passengers as possible to make their own arrangements as soon as possible? While NCL worked on arranging charters passengers could have easily used their own cell phones to make arrangements on commercial flights. One poster said NCL told them that they didn't have the resources to commit to finding commercial seats. No NCL resources would have been needed - the passengers or even their families at home - would have done the legwork. If they had announced, for example, "we will provide transportation to Miami by end of the day Sunday OR reinburse a maximum of $250 per passenger towards the cost of rescheduling your own travel" I assume (yes, it is an assumption) that enough people would have done what lakeuser2002, pieshops and the doctor did to make the last 2 chartered flights unneccesary. How much per person did they pay for those chartered flights? The cost difference would have been minimal and the fewer people they had to deal with on board the less horrible the experience would have been. Yes it sounds like everyone got home and no not EVERY contingency can be addressed in an emergency plan. However, as someone posted earlier, NCL will need to do a post mortem on this situation. If there really were empty seats on flight from San Juan on Saturday (not just to Miami but also to various home cities) then they will need to look at how they could have utilized those resources to improve their response.

 

Thanks to all who have posted their experiences. It always helps to have these stories in the back of my mind if anything occurs while traveling. I hope you have the chance to relax, recoup and enjoy the comforts of home.