Dawn's Adrift!

[lakeuser2002]

I have found this thread interesting to read. Am so glad that everyone got home safe. One question I have for those who were on this cruise, did anyone get trapped in an elevator? How did wheelchair bound passengers get around without power?

 

Based on what the captain said, when on emergency power (which kicked on right away), the elevators go to the bottom floor (or maybe 6) and then open (and stay that way).

 

Also, I did see crew helping elderly folks up and down the stairs, but didn't see any wheelchairs in use.

 

During the initial outage, the stateroom stewards had flashlights on the stairs so you could see the steps.

[HlGHMAlNTENENCE]

Did they run the BINGO games as usual? They probably wouldn't want to lose THAT revenue; afterall ithas GOT to be super-profitable.

 

Bingo NO however, we didn''t have enough power to run the AC on Friday but they had enough to open the FRIGGIN' Casino!!

Seriously.

[rolloman]

I am curious as well to know what happend to the passengers that could not fly, whether it be fear or no passports? Be interesting to know if they were able to book another ship for a return trip.

[lakeuser2002]

I am curious as well to know what happend to the passengers that could not fly, whether it be fear or no passports? Be interesting to know if they were able to book another ship for a return trip.

 

Regarding passports, none was needed for our family. We walked off the ship onto the US territory (didn't get asked for anything), and off to the airport.

[lakeuser2002]

Bingo NO however, we didn''t have enough power to run the AC on Friday but they had enough to open the FRIGGIN' Casino!!

Seriously.

 

I think one reason the casino was open to finish off the blackjack and slot tournaments. Many had paid into the qualifying rounds, and it would of been heck to sort out resolving it...

[HlGHMAlNTENENCE]

We just got home. Monday early evening. We were one of the folks that did not complain and thus were forgotten by the staff making arrangements for leaving San Juan. Our names finally showed up on the last flight out on Sunday. Last flight was a Ryan International Airlines 767, 50% capacity. The Ryan Air flight attendants were very professional and kind to all. We left San Juan around 10pm or so. They made us leave the ship at around 2pm, so that meant sitting in the airport for many hours. No one on the ship could tell us what was happening to us when we arrived in Miami. We had missed our late afternoon flights out of Miami (Sunday) and thus we needed to re-book. Once again NCL would not help us on that either. They also would not tell us if they were going to do anything for us when we ever did get to Miami. The point I am trying to make is that the staff on the ship we talked to several times did not know anything and other then being nice, were useless when it came to information. I think the issue was poor communication on the NCL side. Every time you talked to someone they told you something 180 degrees different then the previous person. Anyway. We finally by total accident found an NCL rep. at our boarding gate in San Juan around 8pm. He acted totally surprised that all of us on the last flight out were totally in the dark on what was to become of us. Why we were forced off the ship and made to wait at the airport for hours when NCL knew our plane was many hours out from arriving into San Juan for us. We arrived into Miami at 12:30 AM Monday morning. The put us on a bus to the Hilton downtown Miami. We were in our room at 1:30am this morning and got to rest for 3 1/2 hours and then paid for a cab to the airport for a 7am flight to Chicago and then Reno. We were told by NCL at the Miami airport that the Miami Hilton had a shuttle, but on our arrival they said we needed to take a cab. No NCL reps came to our hotel with us, so we were all on our own at the Hilton. We have not a clue what happened to those that got a good nights sleep at the Hilton as we were taking various flights zig zagging our way to the west coast all day. I hope they got on their way safely. Our baggage I guess will arrive tomorrow as it did not make it with us on our circuitous route to Reno. Flight changes I made as no one from NCL seemed to want to do anything when it came to flights at 12:30am in Miami and I needed to get home. American Airlines did what they could and the lady at the Check In counter in Miami was a wonder. She was great. We are returning to work one day later then planned. Very tired. But with some amazing stories to tell.

I find many of the comments people are making interesting and the press releases were also not based in the facts. We did not even get to Miami until Monday morning. NCL was of little or no help other then getting us a paid for flight out of San Juan and a hotel to rest our heads for 3 1/2 hours. Communication was non-existent for our flight group. I think by the time the NCL folks made the last flight list with our names on Sunday, the crew on the ship were exhausted and basically just wanted us off the ship in what ever way they could.

Why did the last flight have four people that needed wheel chairs and families with children? I could not believe that disabled people and families with small children would be on the last flight? We (our little part of two) were healthy and able to deal with hauling our luggage on and off the ship, the bus, around the airport to two different check in locations etc. There was not a single person from NCL there to help the disabled, elderly or those with children. I was very upset with that situation. NCL should have assigned someone to assist each disabled person until they were on the flight in San Juan. NCL had people to help get the disabled on the bus in Miami, but no one to help them in San Juan.

I want to give giant gold stars to the most of the crew on the Dawn. They were dealing with awful work conditions. We also were told by an un-disclosed person that the crew was going to get a cut in pay for the trip. This came out about the time we left the ship Sunday afternoon. We noticed that many crew members seemed very upset on Sunday, but why they were un happy did get disclosed to us until we were at the airport in San Juan. We truly feel sorry for some of those crew members. They were sleeping on the deck where ever there was a spot to lay along side all of us guests. They worked in 100 degree temperatures in the bowl of the ship while we lounged in what ever shade we could find up on deck. The crew were all extremely kind until almost the end.

The key issue NCL messed up was the lack of consistent factual information. It seems to have been a short coming for them all the way through the event and now in their press releases. Those that left on Saturday did not see how things degraded on Saturday night and Sunday.

I will be contacting NCL about financial dealings that still need to get worked out. On Sunday I was told the accounts were locked out and they could do nothing on my bill. Given the lines even on Sunday to talk with a front office person, I am shocked they would lock out the accounts when we are still stuck on the ship. I hope they look at this whole event as a great learning event so they can on the management end do a better job next time. Get the facts down and communicate them. That did not happen. Especially on Sunday.

To all those other hardy well mannered survivors and crew, I want to complement most of you for a job well done. We do have some great stories to tell!

I am very glad to be home and look forward to future less eventful cruises with NCL. I will return for another cruise and once again will make sure to pack my dependable little flash light!!!!! You never know when the lights will go out and you need a flash light for those inside cabins!

For all of you on that last flight out of San Juan late last night! Safe travels. It was great getting to know many of you!

 

 

I found your post very well written (calm and honest) and I wish my postings would have been the same so I wouldn't have been attacked with my version of how I saw things. I do feel for the crew because they made the best of the situation and I am not angry with anyone ON the ship, I am/was angry at the corporate level because of the lack of communication.

I did receive a call from someone (Carolyn) at the Miami NCL office this afternoon. At first we had it out on the phone and then I explained to her I was more upset about the lack of Emergency Plans that NCL had in place for things like this than I was about the actual incident. She apologized to me and then tried to explain that NCL doesn't have Emergency Plans in place for unforseeable incidents like this.

I am sorry, that answer was not good enough for me. So I guess that the 10-12 cruise ships NCL has traveling with apx. 2500 people per week you cannot tell me that you do not have some type of contract with the airlines/plane chartering companies/hotels/travel agents so when/if this happens you can just make a few calls and get things done? She also told me they ONLY booked people on chartered planes that they never attempted to put people on commerical airlines because they didn't have the "manpower" to make those calls to book the flights. Again, lack of Emergency Plan. They certainly have enough reps to answer my calls when I want to go on a cruise but not enough to help in an Emergency?

 

To the people who saw photos of us sleeping out on deck and called us "whiners" and saw we are "lucky" to have gotten 75% of our cruise monies back, let me remind you I paid A LOT of money to CRUISE not to CAMP. I choose to cruise because I like to relax and be pampered. I didn't pay thousands of dollars to sleep on a lawnchair, eat grilled food, drink warm water, walk in other peoples urine. The 75% refund we got on our cruise monies didn't even cover my flights home.

 

I'm sorry, I am not really a "seasoned" cruiser having only been on 4 cruises in 5 years on 4 different cruise lines but I should HOPE that other cruise lines have an Emergency Plan in place when (if) I do decide to cruise again.

[amc11569]

We also just got home and are soooo bilwildered about how NCL handled the whole situation. The cruise was great up until Saturday when they were trying to get us all of the ship. I think everyone coped pretty well Friday even with no air. It was an adventure when the power initially went out and we were drifting as there was no water, toilet flushing, a/c, however Saturday and Sunday became a COMPLETE NIGHTMARE! We were a party of 8 with two children and two people who needed wheelchair assistance. Our party was separated on departure, one person in our group left on the 1st flight, two were put on the 6th flight and the rest on the 7th flight. By chance, I went to the desk to confirm our flights because if the times were right, I would have to cancel our connecting flight home because we would not make it. They told me that they had 50 seats open on the next flight. We took it and arrived in Miami (and was on tv about the incident because they were filming us getting the bus) and were put up at the Hilton, however, no NCL rep was at the hotel to help with any other travel problems. Thank god I was able to reach our travel agent who helped me arrange flights from Miami to Connecticut today, however, the price tag for 7 of us was almost $4,000 because of the holiday and short notice booking. American Airlines didn't really want to hear anything. I am dying to see what they will reimburse us!!!

 

I do want to thank the crew for all they did, however, the last day on Sunday they sort of became invisible. We had no towels or toilets paper and it took a while for them to deliver them.

 

What I don't undertand, is how they told us to ration the water usage, but kept charging us if we wanted bottled water. I believe with the temperature and no a/c they should have given us free water bottles, not just water in cups and soda in cups.

 

Also, is anyone going to complaint about being charged the $12 per day fee for Sunday, when nothing was being done?

 

Overall, we had a great cruise up until the last sea days and we would cruise again with NCL as we like the freestyle/casual atmosphere.

 

If I can get my three days of lost sleep back, I will post more about the postives of the trip and what we enjoyed.

[lakeuser2002]

... I was more upset about the lack of Emergency Plans that NCL had in place for things like this than I was about the actual incident. She apologized to me and then tried to explain that NCL doesn't have Emergency Plans in place for unforseeable incidents like this.

I am sorry, that answer was not good enough for me. ...

 

Also well said (your whole post) and I was trying to make the same points.

 

After 9/11 our engineering facility had to create emergency plans for a number of situations. It can be done, but it takes work to create them, and work to maintain them. Heck, I'll start one.

 

By the time everyone is on board (or by the end of the first day) have everyone's return plans in a database. For many it would be automatic (NCL booked). For some it could be done when we do the online 'pre check in' (or whatever it's called). For the rest, fill out a form in the room and have staff enter it.

 

Have a plan to call in every travel agent on staff if an emergency occurs. Maybe 80% could make it in. Assign the staff a block of rooms to service. Have a list of charter companies 'ready to serve'. Start filling up the charter flights with staterooms (elderly, families with young children first). Book traveling families on the same charter (that didn't occur with some...) Also start working on alternative plans for those that won't make their return flights in time. Have a priority pre selected for deciding who is first and last off.

 

From the time the boat turned east (about 5:30PM Fri) to Saturday AM, much more could of (and should of) been done.

 

The cost of creating a plan is a pittance compared to the 5+ million that the power failure likely cost... (not sure if any of it would be covered by any loss insurance carried by NCL).

 

I"ll even help NCL create a plan if they ask!!

[HlGHMAlNTENENCE]

Looks PERFECT to me LakeUser! You're hired!

[halos]

This was my first and last cruise. .

 

I think that is a very wise decision.

[halos]

I would love to be a fly on the wall if some of the posters here have to go through something similar.

 

Well, quite a few posters have come here and sounded like they handled everything very well, so it's not impossible to go through 24 hours without AC gracefully.

 

 

I'm sorry to see that this is your last cruise. If indeed you have travelled all over the world, then you should have a better handle on emergencies. To blanket the entire cruise industry and all cruises based on one bad experience is cutting off your nose to spite your face. Cruising is a wonderful way to see snippets of a variety of locales and to not give it a second chance is just silly and childish. I'd suggest that you book a Celebrity cruise that may better suit your "lifestyle".

 

Cruising is NOT for everyone.

Cruising can be a gamble....if someone doesn't love being on a ship enough to get through a possible negative experience like this without becoming totally irate, then that person has no business being on a cruise ship...because mechanical issues are not uncommon..neither is bad weather.

 

I don't think he is cutting his nose to spite his face,. I am actually THRILLED that he has the common sense to know that he isn't meant to cruise. Too many that can't handle when 'ship happens' still book them and keep expecting perfection and complain when they don't get it.

It's not that I have no sympathy for this ruined vacation...I do. I love cruising and having this happen must really suck. I just would HOPE I could handle it as well as Pieshops did.

[danp]

My question is how did the Key Locks work?Or did they.

[ShipsAreTheBest]

... you cannot tell me that you do not have some type of contract with the airlines/plane chartering companies/hotels/travel agents so when/if this happens you can just make a few calls and get things done?

 

I agree with almost everything you say (emergency plans, good commnication being a necessity). However, the part I quoted above I think needs a response. In theory, a great idea. In practicality, nearly impossible. Unless I misunderstood what you meant by the above (and I may have), there are not an abundance of empty airplanes and hotel rooms in the world on hot-standby, waiting for something like this to happen, and to be exactly where in the world you need them to be. An airline or a hotel operator exists to operate as close to full capacity as possible all the time. Unfortunatley, Thanksgiving Weekend is about the worst weekend to try to find an available airplane seat or hotel room too! In this economy, all businesses are running tight. Airlines don't have idle airplanes and crews lying around waiting to pick up lost souls!

 

I'm truly sorry for your experience, and while NCL cannot be completely excused for everything that happened, you can probably imagine the logistics of something like arranging for the care and transport of 2500+ people RIGHT NOW in a manner different from what they originally planned (i.e. the ship working without a hitch).

[smeyer418]

I would think that NCL and most cruise lines have an emergency plan for unforseen events. It may not include every eventuality but a cruise ship losing power is actually not that unusual. Things like this have happened before and will happen again. It might not have signed contracts but it probably includes a lot of telephone numbers. The basics of any emergency plan are the same no matter what the disaster/emergency is....you get the senior people in and start marking plans assign tasks(get planes get hotel rooms gets buses etc...) and you need numbers to call if it happens on weekend.

 

The plan would include open an emergency operations center and who is in charge. I would bet such a plan actually exists...even though a telephone operator or front desk person doesn't know of it....

 

and you do a post mortem to see what can be done better next time(and there is always a next time)

[uneamie]

 

Cruising is NOT for everyone.

Cruising can be a gamble....if someone doesn't love being on a ship enough to get through a possible negative experience like this without becoming totally irate, then that person has no business being on a cruise ship...because mechanical issues are not uncommon..neither is bad weather.

 

 

That said.....if mechanical issues are not uncommon then one would assume that the cruise line would have the common sense to forsee possible problems and have "emergency plans" in place. Perhaps they have no business being in a business where thousands of peoples lives are in their hands. After seeing how they handled this, it's a bit frightening to wonder how they'd handle the ship sinking... and God forbid any survivors of such a disaster come here to complain. Hmm!

[J18ktleo]

Well, quite a few posters have come here and sounded like they handled everything very well, so it's not impossible to go through 24 hours without AC gracefully.

 

 

 

 

Cruising is NOT for everyone.

Cruising can be a gamble....if someone doesn't love being on a ship enough to get through a possible negative experience like this without becoming totally irate, then that person has no business being on a cruise ship...because mechanical issues are not uncommon..neither is bad weather.

 

I don't think he is cutting his nose to spite his face,. I am actually THRILLED that he has the common sense to know that he isn't meant to cruise. Too many that can't handle when 'ship happens' still book them and keep expecting perfection and complain when they don't get it.

It's not that I have no sympathy for this ruined vacation...I do. I love cruising and having this happen must really suck. I just would HOPE I could handle it as well as Pieshops did.

 

Although I've skimmed the past couple of pages I am totally thankful that the 'tried and true' cc'rs have all come together on thoughts and issues with respect to this. I can't imagine how frustrating it would be to be in this situation however when you travel there are NEVER any guarantees and if you want perfection...stay home!

I'm sure I'd be totally ticked at the lack of communication but on the other side of it I'm also sure that there's only so many types of situations that can be prepared for. The staff was probably NOT told that bottled water was now free so they kept on the same practice of saying it's for a charge...I would think there's so many areas that weren't thought of on the fly...hopefully now preparations can be addressed.

Thank you to all the cc'rs for making sure that those that are on their 'high horse' (first timers that won't come off the mountain) don't get away with belittling the awesome experience that cruiseing actually is.

And my heart does go out to all those who had to deal with this 'crappy' situation and all the compromised dreams...we all know that somewhere down the road this will be such an interesting/amazing/unbelievable memory.:cool:

[smeyer418]

you know sometimes the glass is half empty and sometimes its half full.

 

The ship lost power late on Friday(?) or mid day friday. By Saturday it was diverted to San Juan.

 

By evening Saturday charter flights were already taking off for Miami and had been contracted on the Thanksgiving weekend.

 

Rooms were gotten at Miami.

 

By Monday AM all the people in Puerto Rico were evacuated to Miami and by Monday night all(or almost all) were on there way home.

 

Are there some exceptions? yes of course.

 

Is this perfect probably not.

 

Any one injured physically?

 

A hot room is not good but not life threatening.

 

Was there food?

 

Was there an outbreak of disease?

 

Was it comfortable? I am sure not.

 

Would I be happy-- probably not.

 

Yes could somethings especially communication been better? maybe or maybe not.

 

Are there some happy people?

 

Are there some unhappy people?

 

as I said sometimes the glass is half empty and sometimes its half full....

[halos]

It's impossible to have contingency plans for everything. I was just on the Dawn...there were no signs of any mechanical issue. This had to come as a bit of a surprise to them.

 

Over on the CCL boards there is a thread going about a crazy week on one of their ships....The harbor pilot somehow had the ship 'bump' into a Royal ship in Puerta Vallarta (yes, another CCL/RCL crash)...then the next day, the Captain had a heart attack.

 

Anyone think they should have had a contingency plan for this?? Some CCL people do....people are actually complaining even though their cruise was screwed up because the Captain had a heart attack.

 

What is wrong with people??? :confused:

[halos]

That said.....if mechanical issues are not uncommon then one would assume that the cruise line would have the common sense to forsee possible problems and have "emergency plans" in place. Perhaps they have no business being in a business where thousands of peoples lives are in their hands. After seeing how they handled this, it's a bit frightening to wonder how they'd handle the ship sinking... and God forbid any survivors of such a disaster come here to complain. Hmm!

 

Let me be clear...mechanical issues are not uncommon, losing ENTIRE power certainly is.

 

ship sinking???

 

*sigh*

[smeyer418]

It's impossible to have contingency plans for everything. I was just on the Dawn...there were no signs of any mechanical issue. This had to come as a bit of a surprise to them.

 

Over on the CCL boards there is a thread going about a crazy week on one of their ships....The harbor pilot somehow had the ship 'bump' into a Royal ship in Puerta Vallarta (yes, another CCL/RCL crash)...then the next day, the Captain had a heart attack.

 

Anyone think they should have had a contingency plan for this?? Some CCL people do....people are actually complaining even though their cruise was screwed up because the Captain had a heart attack.

 

What is wrong with people??? :confused:

 

they in fact do have a plan if the captain dies or becomes incapacitated. Its happened more than once. The staff captain MUST be fully licensed to take over. They contact the home office and fly in a new second in command(or he/she takes over from the staff captain).

 

Ships go bump all the time. The plan is to evaluate what happened including flying in someone from the group that certifies the ship to see if it is still sea worthy. There are specific written notifications that have to take place. The CCL people all want this to take place without inconvenience to them and that is mostly impossible...ship happens.

[halos]

The CCL people all want this to take place without inconvenience to them and that is mostly impossible...ship happens.

 

EXACTLY!! They were delayed....THIS is what pisses people off; they get 'inconvenienced'.

 

I think no matter what 'plan's are in place, if there is a situation going on, things will be a bit 'off' and passengers are going to be irritated.

 

Someone has posted a thread asking if there should be a passenger 'Bill of rights'....mostly because he thinks you should be compensated for missed ports ( more than port fees returned).

 

 

What I'm trying to say is that no matter how NCL handled what happened on the Dawn, there would be people who would complain. People act as if they handle things poorly intentionally. My feeling is that they did the best they could at the time.....some would say, "well, their best wasn't good enough." To them, I just don't know what to say......

[J18ktleo]

smeyer418...

beautifully said!

[KayNMike]

The air conditioning first went out Thursday evening. The mirrors in our cabin fogged over and the humidity and temp increased dramatically. When we called the front desk, we were told the AC was out throughout the ship.

 

Temperatures in our cabin were over 100 deg F Friday night. Our wet bed linens were not replaced before we left Sunday afternoon, despite requesting cabin service. We had to beg for clean towels as well ... we received towels, but no wash rags.

 

During the first power outage, emergency lighting in the stairwells was lost. Power was also lost to the elevators. It's unconfirmed as to whether anyone was trapped in the elevators when power was lost.

 

NCL intentionally shut down the air conditioning again late Friday afternoon so they could increase the ship's speed by roughly 10%. This was done just before they diverted the ship to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

 

The ship's maintenance and engineering crew did not have the expertise to troubleshoot the electrical failure. Numerous restarts (a dozen plus??) indicate they were taking a very trial-and-error approach rather than having found a problem via route cause failure analysis. They likewise turned down offers of assistance from the Coast Guard and at least one experienced electrical/mechanical professional on board who may have been able to help.

 

The flights back to Miami were absolute chaos. We departed the ship at 2:00 PM for a 4:00 PM flight that had been delayed to 5:00 PM. We were then bumped as the ship's staff encouraged others to leave the ship early as earlier flights to Miami had numerous empty seats (50+??). In the end, it was 3 AM before we reached our Miami hotel room.

 

NCL delays (2 1/2 hours) in getting us to the terminal parking garage Monday morning again held up our drive home until 11:30 AM. When we saw it was going to be after midnight arriving home, we called NCL and they refused to pay for our hotel tonight.

 

We echo the need for a crisis management plan/team. I do however take exception to the captain making updates every 15 to 30 minutes ... especially when the updates essentially said "I know nothing and have nothing to report." We all would have been better served had he taken a more active oversight role rather than worrying about the updates. Likewise, someone intimately involved in the repair had to be pulled away to update him (and likely everyone in the chain of command between them). Regardless of the reason, I also take strong exception to the ship's officers, like the Hotel Director, getting in to loud disagreements with passengers.

 

Given the hardship and frustration caused by NCL, I feel very much cheated out of a vacation. A 75% refund in no way compensates for what we've been through. The ports of call were great, but no one in their right mind would have agreed to pay even the 25% for the experience given the knowledge of what was to come. This is especially true now that my wife and I will now miss an additional 2 days of work because of the NCL delays in getting us back to Miami.

 

Finally, as to those who say NCL did the best they could. I agree and support that thought as to the crew. However, the lack of a good mechanical reliability program, inept troubleshooting, and a lack of strategic thinking/planning made what should have been a hiccup in to a disaster. That responsibility lies with the Captain, Chief Engineer, and NCL management.

[smeyer418]

EXACTLY!! They were delayed....THIS is what pisses people off; they get 'inconvenienced'.

 

I think no matter what 'plan's are in place, if there is a situation going on, things will be a bit 'off' and passengers are going to be irritated.

 

Someone has posted a thread asking if there should be a passenger 'Bill of rights'....mostly because he thinks you should be compensated for missed ports ( more than port fees returned).

 

 

What I'm trying to say is that no matter how NCL handled what happened on the Dawn, there would be people who would complain. I wonder if people think it's intentional?? My feeling is that they did the best they could at the time.....some would say, "well, their best wasn't good enough." To them, I just don't know what to say......

 

 

I don't disagree. Americans(me too) are spoiled rotten but we aren't the only ones.

 

I don't know how well on a scale from 1-10 NCL handled this. If 1 is perfect and 10 is always wrong its somewhere in between. Some people are unreasonable but think they are reasonable. we can reasonably disagree but some people think the are right. Some people are just simple and don't understand. Some people understand but don't care. Some people actions are just plain rude....its life...thank goodness so far there are no reports that anyone was seriously hurt....

 

Hey I asked what caused this and we still don't know.

[Don Haynes]

As I said earlier in this thread, if fog had set in and the ship arrived four hours late, with many missing their flights, the complainers would have complained... There aren't any precautions or plans to be made for fog delays.