Where is the Dawn?

[ike97756]

Dont know how accurate this persons "inside" conections are but his post isnt reasuring

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=27974317&postcount=257

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=27974550&postcount=259

[Partyatsea]

1. While you may be disappointed in your ports, you are spending time in a beautiful locale with a lovely woman - probably the most important person in your life. If your wife is anything like my girlfriend, she's much happier spending the time with you and could care less which ports you're at. I find that the perspective of "the journey, not the destination, is the experience" is important to keep when travelling. Smile, be happy you're on a boat, and for goodness sakes get off the Internet! ;)

 

This I think, is the best advice. Would rather be on vacation with my gf anywhere than at work. You can probably see that from the ports on our signature.

[robinpow]

I'm booked for April 8th, with a bit of luck, everything will be working.

 

'NCL' and the word 'communication' can't be used in the same sentence. They have a long history of not communicating with each other, much less their passengers.

 

I think I'll pack my Duct tape. After all you can fix most anything with it.

Heck maybe I'll even pack the crystal ball, to let me know where I'm going. LOL

[jaja]

'NCL' and the word 'communication' can't be used in the same sentence. They have a long history of not communicating with each other, much less their passengers.

 

 

Unfortunately....this seems to be true.of late......:( (you think they would have learned from the December fiasco with delayed sailings..due to dry dock problems...)

[sdmike]

Very true.

 

I am trying to decide if I should try and get my money back and do a southern caribbean cruise like I signed up for next week or just go with it and make the best of it.

I guess it will depend on what it will cost me and what NCL reaction to all of this is. It is frustrateing when they dont seem to be very honest about the extent of the problems the last few weeks. They just keep telling me dont worry, your sailing won't have any changes, yeah right.

 

I know what you mean. I tend to be optimistic and forgiving in general, so take my comments with that in mind. Often we have better info than the people manning the phones in cubes at the corporate cave. It's not always intentional deception as much as it's ignorance about the issue(s) and inability to do much without corporate instruction. That's why I always cringe when people yell at NCL phone reps for bad information. Rudeness from a customer service rep is uncalled for, but bad info can be caused by so many different breakdowns.

 

I really hope your cruise goes off without a hitch. The fact that the engine manufacturers are on the scene means they're working on getting her back in service ASAP. Unless it's a big problem (like the first engine that imploded on Epic during construction), engines are generally not that difficult to repair.

[sdmike]

Thanks for letting us know what is going on! With lightning being so cheap, I'm surprised that God puts up with all the lies we are told.

 

We are booked on the one that is supposed to leave on the 25th. It doesn't look very good. I wonder what the skill level is of those guys fixing the engine? Maybe they can only work when they aren't busing tables.

 

As far as the advice to you have received "to make the best of it", if cruise lines aren't vigorously discouraged from this type of behaviour they will keep us and our credit cards at sea permanently.

 

Bad weather indeed!

 

I think you missed the point. My advice was enjoy it as much as you can while you cannot change anything. Let them do their jobs to get the ship going, and do your best to have a good time. Afterward go to bat for fair compensation for the breakdown. Not sure what else yo mean by "vigorously discouraged". Yelling at people fixing the ship? Yelling at the people trying to make you comfortable in light of the problem? That's not doing to affect anything.

[Phreddee]

What it means is to; perhaps sue them, post nasty things about their attitude, try to get your money back before the cruise. If you don't like the music don't blame the monkey talk to the organ grinder.

 

It seems to me when the problems that a ship/company have are predictable, they have one engine out already, and they sail anyway, and then another engine "fails" and can't be fixed, that all the problems benefit the cruise line and cost the passengers, it would be grounds for a class action.

 

Unless it some how makes you feel better, I see no reason to yell at the crew.

 

What these companies understand is money, and the sooner they get their hands slapped the sooner this nonsense will stop.

 

Why are we able to easily communicate with one another and yet NCL is incapable of telling us what is really going on.

 

It may be just incompetence but all the problems benefit NCL at the expense of the customers, a pretty good business plan if somewhat short sighted.

[bob brown]

I am truly sorry to hear about this latest development with NCL and propulsion problems. I did enjoy the Dawn this past October, although we did make all ports scheduled running on three of four engines due to shorter distances, but our time at ports was slightly reduced.

I was also on the Gem on first cruise after drydocking that was altered due to delays related to that and the previous delay of the Jewel.

 

With that experience, it is my opinion that NCL should never have waited so long to perform the work on the Dawn. I don't know all the facts, but perhaps their scheduling was due to selecting a slow time businesswise for the drydocking rather than expediting the work which I believe should have been done. It may be that the parts or facility weren't available any sooner. If that's the case, they should be excused. But that ship has been limping along on 3/4 power for a very long time. NCL was pushing their luck, and it seems, they lost....:(

[jla418]

We have just arrived in St. Thomas and it looks like a beautiful morning. We are much more go with the flow so have still had a great vacation despite the unexpected changes to the trip. The crew and service overall have been great, and the changes could have been much much worse in my opinion. St. Maarten is a beautiful island and had a great day at orient beach.

 

The Captain has just announced that the technical issue with the engine has been resolved, and therefore our time in St. Thomas has been extended until 5pm. We were originally scheduled to depart for Miami at 2pm. Hopefully this will be good news for those on the upcoming voyages!

 

As for missing Semana, Barbados, and St. Kitts, I guess I'll just have to try to make those stops on a future cruise, oh darn, another reason for another vacation!

[VonChap]

We have just arrived in St. Thomas and it looks like a beautiful morning. We are much more go with the flow so have still had a great vacation despite the unexpected changes to the trip. The crew and service overall have been great, and the changes could have been much much worse in my opinion. St. Maarten is a beautiful island and had a great day at orient beach.

 

The Captain has just announced that the technical issue with the engine has been resolved, and therefore our time in St. Thomas has been extended until 5pm. We were originally scheduled to depart for Miami at 2pm. Hopefully this will be good news for those on the upcoming voyages!

 

As for missing Semana, Barbados, and St. Kitts, I guess I'll just have to try to make those stops on a future cruise, oh darn, another reason for another vacation!

 

Thanks for posting! This is great news!