Disgusting experience!!!!!

[luddite]

But I can imagine the horrible day you had. I live in Dallas and the neighborhood I live in is one that is always impacted with marathons. Even with pre-knowledge I am literally a prisoner in my own home or if I attempt to break the parameter, I am just... Scr**ed. A policeman actually suggested I take about a 10 mile detour than let me through a blockade that was minutes from home. I was livid! I can only imagine your myriad of emotions. I feel for you. But how and when you get to the ship is not NCL's responsibility. People come on here all the time and give advice about coming in early and even staying overnight at a hotel near the pier. Good advice, but not always doable. I had no choice in 2009 than fly to Santiago to arrive the morning of my cruise. Yes, I was crazy, but I could not take another day off from work. I was a wreck, tired, cranky, etc. In looking back I am not sure I would take that chance again... And I always take insurance.

 

I feel really bad for you. It's awful. But I hope you will allow yourself to accept things if it doesn't go your way.

 

BTW, I live in Texas, next door to Louisiana too, and I know Fat Tuesday is in two days. I had no idea New Orleans is jumping the Mardi Gras gun. Maybe if I had been cruising today I would have found that out... Maybe not.

 

Again, so sorry for you.

 

Mardis Gras ain't a one day event. For the weekend of the 11th and the 18th, there hasn't been an available room for about a year. They don't let you book more than a year out.

 

We saw more than one person who was expecting to walk up and book a room on the 11th. No luck. When leaving on the 19th, we were blocked by parade staging. It was ALMOST gridlocked. I-10 eastbound was at a standstill for 6 miles headed to downtown.

 

I'm having a hard time believing that OP from Mississippi had no clue about NOLA and Mardis Gras. We departed on the 12th. We had maps, parade routes, a backup plan,got to NOLA on the 10th and got to the terminal at 9AM. Next year, we will already be parked at the terminal and will walk from the Quarter if necessary. That's next year on the weekend before Fat Tuesday.

[Cmdr Cody]

My husband, brother and i just came back on 2/19 from trying to get aboard the norwegian spirit in new orleans. The ship left without us because it was absolutely impossible, if driving, to find an access road that would take you down to the dock. Every road was blocked because of freaking mardi gras, and the norwegian cruise line knows this and didn't let anyone know of an alternate route to get to the ship. We were stuck, and i mean stuck, in traffic for over 5 hours in new orleans while we tried to get to the ship, and we simply could not get there. The ship left without a lot of passengers who had the same experience. Ncl and our travel agency, ***********, do not accept any responsibility for this mess and won't compensate us for the loss of the trip. Ncl provides driving directions to the terminal. They already accept the responsibility for telling you how to get there. Now they say they have no responsibility for these driving direction. We say they do. We say they could have emailed every one of us on this cruise some new directions, given what happens on mardi gras (we didn't know about it because we don't live in n.o.). We are going to sue them in small claims court. We hope every one of the passengers who missed this boat does the same. We will prevail in small claims court--the directions that did not work are printed on ncl letterhead, which proves that they expected us to use these directions. If they did not work, ncl should have let us know how to get to the ship.

 

We are latitudes members who have cruised on ncl many times, without incident. I cannot find the words to express my anger and frustration with this cruise line now. They are real pikers in my opinion, and i am considering not setting foot on another of their ships. I will also write to the better business bureau in my area and complain about this service issue.

 

 

I note you have only 4 posts. Did you ever think of going to the cruise critic Roll Call for this cruise. I sugest you do so and on your cruise thread search "Mardi Gras" You will find a lot of comments of roads being closed on Sunday and things you think will take 10 minutes will take HOURS. The Roll Call would have prepared you and may have even convinced you to spend a few extra bucks and get a hotel room near the cruise terminal the night BEFORE the sail. If you did that you would not be complaining at this time but on the ship having fun.

 

Sorry you missed out, but I don't really think it is NCL's fault but your own failure to preplan for the trip.

[tweekster]

then i guess it is the right site. :d

 

so true!!!!

[luddite]

The OP never mentioned how far from the port they were. In today's age of technology I find it simply hard to believe they couldn't have found a way to make it there. GPS??? set it to detour the route your on and it should find a way around most things.

 

Actually not hard to believe. The area was full. I don't mean there were a lot of people. It was full. Two day's parades on one day. Big parades that people plan for a year. Last weekend of Carnival. School buses full of marching bands. Charter buses full of Krewes. Limos full of Krewe royalty.

State Police on motorcycles. This was at the staging area, not the actual parade route. Absolutely a zoo.

 

In defense, any TA who doesn't tell a pax that leaving NOLA on the weekend before Fat Tuesday that they need to get there the night before should find another line of work.

[fergusonvt]

So the OP's lack of planning is NCL's fault how?

[luddite]

I looked up the parade routes on the mardi gras website and looked up the directions to the port on ncl's website. It seems that if you follow the directions on the site you should be nowhere near the parade routes.

 

FROM OFF I-10: take the Business 90 Expressway towards the Westbank. Before

crossing bridge, exit at Tchoupitoulas/S. Peters. Continue straight until red light at

Convention Center Blvd. Make right, go to stop sign (Hendersen St.), make left,

proceed to Port Road (just over railroad tracks). Drive about half a mile until you

see Julia Street Terminal on the right hand side.

 

Looking at these on mapquest, and comparing them to the parade routes .... shouldn't be a problem unless the highways are stopped. I'm not calling bs here, but something smells. They did say they followed ncl directions....

 

I'm also defending "cheerleaders" because its usually the op's thread name that causes the beating. "Disgusting"? That would lead me to believe that something hygenic was the cause of this thread. Travel issue to port during mardi gras would be a more appropriate name. When the op starts off with a name, then posters do tend to beat them. When they state an issue and give facts, they get more sympathy and understanding.

 

It's the difference between reality and theory. The parades stage very near the terminal. Trust me, the area was full. Parking lots for parade viewers were advertising 40 bucks for the day. I-10 was stopped for 6 miles eastbound.

 

I agree 'disgusting' wasn't really appropriate.

[david_sobe]

Sorry to hear about this crazy experience. The blame is with the city of New Orleans. I am sure this has happened before during other years. But it appears the problem was not large enough for them to care to take actions to keep traffic flowing to the port. As dysfunctional as Miami is, they protect port traffic because they know the port = money. They dont want angry Miami travelers to miss their vacation.

Shame on New Orleans for being lazy in protecting their port.

 

Not sure if the OP mentioned if they stayed at a hotel before driving to the port. It is always wise to allow travel time to get to the port. This is especially true for people that fly into a city. It is a big risk if you fly the same day your cruise leaves. I live in Miami and I am always paranoid about port and downtown traffic the day of my cruise. Even I leave extra early.

 

But this is a very unfortunate event and it would just crush your vacation especially if you traveled so far away. So I would definately cut the OP some slack.

[computerworks]

Does this mean I can sue my Garmin? :cool:

[mickeysgal]

I don't like the cheerleader commentary that is immediately thrown out there when someone disagrees with a poster. In this case, I don't care if it was NCL, Carnival, RCCL, etc at that port. I can't see how it would be ANY cruiselines's responsibility in this case.

 

 

For those that suggested that NCL should have notified passengers, where does it stop? Across all port cities should cruiselines monitor and reach out to each and every passenger and send out information for them about marathons, football games, plane delays, road construction, potential bad weather, the tires on your personal vehicle, etc. It begins to sound silly. It's a slippery slope. At what point is the consumer responsible for their own choices? A cruise was booked and that is what the cruiseline delivers. Let me ask this - do the airlines do this? Would you blame the airline if you didn't make your flight? The cruiselines are not responsible for a person's personal travel arrangements up to the point that you step foot on the ship.

[JMHAM1]

In the OP’s defense, Mississippi is several continents away from New Orleans, Louisiana and Mardi Gras is some new fangled event they just came up with for New Orleans this year. Who could have possibly known?

 

 

I had to bust out laughing at this one. I went to school in Mississippi and everyone there knew plenty about Mardi Gras. I have lived in NOLA for several years after college and know it can be a pain with road closures. It was even difficult getting to and from the grocery store for locals during that time. I can't see any alternate route to get to the port of New Orleans unless NCL sent a helicopter to pick people up and land on the roof of the Hilton Riverside. I have truthfully been sitting here thinking where you could park within walking distance and how you could get luggage there. This would have been one time where even if I were driving from Mississippi, I would park at the airport and take NCL's transportation to the ship.

 

I'm sorry you missed this crucial detail during your planning and hope you get it worked out to your satisfaction.

 

Come here and join active roll calls, etc for your upcoming cruises so you don't repeat this type of thing later.

[Mr and Mrs C]

:(Wow, that would really suck, can you imagine the stress in that vehicle trying to get there? I too like to plan, and be there the night before, so maybe I would have known. I live in Canada, and have heard of Mardi Gras, but had no idea what time of year it was held. This is a good lesson for the rest of us, at their expense.

[sparks1093]

I don't like the cheerleader commentary that is immediately thrown out there when someone disagrees with a poster. In this case, I don't care if it was NCL, Carnival, RCCL, etc at that port. I can't see how it would be ANY cruiselines's responsibility in this case.

 

 

For those that suggested that NCL should have notified passengers, where does it stop? Across all port cities should cruiselines monitor and reach out to each and every passenger and send out information for them about marathons, football games, plane delays, road construction, potential bad weather, the tires on your personal vehicle, etc. It begins to sound silly. It's a slippery slope. At what point is the consumer responsible for their own choices? A cruise was booked and that is what the cruiseline delivers. Let me ask this - do the airlines do this? Would you blame the airline if you didn't make your flight? The cruiselines are not responsible for a person's personal travel arrangements up to the point that you step foot on the ship.

 

IMHO the only time the cruise line (and as you point out, any cruise line) has a responsibility to notify passengers is if something happens that changes the time of sailing significantly.

[toocruisin2]

I feel badly for the OP, and these boards are filled with stories from folks who have literally missed the boat.

 

While cruise lines and travel agents could always do a better job keeping passengers informed about unusual conditions on land or sea that could affect boarding, I didn't see anything in the post that indicated the OP was taking even a smidgen of responsibility; the general theme is: it's always someone else's fault, and it's totally their fault.

 

Could it be possible that it is no-one's fault, and stuff just happens?

[garycarla]

As a former resident of Mississippi, I have to tell you it would very, very difficult to not know about Mardi Gras. It is almost a state holiday. As to knowing about parades on a Sunday, that could be overlooked and would not be common information. Even though we lived 3 hours away, we still went into town the night before. At that point, with no rooms available, something would have come to light. We also check the state travel sites for any road conditions, closures, etc in advance.

 

Stuff happens.

 

In any event, it really stinks that you missed the ship. But, you can not blame the cruiseline. The OP had a problem. A thousand others managed to deal with it.

 

Sorry.

[cbd317]

I can't imagine how awful they must have felt missing the ship; that sense of panic, frustration and disappointment. I only live 10 miles from NYC port for our cruise but you can be darn skippy sure that I will be checking EVERYTHING I possibly can check after reading this post. Let it be a good lesson for all of us newbies on here.

Funny, I would always check if I was taking a plane, especially from JFK or LGA. Not sure why it didn't occur to me with a ship????? Their awful loss was a wake up call for me.

[Nebr.cruiser]

I do feel for the people missing their cruise--that has to be so disappointing. I don't, however, feel it was NCL's fault.

 

I must admit that if I had gone into this blind--that is, with no research--I probably would not have expected such terrible traffic problems, given that I know nothing about New Orleans and that I might not have thought about Mardi Gras at all. And if I did realize that Fat Tuesday was this week, I might not have thought that the festivities started already on the weekend, or that traffic would be that horrible.

 

But, I would not have gone into this without reasearch, using these boards, mainly, so I would have realized possible problems. Five hours stuck in traffic is more than almost anyone would expect, even given Mardi Gras, but still it is the passengers responsibility to get to the ship on time, not the cruise lines' responsibility to notify them of every possible hold up.

[jaja]

I don't like the cheerleader commentary that is immediately thrown out there when someone disagrees with a poster. In this case, I don't care if it was NCL, Carnival, RCCL, etc at that port. I can't see how it would be ANY cruiselines's responsibility in this case.

 

 

For those that suggested that NCL should have notified passengers, where does it stop? Across all port cities should cruiselines monitor and reach out to each and every passenger and send out information for them about marathons, football games, plane delays, road construction, potential bad weather, the tires on your personal vehicle, etc. It begins to sound silly. It's a slippery slope. At what point is the consumer responsible for their own choices? A cruise was booked and that is what the cruiseline delivers. Let me ask this - do the airlines do this? Would you blame the airline if you didn't make your flight? The cruiselines are not responsible for a person's personal travel arrangements up to the point that you step foot on the ship.

 

I totally agree ! (AND I was hesitant to post ..because I would be labeled a cheerleader--just as you have pointed out- )--

[kaylasnana]

I don't see this as NCL's fault either. I feel horrible that this happened to them and that is why I always fly in a day in advance. I live in New England and during the winter months, will not take a chance of having my flight cancelled because of weather.

[cliffd64]

I feel badly for the OP' date=' and these boards are filled with stories from folks who have literally missed the boat.

 

While cruise lines and travel agents could always do a better job keeping passengers informed about unusual conditions on land or sea that could affect boarding, I didn't see anything in the post that indicated the OP was taking even a smidgen of responsibility; the general theme is: it's always someone else's fault, and it's totally their fault.

 

Could it be possible that it is no-one's fault, and stuff just happens?[/quote']

 

"Stuff happens" usually refers to things that are unavoidable, like a bad traffic accident blocking the highway, not things that happen annually during the same time and place. In this case, this was definitely avoidable with a little planning and foresight. Everyone can empathize with the disappointment but it's not a case for small claims court. I think that was the anger talking...

[dalgirl]

And they are so nasty! I can't believe the things people say to each other ....

 

Just because someone disagrees with posters who attack NCL does not make them a cheerleader for NCL. I am sorry the OP missed their cruise due to traffic in NOLA - that is unfortunate and I would also be very upset - but more at myself that a cruiseline. This could have happened to any cruiseline - and is another cautionary tale to arrive at your port a day early.

 

NCL provides directions to the port as a courtesy, not a legal obligation - you are not going to win in any court, don't upset yourself further by pursuing that course of action. It is your right to never sail on NCL again, and to also tell everyone you know not to sail with them - I have a similar relationship with a large, national dept. store... don't even get me started....

 

Obviously not everyone missed the boat - so it was not impossible to get to the port. If I saw all that traffic, and had 5 hours to get to the port, I would have stopped and asked as many times as it took to get to the ship- I would have called the port authority since they actually reside in NOLA and would have worked on getting the best information on circumventing traffic.

 

I had a similar experience in Savannah during St. Patricks day when I was in college - closed roads, parades and extra people can make getting around an unfamilar city a nightmare. I was completely frazzled by the time I got out of there. It made me extra cautious when traveling to unknown cities where I had a deadline to be somewhere.

 

I wish the OP luck and hope that they will think about trip insurance the next time they travel - we never go without it.

[johnmpcny]

Just because someone disagrees with posters who attack NCL does not make them a cheerleader for NCL.

 

There are a few posters who will jump in with a nasty toned comment if any poster makes a even a mild criticism of NCL. They then claim they are not being nasty and want you tell them how, sorry if you cannot understand how you come across as nasty, nothing I or anyone can reply will make you understand. This is a personality flaw and I am thankful I am not sharing a cabin with them.

 

They are what I am others refer to as Cheerleaders.

 

A simple expression of I am sorry about your issue and nicely worded response would be helpful. They always claim it a word used in the OP post that set them off.

 

Get a clue the person is frustrated and looking to vent, this person lost a lot of money an very likely what was a once in lifetime trip. No not because of NCL, they could not have doing anything in this case. Pointing out what the person could have done to themselves to avoid this is helpful, insulting them just to defend NCL is not.

 

I know I would have walked for 5 hours to make the ship...

[www3traveler]

Just because someone disagrees with posters who attack NCL does not make them a cheerleader for NCL. I am sorry the OP missed their cruise due to traffic in NOLA - that is unfortunate and I would also be very upset - but more at myself that a cruiseline. This could have happened to any cruiseline - and is another cautionary tale to arrive at your port a day early.

 

NCL provides directions to the port as a courtesy, not a legal obligation - you are not going to win in any court, don't upset yourself further by pursuing that course of action. It is your right to never sail on NCL again, and to also tell everyone you know not to sail with them - I have a similar relationship with a large, national dept. store... don't even get me started....

 

Obviously not everyone missed the boat - so it was not impossible to get to the port. If I saw all that traffic, and had 5 hours to get to the port, I would have stopped and asked as many times as it took to get to the ship- I would have called the port authority since they actually reside in NOLA and would have worked on getting the best information on circumventing traffic.

 

I had a similar experience in Savannah during St. Patricks day when I was in college - closed roads, parades and extra people can make getting around an unfamilar city a nightmare. I was completely frazzled by the time I got out of there. It made me extra cautious when traveling to unknown cities where I had a deadline to be somewhere.

 

I wish the OP luck and hope that they will think about trip insurance the next time they travel - we never go without it.

I was watching The Spirit's web cam from the Pacific Northwest and She was only 15 to 20 minutes late in sailing from the time I THOUGHT She should have sailed. I sailed on Her the middle of last month and Mardi Gras was already have activities. Head's up to anyone going into NO March 28- April 2nd 2012-NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four and Sunday February 3, 2013-SUPER BOWL.

[camz]

For what its worth, I live in PA and know about Mardi Gras. As I have stated many times, being proactive and learning about your ship, ports and destinations is key to cruising. To the OP, don't frusterate yourself further by serving court documents, you will not prevail in court. You have more of a chance working with NCL directly and getting their sympathy for your ordeal. However, trying to portray that this is in some way NCL's fault, will get you nowhere.

[SeaShark]

There are a few posters who will jump in with a nasty toned comment if any poster makes a even a mild criticism of NCL. They then claim they are not being nasty and want you tell them how, sorry if you cannot understand how you come across as nasty, nothing I or anyone can reply will make you understand. This is a personality flaw and I am thankful I am not sharing a cabin with them.

 

They are what I am others refer to as Cheerleaders.

 

A simple expression of I am sorry about your issue and nicely worded response would be helpful. They always claim it a word used in the OP post that set them off.

 

Get a clue the person is frustrated and looking to vent, this person lost a lot of money an very likely what was a once in lifetime trip. No not because of NCL, they could not have doing anything in this case. Pointing out what the person could have done to themselves to avoid this is helpful, insulting them just to defend NCL is not.

 

I know I would have walked for 5 hours to make the ship...

 

I thought this was an informational board to ask questions and learn things. I did not realize that this was a place for people to "vent" and be very nasty towards the cruise line that had nothing to do with the reason for their venting.

 

Much like you say that there is a proper way to respond, there is also a proper way to post. You don't just drop in 100% negative with all guns blazing and then expect a supportive and understanding reaction. As a poster, you paint a picture when you use the ":mad:" followed by an overly dramatic term such as "Disgusting" in the title of your post.

 

There is a reason why I keep this quote in my signature:

"This is a forum - not a support group. We do not "owe" anyone unconditional acceptance of their opinions."

It applies to threads like this one.

[ZoneHPH]

"This is a forum - not a support group. We do not "owe" anyone unconditional acceptance of their opinions."

 

...presses "LIKE" button. :D