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Tragedy at sea - some insights

dalgirl

By dalgirl,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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dalgirl

dalgirl

Posted
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We recently experienced a personal tragedy while on our last cruise and I want to share with you our experience. I am writing this now, several months after our cruise to hopefully help someone else who experiences a tragic event while at sea.

 

We were on a wonderful cruise to South America, several days into a 2 week cruise when we received a ship to shore call from my sister letting us know that our dear son had had a heart attack and passed away, he was only 35. We knew he had been sick but we had stayed in constant contact and he felt certain that there would be no problems while we were away – we were all wrong.

 

We had met a lovely couple while cruising last year who shared their story of losing a brother while on a cruise and how the cruise line assisted them in getting home, so we knew to immediately go to guest relations to begin the process of returning. The problem was that we had just left Argentina on the way to the Falkland Islands and would not be able to fly home to Atlanta for 4 days since the Falklands did not have regular commercial flights. As you can imagine this was very distressing. NCL could not have been more helpful to us. They made sure that we had access to a computer and a telephone so that we could contact the airlines to change our flights and to book additional flights from Ushuaia, our next stop with an airport that could accommodate us. We spent hours that first night making arrangements and contacting family members and the crew did everything they could to see to our comfort including brining hot tea to us. Over the next several days as additional arrangements needed to be made (our son was single) we were able to use the ship telephone anytime we needed. Once we arrived in Ushuaia they made our exit as easy as possible and we were finally headed home. It was terrible being “trapped” on a ship for days, but we made the best of the situation, taking out scheduled excursion in the Falklands, keeping busy while on the ship and with the help of some lovely people got through the ordeal. Keeping busy is the best thing you can do in this type of situation.

Because we were not able to take the excursions that we had booked we ended up with a large onboard credit. However, about a month after we returned a check for the balance was sent to us. I did have to call to remind them, but the customer representative I talked with could not have been more helpful and our check arrived within a week.

 

Trip Insurance: As you can imagine, the plane reservations along with missing half the cruise came to quite a large amount of money. Thank goodness we always buy cruise insurance. Upon our return I contacted the company and they sent all the forms we needed to file our claim. The representative I spoke with was very sympathetic and let me know that we had months to file if needed and that if extensions were required, that could be arranged. They could not have been more helpful or understanding of our situation. One month after filing our claim, our check is on the way. I cannot stress enough the need for trip insurance – it is well worth the small expense when you have paid a lot for a trip.

 

Again I wanted to share our experience to thank NCL and to remind people that even when things go wrong, having the right support can make a terrible tragedy more bearable.

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Viva_la_Vida

Viva_la_Vida

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I'm so sorry for your loss. We lost our daughter in December. She was a baby, but it was very unexpected and there is nothing that compares to the loss of a child no matter what age they are. Big hugs to you <3

 

We booked a cruise this summer to help us heal. This reminded me to get insurance. Thank you so much for sharing.

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j603

j603

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My deepest sympathies on your loss. Thank you for sharing your story. It warms my heart to know that the Norwegian crew took such wonderful care of you in your time of need.

 

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

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natefish95 "Live from...." Rare

natefish95

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I'm so sorry to hear about your son. I know how difficult it is to lose someone when you're so far away. My grandfather passed away when I was studying abroad in Mexico, and my sister and cousin passed away when I was interning in Ecuador. My deepest sympathies to your family. I hope you guys can one day complete that South American cruise in his honor.

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