Star azipod propulsion problem

[Pope Francis]

Just talked to my PCC at NCL. They have nothing on our cruise. (NCL Star 2-06-2017 to 2-18-2017 from Sydney to Auckland NZ), We can probably gather that our itinerary will change as well as the Jan cruise prior to us just did so they will not have the boat fixed prior to our getting on the ship. No agreement on a date that we would hear something. All this means is that NCL has no comment and everything you are hearing here and on C.C. is probably correct!

[mking8288]

I have some friends travelling on Jan 16 sailing, and they just received the below notice about the itinerary change. If NCL can "predict" even the itinerary one month later will be affected, does this indicate that NCL will not have plans to send the ship to drydock to completely fix the problem?

Thank you for sharing & uploading your friend's Jan. 2017 notice of change for the Star, which was dated Dec. 10, 2016 ... wondering if that was back-dated. Sure hope that many that booked via brick-n-mortar TA (very common in Asia & China ... hint, hint: those soon to be on the brand new "Chinese" Joy) are promptly notified and aware of these changes. Our extended families have relatives, friends & old mature (elderly) classmates all over the world and while majority of them have emails, smartphones and iPads/iPhones these days, not all of them do and for the casual user - they don't "surf" Cruise Critics or other social media/forum sites unlike us addicts.

 

For the Dec. 22 sailing out of HK, NCL is still (trying, I guess) to sell the "original" sailing and advertising all the ports - clock just turned midnight locally and we have retired expat friends living about 2 or 3 miles from Kai Tak Cruise Terminal; and, tempted to book a last minute, affordable sailing ... thinking they will make a quick pit stop at coastal Kaoshuing, southern Taiwan first, LOL. Not only would they miss it but they also won't get to stop at HCMC, etc. - all these, less than 24 hours before sailing.

 

In all fairness to NCL, corporate is going to take a financial hit on its quarterly earnings for sure with the lost revenue and whatever. What about truth-in-advertising and being sincere too - not cool and not acceptable. Folks on other sites & social media are talking too - it is stupid, foolish for NCL to play "dumb", period as it is going to backfire.

 

It's a good thing that NCL doesn't have a significant # of mainland Chinese pax booked or cruising now - this week's sailing, I am not so sure as it is the traditional holiday - even a small group of them onboard can really get rowdy and quite a scene ... and, they've done it when airlines cancelled flights due to weather or ships delayed sailing.

 

Lastly, this revised Jan. 16 sailing seemed to suggest that it's skipping 2 ports in the first half of the original itinerary with an extended/overnight stay in Singapore; and, then "planned" on keeping the rest of the port stops en route to Aussie with no further changes. I guess, time will tell on whether the Azipod issues will be "fixed" and restored to being fully operational by then.

[Cruise Wonderland]

Thank you for sharing & uploading your friend's Jan. 2017 notice of change for the Star, which was dated Dec. 10, 2016 ... wondering if that was back-dated.

 

The notice was issued this morning. It only says Dec 10 is the date when the azipod problem was first discovered in Singapore.

 

It's a good thing that NCL doesn't have a significant # of mainland Chinese pax booked or cruising now.

 

I believe the number of Hong Kong pax on the current cruise is about 100-200, and not sure about mainland Chinese but could only be a few. Then there are some other Asians, but a large proportion of pax should be from western countries. Usually for one-way reposition cruises in Asia, pax from the western countries are still the largest group on most of the ships based on my previous observations.

[Circusboy354]

Just talked to my PCC at NCL. They have nothing on our cruise. (NCL Star 2-06-2017 to 2-18-2017 from Sydney to Auckland NZ), We can probably gather that our itinerary will change as well as the Jan cruise prior to us just did so they will not have the boat fixed prior to our getting on the ship. No agreement on a date that we would hear something. All this means is that NCL has no comment and everything you are hearing here and on C.C. is probably correct!

 

 

It will depend largely on the distance between ports and the amount of time allowed in the original schedule. A lot of journeys have a lot of spare time built in, for example before Singapore we left Port Klang with a sea day inbetween, for a lot of the day we sailed at 6 knots, when we sailed from Nha Trang to Chan May we sailed at around 14 knots on one pod. The Thai ports have been cancelled due to the long distances between ports, with one pod the ship cannot travel that fast.

[susan0000]

Has anyone been able to contact Norwegian above the TA level? I want to talk to someone! No refund of port charges that's rediculous!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Sutosis]

I just spoke with someone from Guest Relations and they said that there is nothing more that they are offering at this moment in regards to the Jan. 5th sailing. She did mention that she reports to her superiors in a meeting and they voice all the feed back that they are getting. She hadn't gotten any calls about the Jan. 5th sailing yet but had gotten plenty on the Dec. 22nd sailing.

[chengkp75]

I am from Hong Kong and sure that there are drydock facilities in our city, which can accommodate ships as large as NCL Star. Yes, just like you have said, it is not easy to have a vacant dock at such last minute.

 

I am not quite sure how will the itinerary of Dec 22 and Jan 05 sailings be changed, but if NCL starts to inform the guests on Jan 16 sailing about the itinerary modification, that means they are pessimistic the problem cannot be solved within the coming month?

 

Yes, I'm aware that there are docks available in Hong Kong, but again, not everything related to the azipod is in the azipod, and not everything that would stop a pod from running requires a drydock.

 

For those wondering why certain ports are cancelled, you can approximate your voyage using "seadistances.org" which calculates the distance between two ports (though it's for cargo ships, so some cruise ports need to be approximated). After entering the two port names, you can keep resetting the ship speed so that the calculated transit time matches the itinerary time (remember to change for time zones). If you can get from one port to the next at under 18 knots in the time listed in the itinerary, all is well. If the time required is more than the itinerary, that is why they are cancelling that port.

[aussie cruzer]

Has anyone been able to contact Norwegian above the TA level? I want to talk to someone! No refund of port charges that's rediculous!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Pope Francis]

 

** Email I just Received from Vivian Ewert;***

Leon;

At this time the last sailing affected by the Azipod issues is Jan 11, 2017.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Vivian

Vivian Ewart| Vice President, Passenger Services

vewart@ncl.com

305-436-4011 | fax 305-436-4036

NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE

7665 Corporate Center Drive | Miami FL 33126

[no port @ dfw]

you can approximate your voyage using "seadistances.org" which calculates the distance between two ports

 

Thanks for the link. Don't forget the "-" between the two words in the address.

[aussie cruzer]

** Email I just Received from Vivian Ewert;***

Leon;

At this time the last sailing affected by the Azipod issues is Jan 11, 2017.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Vivian

Vivian Ewart| Vice President, Passenger Services

vewart@ncl.com

305-436-4011 | fax 305-436-4036

NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE

7665 Corporate Center Drive | Miami FL 33126

Nice work Leon,

 

Looks like no dry dock needed.

[herdingdogmom]

No refund of port charges that's rediculous!

 

The individual port fees for the ports cancelled will be refunded to your on board account. Standard procedure.

[WorldTravellerz]

Nice work Leon,

 

Looks like no dry dock needed.

 

 

Why did they change ports for our sailing starting January 16th if it will be fixed?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[casofilia]

{Snipped}

At this time the last sailing affected by the Azipod issues is Jan 11, 2017.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Vivian

 

Why did they change ports for our sailing starting January 16th if it will be fixed?

 

Who said it will be fixed? Read the message from Vivian closely. I would say that no final decision has been made about changes to 16/1/17 and fixing just making sure that the cruise will take place

 

Mike

[karoo]

Who said it will be fixed? Read the message from Vivian closely. I would say that no final decision has been made about changes to 16/1/17 and fixing just making sure that the cruise will take place

 

Mike

 

The January 16th sailing has been notified of changes to their itinerary. The first 7 days of their cruise, the Hong Kong to Singapore sector now only has one port stop.

 

The changed itinerary that was emailed yesterday to passengers who booked through NCL is listed on their roll call.

 

Our January 5th changed itinerary was also emailed out yesterday. Many passengers who have booked through their TA are still waiting for their TA to contact them. The new itinerary basically has an extra day in Singapore, changes to the Vietnam stops, no Thailand and an extra sea day.

[BirdTravels]

** Email I just Received from Vivian Ewert;***

Leon;

At this time the last sailing affected by the Azipod issues is Jan 11, 2017.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Vivian

Vivian Ewart| Vice President, Passenger Services

vewart@ncl.com

305-436-4011 | fax 305-436-4036

NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE

7665 Corporate Center Drive | Miami FL 33126

 

You do realize that the VP of Passenger services did not really answer your question. The public facing vewart@ncl.com goes to a group of minimum-wage customer service bull pen workers who cut-n-paste canned responses off of their customer service computer terminals. Same ones who answer tweets. They know nothing more than what they can cut-n-paste (actually click) on their terminal.

[aussie cruzer]

You do realize that the VP of Passenger services did not really answer your question. The public facing vewart@ncl.com goes to a group of minimum-wage customer service bull pen workers who cut-n-paste canned responses off of their customer service computer terminals. Same ones who answer tweets. They know nothing more than what they can cut-n-paste (actually click) on their terminal.

Vivian is Ncl corporate...she did sign it Vivian.

 

No reason to question her reply.

[Son of a son of a ...]

Unable to mock book January dates for the Star anymore on US site

[teamflames]

Why did they change ports for our sailing starting January 16th if it will be fixed?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

I am not sure about this, when I called ncl they made it quite clear the 20% was the total refund.

 

 

Sent from my iPod touch using Forums

[BettyNL]

** Email I just Received from Vivian Ewert;***

Leon;

At this time the last sailing affected by the Azipod issues is Jan 11, 2017.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Vivian

Vivian Ewart| Vice President, Passenger Services

vewart@ncl.com

305-436-4011 | fax 305-436-4036

NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE

7665 Corporate Center Drive | Miami FL 33126

 

Excuse me for asking BUT what sailing JANUARY 11 ??? :eek::eek::eek:

[Circusboy354]

The ship does not need a dry dock, however it's not a quick fix either. The particular issue needs a part to be manufactured, hence the delay and the repair can only take place when the ship is secured in port, hence the number of overnight stays. There was no exact timeframe given other than its shorter than initially envisaged.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[herdingdogmom]

The ship does not need a dry dock, however it's not a quick fix either. The particular issue needs a part to be manufactured, hence the delay and the repair can only take place when the ship is secured in port, hence the number of overnight stays. There was no exact timeframe given other than its shorter than initially envisaged

 

Thank you so much for all your helpful updates. This one particularly. Sounds like they don't know for sure when the part will arrive and have scheduled overnights on the next 2 cruises to be ready for it.

 

So the provisioning (food and drink and choices) have been ok? I can imagine it has been a challenge in these first time ports and with the NCL Miami procedures.

[MGBark]

We were just informed by a fellow passenger that the January 5th sailing of the Norwegian Star has canceled stops in Thailand and will leave Singapore on the 6th, a day late. NCL refuses to discuss changes and says to call Our Travel Agent to get full information. It is amazing they will contact me on NCL.com when they want to sell me WIFI, but refuse to tell me when they have screwed me out of a major port. We would not have booked this ship without that stop, they should be doing everything to make this right, but talking to the NCL customer service is like talking to a robot. Meanwhile, we are stuck with non refundable air and hotels, while Princess and Holland America are selling similar cruises for half the price.

[Circusboy354]

Thank you so much for all your helpful updates. This one particularly. Sounds like they don't know for sure when the part will arrive and have scheduled overnights on the next 2 cruises to be ready for it.

 

 

 

So the provisioning (food and drink and choices) have been ok? I can imagine it has been a challenge in these first time ports and with the NCL Miami procedures.

 

 

I didn't ask that as I didn't want to be seen to carrying out an interrogation, I think the problem was properly identified in Chan May and that would explain the updated itineraries being sent out the last couple of days.

 

It was explained that out of 300 pods in operation this is only the second time in 20 years this fault has developed, hence the need for the part to be manufactured.

 

Since the ship left Europe supplies have been ordered 6 weeks in advance so there's no issue there. We were on the Dubai-Singapore leg and seen the transition of products from European to US after a supply reached the ship in Cochin.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[susan0000]

We were just informed by a fellow passenger that the January 5th sailing of the Norwegian Star has canceled stops in Thailand and will leave Singapore on the 6th, a day late. NCL refuses to discuss changes and says to call Our Travel Agent to get full information. It is amazing they will contact me on NCL.com when they want to sell me WIFI, but refuse to tell me when they have screwed me out of a major port. We would not have booked this ship without that stop, they should be doing everything to make this right, but talking to the NCL customer service is like talking to a robot. Meanwhile, we are stuck with non refundable air and hotels, while Princess and Holland America are selling similar cruises for half the price.

 

 

This is the same way we feel and more angry that no one will respond to us![emoji37]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums