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Sunshine Boarding Problem Norfolk June 4

lelder1

By lelder1,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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EBFURR

EBFURR

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We were there. Talked to a Norfolk police officer who said the ship did not arrive until close to noon and did not have a manifest for crew member changes which delayed for an additional hour. From what we saw the primary cause of the boarding issues after that was the port security screening. I have flown a lot over the years for business purposes and I have never seen anything approaching the lack of organized screening procedures. Norfolk does not do many cruise embarkations and the personnel are clearly poorly trained. This part had nothing to do with Carnival. Once we (finally) got through security we literally spent 3 minutes at the check in desk and were on our way. We did hear that Carnival's system was down at some point but when we were there (somewhere around 4PM for a 2:30 check in time) there were no lines at all at check in. We were caught up in a combination of Carnival's issues and the port staff issues. In 24 previous cruises we have never seen anything like it. That said, once we checked in everything was all good. Well, except for nearly capsizing on the second night, but that is mother nature for you.

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EBFURR

EBFURR

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Well, not sure it was that dramatic but on the second night around 4:30 am the ship listed sharply for several minutes. Not sure how much but folks were saying 45 degrees. I am sure it was not that much but it was pretty steep. Things fell, some cabins took several inches of water, and folks were running around with life jackets on. We were in or around storms all week and it was a rough ride. Not sure what caused the list because the captain pretended it didn't happen. Cruise director mentioned it but dropped it. Comedians joked about it and people talked about it all week. Heard mention of a large wave.

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NotTheBatesMotel

NotTheBatesMotel

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Well, not sure it was that dramatic but on the second night around 4:30 am the ship listed sharply for several minutes. Not sure how much but folks were saying 45 degrees. I am sure it was not that much but it was pretty steep. Things fell, some cabins took several inches of water, and folks were running around with life jackets on. We were in or around storms all week and it was a rough ride. Not sure what caused the list because the captain pretended it didn't happen. Cruise director mentioned it but dropped it. Comedians joked about it and people talked about it all week. Heard mention of a large wave.

 

 

 

It was pretty scary! Our armoire doors crashed open which woke us up, things went flying off the vanity area and my husband and I got dressed and were getting ready to head out of the cabin with our life jackets when it finally evened out again. I heard about kids being thrown out of the Pullman beds.

 

 

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moongal

moongal

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Wow that is scary sounding!!! And no one ever told you what it was that caused it? If the Captain pretended it didn't happen then I wonder if it was caused by an error made by the Captain? Kind of makes me a little scared?? I would feel better if there was full disclosure. If it was Mother Nature then why not say so? Why keep it a secret as to the cause? Do things like this happen often? I would probably almost have a heart attack to get awakened by such a list.

 

 

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Elaine5715

Elaine5715

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Wow that is scary sounding!!! And no one ever told you what it was that caused it? If the Captain pretended it didn't happen then I wonder if it was caused by an error made by the Captain? Kind of makes me a little scared?? I would feel better if there was full disclosure. If it was Mother Nature then why not say so? Why keep it a secret as to the cause? Do things like this happen often? I would probably almost have a heart attack to get awakened by such a list.

 

 

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If by not mentioning it, they have interpreted it as the Captain pretending it didn't happen. The Captain is not going to make an announcement about a rogue wave.

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EBFURR

EBFURR

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If by not mentioning it, they have interpreted it as the Captain pretending it didn't happen. The Captain is not going to make an announcement about a rogue wave.

 

I would differ on that. This was our 24th cruise over 25 years. We have been near hurricanes and tropical storms several times. In all cases the captain would make regular updates concerning weather conditions, expected rough seas, etc. We have never been in seas this rough for this long with continuous winds of 68 knots (78 mph). The captain chose not to give updates at all other than on Thursday "things will improve later". On the morning show the day after the list, the cruise director said the captain would make an announcement at 10:00 AM and give an explanation of the night's events. His announcement was about late arrival in Nassau and extended boarding times. No mention of the event. There were rumors everywhere about what happened but nothing official from the staff.

 

On Monday the skies were mostly clear but the wind was very high. Some of the upper decks were closed. We were sailing in a tropical storm Monday night. The ship had been rolling severely for hours before the list occurred and we were clearly in storm conditions, so it was not all that rogue. We arrived in Nassau around 1 PM and the weather was ok. I little rainy but not bad. Tuesday night was not smooth, but not really severe either. Wednesday night was also very tough with high winds (65+ knots) and very rough seas but no major list. Early Thursday morning we felt the ship jolt like it had hit a rock. We looked out our deck 12 window and saw a wall of spray reaching 65-70 feet high from the impact with a wave. There were very high seas and high winds all day Thursday with most all outside areas closed. There was no warning on Wednesday to expect this nor any indication of how long it would last. At one point we went into the Sky Box where the TVs were on to see if there was any mention of it or any radar images. My wife asked a crew member if he had seen anything and he said that the crew had been instructed not to mention the weather. It is true that the cruise line can do nothing about the weather, but they can keep the passengers informed and warned about rough conditions. Again, on previous cruises this has been the case. This was poorly handled. If you were not there, you have no idea.

 

As to the angle of the list, if you read my original post you will see that I agree that 45 degrees is probably extreme. That is simply the number mentioned all over the ship the rest of the week. Since there was no mention of it by the ship's staff, we do not know what the true situation was. If it was 15, 20, 30, or whatever it was still a very disturbing experience and to have the captain not address the continuing situation did not exactly inspire confidence. This is not an indictment of Carnival in general but it does not speak well of this particular captain and crew.

 

Despite all of this, we did enjoy the cruise overall. We do not get seasick and are used to some degree of movement. I will have to say that this is the most movement over the longest period of time that we have experienced. We were mostly disappointed that the Serenity was closed a lot including all of our last sea day. We used our balcony a little but the winds and spray mad that difficult. There were lots of people who had it a lot worse than use with flooded cabins, extended sea sickness, etc. We thought the food was very good with Guys Burgers, Blue Iguana (breakfast burritos!!), Captain's Kitchen, and Ji Ji being outstanding. We only went to MDR one night where it took over 45 minutes to get appetizers and our food was cold when it arrived. We went to alternate dining the rest of the cruise and were more than happy. The Alchemy bar is simple the best bar we have ever seen on a ship. There were many positives. The debarkation was the easiest we have ever seen. The only black marks were embarkation (a disaster by any measure) and the poor communications about the weather conditions which were extreme by any standard.

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EBFURR

EBFURR

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i am scared for my sunshine cruise in a few weeks. hopefully the weather improves or the captain learned from his mistakes

 

I would not worry. The chances of similar conditions are slim. As I said we have been on 20+ over many years and weather this bad is rare. Plus, you will be in a different area than we were. I think the captain, in his way, was doing what he could in a bad situation. Our complaint is that there was no communication and we thought there should have been some sort of warning or reassurance given. When there is bad weather between the home port and the destination, the cruise line is almost in a no win situation. If they alter the route and miss ports some of the passengers will be upset. If they try to keep the schedule and hit very bad conditions (as with us) the cruise is going to be unpleasant for a lot of people. Our captain decided to try to keep the schedule and as a result we were in conditions that probably should have been avoided. Our guess is that he waited to late to make a course correction and we were in a cross current that got out of control. In the past we have missed entire ports to avoid weather and had a sunshiny sea day instead. We were happy with that but heard a lot of complaints from others. Hind sight is always 20/20 but I think avoiding dangerous conditions is always the best choice. Stay positive. Chances are you will have a great time.

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A&Jfamily

A&Jfamily

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The fact that it was HarborFest weekend with parade of sails made Norfolk a disaster - as it always does. Never sail from Norfolk the first weekend in June! On top of this, Sunshine was first ship back for departure in quite a while. A recipe for disaster! Holding our October cruise is more smoothe!

 

 

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A&Jfamily

A&Jfamily

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I talked to DH who works across the street. He confirmed traffic was horrible but the ship was in port well before 0830 and people disembarking by then. People were in his garage loading cars. So "late" was not an issue.

 

 

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firemanbobswife

firemanbobswife

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I talked to DH who works across the street. He confirmed traffic was horrible but the ship was in port well before 0830 and people disembarking by then. People were in his garage loading cars. So "late" was not an issue.

 

 

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The fact that it was HarborFest weekend with parade of sails made Norfolk a disaster - as it always does. Never sail from Norfolk the first weekend in June! On top of this, Sunshine was first ship back for departure in quite a while. A recipe for disaster! Holding our October cruise is more smoothe!

 

 

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Yeah but Harbor fest is wrapping up now with the Parade of Sail on the 9th. The sailing in question was last weekend - Sunday the 4th. True that was the first sailing from Norfolk this season. I don't think anyone complained about the long lines on the most recent one that left Friday the 9th, it was the only last Sunday the 4th. There weren't any passengers on that one when they arrived as far as I know.

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bluejay555 Great Review Rare

bluejay555

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EBFURR, thanks for all the info! Not much riles me up, but I'd have had my kids in life vests if I woke up to that and I definitely would have expected an explanation of what was going on!!!

 

And this is off subject, but speaking of the Captain giving important announcements....I cannot stand this. I can't ever understand the captain, as all captains I've experienced have such a thick accent. I like when the cruise director gives announcements.

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EBFURR

EBFURR

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Yeah but Harbor fest is wrapping up now with the Parade of Sail on the 9th. The sailing in question was last weekend - Sunday the 4th. True that was the first sailing from Norfolk this season. I don't think anyone complained about the long lines on the most recent one that left Friday the 9th, it was the only last Sunday the 4th. There weren't any passengers on that one when they arrived as far as I know.

 

Correct, the problem was on June 4 and the ship came in empty from Charleston. Since the ship debarked on Saturday morning in Charleston and had 24 hours to get to Norfolk (on the cruise schedule we go from Freeport to Norfolk in about 15 hours) it is a bit of a mystery as to why they would be late. In addition, the ship apparently did not prepare the proper documents for the crew. Very strange. Add to that the security screening issues and lack of organization and it was a disaster. Hopefully lessons were learned. That said, we would do it again. Loved Norfolk and the Sunshine.

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firemanbobswife

firemanbobswife

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Correct, the problem was on June 4 and the ship came in empty from Charleston. Since the ship debarked on Saturday morning in Charleston and had 24 hours to get to Norfolk (on the cruise schedule we go from Freeport to Norfolk in about 15 hours) it is a bit of a mystery as to why they would be late. In addition, the ship apparently did not prepare the proper documents for the crew. Very strange. Add to that the security screening issues and lack of organization and it was a disaster. Hopefully lessons were learned. That said, we would do it again. Loved Norfolk and the Sunshine.

 

 

Thanks. That's what I thought. It seems to be an ongoing issue with the first cruises out of Norfolk. I remember something similar happening when Splendor was here a couple Octobers ago. They showed lines all the way down Waterside on the news. Maybe if they had more sailings they would do better. It's too bad because it's super convenient for me. But they really need to go other places besides the Bahamas and Bermuda. I would love to see a proper 7 day Caribbean cruise.

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