Is the BREAKAWAY OK!!???

[hftmrock]

Many people have mentioned full refunds or not, but really, a cruise is not unlike any other product which any company is selling. Pretty simple.

1) Determine what is being sold here. Go to the Norwegian web site, look at the pamphlets, and guess what? THAT is what they are selling. Days in the spa, evening romantic diners, swimming in the pool, going to the casino, etc. That is the product people are buying because that is what is being sold.

2) Determine which days customers received what was being sold and what days they didn't. This is fairly cut-and-dry. If Norwegian wants to put a disclaimer in about storms, people being confined to their rooms, and services being cancelled because of these storms, then this needs to be clearly conveyed. I do not see this mentioned in the Norwegian advertisements, so this tells me this is not acceptable during a cruise.

3) Finally simple math calculates the refund. If 3 days of a 10 day cruise are not as promised, than customers need to get 30% of what they paid back in some way, maybe on-board credit.

 

This is not rocket science here. So should these people get 100% of their cruise back? I don't think so because most of the cruise was fine, but was it all as advertised? Nope. This system is not perfect, but it would go a long way at making happy customers, or I should at least say happier customers.

 

Its a simple matter of standing behind the products you sell. Was the storm Norweigian's fault? of course not. You but a TV from Walmart, turn it on and discover it doesn't work? Was that Walmart's fault? Likely no, but they stand behind their products. They don't say tough, TV's may be broken. They make it right, and Norwegian needs to as well.

 

This is part of the Cruise Contract everyone agrees to

3. Terms of Fare:(a) Items Included in Fare: The fare paid by the Guest for this ticket includes transportation on thevessel named herein, full board, and ordinary vessel food, but does not include beer, wine, spirits, sodasor mineral waters, nor expenses incurred for other incidental or personal services/purchases. Fares donot include certain taxes, fees, port expenses and charges imposed by governmental or quasigovernmentalauthorities, including port authorities, service charges or the cost of the fuel supplement,nor any security surcharges or similar incidental surcharges, for which passengers will be charged. Ifgovernmental or quasi-governmental action results in any element of such taxes and fees exceeding theestimates used by Carrier for purposes of computing the quoted amount, Carrier reserves the right topass through the extra amount. The Guest agrees that the Carrier shall not be liable to make any refundto the Guest for tickets that are wholly or partially unused by the Guest except as otherwise expresslystated in this Contract, any law or government regulation to the contrary notwithstanding. Refunds shallbe made as specified herein and in the cancellation policy section of the Terms and Conditions of thecruise brochure, which policy is incorporated herein by reference.

 

(a) Risk of Travel: The Guest admits and acknowledges that travel by ocean-going vessel occasionallypresents risks and circumstances that may be beyond the ability of the Carrier to reasonably control ormitigate. The Guest's understanding includes all risks of travel, transportation, and handling of Guestsand baggage. Except as provided in paragraph 6(f), the Guest therefore assumes the risk of and releasesthe Carrier from any injury, loss, or damage whatsoever arising from, caused by, or in the judgment of theCarrier or Master rendered necessary or advisable by reason of: any act of God or public enemies; forcemajeure; arrest; restraints of governments or their departments or under color of law; piracy; war;revolution; extortion; terrorist actions or threats; hijacking; bombing; threatened or actual rebellion,insurrection, or civil strife; fire, explosion, collision, stranding or grounding; weather conditions; docking oranchoring difficulty; congestion; perils of the sea, rivers, canals, locks or other waters; perils of navigationof any kind; lack of water or passageway in canals; theft; accident to or from machinery, boilers, or latentdefects (even though existing at embarkation or commencement of voyages); barratry; desertion or revoltof the crew; seizure of ship by legal process; strike, lockout or labor disturbance (regardless whether such 11/2015strike, lockout or labor disturbance results from a dispute between the Carrier and its employees or anyother parties); or from losses of any kind beyond the Carrier's control. Under any such circumstances thevoyage may be altered, shortened, lengthened, or cancelled in whole or part without liability to the Carrierfor a refund or otherwise.

 

The Contract: The Guest agrees that this Contract governs the relationship between the Guest andthe Carrier, regardless of the Guest's age, whether the Guest purchased the ticket on his or her ownbehalf, and/or whether the ticket has been held and/or presented by another person on behalf of theGuest. The Guest agrees that, except as expressly provided herein, this Contract constitutes the entireagreement between the Guest and Carrier, and shall supersede and exclude any prior representationsthat may have been made in relation to the cruise to the Guest or anyone representing him/her byanyone, including but not limited to anything stated in the Carrier's brochures, advertisements, and otherpromotional materials, by Norwegian Cruise Line or NCL America employees or by third persons such astravel agents. In the event of a direct conflict between a provision of this Contract and a provision of theCruise Industry Passenger Bill of Rights (PBOR) in effect at the time of booking,

[TNcruising02]

No, people are saying that because there are a couple of passengers who are claiming this, even though it is not correct.

 

I saw one article that quoted a passenger as saying it. That's why I thought it was true. The same article said that a RCL ship had no issues because they stayed south.

 

"She and Del Ross spoke with CBS2 while they were en route to New York, after they said their 4,000 passenger cruise ship sailed right into the storm Tuesday night for two harrowing days in ocean swells up to 30 feet. The seasoned boaters called it traumatic."

and

"CBS2 reached out to other cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean, which said its ships were safely south of the storm when it hit."

 

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/01/05/cruise-through-storm/

[billslowsky]

I saw one article that quoted a passenger as saying it. That's why I thought it was true. The same article said that a RCL ship had no issues because they stayed south.

 

"She and Del Ross spoke with CBS2 while they were en route to New York, after they said their 4,000 passenger cruise ship sailed right into the storm Tuesday night for two harrowing days in ocean swells up to 30 feet. The seasoned boaters called it traumatic."

and

"CBS2 reached out to other cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean, which said its ships were safely south of the storm when it hit."

 

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/01/05/cruise-through-storm/

 

The only RCL ship operating out of New York this month is the Anthem, which arrived in Port Liberty on schedule on Saturday. Completely irrelevant comparison.

[ano]

This is part of the Cruise Contract everyone agrees to

3. Terms of Fare:(a) Items Included in Fare: The fare paid by the Guest for this ticket includes transportation on /quote]

 

It has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the fine print people sign. It has EVERYTHING to do with what is right. What are the cruise companies selling? A vacation of a lifetime, or what falls between the lines of their contract? What they are selling should be made VERY clear to their customers that are buying.

 

If they are selling their "fine print" then I seem to be receiving the wrong pamphlets in the mail almost weekly.

[hftmrock]

This is part of the Cruise Contract everyone agrees to

3. Terms of Fare:(a) Items Included in Fare: The fare paid by the Guest for this ticket includes transportation on /quote]

It has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the fine print people sign. It has EVERYTHING to do with what is right. What are the cruise companies selling? A vacation of a lifetime, or what falls between the lines of their contract? What they are selling should be made VERY clear to their customers that are buying.

 

I am not disagreeing that the cruise line should give refunds of some sort to make it better but you said

 

Many people have mentioned full refunds or not, but really, a cruise is not unlike any other product which any company is selling. Pretty simple.

1) Determine what is being sold here. Go to the Norwegian web site, look at the pamphlets, and guess what? THAT is what they are selling. Days in the spa, evening romantic diners, swimming in the pool, going to the casino, etc. That is the product people are buying because that is what is being sold.

I do not see this mentioned in the Norwegian advertisements, so this tells me this is not acceptable during a cruise.

and my point was that it is NOT just that simple.

[swedish weave]

pics of balcony w/o balcony doors?

 

Post #11 by an incoming guest refers to balcony doors that blew out, and post #103 by an outgoing guest refers to a cabin with the balcony door missing.

 

That is pretty good evidence that the posters are truthful.

[Fido Chuckwagon]

What "safety issues", specifically.

 

Despite Hollywood and even the recent El Faro incident (where I lost professional acquaintances), the ship in this case was in absolutely no danger of foundering, and I can guarantee that there was never any thought in the Captain's mind to consider putting passengers in lifeboats. Mariners have long known that the "best lifeboat is the ship", meaning that you stay with the ship until the last moment. As I've said (not sure which BA thread), just look at examples of ships like the Badger State that survived typhoons with no power, no crew, and holes in the hull, to realize that while riding out a hurricane or typhoon on a ship, even one without power, would be painful, and scary, it is still the best chance of survival.

 

Having said that, as someone who has in fact used lifeboats and life rafts in the open ocean, again, you will not be comfortable, you will not be warm, you will not be dry, and you will not have privacy in a lifeboat, but you will survive. If the Captain had decided to abandon ship, the crew would have been available in great numbers to assist people getting to muster, and officers are trained to spot likely candidates whose personality is classified as the leader type, who can be used as "force multipliers" assisting the crew in assisting the other passengers.

 

Even in the chaos of the Concordia, 23 of 26 lifeboats were successfully launched, and these lifeboats brought over two thirds of all persons onboard to shore. And remember that Captain Bligh made a voyage of 3500 miles in the open ocean in an open launch, about half the size of a cruise ship's lifeboat. And the man who crossed the Atlantic in a life raft for 76 days in 1981. Consider all of this when you claim that "lifeboats are a joke".

 

Costa Concordia was evacuated in calm seas within sight of land (people were able to swim to shore!) and sank very slowly. The situations are not even remotely comparable.

Edited January 9, 2018 by Fido Chuckwagon

[smplybcause]

I saw one article that quoted a passenger as saying it. That's why I thought it was true. The same article said that a RCL ship had no issues because they stayed south.

 

"She and Del Ross spoke with CBS2 while they were en route to New York, after they said their 4,000 passenger cruise ship sailed right into the storm Tuesday night for two harrowing days in ocean swells up to 30 feet. The seasoned boaters called it traumatic."

and

"CBS2 reached out to other cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean, which said its ships were safely south of the storm when it hit."

 

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/01/05/cruise-through-storm/

I'm fairly positive none of RCLs ships were on the exact same itinerary as the breakaway so where they were means nothing.

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[Letsgo 2]

Costa Concordia was evacuated in calm seas within sight of land (people were able to swim to shore!) and sank very slowly. The situations are not even remotely comparable.

32 people died and 64 were injured in the Costa Concordia disaster.and it was 100% percent The Captain of the Concordia the Captains fault. The Breakaway was never in such danger.

[arabrab]

Yes, some folks were frightened, some even terrified, but as others on here have reported, they either nearly slept through most of it, or didn't notice the "horrible scenes" that others have reported. It's a clear case of the Rashomon effect, where everyone is affected by, and remembers, an incident differently.

 

Rather than being the Rashomon effect, it is far more likely that passengers in different parts of the ship had different experiences.

 

When Asiana's jet crashed upon landing at San Francisco airport, people on the front of the plane got off easily, didn't even think it was a big deal at the instant, and didn't feel a tremendous amount of movement. People towards the middle and rear had very, very different experiences, and some felt the plane had tumbled around. People were seriously injured in the back third of the cabin. People at the very rear died. And that was on a tremendously smaller vehicle than a cruise ship.

 

Acknowledging that where you were might have affected how it felt would be a kindness and more rational than suggesting that those who felt more motion and who had to crawl to the bathroom or who had water coming leaking in or dividers breaking are exaggerating the severity of the situation compared to those who didn't find it to be problematic at all. Add to that a notable lack of effective communication from the Captain (or his designee) and it isn't surprising that panic set it with a lot of folks.

 

Hopefully, this captain and senior officers get some training in more effective communications during times like this, and that it becomes part of the training for other crews. More effective communications might have helped significantly reduce the anxiety level and stress.

[japit]

Tuffyleigh is posting both ways. Unless they are on B2B she is full of bologna. Still no pic of the missing balcony doors either.[/quote

Edited January 9, 2018 by japit

[japit]

Tuffyleigh is posting both ways. Unless they are on B2B she is full of bologna. Still no pic of the missing balcony doors either.

I been waiting on this pic too.....room # please...

[antsnanny]

Tuffyleigh is posting both ways. Unless they are on B2B she is full of bologna. Still no pic of the missing balcony doors either.[/quote

[swedish weave]

I been waiting on this pic too.....room # please...

See posts #11 and #103. Posts by incoming and outgoing guests say balcony doors were blown out or missing. Pictures are not needed.

 

Hundreds of posts don't have pictures, so these do not need them either.

[lcpagejr]

Post #11 by an incoming guest refers to balcony doors that blew out, and post #103 by an outgoing guest refers to a cabin with the balcony door missing.

 

That is pretty good evidence that the posters are truthful.

 

Both posts were from passenger's on the incoming cruise where it sustained damage... Also were not sure the valididty of Tuffyleigh who claims to have been on that cruise but also is posting as if on this weeks cruise. No cruise ship would leave port with no balcony door. Has to be a safety issue and worse case the impacted area would be secured and boarded up. Lets try to be logical here

[antsnanny]

I was also on the cruise during the storm and for me after 70 cruises, a hurricane and a few nor easters for the first time I felt fear on a cruise ship. I am not writing to argue about damage because I know what I saw.. I don't necessarily know how far a cruise ship can list nor do I know if it was a bad decision on the part of the captain that put us in the thick of the storm in the dark of night. What I do know is that the Captain announced on several occasions including the evening before the list around 8:30 that the weather and seas were going to get worse and at that point we were already in very bad seas. We listed in Cape Hatteras at around 1AM and most of us who have sailed the east coast know Hatteras can be choppy on a good day. I cant help but wonder if he had slowed down and avoided Hatteras for a while if the listing and flooding would have been avoided. As for me I sail on NCL all the time, Im not bashing the line just trying to keep it real here. I have 4 upcoming cruises, we love cruising and I wont give it up. I just hope that I can get beyond the fear I felt that night and be able to enjoy cruising like we always have.

[Penny Pannon]

See posts #11 and #103. Posts by incoming and outgoing guests say balcony doors were blown out or missing. Pictures are not needed.

 

Hundreds of posts don't have pictures, so these do not need them either.

 

If I walked into my cabin and the balcony doors were blown out or missing, first thing I would do is take a photo. If I then came on to CruiseCritic to report this issue, I would post the photo. Anyone reporting this issue and not posting a photo doesn't prove that the doors weren't blown out or are missing but this lack of photo evidence certainly makes me think that the balcony doors were not blown out or missing.

 

I also don't believe that NCL would allow passengers into the cabin if there was no balcony door especially in a port like NYC at this time of year where it would be cold inside of the cabin (unless NCL is promoting the cabin as "your own personal ice bar"). :D

[swedish weave]

Both posts were from passenger's on the incoming cruise where it sustained damage... Also were not sure the valididty of Tuffyleigh who claims to have been on that cruise but also is posting as if on this weeks cruise. No cruise ship would leave port with no balcony door. Has to be a safety issue and worse case the impacted area would be secured and boarded up. Lets try to be logical here

 

What would be the reason two (or three) people would make the posts if it didn't happen?? The reason for the third person is there was another post stating similar problems on a thread that was removed.

Let's be logical, OK??

[e150club]

Could it be the door frame was there and the glass was broken. That seems logical. From what i saw on the BA those doors are strong.

[antsnanny]

If I walked into my cabin and the balcony doors were blown out or missing, first thing I would do is take a photo. If I then came on to CruiseCritic to report this issue, I would post the photo. Anyone reporting this issue and not posting a photo doesn't prove that the doors weren't blown out or are missing but this lack of photo evidence certainly makes me think that the balcony doors were not blown out or missing.

 

I also don't believe that NCL would allow passengers into the cabin if there was no balcony door especially in a port like NYC at this time of year where it would be cold inside of the cabin (unless NCL is promoting the cabin as "your own personal ice bar"). :D

 

They didn't let them back into the balconies those poor people slept in the atrium. If you were on the ship and felt the force of the winds you would understand why they evacuated their cabins and probably didn't look back let along grab their phone or camera. I spoke to people who lost items the blew out the door.

[antsnanny]

Could it be the door frame was there and the glass was broken. That seems logical. From what i saw on the BA those doors are strong.

Thats right and some partitions broke off and were banging up against balcony doors.

[Penny Pannon]

They didn't let them back into the balconies those poor people slept in the atrium. If you were on the ship and felt the force of the winds you would understand why they evacuated their cabins and probably didn't look back let along grab their phone or camera. I spoke to people who lost items the blew out the door.

 

I was not making reference to any passengers who were on the cruise back to NYC. I was making reference to new passengers on the cruise that left on January 6th. When they boarded the ship and got to their cabin with the missing balcony door, you would think they would take a photo of the missing door and post it on here as part of their report of the damage.

[arabrab]

I was not making reference to any passengers who were on the cruise back to NYC. I was making reference to new passengers on the cruise that left on January 6th. When they boarded the ship and got to their cabin with the missing balcony door, you would think they would take a photo of the missing door and post it on here as part of their report of the damage.

 

Wouldn't you expect that damaged cabins would simply not be assigned? From what I read, a number of people missed the subsequent cruise due to the airport disruptions, so NCL would not have had trouble simply blocking those rooms.

[swedish weave]

I was not making reference to any passengers who were on the cruise back to NYC. I was making reference to new passengers on the cruise that left on January 6th. When they boarded the ship and got to their cabin with the missing balcony door, you would think they would take a photo of the missing door and post it on here as part of their report of the damage.

Not everyone who cruises keeps a camera in their hand or feels they need to document everything they experience.

I don't take many pictures, but I make it a point to be truthful with my posts, and have been called many names on these boards. Doesn' t change my outlook because I know that I am honest with the posts I enter on these boards.

[lcpagejr]

What would be the reason two (or three) people would make the posts if it didn't happen?? The reason for the third person is there was another post stating similar problems on a thread that was removed.

Let's be logical, OK??

 

We are talking apples and oranges I think. Not disputing damage from the impacted cruise.... Just stating its hard for me to believe the following cruise left with balcony doors missing.... Im sure the ship wasn't full anyway due to off season and flight delay impacts...but they are not going to leave port with a missing balcony door or open outside section with out it being secured/boarded. Lets all try and get on the same page?!