Rough Seas from Norfolk?

[afl]

We cruised out of Norfolk on Maasdam Jan 6 to 18. Look for my detailed trip report that I will get on the board this weekend. The issue about Norfolk goes beyond rough seas. The problem is rough treatment at Norfolk and Nauticus.

 

IMHO, see details later, Norfolk's Nauticus is not a competent facility to handle cruise passengers, escpecially if something goes wrong. On our cruise, things went very wrong at Nauticus, after Maasdam was six hours late arriving due to engine problems. The two problems have different causes. Passenger suffering could have and should have been greatly reduced.

 

Yes the seas were very rough around the Cape both ways. Maasdam could handle that and most passengers and crew coped nicely.

 

But the way passengers were treated at Nauticus, both pre boarding and at disembarking, was outrageous, incompetent, and just plain unacceptable.

 

Of the twenty or thirty passengers I discussed Norfolk with during the cruise, even before disembarkation, NOT ONE said they would ever cruise out of Norfolk again. Please see my coming weekend post for details, particularly if you are partly disabled or have any mobility problems. (No, I personally do not have such problems).

 

If you are a Verandah Suite passenger, as we were, you will find that some of the promises that were made to you about treatment during embarking and disembarking are not true - at Nauticus.

 

I blame most of this on Norfolk and Nauticus, but HAL has some issues that also should be noted.

 

A couple of other quick comments: Maasdam is truly a beautiful and elegant ship. The crew is great. The Pinnacle Grille is outstanding, don't believe what you've heard. The new captain (we called him Cap'n Hank) is not afraid to take on trouble and would not accept the notion that one of the engines should normally not be running. Rumour was he had a flown-in Mercedes engineer chained to the engine room to keep that baby going.

 

Would we cruise with HAL again? Prior to disembarkation we would have said yes absolutely HAL is our cruise line of choice. Now we are not so sure. But we are sure that we shall never sail out of Norfolk again.

 

If anyone wants more information, more quickly than when I can post it this weekend, you can email me at afl@mm.com and I will try to respond.

 

afl

[arzz]

I am sorry that you had difficulties at Norfolk - I am anxious to read your report. We left and returned on time at Christmas and had no issues whatever with embarkation and debarkation. In fact, I found it much smoother and much faster than Fort Lauderdale (where we have been known to wait in line for well over an hour while we inch to the check in).

 

We, however, were on time and all was progressing as it should. Our situation did not "test" the system. I can imagine with the small facility in Norfolk that if there were crowds going both on and off the ship at the same time that it could get dicey. I can also imagine difficulties as there is no real space there to house waiting crowds.

 

I am sorry that you would condemn your whole cruise and the cruise line for difficulties in disembarkation. But, then again, I was not there and have not yet read your story.

[ekerr19]

Our cruise was somewhat delayed as well, but I could not speak more highly of the staff at the port (exception being the baggage handlers!) everyone else we encountered was super helpful and went out of their way to accomodate... I am very interested to hear the latest news from Norfolk.... sorry to hear about the problems. :(

[menoch]

I cant agree with AFL more, especially on the disembarkation, it was terrible, treated very poorly, very unorganized it was just terrible and I am in the process of writing a letter to send to both the terminal and HAL about our treatment there. I will post it here when I finish it.

[geoherb]

For the Maasdam's Christmas cruise, sailing to and from Norfolk was great. We loved being able to drive to the port. The only downside was that my partner packed way too much because there wasn't a limit like there is when we fly.

 

The worst embarkation/disembarkation I've experienced was in New York City. But we had a great cruise in between and don't let that experience keep us from wanting to do another cruise to New England/Canada.

 

We've also had a bad experience disembarking in Fort Lauderdale. But that caused by a record number of ships arriving in the port that day.

[cruisecache&squash]

IMHO, see details later, Norfolk's Nauticus is not a competent facility to handle cruise passengers, escpecially if something goes wrong.

 

You're right about that. They're working on a big new cruise terminal that is supposed to be ready later this year. Hopefully that'll alleviate a lot of the problems. Unfortunately HAL is pulling out anyway. Sorry you had such a crummy experience with that part of your cruise.

[mariner]

We've sailed twice from Norfolk and MAASDAM was late each time because of weather.

 

We thought the shoreside staff did a fantastic job getting passengers off and getting us on.

 

Given the circumstances and the facilities, I don't know how they could have done it better.

 

We just took a deep breath and releaxed until they were ready.

 

We still received priority boarding because we were in a suite.

 

After we disembarked last year, we met the men who negotiate the longshoremen's contract for Norfolk at Shula's. They had just finished cutting a new deal with HAL. It was fascinating learning about all that goes into loading and unloading a ship and the pressure they face when the ship is late.