GEM Arrival to NYC delayed because of high winds.

[ToAdam12]

4 minutes ago, dcipjr said:

I would imagine the late communications are because they thought they would get the ship out today at some point, so they didn’t want to tell people not to come until the last minute. Bummer. 

I can see that I mean gail force winds like that doesn't come on the itinerary lol

 

[shout19661966]

ships current position places them just into international waters. hmm wonder why that is lol.

[newbiecruiser25]

46 minutes ago, Striper55 said:

My wife and I were scheduled to leave today on the Gem but at 2pm we were told to come back tomorrow.. no email or text from NCL until 4pm. 

We drove 4 hours for no reason .. 

why didn’t they inform us before ? At 10am today they told us to board between 1:30pm and 5pm. 

We get there at 2 and the ship wasn’t even there !!

Unacceptable customer service !

 

And that's what made me mad. We hired a transportation company(which was running late but that's another story) to drive us 3 hrs and arrived around 2pm only to be told to come back at 6am tomorrow. Which then changed to 9:30 am and they didnt even send us notification until 4:00pm. I couldn't even access my reservation online.

[Newleno]

5 minutes ago, newbiecruiser25 said:

And that's what made me mad. We hired a transportation company(which was running late but that's another story) to drive us 3 hrs and arrived around 2pm only to be told to come back at 6am tomorrow. Which then changed to 9:30 am and they didnt even send us notification until 4:00pm. I couldn't even access my reservation online.

after all of this is said and done please let us know how much total credit they gave you for this unfortunate circumstance, what are you going to do now? did you get a hotel/cost?  If you were at the airport inside security you could just tough it out and save about $300, but out on the streets of nyc, i dunno what to do.

Edited February 25, 2019 by Newleno

[newbiecruiser25]

36 minutes ago, Newleno said:

after all of this is said and done please let us know how much total credit they gave you for this unfortunate circumstance, what are you going to do now? did you get a hotel/cost?  If you were at the airport inside security you could just tough it out and save about $300, but out on the streets of nyc, i dunno what to do.

I ended up booking a hotel in close walking distance for the night. And the hotel was swamped full of unhappy Norweigen guests. Good thing I called quickly and booked a reservation. Some folks thought they could just go down to the hotel and book. 

[newbiecruiser25]

I still cant bring up my reservation online. It says on the website the cruise has been amended to a 10 day Southern Caribbean cruise. Does this mean they dropped Barbados from the internerary? Because that was the main island I wanted to visit!

[Newleno]

3 minutes ago, newbiecruiser25 said:

I still cant bring up my reservation online. It says on the website the cruise has been amended to a 10 day Southern Caribbean cruise. Does this mean they dropped Barbados from the internerary? Because that was the main island I wanted to visit!

oh i hope it is still on your itinerary, one of our favorites, we just walk to the beach from the ship, let us know if you still get to go

[newbiecruiser25]

17 minutes ago, Newleno said:

oh i hope it is still on your itinerary, one of our favorites, we just walk to the beach from the ship, let us know if you still get to go

I have an aunt down there who was going to take us to The Boatyard. I had plans to swim with the turtles.

[IrieBajan54]

I do not think a 10 day from NYC can include Barbados.

[Greenpea2]

44 minutes ago, IrieBajan54 said:

I do not think a 10 day from NYC can include Barbados.

There is a 12-day Gem cruise that goes to Barbados. No 10-day that I have found.

 

[Newleno]

1 minute ago, Greenpea2 said:

There is a 12-day Gem cruise that goes to Barbados. No 10-day that I have found.

 

it was cut short because of the storm, the ship could not get into new york harbor today

[Greenpea2]

Yes, I know that. I was replying to the comment on Barbados not being on a 10 day cruise.

 

[CKRI]

We were booked on the Gem for today's sailing. We drove to the pier & were told by NCL personnel at the pier to come back tomorrow. I did receive emails, texts & calls, but not until after 4pm. The voicemail said to check with NCL.com for further updates & I just checked it--said itinerary is CHANGED to  a 10 day Southern Carribbean which is different from the 11 day. Different ports, they don't just skip one. Luckily we live in RI, so we just drove back home & will drive back tomorrorow am. 

The email stated we would be reimbursed for the 1 day we missed. Weather happens:)

[goofy4mickey]

Yikes I just realized the passengers still on the Gem probably to not have their luggage

[newbiecruiser25]

1 hour ago, CKRI said:

We were booked on the Gem for today's sailing. We drove to the pier & were told by NCL personnel at the pier to come back tomorrow. I did receive emails, texts & calls, but not until after 4pm. The voicemail said to check with NCL.com for further updates & I just checked it--said itinerary is CHANGED to  a 10 day Southern Carribbean which is different from the 11 day. Different ports, they don't just skip one. Luckily we live in RI, so we just drove back home & will drive back tomorrorow am. 

The email stated we would be reimbursed for the 1 day we missed. Weather happens:)

I recieved texts and auto dialer calls but no email or talk of reimbursement.

[newbiecruiser25]

2 hours ago, IrieBajan54 said:

I do not think a 10 day from NYC can include Barbados.

Barbados and St Lucia are the only ports that are actually Southern Caribbean from the list of ports.

[PTC DAWG]

4 hours ago, shout19661966 said:

ships current position places them just into international waters. hmm wonder why that is lol.

If I was on board, I would like that. 🙂

[shof515]

In a facebook group, there is a rumor the ship will skip San Juan and St Kitts so that the ship can still go to the south carribean and visit those southern ports like St Lucia  and Barbados

[NeurosurgeryNP]

Looks like she is in port now in NYC. 

[mjkacmom]

14 hours ago, newbiecruiser25 said:

I ended up booking a hotel in close walking distance for the night. And the hotel was swamped full of unhappy Norweigen guests. Good thing I called quickly and booked a reservation. Some folks thought they could just go down to the hotel and book. 

There are no shortage of hotels in NYC. It stinks to sail out late, but I don’t blame NCL for gusty winds in February, trip insurance is definitely a good thing for any travel in winter.

[newbiecruiser25]

33 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

There are no shortage of hotels in NYC. It stinks to sail out late, but I don’t blame NCL for gusty winds in February, trip insurance is definitely a good thing for any travel in winter.

No one is blaming them for the winds. It was the poor communication on their part and leaving people to fend for themselves. 

[Newleno]

18 minutes ago, newbiecruiser25 said:

No one is blaming them for the winds. It was the poor communication on their part and leaving people to fend for themselves. 

yes many times on these boards (sometimes I think it is the majority of the time) the issue at hand is distorted.  Weather happens, mechanical happens, medical emergencies happen.  The issue was the horrible communication and no plan for the people that showed up at the pier,  NCL could have done better

[ColeThornton]

27 minutes ago, Newleno said:

yes many times on these boards (sometimes I think it is the majority of the time) the issue at hand is distorted.  Weather happens, mechanical happens, medical emergencies happen.  The issue was the horrible communication and no plan for the people that showed up at the pier,  NCL could have done better

 

 

I understand the frustration of the cruisers on both the sailings.   Things aren't always so easy to deal with as it may seem from the outside looking in.   So often in these types of situations the decision is a minute by minute thing which equals for the cruise lines who have to figure out the best thing to do they are damned if the do and damned if they don't.

 

Let me ask a question.   In a situation like this where they go down to the wire to make a decision is it their responsibility to find lodging for all the passengers on the next sailing?   How could they even do that at the last minute?

 

Just thinking out loud here.    I hope everyone who gets on board today has a wonderful trip and can make the best of it.

[dcipjr]

Tough situation, and I feel bad for everyone involved.

 

NCL obviously initially thought they'd get the ship into port, since it was sailing under the Verazzano shortly after 10 AM, then pulled a U-turn and went back out of the harbor.

 

By 10 AM, I'd be willing to say the majority of passengers were already in NYC, or en route. Some folks may have already been checking out of their hotels, or arriving at the pier. What do you tell those people—don't come? Turn around? Come later? What about the folks who were already there and dropping off baggage?

 

I'm sure their second option was to get the ship in and depart NYC late, but the wind advisory wasn't going to be lifted until 6 PM, and even then, the seas were due to be high. They're not going to want another Epic situation where they crash into the dock (and the Star crashed the Intrepid pier a few years back due to high winds). 

 

Delaying the sailing is probably the last thing they wanted to do, since it requires itinerary modifications, notifying everyone, people who were supposed to be arriving that day missing their flights, people that were supposed to be departing that day missing a day of vacation. It's a mess—but it was the safest option.

 

In the end, they made the right call. I think they probably should have notified the incoming passengers a bit earlier that delays were possible via emails, texts, and voicemails—the wind advisory had been in place for over 24 hours, so they knew it could be rough—and made them aware of the possibility of a late departure or even a delayed sailing. 

 

Still, it's going to be tough to get the word out to everyone—it's not like on the ship, where they can just sound the bing-bong machine and the captain can tell everyone. And it's not like people can just delay their own flights. Too much uncertainty.

 

We're on the Gem next week, and I'll be checking the webcam to make sure she's berthed before I make the drive up to NYC. 🙂

 

[mjkacmom]

1 hour ago, newbiecruiser25 said:

No one is blaming them for the winds. It was the poor communication on their part and leaving people to fend for themselves. 

I’m sure NCL wanted nothing more than to be able to get passengers off and on. Long stretches of high winds like what started Sunday night and continued for 24 hours is not the norm here, I was traveling so I watched the forecast, it was originally supposed to end sooner. If you are going to be stranded overnight in NYC, unless there is a situation where folks are being trapped due to a situation stopping transportation, finding a hotel room is not difficult.