Just returned from a crazy Alaskan cruise on the Sun Oct 2-11!

[Smitheroo]

7 hours ago, Tradewinds4u said:

Ok I was on this Cruise and yes it was rough. Having spent 4 years on an Aircraft Carrier in Typhoons and sailing the same waters of Alaska this was a good storm.

The reason they don't dock in strong storms/winds is the ship turns into a wrecking ball as destroys the Pier and the ship. One of the balcony rooms lost their glass door I heard. Many slips/falls including all the dishes in the buffet and Moderno flying. The hatch doors outside the Bliss nightclub couldn't hold out the water flooding the entry way (marble floor) I took one step and down. Anyway that's my story.  October,Bering Sea, not a good idea 💡

thanks for your explanation on why the ship didnt shelter in port.  I knew there had to be a reason.  I do know the navigation crew has to weigh all the choices and pick the best one considering them all but did not think of the damage the ship could do to the pier and itself.  I think people in general have lost confidence in the "Authority"  these days and forget that the Captain, or Pilot, or anesthesiologist in surgery have extensive training and ability to make decisions.  Movies like Titanic dont help when you see crew fooling around on guard and miss seeing the ice berg in time. Of course now we have way more navigational aids in place but that movie......   and third class people being held being a gate while the corridors filled with water until the first class people were situated in lifeboats.  

Edited October 13, 2023 by Smitheroo

[Smitheroo]

9 hours ago, PurpleKa said:

please tell them to read my post. Several people at the ports told us that landings and excursions get canceled regularly this time of year because of the weather and most cruise lines are already done for the year by now.
 

We were told this current week (the next cruise after ours) is the last week of the season and there are no more Alaska cruises after this. A lot of the attractions and stores were already closed for the season or open only short hours on certain days.
 

On the bright side, a lot of the ones that were still open were having clearance sales.

I am aware of all of this so I must have read it somewhere.  Shops close because much of their staff are seasonal and have returned home, weather cancels excursions, etc.   I chose this cruise (10/22 on the Encore) because it fit in our schedule, it was reasonable and it may be very different than as planned, but I am fully aware of this.  I have my insulated mac and winter boots ready.

[Smitheroo]

8 hours ago, PurpleKa said:

Although they were already boarding people for the next cruise by 8:45 AM when we were getting off in Seattle yesterday, so there must not have been very extensive repairs needed to the ship. Hopefully.

I wonder if your faces told what you had experienced.  Kind of reminds me (well, sort of) coming out of the bathroom in Mexico and seeing the women lined up to come in. they looked grim. Maybe saw a lot of rolling eyes coming out.  I'm not a snob nor used to only high class experiences but that was an experience I've never had before and not one I care to repeat.   50 cents for a wad of toilet paper going in, half the toilets/doors werent working, similar for sinks. We shared some paper towels to dry our hands.  I really do think that a porta potty would have been better. Maybe they put this on for the tourist experience?

[Smitheroo]

6 hours ago, PurpleKa said:

Some sort of acknowledgment or reassurance from the captain or crew at some point during the night when we were in a life-threatening storm would’ve been nice.

I agree with you but some are complaining also about the reactions on this forum.

[Smitheroo]

3 hours ago, Cruisedrifter said:

We were on this cruise. We are very seasoned cruisers, and had 2 balcony rooms, and an Aft Suite. We are high ranking with lattitudes, and I assure you this is not our first rodeo.

 

First of all, some of the comments on here are condescending and unnecessary.  I hope none of you who are being so rude ever experience the 12 hours that we did on the Sun last week. If you had, you would not be commenting with such arrogance. 

 

I have been on rough seas before...this was far beyond rough seas. We were tossed around with such intensity it is a miracle we survived. I have never been so scared before. There was no way to prepare for this. Several restaurants were left in shambles as they lost all the glassware, and dinnerware from breakage. Lights were dropping from ceilings,  pictures falling from walls, staterooms were left with broken drawers, everything falling out of cabinets, and anything left unsecured on balconies didn't survive. 

 

We were on the 8th floor and our balcony was riddled with seaweed and ocean debry the next morning. Not difficult to figure our how it got to the 8th floor.

 

Passengers and crew members took to sleepng in halls and in the lounges in the middle of the ship to try to be safer. This WAS NOT typical righ seas. 

 

After hours of being tossed around the waves became ao intense the ship was lifting from the sea and slamming back down. All we could do was lay still and embrace ourselves for each mpact. Our bodies felt like we had been beaten up. I can't image how older passengers felt. 

 

There was no communication from bridge. We could only hear intercom calls of crew with alarms all night. There was a chemical spill, a fire, and water intake at one point. As season cruisers we know what codes like "bravo" mean on a ship. ( these incidents were confirmed by crew, when you have been on NCL as many times as us you know many crew members, and they confirmed)

 

Talking with other passengers the next day we heard things like, "I feared for my life", "it was terrifying", "worst ever", "I wish they would have communicated with us", and "I have cruised many times...this is my last cruise". 

 

Not only did they stop communicating they took down the nautical reports and stopped answering guest services. I can understand they needed to get crew stable as well and they should not of been upright. It however would have gone along way to hear from the bridge how much longer to expect the weather or a report with some comfort. I can guarantee you not ONE person on that ship was sleeping. 

 

The captain blew it. He made a bad call to try and out run the 2 weather patterns that were in the area. Plain and simple. I have been on cruises where we had to go miles out the path of a storm. There was absolutely no reason for is to be on those waves. 

 

At the end of the day everyone on that ship is blessed to be okay. The captain did an amazing job of weathering the storm. The crew on this ship are a good Crew and they took good care of us and the ship after the storm. They were terrified, as we all were, but when the storm passed they cleaned up the messes, repaired the damage, and kept going. 

 

The captain and NCL blew it. They know they blew it. They put me, and my family at great risk. Yes, they did a great job, but they still blew it. I am just thankful to be on land, to be alive, and not have injuries. 

 

So, to all the rude comments...shame on you. I certainly hope karma never finds you. 

 

 

and yet the ship was able to take on new passengers after docking? Or am I confusing your experience with someone else who commented? What ship was this and did another cruise follow it?  I hope I am confusing two situations because I find it very hard to believe a ship that had this much chaos would be ready to sail again shortly after.     I dont agree with you that the captain "blew it" unless you are trained and certified in navigation.  Someone gave a explanation about why it would have been worse to shelter at a dock. Since I know nothing about navigation and he had experiences with typhoons I believe him. Unless you were on a cruise in the past in very similar circumstances you dont know why the Captain made the decision he did. This was an individual event and cant be compared to a situation you've been in on a past cruise unless you know all the navigational details, weather patterns, location, etc.  I do agree 100% with you that  it sounds as if there should have been more communication. I can understand why passengers were frightened and some reassurance that someone was in control would have helped.  

[Smitheroo]

1 hour ago, PurpleKa said:

 

The point is that there was little to no communication or explanation to the passengers of what was going on, no reassurances or acknowledgement that anything unusual happened at all, slow or no response even to calls for help from the passengers, and NCL’s bad communication and handling of the situations made things even worse than they otherwise would have been.

Several people have mentioned that they feel the captain made a bad decision to go out into/through the storm in the first place even though he somehow managed to get us through it alive by some miracle.

 

This was my first cruise and we had no idea what to expect or do. There should be some sort of warning about the risks of traveling to Alaska this late in the year, if they are going to run cruises to Alaska in October at all. Most cruise lines won’t send ships there after September at all, I’ve now learned.

I have little cruise experience and none to Alaska yet I was aware that a cruise to Alaska at this time of year is iffy.  Probably the reason why they cost much less and summer cruises more.  How did I know?  Only way I can think of is that i read everything I see, come to this forum (and sometimes I do get off for awhile due to hurt feelings by different communication styles)  I've also heard that Bermuda is iffy at certain times of the year.   No experience to fall back on.  Common sense tells me that when a cruise costs so much less one time of year compared to another there is a reason.And for a cruise to Alaska weather is high on the list of reasons.  Unless those who said the Captain made a bad decision are skilled in navigation they should probably not comment on  the decisions the Captain made at the time.  You are absolutely correct saying there should have been more communication 

[PurpleKa]

9 minutes ago, Smitheroo said:

and yet the ship was able to take on new passengers after docking? Or am I confusing your experience with someone else who commented? What ship was this and did another cruise follow it?  I hope I am confusing two situations because I find it very hard to believe a ship that had this much chaos would be ready to sail again shortly after.     I dont agree with you that the captain "blew it" unless you are trained and certified in navigation.  Someone gave a explanation about why it would have been worse to shelter at a dock. Since I know nothing about navigation and he had experiences with typhoons I believe him. Unless you were on a cruise in the past in very similar circumstances you dont know why the Captain made the decision he did. This was an individual event and cant be compared to a situation you've been in on a past cruise unless you know all the navigational details, weather patterns, location, etc.  I do agree 100% with you that  it sounds as if there should have been more communication. I can understand why passengers were frightened and some reassurance that someone was in control would have helped.  

The worst of the storm was on Sunday night/Monday morning Oct 8-9. We were at sea Oct 8 and 9, docked in Victoria BC on Tuesday Oct 10 from 8:30am until about midnight (instead of the originally-scheduled 2pm), and disembarked in Seattle on Wednesday Oct 11 between 8 and 9am. So by that point it had been several days since the worst of the storm and any damage, and they’d had a full day docked in a port already also.

[PurpleKa]

Just now, PurpleKa said:

The worst of the storm was on Sunday night/Monday morning Oct 8-9. We were at sea Oct 8 and 9, docked in Victoria BC on Tuesday Oct 10 from 8:30am until about midnight (instead of the originally-scheduled 2pm), and disembarked in Seattle on Wednesday Oct 11 between 8 and 9am. So by that point it had been several days since the worst of the storm and any damage, and they’d had a full day docked in a port already also.

This was the Norwegian Sun round-trip cruise from Seattle WA to Alaska Oct 2-11, 2023.

[PurpleKa]

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

The ship is nearly 850 feet tall. 

 

I’m still trying to figure out what the Captain was supposed to do while trying to navigate the ship through a storm?  So, the folks who state they knew what the Captain was doing was wrong.  Yet, I have yet hear anyone with any sort of professional navigational sea experience chime in here.

 

I think you’ve giving other guests way too much credit regarding their expertise.  I’ve sailed on cruise ships a lot.  The only thing that qualifies me for is knowing which liquors are top shelf and which aren’t.

 

Look, I get it.  You’ve never sailed before.  To you, it was probably scary.  Clearly, this was an act of God.  Chalk it up as such.

 

If you keep sailing, my guess is you’ll experience something similar, again.  

 

Try sailing the Caribbean during hurricane season.  Plenty of storms.  I do that a lot because it’s cheap.

The Norwegian Sun is 848 feet long, not tall. 121.3 feet beam and 26 ft draft. So for perspective, the waves were taller than the amount of the ship under water.

Combine that with the troughs and wake, and water was coming up almost even with the top of the ship—or at least looked that way to me. It felt rougher to me in the middle of the night than at 11pm also, so I would be surprised if the waves weren’t significantly higher than the 11pm measurement at points.

 

Another comment here from someone on the eighth floor said they had debris from waves hitting the decks on level 8.
 

I was seeing waves that appeared to be peaking almost level with or above the windows on level 12 around midnight, but I don’t know enough to feel I can grade or guess at the accuracy of that perception. 

[Cruisedrifter]

Seriously...unless you were on this particular cruise I am not sure you have any right to judge those who were or question what they experienced. This was not a Rouge wave...this was not the typical Alaska fall sea...this was 2 significant storm systems that the Captain chose not to steer away from. For over 12 hours we where in seas that where not typical. I don't have to be an expert at being a Captain  to know we had other options. Other options that other ships took btw, they stayed in the passage and did not go out to open sea. The radar doesn't lie. The radar showed the systems, the yellow and red. We were in the red at 3am in the morning when the boat literally lifted out of the water and slammed back to the sea repeatedly for what felt like eternity. 

 

Stop trying to rationalize this or make excuses or belittle those involved.

 

Move on.

 

 

[Smitheroo]

1 hour ago, Cruisedrifter said:

Graphic guy...

Your out? 

Before you leave reread my post. YES the Captain blew it and should have NEVER put us in this danger. We were over 12 hours of danger. YES, the Captain blew it with absolutely no communication during the 12 hours...which was inexcusable. The next morning...crickets.  my comment also acknowledged we made it through, and I gave credit to his ability to get us through. That however does not excuse the fact we should have never been there to begin with.

 

This is the same ship that hit an iceberg earlier this year and also apparently experienced simular seas in July. As you and others have felt the need to point out the Alaskan Seas can be rough. All seas have their risk, hence shipwrecks. But shipwrecks are fewer and farer apart due to technology and radar. This captain had choices to make...he made a very bad one. We are fortunate that his boating skills are better than his weather navigation skills. 

 

My hope for you is one day you experience the seas I did...than perhaps you will stop trolling. Over and out!

 

 

I'm curious to know what you base your decision on that the Captain "blew it" .   Dont mix navigational skills and communication skills.  Yes communication was definitely lacking. maybe someone else is responsible for that. Maybe there was another reason. I dont know, the only experience I have with that is one night on a ship in 2013.   But unless you have the necessary skill and experience to suggest what would have been a better decision on his part then you should not comment because *that* scares people too.  And do you know for sure it was the same person in charge (the Captain) who hit an iceberg  (really??)  Someone with experience (Air Craft Carrier, typhoons) commented that it would have been worse to shelter in port. Damage to pier, damage to ship which may have caused injuries to passengers.  You dont believe this person?  Have you even read the entire thread?  Has anyone from this cruise actually claimed an injury?  And then you write "and also apparently experienced similar seas in July"  You dont' know if that is true (apparently? no, I am not a lawyer) ?  Stop listening to the comments of everyone who think they know better when they have nothing to prove that they should know better.    Yes it sounds as if it was an awful experience but you are here to tell about it.  Maybe you could reserch and report back some suggestions on what would have been a better choice for the Captain to make in those *same* circumstances.

[G-DawgMN]

 I'm sure it was no fun, but the ship was in zero danger, they're designed for much rougher seas than you would ever sail in. 

  I remember this cruise out of LA. The winds were truly nautical with huge waves, there was no compensation offered or expected, bad weather can happen anywhere.

 

 

 

[PurpleKa]

Just now, Smitheroo said:

I'm curious to know what you base your decision on that the Captain "blew it" .   Dont mix navigational skills and communication skills.  Yes communication was definitely lacking. maybe someone else is responsible for that. Maybe there was another reason. I dont know, the only experience I have with that is one night on a ship in 2013.   But unless you have the necessary skill and experience to suggest what would have been a better decision on his part then you should not comment because *that* scares people too.  And do you know for sure it was the same person in charge (the Captain) who hit an iceberg  (really??)  Someone with experience (Air Craft Carrier, typhoons) commented that it would have been worse to shelter in port. Damage to pier, damage to ship which may have caused injuries to passengers.  You dont believe this person?  Have you even read the entire thread?  Has anyone from this cruise actually claimed an injury?  And then you write "and also apparently experienced similar seas in July"  You dont' know if that is true (apparently? no, I am not a lawyer) ?  Stop listening to the comments of everyone who think they know better when they have nothing to prove that they should know better.    Yes it sounds as if it was an awful experience but you are here to tell about it.  Maybe you could reserch and report back some suggestions on what would have been a better choice for the Captain to make in those *same* circumstances.

they knew the weather was bad enough that they were going to skip the icy strait point stop by Friday October 7th, in enough time that they had already made the adjustment before the evening newsletter was printed and sent out on October 7, well before we were in the eye of the storm.
 

I don’t know much about sailing, but I was confused about why they chose to spend an extra day at sea in the middle of a storm instead of taking any other option when they clearly had more than 24 hours warning that it was going to be very bad.

[Smitheroo]

2 hours ago, PurpleKa said:

Another thing I forgot to mention:

 

The way Norwegian Sun staff handled rescheduling excursions when we docked in Skagway in the afternoon instead of the morning was ridiculously chaotic and confusing, with people being told different things and milling around crammed into the theater and waiting for extended periods of time with no clear instructions and unsure where to go or what to do.

 

We were being given conflicting information by different crew members, and being made to feel we might not get on the train at all, children crying because we were told our tickets had been canceled and wouldn’t be rescheduled, being put in one line and then told to get in another, etc. when in reality there was more than enough space for everyone who wanted to go.
 

The railway staff told us they would have just added extra cars if needed and there was plenty of room for everyone.

 

 There was absolutely no reason for this to be so stressful and handled so poorly.

THis is something I do have concerns about. I think the ship excursions are very expensive and if I were alone would not even bother with them. But my traveling partner likes them, so....  If they cancel the port where I am scheduled for an excursion for which I paid about $150  (ok, I know for some that is not a big purchase but for me it is) I am going to be livid. I know the weather is not the fault of NCL but in this imagined situation they are not delivering what I paid for.   If this happens and I lose $150 I will reconsider NCL in the future because that is lousy customer service. Not getting angry yet.  Does travel insurance cover this type of expense?

[phillygwm]

8 minutes ago, PurpleKa said:

I don’t know much about sailing, but I was confused about why they chose to spend an extra day at sea in the middle of a storm instead of taking any other option when they clearly had more than 24 hours warning that it was going to be very bad.

I know as much about sailing as I do brain surgery.  I try not to second-guess the captain (or the neurosurgeon.)  I assume they know more than I do.  Should there have been a shipwide announcement, as opposed to the captain's daily briefing which some people don't hear?  Yeah, probably.  But I'm otherwise inclined to give the captain the benefit of the doubt; he's probably choosing from a series of sub-optimal scenarios.

 

6 minutes ago, Smitheroo said:

THis is something I do have concerns about. I think the ship excursions are very expensive and if I were alone would not even bother with them. But my traveling partner likes them, so....  If they cancel the port where I am scheduled for an excursion for which I paid about $150  (ok, I know for some that is not a big purchase but for me it is) I am going to be livid. I know the weather is not the fault of NCL but in this imagined situation they are not delivering what I paid for.   If this happens and I lose $150 I will reconsider NCL in the future because that is lousy customer service. Not getting angry yet.  Does travel insurance cover this type of expense?

If you booked through NCL it would absolutely be refunded.  Otherwise, I suppose it would depend on your travel insurance.  I've also seen some third party tour operators guarantee refunds if the ship misses the port.  I probably wouldn't consider an independent excursion if they didn't.

Edited October 13, 2023 by phillygwm

[PurpleKa]

1 minute ago, Smitheroo said:

THis is something I do have concerns about. I think the ship excursions are very expensive and if I were alone would not even bother with them. But my traveling partner likes them, so....  If they cancel the port where I am scheduled for an excursion for which I paid about $150  (ok, I know for some that is not a big purchase but for me it is) I am going to be livid. I know the weather is not the fault of NCL but in this imagined situation they are not delivering what I paid for.   If this happens and I lose $150 I will reconsider NCL in the future because that is lousy customer service. Not getting angry yet.  Does travel insurance cover this type of expense?

The excursions that were canceled by the ship were automatically refunded. The ones like the Tram in Juneau, where a few people got to go before the tram was shut down for the rest of the day, we were not refunded for.

 

Someone else in my party was told by NCL staff he asked that we would be automatically refunded if we didn’t use the tickets. There was no general announcement or info sent out about it that I saw or heard.

 

When I finally asked a day or two later when I noticed it was still on my charges, I was told we had to turn in our unused tickets to the excursion staff and specifically request a refund. But by that point, nobody was working the excursion desk and some people had already thrown away their unused tickets.

 

Guest services could not help me or refund the money, but they took my tickets and wrote a note to go with it, and told me they would leave it for the excursion staff.

I don’t think it’s gotten completely straightened out yet but now I no longer have the unused tickets since guest services kept them. So we’ll see.

[Smitheroo]

10 minutes ago, PurpleKa said:

they knew the weather was bad enough that they were going to skip the icy strait point stop by Friday October 7th, in enough time that they had already made the adjustment before the evening newsletter was printed and sent out on October 7, well before we were in the eye of the storm.
 

I don’t know much about sailing, but I was confused about why they chose to spend an extra day at sea in the middle of a storm instead of taking any other option when they clearly had more than 24 hours warning that it was going to be very bad.

being "confused" is okay. You have the right to be confused. I was commenting on the conclusion that the Captain "blew it" (which I dont think was you because your writing style is not like that)  I dont know what the alternative choices were, although some on here do think they do, so I might have been confused too.  i.e. I did not think about the fact that the ship would have been like a wrecking ball at the pier.   And I would definitely not be happy about not communicating to the passengers but as far as the navigational choices the Captain had to make, I just dont know and so I defer to his skills and experience.  

[Smitheroo]

8 minutes ago, phillygwm said:

I know as much about sailing as I do brain surgery.  I try not to second-guess the captain (or the neurosurgeon.)  I assume they know more than I do.  Should there have been a shipwide announcement, as opposed to the captain's daily briefing which some people don't hear?  Yeah, probably.  But I'm otherwise inclined to give the captain the benefit of the doubt; he's probably choosing from a series of sub-optimal scenarios.

 

If you booked through NCL it would absolutely be refunded.  Otherwise, I suppose it would depend on your travel insurance.  I've also seen some third party tour operators guarantee refunds if the ship misses the port.  I probably wouldn't consider an independent excursion if they didn't.

thank you, that is reassuring

[schmoopie17]

After six pages and 127 comments, I would say this dead horse has been tortured enough.

[Smitheroo]

34 minutes ago, PurpleKa said:

The Norwegian Sun is 848 feet long, not tall. 121.3 feet beam and 26 ft draft. So for perspective, the waves were taller than the amount of the ship under water.

Combine that with the troughs and wake, and water was coming up almost even with the top of the ship—or at least looked that way to me. It felt rougher to me in the middle of the night than at 11pm also, so I would be surprised if the waves weren’t significantly higher than the 11pm measurement at points.

 

Another comment here from someone on the eighth floor said they had debris from waves hitting the decks on level 8.
 

I was seeing waves that appeared to be peaking almost level with or above the windows on level 12 around midnight, but I don’t know enough to feel I can grade or guess at the accuracy of that perception. 

I love your calm style of writing.  I think I would have just stayed in my cabin and most likely prayed lol.  I remember a transatlantic voyage I was on in 1966 (the original Queen Mary)  My mother and I were stuck in a microscopic cabin with two bunk beds on each side, bathroom down the hall. One night as we were crossing the Irish Sea the seas were very rough. We left the midnight buffet to return to our cabins only to find the other passenger (yes, passengers of the same gender were often assigned to the same cabin even if they didnt know each other), an elderly woman, down on her hands and knees. praying.  (I was only 16, my mother in her early 50's so she looked elderly to us)  

Edited October 13, 2023 by Smitheroo

[PurpleKa]

1 minute ago, Smitheroo said:

I love your calm style of writing.  I think I would have just stayed in my cabin and most likely prayed lol.  I remember a transatlantic voyage I was on in 1966 (the original Queen Mary)  My mother and I were stuck in a microscopic cabin with two bunk beds on each side, bathroom down the hall. One night as we were crossing the Irish Sea the seas were very rough. We left the midnight buffet to return to our cabins only to find the other passenger (yes, passengers of the same gender were often assigned to the same cabin even if they didnt know each other), an elderly woman, down on her hands and knees. I praying.  I was only 16, my mother in her early 50's so she looked elderly to us)  

What a kind comment, thank you. I had young and elderly family members with me and didn’t want to make things more difficult for anyone or worry folks at home, so I played it up to my little one like it was an amazing experience and we were flying like on a roller coaster, whee!
 

I saw another woman with a young child doing the same thing. 
 

Otherwise I just tried to stay out of the way as much as possible and watch and listen, and quietly asked other passengers questions when the opportunity arose.

[PurpleKa]

38 minutes ago, Smitheroo said:

I'm sure it wont be easy to find lol. Like I said, i read everything and missed that.   

 

It looks like there’s a section on the topic of C-discussions in the guidelines: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/guidelines/#guides_covid

 

I believe my comment falls within the guidelines since it was just sharing my own experiences and the way a specific ship/cruise line handled illness on the cruise, what resources were or were not readily available, cost and feasibility of getting testing, etc. If not I’m happy to edit it if a moderator requests that.

 

I wish I’d known to bring tests and OTC medications along, and am glad someone else said this info was helpful for them.

[mjkacmom]

1 hour ago, PurpleKa said:

Just to be clear, I wasn’t blaming the crew for this. I specifically said I didn’t know if it was normal or not. I was just sharing my experiences as a first-time cruiser on this voyage.

 

I also didn’t see a rule about the C-word . . . I’ll go look again and see if I can find it to see if I need to edit my comment.

Medical care isn’t free and cruise ship’s facilities don’t take any insurance. You need to pay and submit it to your insurance (most likely denied) and then your travel insurance. Take any otc medication you think you could possibly need.

[ChiefMateJRK]

4 hours ago, PurpleKa said:

Most cruise lines won’t send ships there after September at all, I’ve now learned.

That's because they can make more money sailing somewhere else at that time of year.

[ChiefMateJRK]

9 hours ago, PurpleKa said:

quite a few people were worried enough they slept out with the lifeboats

I really want to hear more about this.  Did they drag their mattresses out there?  Move loungers down from the pool deck?  Sleep on the bare deck?