NCL Star passenger revolt

[The Traveling Man]

On 2/13/2024 at 7:38 AM, njkate said:

I believe the Star has had propulsion issues on and off for years! Time to retire this ship. 
In 2019 or 2020 can’t remember but it was before shutdown, my TA was cancelled on her for this issue , they shifted the passengers to the Dawn with a sailing date a week later!! Took many phone calls to get a 100% refund as the new dates didn’t work for me and of course they did this after final payment

The Star has missed more ports and either cancelled or delayed more cruises because of problems with propulsion than all of the other ships currently in NCL’s entire fleet combined.

[scubacruiserx2]

  This thread began as information that NCL would no longer honor the cruise destination that they promised , namely a 2 day cruise to 2 locations in and around Antarctica . Then a change in destination occurred after the cruise was paid for and they had sailed . It was not due to weather .

  Unfortunately instead of sticking to the topic the thread has been hijacked into what constitutes a cruise to Antarctica . 

 Well we don't have to walk in the Penguin poo just to say that we've been there and done that and know that it stinks . But it seems to be a 3 ring circus of opinions that remind me of the old Ken L Ration commercial , My dogs bigger than your dog .

 

 

 

[edspec]

Agreeing to disagree and moving on would be nice.  

[david_sobe]

20 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

  This thread began as information that NCL would no longer honor the cruise destination that they promised , namely a 2 day cruise to 2 locations in and around Antarctica . Then a change in destination occurred after the cruise was paid for and they had sailed . It was not due to weather .

  Unfortunately instead of sticking to the topic the thread has been hijacked into what constitutes a cruise to Antarctica . 

 Well we don't have to walk in the Penguin poo just to say that we've been there and done that and know that it stinks . But it seems to be a 3 ring circus of opinions that remind me of the old Ken L Ration commercial , My dogs bigger than your dog .

 

 

 

I think NCL answered that question for everyone.  They advertised and sold cruises to Antarctica on the Star.  The itinerary used the word "Antarctica."   Now the word has been scrubbed from all future cruises on the Star.  Its not this board that has redefined what a cruise to Antarctica is, its the cruise line.

Edited February 18 by david_sobe

[Turtles06]

PSA:  It’s Antarctica, not Antartica 😊

[david_sobe]

12 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

PSA:  It’s Antarctica, not Antartica 😊

You may have solved this crisis.  This is what I cut and paste:

The word Antarctica is a proper noun, i.e. the name of continent.

Example: “Shackleton attempted to traverse Antarctica.”

The word antarctic is an adjective, which means ‘pertaining to the south polar regions’.

Example: “Fossils of marsupials have been found in antarctic rock.”

The word the Antarctic, capitalized, is a proper noun, and the name of the south polar ecozone. In a sentence the word is always used with the definite article (“the”).

Example: “The Antarctic is home to a number of whale species.”

 

Based on this, would it be correct to bring all sides together to state:  NCL is offering cruises to The Antartica?

[njkate]

1 hour ago, The Traveling Man said:

The Star has missed more ports and either cancelled or delayed more cruises because of problems with propulsion than all of the other ships currently in NCL’s entire fleet combined.

That’s why no matter how good the itinerary looks I won’t book this ship

[Turtles06]

2 hours ago, david_sobe said:

Based on this, would it be correct to bring all sides together to state:  NCL is offering cruises to The Antartica?

No such place. And still missing the first “c.” 😊

 

[david_sobe]

🥶

Edited February 18 by david_sobe

[IrieBajan54]

2 hours ago, njkate said:

That’s why no matter how good the itinerary looks I won’t book this ship

BINGO! I did a TA once on the Star and would not book it to the most exotic locations regardless of how low a fare NCL charges.

[The Traveling Man]

2 hours ago, njkate said:

That’s why no matter how good the itinerary looks I won’t book this ship

Same here.  We were on two legs of the Star’s ill fated “around the world” itinerary of winter 2016 through spring 2017.  We boarded in Sydney in February, 2017 and got off 38 days later in Singapore.  Thanks to checking the Cruise Critic roll calls for several of the previous cruises, we were aware of the problems they were having with the Azipods starting in early December.  Because of the problems, NCL had already decided to offer 100% FCC to anyone who chose not to board.  We decided to go ahead anyway, but many of our fellow passengers never got the memo and were completely unaware of the problems the Star was having.  For two months, from early December until early February, the Star ran on just one of its two Azipods, usually at about half speed, missing about half its planned port stops, arriving late to others, and reaching some on a different day than planned.  
 

We accepted NCL’s alternate offer of 50% FCC and climbed on board.  On the fourth day of our 19 day cruise, the ship lost all propulsion power and we had to be towed back to Melbourne for repairs.  At that time, NCL must have decided to throw in the towel.  They offered 100% FCC to all, plus several hundreds of dollars to help with the cost of airfare or hotels to any who chose to jump ship.  They also offered 100% FCC to everyone booked on the following segment, Auckland to Singapore.  Essentially a no questions asked full refund for any who wanted a last minute cancellation.   We stayed on board for that leg, got that part of our cruise for free, and made every port on time.  The Azipods were fixed, at least for the time being.  When we got off in Singapore, I swore I would never sail on the Star again, so I haven’t kept up with any of its recent travails.  There’s a lot more fish in the ocean, and a lot more cruise ships at sea, so I find no need for sailing on the Star ever again, no matter where it’s going (or planned to be going).

[PTC DAWG]

On 2/17/2024 at 1:40 PM, IAcruising said:

 

Thank you for pointing out that it's just an opinion. Opinions are like leaves on a tree -- there are thousands of them, all fluttering in every possible direction.

 

What disturbs me is when people make blanket statements as if they are fact, and then get upset if someone disagrees with their "fact". That happens far too often.

 

 

 

 

No problem..I wanted to go to Cuba…had a cruise booked, got shot down in flames..

[ColdCruise]

On 2/13/2024 at 7:45 AM, SeaShark said:

 

How exactly do we tell which explanation is "honest"?  I'm simply seeing a lot of unsupported speculation here. The linked story cites speed issues in 2005 and 2015 without any indication that those issues are relevant today.

 

The linked article also states:

The body responsibly for governing Antarctic tourism IAATO brought into effect slower speed restrictions this summer 2023-24, for the protection of migratory whales, but members like NCL had been aware of the change since 2021.

What I don't get is that if the IAATO introduced "slower spped restrictions this summer", how could NCL have been aware of the "this summer" change three years ago? Honestly, did the IAATO do this as reported, or did they do it back in 2021?

Last February our expedition ship was only doing top speed of around 18mph and the expedition crew discussed changed being made to protect the wildlife. The rules get decided or change but they don’t always take effect immediately..much like government made laws, which might be passed and signed but not go into effect for X months, or Jan 1st,,or the start of the FY.
 

So I suspect (while admitting I’m too lazy to research the truth … not unlike most speculation and assertions on Cruise Critic 😜) that IATTO (a self-regulating Antarctic tourism operator group) passed the new rule and gave the ship owners/operators a number  of years to adjust their operations before they had to implement the new standards.

 

unlike when we were in Antarctica and informed about IATTO rule changes that were made that season to protect the Antarctic bird population from potential bird flu that was identified in Chile. Unfortunately that meant non of those cute photos where people sit down and wait for the penguins to come over and check out the interesting new criteria.

[ColdCruise]

On 2/13/2024 at 5:58 PM, julig22 said:

I have a question - was there an actual stop scheduled (Paradise Bay) - or did they just change the sail-by route?

I believe the IATTO regulations stipulate that Ships over 500 passengers are not allowed to disembark passengers on Antarctica or surrounding islands. There are also rules concerning how many passengers from smaller boats can be ashore at a given time and in the course of a day … this to avoid negative impacts to wildlife and environment.

[VJWcruiser]

On 2/18/2024 at 8:03 AM, JulianB said:

Would love to hear from anyone who has just finished this cruise as to how it ended up and did you have a good time in the end. Your first hand comments I think would be useful and could compare them to my experience on the Star in January.

 

We were just on this cruise. We disembarked yesterday morning. Having a good time is a personal choice. We saw some incredible sights and tons of penguins. The staff is great.  We met some wonderful people and had some great conversations.That being said, I do feel a bit ripped off that we booked the cruise thinking we would have 2 whole days of scenic cruising in the Antarctic but ended up with about 4 hours. 

[JulianB]

56 minutes ago, VJWcruiser said:

We were just on this cruise. We disembarked yesterday morning. Having a good time is a personal choice. We saw some incredible sights and tons of penguins. The staff is great.  We met some wonderful people and had some great conversations.That being said, I do feel a bit ripped off that we booked the cruise thinking we would have 2 whole days of scenic cruising in the Antarctic but ended up with about 4 hours. 

Great news that you had a good time despite the changes that were forced on you. Come back with happy memories that will last a lifetime I hope. 

[VJWcruiser]

Got our post cruise questionnaire and one of the questions was how we enjoyed Paradise Bay. Well, we might have loved it if we actually saw it ....but that didn't happen. Way to rub salt in those wounds!

[scubacruiserx2]

1 hour ago, VJWcruiser said:

Got our post cruise questionnaire and one of the questions was how we enjoyed Paradise Bay. Well, we might have loved it if we actually saw it ....but that didn't happen. Way to rub salt in those wounds!

 

  When and how did you get a post cruise questionnaire ? We never got one and we were on the January 7th cruise . HAL sends one for each of us within 5 days and wants it returned within the 5 days .

[PBM13]

On 2/13/2024 at 12:20 PM, graphicguy said:

Heard about this yesterday.  I get it.  I'm afraid the reason for this is an explanation NCL does not want to give....maybe crafting spin.

 

Personally, unless there were a full refund, I'd protest, too.

Its interesting, but some people on the cruise were told that this was a money saving item $1.2 Million imposed on the crew by head office.  The crew seemed to be in the dark as much as we the passengers were

 

[graphicguy]

26 minutes ago, PBM13 said:

Its interesting, but some people on the cruise were told that this was a money saving item $1.2 Million imposed on the crew by head office.  The crew seemed to be in the dark as much as we the passengers were

 

Frankly, those are the kind of stories I dismiss out of hand.  No criuse lines HQ would ever disseminate that information, even if it were true (which I doubt).

 

These sorts of "I heard it through an anonymous crew member...".

 

Now, the crew being in the dark is very believable....for the very same reasons.

 

If there's one industry where wild, unfounded speculation runs rampant, it's the cruise industry.

[PBM13]

Lets hope the Australian contingent that had meetings with senior crew (including the Captain) confirm what was said.  As someone who this affected, I am seriously annoyed.  To travel from the UK to South America and then only to be informed when we get on the boat it is not acceptable.  I can confirm that the front desk had over 4 pages of cabin numbers all complaining about the same issue.  We were all given the complaints number

[VJWcruiser]

3 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

  When and how did you get a post cruise questionnaire ? We never got one and we were on the January 7th cruise . HAL sends one for each of us within 5 days and wants it returned within the 5 days .

Received it by email yesterday 

[VJWcruiser]

7 minutes ago, PBM13 said:

Lets hope the Australian contingent that had meetings with senior crew (including the Captain) confirm what was said.  As someone who this affected, I am seriously annoyed.  To travel from the UK to South America and then only to be informed when we get on the boat it is not acceptable.  I can confirm that the front desk had over 4 pages of cabin numbers all complaining about the same issue.  We were all given the complaints number

The woman from Australia met with the captain and he said his direction came from head office in Miami. He told her that we could have done the full cruise but was told to do it the revised way. She held a meeting at Gatsby's the day after she met with the captain. There is a Whatsapp group for the last cruise that was used for this communication. Everyone is encouraged to file a complaint and to follow up with NCL corporate 

[PBM13]

2 minutes ago, VJWcruiser said:

The woman from Australia met with the captain and he said his direction came from head office in Miami. He told her that we could have done the full cruise but was told to do it the revised way. She held a meeting at Gatsby's the day after she met with the captain. There is a Whatsapp group for the last cruise that was used for this communication. Everyone is encouraged to file a complaint and to follow up with NCL corporate 

I wish I had known about the Whatsapp group as I would have joined.

[DBrown8939]

I was on the Feb. 4 not-quite-Antarctica cruise. According to a couple of reviews that I read, passengers on the Jan. 21 cruise were given OBC of $100/pp for missing the Falklands. Skipping the Falklands was a weather/safety decision that was perhaps overly cautious but beyond NCL’s control, and it cost them money due to cancelled shore excursions. Our change was more significant, was entirely NCL’s fault, and it saved the company on fuel costs – yet we got no OBC for it. It makes no sense. However, I noticed that I got double Latitudes points, despite not having the relevant promo code on my booking. I wonder if this is some kind of inadequate and poorly communicated attempt at compensation?