Pride of Aloha to SF

[Mytwocharmers]

I have seen that apparently there were some postings about the cruise from Hawaii to San Francisco before the drydock but cannot find them....

 

Does anyone know if they got moved to another forum?

 

I was on that sailing and am wondering what everyone else's experiences were once we got off the boat....

 

Thanks!

[Don Haynes]

Try looking for posts two weeks ago, they may be several pages back in the forum, but they will be there. I suggest surfing through them one page at a time to you find them.

[Mytwocharmers]

Maybe I need to fix my settings but my browser only showed 7 pages which didn't take me far enough back....?

[Don Haynes]

Go down to the bottom of the first page, and you'll see a box named display options. Change the default selection of one week to one month. Mine went from 350 threads to over a thousand threads. Yours should too.

[Mytwocharmers]

I know that I am just not finding the thread on this....

 

Could anyone show me a direct link....?

 

I have read references to the chaos but can't find any direct posts....

 

Any help would be appreciated.

[spec411]

i would like to hear your experience mytwo charmers, please post it here

[Mytwocharmers]

Hi...I will post my experience but was hoping to not add a bunch of negatives like I have seen lately....I was hoping my experience was an exception but I can't seem to find any posts about what others experienced so I will just tell you what happened with me and my family....

 

I took my 2 daughters *ages 3 and 6* and my parents....We had 2 balcony cabins on Deck 10.

 

The trip started off well....My only original complaint was just the speed of the ship....We were REALLY going fast....I heard some cruise staff saying that we were going faster than normal? and I have been on other cruises but nothing like this....Even the staff was affected.

 

Everything was overall good until they announced that the bearing had broken....They announced it over the PA into the cabins and all over the ship....There were an very large majority of senior citizens on the ship and many of them immediately freaked out...I heard some of the staff at the reception desk say that alot of older people freaked out originally not understanding the problem and thinking our lives were in jeopardy....Once the original fervor died down...People started thinking about their travel plans....

 

It was obvious *unless you lived in CA* that your plans would change....They made it immediately clear that of the 1800 passengers - 900 were NCL Air/Cruise Ticketholders and their plans were being taken care of immediately....The other 900 of us....They said they would help as much as possible....They first told us that we had 7 1/2 minutes to call from the boat and at least alert family and friends that there was a delay. They also opened up the internet cafe and gave everyone free internet to attempt to rebook flights and contact travel agents, Orbitz, Travelocity, etc....

 

Initially the people I talked to said they were going to wait a day or so to see if the plans changed with our arrival....They also thought that Norwegian once they got ahold of their corporate office would offer to help us with more of our changes....Once I finally reached my travel agent she gave me the same advice....

 

So they gave us forms asking us to write down when and where our flights went out of *Oakland / San Francisco* which airlines they were with and connections, etc....

 

Many people got theirs back and alot were redone b/c of glitches or unsuitablity for their situations....About that time we all got letters that there was no way that all 1800 passengers *also I was told about 900 crew were getting off the ship and had pending travel arrangements that were being thrown into the mix* could get out on Thursday....So they were going to put us up at the Marriott Airport Hotel...We all got these letters and we felt okay....

 

I had made a nice casual friendship with Carlos the assistant cruise director and he called and said that the original part of our flight was booked and we were pretty happy....Over the remaining days I kept calling and telling Carlos that I never got the paper itinerary *not picking* but I just wanted to make sure I had it to give my husband....Finally the day of disembarkation after waiting over an hour at the reception desk, I get my handwritten itinerary....It is an allday flight *our destination was Indianapolis* but the bummer was an 11 hour layover in Denver....

 

Now I realize beggars can't be choosers but entertaining 2 small children for that long was not comfortable....So I decided I would call once I got to the hotel....We docked at about 3 and got off the boat about 4....We walked off the ship to see like 12 charter buses all filled with people....We find the one we should be on and get on....We have a nice little tour through San Francisco and it was nice....And then we get to the Marriott....I couldn't believe my eyes when I got there....There were at least 7 buses full letting people off and the line out the lobby, out the area of the carport, clear to the street and down past the end of the hotel....We stood outside...along with old people in wheelchairs, newborn babies....It was crazy....We were outside for 2 hours when a lady came out and said that some people getting inside were finding that they were not on a list for the Marriott but for the Crowne Plaza....So they read off the list *2 to 3 pages* and all those people got on the bus left to go to the Crowne Plaza....

 

So the rest of us continue to wait and when we get inside they say that the remainder of us....No reservations...None at the Marriott, None at any of the other hotels.....There was one NCL Representative there *we came to find out that she'd just been commissioned by NCL to help us settle in at the Marriott and was actually just a travel agent on her own and in no way affiliated with Corporate NCL....She even took off her jacket and little scarf thing from them...She said she was afraid....and I might say with good reason.

 

At this point the lobby of this very nice hotel was FLOODED with people and their luggage, wheelchairs, strollers, and a lot of very upset people who were hungry and unhappy....

 

They had 18 rooms that passengers hadn't shown up for by 10pm and they didn't know if they should give them to us or wait for those people...Keep in mind a few of those people there had flights in just a few hours and no sleep....

 

It was a mess....It was late in SFO so no one was reachable in the NCL Corporate Office....Towards 10pm...People were getting angry and just wanting some food and settle and get some sleep....

 

So I volunteered to put all 5 of us in one room and they gave me a room....after that I think other strangers went in together just to get some sleep....We got no food as the buffet they had provided was already closed....I did manage to grab a carton of milk for my daughters and a Mt. Dew....I went up to settle them in for a nice bath and hopefully some rest....

 

I had decided that there was no way I could fly out again in like 4 hours....So I stayed up and started calling NCL at like 5am Pacific time....I got the run around....I got hung up on once....I got a couple sympathetic people who tried to get me to someone who could help me change my reservation and then finally I got to a great lady named Lissette and a supervisor named Paula who had been directly handling the travel plans from the Pride of Aloha passengers and staff....

 

I told her what had happened at the Marriott and she was GENUINELY shocked....She said they had flown a group of 7 Norwegian Team Leaders out to greet us at the dock and help with all the various problems....I told her we saw no one....I even asked other passengers we saw at the hotel....We felt like there had been no direction or no one with answers all night....I told her that the Manager at the Marriott and more than once said that they dropped off more people than the hotel even had available rooms for....Whose fault it really is? I cannot say....But I think it says something that we all got letters saying we had rooms but the Marriott had never even heard mine or my parents names....and a LOT of other people who were roomless that night....Some people were going to go and just sleep at the airport....Others got their own rooms....It was crazy.

 

On my end....after being on hold 88 minutes and talking to a ZILLION different reps....I finally got our flights changed to the next day and a much better layover schedule.....They even called the Marriott and got my parents and I separate rooms for the 2nd night....In my opinion the Marriott was fantastic....

 

To be fair....I thought that Norwegian had things under control until after we got off the boat and saw that the papers they'd given us and stuff was worth nothing....

 

We thought we had worked all out and got to the airport to check in for our flights the next day and my daughters and I checked in fine....But my parents were charged $110 apiece for missing our original flight on Wednesday....I said that Norwegian was going to cover that and the United Rep said that was nice but she had to have a Credit Card or my parents would not be leaving....So we covered it ourselves....

 

I can honestly say that I will NEVER travel without Travel Insurance again....I have never seen the need but with EVERYTHING that happened on this trip....It was needed. I realize that Norwegian was trying to deal with mechanical failures and tsunami warnings and seasick people and trying to get us all home *some women they were even helping get to Europe and New Zealand*....I did see them working hard....But somewhere between all the people many did get lost and there was no one but ourselves to rely on....

[electricron]

You have to admit what happen to the Pride of Aloha is an unusual event.

 

San Francisco is not a port NCL visits on a weekly basis, so I'm not surprised NCL hired extra help and flew some help in. But personnel in a place without familiar surroundings and equipement to work in will most likely perform their duties poorly.

 

Even at a port that NCL visits on a weekly basis, unexpected events throws the entire process out of whack. Look at last week's late Seattle arrival. Few organizations are equipped to handle unusual circumstances, and those that are are usually trained to expect unusual circumstances, such as the police, firefighters, and the military.

 

Imagine attempting to cook a Thanksgiving dinner in a stranger's home, in a kitchen where everyting is misplaced, lacking hardware materials and missing your favorite ingredients. Do you expect you'll do as good a job as quickly as you can in your own kitchen, or in a kitchen you've cooked in before? I don't expect you'll say yes. But that's exactly what most passengers expect of cruise lines when things go wrong.

 

Procedures may be written, just like your recipes are, but it can be difficult to follow the procedures in a location where the procedures weren't written for. Ofen what's written down on paper can't be done in the real world..

Delays of one sort or another have been a part of traveling forever. That's why you can buy travel insurance and why its available. If passengers don't plan on delays, why should they expect cruise lines to?

[Mytwocharmers]

I totally agree...

 

I honestly expected it to be a mess since it was out of the normal....

 

I guess the frustration is just that on the boat....Everything SEEMED so taken care of....Everyone was doing and saying everything that you thought was right....They were not just saying it but giving us paperwork saying it was verified....

 

I am usually one of those take charge people who try and verify everything but we couldn't even verify because you couldn't see your own travel arrangements since they had made them for us and the phone lines were so jammed *took me 148 tries to get one out to my travel agent* that you couldn't call and verify everything...

 

I guess it was just overwhelming to feel like they had it all taken care of and to walk off with 2 senior citizens and 2 children, stand in line hours and find out you don't have a room to sleep in at 10pm at night...

 

As for the travel insurance....Consider it a lesson learned....I have never before had a problem and this trip has sold me on it....I will NEVER go without again.....

[spec411]

I wonder whether it would have been cheaper or even possible for NCL to just allow people to stay onboard while docked in SF instead of moving everyone to a hotel 20 miles away?? the people who had flights could catch cabs/buses /shuttles and those waiting till the next day could just relax on the boat!

 

thats what i would have done if i was the boss:)

[Mytwocharmers]

That is a darn good idea....

 

They told us they had enough food for 2 extra weeks at sea if an emergency happened however I think that so much of the crew was leaving to go home or on their own vacations that they might now have had enough to deal with us....

 

I know that as I was also waiting for my itinerary during disembarkation that my friends at the Reception Desk said they were like an hour or 2 after we got off the ship, they were checking in hundreds of contractors to work on the ship and they couldn't even get off the boat...

 

Alot of the others I spoke with *like our Kids Counselors* and the waitstaff were going home to various states for a week or 2....Others were staying and said they got to paint or pull off moldings and stuff....

 

I think the main job was putting on more balconies or something....

 

It was just crazy....