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The Dream? Or the Nightmare? (or why I may give up cruising?)

SailorJack

By SailorJack,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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gxchan

gxchan

Posted
Posted
Hi, I was on the Dream with Captain Lars and Captain Mogic.

Mogic had been on for one day when the barge "drifted" into the Dream:rolleyes:.

Not sure who replaced him.

 

Sailor Jack, very well written, very amusing! As everyone else has said, you could make a living writing comedy!

 

Easyville, I'm sorry to hear Mogic was taken off the Dream but I suppose that is standard in these cases. I was on the Dream in Alaska with him as captain and he was very competent, pleasant and obviously really enjoyed his job.

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Azure Moon

Azure Moon

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Excellent review!

 

It would be wonderful if the creators of Seinfeld or Fraiser decided to put together a new comedy and hired you as head writer. They'd surely have a hit on their hands. :D

 

I wonder if the ship's Captain and the guard got together for a beer and commiserate on how things can go wrong so fast.

 

Sailor Jill mentioned things happening in threes. In one of the links with the still photos of the ship colliding with the barge, there was mention of another collision involving the Dream in 1999. So everyone keep their fingers crossed that there won't be a third collision. :eek:

 

Thanks for sharing your humorous outlook and your trip's wacky events.

 

~A M~

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SailorJack

SailorJack

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You described exactly how everything truly felt! We had a great time on this cruise despite all the mishaps! Our nightly entertainment was watching all the haters (or the revolution as the crew called them) argue amongst themselves. This was a great cruise and I never thought I would come to love Uruguay so much!!

 

Good to find someone else who enjoyed the cruise as much as I did! I did not realize the crew had a name for those who were so unhappy.

 

I think that one of the very positive things that came out of our accident was the delay in our departure from Montevideo. Your comment about coming to love Uruguay really made a point.

 

So often, when a ship puts into a new port, we take a tour of 4-6 hours, take some pictures, buy a t-shirt, make a few memories and get back on board. But we really don't get a chance to know the city or the country.

 

The days we spent in Montevideo gave us the time to really get to know the city. The days we spent with our two Uruguayan guides gave us a chance to learn more about the culture and the history of the area we were visiting - and to make friends.

 

In a way, taking a cruise with a lot of port calls is like buying the Seafood Sampler at Red Lobster - you get a little taste of a lot of things, but you don't get to indulge in any of them.

 

As a result of this experience, I may look for cruises that have fewer ports of call, but that spend more time in the ports that it does call upon.

 

Thanks for your comments, and Happy Cruising!

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Supercilious

Supercilious

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"As a result of this experience, I may look for cruises that have fewer ports of call, but that spend more time in the ports that it does call upon."

 

Or, why not just fly directly to the cities and enjoy them at your leisure? Cruises are great but they are not the best way to learn about a city or country.

 

For example, you could spend a week or two in Buenos Aires exploring also the falls at Igauzu, Colonia in Uruguay, Montivideo, and perhaps an excursion to Tierra del Fuego or the wine country of Mendoza.

 

The same can be done in Chile, Peru, or Brasil. As you say, cruises are just samplers.

 

I also really enjoyed your trip account. Thank you.

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CAC104

CAC104

Posted
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I always tell people who want to know about seeing other countries via a cruise ship that it is like eating an ice cream cone, but you are only allowed to lick the top! Very enjoyable, but you don't really get to know what the whole thing was like:rolleyes:

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Gunny

Gunny

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This review was recommended by a friend from our European Capitals cruise of 2006.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=246795

 

Great review, bad cruise. We've had some adventures at sea too, but none to match this saga. Do be sure to post it in the Reviews area if you haven't already. This one must be preserved for future victims, oops [i mean passengers] to see.

 

Gunny

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Fran Harp

Fran Harp

Posted
Posted
][/font]

 

Life Boat Drill

 

Those of you who may have read my review of our transatlantic cruise aboard the RCL Brilliance of the Seas last May understand my dismay over lifeboat drills. The drill aboard the Dream met my expectations.

 

I expect the drill to be somewhat long as getting into a lifeboat is an important aspect of sailing' date=' especially if you happen to be on the Dream. I can also (maybe) understand that it must be repeated in Spanish, but then French, and then German? I’ve read novels by Tolstoy in the time it took to go through the drill in four languages.[/size']

 

SailorJack - thanks for the best laugh I've had in ages...still wiping tears from my eyes.

 

If you think the lifeboat drill on Brilliance was hilarious last May, you should have seen in it in December. We were told we could take our life vests and go to our muster station any time we felt like it. Our muster station was the Schooner Bar - unfortunately they could not sell any drinks. We sat for awhile, then the cruise staff came and demonstrated to those of us who already had our life jackets on in any event, how to put on the lifejackets. They ticked off the rooms and then we all sat until sent back to divest our

selves of our jackets. Had there been an actual emergency I don't think we would have made it off the ship.....

 

We did meet some really interesting people while waiting though.:D

 

The drill on Brilliance last year in May was definitely better, although I suffered oxygen deprivation standing in the back row against the wall.:D

 

Fran in Toronto

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SailorJack

SailorJack

Posted
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"As a result of this experience, I may look for cruises that have fewer ports of call, but that spend more time in the ports that it does call upon."

 

Or, why not just fly directly to the cities and enjoy them at your leisure? Cruises are great but they are not the best way to learn about a city or country.

 

For example, you could spend a week or two in Buenos Aires exploring also the falls at Igauzu, Colonia in Uruguay, Montivideo, and perhaps an excursion to Tierra del Fuego or the wine country of Mendoza.

 

The same can be done in Chile, Peru, or Brasil. As you say, cruises are just samplers.

 

I also really enjoyed your trip account. Thank you.

 

Supercilious, you make a excellent point regarding independent travel. Until recently almost all of our travel was done that way. We got the cruise bug about two years ago and have really gotten to enjoy the experience.

 

Meg (megr1125) has a wonderful tag line on her posts - "If it isn't floating, I'm not going." While we are not yet that dedicated, it reflects our recent travel decisions. The delay in Montevideo just brought back to us the fact that we were missing something in the short port stops.

 

One other issue is, obviously, cost. One could not travel South America for two weeks, paying for transportation, food, hotels, etc. for the cost of a cruise. NCL is offering the exact same itinerary (well, hopefully, not the EXACT same itinerary) in March 08 at prices beginning at $799.

 

While independent travel offers all the advantages you discussed, I was suggesting that longer port calls (several cruises now offer overnight stays in some ports - which gives you two days to explore a city) might be a way to reach some level of compromise between indendent travel and cruise travel.

 

Thanks for your input.

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SailorJack

SailorJack

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Are you going ? Seems like a good way to catch the ports you missed.

 

 

I don't think so. The only port I really missed that I wanted to see was the Falklands, and I understand that this port is missed fairly often due to weather.

I am still trying to learn how to post pictures, but am not that successful yet. However the picture below is what the Dream looked like after we rammed the barge. Click on the thumbnail for an enlarged image.

 

jpg.gif

 

 

 

 

 

100_1209.jpg.6ce0efbd0d6d08e5df3d4ca4572d81e2.jpg

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ute_fan

ute_fan

Posted
Posted

Ouch! The easiest way to post your photos (without doing the attachments which limit the size to those small thumbnails) is to have them stored on one of the internet websites like Webshots. From there, you can link directly to the photo and get a larger size one to display.

 

Email me if you want more instructions -- my email is in my signature line.

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PianoGary

PianoGary

Posted
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And I thought that I had that urinary tract problem beat...........

SailorJack - absolutely hilarious! It would be an honor to sail with you and Jill and I probably will keep lurking around here to see what you are going to book next.

My DW and I have never laughed so hard - and even better - we got into a great discussion on how we both would have handled the situation if this was presented to us. (It was a toss-up whether either one of us would have had your enviable attitude about it).

Finally - why can't my HR Dept. find people like you?!?

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