Spirit Engine Problems

[okie-dolphin]

We received notificatio in yesterday's mail that the Summer itenerary of the Norwegian Spirit was being altered due to the loss of an engine resulting in lower speeds. The biggest change was taking off the stop and replacing the Great Stirrip Cay (private island) with Grand Bahama (Freeport, I assume). This is very disappointing since the visit to the private island was going to be the highlight of this trip. Anyone receive similar notice? The last time we had a stop at Freeport, we did not even get off the ship since it looked so desolate. Plus the stop there now is just fro 7a to 1p. Not much time to do anything. We have until Friday to cancel and receive a full refund, but we already have purchased airfare to New York and have plans to stay a few extra days there. Any advice? Thanks!

[nealstuber]

We received notificatio in yesterday's mail that the Summer itenerary of the Norwegian Spirit was being altered due to the loss of an engine resulting in lower speeds. The biggest change was taking off the stop and replacing the Great Stirrip Cay (private island) with Grand Bahama (Freeport, I assume). This is very disappointing since the visit to the private island was going to be the highlight of this trip. Anyone receive similar notice? The last time we had a stop at Freeport, we did not even get off the ship since it looked so desolate. Plus the stop there now is just fro 7a to 1p. Not much time to do anything. We have until Friday to cancel and receive a full refund, but we already have purchased airfare to New York and have plans to stay a few extra days there. Any advice? Thanks!

 

Or should I say welcome Back.

 

The best advice I can offer is to use the search tool to find "Spirit" threads in the NCL forum. You will see we've been talking about this since December.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/search.php?searchid=9014243

 

You might also want to find your "roll call" for your cruise.

 

Thanks for logging in to give us a perspective on how folks who rely on NCL or their TA to give them the facts have fared with this issue.

 

Cruise Critic Rocks!

[awatt]

Since you have a;ready purchased airfare to NY, you migh tcheck out if there are any other cruiselines i.ePrincess, RCCL, ssailing out of NY/NJ during your time frame

[~Jo~]

I am booked in April, we were on the Spirit and we switched to the Gem. We are now leaving on the 12th instead of the 13th. I don't know when you are flying in. I believe Carnival also leaves from the New York area in the summer. Good luck finding something. I was also very disapointed with the change in itinerary, we had to pay more but we are happy with our decision to change to another ship.

~Jo~

[BonnieVA]

I've never cruised so I don't know how cruiselines will handle such a thing. You said you have time to cancel. If there are no other options for you (finding another reasonably-priced cruise leaving the same day, etc) is it possible to ask NCL for a reduced rate to stay w/ the current cruise or onboard credit or something? They might rather wheel & deal & lose a little bit of $ instead of losing a bunch of revenue. I know it would still be disappointing, though, to miss out on that stop.

 

I don't know ... I guess you could always ask.

[silkhair1]

We try not to book an NCL cruise that goes to their private island. There is nothing to do there. The water is usually cold and the lines for food are so long, we just do not want to deal with it. You can't rent anything fun for an activity, so you sit in the sun. That is nicer (to me) on the ship. I would be excited to have that canceled.

 

Good luck and I am sorry it will ruin your plans.

[logcabin]

I agree. We've been to the island twice. First time we got off the ship and went over. We were kind of bored and only stayed a few hours. The second time we stayed on the ship and it was great. The ship was empty and it was very relaxing. We, too, avoid any itineraries that stop at the island.

[cruisendude2001]

we are sailing on the spirit april 19th from NYC was supposed to stop at St . thomas, Tortola, and Semana

now we recently recieved notification they have cancelled St. thomas and replaced it with san juan. it was pretty annoying because we were looking foward to goign to st thomas that is the reason we booked that itin. NCL waited for us to all pay our final payment before dropping the news on us it was done very unprofessional. so we feel your pain

[Smellytoes]

I am booked in April, we were on the Spirit and we switched to the Gem. We are now leaving on the 12th instead of the 13th. I don't know when you are flying in. I believe Carnival also leaves from the New York area in the summer. Good luck finding something. I was also very disapointed with the change in itinerary, we had to pay more but we are happy with our decision to change to another ship.

~Jo~

 

Me too. I was going to sail the Gem 4/19 then changed to the Spirit. Now I've changed back to the Gem on 4/12.

 

PS. Join our roll call if you haven't already.

[tcrny]

Same here ... I was also booked on Spirit for 4/19 and received the notification the day we paid the final payment :( . We lost over 7 hours of port time and on an 8 day cruise it was a lot. All of us on our roll call was very disappointed as we had this cruise planned for almost 10 months. This is our only vacation this year, and since we weren't happy with the situation, I opted to cancel and found a cruise on Princess but not leaving until 7/29 out of NYC.

I'm not sure when you said you were leaving but you may have enough time to see what else is leaving out of NYC. If its in the summer, the Princess line has cruises leaving from NYC (Caribbean Princess). Good luck.

[salty dingo]

The loss of a port is a bummer, but you can still have a lot of fun even if you stay on the ship. In cruising, it's the ship that is the destination!

[cruisendude2001]

The loss of a port is a bummer, but you can still have a lot of fun even if you stay on the ship. In cruising, it's the ship that is the destination!

 

 

i dont find that entirely true especiall with an older smaller ship like the spirit i chose that intin because of the ports not the ship. if we were talking a newer bigger and more modern ship than mabey . i mean a ship with worn out chairs and carpets and is in visible need of a makeover is most defenitly not the reason i chose that ship. it was a mix of the week the prices and what was sailing from where. St thomas was the selling point of this cruise.

[tinker]

We have done the itinerary with Great Stirrup Cay and I agree, no big loss. Tiny beach with rows of sand chairs and long lines for food as the other poster said. Also, you must tender over to the island and with only being there 9-1 you lose time waiting in line for the tender.

 

I am looking forward to Freeport and read not to be disappointed when arriving as the port area is not attractive but to take a cab to the Marketplace and beach area.

[ChBoxers800]

I have to admit this really bothers me even tho it does not affect me personally as I have not booked on the Spirit. This is strictly a matter of $$$ for NCL. The engine needs to be FIXED. But I'm sure in order to fix it, they would have to pull her off the schedule for a week. I'm sure that they have other shiips available that could take the passenger load, so why not pick a week, notify people that the cruise is cancelled and give them the choices of other ships available? Sure it would cost them a little bit as some of the cruise are more expensive but it certainly wouldn't break them and would seem to me would be money well spent. Happy customers instead of disgruntled ones.

[tcrny]

That is exactly the point, it is definitely $$ over customer satisfaction. The 4/19 cruise was the first to be hit by the change, and they waited until we paid our final payment before notifying us. It is clear now after putting all the pieces together how NCL did not even address there was an engine problem but then waited to do so after the most expensive/most crowded cruise it affected (our spring break cruise 4/19). That's too bad because many people were affected by this and that's just not good business. Good luck to everyone on Spirit.

[KerCar]

Happy customers instead of disgruntled ones.

 

I doubt the passengers on the cancelled sailing would agree;)

[electricron]

I doubt the passengers on the cancelled sailing would agree;)

 

I know the passengers on a cancelled sailing would prefer NCL would change ports than cancel.

 

It's a Hobson's Choice, whatever NCL does passengers will be complaining.

 

The sad, realistic fact remains that all machinery can and will break down, no matter how well you maintain the equipment.

[cruise4kicks]

That is exactly the point, it is definitely $$ over customer satisfaction. The 4/19 cruise was the first to be hit by the change, and they waited until we paid our final payment before notifying us. It is clear now after putting all the pieces together how NCL did not even address there was an engine problem but then waited to do so after the most expensive/most crowded cruise it affected (our spring break cruise 4/19). That's too bad because many people were affected by this and that's just not good business. Good luck to everyone on Spirit.

That's just plain paranoid talk. You failed to mention that: (1) NCL has been working to repair the engine since the incident occurred, both from inside the ship and using divers at a number of ports; and, (2) You were given the option to cancel without penalty even after you made final payment. We won't get into whether or not that was truly an option for you. What I am pointing out is that you make it seem as if NCL took your money and ran, when in fact you did have the option of cancelling and getting your money back.

[MrsLeo]

Becky, let's be honest here... no one knows what they have been doing to fix the ship's problems. Your diver story is only one of about a half dozen conflicting stories that NCL's clueless reps have told to people who have inquired. Just because you choose to believe that particular story, does not make it a fact. Secondly, getting a refund on your cruise fare alone does not put other money back in your pocket you spent on your vacation such as nonrefundable airfare, hotels, and other expenses we pay for in advance, and insurance does not cover because we opted to cancel. For some reason folks seem to have a hard time with people voicing their disappointment, I don't know why that is a problem?

[cruise4kicks]

So there are conflicting stories, and I suppose none of us should be putting any of them out here because they conflict. ;)

[Bigdog49]

I have to admit this really bothers me even tho it does not affect me personally as I have not booked on the Spirit. This is strictly a matter of $$$ for NCL. The engine needs to be FIXED. But I'm sure in order to fix it, they would have to pull her off the schedule for a week. I'm sure that they have other shiips available that could take the passenger load, so why not pick a week, notify people that the cruise is cancelled and give them the choices of other ships available? Sure it would cost them a little bit as some of the cruise are more expensive but it certainly wouldn't break them and would seem to me would be money well spent. Happy customers instead of disgruntled ones.

 

So you think they should park the ship until a drydock is available and replacement parts are manufactured. A ship unlike a car does not use off the shelf parts and drydocks are not like Jiffy Lube. Space needs to be obtained months and in some cases years in advance. Replacement parts can take 4-12 months to build.

 

It is a matter of $$$ for NCL - big $$$ to repair the ship that they did not plan on. I think they have done a reasonable job to save as many vacations as posible.

 

I did not like the original itinerary but the replacement is as good as it gets under the circumstances

[MrsLeo]

BeckyThane said:

"So there are conflicting stories, and I suppose none of us should be putting any of them out here because they conflict."

 

 

Well yes sticking to the facts and truth are always preferable, to simply repeating something that may or may not be truth and stating it as fact...

[nealstuber]

So you think they should park the ship until a drydock is available and replacement parts are manufactured. A ship unlike a car does not use off the shelf parts and drydocks are not like Jiffy Lube.

 

...but its not like these engines are unique either. If spares really were that hard to come by, it would have been prudent for the line to monitor the availability of vital spares and purchase them if necessary.

 

I'm sure there were other options as well. Heck, when I sailed for Desert Storm, we loaded "powerpacks" onto our RRF the ship. These were self contained generators that we tied into the electircal bus in half a day. We also rebuilt 6 cylinders of a 18 cylinder engine within in a week.

 

I've seen no evidence that they've thought of anything like this and, true to form, they have made their problem their passenger's problem.

 

Since this has happened, over three months ago, they have announced many other itinerary changes. They could have upgraded the ship when they saw other itineraries were not booking as projected.

 

Lots of options, and lots of open berths in Local shipyards.

[Cosmopolitan]

So you think they should park the ship until a drydock is available and replacement parts are manufactured. A ship unlike a car does not use off the shelf parts and drydocks are not like Jiffy Lube. Space needs to be obtained months and in some cases years in advance. Replacement parts can take 4-12 months to build.

 

It is a matter of $$$ for NCL - big $$$ to repair the ship that they did not plan on. I think they have done a reasonable job to save as many vacations as posible.

 

 

I totally agree. And, when you book a cruise, you should be knowledgeable/flexible enough to know that if the ship has a failure with an engine, hits a wave, storm, etc., -cruises, ports, etc., can be changed/cancelled.

 

I'm sure that NCL does not like this anymore than we (the passengers) do!

 

The weather can change your cruise.

 

A plane delay can change your cruise.

 

Your body breaking down may change your cruise.

 

Relax and enjoy your cruise. Be happy that you are well, can afford a cruise and able to enjoy a vacation:)

[GaryWT]

We have cancelled our cruise and changed to a different line. My wife and others were not happy with the change, we were looking forward to the beach party at night and a few hours on the beach in the morning, we always try to plan our cruises around beach stops as that is what we like.

 

Things worked out for me as we were driving to NY and did not feel that was our only choice and I feel for those that have so much other things invested in this cruise.

 

I take offence to people who just because they do not like the beach say that those cruising are better off, if they were looking forward to the stop then leave them alone. Other stops were changed as well and NCL told us that the new list of available excursions would not be available until after the 2/22 cancel date, that tells me more is to come.

 

I do believe that NCL has tried to fix the damage from the fire but also they have the ship going to drydock in the fall so they did not change those plans.

 

For those that cannot cancel I hope you have a great time and for those who can cancel I hope you find a great cruise.