Drydock reposition gone wrong (NCL)

[Impromark]

What's the likely outcome of this? I know that the cruise line feel justified, at least contractually-speaking, that they can do this; but is there the possibility that someone will sue, or start up a class-action lawsuit? It's certainly not what anyone was expecting when they clicked yes on their reservation, and I would also be livid.

Mark

 

[xlxo]

More media coverage...

• https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/04/03/bc-familys-panama-canal-cruise-turned-into-noisy-construction-zone.html
• http://www.news1130.com/2018/04/03/jackhammers-fumes-turn-b-c-familys-panama-canal-cruise-into-construction-zone/
• https://www.revelstokereview.com/news/b-c-familys-panama-canal-cruise-turned-into-construction-zone/
• http://canoe.com/news/national/grinding-jackhammering-noise-fumes-ruin-b-c-familys-panama-canal-cruise
• https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/222711/Cruise-becomes-nightmare

 

[mousefan73]

More media coverage...

• https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/04/03/bc-familys-panama-canal-cruise-turned-into-noisy-construction-zone.html
• http://www.news1130.com/2018/04/03/jackhammers-fumes-turn-b-c-familys-panama-canal-cruise-into-construction-zone/
• https://www.revelstokereview.com/news/b-c-familys-panama-canal-cruise-turned-into-construction-zone/
• http://canoe.com/news/national/grinding-jackhammering-noise-fumes-ruin-b-c-familys-panama-https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/222711/Cruise-becomes-nightmare

What websites are these? Names seem shaddy

 

[mevelandry]

Canoe and The Star are definitely news from Canada. The other two I don't know.

 

[John VN]

Did not read the complete thread but something weird hit me........

If I knew about work being done and received a price compensation when booking, I don't think I would have an issue even if the ship was slower due to engine work; HOWEVER, I would have second thoughts about flying some where if they told me that one of the 2 plane's jet engines WOULD BE WORKED ON DURING THE FLIGHT.

P.S.--DFIL was a mechanic on the PAN AM Boeing 314 Clipper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_314_Clipper#/media/File:Boeing_314_Clipper-cropped.jpg and WOULD service the engines while in flight. The wings were big enough to get to the engines through the inside.

 

[gotomu212]

I'm not asking you to agree in the practice, but it happens. Just as construction delays happen on land, they do at sea as well. You as a consumer should be aware of your surroundings. Do you really expect a cruise line has a "pre dry dock sale."

I do expect that a cruise will not start large renovation projects while passengers are on board. Routine repair and maintenance that temporarily close an area sure, staging and prep for things that don’t affect passengers sure, emergency repairs absolutely. However expecting people to spend days in a construction zone with fumes, dust, and the closure of major public areas for prolonged time shouldn’t be expected.

 

[cadien]

My last NCL cruise, they didn't announce dry dock until after final payment. It's pretty rare to know far enough in advance to do anything. Unless you live within driving distance of the port maybe.

We had the first cruise after dry dock and there were enough problems, including with the infamous azipods, that they canceled the PC cruise after us to go back into dry dock and try again. I'm surprised they decided to just work around everyone this time. It was doomed.

 

[hanscarlet]

up until this thread, I never realized the importance of traveling so close around dry dock... wow those photos from the Norwegian ship look like a construction zone! Imagine paying to be looking at that, yikes, I feel for those passengers, wow.

 

[lilsonicfan]

Real simple solution, don’t book the before or following two cruises of a dry dock. Problem solved.

The cruise lines bring on crew to start some work before hand, and some stay. It happens every time.

Are dry docks announced as far in advance as we book DCL cruises (ie 1.5 years or so?)

 

[mevelandry]

That article from CBC shows a lot of pictures... Not cool at all. It's 10 times worst than I imagined when reading the articles. This is just ridiculous. I'm angry for them.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/norwegian-cruise-passengers-angry-1.4603237

 

[xlxo]

Love this guy's deep analysis at 28minutes and 30 seconds.

 

[cadien]

Are dry docks announced as far in advance as we book DCL cruises (ie 1.5 years or so?)

Never.

 

[mmmears]

Well, I'm crossing NCL off the list. Not that it was ever a top contender. But if people book elsewhere because of this then maybe they will get the message. The only thing they understand is $$$$. I hope the bad publicity continues. This one is on the cruise line (as opposed to the crazy you-tube lady complaining about DCL). It sounds like it was unhealthy and unsafe for the people on this cruise. This is not just a minor inconvenience regardless of what NCL is claiming.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Wow. We've sailed NCL three times and the customer service was subpar. After the Breakaway storm incident last year and now this, no way would I ever sail NCL again. So awful they put profits over people's health. I hope this is a public relations disaster for them.

 

[Spork24]

If I dropped $70k on that cruise, you bet I would sue them if they wouldn’t give me a refund.

My vacation time is precious as it’s not unlimited, I would be livid that they charged me full price when that much work was happening.

 

[Amunet]

This is similar (tho much worse) to our EBPC, 2016, on Wonder right before its drydock. The cruise was without a lot of problems (there were workers taking over passenger areas, leaving bottle caps and beer bottles everywhere, and construction materials loaded in various areas), but the last three days were a mess. Sewage systems becoming fouled and leaking into corridors because they were rerouting some of the pipes. Areas completely shut down (arcade, sports deck). Plywood being screwed down to the deck areas at 10pm or later to place cargo containers on for the drydock. Pools closed. AC lost aft to the point that Palo had its doors open to alleviate the condensation dripping from the ceiling. The ship making serious speed in order to have time to onload cargo containers in the middle of the night before we disembarked (making for gale force winds on deck with lounge cushions flying - at least the ones that weren’t already stacked and shrink wrapped.)
Up to that point it had been great, but as another passenger said to me as he and I searched for a working elevator, “This was the best 3/4 of a cruise we ever had.”

At least we didn’t deal with hazardous materials scattered over the ship.

We were on the same cruise and never experienced any of this. A few areas were closed off on deck for minor maintenance but they opened it up again in time for the locks.
We were up at odd hours often and just walked around the empty ship. There were some trash seen that was not picked up (plates and cups) but nothing like you described. We even had a chance to view an area on deck 4 forward where the anchors were (only walking were guests were allowed)
The only real refurb work we encountered was on disembarkation day when they were plastic wrapping all the chairs and disassembled interior railings (I have a photo with that lol).

What deck was your cabin? Ours was deck 6 forward.

 

[annacali]

Just curious if we actually know this was a predrydock cruise...or maybe an attempt at avoiding drydock? I looked and several vessel locators have the Sun in Victoria now (do they do drydock there?) and it has an 18 night cruise itinerary out of Seattle listed starting 4/19. Are dry docks usually that short? So many people point out that avoiding cruises around drydock is important-- but would it have mattered here?

 

[terramei]

Just curious if we actually know this was a predrydock cruise...or maybe an attempt at avoiding drydock? I looked and several vessel locators have the Sun in Victoria now (do they do drydock there?) and it has an 18 night cruise itinerary out of Seattle listed starting 4/19. Are dry docks usually that short? So many people point out that avoiding cruises around drydock is important-- but would it have mattered here?

Routine dry docks usually take about 2 weeks. This cruise ended on 3/30 (or there abouts), and on other boards last year they were talking about it doing a 2 1/2 week drydock in victoria / vancouver this month.

 

[arlopop]

We were on the same cruise and never experienced any of this. A few areas were closed off on deck for minor maintenance but they opened it up again in time for the locks.
We were up at odd hours often and just walked around the empty ship. There were some trash seen that was not picked up (plates and cups) but nothing like you described. We even had a chance to view an area on deck 4 forward where the anchors were (only walking were guests were allowed)
The only real refurb work we encountered was on disembarkation day when they were plastic wrapping all the chairs and disassembled interior railings (I have a photo with that lol).

What deck was your cabin? Ours was deck 6 forward.

We were 8 forward, starboard.
I have spoken to a couple of ppl who remember it as you do.
It’s funny, because within the group of ppl we met and associated with during those two weeks I was the one telling everyone, “It isn’t that bad” and “go with it.” But, when we hit the last couple of days I was really perturbed by it. Whether trying to get the kids to sleep while they were screwing ply onto the deck above us, or the closing of the arcade and sports deck (an end of cruise visit is a family tradition for us,) it had gotten out of hand. When I went to guest services and they were very apologetic, saying they hadn’t warned anyone because they hadn’t known it would happen til the day before.
I had a few sundowners during the cruise with the owner of one of the companies contracted to do major work. He had worked with DCL for years. He said that he and all the other contractors were informed before the cruise that They were expected to keep their work from interfering with the guests at all, but that about halfway through the cruise the DCL execs began to get concerned that drydock time would not be enough and sent word to begin as much as possible even if guests were affected. It didn’t change his company’s work (it was all below decks and away from guests), but he thought it was an unexpected attitude from DCL.

 

[Pens Fan]

Just saw this over on Cruise Critic - quote from NCL:

"At Norwegian Cruise Line, the travel experience, safety and satisfaction of our guests is of the utmost importance to us. Recently Norwegian Sun underwent enhancements as part of our continuous efforts to ensure that every ship across the fleet delivers a consistently high-quality passenger experience. While we do our utmost to minimize any impact to our guests when these enhancements are being implemented, we do recognize that during a recent sailing, we did not meet the expectations of our guests, nor our own standards, for which we truly apologize. Norwegian Cruise Line is inviting the guests on the March 16th Norwegian Sun voyage to cruise again and fully experience all that Norwegian has to offer with a 100% future cruise credit of their fare paid, which can be applied towards another cruise of their choice from now through March 31, 2023. We realize that this gesture cannot replace their recent experience but do hope to have the opportunity to welcome them on board again soon."