A mutiny onboard a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship by dissatisfied passengers has been slammed by an overwhelming number of Aussie travellers who say those disgruntled guests should stop complaining and trust the Captain’s judgement.
Aussie cruisers have spoke out in support of the cruise line and their crew via chat group “Australian Cruise Passengers” and have bluntly said: “Get over it.”
Paulette Johnson wrote: “The captain knows what and where he can go according to the weather. He wouldn’t want to put passengers in danger. When we were away couldn’t get into Easter Island or Norfolk. So what. The weather was bad.”
Another pragmatic thinker, Graham Cahill stated “Not sure what they expected or wanted. Would they really have been happy sailing into a hurricane?”
While reader Terry Hill said: “The safety of the ship, crew and passengers come first over destinations!”
Marilyn Willis says “And they would have complained even more if they hadn’t been kept safe. Just no pleasing some people.”
These comments come in response to the mutiny that happened earlier this week onboard a premium ship from Norwegian Cruise Lines, and her two-week journey through Europe.
What was supposed to be a “mystical fjords” tour with onshore excursions in France, Amsterdam, Norway and Iceland turned into what passengers described as “the worst trip ever” when she failed to dock at most scheduled destinations due to high winds.
For the 2000 tourists on board The Norwegian Spirit who paid up to $9,600 each for their cruise holidays, the frustration turned to anger and eventually full protests as the ship continually failed to make land at each of the desired locations and instead offered shore excursions to destinations such as Belfast.
To ad to the frustration of passengers, passengers were left at sea for more than three days, missing out on visits to Le Havre, Amsterdam, Greenock and Reykjavik, due to the high winds. The ship did manage to berth in Norway eventually, but according to passengers, it was at a ‘deserted town, which was closed to tourists and the fjords were only visible from a distance.’
Debbie Fuller from Los Angeles said “We were promised such an incredible trip to all these amazing places but it turned into a holiday from hell.”
Ms Fuller said that the crew also seized some of the passengers’ passports without explanation. “They won’t speak to us or tell us anything,” she added.
Cody McNutt, from Colorado said “We made an unscheduled stop at a small Norwegian town but we soon found out it had been closed to tourists since September 25, so there was nothing for us to do and not even anywhere to get something to eat. Today has been the last straw. We should have been going to Iceland.’
Yesterday many passengers left the ship after it stopped in Belfast and decided to make their own way back to London.
After the 900ft-long ship was denied permission to dock at Greenock on Monday Morning, the ship’s passengers had by then been at sea for more than three days and tensions were starting to run nigh. Sewage systems also started to fail.
Deena Roland, a passenger from Devon said “It’s been a nightmare of a holiday, and now many of the toilets in the cabins are overflowing with sewage. It’s really not my idea of a luxury cruise break.”
Many passengers claimed the food served in the restaurants had also gone stale. Passengers began filming their experiences and fellow passengers’ outrage. Footage has been released of hundreds of disgruntled passengers protesting in the ship’s main atrium space with signs, chanting ‘shame on you’, ‘we want refunds’ and ‘get us off this ship’.
In response, the US based Norwegian Cruise Line has declined full refunds and offered those affected passengers a 25 per cent voucher towards a future cruise.
A cruise spokesman said “Norwegian Spirit was forced to cancel her call to Greenock due to weather conditions as well as a delay caused by departing a Navy vessel that experienced a technical malfunction.
“We understand that it is disheartening when we are unable to call on ports that our guests have been looking forward to visiting.”
Norwegian Cruise Lines also said “We always do our best to provide our guests with a truly enjoyable and memorable vacation, but our very first priority is to ensure their safety and the safety of our crew.”
But according to passengers like Mr McNutt “That set everyone off again, none of us want to get on their ships ever again.”
Mr McNutt’s girlfriend Katasha Jones said “There was an instant uproar. The tension was palpable and then it just exploded, and people just went over the edge.”
What followed was a prolonged protest as passengers shouted demands for a refund, held up homemade signs, called crew-members liars and asked to go back to London to get off the ship. The revolt lasted for hours, Jones and McNutt said.
McNutt said workers on board told passengers to call the company’s headquarters in Miami. He said he tried and was told to speak to the guest-services department on the ship.
“A refund is nice, and that would be great, but I really want the CEO or somebody to apologise for what they’re doing to people,” he says.
The ‘near rioting’ was filmed on passengers’ phones but one tourist claimed the crew turned off the ship’s internet to stop the footage going online. Passengers later held up placards saying ‘shame on you’ and ‘we want refunds’.
Yesterday many passengers left the ship after it stopped in Belfast and decided to make their own way back to London.
Just last month, another mutiny was staged aboard the Fred. Olsen Cruise Line after weather disrupted the scheduled itinerary. When the ship was diverted to locations like Dunkirk, France, where 1,000 migrants were being evicted from a makeshift camp, passengers began complaining and demanding refunds. The cruise line however, attempted a positive spin on the change of itinerary and billed the voyage as an ‘unmissable mystery’ with a ‘sense of excitement, intrigue and anticipation’ with the destinations only revealed the last moment.
This isn’t the first time Norwegian Cruise Lines have been under fire with a mutiny onboard. In April last year, passengers were outraged after experiencing disruptions during their cruise holidays with unexpected construction works happening throughout their journey.
According to passengers, they were subjected to workers sanding the deck, power saws, welding and drilling in the middle of the day during what was supposed to be a relaxing time.
Join the conversation with your thoughts and opinions via our facebook page @Australian Cruise Passenger
Sometimes the weather intervenes. I have friends currently in Japan and are effected by the typhoon today. This is their 2nd attempt. They missed out first time months ago also because of bad weather and were turned around in Hong Kong. And all those French and English people who have made it to Japan for the Rugby World Cup that has been cancelled, who are they going to sue????
I have travelled numerous times with NCL and never had a problem.
Mr Kunt, you have got the right name, I bet your first name is Silly!
PS, I’m and Australian, where are you from?
I’m with the passengers. I have a friend in this cruise and she said it’s been a nightmare!
Bad optics for cruise lines, really bad, had to have advanced weather data for port stops, , feel for those who got “ripped” off.
Need to refund or offer a Free Cruise to anyplace else on NCL.
Change NCL mgmt?? Vet out ships crews?
Make changes early in trip, explain changes.
But overhaul NCL Mgmt.
Remedy, scare away new cruise market
No wonder these people are not getting any satisfactory response from this cruise line. I’ve personally found them to have no empathy for anyone, their reservations people are a disgrace in how they handle customers and treat them with contempt! Their people are untrained monkeys that know nothing about the cruising!!
this is typical of Australians They never had it better in their life. where they come from is some of the most desolate places.
If you look back on their history ..you will find one of worse cruise lines for not delivering what they advertised.
Shame on them for not stopping somewhere acceptable..
Or keeping passengers informed and happy..
Give them refund when you can’t deliver what passengers p aid for..
The above comments miss the point. 5 orifinial stops, and 2 entire countries were missed, and even 2 promised replacement stops were even dropped.
Nobody is saying they should have gone, but the replacements were handled poorly. The main issue is the compensation is inadequate. Even those disrupted by ncl in australia got a full refund – plus more!
I’m an Aussie & I agree with the passengers in this instance.
There’s no doubt the weather is out of NCL’s hands, however there is clearly more at play here. The on board delivery of the bad news was obviously handled poorly & the lack of alternative arrangements to provide a satisfactory holiday is unacceptable. Other cruise lines suffer these sorts of problems on a regular basis & don’t have such reactions.
Unfortunately my own recent dealings with NCL show there are systematic problems in dealing with issues & providing satisfactory outcomes for passengers.