As you may remember, I was on my first NCL cruise, not priority, eventually got on around 3:45 - and my experience with the crowd, flooded bathrooms, the fight (s?), the very angry menacing boo (one woman I spoke to hours later had called the NCL office from the ship and asked if they knew what was happening in their terminal, that a brawl had started in front of her, police were called, and she did not feel safe), the frustration in passengers that built up as angry inappropriate talk to poor lower level staff both in the terminal, and later on board that I witnessed (which they did not deserve)- which all left a uneasy feeling in me, and indelibly marked (tainted?) my whole trip. I don't blame NCL for the disembarkation issue, but I fault them for the extreme anger build up since 1. they could have stopped the repeating cheery voice saying "Welcome to the beautiful port of Miami! We are still involved with disembarkation of the last cruise and are unable to begin boarding.... " That was like salt in a wound with so many there for hours, no seating, even for those disabled, and by 2:30 standing cheek to jowl, or with people at their feet, no water and then running out at the few spots quickly and not being able to refill,, and of course followed by line-ups for the very FEW washroom, followed by flooding and an even reduced number of washrooms. 2. All that most people wanted was for NCL to acknowledge that something was "wrong" - cheery words made for angry passengers. NCL may not have been able or allowed to say the reason for the delay, but IMHO they could have said something to the effect of "We recognize that due to an issue beyond our direct control, you have been inconvenienced at embarkation. We are doing what we can to help resolve issues as soon as possible". As you can see - it still affects me, and deeply.
I repeatedly ask myself why, if embarkation time officially starts at noon across almost every sailing, why the check in time slots start at 10/10:30. I was so surprised on disembarking both of my cruises last year, how many folks were rushing the terminal to get in as my sailing folks were still trying to get off and out of the drop off area.
As you may remember, I was on my first NCL cruise, not priority, eventually got on around 3:45 - and my experience with the crowd, flooded bathrooms, the fight (s?), the very angry menacing boo (one woman I spoke to hours later had called the NCL office from the ship and asked if they knew what was happening in their terminal, that a brawl had started in front of her, police were called, and she did not feel safe), the frustration in passengers that built up as angry inappropriate talk to poor lower level staff both in the terminal, and later on board that I witnessed (which they did not deserve)- which all left a uneasy feeling in me, and indelibly marked (tainted?) my whole trip. I don't blame NCL for the disembarkation issue, but I fault them for the extreme anger build up since 1. they could have stopped the repeating cheery voice saying "Welcome to the beautiful port of Miami! We are still involved with disembarkation of the last cruise and are unable to begin boarding.... " That was like salt in a wound with so many there for hours, no seating, even for those disabled, and by 2:30 standing cheek to jowl, or with people at their feet, no water and then running out at the few spots quickly and not being able to refill,, and of course followed by line-ups for the very FEW washroom, followed by flooding and an even reduced number of washrooms. 2. All that most people wanted was for NCL to acknowledge that something was "wrong" - cheery words made for angry passengers. NCL may not have been able or allowed to say the reason for the delay, but IMHO they could have said something to the effect of "We recognize that due to an issue beyond our direct control, you have been inconvenienced at embarkation. We are doing what we can to help resolve issues as soon as possible". As you can see - it still affects me, and deeply.
I repeatedly ask myself why, if embarkation time officially starts at noon across almost every sailing, why the check in time slots start at 10/10:30. I was so surprised on disembarking both of my cruises last year, how many folks were rushing the terminal to get in as my sailing folks were still trying to get off and out of the drop off area.
Good question. We have actually seen time slots starting at 9:30. Seems like many people do not understand that it is not the boarding time.