Norwegian Majesty - Itinerary changes due to snapped crankshaft

**Ally** · 11-08-2006, 10:59 AM

St. George’s loss will be the Royal Naval Dockyard’s gain today as the Norwegian Majesty is due to move to the West End today in order to avoid heavy weather forecast for this evening.

The cruise ship, which arrived in St. George’s a day late yesterday due to engine problems, will sail from Dockyard back to Boston tomorrow with 1,438 passengers on board.

**Ally** · 11-11-2006, 09:02 AM

**UPDATE**

A weeklong cruise scheduled to embark from Charleston this afternoon will be a little more leisurely than normal, as a broken engine delayed the ship's arrival in port and pushed back its planned departure.

Norwegian Cruise Lines' Majesty was expected as of last night to steam into port at about 2 p.m., seven hours behind schedule, and head back to Bermuda on three of its four engines at 9:30 p.m.

The voyage was about 5 1/2 hours behind schedule Friday.

The ship was expected to arrive back in Bermuda at 8 a.m. Tuesday, 18 hours later than scheduled, according to a statement by NCL Corporation Ltd., the Miami-based parent company of Norwegian. NCL said if the broken engine cannot be fixed in Bermuda next week, it will have to cut its stay short by almost five hours.

For some, the incident was a reminder of how few protections passengers have when ocean liners alter their itineraries.

Norwegian threw its Charleston-bound passengers a complimentary cocktail party and offered $100 per stateroom in onboard credit and 15 percent off the price of a future cruise. Those heading out to Bermuda will get $50 per stateroom in cruise cash or a chance to rebook as a consolation for the extra time at sea.

The company will not provide extra compensation to arriving passengers who miss airline flights because of the delays, although it will accommodate travelers who booked their plane reservations through Norwegian, according to NCL spokeswoman AnnMarie Mathews.

Would-be Majesty passenger David Litogot of Hendersonville, N.C., said he wished the crew had fixed the faulty crankshaft when it broke a week ago.

"It is repair on the run," Litogot said. "The irony is that because they're going to be there one less day in Bermuda, Norwegian is going to be making more money. It's just going to be more time for people to gamble and drink."

Litogot and his wife decided that slightly more than two days in port on a weeklong cruise was not enough. So they stayed home in the North Carolina mountains and rebooked their trip for next year.

Paul Motter, editor of CruiseMates.com, which describes itself as an "editorially unbiased" online reviewer of ocean liner operations, said most passengers don't realize their contracts allow the companies to liberally change itineraries without compensation.

"They do publish their intended itineraries and arrival times, but there are no guarantees," he said.

Ship repairs affect just two or three cruises a year, Motter said, and "good" operators offer atonement to affected passengers.

"They could be complete meanies about it and just say, 'Too bad,' like the airlines do," he said.

The Majesty carries up to 1,500 passengers on weekly Charleston-to-Bermuda trips from mid-October to late-April. Its schedule gives crews just 23 hours to service the ship and offload and board.

Charleston-based Abbott & Hill Travel sold a number of berths for the Majesty cruise at prices ranging from $600 to $1,800. Donna Hill, the agency's owner, said the majority of the affected travelers "have just taken it in stride."

For Litogot, this was not the first problematic encounter with this particular pleasure ship, he said. The vessel ran aground off the coast of Massachusetts 10 years ago, just before he and his wife were scheduled to board. That time, the Majesty made it to Baltimore for repairs in time to board passengers on schedule.

"The captain was sacked but the cruise was nice," Litogot said.

(Charleston Post & Courier)

**middy** · 11-11-2006, 09:06 AM

[quote=Ally;50146]**time at sea.

The company will not provide extra compensation to arriving passengers who miss airline flights because of the delays, although it will accommodate travelers who booked their plane reservations through Norwegian, according to NCL spokeswoman AnnMarie Mathews.

That is the reason why I always book travel with the cruise company.

**Ally** · 11-11-2006, 09:09 AM

Same here Middy. Too risky not to book through the line, OK it maybe cheaper to go independently, but if the ship breaks down or another delay happens, you're usually left high and dry.

**Ally** · 11-15-2006, 12:00 PM

Norwegian Majesty is still experiencing problems following snapping a crankshaft 10 days ago.

She arrived late in Bermuda and the scheduled repairs while docked did not take place as the supplier did not send the spares required within the alotted time. So she will be leaving Bermuda 5 hours earlier than scheduled so that there is no disruption to her next Charleston departure.

**middy** · 11-17-2006, 06:21 AM

Cruise news daily is reporting that the repairs did actually take place and that the early start was actuallly to test the repairs.