I received this message from a crew member of the Norwegian Star:
"At the moment I am on NCL Star and we are in Singapore, still in Singapore!
We were scheduled to leave on 11th at 6 pm for 11 days to Hong Kong. We got delayed because it took forever for immigration to process the guests! Some guests were held for 5 hours in the terminal. So finally at 8 pm after we finished all that captain made an announcement that can’t actually leave due to the engine problems. Half an hour after half an hour announcement we stayed over night. And we are staying at the moment in Singapore until 3 pm on 13th of December. One engine is down and some electrical issues with azipods.
This is not the first time, after a dry dock few years back ship broke down right away and the first cruise was canceled and ship returned to the dry dock for repairs. And few months ago we could not sail out of Stockholm at 4 pm to have a sea day the next day to reach Copenhagen for embarkation. We reached Copenhagen at 4pm with absolute nightmare caused to the guest booking flights on their own.
This cruise is already fully refunded to the guests and they will get 50% off the next cruise they choose."
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Photo credit: Pjotr Mahhonin – CC BY-SA 3.0, commons / wikimedia.
December 12, 2016 Update: Speed to be restricted; new itinerary below (via a travel agent).
December 20, 2016 Update: NCL has notofied its travel agents and future passengers that the intinerary of the Norwegian Star starting on January 16, 2017 has changed. This is the email received:
"Norwegian Cruise Line has important information for you regarding Norwegian Star’s 21-Day Southeast Asia sailing of January 16 to February 6, 2017 from Hong Kong, China. All guests booked on this sailing need to be aware of this change.
On the evening of December 10, while departing the port of Singapore, Norwegian Star experienced a technical issue with one of the ship’s Azipods. As a result of this technical issue, Norwegian Star will have to sail a revised itinerary for the January 16 to February 6, 2017 sailing from Hong Kong, China.
Please review the revised itinerary information below:
As a gesture of our thanks for our guests’ understanding of this unforeseen delay and change in itinerary, we will provide a $200 shipboard credit per stateroom. If you pre purchased shore excursions for Thailand, those will be refunded and posted to your onboard account."
January 3, 2017 Update: A local ABC news station in Jacksobville aired a video of an unhappy NCL customer who took her first cruise on the Norwegian Star.
January 26, 2017 Update: NCL’s Norwegian Star Suffers Engine Failure Again.