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Just back from first ever Norwegian Lines trip. Norwegian Star LA to Miami via Panama Canal. It was generally fantastic - food (best stake in long time and endless damon done to perfection), entertainment (first night it was just too good to be true and then came the second etc. I was very impressed by the caliber of the talent and it just kept coming . By the last night I expected a let down but surprise, surprise, it was every bit a &quot;GRAND FINALE&quot; complete with unbelievable stage effects including snow and gals on swings out there over the audience. On a ship. WOW! Hats off to Candie the entertainment gal. Every night these people were at the top of their game.<br /> <br /> Also, my thanks to our Tour Guide Mr. Olman who not only gave us a very professional, educational and entertaining tour but also retrieved thirty dollars in coffee beans from the overhead compartment on our bus where I left them after our Crocodile River Adventure. Mr. Olman took the time to returned my coffee to The Norwegian Star Lost and found where your front desk person retrieved it for me. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised to be reunited with this great coffee. I was sure I would never see it again. <br /> <br /> I sincerely wish there was nothing else to say about this marvelous cruse. It was marvelous (technically nothing during the cruse detracted) but then came the disastrous hours after clearing customs and before we got to the Miami Airport. Sorry to carry such a message but here it is:<br /> It began when we exited the terminal building after clearing customs. My wife has a knee problem so we came out the handicapped exit at the left end of the building and then it began - We expected to find someone directing us to the bus. The bus transportation we had paid Norwegian in advance for the bus that was to take us and a couple hundred others to Miami International Airport. Nowhere was there any evidence anyone had made any attempt to provide any sinage of any kind to direct this flow of passengers and neither was there ANY person or help of any king to direct this massive outpouring of humanity exiting with us and now milling about asking &quot;Where is The Miami Airport bus?&quot; There we were with two large suitcases and two carry ons standing in the blistering sun - it really was blazing hot - with NO sign or direction of any kind. After scouting out a seat for my wife and purging her and our luggage there on one of the f o u r* benches against the building and out of the sun, I located a young man who was scurrying back and forth between departing shuttles and busses and the then returning to the head of one of one of the very long lines where I caught him. &quot;Where is the Miami Airport Bus? I asked. The end of the line is back there he said pointing to the other end of the line which was about 100 yards away. In view of my wife's condition and that of the three other handicapped persons pitched with her I considered taking a cab or anything else that was available to get out of this chaos. When will the net bus arrive I asked. &quot;Soon.&quot; (soon turned out to mean 55 minutes for us) was the reply. I made my way to the end of the line which at that point was curving left into the walk way at the extreme right end of the building where a steady stream of non handicapped but very confused passengers were trying to exit in search of - busses to Fort Lauderdale, Miami and the various Auto Rental Company Shuttles. Unfortunately for us all there was NOBODY directing them as they exited the doors. One uniformed Norwegian person was standing in the area but he would only speak if spoke to and thus only those who directly asked him which way to go to get to this bus or that shuttle was getting any help. As a direct result of this there developed a serious &quot;log jam&quot; of confused and more and more obviously agitated and not much later VERY agitated customers piling up outside and consequently inside this exit door from the Immigration building. Myself and one other passenger with the help of one of the Porters managed to bark out orders that moved the tail end of our line out of the exit egress way and parallel with the building so exiting passengers could get out of the building. We then instructed the uniformed (and obviously untrained) Norwegian Cruse line person to go inside the exit opening and announce - DIRECTIONS - to ALL passengers (without being asked) &quot;Airport Busses to the left, The line for Miami is there, The line for Fort Lauderdale is,&quot; &quot;Rental Car Shuttle pull in here&quot; etc., etc. <br /> <br /> In the midst of this I observed a elderly man struggling to get out of line and into the shade while pushing a relatively small, scooter wheeled suitcase. <br /> There was a slight up grade under his feet and he was struggling and it seemed he was about to faint so I ran over and held him as he crumpled to the ground. His wife later said he had cerebral palsy and had been standing in the line a long time and was too weakened to get himself out of the blazing sun - He head was against a baggage cart full of luggage, he indicated it was hurting him so we moved the wheeled cart to allow this head to stop pressing against it. The police and first aid people showed up quickly and after what seemed like a long time medics got him onto a stretcher and then into a wheel chair and took him inside. As much as I hate to say it - This was a direct result of the gross disorganization that was so obvious in your organizing the transportation that day and it underlines the need to correct this problem. I trust you will since everything else about your operation is very impressive.<br /> <br /> Busses finally began to arrive and we got to the airport about two hours later.<br /> <br /> An aside - Later at the Airport I happened to see the wife of this handicapped man (with cerebral palsy) and she seemed upset. I asked if she was okay and she explained that &quot;no&quot; she was not - why? - because when she and her husband arrived at American Airlines terminal door (she was when I spoke with her on her way back to the door) An American representative made her leave her husband outside -in need of a wheel chair - because it was policy that until she checked in she could not get a wheel chair for her husband who was as we spoke waiting for here at the door to the terminal. He had to wait until his wife went inside, waited in line, checked in and returned to him before he could get a wheel chair. All in all one hell of a day for your passenger. Maybe someone at Norwegian could consider Norwegian might use their influence with American to see how your passengers could be spared similar experiences in the future. Also, I should in all honesty add that I feel that by comparison yours was the lesser of the two failures.<br /> <br /> <br /> Don Fadden


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