PatS10

My sister and I were passengers on the Norwegian Dream Cruise from Boston to Bermuda from Oct. 19 25th 2008. Our trip became a terrifying, unsafe experience. There were 7 serious safety issues 1. Broken Stabilizers As soon as we left Boston we ran into a fierce storm. The fact that the stabilizers on the boat were not working and had not been working for months should have entered into the captains orders. But the Norwegian Dream left Boston anyway and sailed right into the middle of the storm. 2. Poor judgement The captain informed us at dinner that it was the worst storm he had encountered in his experience. The waves were 30 ft and the propellers were coming out of the water. We felt all this since we were in the last cabin at the back of the ship. 3. No Reassurance from captain 4. Faulty securing of our wall The worst part was when the wall between the adjoining cabin fell apart. As the ship rolled from side to side the wall completely separated and crashed into the pocket door behind our headboard. 5. Metal and Wall board As the ship rolled it crashed shut on the other side of the wall. A strip of metal 3 ft. x 6 inches fell off the wall beside our beds. Large chunks of wall board fell as the ship rolled. This occurred every 5 10 min. from 3:00 AM to 8:00 AM. We had no idea at first what was happening because the wall was hidden by a curtain. We thought the ship was falling apart like finally realized what was happening when we saw the cabin next door was completely exposed. 6. Wall not locked properly When the carpenter came in the morning he said the wall between our cabins had not been locked properly. This is why it came apart. He was not able to fix it properly because he had to take the wall apart. He left a note to this effect. We were not offered a new room. This was a very unsafe situation since the wall crashed behind our headboard constantly all night and when the metal strip and wall board fell down we could have been killed. 7. No life jacket I was very angry because we were scared and my sister did not have an appropriate life jacket. Previously at the life boat drill I realized Jackie could not use the buckle of the life jacket. It had to be threaded 2x through the buckle. She is handicapped. She was born without her right hand. I asked 2 stewards for a life jacket with a clasp she could handle. This is the type I always had on the last 3 boats. I explained all this to the stewards and they saw Jackies arm and her problem. They said they would help her. I said no I wanted a standard clip jacket she could handle. I even asked the assistant captain. She did not get one until the 4th day after 6 requests. The captain offered us no assurance of empathy at any time during this 2 day storm which was extended and cut down our stay in Bermuda to 2 days instead of the 3 we expected. The only good part of the cruise was that we each lost 3 pound.