Beginning our cruise to South America

The time was 11:15am and we had begun our decent into the San Diego airport.    Once we land it would be a short taxi ride over to the pier where we would board the Norwegian Cruise Line Sun for a 4pm sailing on a 17-day cruise to South America.  As I closed my eyes, thoughts of sitting on the deck with my “drink of the day” and enjoying all that cruising had to offer, raced through my mind.  Suddenly I was startled back to reality.  First there came a sudden increase in air speed followed by the steep climb out of our landing pattern.  Next came the Captain’s voice over the PA system.  “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. The San Diego airport has been closed to all arrivals due to an active shooter situation.  We are being diverted to the Ontario airport to await further instructions.”   

This certainly wasn’t the way I envisioned the start to my 17-day cruise.  Normally I would fly into the departure port the day prior but wanting to use frequent flyer miles to pay for my air flight, I found the only flights available on my sailing day.   Even landing at 11:23am I thought to myself, the pier is so close I could walk there and be onboard the ship in plenty of time for a 4pm sailing.  

Our wheels down in Ontario was at 11:45am.  While taxing to our gate I used my phone to rent a vehicle in the event we found it necessary to drive to San Diego.  My GPS indicated it would take about 2 hours and 15 minutes, depending upon traffic flow.   

As we taxied to our gate I was able to confirm that there were at least 10 other passengers scheduled on the same cruise.  I also contacted NCL to advise of our situation and the closure of the San Diego airport.  As we deplaned our Alaska Airlines flight,  I immediately approached the gate agent.  I quickly noticed that her name tag said Supervisor.  Just the person I needed to speak with.  I asked if she would unload the luggage for the NCL passengers advising that it was clearly labeled with color coded NCL baggage tags.  She declined, citing insufficient staff, and advised that we would need to wait for a 1:30pm update.  I had her make an announcement requesting all NCL cruise passengers meet me in the gate area.  Within about 30 minutes our group of 10 grew to a total of 18.    

Again I approached the Supervisor advising that we were now a group of 18 and politely asked her to reconsider pulling off our luggage.  Unfortunately, again she refused.  At this point I told her I wanted to file a claim on my luggage and asked her to forward the luggage to our first port of call in Huatulco, Mexico.  Again she refused, explaining that I would need to file my baggage claim at either my ‘origin’ or ‘destination’.  This meant I could only file in Medford, Oregon or San Diego, California.  Since San Diego was closed and she wouldn't allow me to file in Ontario, I was told that our luggage would be sent back to our point of origin which, for me, was Medford, Oregon. 

This left some interesting options for our group.  We could drive to the pier and take our 17-day cruise without luggage or wait for the 1:30pm update and hope the San Diego airport would be re-opened so we can fly there and have our luggage with us.

At 1:32pm the Supervisor made the much anticipated announcement.  “This is your 1:30pm update.  There is no update to report.  We will update you again at 2:30pm.”   Of course this doesn’t work for the 18 of us trying to make a 4pm departure from the San Diego pier so once again I made my way up to the ticket counter.  For a third time I forcefully asked the Supervisor to unload the luggage or there would be 18 letters submitted by 18 angry passengers seeking compensation.  Further, I recommended that she contract 3 Super Shuttle vans to take the 18 cruise passengers directly to the pier, thereby avoiding the San Diego airport all together. 

By 2:00pm all the luggage had been unloaded from the flight and had arrived in baggage claim. All 18 of the cruise passengers collected their luggage and were ready to leave.   The 3 Super Shuttle vans were waiting and we departed the Ontario airport at 2:13pm.   My GPS now indicated that we should arrive at the pier at 4:30pm. 

One final time I called NCL and gave them our final count of 18 and advised our arrival would be 4:30pm.   They confirmed that the ship would not sail until 6:00pm. Our arrival was at 4:23pm and we were met curbside by 4 NCL employees who were there to rush us through the check-in process.   From start to finish our check-in was under 10 minutes and we found ourselves sitting in our cabin, with our luggage and the clock had not struck 5:00pm yet.  Phew . . . . .