VJWcruiser

24 minutes ago, jenf22 said:

Actually I said "my once-in-a-lifetime".  I made no suggestions as to the other people who book cruises.  We have WAY too many places on our list to spend a ton of money and vacation time to visit the same place over and over in the hopes to see the one thing we hoped to see on our first visit.  But thank you for reminding me why I try not to comment on Cruise Critic posts.

We have an excel spreadsheet with a list of places we want to see. We also go by the go to a place once because there are so many places to see. 

35 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

I would, too, but I'm curious: why do you say "once-in-a-lifetime"? Are you suggesting all of the passengers are unable to book such a cruise in the future? Many people on Cruise Critic take trips multiple times a year. I wasn't aware most of the people on that sailing were on their last cruise ever. Is that true?

There were quite a few elderly people on the cruise. The cost of flying to Buenos Aires from North America, Europe, Asia and Australia can be very restrictive. Add to that, the premium on an Antarctic cruise. So yes, for many, including  me, it was a once in a lifetime experience. 

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

While it has been in effect for years, it did change in extent and strictness for this season.

2 weeks before we were supposed to go there, it must not have been in place because that cruise went. That excuse doesn't hold water.

3 minutes ago, TRLD said:

They gave a reason that they had to reduce speed in some areas, yet many choose to not believe them. Even though there are regulations that require such in polar waters near Antarctica.

Those regulations have been in place since 2021 and yet the cruise that sailed 2 weeks before could do the full cruise. That reason was one of the many reasons that were given. The first one they told the media was to enhance the guest experience in the Falklands. Of course everyone has a dream bucket list to the Falklands

My email response from NCL.

Thank you for writing to Ms. Katty Byrd, Senior Vice President of Guest Services for Norwegian Cruise Line. 

We deeply regret to learn of your disappointment in your cruise itinerary change. It is always our intention to maintain original itineraries. However, at times, unforeseen circumstances require us to make modifications. We assure you that such decisions are never made lightly, or without regard to the consequential disappointment caused to our much valued guests. We can certainly understand how this can have a diminishing effect on an otherwise enjoyable vacation. While every effort is made to adhere to the published schedule, there are those instances that necessitate change. Regrettably, we are not offering compensation in that regard. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

 

I'm not going to get involved in the discussion of what NCL did, or when they did it, or whether it was right or not, but I have to comment on this statement.

 

The IAATO (International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators), of which NCL is a member, has adopted, for the 2023-2024 season (so recently), a voluntary 10 knot reduced speed zones around Antarctic areas in order to reduce whale strikes.  So, this statement is not an untruth, but may have been not considered by NCL in time, or not passed to customers in a timely fashion.

But the cruise that sailed 2 weeks before was just fine doing Paradise Bay.  And the captain did talk to the woman who did the Tiktok and told her that we could have done it  but Miami said not to. 

14 hours ago, TRLD said:

There are the polar ship certification rules. There are environmental rules such as the ban on heavy diesel starting in June of this year. So there are many rules impacting cruise ships in polar waters.

 

The one that NCL seems to be  talking about is relatively new. It is one aimed at protecting marine life in certain waters. For example the speed reductions in Canadian waters during whale migrations is one part of it. It also applies to polar waters. As I understand it, it is not have a hard start date or end date each year but is more dependent upon actual conditions such as whale migration and feeding patterns. The primary impact is speed reduction in the impacted area, the same as in some Canadian waters that resulted in itinerary changes last year.

 

This is covered in chapter 11 of the Polar Code that requires ships to take into account of local conditions and animal populations to minimize impact. Practices more formalized in Artic waters with tracking programs by US Canada and others but the code also applies to Antarctic waters.

It may be new...but not just 2 weeks new. The cruise before the February 4 cruise had no issue whatsoever. 

hsommer@ncl.com  CEO

kbyrd@ncl.com VP Guest Services

dherrera@ncl.com President NCL

I have sent an email to them expressing my dissatisfaction ( a nice way of saying I'm pissed off)

7 minutes ago, PBM13 said:

Lets hope the Australian contingent that had meetings with senior crew (including the Captain) confirm what was said.  As someone who this affected, I am seriously annoyed.  To travel from the UK to South America and then only to be informed when we get on the boat it is not acceptable.  I can confirm that the front desk had over 4 pages of cabin numbers all complaining about the same issue.  We were all given the complaints number

The woman from Australia met with the captain and he said his direction came from head office in Miami. He told her that we could have done the full cruise but was told to do it the revised way. She held a meeting at Gatsby's the day after she met with the captain. There is a Whatsapp group for the last cruise that was used for this communication. Everyone is encouraged to file a complaint and to follow up with NCL corporate 

3 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

  When and how did you get a post cruise questionnaire ? We never got one and we were on the January 7th cruise . HAL sends one for each of us within 5 days and wants it returned within the 5 days .

Received it by email yesterday 

Got our post cruise questionnaire and one of the questions was how we enjoyed Paradise Bay. Well, we might have loved it if we actually saw it ....but that didn't happen. Way to rub salt in those wounds!

On 2/18/2024 at 8:03 AM, JulianB said:

Would love to hear from anyone who has just finished this cruise as to how it ended up and did you have a good time in the end. Your first hand comments I think would be useful and could compare them to my experience on the Star in January.

 

We were just on this cruise. We disembarked yesterday morning. Having a good time is a personal choice. We saw some incredible sights and tons of penguins. The staff is great.  We met some wonderful people and had some great conversations.That being said, I do feel a bit ripped off that we booked the cruise thinking we would have 2 whole days of scenic cruising in the Antarctic but ended up with about 4 hours. 

15 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

THANK YOU for taking the time to post while on the cruise.  Your details explain everything.  You  nailed it.  Clearly NCL is not enhancing the guest experience for those that wanted 2 days of scenic cruising instead of 4 hours.  Those of us on land and in the peanut gallery who have never cruised to Antartica before don't know these things.  
Sadly NCL has sort of sealed the deal.  I dont see them backtracking since that would make things worse.  A simple, honest explanation is what customers expect.  Customers will respect you for that.

Any explanation would be welcome. We embarked the ship and had a paper in  our cabin with the "new and improved" itinerary. There was no explanation, there was no apology and there was nothing offered. Guest services is clueless and says to email guest relations. The captain has been curiously absent and doesn't even make any announcements. Although the staff on ship are wonderful, nobody is offering an explanation and the only reasons I have seen have been from the media, not NCL

10 hours ago, julig22 said:

That's what I thought. I personally don't know what the difference is between cruising Paradise Bay vs the new itinerary (which is the itinerary I was on last year) - it's all beautiful, weather permitting.

But based on some of the comments you'd think that they were completely skipping Antarctica - they are not.

No...but instead of 2 days of scenic cruising, we ended up with about 4 hours. 2 hours early morning and 2 hours at 7 PM

17 hours ago, SeaShark said:

 

So the only definate here is that "they are entitled to an explanation", and an explanation was given. So what is the problem?

I'm on the cruise right now and we have received no explanation. We got a paper in our cabin with the new itinerary when we embarked and nothing has been said. The captain hasn't even made any announcements all cruise. 

On 7/16/2021 at 9:44 PM, Auntiemomo said:

Never heard of that happening in the U.S.  

The US was fortunate enough to have more than enough vaccines. Canada was slow in getting them so they encouraged people to take whatever shot they were offered. We started with AstraZeneca and our second shot was Moderna. Looks like I won't be cruising for a while

I won the slot tournament on the Jewel of the Seas and after complaining about the prizes to the head office was told that they had to make a certain amount of money to award the free cruises. But they didn't have enough qualifying rounds to make that amount. Basically you could never win the free cruise....nice