arafol

We've been doing pre-cruise and post-cruise trips for years and had control of our flights as we 're the ones booking them as group. We typically go right on the city tour that we pre-booked upon arrival at the airport. Me and my friends are always excited to see new places so we have the energy after a long flight. Seriously, most of us are now between 60 and 75 years old but started travelling together in our 50s by doing land tours first. Then started cruising in 2008 and we got hooked on it. Happy cruising everyone!

Sorry folks if my point didn't come across. We wanted to book our pre-cruise tours in Lisbon & Fatima, Portugal in early June but the flight details aren't available until last week. So we took the risk of paying our deposit for a full-day tour for September 30 and October 1 prior to receiving our air confirmation. Since we have different ETA's, we will not be able to have a full day tour on our arrival in Lisbon. It's our first time to take Norwegian's promotion of free airfare for second guest and it was too late to opt-out. Lessons learned for me and my group - no more free airfare.

I'm writing this review even though our 9-Day Mediterranean sailing with VIVA is scheduled on 1 Oct 2023. Just want to share my sad experience booking this Viva cruise with Norwegian. The original cruise aboard Jade for May 2020 was cancelled due to Covid-19. We waited awhile and when we're ready we booked GETAWAY for Nov 2022 using our FCC. However, NCL cancelled this cruise in July 2022 when everything was ready and shore excursions booked with NCL's Shore Excursions Group. To replace the cancelled cruise, we booked the Holiday Mediterranean Cruise for Dec2023/ Jan2024 aboard EPIC. Well, lo and behold, this was cancelled again in May 2023. How upsetting for getting cancellations, not ONCE but TWICE in a row. Some of my friends are working in a medical setting and have to request at least 6 months to 1 year prior. Yes they were so upset but can't do anything. I myself had to put in my vacation request in Feb 2023 ahead of my co-workers, only to cancel it and fought to have it re-scheduled in October. This didn't stop, as we're not travelling as a group. NCL arranged our flights with different ETAs in Lisbon on Sept 30. 4 couples will arrive at 6:00 am and will have to wait for 5 agonizing hours as our own (my hubby's and mine) flights and 4 other couples are arriving at 11:00 am. The promo of "one guest flies free" wasn't worth with the stress/anxiety I experienced while waiting for the flight information to be available between 30-60 days of the cruise. I'm an organized person and as a Group Leader, I'd like to have a well-planned trip. I took the risk of booking and paying our tours in Lisbon for Sept 30. NCL is heartless! Getting a refund is also a challenge! My group loves cruising! We've been doing this since 2008 and this is our 14th cruise. However, I will NEVER book any Norwegian cruise anymore NOR will I recommend the cruise line to anyone.