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I would tell you that if you are gong to cancel, wait until May 16th to do it. That gives NCL the opportunity to cancel on you, which is a very real possibility. Having canceled my own cruise in March 2020 I immediately regretted it when the very next day NCL suspended the entire voyage and offered these people perks. None of which we were offered because we canceled on them. Also, they did not offer a refund, only 100% value in future cruise credit, minus travel insurance. My other advice, never take cruise credit. Always get the refund. But at the time that was not a choice for us. Hindsight.....sigh.

Agreed. They always have that "These offers expire in..." countdown clock ticking on the home page that never actually hits zero. However, an exception is that not all itineraries include the kids sail free promo, I have noticed. 

On 1/27/2021 at 6:23 PM, BoundForSea said:

If you have money tied up in cruises with NCL as I do, not to be an alarmist, I really am far from it, but this would be the time to become a little nervous.

 

 

 

 

I too have money tied up in NCL. We were booked on the Joy for departure on 3/15/20. Because we were taking our children with us, and had heard the horror stories of the Diamond Princess, we contacted our TA to see what she could find out about possibly cancelling. On 3/12/20 she called me back with an NCL rep on the line (a 3-way call). Basically we could risk being quarantined and go, we could forfeit almost $5,000 or "you can take an unprecedented and generous offer of credit to use on a future cruise. NCL has never made such an offer before. All funds will be saved except your travel insurance." With reluctance, we took the what has since come to be known as Future Cruise Credit. At 100% value, minus the trip insurance. The very next day, NCL announced the very first suspensions of cruises and started it's 125% FCC or full refund plan. We were never given an extra 25% FCC or the chance to get a refund, despite multiple inquiries. We are stuck with credit. I would have taken the refund 100 times out of 100.

So, here we are, booking and re-booking future cruises. With kids, we are tied to school vacations so our options are more limited. Every time I hear of another set back like this, and in my mind this one is huge, it's another slap in the face. I am beyond disappointed and frustrated. I think the biggest rub is the not knowing when or if it will ever officially happen. We have one booked for June on the Joy and this information leaves me with little doubt that it won't happen, yet again.

It would be really helpful to my state of mind if NCL would just come out and say when they actually expect to be able to take on paying passengers. They know when that will realistically be, or close to it. Just tell us and quit jerking us around. It's exhausting.

Thanks for being an outlet for me to whine about my first world problem.

We loved Great Stirrup Caye. It rained the entire afternoon but we really enjoyed the 2 hours we had in the morning before the rain started. I am really looking forward to trying to return someday when, hopefully, the sun is out. We didn't have to wait in line for anything but this may have been because many people went back to the ship because of the weather. We walked to the far side of the island. It was a bit of a trek but it seemed quieter on that beach. The snorkeling wasn't great but is was easy and we did see a huge stingray and that was pretty awesome. I would say if you are a beach lover then it would be worth it but then I never turn a trip to the sand.

On 6/10/2020 at 11:49 AM, The Traveling Man said:

I would recommend waiting for the official cancellation notice from NCL rather than cancelling on your own.  We made the mistake of using the "Peace of Mind" cancellation option for a cruise on the Spirit that was scheduled for April.  We got 100% FCC for what we had paid.  Two days after we cancelled, though, NCL suspended the cruise.  Those who waited received 125% FCC as well as an additional 20% off the cruise fare of any cruise they booked using their FCC.  We missed out on about $1000 by jumping the gun on cancellation.  We won't make that mistake again.  Go ahead and cancel your flights and hotels, if you want, but wait until the last possible minute to cancel your cruise in case NCL suspends the cruise and offers additional FCC.

I totally agree with this. We we persuaded by an NCL agent to take the 100% future cruise credit back on March 12th, before the very first NCL cruise was cancelled. We were traveling with our kids and didn't want to risk being quarantined at sea so we very reluctantly took "the unprecedented 100% future cruise credit offer" and cancelled. The very next day we heard that NCL was cancelling the cruises and offering those guests the option of 125% FCC or a full refund. We never got that offer and are now stuck with credit. I would have happily taken a refund but we never got that option because we cancelled on them. Not the other way around. Wait for NCL to cancel you. Future credit will be worthless if they go bankrupt. Now we have our fingers crossed that they won't fold before we get to book again or we'll be out about 5K. Poof. But I'm not bitter....😕

I was watching a sailing on the Breakaway out of Miami on August 2nd. I looked 2 days ago and it was wide open, all cabin types available. I just looked 5 minutes ago and it says "Sold Out" across all cabin classes. What does that mean? That they plan to sail with limited capacity and it truly is sold out with only the previously booked reservations? Or that they plan to cancel the trip and don't wan't to have to move any more reservations so they made it look sold out and blocked bookings? The next weeks sailing of August 9th is all "Sold Out" as well? Any ideas?

37 minutes ago, roger001 said:

There may not even be an NCL.

We cancelled our cruise leaving on March 15th this past Thursday and were given 100% future cruise credit minus our travel insurance(what a joke that was). Not 24 hours later we learned that people that didn't cancel are now being given the option of a refund or 150% future cruise credit. We are pretty annoyed that we were not given this option. We are hoping they might give this retroactively?

 Anyway, when I was looking this afternoon at future cruises I found that you can't look at them. Dates never load. It seems we can't even begin to get our next cruise going for the time being. I am also concerned if there will be an NCL to book a cruise with our credit in the future.

I have been thoroughly enjoying the tales of your adventures!  Along with you, I am often amazed at some of the insignificant things that people have decided to complain about and let "ruin their vacation". I once read 3 paragraphs about someone complaining about 2 ply toilet paper in her 5 star hotel in Las Vegas. In our family and circle of friends, we would call that a first world problem. This essentially means that there are people in the world with actual problems, like where their next meal is coming from, but this lady is worried about the thickness of her bathroom tissue and ignoring that she is blessed enough to be staying in a 5 star resort in the first place! I love your attitude and can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip and how you don't let the little things ruin your vacation either.

On 3/28/2019 at 6:03 PM, spanishguy1970 said:

We put up two bids for our coming cruise on April 27 on the Epic, but the ship is sold out, so i doubt we will get it. We bid for the  Spa Balcony and Spa mini suite.

I am currently in a similar situation. We have bid on Haven upgrades on a sold out ship. We sail on March 15th, 2020. I am curious if you ever won your upgrade bid on your sold out sailing? Just wondering about our chances. 

We have used the "Free Air Promo" before, in July of 2019, and had good flight times.  Very early departure on the way out, 5am but it was just my husband and I at that time and it was $198 total, plus $64 in transfer fees. Our travel agent told me these were a requirement from NCL and we didn't argue. All in we were $262 for round trip air. We were fine with that. Coming home, flight departure was around 11am, got home at 5pm, great.  So now we are taking our kids in March and we went with the "free air" again, $99 for my husband and I and $399 for each of my kids. $996 total round trip, plus $40 each for transfers. We could not have gotten this price on our own so we went for it. We recently received our air assignment from NCL. We are flying out of OKC to LAX the day before our cruise on the Joy. We paid extra for this option to go the day before. NCL said it was to pay for the hotel that they chose, a Hilton at the airport. That was around $200 for 4 people. With American Airlines we leave OKC at 4:55 and get to LA at 6:15pm, non-stop. Not great, we miss a day in LA but not a big deal. We are going for the cruise, afterall. Now...the return flight...we are scheduled to fly out of LAX on Sunday at 11:59pm! To arrive in Dallas at 5am. Leave Dallas at 7am to arrive home in OKC at 8:05am on a Monday morning. My daughter is supposed to be back in school after Spring Break off at 7:40am. My son at 9am. So needless to say, after a whole night of being on planes and in airports they are going to miss school that day. Thankfully, my husband and I have already requested that day from work or we would be missing work. This is a nightmare! It would be awful if it was just the adults but with my 6 and 13 year old, it borders on unacceptable. We have our travel agent trying to see what she can do for us right now. That expression of "you get what you pay for" comes to mind. To make matters worse, my kids and I were assigned seats and my husband was not. So now we are trying to get his seat assigned but of course all of the seats near us are taken, and the American Airlines website is malfunctioning so I can't even choose from the meager seats that are still available. So all in all, we have had a 50% success rate with getting acceptable flights with this promo.