julig22

The fact that they continued to sell shorex kinda tells me they had every intention of making the port when they started. When NCL cancels a port, any NCL excursions are automatically refunded to your onboard account, as REFUNDABLE credit. And correct, they might not owe anything for a missed PORT, but that is a totally different issue. So either they misunderstood your question or you misunderstood their answer. No need to contact anyone in either situation. They cannot refund pre-cruise purchases to your onboard credit card because the bank will not allow credits when there is no corresponding purchase - and there is no connection with your onboard account to purchases made prior to your cruise. So your onboard account is credited, if that results in a positive balance, you have to collect your cash - or make arrangements to have a check issued -before they will let you disembark.

I would guess that you have $250 in fees of some sort that can't be paid for with CNs. Having said that, I haven't a clue what those might be LOL. Is this a CAS booking by any chance - I seem to recall people commenting about issues around paying admin fees with credits.

I believe you are probably correct. I've seen it happen a couple of times, although I usually arrive at my time so might not be aware if they're enforcing it. But I'm not sure that the letter they are sending out is any indication, I've gotten it for my last couple of cruises.

I've had that issue in the past - give it a day. If they're not there later, call IT.

The FCC/upgrade offer is a pretty good win-win business decision IMHO, especially when you consider that they don't have to do anything. If you pay to upgrade, they get additional income from the upgrade to a stateroom that hasn't sold yet on the open market. And you're getting an upgraded cabin. If they give you FCC (which is now good for 2 years BTW) it lessens the perceived "sting" of thinking you might have overpaid. If you use it, you are going to spend more money on another cruise. If you don't use it, NCL loses nothing. Giving OBC doesn't get you on another cruise which is probably one reason they stopped giving it for price drops.

Don't remember which ship but they did apply my SH OBC to a CruiseNext purchase I made a year or so ago. Each ship seems to have its own accounting system and I've only had it happen the 1 time (since they changed the rules). So it can slip through - but don't count on it.

Nope. Depending on the cruise, I'm sound asleep following long travel times + time changes. If I'm awake, I'll watch from my balcony.

What I am saying is that negotiations that begin 3+ years in advance can change at any time. Ports in Alaska, Mexico are tourist-based and the logistics of having cruise ships visit are pretty cut and dry. Not so much with a port that is not tourist based. Just which "routine" itineraries are you speaking of? Other than Alaska and Mexico, NCL does a lot of different but similar itineraries. I'm not trying to justify anything, just countering your conspiracy theory. Things happen. If a port suddenly says nope, you're no longer welcome (think Bar Harbor) maybe the better thing to do is to find a friendlier location. And if 1 port changes, that is more than likely to change the entire itinerary - not a simple coincidence that more than 1 port gets changed. I booked a transpacific cruise 3 years ago, it included Petropavlovsk. Once Russian ports were no longer available, they had to find a new itinerary. That obviously takes time. A few places that come to mind, like Bar Harbor, Juneau, Santorini, have/are looking at restricting cruise ships, possibly in the very near future. So what happens to future itineraries in the interim - do the cruiselines proactively change the itinerary or wait until the dust settles? Laws change, the environment changes. If the whales decide to change their migration pattern or stay longer in an area, then the rules for sailing in THEIR waters changes. If there is civil unrest in an area, the itinerary needs to change. A storm makes a port non-navigable for the near future. And scheduling a new itinerary takes time. I personally have no reason to believe that NCL just cancels ports on a whim. It's entirely possible that it's all about their bottom line, as many choose to believe. I'm just giving them the benefit of the doubt at this time.

Guess you missed the point about uncertainty of UNIQUE locations. And I guess I've been lucky that the majority of my NCL cruises, many being what they classify as "Extraordinary Journeys" haven't had major port changes after final payment. A lot can happen in 4 months. Maybe when some of the other cruise lines start going to places like Antarctica or Africa, with comparable costs, I'll give them a try.

Since NCL has some unique itineraries, it stands to reason, IMHO anyway, that there would be a higher probability of "things happening" with respect to some of those ports that aren't as accustomed to cruise ships. Since it's not exactly easy to just find a parking space for a big ship if final negotiations aren't going as expected, I'd personally prefer that NCL - or any cruise line - basically cut their losses and make alternative arrangements, if there is any doubt about availability of services in places they are planning to dock. Same goes for a sketchy political environment or changes in environmental conditions.

And the winner is....NCL is giving me FCC for the price difference between what I paid for a solo cabin and the current price for "non-solo" double occupancy. Yay!!

1) NO NEED TO SHOUT 2) try posting on you roll call or other social media group for your specific cruise 3) ships are full, upgrades are few and far between 4) lately, bids haven't typically been awarded until the last week prior to sailing 5) Any Upgrade Bids Accepted Recently? - Norwegian Cruise Line - Cruise Critic Community

I've never sailed Haven or in a suite but I have gotten tags on a couple of cruises. But only a couple of times. And on one of those, I won my bid, so upgraded - making the tags useless anyway LOL.

The "solo" staterooms are usually less than double occupancy (not always LOL) but definitely not half of double-occupancy. So the difference can just be a few hundred $$s.

You need to check your confirmation to see what it says. If you requested a deviation, it would show a 1, under # of nights pre. And there would be a $25 Air Deviation credit in the charges line detail. If those are there, then they should make a correction. If those aren't on your confirmation, then the request was never documented.

I find it kinda ironic that what NCL seems to consider "less good" tends to be cabins that I prefer. And yes, that includes enclosed balconies, since I often sail in cold-weather. Against my better judgement, I booked a solo cabin on an upcoming cruise because I had a specific cabin in mind -best "regular" balcony on the ship IMHO if you're trying to capture pictures in Alaska. First time I was in that cabin was because it was one available for upgrade using points (also usually the "less good" cabins). But paying for it in another way, due to price drops that don't exist for solo cabins.

I have no clue what might be obvious to someone who is asking how to spend OBC, so I'll just leave you with this.

Are there solo balconies available? I booked solo OV and the price for OV dbl occupancy has gone down but solo OV is sold out. Waiting to hear if they'll do FCC - otherwise, the solo category isn't such a good thing, since they tend to sell out early. And no other benefit for solo, since there is no solo lounge.

Bids are done by plusgrade, not NCL.

https://upgrade.plusgrade.com/offer/NCL/

Have you looked into the NCL train? it leaves around 1pm from the airport. It's an excursion, so any FAS or latitudes discounts apply. They don't post it to book until day 50, so you might check to see if it's available. I've not taken the bus from Anchorage so can't give you much help on that one - I took the Alaska train the day before.

Solo cabins are basically "reclassified" cabins, ones that NCL thinks aren't in quite as nice locations, and the #s are limited. So while the solo balconies are sold out, have you checked to see if any double-occupancy cabins are available? You'd probably have to pay more (not always LOL). But there is a difference between a solo balcony and booking a balcony as a solo, paying double.

Did you pay for double occupancy or for a solo balcony. Seems like many of the solo balconies (which are cheaper than paying dbl) are PrivaSea. I actually prefer them, although most of the ones I've had did have a glass railing. But then I often sail to cold locations (Alaska, Norway, Antarctica...).

Expect - no. But if they are offering, I'm certainly going to ask. If that's their business model, who am I to argue. Now when people complain about paying more than someone that booked last minute, that's a different issue.

On one ship, the CruiseNext manager said he was working with a few people to make something like that happen but it probably would involve changing ships along the way.