timcahill98

2 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I agree with you 100% !!!

I do want to say that some act like they possibly work for the cruiseline… Same stuff over and over again. I am sorry to all that had their vacations ruined and/or lost money. 

Totally agree!  There seem to be a core group of "Princess Apologists" on this thread who seem to want to victim shame the people who've been adversely affected by the cancellations to date, rather than address the core fact that Princess screwed people at the last minute (comments like "why didn't every single person have travel insurance", "you should have understood the risks", "real cruisers would know to never sail on a ship in the first 2-3 months", etc.).  Again, this last cancellation with 4 days to go before the cruise is completely unacceptable, as Princess HAD to know the ship wouldn't be ready weeks ahead of time (probably at the same time they canceled the first cruise).

I wonder how many of these Princess Apologists are actually Princess employees simply trying to mitigate the bad press they're receiving. At the very least, these people seem to lack any sort of empathy for those affected.

57 minutes ago, New2cruise2022 said:

Nothing in life covers everything. There is nothing in life that isn’t risky. My point is that you don’t need to be an insurance adjuster to know that there is substantial risk to being first in line for something that isn’t done being built. 

Then what was your point about complaining that everyone should have had insurance. You can't have it both ways....

17 minutes ago, New2cruise2022 said:

While your asking questions, add to the list “Why didn’t every single passenger on an inaugural cruise buy travel insurance for the world’s most predictable problem?”

Perhaps they did.  But like me, my travel insurance doesn't consider a cancellation by the carrier to be a covered loss.  So please don't assume that "travel insurance" covers all expenses or situations.

Another interesting aspect to the story....I'm scheduled on the Feb 28th sailing and today I got an email from Princess about booking shore excursions.  That's normal.  But in prior emails the voyage was entitled "10 Day Grand Mediterranean," but in today's email the voyage is tagged as "Europe - Southern."  I checked the itinerary on my account page and it's still the same, but I wonder if they plan on completely changing the itinerary and not announcing it beforehand....?

11 minutes ago, memoak said:

If you are never going to cruise again the you are not what I would call a cruiser. I will bet a large amount of people who booked this cruise multiple times a year 

The original poster never said they were a "cruiser."  Doesn't matter anyway - their point is still valid. I would bet money that if there are any first-time Princess cruisers booked on these sailings, they'll just dismiss Princess, not use the FCCs, and move on to another cruise line. I sure would!

As an Elite status passenger with Princess, if they end up canceling the 28th sailing, which I'm supposed to be on, I will NEVER cruise with Princess again.  I'm also booked for the Sun Princess on the October 19th Caribbean sailing and I will also cancel that booking.  This rollout has been a complete fiasco and I no longer trust Princess.  

According to cruisemapper, she's still sitting in the shipyard and it's almost Wednesday there now (19 minutes from this writing).  Wonder if it has actually been handed over yet....

On 2/6/2024 at 6:15 PM, Oceansaway17 said:

they HOPE does not sound good.   Wondering what is really going on.

Glad I booked Sun for Nov and it better be up and running smoothly. 

Well, it's now February 12th and still no hand-over.  And the first cruise is supposed to depart in 6 days?!?!?  I really don't like how Princess is handling this.  No promo cruises? No shakedown cruises? It's actual first sailing will be with paying passengers - so different from how RC just rolled out the Icon OTS.  I'm supposed to be on the Feb 28th sailing and I'm still not confident mine will go off....

On 3/13/2023 at 8:01 AM, DCGuy64 said:

Wow, that's crazy. I don't know how they could have continued to show the Bermuda stop if it was no longer available. Did you get any explanation? Do you have any options? I would hope they'd allow you to cancel and rebook for a cruise that's actually going to Bermuda.

Thanks, @DCGuy64 and everyone else for your responses.  No, I didn't get any explanation, as I didn't bother calling.  In retrospect, I should have logged in again as though I were going to book a new cruise and taken a screenshot of the advertised itinerary.  Then I'd have something to show the media or whoever wants to investigate these things.  But I just decided that if this is how they treat brand new customers and my first experience with them is a lie, then I'm just not going to cruise with NCL again and move on.  I've enjoyed my cruises with Princess and Celebrity, so I think I'll stick with them going forward.

On 2/27/2023 at 2:21 PM, woodley said:

The last two NCL cruises I have been on have cancelled port/countries after final payment with little or no explanation and no return of port fees.  I have been reading other reports of this happening with increasing frequency.  I understand bad weather could sometimes impact the ability to dock but it does seem to be happening more and more also ports and countries were cancelled on both my recent cruises with no reason given at all.  I am beginning to think they are advertising and selling cruises to ports/countries they have no intention of going to. What do others think?

 

They sure are!  On February 12th I booked an 8-day Bahamas cruise from New York, departing on March 18th, that was advertised with an itinerary of New York - Orlando - Great Stirrup Cay - Bermuda - New York.  That was the EXACT itinerary that was being advertised when I booked.  But then as soon as I made my payment (paid in full) and had access to my cruise page, the itinerary showed as New York - Orlando - Great Stirrup Cay - Nassau - New York.  *****!  I don't believe the itinerary could have been changed in that exact split second it took me to pay.  And I PURPOSELY booked that cruise because I have never been to Bermuda and wanted to go.  

Turns out, after reviewing the cruise critic forums, I found the itinerary had actually been changed all the way back in November!  So they continued to falsely advertise this cruise for 3 months after the official itinerary change.  As a first time NCL cruiser, I can say this is also going to be my last NCL cruise.  I feel like they literally robbed me.

8 hours ago, PistolPete13 said:

Good morning folks!  I’m back on the sundeck on a super windy bonus sea day.  It’s actually a bit chilly with the winds outside of the sun.

 

So as we were pulling out of the US Virgin Islands dock early yesterday afternoon, I heard a garbled announcement.  I was outside on deck 8 trying to get some photos because we pulled in before sunrise that the morning and it was too dark for any photos.  I felt like I was in a Charlie Brown cartoon trying to make out what was being said, but how important could it be right?  Probably just announcements for the Deal or No Deal game show times.

 

Well, eavesdropping Pete here eventually figured out we were going to skip out on the Dominican Republic stop.  While I was not totally surprised given the experience of the ships skipping this stop the last two months AND the fact that my excursion was cancelled last month, I was still disappointed.  I lost my chance for more social media flexing by checking into as many new places and I can in 2023!  Yup, post-middle aged man acting like a teenager here.

 

After my photos, I made my way past the Deck 6 atrium to see the riot in progress at Guest Services.  Man, those poor folks earned their pay and then some yesterday.  Meanwhile the shore excursion folks were hiding.  Now I’ve had my share of shore excursion cancellations and changes for this trip.  They way they do the math with the $50 Free at Sea discount is maddening and I won’t try to explain it here because I still don’t know how it works.  Add in any additional discount for Latitudes members and you need to hire an accountant.  It should be simple and straightforward but leave it to NCL to make it confusing.

 

I deal with figuring out esoteric programing issues for multiple offices with employees numbering in tens of thousands.  I can keep track of a lot of non-sensical data in my head and correlate their relationships and predict outcomes based on that data.  The refund policy and an NCL excursion?  I give up.

 

Already this morning I’m hearing grumbling about this folks are getting back LESS than expected.  Does anyone ever complain if they get back MORE than expected?  I don’t think so.  If I ran a company that deals with occasional refunds, I’ll give everyone back $1 more than expected to keep any complaints down.  That’s my self help advice for the day.

 

Now where was I, oh yeah, the US Virgin Islands port.  7AM to 2PM.  These short port stays are not very relaxing for a type A planner like me.  Boom boom boom, in and out.  Trying to keep things PG rated here folks.

 

I had an intro to scuba diving excursion that I was nervous about.  Remember my earlier post about how I tend to just sink in water.  The guy who met us at the dock was a Sam Kinnison type.  “Everyone knows how to swim right???  Cause we’ll find out, you’re going to be dumped in the ocean!!!”.  Good morning to you too bud.

 

Some background.  The first intro to scuba course I too in the Cayman Islands 3 yrs ago was amazing.  We learned how to use the equipment and the procedures needed in case of emergency in a nice pool.  This excursion takes us right out to the ocean piggybacking with an experience group of divers.  No calm pool for you!   Before leaving, we had to fill out a laundry list of confirmed we didn’t have certain medical conditions or else…

 

Looking at the group of certified divers, I have no idea how none of them could have at least one of the dozens of cardiac and pulmonary conditions listed on the sheet.  Never judge a book by it’s cover right?  Well I’m judging if you get out of breath walking from the dock to the excursion boat carrying a bag of rubber fins.

 

Anyhow, got on the boat and out to the dive site.  Had a 20 minute lecture on the equipment and safety then it was on with the tanks.  After putting on the weight belt and tank, it’s about 50-60 lbs of hardware on your back.  For some reason all of the snorkel and dive boats on this trip didn’t have the low platforms where you can ease yourself into the sometimes chilly water.  You basically have to yell Geronimo and jump 4 feet down into the abyss while remembering to hold you face mask and other giblets.   A few days ago a lady forgot to do that and got her mask ripped off and a nose full of salt water pushed into it.  Not a pretty sight!

 

For those of you that have never been too deep in the water, the amount of pressure felt on your ears is tremendous even just 10 feet down.  Our intro dive today went to 40 feet.  To release the pressure, you’re told to squeeze your nose behind the mask and blow out.  I instantly figured out this didn’t with for me but the act of swallowing did the trick.  Not the most natural thing to do with a hose struck in the mouth!  (Yes, PG rated folks…)

 

This is why it’s critical to not have any sinus issues or a cold when doing this.  Thank goodness I’m very antisocial and stayed away from any crowded venues for this entire cruise so far knowing my scuba event was at the end of the trip.  One of the participants unfortunately had to bail at this point because he was unable to clear the pressure on one of this ears.  I can’t imagine the disappointment.

 

With all that out of the way, the excursion was amazing.  The water was crystal clear and I finally got to see my elusive sea turtle.  I didn’t bring my GoPro with me because I’m not a good multitasker.  I didn’t want to be figuring out the scuba gear while also futzing with a video camera too.  Fortunately someone else had one so hopefully I’ll have some footage of myself pretending to be Jacques Cousteau.  All too soon the dive was over.  This is one of those things where you can’t linger because you run OUT OF AIR.  Duh.

 

Back on the boat I swapped out the tanks for my normal snorkeling gear AND a GoPro now while the second group of divers went in for their lessons.  I managed to get a lot of video of their training in the water and will post it here at some point.

 

Did I mention we have to take off our fins in the water and then climb a vertical 5 ft ladder up out of the boat with 60 lbs of metal on your back after 35 mins of kicking your legs under water?  Oh, and you only can use one arm because the other arm is holding the fins.  It was a little bit of a challenge for me but I managed.  I sat down on a seat to try and figure out how to unbuckle myself.  There are a lot of hoses and clips!

 

I look up and I see the older gentlemen behind me crawling on a fours on the deck like a dog looking to sniff out the best spot to pee.  My mind couldn’t comprehend what was happening besides thinking he had too much of the rum already.  Thankfully the crew noticed and went to help him up.  Apparently the weight of the gear at the ladder climb was too much for him to be able to stand up.  Thank goodness my regular gym routine paid off.

 

My right ear seems to have gotten a bit of water in it and was making strange popping sounds when I tried to swallow.  A few self smacks with my head tilted seems to have done the trick and I’m still feeling OK now 24 hrs later.  I had a bad ear infection as a kid that I’ll never forget so I’m always hyper aware of how my ears feel.

 

Wow, it’s windy enough on the top deck my sneakers just got blown a few feet away.

 

Dinner was at Taste and I’m afraid the very attentive manager is starting to realized I only have one shirt with a collar and I’m wearing that to dinner every day.  I’m traveling solo and can get away win basically 3 t-shirts for then entire 12 days.  Need the room for camera and video gear!

 

Sigh.  I’m on the top deck watching a guy do basically nothing in the pool and is able to keep his chin above water in a relaxed manner.  Meanwhile I’d be waving my arms at the speed of a motorboat and will still just barely keep my nose above the waterline.  One day science will figure out why I naturally sink in water…

 

That’s all for now.  Had to download another Kinda book this morning or else I will melt down with the lack of WiFi minutes on the rest of the trip.  The good thing is that I’ll have time to process the 5000+ photos I took into a” best of” and have them ready to upload by Friday evening.

 

Talk amongst yourselves now.  🙂

So I'm curious Pete - when they cancel a port stop, in addition to getting any excursions refunded, have they told you they'll also refund the port fees and taxes you paid upfront?  I know Princess and Celebrity do, but I've heard that NCL doesn't.  Can you confirm that?  Otherwise, in effect, they're stealing money from every passenger when they cancel a port stop.

And another plug - I sailed on Celebrity Summit back on the October 31st run in the Caribbean.  I really enjoyed it and had no complaints about the ship or the crew. Highly recommended!

Wish I had seen this thread before I booked my cruise yesterday. I would not have chosen to sail on Norwegian if I knew this ahead of time. This will be my first and last cruise with them.

I've also heard they just took on over a half billion $$ in debt and have forced their room and entertainment staff to take pay cuts (in addition to cutting some of their production shows, namely Kinky Boots).  So anyone who doubts NCL is making this move to save money, think again.