Cindy

This is the news I’ve been hoping for. Continuing pre-cruise testing didn’t make sense to me given that you  don’t have to test to get into most countries and you could be exposed dozens of times after testing and before boarding. At best mandatory testing might catch a handful of people before a cruise but there are so many ways and places to catch Covid that I don’t see how a ship could be 100% Covid free.

For our trip to Hawaii and POA cruise next month, we will self test before our flight, and then not again unless we have good reason to think we’ve been exposed or have symptoms.

14 hours ago, deliver42 said:

Even though NCL is doing the right thing with the refund and 100% FCC, put yourself in these people's position. They booked a cruise one year ago, and have been looking forward to it ever since. Now they get a cancellation of their reservation with no other option.I know I'd be pissed, and I'll bet most of you would be too.

I agree! Many of us booked on the POA have been trying to take this cruise since before Covid. Our October cruise will be our 8th attempt to use our original booking, including an NCL cancellation (for drydock) before Covid was even a vocabulary word. My husband and I are at the point that our airline tickets have to be used (booked almost 3 years ago!) and if our reservation gets cancelled again we’re keeping our flights and going anyway. I have cancellable back-up plans that I made the last time our cruise was cancelled and would pivot to go to Hawaii without cruising.
 

That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be angry and disappointed. NCL is still selling cabins on my sailing as they were for the August cruises, and in my mind those are the bookings that should be cancelled. I understand the staffing problems, but I think NCL should close bookings until they are sure they can accommodate all of them. I also think there are many people with flexibility who would jump at the chance for a refund and 100% FCC. I wish NCL would ask for volunteers before cancelling long-standing reservations as little as 6-weeks out. Yes, that’s more complicated than just cancelling reservations, but I think it’s a solution that would be better received than the current practice.

55 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

I honestly don’t understand the confusion of some, it clearly states the refund will go back to the original payment method, for every last penny spent, plus a FCC in the amount of the cruise.

I think the confusion comes in some not understanding that while the refund is 100% of all monies paid, the FCC is only for the cruise fare itself…not airfare, excursions, etc.

45 minutes ago, piglet55cc said:

I am out of pocket for the 2 night hotel room and 2 excursions I purchased for Honolulu. I have never had my other cruises cancelled.

Have you contacted the hotel and the tour providers? They might be willing to work with you under the circumstances. I have found all my independent providers to be very flexible through numerous cancellations. That said, even with insurance I’m pretty careful not to lock myself into a non-refundable situation these days!

40 minutes ago, CruiseDealSweeper said:

What would one search on this FB initial site to find said discussions?

They’re in a group called Pride of America 7 Days in Hawaii.

11 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

Does anyone know if the people who have been cancelled were cruise only passengers?  We have the 4-day pre-cruise land tour booked along with our cruise.  Surely they aren't cancelling those??

I’ve read of both pre-cruise tour and cruise only cancellations.. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to who draws the short straw.

Someone started a poll on a social media site with the initials FB. The only passengers who haven’t reported a cancellation there are suite passengers and those traveling from outside the US. Other than those, there’s a mix of people in large groups, couples, NCL air, cabin type, booking date, etc.

8 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Source?

Numerous personal accounts on a social media website.

Lots of people on June and July sailings received cancellation notices today.😢

First of all, to the OP, I’m sorry about your experience. I hope your insurance will eventually make you whole for the lost vacation as well as the unexpected medical expenses.

That said, I think expecting a lot of follow-up attention from the cruise line is unrealistic, especially right now. I haven’t cruised on NCL yet, but I don’t think any of the five lines I’ve sailed with are good at communication once you’re off the ship. Those of us traveling right now need to be mindful of the issues throughout the travel industry and have an idea of where we would turn for help or what our back-up plans are. It seems like even without complications travel plans are unraveling daily!

16 hours ago, CruiseDealSweeper said:

Update: it’s the 20th and ZERO FCC has hit our account as promised. We were going to book a separate NCL cruise today with that FCC they promised and book the excursions/ plan the trip this weekend. Now what, wait until Monday and have 2-3 days to plan an entire vacation? This is the worst costumer service I have ever seen from a company. 

If you have a PCC or a special number, you might try to call. Through all our Covid cancellations, I sometimes found they could see the FCC before I could.

5 hours ago, firstimer2009 said:

That could be.  I traveled for 20 years full time in my job so am way too much of a control freak to let anyone book my flights.  It's too bad they don't give some type of OBC for people who don't use it. 

I agree. There’s exactly one non-stop flight per day from Houston to Honolulu and back, and that’s the flight I wanted. I was definitely not interested in multiple stops and long layovers. Besides, we’re going 4 days early which takes cruise air out of the picture.

31 minutes ago, CruiseDealSweeper said:

Wow if it was only 21 reservations that were canceled then that makes me question things even more on why I was picked.. I booked well over three months ago. If they haven’t booked 21 other reservations since then NCL is in some serious trouble… 

I think that's pretty recent as far as POA reservations go, especially right now. A lot of the current reservations were made 2+ years ago, or they're rescheduled sailings from Covid cancellations.

21 minutes ago, LS8595 said:

Canceling peoples’ vacations 10 days out is unconscionable, sorry.  They should have done it a month ago, which would have provided a wee bit more time for the OP to pivot their vacation.  It seems to have become a socially acceptable business practice for the cruise lines to just cancel reservations nowadays.  Definitely not helping with customer loyalty, that’s for sure.  Again, my opinion, for the two cents it’s not even worth.  

Precisely! If they need to cancel my reservation they need to do it now while I still have options. My refund will more than pay for my back-up reservations, and the plane tickets we bought in July 2019 need to be used. I don't want to plan at the last minute when everything is booked up and my options are limited.

54 minutes ago, CruiseDealSweeper said:

I also find it very interesting I’m the only one that has reported this issue. Makes me wonder if I was just one of a very small group of people impacted by this cancelation…

 

Which for those still on that sailing, I’m at least very grateful this wasn’t more widespread!! 

I have read posts on another site of people whose reservations were cancelled. The number I saw was a total of 21 reservations. It's small number, except to those of you that were impacted any was too many!

On 5/18/2022 at 1:59 PM, CruiseDealSweeper said:

I received an email today informing me my reservation on POA (May 28th - next week!) has been canceled. Not enough staff for the number of people currently booked. Never been so upset as a lot of planning went into this trip for my family/ work. 

 

Anyone else receive this email today?

I'm so very sorry! I have been booked in some way, shape, or form on the POA since July 1, 2019, and have suffered seven cancellations (one was before Covid because they were going to take the POA to drydock). I would be destroyed at this point if we were only 10 days from sailing and got cancelled. I can't even begin to imagine how you feel.

8 hours ago, amyh13 said:

You may not know the answer but I'll try anyway.  We are in a suite. Pre-Covid, suite guests were able to get breakfast and lunch at Cagney's.  I know the MDRs aren't open for B/L but since Cagney's is operational, just wondering if suite guests were at the very least getting breakfast.

I’ve read several reviews that said the answer to your question is yes!

48 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Last minute rates appear to be discounted.

 

This is May: 

 

 

This is July

Those May prices are about the same as my October price. I think the July prices are the normal school’s out summer vacation spike.

44 minutes ago, adonisr said:

Curious - did you get a deeply discounted rate on the cruise?

Rates aren’t discounted. If anything, they’ve gone up quite a bit from pre-Covid. 

46 minutes ago, CruiseCriticAaron said:

Taxis were more readily available in Hilo

Thank you! Hopefully by October a lot of these issues will be resolved.

3 hours ago, CruiseCriticAaron said:

From what I can tell, you're best to pre-schedule a taxi. They're not just waiting outside idling.

What about taxi availability in Hilo? We’re on the October 1 cruise that is overnighting in Hilo instead of going to Kona. We’re thinking about having dinner off the ship that night, but we’ll need to be able to get transportation. We’re also planning to have dinner at Duke’s in Kauai, but my understanding is that’s a fairly easy walk from the ship.

16 minutes ago, CruiseCriticAaron said:

Makes complete sense to me -- I've let our team know, so they'll look into what's going on. It appears at the very top of the Norwegian boards page for me (in the section of threads that are pinned there).

It is in the pinned section! I just hadn’t looked there.

13 minutes ago, CruiseCriticAaron said:

I'll let our Boards team know. Thanks so much!

I followed the original post, so I get a notification when there are new posts, but the thread itself isn’t visible on the main board. I hope that makes sense!

7 hours ago, da1425 said:

 

Really? Why are they skipping Kona?  Is it only that one week?  I'm booked two weeks later.

It’s because the Ironman World Championship is in Kona that week.

23 minutes ago, CruiseCriticAaron said:

Great question -- and the answer varies by port.

 

In Kahului, I took both taxis and Ubers -- and taxis were the easiest by far as they're allowed into the Port area, whereas Ubers seem to pick up about a half-mile away at Long's Drugs. My taxi ride was also cheaper -- about $11 to the airport each direction, not including tip. Bring cash; drivers are really reluctant to take credit cards for the short trip.

 

Here in Hilo, there is a free shuttle to car rental agencies, presumably at Hilo Airport, which is just a stone's throw away. Naturally, I didn't rent a car today!

 

Both Hilo and Kahului are industrial ports; I definitely recommend taking a shore excursion or renting a car. We walked around today and found a nice place to eat lunch, but probably should have taken a tour.

 

Here's a sign today in Hilo advertising the rental car shuttle:

 

Where did you eat lunch? Is it easy to walk out of the port area to get an Uber or taxi?

We’re on the October 1st cruise that is staying overnight in Hilo and skipping Kona. We’re thinking about having dinner off the ship that night.

5 hours ago, CruiseCriticAaron said:

 

 

 

 

I love this color combination! It’s very updated compared to photos I’ve seen of the ship before.