NCL Cancels Another Cruise of Mine

[fshagan]

I'm still confused about these cancelled bookings. Some people say they are waiting until next Monday for the offering from NCL for new cruises because the itineraries will be known then for all the ships as they figure out this massive switcher-roo. While in this thread some are saying that the only alternative is to have a cruise reserved a year earlier.

 

Are there two or more different situations, or was the only offer they could give you at the time of notifying you a cruise a year earlier? Will you have different options on Monday?

[littlelulu01]

I'm still confused about these cancelled bookings. Some people say they are waiting until next Monday for the offering from NCL for new cruises because the itineraries will be known then for all the ships as they figure out this massive switcher-roo. While in this thread some are saying that the only alternative is to have a cruise reserved a year earlier.

 

Are there two or more different situations, or was the only offer they could give you at the time of notifying you a cruise a year earlier? Will you have different options on Monday?

 

NCL canceled many different cruises affecting five ships or over a third of the fleet. Most of the canceled cruises are a year or more away. Every canceled cruise was sent a specific offer via email. Some offers were quite legitimate like your cruise was canceled but you can sail on this ship vs that ship and about the same dates for price protection. Other offers were really silly like mine which was you can sail in a couple months instead of next year. All offers accompanied instructions to call between August 17 - 24 if you want to take advantage or if you want to cancel and get $ refunded. They're also offering to let those who had cruises canceled have first crack at booking one of the newly created cruises before the general public without price protection. In addition they're offering a small amount of obc to rebook a cruise in a certain time frame.

 

Many are upset because NCL will still be cruising the area and time they were originally booked but now just on a different ship. NCL is not allowing them to keep the good deal they got when they purchased almost a year ago nor letting them keep the incredible perks they got for booking early. So in essence telling people sorry, we are still sailing the Mediterranean during your dates booked but now we are going to use a different ship and you have to pay a lot more if you still want to go on a cruise that is similar to the one we sold you back in January for such a good deal and with tons of perks.

 

When other lines have canceled a cruise in advance say for a charter they also offer price protection but they let you rebook at the same price at the same general time because for example in my case it's not very feasible to leave in a couple months for an 11 nights Europe cruise when I paid for an 11 nights cruise next December. No other cruise line has ever done anything like this before on this scale.

Edited August 15, 2015 by littlelulu01

[fshagan]

NCL canceled many different cruises affecting five ships or over a third of the fleet. Most of the canceled cruises are a year or more away. Every canceled cruise was sent a specific offer via email.

 

Thanks, I did know this much, although many of the complaints here are that people learned of the cancellation here, rather than from NCL, and NCL hasn't even contacted them yet. I suspect those are the 2017 sailings or something ("something" including the possibility that the NCL email went into the spam folder).

 

Some offers were quite legitimate like your cruise was canceled but you can sail on this ship vs that ship and about the same dates for price protection. Other offers were really silly like mine which was you can sail in a couple months instead of next year. All offers accompanied instructions to call between August 17 - 24 if you want to take advantage or if you want to cancel and get $ refunded.

 

So the offer to call next week is only to accept the year-earlier deal? I agree that is unacceptable. You should have an option given that is in the same general time frame if possible, especially for closer in cruises. I would have your TA or give a call to NCL directly next week to see if the letter is just another one of their poorly worded communications. It doesn't seem reasonable.

 

 

They're also offering to let those who had cruises canceled have first crack at booking one of the newly created cruises before the general public without price protection. In addition they're offering a small amount of obc to rebook a cruise in a certain time frame.

 

The ones that have gotten into the phone lines early here in the US are reporting they have been given price protection (pay the same or less) and have their perks protected and moved over as well. I'm hoping that's what happens between the 17th to 24th.

 

Many are upset because NCL will still be cruising the area and time they were originally booked but now just on a different ship. NCL is not allowing them to keep the good deal they got when they purchased almost a year ago nor letting them keep the incredible perks they got for booking early. So in essence telling people sorry, we are still sailing the Mediterranean during your dates booked but now we are going to use a different ship and you have to pay a lot more if you still want to go on a cruise that is similar to the one we sold you back in January for such a good deal and with tons of perks.

 

This is why I would still call them next week and get clarification from a person. NCL is pretty bad at written communications, and I'm wondering if in your case they simply threw out an itinerary that WAS open as an offering. It doesn't make it any better, but it might improve the end result. Still enough to never sail NCL again in the future, but perhaps you can salvage this vacation at least.

[littlelulu01]

Thanks, I did know this much, although many of the complaints here are that people learned of the cancellation here, rather than from NCL, and NCL hasn't even contacted them yet. I suspect those are the 2017 sailings or something ("something" including the possibility that the NCL email went into the spam folder).

 

 

 

So the offer to call next week is only to accept the year-earlier deal? I agree that is unacceptable. You should have an option given that is in the same general time frame if possible, especially for closer in cruises. I would have your TA or give a call to NCL directly next week to see if the letter is just another one of their poorly worded communications. It doesn't seem reasonable.

 

 

 

 

The ones that have gotten into the phone lines early here in the US are reporting they have been given price protection (pay the same or less) and have their perks protected and moved over as well. I'm hoping that's what happens between the 17th to 24th.

 

 

 

This is why I would still call them next week and get clarification from a person. NCL is pretty bad at written communications, and I'm wondering if in your case they simply threw out an itinerary that WAS open as an offering. It doesn't make it any better, but it might improve the end result. Still enough to never sail NCL again in the future, but perhaps you can salvage this vacation at least.

 

I am hoping for the same and if they make things right with me I will have a new respect for them. Ill be sure and let others know if they do the right thing this week. Fingers crossed. I've always had incredible vacations on NCL and so I really hope this is a case of miscommunication.

[graphicguy]

I've had it happen to me, twice, on Celebrity. (Which out of 3 Celebrity bookings is a pretty high percentage.) In both cases "everyone" was aware of the cancellation well before Celebrity bothered to notify the passengers that it was cancelled. One time they cancelled for a drydock, and the drydock schedule was out for months before they got around to letting us know the cruise was cancelled. The cruise was no longer on the website for scheduling, and Celebrity gave a variety of excuses about it being pulled for maintenance or repricing or inventory or something. The other was a cancellation in order to use the ship as a hotel in San Francisco for a convention. Again, the convention was advertising the use of the ship as a hotel for weeks before we were notified that the cruise was cancelled. And any calls to Celebrity got the same lame excuses - no one at Celebrity knew anything about it.

 

I'm sorry to hear that your cruise was cancelled. I know how frustrating that can be. It does happen on other lines, though. Hope you're able to find something that you really enjoy.

 

Had the same thing happen on Celebrity. Is it inconvenient? Yes. Got a little compensation. Not much.

 

A year in advance? I can work with that and make other arrangements.

[peteukmcr]

Had the same thing happen on Celebrity. Is it inconvenient? Yes. Got a little compensation. Not much.

 

A year in advance? I can work with that and make other arrangements.

Yep, so can we a year in advance, and that's what we've done and NCL don't figure in those plans anymore and are very unlikely to in the near future either after this debacle.

[littlelulu01]

Had the same thing happen on Celebrity. Is it inconvenient? Yes. Got a little compensation. Not much.

 

A year in advance? I can work with that and make other arrangements.

 

Most people, including myself, are not complaining about having cruise canceled a year in advance. It does happen. People are so worried because the email offer was to only honor their price and perks if they switched to a cruise a couple months in advance. If celebrity canceled the cruise you purchased yesterday and said they only offered the same price and perks if you sailed now vs next year please let me know what cruise it was.

 

People are hoping it was a communication error and That NCL will honor the price on the replacement cruise for a similar date and same price/perks. If not it would be the, "same thing" and thus celebrity sold you a cruise and then a couple days, or in some cases almost a year, after you paid them they told you if you want to still sail with celebrity on the similar replacement cruise your going to lose your perks and price. Again, if they did I'd like to know which ship and sailing it was.

Edited August 16, 2015 by littlelulu01

[littlelulu01]

I'm not the op of this thread but did contribute some negativity and frustration over my canceled cruise so feel the need to come back and post the outcome. Today NCL took care of me. They stepped up, did the right thing and let me book a replacement cruise on a valid date. I have a new respect for the company and could not be happier. Good luck to everyone else with their rescheduling efforts. It was a frustrating experience but for me it worked out in the end and I could not be happier. Wishing everyone luck.

[legion3]

I'm not the op of this thread but did contribute some negativity and frustration over my canceled cruise so feel the need to come back and post the outcome. Today NCL took care of me. They stepped up, did the right thing and let me book a replacement cruise on a valid date. I have a new respect for the company and could not be happier. Good luck to everyone else with their rescheduling efforts. It was a frustrating experience but for me it worked out in the end and I could not be happier. Wishing everyone luck.

 

And thats good for you, congratulations.

 

But it should not have had to work out in the end.

 

It should have worked out at the beginning. NCL should have stepped up then.

Edited August 18, 2015 by legion3

[Ozzie's Mom]

I'm not the op of this thread but did contribute some negativity and frustration over my canceled cruise so feel the need to come back and post the outcome. Today NCL took care of me. They stepped up, did the right thing and let me book a replacement cruise on a valid date. I have a new respect for the company and could not be happier. Good luck to everyone else with their rescheduling efforts. It was a frustrating experience but for me it worked out in the end and I could not be happier. Wishing everyone luck.

 

That is so good to know, @Littlelulu01. I, too, am happy with my replacement cruise. I feel they went above and beyond. I had actually booked the "replacement" myself last week because I didn't want my preferred cabine to get away from me. They moved my perks over to this cruise, lowered the price I would have gladly paid booking it on my own, gave me some OBC and apologized for the inconvenience. :D :D :D

[littlelulu01]

That is so good to know' date=' @Littlelulu01. I, too, am happy with my replacement cruise. I feel they went above and beyond. I had actually booked the "replacement" myself last week because I didn't want my preferred cabine to get away from me. They moved my perks over to this cruise, lowered the price I would have gladly paid booking it on my own, gave me some OBC and apologized for the inconvenience. :D :D :D[/quote']

 

Congrats. Going through a little frustration to get what you want sure comes with sweet satisfaction when it works out in the end. I will appreciate this cruise even more so now. I hate feeling angry and frustrated about something and so was willing to just give it up and stop reading any further posts/move onto a different cruise but when NCL magically made everything ok today I was just ecstatic. There's a couple little things that my ta left off their extra obc but I'm so not stressed about that now. I know they will make it right next week when I call them, after the dust settles. The main thing is that we now have an incredible vacation purchased and in the end NCL made it all right with me. I can now cruise with them feeling that I am in good hands.

 

Husband never even knew he was going on a cruise in the first place, had no idea it was canceled and still has no idea he's going on one. Will save that for a later date. Some people, husband included, think planning vacations in advance is crazy but the only way we get to take so many is because they are all planned out so far.

Edited August 18, 2015 by littlelulu01