NCL CRUISE ITINERARY SIGNIFICANT CHANGE - HELP!

[Snappykins]

ear Valued Guests and Travel Partners, Norwegian Cruise Line has important information for you regarding Norwegian Epic's 7-Day Southern Caribbean sailing from San Juan, Puerto Rico on February 23, 2020.  The port order for this sailing has been changed and we will now be enjoying a relaxing day at sea on February 26th with the call to Willemstad, Curacao on February 27th. Please review the revised itinerary information below:
Original Day Destination Arrive Depart   Sun San Juan, Puerto Rico   7:00 pm   Mon At Sea       Tue Oranjestad, Aruba 8:00 am 8:00 pm   Wed Willemstad, Curacao (Netherland Antilles) 8:00 am 8:00 pm   Thu Kralendijk, Netherland Antilles 7:00 am 1:00 pm   Fri Castries, St. Lucia (West Indies) 12:30 pm 7:30 pm   Sat Basseterre, Saint Kitts - Nevis 9:00 am 4:00 pm   Sun San Juan, Puerto Rico 5:30 am	Revised Day Destination Arrive Depart   Sun San Juan, Puerto Rico   9:00 pm   Mon At Sea       Tue Oranjestad, Aruba 8:00 am 8:00 pm   Wed At Sea       Thu Willemstad, Curacao (Netherland Antilles) 6:00 am 12:00 pm   Fri Castries St. Lucia (West Indies) 1:00 pm 8:00 pm   Sat Basseterre, Saint Kitts - Nevis 9:00 am 4:00 pm   Sun San Juan, Puerto Rico 5:30 am
If you have pre-booked shore excursions through Norwegian Cruise Line for Kralendijk, Bonaire and Willemstad, Curacao they will be cancelled and automatically refunded to form of payment. Updated tour information will be available shortly on our website at www.ncl.com. Thank you for your understanding. If you have any questions, please contact us at 1-800-327-7030 (Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to midnight ET and Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET).  For any guests booked outside of the US/Canada please visit www.ncl.com for our local contact information. We thank you for choosing Norwegian Cruise Line and look forward to welcoming you onboard Norwegian Epic. Sincerely, Vivian Ewart Senior Vice President, Passenger Services

 

Has anyone ran into this before?   The spin on this email and lack of mention of Bonaire's removal is ridiculous.  From my perspective, this is a significant change if you do the math.

 

1.) Departure 2 hours later, that's 2 less hours of fun.

2.) One more sea day.

3.) Loss of 6 hours of time in Curacao - not to mention ***** is there to do at 6AM?!?

4.) Because of that, we end up with at sea for another 24 hours.

 

Essentially 3 sea days now with a loss of 2 hours at the start.

 

[pcakes122]

Sorry for your disappointment,  definitely a bummer.  However, not uncommon.  Scheduled ports do change for a variety of reasons.  Comes with the cruise territory (not just NCL.)

 

At least you are still going to the islands!  Imagine the folks who thought they were going to Bermuda and wound up in New England & Canada for a week! 😲  That's happened!

 

Edited August 2, 2019 by pcakes122

[smplybcause]

They're changing all the epic sailings it seems. My March one just changed and my friends NYE one did too.

 

By the way you're not losing hours the first day you just have two extra hours docked... unless they're also switching boarding time.

 

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[bronzey214]

We're on the same cruise and seriously looking at rescheduling now. The loss of a 12 hour port day is significant and this is the third cruise in a row we've been on with NCL that's been shifted or outright cancelled. An explanation would be nice but it feels like we were bumped for a bigger boat.

[IrieBajan54]

The docking space must have gone to another ship. Those islands are very close so the Epic will simply be going in circles for the extra sea day.

Edited August 2, 2019 by IrieBajan54
correction

[Oakman58]

Our 11 day Epic cruise out of San Juan on Jan 26th has been changed too.

[Snappykins]

Do they ever offer credits for these type of changes?  I'm guessing I could cancel and look for another cruise.  Already booked a hotel room in San Juan though, so I'd be limited to ships leaving from there.

[bronzey214]

You'll get your port fees back but that's it.

[smplybcause]

If they were it would have been in the letter. If there's a difference in the port fees you paid and the fees for the new itinerary you'd get money back. No refund if no difference.

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[dznymom]

That is definitely disappointing.  For me, losing Bonaire (my favorite) and cutting Curacao so short would be enough for me to look for another cruise.  

 

I would never book a hotel I couldn't cancel this far out.  Now, of course, airfare is a different story.  Hopefully there is something else departing San Juan that will be more appealing to you.

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, Snappykins said:

Do they ever offer credits for these type of changes?  I'm guessing I could cancel and look for another cruise.  Already booked a hotel room in San Juan though, so I'd be limited to ships leaving from there.

Not for cruises that far out. Did you really book a non-refundable hotel that far out?  Why?  

[cuterlmt]

We are sailing on 3/1, and it doesn't look like ours has changed. Yet....

[smplybcause]

We are sailing on 3/1, and it doesn't look like ours has changed. Yet....

I'm on the 3/8 sailing and got the email earlier.

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[Stlcardsfan79]

We are on the Breakaway in Feb out of Port Canaveral, received email today say that due to berthing issues instead of St Thomas we will be going to San Juan.  One couple going with is not happy with the change. Any thoughts on San Juan vs St Thomas? 

[bearette]

San Juan is still recovering from the Hurricane, but as I understand the tourist zones, that bring the money, are up and running. You have to go farther out for beaches,but there is the rain forest, fort to tour, as well as the Bacardi Factory. I don't think that is a change to get upset over. San Juan is a great port, too.

[PoofCat99]

We are on the Epic the week before & just got notice that Phillipsburg St. Maarten is canceled in favor of Tortola. It's far enough out we are considering a different cruise. 

[esm54687]

but on the plus side....... having Nationwide Trip Insurance with port change coverage...... it's a win financially 

[Nola26]

We are on the March 1st sailing, but no email or revised itinerary. We can cancel and may just do that this far out. I'd actually like to take a Christmas cruise so may flip it anyway.

Edited August 3, 2019 by Nola26

[sverigecruiser]

The OP may be disappointed but it's a minor change of the itinerary.

 

I should like to get a second seaday.

[negn]

We are on the Jan 25 Epic cruise and we’re also informed Bonaire was eliminated and sea day replaced it.   Wonder what the problem is as all these cruises seem to have dropped it.  Personally glad for a sea day as was so port intensive.   They also removed St Marten and replaced it with Tortola which I love

[Oakman58]

3 minutes ago, negn said:

We are on the Jan 25 Epic cruise and we’re also informed Bonaire was eliminated and sea day replaced it.   Wonder what the problem is as all these cruises seem to have dropped it.  Personally glad for a sea day as was so port intensive.   They also removed St Marten and replaced it with Tortola which I love

 

Port intensive is one of the reasons we booked this cruise.  We're not fans of the Epic and really didn't want sea days on her.  The other reason we booked her is we wanted to visit the ABC islands.  Now we visit the A_C islands.  I'm OK with the changes but we are going on the January 26th cruise with two other couples so if they want to cancel we probably will too.

[newmexicoNita]

12 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

Our 11 day Epic cruise out of San Juan on Jan 26th has been changed too.

other than port fees, no credits are offered. I can understand why and we all need to realize itineraries do change from time to time: there are several reasons for this. It happens on all lines. Our granddaughter just had it happen twice on the same RCI cruise. 

[bronzey214]

10 hours ago, Stlcardsfan79 said:

We are on the Breakaway in Feb out of Port Canaveral, received email today say that due to berthing issues instead of St Thomas we will be going to San Juan.  One couple going with is not happy with the change. Any thoughts on San Juan vs St Thomas? 

San Juan was actually one of the reasons we booked this cruise. We were there for 8 hours during a different cruise and fell in love with the island and wanted to spend some more time there.

[dam64]

For me I would cancel the cruise if I was not in final, I love those ports and have another cruise booked with those ports and if it happened to me I would cancel look for another cruise or cruise line whoever had the ports I wanted. Simple.

[Sweetnspicy]

16 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

Our 11 day Epic cruise out of San Juan on Jan 26th has been changed too.

 

Im on this cruise as well. I’m a little relieved Bonaire is now an extra sea day. A 7am-1pm port time is such a small window for such a big ship like the epic. It takes so long to get off the ship as is! I’m interested in our change from St.Maarteen to Tortola. Tortola had significant damage from hurricanes in 2017 and a lot of resorts won’t be open until this fall.