NCL CRUISE ITINERARY SIGNIFICANT CHANGE - HELP!

[sverigecruiser]

9 hours ago, Montanagirlalways said:

Very sorry as I know how it feels to be excited and looking forward to your ports. NCL really slapped us with a major change last spring going from NY to Southampton. They had an “unexpected “ change to go into dry dock early. So they cut 2 ports and dumped us 2 days early. They informed us if this change 1 week prior to cruise and on Friday eve of Easter holiday. Talk about a mess. People scrambled to change excursions. Then a few days prior to sailing they decided they would change to the ports they said we would miss and cancel the other ports. Again a scramble to change. It was a total debacle. Many people found it hard to believe these were unexpected changes for going into dry dock

good luck to all of u. 

 

That was a major change of the itinerary.

[newmexicoNita]

14 hours ago, Isabella Benjamin said:

I wonder how much  NCL saves in port fees for every day they switch to just a sea day?

They probably save nothing. Port fees are passed onto the consumer and are based on how many people on the ship. I think we all have to understand, though many do book a cruise based on itinerary or probably most of us do, stuff happens. Our granddaughter was on an RCI cruise a couple of years ago, for no reason that they knew of, 2 ports, Bonaire and they were even notified until they boarder the ship. 

[belchro22]

Does anyone know if any itinerary changes have been made to the March 22 sailing of the Epic? I ask because we are sailing on the January 26th and even though we have received email of change the itinerary has not been updated on NCL website. Others in my family are on the March 22 sailing. 

[teresaandvince]

On 8/4/2019 at 7:12 AM, Sailing12Away said:

You think that's bad.... our 11 day sailing on Jan 5th is losing 3 ports and only getting replaced with one - Tortola. We lost Bonaire, St. Maartin, and St. Thomas in exchange for 2 extra "relaxing sea days" and Tortola.

 

As someone else mentioned already, we intentionally booked this sailing for the port heavy itinerary and low number of sea days. I hate sea days. Was curious to see if sailings on other dates were changed as well, and it seems almost random as to which ports were changed - unless some people didn't read their emails correctly.

 

Literally just got home from the POA an hour ago, so waiting for customer service to open up and give them a call regarding our options. We booked this trip in May 2018 - so we got a great deal with tons of perks. If I have to rebook now for a different sailing to keep the ports I want, it will probably not be worth it.

 

Plus we were planning on grabbing more cruise next certificates in January as we are now out of them. If I had to completely change my trip and rebook a new cruise, it would have been better to do it while I was literally just onboard and entitled to those perks when you book while on a current cruise. Not a happy camper right now...

We are also going to do the Jan. 5 sailing. We have not booked yet and just checked the website and they are still showing original itinerary. I wish they would update the website with the changes so we know exactly what we are getting in case we want to change. 

 

[smplybcause]

Does anyone know if any itinerary changes have been made to the March 22 sailing of the Epic? I ask because we are sailing on the January 26th and even though we have received email of change the itinerary has not been updated on NCL website. Others in my family are on the March 22 sailing. 

The March 8 sailing got changed so my guess is very likely. It seems like practically, if not every, epic sailing got changed.

 

Did they book with a TA?

 

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

 

 

[Sweetnspicy]

On 8/2/2019 at 4:13 PM, 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. 

[Sweetnspicy]

Okay this may be a dumb question but is the Epic too big to dock in some of these places? I have sailed the epic before but it was a pretty standard route. I know we can always Tender to port but I wonder if maybe the islands don’t want the Epic there? 

[GA Dave]

I have to wonder if the quickly growing number of cruise ships is going to make this problem more common?  I cannot imagine that, financially, this is a win for NCL.  People will eat, drink, use facilities, etc. much more on a sea day than a port day.  It also adds additional strain on their crew members being at sea rather than in port.  With the number of new ships skyrocketing across the industry, and the port facilities at most of the Caribbean islands not being upgraded, there has to be a point where the host countries say "sorry, we can only handle XX,XXX passengers per day and we would rather get that number from two berthed mega ships rather than six smaller ones". 

[ray98]

20 hours ago, Isabella Benjamin said:

I wonder how much  NCL saves in port fees for every day they switch to just a sea day?

 

The same amount the refund to the passengers since that is who pays it.

[CruisingSince1982]

On 8/2/2019 at 9:22 PM, cuterlmt said:

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

 

We were, and changed to the Encore. Too many issues with them changing itineraries. 

[Zippeedee]

17 hours ago, Montanagirlalways said:

Snappykins. Our trip insurinsurance didn’t cover anything. We had plans in Europe and the $600 covered our extra expenses but I am sure others had higher expenses and maybe trip insurance May have helped those extra costs. 

Trip insurance varies by state. Nationwide Luxury Cruise insurance, available in MA paid $1250 for the "port change announced before boarding".  I do wonder how much longer they will be willing to offer this coverage for NCL cruises with all of their recent unexplained changes.

Edited August 5, 2019 by Zippeedee

[Snappykins]

3 hours ago, belchro22 said:

Does anyone know if any itinerary changes have been made to the March 22 sailing of the Epic? I ask because we are sailing on the January 26th and even though we have received email of change the itinerary has not been updated on NCL website. Others in my family are on the March 22 sailing. 

I don't have an answer to your question, but when we called to question the change on our sailing, the customer service rep stated the website takes a week to update (!) but if you call NCL directly, they do have the most up to date information on them.

[Montanagirlalways]

34 minutes ago, Zippeedee said:

Trip insurance varies by state. Nationwide Luxury Cruise insurance, available in MA paid $1250 for the "port change announced before boarding".  I do wonder how much longer they will be willing to offer this coverage for NCL cruises with all of their recent unexplained changes.

Since NCL compensated some for missing 2 ports and we were able to cancel excursions the insurance we bought with the recommended sources on cruise critic said they would not reimburse more. 

 

[Snappykins]

1 hour ago, GA Dave said:

I have to wonder if the quickly growing number of cruise ships is going to make this problem more common?  I cannot imagine that, financially, this is a win for NCL.  People will eat, drink, use facilities, etc. much more on a sea day than a port day.  It also adds additional strain on their crew members being at sea rather than in port.  With the number of new ships skyrocketing across the industry, and the port facilities at most of the Caribbean islands not being upgraded, there has to be a point where the host countries say "sorry, we can only handle XX,XXX passengers per day and we would rather get that number from two berthed mega ships rather than six smaller ones". 

You make several good points to ponder!  Only time will tell?

[Tinyturtle22]

1 hour ago, Sweetnspicy said:

Okay this may be a dumb question but is the Epic too big to dock in some of these places? I have sailed the epic before but it was a pretty standard route. I know we can always Tender to port but I wonder if maybe the islands don’t want the Epic there? 

No it’s not too big. I did the ABC route on the Getaway for a special sailing and it was the largest ship to have ever docked in a couple of the ports. Epic drafts a little deeper but I don’t think that’s the issue.

 

im on the January 26th and a few of the other sailings in the fall 2020 and I haven’t been able to get a straight answer as to what really happened. Bonaire is my least favorite port in the Caribbean so I don’t mine it being dropped from the January sailing but the December 2020 sailing is a different story since it is a shorter cruise.

 

Tortola was supposed to be the stop when the itinerary for the 26th sailing was originally made but it wasn’t recovered enough from the hurricane so St Maarten was substituted so I’m glad for that change.

Edited August 5, 2019 by Tinyturtle22

[Sailing12Away]

Possibly the most frustrating thing of all.... Epic is still listed to be coming into Bonaire on various websites for the port itself. So I truly don't get why they are changing the itinerary...

 

https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/kralendijk-port-453?tab=schedule&month=2020-01#schedule

[chirpy12345]

Has anyone received this for sailings in December this year?  I haven’t made my final payment and will be canceling if Bonaire is dropped. I booked specifically for Bonaire. 

[CruisingNole]

9 hours ago, GA Dave said:

I have to wonder if the quickly growing number of cruise ships is going to make this problem more common?  I cannot imagine that, financially, this is a win for NCL.  People will eat, drink, use facilities, etc. much more on a sea day than a port day.  It also adds additional strain on their crew members being at sea rather than in port.  With the number of new ships skyrocketing across the industry, and the port facilities at most of the Caribbean islands not being upgraded, there has to be a point where the host countries say "sorry, we can only handle XX,XXX passengers per day and we would rather get that number from two berthed mega ships rather than six smaller ones". 

 

A small Caribbean island that relies almost 100% on tourism dollars to survive would not turn away money. They'll stack those ships on top of each other if they have to. But in all seriousness, if it ever got to that point, I think the cruise lines would be forced to foot the bill to upgrade ports.

[chirpy12345]

24 minutes ago, chirpy12345 said:

Has anyone received this for sailings in December this year?  I haven’t made my final payment and will be canceling if Bonaire is dropped. I booked specifically for Bonaire. 

Just spoke with NCL and Bonaire has been dropped from the 12/8 sailing.  It’s such a first world problem, but I’m crushed. I missed Bonaire in April because I got a bad infection so I booked this one specifically to snorkel in Bonaire. I’ll be canceling. 

Edited August 6, 2019 by chirpy12345

[alwalaska]

On 8/4/2019 at 3:40 PM, Isabella Benjamin said:

I wonder how much  NCL saves in port fees for every day they switch to just a sea day?

Better yet, how much do they gain from the casino, spa, shops, dining, and drinks when people aren't in port?

[bdl729]

My Epic sailing on 12/22/19 was also changed. We leave PR at 9 pm instead of 7 pm and are now going to Tortola instead of St Maarten. I have not received an email but just happened to check my itinerary.

[newmexicoNita]

19 hours ago, GA Dave said:

I have to wonder if the quickly growing number of cruise ships is going to make this problem more common?  I cannot imagine that, financially, this is a win for NCL.  People will eat, drink, use facilities, etc. much more on a sea day than a port day.  It also adds additional strain on their crew members being at sea rather than in port.  With the number of new ships skyrocketing across the industry, and the port facilities at most of the Caribbean islands not being upgraded, there has to be a point where the host countries say "sorry, we can only handle XX,XXX passengers per day and we would rather get that number from two berthed mega ships rather than six smaller ones". 

Very good thinking and add to that the size of the ships. Some ports might have trouble, in fact i know some do handling ships that carry 5000 or so passengers, especially when there are 2 or 3 that size they may want to dock the same day. 

[GA Dave]

3 hours ago, newmexicoNita said:

Very good thinking and add to that the size of the ships. Some ports might have trouble, in fact i know some do handling ships that carry 5000 or so passengers, especially when there are 2 or 3 that size they may want to dock the same day. 

The article linked below shows the ships under construction/on order from just the major cruise lines.  I had seen another list on another site that was even more extensive.

 Cruise Ships On Order

 

And the scary part is that these lines have not been retiring any of their older ships.  The numbers keep growing and growing, but the tiny islands that everyone wants to visit are not getting any larger.  If anything, they are shrinking with the rising sea levels!

Edited August 6, 2019 by GA Dave

[Tigeroy]

Hi-

We are on Jan 26th Epic Cruise too.  We did not get a letter saying there was an Itinerary change.  Did anyone get one?  

We were booked on the Getaway for the same date from NOLA and got a letter stating that cruise was cancelled.  No explanation-just cancelled.  Re-booked with discounts and refunds for airfare changes to the Epic from San Juan.  I've sailed NCL several times and this is the first time experiencing cancellations etc.  I understand that 'stuff' happens but a letter with an itinerary change would have been nice.  This will be my friends first time with NCL and they are already not happy with them.  😪  Oh well...any cruise is a good cruise!  

[Sweetnspicy]

On 8/2/2019 at 4:13 PM, Oakman58 said:

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

 

 

 

 

So as of this morning all the itinerary changes have been made but now we are leaving at 9pm. Im a little cranky about this. We have to check out of our hotel by 11am. I already purchased plane tickets as the prices had dropped dramatically so I can't fly in the day of now. What will I do all day?! 

Edited August 6, 2019 by Sweetnspicy
image added