Important Information from Norwegian Cruise Line: Norwegian Spirit 04.15.2020- 12.07.2020 Cancellation

[mantadiver]

I just got this in my email.  We are bummed.  We were going to sail late August:

 

IMPORTANT NOTIFICATION CANCELLATION

Reservation: xxxxxx   Date: 02/07/2020   Dear Valued Guests and Travel Partners: On behalf of Norwegian Cruise Line, thank you very much for your loyalty and for making us your vacation of choice. Due to growing concerns regarding Coronavirus in Asia, all Norwegian Spirit sailings from April 15, 2020 through December 7, 2020 operating in Asia have been canceled. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this causes. Please be advised that a full refund will be processed automatically to the form of payment provided at the time of booking. As a goodwill gesture, we have arranged for a future cruise credit, worth 10% toward your future cruise, to be issued. This credit will be available within 7 days and can be applied towards any of our currently published sailings if you book a new cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line in the next 45 days. Furthermore, we will cover up to $300 per person for any airfare change fees. Please submit your receipts at www.ncl.com/case-submission. When you are interested in choosing another sailing, please contact Norwegian Cruise Line at 1-866-234-7350 or your travel professional. For any guests booked outside of the U.S. and Canada, please visit www.ncl.com for local contact information. We greatly appreciate your understanding and thank you for choosing Norwegian Cruise Line for your upcoming vacation at sea. We look forward to welcoming you aboard.   Sincerely, Katty Byrd Vice President, Guest Services

[Pauser]

I understand your disappointment, but this seems like the smartest decision. It also doesn't force people to give up their paid-off cruises out of concern for their health. Hopefully the Coronavirus will be resolved/contained before the end of the year, but this seems proactive and in everyone's best interest.  

[Travelers56]

just got the call from our TA -  agree...very disappointed-  but it is in everyone's best interest

we were booked on the 12/7 sailing,  so glad we did not have any $$ into it yet

[tw67]

Have they said where the ship will be going during that time?  

[Markanddonna]

NCL would be wise to switch the sailings on the Star to the  lovely Spirit!! Problem solved! Send the Star to Asia when the problems are resolved.

[Zippeedee]

9 minutes ago, tw67 said:

Have they said where the ship will be going during that time?  

The Spirit is listed as docking in Piraeus Greece until the end of November.  I'm just trying to decide if a 10% credit is enough to get me to plan a replacement cruise within 45 days.

[cybergremlin]

due to sail on the 28th July but as of yet not received any email from NCL.

I have just spoke to them and as usual the person i spoke to didn't know anything about this and said the sailing are still due to go ahead as planned.

[Zippeedee]

Just now, cybergremlin said:

due to sail on the 28th July but as of yet not received any email from NCL.

I have just spoke to them and as usual the person i spoke to didn't know anything about this and said the sailing are still due to go ahead as planned.

It makes no sense but the phone reps are the last to know. If you booked through a TA the email was sent to them.

[MazzyKn]

So why are they still operating Cruises on the Jade in Asia? We are due in Singapore on 25th Feb for the 27 Feb cruise to Dubai. They cancelled the Hong Kong to Singapore part of the cruise, due to the port closure in Hong Kong, but despite Singapore now being on orange alert for Corona Virus, they still intend to operate this cruise.

 

[Nola26]

We were sailing in November with NCL airfare so kind of painless for us. Only put down our CruiseNext certificates for deposit so those will get returned. Loving 10% toward a new cruise. We are coming out ahead if we can find another Latitudes offer to book.

[onetimearoundtheworld]

Not gotten mine yet. Will be interesting to see if the offer through a UK TA will be different. Got two cruises booked b2b that will be cancelled, flight way more expensive and one on ticket, so at least both airlines change fees need to get combined for one $600 refund. Two single FCC that can't be combined and then just 45 days of booking not going to work, as there isn't much interesting to book now and those were booked during the 20% latitudes promotion. 

[cybergremlin]

12 minutes ago, Zippeedee said:

It makes no sense but the phone reps are the last to know. If you booked through a TA the email was sent to them.

 Booked directly with NCL but the flights independently and $300 won't cover the cost of them

 

[DarkJedi]

1 hour ago, Pauser said:

I understand your disappointment, but this seems like the smartest decision. It also doesn't force people to give up their paid-off cruises out of concern for their health. Hopefully the Coronavirus will be resolved/contained before the end of the year, but this seems proactive and in everyone's best interest.  

I agree with it being the smart decision, but until December seems excessive. That would mean the outbreak lasted twice as long as the next longest modern outbreak, and most likely would be a worldwide pandemic leading to total global collapse by that point.

[NLH Arizona]

24 minutes ago, cybergremlin said:

 Booked directly with NCL but the flights independently and $300 won't cover the cost of them

 

What is the change fee from the airline you booked with?  I didn't read it as if they were paying for the flights, just the change fee, so you can reuse them on another trip.

[FLConnie]

20 minutes ago, NLH Arizona said:

What is the change fee from the airline you booked with?  I didn't read it as if they were paying for the flights, just the change fee, so you can reuse them on another trip.

Check your current flight versus what you originally booked before you cancel.  American had changed the time on our return from Tokyo and we were leaving several hours later in the day.  I never did anything about it, so when the cruise was cancelled, I was able to get 100% refund for the air because we had a schedule change.  I just told them it wasn't going to work with the "new" time.  

[eroller]

Probably a very smart move by NCL all things considered, although I can understand anyone's disappointment that was booked on her.  I hope those that were booked can find a suitable replacement.  

 

From a purely selfish standpoint I'm very anxious to hear what her redeployment might be.  It's very unlikely she will be laid up (almost unheard of in the cruise industry) especially after this major refurbishment.  Perhaps European cruises or even sent to North America.  Rates would likely be very attractive due to the very short lead-in time.  I've been turned off to NCL lately, but the SPIRIT is the one ship that could get me back.  Her refurbishment looks amazing and she is a grown-up ship.  Perfect for adults with no kids.  Just the right size too.  I can do without all the rides and attractions on the other NCL ships.  

[FLConnie]

2 minutes ago, eroller said:

Probably a very smart move by NCL all things considered, although I can understand anyone's disappointment that was booked on her.  I hope those that were booked can find a suitable replacement.  

 

From a purely selfish standpoint I'm very anxious to hear what her redeployment might be.  It's very unlikely she will be laid up (almost unheard of in the cruise industry) especially after this major refurbishment.  Perhaps European cruises or even sent to North America.  Rates would likely be very attractive due to the very short lead-in time.  I've been turned off to NCL lately, but the SPIRIT is the one ship that could get me back.  Her refurbishment looks amazing and she is a grown-up ship.  Perfect for adults with no kids.  Just the right size too.  I can do without all the rides and attractions on the other NCL ships.  

Sailing from Athens Greece beginning April 15 through November.

[eroller]

1 minute ago, FLConnie said:

Sailing from Athens Greece beginning April 15 through November.

 

 

We shall see.  Nothing has been officially announced yet.  I'm sure itineraries and a marketing strategy are being worked out as we speak.  

Edited February 7, 2020 by eroller

[FLConnie]

Just now, eroller said:

 

 

We shall see.  Nothing has been officially announced yet.  I'm sure itineraries and a marketing strategy are being worked out as we speak.  

Look at the board for the April sailing.  It was all over yesterday, that's how we found out. A person in Greece posted the updated ships in port in Athens and Spirit was added.

[AliciaandMark]

1 hour ago, MazzyKn said:

So why are they still operating Cruises on the Jade in Asia? We are due in Singapore on 25th Feb for the 27 Feb cruise to Dubai. They cancelled the Hong Kong to Singapore part of the cruise, due to the port closure in Hong Kong, but despite Singapore now being on orange alert for Corona Virus, they still intend to operate this cruise.

 

Agreed. Cancelling a cruise months in advance which I support, but why continue cruising there in the peak of the epidemic?! I’m on that cruise as well and very nervous about heading into the area. Our full comprehensive travel insurance excludes any illness or disruption to do with an “epidemic” so effectively we’d be travelling without insurance on top of it all?! 

[cybergremlin]

29 minutes ago, NLH Arizona said:

What is the change fee from the airline you booked with?  I didn't read it as if they were paying for the flights, just the change fee, so you can reuse them on another trip.

 

I know they are not covering the costs of flights but until i've heard from NCL I'm gonna hold out on speaking to the airline However they don't fly directly to anywhere i would want to go to, so I would then have to find connecting flights as well. 

[eroller]

3 minutes ago, FLConnie said:

Look at the board for the April sailing.  It was all over yesterday, that's how we found out. A person in Greece posted the updated ships in port in Athens and Spirit was added.

 

 

I'm not denying it, but nothing has been announced yet.  They have probably secured turnaround space in Athens but are still finalizing itineraries.  Probably not easy to do this late in the game.  Most ports are probably limited in space considering it's peak season in Europe.  Then there is the marketing strategy, and trying to get the highest yields possible with such a short lead-in time.  A challenge for NCL for sure, but still probably better than sending the ship to Asia under such uncertainty.  

[DZcreature]

25 minutes ago, eroller said:

Probably a very smart move by NCL all things considered, although I can understand anyone's disappointment that was booked on her.  I hope those that were booked can find a suitable replacement.  

 

From a purely selfish standpoint I'm very anxious to hear what her redeployment might be.  It's very unlikely she will be laid up (almost unheard of in the cruise industry) especially after this major refurbishment.  Perhaps European cruises or even sent to North America.  Rates would likely be very attractive due to the very short lead-in time.  I've been turned off to NCL lately, but the SPIRIT is the one ship that could get me back.  Her refurbishment looks amazing and she is a grown-up ship.  Perfect for adults with no kids.  Just the right size too.  I can do without all the rides and attractions on the other NCL ships.  

 

I agree that this looks like a great ship for adults, and am glad to hear they won't be sending this newly refurbished ship to Asia. We cruised on Spirit back in 2010 Boston to Bermuda, and would love to see it come back to Boston. Would be fun for Bermuda or Bahamas and Florida or longer trips to the Caribbean.

[smplybcause]

1 hour ago, DarkJedi said:

I agree with it being the smart decision, but until December seems excessive. That would mean the outbreak lasted twice as long as the next longest modern outbreak, and most likely would be a worldwide pandemic leading to total global collapse by that point.

 

Through December might be a more logistics thing. They'd have to do the repositioning cruise to get Spirit over there. There could be bad times of the year to make that cruise, or bad times of the year to get people to book that cruise. It might have just been better to just move it for the whole year vs trying to guess when they could reposition it. 

 

The coronavirus was the impetus for rerouting her, but I'm betting it was logistics and historical data that dictated 8 months of cancellations. 

Edited February 7, 2020 by smplybcause

[eroller]

7 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

 

 

The coronavirus was the impetus for rerouter her, but I'm betting it was logistics and historical data that dictated 8 months of cancellations. 

 

I would agree. Plus you don’t want to keep repositioning a ship.  It creates uncertainty in the marketplace and the actual repositioning cruises tend to be money losers.  I’m sure they decided that canceling the entire season was for the best on all fronts.  For all we know the ship may do something completely different even after the canceled Asia season.  Time will tell.