June 29 Baltic Cruise: New Itinerary

[Debbers]

Today we received the updated itinerary for this cruise (Oslo to Copenhagen).  Obviously the Russian ports are deleted.  Stockholm is now an overnight, Riga is replacing Gdansk, and Copenhagen will be an overnight.  This suits us very well, assuming it will be safe to cruise the Baltic at all.  

 

[ToxM]

Ample time to visit the Vasa museum in Stockholm which is totally amazing and one of my favourite places in the world 🙂

[ReaderGirl57]

We received the new itinerary for our August 24th Copenhagen to Stockholm Marina Baltic Cruise. We were to have 3 days in SPB, so they had three days to make up.  We now will have an extra day in both Copenhagen and Stockholm and the addition of Kiel, Germany. We are still going to Gdansk so they are not eliminating Poland for security reasons. They have also extended final payment until 60 days before the cruise and no penalty for cancelling until then. We are taking a wait and see attitude. We have cancelled this cruise twice and are willing to go with the altered itinerary as long as we aren’t cruising near a war zone. And we are keeping in mind that whether or not this cruise happens for us means little in the scheme of things.

[mrlevin]

I saw on NCL board that they are giving discount on revised Baltic itineraries; is Oceania also giving a discount?

 

thanks,

 

Marc

[Debbers]

1 hour ago, mrlevin said:

I saw on NCL board that they are giving discount on revised Baltic itineraries; is Oceania also giving a discount?

 

 

Nothing has been mentioned to me.  My TA mentioned the possibility of a bonus, but I have no idea what that might be.

 

[ReaderGirl57]

I am dealing directly with Oceania and they haven’t mentioned a discount to me either.

[Jancruz]

9 hours ago, Debbers said:

Today we received the updated itinerary for this cruise (Oslo to Copenhagen).  Obviously the Russian ports are deleted.  Stockholm is now an overnight, Riga is replacing Gdansk, and Copenhagen will be an overnight.  This suits us very well, assuming it will be safe to cruise the Baltic at all.  

 

I love the new itin..the extra time in those places is fantastic..

Jancruz1

 

[the mice]

I, too, think the new itinerary is fantastic, although I am truly sorry that circumstances mean that you will miss St. Petersburg, which is such an amazing city.   Since I broke a bone in my foot the night we left St. P, I never did get to see Stockholm, so I would love if they do such an itinerary without St. Petersburg in the future because I would love to see more of the Baltics without returning to St. P.

[susiesan]

Those new itineraries are good. So far NCL has not revised my Aug. 16 Dawn Stockholm to Amsterdam. It still shows 2 days at sea in place of SPB. Hopefully NCLH will get to NCL brand itinerary changes soon. I understand why they would take care of Oceania customers first as they are paying a lot more for their Baltic cruises.

[Pet]

Our Marina cruise on 4 Sept is now doing two nights in Tallinn, Riga and Visby in Sweden instead of St Petersburg and Kleipeda. More or less happy with those change as they are new ports and have done St P a couple of times. Also an extra month to pay balance.

 

On the question of discounts I wonder if the port taxes are less in the new ports? If so we should indeed get some form of refund?

 

[readytogo54321]

Baltic cruises with St. Petersburg on the itinerary has been priced at a premium because of the desirability of its historical and cultural attractions. Riga and Visby are nice to visit but not comparable. That is probably why NCL is "issuing a discount of 20% off the voyage fare to all guests." [See letter below] I  think that Oceania should offer something similar -- more than just the port taxes and fees adjustment. Aren't they both part of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.?

 

 

Dear Valued Guest, On behalf of Norwegian Cruise Line, thank you very much for your patronage and loyalty and for making us your cruise vacation of choice.  As previously communicated on February 24, 2022, the health, safety and security of our guests, crew and communities we visit is our top priority. Due to the escalated situation between Russia and Ukraine we made the decision to alter itineraries and remove calls to St. Petersburg, Russia from our sailings for the remainder of the year. We continue to work diligently to confirm replacement ports and hope to have a new itinerary confirmed for you within the next 7 days. We will advise all impacted guests and travel advisors as soon as possible. We share your disappointment and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, but also hope you can understand the necessity of this action. As a result of this unforeseen circumstance, we will be issuing a discount of 20% off the voyage fare to all guests. No further action is required. If you have paid for your reservation in full, the value of the 20% discount will be refunded and processed within 30 business days to the original form of payment used at the time of reservation. If you have not yet paid for your reservation in full, the discount will be automatically applied to your reservation within 30 business days.  In addition, please be sure to visit www.ncl.com/travel-requirements-by-country and check back often to stay up to date about cruise destination specific travel requirements for your upcoming cruise vacation.   We are looking forward to welcoming you onboard for your long-awaited vacation at sea. If you have any questions, please contact us at (866) 234-7350 (U.S. and Canada) or visit us at www.ncl.com. For guests residing outside of the U.S. and Canada, please visit www.ncl.com for local contact information.
Sincerely, Katty Byrd Senior Vice President, Guest Services

[brittany12]

Also big fuel savings for cruiselines not having to travel that distance to SPB, and probably port docking fees. It should be reflected in pricing.

[LHT28]

maybe their fuel prices will be rising now they there are no cheap ports to buy fuel

Scandinavia has high fuel costs

Even now our gas prices are close to $2 a Litre 😲

[Lane412000]

Travel agent told me that Oceania will not follow the NCL lead with regards to a 20% discount on the cruise fare.  What a bummer if that is true

[Host Jazzbeau]

Oceania has never broken out port costs and therefore has never refunded them when ports get cancelled.  Also, read the T&C:  most cruise lines have a clause in the T&C that allows them to raise fares if fuel goes over a certain level (which it is definitely over); they haven't taken advantage of this in recent years, but the current fuel prices could lead them to reactivate it.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/6812/

[susiesan]

NCL sent me the revised cruise for Aug. 16 on Dawn. They added Visby, Sweden and an overnight with 2 days in Helsinki in place of 2 days in SPB. I am pleased. I will also get a 20% discount off the cruise fare when I make the final payment.  The FP date has not been extended, is at 120 days. I will use the discount to bid on an upgrade from an inside to outside as Iexpect the ship won't be very full.

 

After this NCL cruise I am back booked on Oceania for December. It will be interesting to compare 2 NCLH brands in close together time frames. 

[susiesan]

This is my new itinerary on NCL Dawn, similar to what Oceania is doing by adding overnights. Time to start planning independent shore ex.😉

 

Tue, Aug 16 Stockholm, Sweden   5:00pm  Wed, Aug 17 Helsinki, Finland 10:00am    Thu, Aug 18 Helsinki, Finland   4:00pm  Fri, Aug 19 Visby, Sweden 7:00am 4:00pm  Sat, Aug 20 Tallinn, Estonia 7:00am 5:00pm  Sun, Aug 21 Klaipeda, Lithuania 11:00am 8:00pm  Mon, Aug 22 Gdansk (Gdynia), Poland 7:00am 2:00pm  Tue, Aug 23 Berlin (Warnemunde), Germany 6:00am 9:00pm  Wed, Aug 24 Copenhagen, Denmark 10:00am 6:00pm  Thu, Aug 25 At Sea       Fri, Aug 26 Amsterdam, Holland 6:00am

[Mura]

On 3/8/2022 at 2:28 AM, Jancruz said:

I love the new itin..the extra time in those places is fantastic..

Jancruz1

 

I agree with Jan.  While I would miss St. Petersburg (and any other russian ports) extra time in Stockholm and CPH is always welcome.  When we did the Baltic cruise (on Ren way back when -- had breakfast with Jan and Stu at our hotel in Stockholm) we overnighted in St. P, but only had day ports in Stockholm and CPH. And we'd welcome Gdansk as well. And totally agree about visiting the Vasa Museum.

 

When we were there, we discovered that across the street from the Vasa was a wonderful folk arts museum just opposite.  Well worth a visit there as well if you have the time.

 

Mura

[no fuss travel]

On 3/9/2022 at 10:28 AM, LHT28 said:

maybe their fuel prices will be rising now they there are no cheap ports to buy fuel

Scandinavia has high fuel costs

Even now our gas prices are close to $2 a Litre 😲

Good thing you don’t live in BC. Where I live 2.19 per litre

[PhD-iva]

Sounds like California! 🤯

[Kate-AHF]

We are on the Sirena Baltics Sept 2022 for 14 days (9/17- 10/1).  Removed SPB, now overnight in Stockhom (yay!) and a visit to Kiel, Germany (meh).  We got an email from our TA with a revised invoice that reflected a discount a little over $500 (total).  In addition to the later final payment date.

[susiesan]

NCL had 2 ships doing Baltic itineraries this year, Getaway and Dawn. They have cancelled all sailings on Getaway, the larger ship, from May through October. It appears that there were so many cancellations After SPB was dropped that the economics of running 2 ships in the Baltic didn't make sense. It will be interesting  to see if Oceania follows NCL.