Escape 10-2-2022 Just cancelled!

[hurley7]

They just cancelled our cruise.  Does anyone have any additional information as to why the Escape is going to dry dock unexpectedly?

 

[Steff79]

they cancelled from sept. 8th the cruises because of dry dock.

i think that is because of the ground contact but don´t know it.

[HBCcruiser]

How did you get notified?

[hurley7]

Received an email from NCL.  So disappointing.  

 

[HBCcruiser]

Just now, hurley7 said:

Received an email from NCL.  So disappointing.  

 

We are on the same cruise but have not received anything yet. I am reaching out to my TA to see what she knows. Are they giving us FCC? Can you post a photo of the letter? 

 

[hurley7]

Dear Valued Guests and Travel Partners:  On behalf of Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), we thank you for your loyalty and for making us your vacation of choice. We have important information regarding Norwegian Escape voyages from September 8, 2022, through and including October 2, 2022. Travel partners should share the below information with guests who may be affected.   As a result of a required ship dry-dock, all voyages on Norwegian Escape from September 8, 2022, through and including October 2, 2022, have been canceled. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. A full monetary refund of the fare paid will be automatically returned to the form of payment provided at the time of reservation. No further action is required; your refund will be automatically processed within 30 business days. You will see the refund returned to the original form of payment in seven to 10 business days from the processed date. The visibility of the funds is dependent on each financial institution's internal policies.  For those reservations paid via a previously issued Future Cruise Credit (FCC), 100% of the FCC used will be automatically re-applied to your Latitudes account. No further action is required; the FCC will be automatically added to the account within seven days of the cancelation date.  To further compensate you for this change, we have also issued a 10% discount in the form of an FCC for a future voyage. This credit may be used through June 13, 2023 and can be applied towards any of our published sailings through June 13, 2023. The FCC will be available on June 13, 2022.  If you are interested in selecting another sailing for your upcoming vacation, please contact us at 1-800-327-7030 or your travel professional. Guests residing outside of the U.S. or Canada should visit www.ncl.com for local contact information.  We sincerely appreciate your understanding and look forward to welcoming you aboard very soon.
Sincerely, Katty Byrd Senior Vice President, Guest Services

[goodml]

They made sure they collected final payment though the day before they pulled this sailing down plus the two before it. I was price checking yesterday morning and could pull up available cabins (and there were lots) and then the sailing disappeared. I knew then it would be cancelled. Just like our last one that got turfed.
 

I get the reason for the cancellation but seriously, couldn’t they have done it before collecting final?  And then there’s nonrefundable airfare, hotels etc. No option to transfer funds to another sailing. Pay out of pocket again and wait for the refund. The last one took 5 months. I’m so annoyed right now. They can stuff their paltry 10%

[HBCcruiser]

1 minute ago, goodml said:

They can stuff their paltry 10%

I agree! They should at least offer to rebook us on the same cruise next year like Princess and Royal do. The 10% and FCC run out in June '23! 

[smplybcause]

7 minutes ago, goodml said:

They made sure they collected final payment though the day before they pulled this sailing down plus the two before it. I was price checking yesterday morning and could pull up available cabins (and there were lots) and then the sailing disappeared. I knew then it would be cancelled. Just like our last one that got turfed.
 

I get the reason for the cancellation but seriously, couldn’t they have done it before collecting final?  And then there’s nonrefundable airfare, hotels etc. No option to transfer funds to another sailing. Pay out of pocket again and wait for the refund. The last one took 5 months. I’m so annoyed right now. They can stuff their paltry 10%

 

Where were you price checking? Those 3 cruises were pulled off NCL's site this weekend, but starting last Thursday if you clicked on the 3 sailings it said sold out even though the page before had a price. If it wasn't an NCL site I'd make note that they don't update as frequently. 

[goodml]

1 hour ago, HBCcruiser said:

We are on the same cruise but have not received anything yet. I am reaching out to my TA to see what she knows. Are they giving us FCC? Can you post a photo of the letter? 

 

We got our email around 1:10 pm ET but a TA had posted it earlier on an Escape Facebook page. 

[hallux]

1 hour ago, goodml said:

I get the reason for the cancellation but seriously, couldn’t they have done it before collecting final?

it's possible they didn't know the exact dates of the dry dock until they cancelled the cruises.  If you think about it - there's always SOMEONE on the "couldn't they have figured this out x days sooner and avoided taking our final payment?" train.  I'm not sure EXACTLY how they're scheduled into dry dock, especially an off-cycle one as this seems to be, but I imagine the cruise line notifies the yard that they want a dry dock scheduled, a time frame they'd prefer it to be in and for how long it needs to be in for and the yard then finds a spot in the schedule to get it done.  They can't book them TOO long in advance - sometimes a ship may take a little longer than planned so they can't book too far in advance or they risk having to reschedule too many ships and throwing a lot of business off schedule.

[hurley7]

There is a Celebrity ship leaving Rome the same day if that helps anyone with non refundable airfare. 

 

[goodml]

35 minutes ago, hallux said:

it's possible they didn't know the exact dates of the dry dock until they cancelled the cruises.  If you think about it - there's always SOMEONE on the "couldn't they have figured this out x days sooner and avoided taking our final payment?" train.  I'm not sure EXACTLY how they're scheduled into dry dock, especially an off-cycle one as this seems to be, but I imagine the cruise line notifies the yard that they want a dry dock scheduled, a time frame they'd prefer it to be in and for how long it needs to be in for and the yard then finds a spot in the schedule to get it done.  They can't book them TOO long in advance - sometimes a ship may take a little longer than planned so they can't book too far in advance or they risk having to reschedule too many ships and throwing a lot of business off schedule.

I’ve been sailing a long time. I know it takes time to book a dry dock.  My point was that the Oct 2 sailing went from many cabins available to sold out in a day just before final payment. Then they pulled it entirely Saturday which was final payment day.  They knew exactly what they were doing. 
 

 

[goodml]

2 hours ago, smplybcause said:

 

Where were you price checking? Those 3 cruises were pulled off NCL's site this weekend, but starting last Thursday if you clicked on the 3 sailings it said sold out even though the page before had a price. If it wasn't an NCL site I'd make note that they don't update as frequently. 

So I haven’t posted here in years and forgot you can’t mention sites so my previous reply was deleted. Anyway the point was, the ship didn’t go from many available cabins to sold out in one day. I’ve watched the pricing for our group daily. I also know NCLs pattern prior to cancellation.

 

It sucks that they won’t let us just shift the funds to a new voyage around the same date but rather have to put out all the funds again if we still want to go and then wait for them to decide to refund us. We waited a very long time for our refunds the last time they cancelled us. I’m not impressed. 

Edited June 6, 2022 by goodml

[HBCcruiser]

1 minute ago, goodml said:

shift the funds to a new voyage around the same date

Yes! Lift and Shift to the same category! Unfortunately, we were in the Haven 2bd suite.

I am not interested in any of the other current sailings. Perhaps in a year or 2. 

[hallux]

9 minutes ago, goodml said:

They knew exactly what they were doing.

and you're getting your money back within a month plus an FCC credited to your account.  What, exactly, does it 'buy' NCL to take your final payment only to turn around and refund your payment?  Not everything is done with nefarious intentions.  They closed the bookings so people wouldn't book only to turn around and get canceled 24 hours later.

[goodml]

6 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

Yes! Lift and Shift to the same category! Unfortunately, we were in the Haven 2bd suite.

I am not interested in any of the other current sailings. Perhaps in a year or 2. 

Sorry to hear that HB. It’s a bummer for sure. We’re coming from North America so have the airfare already so will find something. Not with NCL though. I gave them another chance and they got me again. Won’t give them another opportunity. 

[HBCcruiser]

Just now, goodml said:

Sorry to hear that HB. It’s a bummer for sure. We’re coming from North America so have the airfare already so will find something. Not with NCL though. I gave them another chance and they got me again. Won’t give them another opportunity. 

I totally understand. Luckily we did not book flights. I am looking into other lines for Greek Isles as well. The Haven prices have skyrocketed! 

[ChiefMateJRK]

It makes perfect sense for them to wait for final payment to cancel.  Many folks hold bookings with deposits and never make final payment.  Why would NCL want to pay out a bunch more FCC to those folks?

 

(disclaimer: I am certainly among "those folks."  I book early and often and generally sort things out just before final payment.)

[ChiefMateJRK]

3 hours ago, goodml said:

Pay out of pocket again and wait for the refund. The last one took 5 months.

Then it was your own fault.  As soon as they cancelled you could contest the charge with your credit card and you would have the funds available again within a week or two.

[goodml]

23 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

It makes perfect sense for them to wait for final payment to cancel.  Many folks hold bookings with deposits and never make final payment.  Why would NCL want to pay out a bunch more FCC to those folks?

 

(disclaimer: I am certainly among "those folks."  I book early and often and generally sort things out just before final payment.)

What FCC would that be? There’s no FCC -they’re processing refunds for the next 30 days. That doesn’t even make sense.

[goodml]

23 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Then it was your own fault.  As soon as they cancelled you could contest the charge with your credit card and you would have the funds available again within a week or two.

Absolutely false. For Covid cancellations that worked for some people at some US banks -not all. It did not work where I’m from and I’m a senior officer at a bank. Where the companies agreed to provide refunds you had to wait out their process regardless of how long it took. I finally got Katty Byrd to help find the issue for 12 of us and it got sorted 5 months later. 
 

Nice job telling me this is my fault though. How goofy. My only mistake was giving them another chance.

[ChiefMateJRK]

19 minutes ago, goodml said:

What FCC would that be?

The 10% "bonus."  I've benefitted from a number of those.  Just do the math.  10% off a $5000 cruise is how much?

[BklynBorn47]

I’m not surprised by the early return to drydock.  We were on the Escape on the cruise from Rome on May 11. 
From my diary:
Sudden medical emergency (Code Alpha) to disembark a seriously ill passenger. Very quick turn around and fast 20 kt speed back to Civitavecchia. Another sudden turn and stop – massive vibration.  Our cabin is in the stern so we really felt it.  After passenger evacuated, we resumed old course toward Santorini.
Then CODE BRAVO – Crew to deck 1 & 2 compartment 16.
Captain “A situation in a technical area in engineering. We are stopped assessing the situation”

We were given regular updates and by 8:30 things were “under control” and normal operations resumed.  However, because of the delay we could not keep Santorini on the schedule.  We would have a sea day and go directly to Athens. 
 

The rest of the cruise proceeded as scheduled.  We figured the emergency maneuver damaged the repair from the DR accident but after Athens we continued to sail at normal speed.  Obviously, certain damage requires early dry dock repair.  Safety first as they say.

Note: the passenger evacuated was treated for “heart issues” in Italy and is OK. 

[chengkp75]

According to statutory timelines, the Escape should have done her "mid-term" (half way between 5 year drydocks) underwater inspection this year.  Because of the damage done in the grounding, the class society is obviously not going to allow just an underwater survey in lieu of drydocking, so to dock it is.  I won't make comments on customer service, never have, not my wheelhouse, but yes, a drydock  slot, especially when NCL was not considering it until after the grounding repairs required it, could come up suddenly, as other ships' plans change and space becomes available.  

 

23 minutes ago, BklynBorn47 said:

Then CODE BRAVO – Crew to deck 1 & 2 compartment 16.
Captain “A situation in a technical area in engineering. We are stopped assessing the situation”

This would be a smoke or fire detector in the azipod space, which could mean a burning of a motor, or the azimuthing brakes (I believe it was RCI's Quantum that burned out the azimuth brakes during a storm), but the emergency turn would not have caused this, it would be a malfunction.  These are not drydocking repairs, but along with the hull damage, it might account for some of the timeline, as 4 weeks seems a bit long.