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Spirit - Alaska Itinerary change notice

CruzCra-Z

By CruzCra-Z,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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jdc987

jdc987

Posted
Posted
48 minutes ago, CruzCra-Z said:

just received and email from NCL that my may cruise has changed out Inside Passage Day to an "at sea" day. It said "Norwegian Spirit will no longer cruise the Inside Passage."  No further info...  Does anyone know any reasons why? 

I posted on Facebook groups asking same question.  One replied his July cruise also cancelled it.

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AusWeav

AusWeav

Posted
Posted

We're very bummed about this.  We're cruising on May 24th and were looking forward to the Inside Passage as one of the highlights of the trip! 

I saw online that the Spirit is an older ship and it may have something to do with the emissions - but wouldn't they have known this earlier?

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jdc987

jdc987

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53 minutes ago, AusWeav said:

We're very bummed about this.  We're cruising on May 24th and were looking forward to the Inside Passage as one of the highlights of the trip! 

I saw online that the Spirit is an older ship and it may have something to do with the emissions - but wouldn't they have known this earlier?

Yes, I agree.  I do wonder (hope) if they will modify the route to go inside at the alaska border for Icy point?  I will cross my fingers...

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jdc987

jdc987

Posted
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12 minutes ago, AusWeav said:

My travel agent just called us and said he was told by NCL that it was due to ice.  He was told that it is expected to be too icy to navigate and they had to make a call - for safety. 

Not!  I don't believe this for a minute, all the other ships are ok, including their own Jewel?

 

Thanks for posting your correspondence. 

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www3traveler Holiday Sharing Rare

www3traveler

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, AusWeav said:

My travel agent just called us and said he was told by NCL that it was due to ice.  He was told that it is expected to be too icy to navigate and they had to make a call - for safety. 

I doubt that.  A call like that would be made by the Captain on a cruise by cruise basis.  If I had to guess because of the additional cruise ship companies sailing to Alaska this year (six new ones), congestion in the narrow strips of waterway spaces might be the issue.  Just as the US National Park Service restricts the number of ships in Glacier Bay at one time, the Canadian government may be restricting the number of ships per day that can sail the Inside Passage.

Edited by www3traveler
add words for clarity
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Topdog52

Topdog52

Posted
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2 hours ago, jdc987 said:

Not!  I don't believe this for a minute, all the other ships are ok, including their own Jewel?

 

Thanks for posting your correspondence. 

I was on the Bliss last May, and they had to turn around because of ice. Before they made the call to turn around, we went past a couple. I think the biggest part of the iceberg was under the water.

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GeezerCouple Holiday Sharing Rare

GeezerCouple

Posted
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19 minutes ago, Topdog52 said:

I was on the Bliss last May, and they had to turn around because of ice. Before they made the call to turn around, we went past a couple. I think the biggest part of the iceberg was under the water.

 

An iceberg in the Inside Passage!??

 

GC

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CruzCra-Z

CruzCra-Z

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On 2/24/2023 at 12:52 PM, AusWeav said:

We're very bummed about this.  We're cruising on May 24th and were looking forward to the Inside Passage as one of the highlights of the trip! 

I saw online that the Spirit is an older ship and it may have something to do with the emissions - but wouldn't they have known this earlier?

I saw this as well.  The newer ships aren't cancelled because they have cleaner emissions.  I'm sure NCL knew this well in advance since I've seen mention of it from over a year ago.  I'd like to think that they've been in some sort of negotiation or maybe trying to make the older ships "cleaner' but seems like this itinerary was deceptive. It definitely would have been something that may have caused me to book a different date/ship.   Someone mentioned icebergs but people who are booked in July have also received these emails... I can't imagine they proactively try to predict icebergs that far ahead of time. 👀 They should just come out and be honest. I'm fine... I'm going to enjoy my cruise anyway but don't like the vagueness of the itinerary change reason. 

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kitkat343

kitkat343

Posted
Posted (edited)

Are you outside of final payment?  If so, NCL announcing this while people can make changes to their bookings is actually a huge improvement over what they've done on other sailings.  On the January 8th Getaway, they cancelled the DR and morning in Antigua for environmental reasons after final payment.   They continued to advertise and sell this cruise as visiting the DR even after it was cancelled, and didn't let anyone reschedule because they made this change within final payment. There was a Panama Canal cruise that replaced Costa Rica and Nicaragua with Aculpolco for safety reasons (which might be valid for Nicaragua but harder to justify for Costa Rica) and the overnight in Panama was replaced with a short late visit that was too late to see the locks in action from land.  

 

Families should note that the Spirit doesn't have Splash Academy.

 

 

Edited by kitkat343
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kitkat343

kitkat343

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2 minutes ago, hallux said:

Final payment is 180 days before the cruise, the OP is on a May cruise.  No, they aren't outside final payment.

Oh I am sorry to  hear that.  I tried to switch my cruise after they cancelled the DR and took away the morning in Antigua because my kids wanted to have animal experiences that they'd miss in both ports, and NCL wouldn't let me switch.   I guess at this point we can only hope they will change their website and not continue to sell these sailings as going to the Inside Passage after they've cancelled that stop.

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GeezerCouple Holiday Sharing Rare

GeezerCouple

Posted
Posted
8 minutes ago, laudergayle said:

This thread is interesting and I wonder if there is any correlation back to the extra 50% off Alaska Pearl, Spirit Sun offer that some of the CC members have cited receiving this past week.  

 

Are these restricted offers to those receiving them, or is this a general promotion?

And... is it a "real"  50% off, or just "50% off a higher price"?


Thanks!

 

CG

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hallux

hallux

Posted
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3 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

Are these restricted offers to those receiving them, or is this a general promotion?

And... is it a "real"  50% off, or just "50% off a higher price"?


Thanks!

 

CG

They're added to Latitudes accounts (I have those offers).  You book the cruise at the price on the website, then apply it during the payment process.  I was looking - I could book an inside room with no perks on the Jewel in September for under $200 plus taxes and fees.  Oceanview (no perks) is under $300 for the same trip.  And that looks like a great itinerary!

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GeezerCouple Holiday Sharing Rare

GeezerCouple

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, hallux said:

They're added to Latitudes accounts (I have those offers).  You book the cruise at the price on the website, then apply it during the payment process.  I was looking - I could book an inside room with no perks on the Jewel in September for under $200 plus taxes and fees.  Oceanview (no perks) is under $300 for the same trip.  And that looks like a great itinerary!

 

Do you need to have received some sort of official offer such as email?

Or does it just recognize your status, and it is a lower status levels or just higher?

 

ETA:  And is it only for insides?  or also suites? or...?

 

GC

Edited by GeezerCouple
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hallux

hallux

Posted
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36 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

Do you need to have received some sort of official offer such as email?

No email, it just appeared on my account

37 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

Or does it just recognize your status, and it is a lower status levels or just higher?

I reach Gold status on my cruise in 3 weeks so definitely not for higher tiers

37 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

ETA:  And is it only for insides?  or also suites? or...?

50% off the cruise, I was just using inside as that's what I would be shopping..

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bonvoyagie

bonvoyagie

Posted
Posted

There has to be some other explanation for this change, going around the island will burn more fuel so there is no savings there, The Jewel is still shown taking the inside of the island both NB and SB, the Spirit is still shown doing the inside on the NB but not on the SB. My theory is that there are too many other ships in the channel during the SB trip and the Spirit is the odd ship out.

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jdc987

jdc987

Posted
Posted
On 2/26/2023 at 6:42 PM, bonvoyagie said:

There has to be some other explanation for this change, going around the island will burn more fuel so there is no savings there, The Jewel is still shown taking the inside of the island both NB and SB, the Spirit is still shown doing the inside on the NB but not on the SB. My theory is that there are too many other ships in the channel during the SB trip and the Spirit is the odd ship out.

The map shows inside but the itinerary is definitely both outside on Spirit!

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