Please be careful with NCL

[kitkat343]

NCL has been struggling financially, and has been choosing to cancel ports frequently for non-emergency reasons.  The Alaska cruises on the NCL spirit have lost the Inside Passage, and they've also cut a  lot of their Panama Canal cruise ports.

 

On the 1/27  Bliss sailing to the Panama Canal, the port stops in Nicaragua and Costa Rica were cancelled for safety reasons after final payment (which makes sense in Nicaragua but not for Costa Rica) , and replaced with Acapulco and Jamaica.  The port stop in Panama was changed from a full day and overnight and replaced with 4 pm - 11 pm, knocking out shore excursions.

 

There was a recent review written by a lovely couple on the Bliss now, and they lost both Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and  I don't think there was even a stop in Panama to see the locks from the ground, and Cartagena was scheduled from 6 am - 2 pm (back on board by 1:30), which makes it very hard to schedule independent tours or to have enough time to appreciate the beauty of Cartagena.

 

 

If you are on the East Coast, the easiest trip is with Princess, a 10 day partial transit  https://www.princess.com/cruise-search/results/?trade=T&subTrade=TF .  It's a shame that NCL is offering a worse experience for a 15 day full transit than you would have on a partial 10 day transit.

 

 

 

 

 

[njhorseman]

3 hours ago, kitkat343 said:

NCL has been struggling financially,

All the major cruise line holding companies are struggling financially.

3 hours ago, kitkat343 said:

 

There was a recent review written by a lovely couple on the Bliss now, and they lost both Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and  I don't think there was even a stop in Panama to see the locks from the ground,

A port stop in Panama wasn't scheduled for this cruise. More full transits don't have a stop in Panama than do have one.

 

3 hours ago, kitkat343 said:

 

If you are on the East Coast, the easiest trip is with Princess, a 10 day partial transit

The experience of a partial transit is nothing like a full transit. There are any number of cruise lines that do partial transits, not just Princess.

 

I've read the review. You're cherry picking issues and making them into a bigger deal than the reviewer has. You might want to carefully read the reviewer's first post, which includes the following. In particular pay close attention to the last two sentences, which I've highlighted in bold .

 

"There are always little (or sometimes big!) things that go sideways. I don’t whitewash these. If there was something less than perfect or just not to our liking for some reason, I’ll say so. Your experience may be very different. Please don’t take these criticisms to mean that we did not enjoy the cruise. To the contrary, we had a wonderful time! "

 

[kitkat343]

15 hours ago, njhorseman said:

All the major cruise line holding companies are struggling financially.

A port stop in Panama wasn't scheduled for this cruise. More full transits don't have a stop in Panama than do have one.

 

The experience of a partial transit is nothing like a full transit. There are any number of cruise lines that do partial transits, not just Princess.

 

I've read the review. You're cherry picking issues and making them into a bigger deal than the reviewer has. You might want to carefully read the reviewer's first post, which includes the following. In particular pay close attention to the last two sentences, which I've highlighted in bold .

 

"There are always little (or sometimes big!) things that go sideways. I don’t whitewash these. If there was something less than perfect or just not to our liking for some reason, I’ll say so. Your experience may be very different. Please don’t take these criticisms to mean that we did not enjoy the cruise. To the contrary, we had a wonderful time! "

 

I am really glad that the reviewer was able to make the best of their trip, since they seem like a really lovely couple.  The original reviewer also stated, "As you may have noticed, these early all aboard times are a real pet peeve of mine. I probably would have looked for a different cruise if the true ports and port times had been published at the time I booked this cruise. We are having a great time, but we would have liked to have more time in each port. "   

 

NCL has been changing a lot of itineraries lately for reasons other than emergencies after final payment, and not allowing passengers to make changes or cancel.  I was on one of these sailings in which the day in the Dominican Republic was cut and the morning in Antigua was also cut for environmental reasons, and half the passengers were very upset and the other half didn't care.  NCL continued to advertise and sell my cruise as sailing the original itinerary for the month after they cancelled the ports.  Passengers on my sailing who purchased their cruise directly from NCL after the DR was cancelled were not notified of this change when they called to purchase their cruise, nor were they allowed to cancel.  

 

NCL's contract obviously allows them to make changes to their itinerary for any reason, and half the passengers on my sailing were totally fine with the DR being cut because they weren't really sailing for the itinerary.  But I think some of the changes they've made (cutting the Inside Passage on the Spirit sailings, and cutting out Costa Rica on the Panama Canal) are significant enough that people considering cruises to these areas should be aware of what they are doing prior to booking.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[njhorseman]

@kitkat343, my point is that the original reviewer posted a balanced review citing their opinion of the positives and negatives , and ultimately concluded they enjoyed the cruise. I wasn't on the cruise and am willing to accept their honest opinions and conclusions because I have no basis for refuting them.

You've just cherry picked the negatives...and I don't believe you were on the cruise either...so it's not as if you can  add anything to the review based on actual experience. Essentially thar makes your one-sided post a  hatchet job, and given that you weren't on the cruise totally unwarranted  because it's unsupported by your personal experiences on that cruise. 

 

[Turtles06]

I'll add some additional thoughts to the excellent comments of @njhorseman, above.

 

First, my wife and I returned just last month from 23 days aboard the NCL Gem, on B2B Panama Canal cruises.  (Yes, we were on actual Panama Canal cruises, unlike the OP.)  We had a wonderful time.  And in that span of 23 days, we missed only one port, Bermuda, the first port scheduled after our departure from NY.  Our departure from NY was delayed, and Bermuda missed, because of honest to goodness winter weather -- in late January, imagine that!  NCL's fault?  Obviously not.

 

Nevertheless, NCL made lemonade out of our having to miss Bermuda  -- they were able to give us more time in our next port, St. Thomas.  Instead of the originally scheduled port time of 12pm-8pm, we were in St. Thomas from 9am-8pm.  Arriving that much earlier in the morning got us to the beautiful Magens Bay Beach ahead of any crowds, and we enjoyed one of the best beach days ever. 

 

And, as scheduled, on each leg of the B2B, we docked at Taino Bay in the Dominican Republic (which I mention only because of the OP; it has nothing to do with the Panama Canal). 

 

A final thought:  the Panama Canal forum has for years been a wonderful source of information about the Canal, a place where I have been able to learn from Canal experts and give back a bit of my own personal experience as I have transited the Canal over the years (now four times in total), a place where Canal newbies come to learn about the Canal, etc.  It has been a kind and friendly place that has escaped the contentiousness, divisiveness, and downright meanness that has infected so much of social media, including other forums right here in Cruise Critic.  Unsolicited bashing of a cruise line, especially when the poster has not even transited the Canal on that cruise line, is just not in keeping with what this forum is about.  

[Panhandle Couple]

And I might add, the Princess itinerary:

Leaves on a Wednesday (not the most convenient)

Has the same amount of time in Cartagena, (as the NCL cruise mentioned) just an hour delayed

Only has 3 hours in Colon!! (What?)

Has the often visited Jamaica and Grand Cayman (available on many other cruises)

 

For me: OK for 1st timers or once every 5 yr cruisers.  But not what I was looking for in a Canal cruise.

 

And I will add, Princess does not have the deck 8 Ocean walk area like large NCL ships. 

 

Date                    Port                                Arrive               Depart

Wednesday, March 22nd 2023 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 3:30 pm

Thursday, March 23rd 2023 At SeaView 

Friday, March 24th 2023 Falmouth, Jamaica

Saturday, March 25th 2023 At SeaView 

Sunday, March 26th 2023 Cartagena, Colombia 7:00 am 3:00 pm

Monday, March 27th 2023 Panama Canal Partial Transit New Locks 06:00 am 3:30 pm

Monday, March 27th 2023  Colon, Panama 5:00 pm 8:00 pm

Tuesday, March 28th 2023 Limon, Costa Rica  7:00 am 6:00 pm

Wednesday, March 29th 2023 At Sea

Thursday, March 30th 2023 Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands ( Water Shuttle Required, Wheelchair Access Limited )  7:00 am 5:00 pm

Friday, March 31st 2023 At SeaView 

Saturday, April 1st 2023Ft. Lauderdale, 7:00 am

[CruiserBruce]

@Panhandle Couple, the 3 hours in Colon is standard for partial transits, and it mostly for picking up people who got off the ship in Gatun Lake for excursions. It is NOT a stop for the purpose of doing an excursion from Colon. Given the time it takes to lock up to Gatun Lake, tender excursions ashore, then seek a slot to lock down again, there is rarely much more time to dock at Colon.

 

When you schedule 10 day cruises, usually one departure is on a weekend day, the next will be a week day, followed by a weekend day, etc.

[Panhandle Couple]

6 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

@Panhandle Couple, the 3 hours in Colon is standard for partial transits, and it mostly for picking up people who got off the ship in Gatun Lake for excursions. It is NOT a stop for the purpose of doing an excursion from Colon. Given the time it takes to lock up to Gatun Lake, tender excursions ashore, then seek a slot to lock down again, there is rarely much more time to dock at Colon.

 

When you schedule 10 day cruises, usually one departure is on a weekend day, the next will be a week day, followed by a weekend day, etc.

Thanks for the info.  I figured it was mainly a refueling stop.

The key is the OP was trying to compare a full passage cruise with a partial one.

[CruiserBruce]

17 minutes ago, Panhandle Couple said:

Thanks for the info.  I figured it was mainly a refueling stop.

The key is the OP was trying to compare a full passage cruise with a partial one.

Not to say Colon isn't a fuel stop, but from my 4 full transits and one partial,  Cartagena seems to be a common fuel stop. It meets PVSA requirements for full transits as well.