NCL Sky cruise in December cancelled

[Ruislipspur]

Informed by NCL yesterday that our cruise from Dubai to Mauritius has been cancelled due to the unrest in the Middle East causing re-deployment of the ship

 

Though it is understandable, I am a bit miffed that we spoke to HQ on Tuesday regarding flights and nothing was said

 

We then booked flights, costing £1700, for which I'm still waiting to find out if we'll get our money back or not☹️

[Liljo22]

I am sorry that happened to you.  The person you spoke to at NCL was probably just some low level CSR that gets almost no information ahead of time.  

[DCGuy64]

19 minutes ago, Ruislipspur said:

Informed by NCL yesterday that our cruise from Dubai to Mauritius has been cancelled due to the unrest in the Middle East causing re-deployment of the ship

 

Though it is understandable, I am a bit miffed that we spoke to HQ on Tuesday regarding flights and nothing was said

 

We then booked flights, costing £1700, for which I'm still waiting to find out if we'll get our money back or not☹️

Just curious here: was that cruise cancelled altogether, or are they redeploying the ship and continuing to sail elsewhere during the same time period? Since you say it's supposed to be in December, that would seem to give you ample time to find another, I would think. I'm also a bit surprised that they would cancel a cruise that far in advance, I'm not sure why they assume things in the Middle East will still be unsafe that far in the future. When the war in Israel started back in October, cruise lines just changed their itineraries and continued to sail as normal.

[Menocchio]

Without getting overly political, I don't think it's a foolish bet that things will remain unsafe in the Middle East for the foreseeable future. I think it's generally a much better move for customers to get a definitive answer this far in advance. (And also for the cruise line so they can plan and sell a different cruise somewhere without a risk of missiles)

 

For the OP I take it you bought nonrefundable tickets to/from Dubai and Mauritius separately from NCL? I don't think they're on the hook for that, at least legally. I'm sorry that happened to you. If you have decent travel insurance, this is the kind of thing handled by that. Otherwise you can attempt to work with the airline and maybe rebook a trip somewhere else. 

[cruiseny4life]

Yikes! So sorry...definitely an unfortunate turn of events for you. I am surprised you booked your air so far out. Best prices for international tickets are typically 3 - 6 months prior to travel. Anyhow, sorry your cruise was canceled and I do hope the airline is understanding! I'd ring them up now and see if they'd give you any money back/offer to provide a voucher/etc. 

 

Also, seeing you're in the good ole UK, so who knows what your laws provide. I sure don't!

[nimbex1970]

We had this booked/cancelled as well.  Our air was booked through NCL, so can't help with that.  We only got a 10% discount for the cancellation.  We booked Singapore instead.

[Ruislipspur]

4 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

Just curious here: was that cruise cancelled altogether, or are they redeploying the ship and continuing to sail elsewhere during the same time period? Since you say it's supposed to be in December, that would seem to give you ample time to find another, I would think. I'm also a bit surprised that they would cancel a cruise that far in advance, I'm not sure why they assume things in the Middle East will still be unsafe that far in the future. When the war in Israel started back in October, cruise lines just changed their itineraries and continued to sail as normal.

Yes, the cruise has been cancelled, luckily we just paid a deposit, that's not a problem, it's the flights that we're losing out on

[DCGuy64]

3 minutes ago, Ruislipspur said:

Yes, the cruise has been cancelled, luckily we just paid a deposit, that's not a problem, it's the flights that we're losing out on

Well, hopefully your travel agent (if you used one) can help. In the past, we've usually insured expensive trips or have been able to use the funds on the same airline for a different itinerary. I am hoping you can do likewise.

[Ruislipspur]

4 hours ago, Menocchio said:

Without getting overly political, I don't think it's a foolish bet that things will remain unsafe in the Middle East for the foreseeable future. I think it's generally a much better move for customers to get a definitive answer this far in advance. (And also for the cruise line so they can plan and sell a different cruise somewhere without a risk of missiles)

 

For the OP I take it you bought nonrefundable tickets to/from Dubai and Mauritius separately from NCL? I don't think they're on the hook for that, at least legally. I'm sorry that happened to you. If you have decent travel insurance, this is the kind of thing handled by that. Otherwise you can attempt to work with the airline and maybe rebook a trip somewhere else. 

Yes, we bought nonrefundable tickets, unfortunately 

We're just trying to sort it all out and luckily we've got plenty of time

[DCGuy64]

14 minutes ago, Ruislipspur said:

Yes, we bought nonrefundable tickets, unfortunately 

We're just trying to sort it all out and luckily we've got plenty of time

Even non-refundable tickets don't usually (because there are always exceptions) mean you can't use them at all. We always buy non-refundable tickets because the refundable kind are ridiculously expensive. Depending on which airline and how you bought them (meaning directly with the airline or through a consolidator), you might be able to use the funds toward a future flight. When we flew to Portugal in 2022 for our NCL Epic cruise, I made sure to check that TAP (the airline) would allow us to use the money we'd spent on a different flight, if necessary. Same last year with Air Canada when we went to Japan for our Oceania cruise. I used to think that non-refundable meant "totally out of luck." Now it doesn't, for the most part. Airlines will usually let you use the money at another time. Typically there's a time limit, but a year isn't uncommon. Best of luck! (And if all else fails, you could still fly to Dubai and have a lovely land-based holiday.)