Gem 2008 Itinerary Change

[sjmoss]

I just got this letter from NCL. It seems like a change for the better, any thoughts?

 

 

September 10, 2007

IMPORTANT:

ITINERARY CHANGE INFORMATION

Dear Valued Travel Partners and Guests:

Norwegian Cruise Line has important information for you regarding Norwegian Gem’s and Norwegian Jade’s 7-Day

Bahamas & Florida sailings departing December 2007 – April 2009. All guests booked on these cruises need to be aware

of this itinerary change information and travel partners are asked to forward this information to their clients.

NCL is pleased to announce a new 7-Day Bahamas & Florida itinerary aboard Norwegian Gem and Norwegian Jade

sailing roundtrip from New York. We have replaced Key West, Florida with two additional ports in the Bahamas – Nassau

and Grand Bahama Island – and have extended our stay on Great Stirrup Cay. With this enhanced itinerary, guests will

now call on four ports instead of three and have 17 more hours in port to enjoy all the beaches and sunshine these

beautiful islands have to offer.

We hope guests will be equally pleased with these enhancements. The revised itinerary reflecting these changes is

shown below.

Original Revised:

Day 0 New York, New York 4:00 PM Day 0 New York, New York 4:00 PM

Day 1

Day 2 Orlando (Port Canaveral), Florida 10:00 AM 9:00 PM Day 2 Orlando (Port Canaveral), Florida 10:00 AM 9:00 PM

Day 3 Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas 9:00 AM 4:00 PM Day 3 Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

Day 4 Key West, Florida 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

Day 4 Nassau, Bahamas 8:00 AM Overnight

Day 5 Nassau, Bahamas -- 1:00 AM

Day 6 Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas 8:00 AM 3:00 PM

Day 7 New York, New York 10:00 AM

 

Should you have any questions, please call us at (800) 327-7030 Monday to Friday 8am to midnight EDT or Saturday and

 

Sunday 9am to 9pm EDT and a Norwegian Cruise Line representative will be available to assist you.

 

Sincerely,

 

Crane Gladding

 

 

 

 

 

 

Senior Vice President, Revenue Management & Passenger Services

[tunseeker1]

How did you get this?

I am on Gem on dec 22 and haven't heard anything yet.

[nyflush]

Oh I hope thats right I will be so excited!!! Thanks for the Info I will call my TA tomorrow:)

[sjmoss]

How did you get this?

I am on Gem on dec 22 and haven't heard anything yet.

 

I booked my trip directly through NCL and I received this email today.

[konkrete kid]

Thanks for the heads up on the itinerary changes on our Gem cruise Dec. 29th. As my DH and I have been to Key West a couple times, we won't be too disappointed to be visiting Nassau and Grand Bahama Island (it should be warmer there as compared to Florida in December). I am surprised to see that we leave Grand Bahama Island at 3 p.m. Friday, returning to NYC at 10 a.m. Saturday - I assume the ship will be traveling at a good clip! If I don't hear from my TA by the end of the month when the balance is due, I will contact her regarding this change.

[IHeartMickey]

Well, there goes my idea to take that itinerary. The only reason why I wanted to do it was to see Key West.

[cruizinwithkids]

WOW, that's a lot of ports. Personally I would love that. I like to stay on the ship when everyone else gets off. I've never been to Key West so I would get off there, but then stay on and enjoy an empty ship the other days.

 

My only concern would be if there was bad weather on the return since I think the ship will be sailing along at a pretty quick pace. Guess a brand new ship can handle it.

[familyof4cruising]

Is it possible to leave at 3:00 on one day and make it back to NY at 10:00 the next from Bahamas?

[cruizinwithkids]

Is it possible to leave at 3:00 on one day and make it back to NY at 10:00 the next from Bahamas?

 

You know as I showered this morning after reading and posting to this I wondered the same thing. I don't see how it could be.

[Maryfrei]

I saw that this morning also. I prefer the original itinerary, and I will really miss that last full sea day, but if I am on a cruise I can adjust to almost anything.:)

[lukes]

We are on the Dec 29 sailing and I was not to excited about the itinerary. But this sounds better. Orginially it was 2 sea days back from Key West. Sjmoss has it slightly wrong though. It is day 5 at grand Bahama Island leaving at 3:00 p.m. Day 6 is a sea day. Therefore there is from 3:00 p.m. on Day 5 to 10:00 a.m. Day 7 to return to NYC. This should be plenty of time. Looking forward to the cruise even more now.

[Preds]

Not a huge fan of Nassau, but I love the long port stays. Personally I like this itinerary much better than the original. Enough so that I might even consider it over the Dawn's Eastern Caribbean itinerary for President's week in 2009.

 

Only draw back to sailing out of NYC is the pricing, NY cruises at peak times are way higher. The Gem out of NYC is about $1000 more for similar cabins (1-BC and 1-JJ). I guess airfare would be cheaper, or we could drive (from Buffalo), but then hotels in NYC are also much higher, as is parking (we always do a 1 night pre-cruise hotel).

[tomk3212]

I just got this letter from NCL. It seems like a change for the better, any thoughts?

 

 

September 10, 2007

IMPORTANT:

ITINERARY CHANGE INFORMATION

Dear Valued Travel Partners and Guests:

Norwegian Cruise Line has important information for you regarding Norwegian Gem’s and Norwegian Jade’s 7-Day

Bahamas & Florida sailings departing December 2007 – April 2009. All guests booked on these cruises need to be aware

of this itinerary change information and travel partners are asked to forward this information to their clients.

NCL is pleased to announce a new 7-Day Bahamas & Florida itinerary aboard Norwegian Gem and Norwegian Jade

sailing roundtrip from New York. We have replaced Key West, Florida with two additional ports in the Bahamas – Nassau

and Grand Bahama Island – and have extended our stay on Great Stirrup Cay. With this enhanced itinerary, guests will

now call on four ports instead of three and have 17 more hours in port to enjoy all the beaches and sunshine these

beautiful islands have to offer.

We hope guests will be equally pleased with these enhancements. The revised itinerary reflecting these changes is

shown below.

Original Revised:

Day 0 New York, New York 4:00 PM Day 0 New York, New York 4:00 PM

Day 1

Day 2 Orlando (Port Canaveral), Florida 10:00 AM 9:00 PM Day 2 Orlando (Port Canaveral), Florida 10:00 AM 9:00 PM

Day 3 Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas 9:00 AM 4:00 PM Day 3 Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

Day 4 Key West, Florida 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

Day 4 Nassau, Bahamas 8:00 AM Overnight

Day 5 Nassau, Bahamas -- 1:00 AM

Day 6 Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas 8:00 AM 3:00 PM

Day 7 New York, New York 10:00 AM

 

Should you have any questions, please call us at (800) 327-7030 Monday to Friday 8am to midnight EDT or Saturday and

 

Sunday 9am to 9pm EDT and a Norwegian Cruise Line representative will be available to assist you.

 

Sincerely,

 

Crane Gladding

 

Senior Vice President, Revenue Management & Passenger Services

 

 

Sjmoss,

 

We've done similar itinerary's on the Dawn and Spirit. I'm glad that NCL is tweaking this a bit but, like IheartMickey, we've never seen Key West, so we would have gotten off at Key West to see the sights.

 

Like Preds, we are not huge fans of Nassau but we wouldn't mind seeing Grand Bahama.

 

What we liked about this itinerary in the past is the port day in Port Canaveral when the ship EMPTIES out almost completely. It's nice having the ship to ourselves!! We can hang out by the pool and not worry about saving our chairs...lol ;) Glad they're still doing that...

 

Tom & Eileen

[cantwaitt]

Yet another example of how NCL is improving its service and offerings sicne the $1 billion cash infusion.

 

Three days at sea in the winter would have been three cold days on deck.

 

Not as bad in the summer.

 

Too bad they spiked Key West after asking customers in a survey if they would like to go there?

 

My sense: Nassau and Grant Bahama Island combined costs NCL a little more than Key West alone. All in all, a good trade-off if you are sailing in the winter.

 

If you are a veteran cruiser and are sick of Nassau, it's not that good of a trade in the summer.

[FIRELT5]

I just got this letter from NCL. It seems like a change for the better, any thoughts?

 

 

September 10, 2007

IMPORTANT:

ITINERARY CHANGE INFORMATION

Dear Valued Travel Partners and Guests:

Norwegian Cruise Line has important information for you regarding Norwegian Gem’s and Norwegian Jade’s 7-Day

Bahamas & Florida sailings departing December 2007 – April 2009. All guests booked on these cruises need to be aware

of this itinerary change information and travel partners are asked to forward this information to their clients.

NCL is pleased to announce a new 7-Day Bahamas & Florida itinerary aboard Norwegian Gem and Norwegian Jade

sailing roundtrip from New York. We have replaced Key West, Florida with two additional ports in the Bahamas – Nassau

and Grand Bahama Island – and have extended our stay on Great Stirrup Cay. With this enhanced itinerary, guests will

now call on four ports instead of three and have 17 more hours in port to enjoy all the beaches and sunshine these

beautiful islands have to offer.

We hope guests will be equally pleased with these enhancements. The revised itinerary reflecting these changes is

shown below.

Original Revised:

Day 0 New York, New York 4:00 PM Day 0 New York, New York 4:00 PM

Day 1

Day 2 Orlando (Port Canaveral), Florida 10:00 AM 9:00 PM Day 2 Orlando (Port Canaveral), Florida 10:00 AM 9:00 PM

Day 3 Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas 9:00 AM 4:00 PM Day 3 Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

Day 4 Key West, Florida 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

Day 4 Nassau, Bahamas 8:00 AM Overnight

Day 5 Nassau, Bahamas -- 1:00 AM

Day 6 Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas 8:00 AM 3:00 PM

Day 7 New York, New York 10:00 AM

 

Should you have any questions, please call us at (800) 327-7030 Monday to Friday 8am to midnight EDT or Saturday and

 

Sunday 9am to 9pm EDT and a Norwegian Cruise Line representative will be available to assist you.

 

Sincerely,

 

Crane Gladding

 

 

 

 

 

 

Senior Vice President, Revenue Management & Passenger Services

 

Highly Unlikely, must be a misprint

 

20 Hours from Grand Bahama Island to NYC ???? not possible !!!!

[FIRELT5]

I just got this letter from NCL. It seems like a change for the better, any thoughts?

 

 

September 10, 2007

IMPORTANT:

ITINERARY CHANGE INFORMATION

Dear Valued Travel Partners and Guests:

Norwegian Cruise Line has important information for you regarding Norwegian Gem’s and Norwegian Jade’s 7-Day

Bahamas & Florida sailings departing December 2007 – April 2009. All guests booked on these cruises need to be aware

of this itinerary change information and travel partners are asked to forward this information to their clients.

NCL is pleased to announce a new 7-Day Bahamas & Florida itinerary aboard Norwegian Gem and Norwegian Jade

sailing roundtrip from New York. We have replaced Key West, Florida with two additional ports in the Bahamas – Nassau

and Grand Bahama Island – and have extended our stay on Great Stirrup Cay. With this enhanced itinerary, guests will

now call on four ports instead of three and have 17 more hours in port to enjoy all the beaches and sunshine these

beautiful islands have to offer.

We hope guests will be equally pleased with these enhancements. The revised itinerary reflecting these changes is

shown below.

Original Revised:

Day 0 New York, New York 4:00 PM Day 0 New York, New York 4:00 PM

Day 1

Day 2 Orlando (Port Canaveral), Florida 10:00 AM 9:00 PM Day 2 Orlando (Port Canaveral), Florida 10:00 AM 9:00 PM

Day 3 Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas 9:00 AM 4:00 PM Day 3 Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

Day 4 Key West, Florida 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

Day 4 Nassau, Bahamas 8:00 AM Overnight

Day 5 Nassau, Bahamas -- 1:00 AM

Day 6 Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas 8:00 AM 3:00 PM

Day 7 New York, New York 10:00 AM

 

Should you have any questions, please call us at (800) 327-7030 Monday to Friday 8am to midnight EDT or Saturday and

 

Sunday 9am to 9pm EDT and a Norwegian Cruise Line representative will be available to assist you.

 

Sincerely,

 

Crane Gladding

 

 

 

 

 

 

Senior Vice President, Revenue Management & Passenger Services

 

Highly Unlikely, must be a misprint

 

20 Hours from Grand Bahama Island to NYC ???? not possible !!!!

[FIRELT5]

I just got this letter from NCL. It seems like a change for the better, any thoughts?

 

 

September 10, 2007

IMPORTANT:

ITINERARY CHANGE INFORMATION

Dear Valued Travel Partners and Guests:

Norwegian Cruise Line has important information for you regarding Norwegian Gem’s and Norwegian Jade’s 7-Day

Bahamas & Florida sailings departing December 2007 – April 2009. All guests booked on these cruises need to be aware

of this itinerary change information and travel partners are asked to forward this information to their clients.

NCL is pleased to announce a new 7-Day Bahamas & Florida itinerary aboard Norwegian Gem and Norwegian Jade

sailing roundtrip from New York. We have replaced Key West, Florida with two additional ports in the Bahamas – Nassau

and Grand Bahama Island – and have extended our stay on Great Stirrup Cay. With this enhanced itinerary, guests will

now call on four ports instead of three and have 17 more hours in port to enjoy all the beaches and sunshine these

beautiful islands have to offer.

We hope guests will be equally pleased with these enhancements. The revised itinerary reflecting these changes is

shown below.

Original Revised:

Day 0 New York, New York 4:00 PM Day 0 New York, New York 4:00 PM

Day 1

Day 2 Orlando (Port Canaveral), Florida 10:00 AM 9:00 PM Day 2 Orlando (Port Canaveral), Florida 10:00 AM 9:00 PM

Day 3 Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas 9:00 AM 4:00 PM Day 3 Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

Day 4 Key West, Florida 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

Day 4 Nassau, Bahamas 8:00 AM Overnight

Day 5 Nassau, Bahamas -- 1:00 AM

Day 6 Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas 8:00 AM 3:00 PM

Day 7 New York, New York 10:00 AM

 

Should you have any questions, please call us at (800) 327-7030 Monday to Friday 8am to midnight EDT or Saturday and

 

Sunday 9am to 9pm EDT and a Norwegian Cruise Line representative will be available to assist you.

 

Sincerely,

 

Crane Gladding

 

 

 

 

 

 

Senior Vice President, Revenue Management & Passenger Services

 

Highly Unlikely, must be a misprint

 

20 Hours from Grand Bahama Island to NYC ???? not possible !!!!

[smeyer418]

Actually I would bet that with miles this will be easier on the ship as well. Its a fair distance to Key West. so they have to do a lot of full speed cruising to make these on time. By cutting down on the total distance they save wear and tear on the ship. One reason that the Dawn is going to Miami instead of staying in NY is that the wear and tear has really gotten to the engines. and even a nuclear sub or aircraft carrier at full speed couldn't make it in 20 hours....Maybe the United States could but the fuel cost would be astronomical....

[FIRELT5]

I just got this letter from NCL. It seems like a change for the better, any thoughts?

 

 

September 10, 2007

IMPORTANT:

ITINERARY CHANGE INFORMATION

Dear Valued Travel Partners and Guests:

Norwegian Cruise Line has important information for you regarding Norwegian Gem’s and Norwegian Jade’s 7-Day

Bahamas & Florida sailings departing December 2007 – April 2009. All guests booked on these cruises need to be aware

of this itinerary change information and travel partners are asked to forward this information to their clients.

NCL is pleased to announce a new 7-Day Bahamas & Florida itinerary aboard Norwegian Gem and Norwegian Jade

sailing roundtrip from New York. We have replaced Key West, Florida with two additional ports in the Bahamas – Nassau

and Grand Bahama Island – and have extended our stay on Great Stirrup Cay. With this enhanced itinerary, guests will

now call on four ports instead of three and have 17 more hours in port to enjoy all the beaches and sunshine these

beautiful islands have to offer.

We hope guests will be equally pleased with these enhancements. The revised itinerary reflecting these changes is

shown below.

Original Revised:

Day 0 New York, New York 4:00 PM Day 0 New York, New York 4:00 PM

Day 1

Day 2 Orlando (Port Canaveral), Florida 10:00 AM 9:00 PM Day 2 Orlando (Port Canaveral), Florida 10:00 AM 9:00 PM

Day 3 Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas 9:00 AM 4:00 PM Day 3 Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

Day 4 Key West, Florida 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

Day 4 Nassau, Bahamas 8:00 AM Overnight

Day 5 Nassau, Bahamas -- 1:00 AM

Day 6 Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas 8:00 AM 3:00 PM

Day 7 New York, New York 10:00 AM

 

Should you have any questions, please call us at (800) 327-7030 Monday to Friday 8am to midnight EDT or Saturday and

 

Sunday 9am to 9pm EDT and a Norwegian Cruise Line representative will be available to assist you.

 

Sincerely,

 

Crane Gladding

 

 

 

 

 

 

Senior Vice President, Revenue Management & Passenger Services

 

Day#5 Grand Bahama Island

 

Day#6 At Sea

 

Day#7 NYC

 

As per C/R @ NCL

[B4andAFT]

I would prefer Key West to Nassau anyday! :(

[Mooder]

We just got this notice too - about our February 08 cruise. I am very disappointed as Key West was the primary reason I wanted this itinerary. I would never have booked a cruise going primarily to the Bahamas. I guess I need some time to think about this and research Grand Bahama Island a bit.

[ma_t_gus]

I just checked the website and it has been changed

 

http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/booking/cruisedetails.html?packageId=1046798

[cafe rose]

I hate Nassau and got my husband to agree to this cruise only because we were NOT going to Nassau but to Key West instead (which we love). I HATE NASSAU!!!!!

I was looking at the itinery on the web site and it appears as though there is nothing to even do on Grand Bahama!!! This sucks!!!:mad:

[Haroli]

Key West was the only reason we booked this cruise also.

 

First we were booked on the Gem cruise leaving NY on April 19th and found out thru these boards that the cruise on that day was cancelled (never was told by NCL) since they were planning to reposition the ship to Barcelona from NY that week. We had to adjust our dates and now they have changed the itinerary and are going to the one place we were trying to avoid, having been there before and not liking it the many times we had to dock there. We were so looking forward to Key West for something different.

 

This is our first cruise on the NCL line and so far our dealings with this line have been so disappointing. I guess we will have to decide if cruising on a new ship is worth going somewhere you don't want to go and never knowing what this cruise line will change next. I have always read how nice the free style cruising is supposed to be so we thought we would try it but I guess they expect all cruisers to be so free styling so as not to care where they go or when they go either.

 

Having cruised several times on Carnival and Raddison, we have never had any problems like this. We always would book well in advance and never worried that they would cancel our date or change our ports of call. I guess we have been spoiled in getting what we signed up for all these years.

[The Nice Family]

We just got this notice too - about our February 08 cruise. I am very disappointed as Key West was the primary reason I wanted this itinerary. I would never have booked a cruise going primarily to the Bahamas. I guess I need some time to think about this and research Grand Bahama Island a bit.

 

Okay, a little unhappy :( - even though a cruise is always a good thing. We were looking forward SO much to Key West. We had booked a wild dolphin encounter and were so excited about sharing this experience with our daughter. My husband and a dolphin swim in NZ years ago and has been telling her about it ever since. This was going to be the highlight of our trip (well, as long as the dolphins co-operated and turned up to play!). I've never really had any interest in the Bahamas and, after reading the threads about Great Stirrup, not much interest there either. Our family are not pool or beach types, even though a few sea days are wonderful. Now it seems as if our entire 7 days will be geared around beaches? I agree, Grand Bahama requires more research so, I'm off to do that now, hopefully it will change my :( to a :) . Our final payment is due 17th September (29 December Gem sailing) - can anyone out there please convince me to make that payment instead of cancelling?