Noordam cruise 9th June 2014 cancelled

Notified yesterday that our cruise on Noordam leaving Barcelona on the 9th June has been cancelled. We have transferred across to Nieuw Amsterdams 24 day cruise departing 17th June 2014 from Barcelona. Cant complain about HAL as we have 2 more days on board a ship at no extra cost and have been given a nice size OBC. Looking forward to June 2014,cannot wait to start our holiday.

Glad they gave you notice lots of months in advance so that you could get everything finalized. Shipboard credit is another plus.

Do you mind sharing how they informed you? We have heard nothing but can see online the changes.

Hi Everyone

Our Noordam med cruise departing 18 May 2014 also got cancelled and replaced with a new but similar itinerary, except the new one is embarking and disembarking from different ports!

We were forwarded an email from HAL by our TA; we weren't informed personally by telephone.

This is a bit stressful when you have international airfares booked and paid for and you are coming from the other side of the world, lol!! We are currently working with HAL and our TA to sort everything out and rebook another cruise.

Does anyone know the reasons behind the cancellations? Are there problems with Noordam?

Is this a common thing with HAL??

I am now worried the new cruise we book with HAL might get cancelled too!:eek:

Would appreciate any feedback/insight anyone has re this, thanks.

Cheers

Amanda

Hi Everyone

 

Our Noordam med cruise departing 18 May 2014 also got cancelled and replaced with a new but similar itinerary, except the new one is embarking and disembarking from different ports!

 

We were forwarded an email from HAL by our TA; we weren't informed personally by telephone.

 

This is a bit stressful when you have international airfares booked and paid for and you are coming from the other side of the world, lol!! We are currently working with HAL and our TA to sort everything out and rebook another cruise.

 

Does anyone know the reasons behind the cancellations? Are there problems with Noordam?

 

Is this a common thing with HAL??

 

I am now worried the new cruise we book with HAL might get cancelled too!:eek:

 

Would appreciate any feedback/insight anyone has re this, thanks.

 

Cheers

 

Amanda

You would never be informed personally if a Travel Agent was involved..All notifications go to the person who made the booking & in your case your TA..

Rather doubt there would be problems with Noordam..They may need to have larger or smaller ships in the area or the Noordam could be chartered.. Any number of things could affect schedule &/or equipment changes..At least they gave you enough time to change your plans & hopefully a nice OBC to boot..

Betty

They gave lots of time unfortunately we had business class tickets booked through Aeroplan that needed to be booked at least 330 days prior to get a decent deal. We bought cancel for any reason insurance does any one know if that premium will be hard to be reimbursed if we decide not to rebook ? We will lose money on the flight that will not be quite sure about that don't like the fact that it looks like if we don't rebook it will cost us more ! The online TA is slow to get back to me .

They gave lots of time unfortunately we had business class tickets booked through Aeroplan that needed to be booked at least 330 days prior to get a decent deal. We bought cancel for any reason insurance does any one know if that premium will be hard to be reimbursed if we decide not to rebook ? We will lose money on the flight that will not be quite sure about that don't like the fact that it looks like if we don't rebook it will cost us more ! The online TA is slow to get back to me .

Very unfortunate.. I booked business class seats for my whole family for our Alaska cruise ( from Sao Paulo to San Francisco , then a domestic flight to Seattle).

I got fantastic pricing on my tickets.. They are currently almost double the price. If I were to rebook , I would be in big trouble and very disappointed , as my family of 5 can only fly business if the price is very good ( which is rare!).

Am curious what your outcome will be... Please let us know and good luck.

It looks like they've re-scheduled most if not all the 2014 European cruises for Noordam. We were looking at doing the 33 day sailing departing 16 Sept from Istanbul, but now it's departing from Rome. It returns twice to Rome during the 33 days, before finishing in Barcelona. None of the 2014 Noordam cruises will now visit Istanbul, which is very disappointing. At least we hadn't bought airfares, so we're not out of pocket at all.

I'm not sure whether we will book now. We'd assumed that the two original Egypt ports would be out, but hoped that it would go to Israel instead as they've been doing this year. Now those ports are out too, and it looks like they've been replaced with ports similar to the ones already in the original itinerary. Well, we've got plenty of time to decide, and I guess one bonus is that we'll get to see plenty of Rome! :D

We are booked on the Noordam, 4/15/14 Rome to Athens. Got called by the TA that everything changed, ending in Venice now. They took away 4 of the 5 original Greek ports, added 2 more Croatian ports, plus Malta and Messina. The Athens to Istanbul on 4/26/14 is now Venice to Athens. We feel somewhat cheated as we booked for the Greece ports as a priority, now we see Corfu and Argostoli only. Not quite the same as Santorini, Katakolon, Nafplion and Athens. Have to keep this all in mind when booking the next cruise.

Sometimes these cancellations happen if HAL gets a charter for a ship. Almost all cruise lines do this.

Happy for those who were able to make alternative plans. At least there was a fair amount of notice but I understand about the booked air needing to be changed. Hopefully, HAL will make you whole in that regard.

Noordam is a gorgeous ship and hopefully you will all have a great cruise. :)

Thanks for letting us know.

Why is HAL saying that the reason for the rescheduling is "unrest in the Middle East", when the Noordam cruises were going not to Egypt, and HAL ships are still going to Turkey??????

Below is the notice I received from our online TA. I have not rebooked, and fortunately had not booked airfare as of yet.

Dear Mr. & Mrs. _________ ,

Thank you for choosing to book with _____________ for your Holland America ms Noordam, 11 day 2014 voyage. Holland America Line has made the decision to re-deploy ms Noordam to central and western Mediterranean cruises for spring and summer 2014. The change was driven by the cancellation of port calls to Egypt through the season due to the on-going unrest in the area. These adjustments created further operational and port implications which resulted in the decision to alter the ship’s itineraries. The new itineraries will ensure the smoothest execution of ms Noordam’s overall schedule next summer.

Unfortunately, this cruise has been cancelled and your reservation will need to be rebooked. We regret any inconvenience this may cause and would like to assist in rebooking another cruise.

Choose any 11 to 14 Day 2014 Europe voyage and you will be re-accommodated in the same (or equivalent) stateroom category at the rate already paid. In addition a Shipboard Credit will be applied to the new booking based on the stateroom category booked:

• $500 per person (up to $1,000 per stateroom) for Pinnacle Suite bookings
  
  
• $350 per person (up to $700 per stateroom) for Neptune Suite bookings
  
  
• $250 per person (up to $500 per stateroom) for Signature Suite bookings
  
  
• $200 per person (up to $400 per stateroom) for Vista Suite bookings
  
  
• $200 per person (up to $400 per stateroom) for Verandah Stateroom bookings
  
  
• $150 per person (up to $300 per stateroom) for Ocean-view Stateroom bookings
  
  
• $100 per person (up to $200 per stateroom) for Interior Stateroom bookings
  
  

I feel bad you you and others in the same situation. We looked at that sailing but selected the 6-17 NA. I was planning on buying my air tickets this week but since they are non-refundable I am waiting now.

Looks like the Eurodam is doing the Baltic now during that time period, and the starting price for a verandah is about $800 more pp.

Looks like it is all about the money.