Getting frustrated- NCL changed my cruise again

This is getting so frustrating. :mad: I was first booked on the Jewel in Aug 2010 for a 11 day TA from Dover to NY. NCl changed it to the Sun for Sept 2010 for a 15 day TA from Dover to Orlando. Now I get an email that the Sun is going to be in drydock so the cruise is being changed to a 12 day TA in Oct 2010 starting in Dover and I think it ends in Orlando, but have lost most of the ports it was going to stop at. I'll know for sure when I call them tomorrow. I had booked early so I could get the cabin we wanted but I didn't realize that it meant that I might not have any hair left by the time our cruise happens because of pulling it out.:eek: Does anyone know if this is something that happens on a regular basis or am I just a very lucky (:rolleyes:) person. I'm afraid one of these days I'm going to get an email and find out that my cruise has been postponed until 2011! I guess that is when it will be time to look at different cruise lines, but I liked the itinery of NCL the best, at least originally. Oh well, guess there isn't really anything I can do about it, just needed to get my frustration out of my system and at least here on cc you guys would know what I was talking about. Thanks for letting me b***h.

Sue

How can they change the DATE of your cruise? I understand that they can move you to a different ship. But never the date. Especially to a date change as drastic as Sept-Oct. That's crazy!

Are you getting some sort of OBC in return?

CeleBrat

Geez, You have to keep changing your coutdown clock!

That is fustrating. Did they give you any reason as to why the changes? I have never done a TA but have never seen a post like yours either. I hope you get it cleared up and are able to realax and look forward to your cruise.:)

Here is what happened. First we were scheduled for a TA in Aug 2010 on the Jewel. They took the Jewel off of the Ta's and put the Sun on them instead and changed the date to Sept 2010. We could change or cancel. So we changed. Now they are putting the Sun in drydock in Sept so they are changing the Ta to Oct 2010. So again we can change or we can cancel. I guess we will change. We do get $200 obc. It is just getting a little frustrating and yes, I will have to change my countdown clock again.:mad: You guys have a good one,

Sue

I know this stuff happens but I probably will have to cancel if they do that to me for my cruise in Jan. There's the vacation time at work that can't be easily changed and a "dog sitter" that my not be available another time....not to mention a separate "caretaker" for my disabled father....ugh! When we go on a cruise, as I am sure others have the same problem.....there's a ton of planning that goes into it. Sorry you have to go thru all this....I can just imagine your frustration.

At least you have a year's notice. Sometimes these things happen for next week.

Dry docks are usually scheduled around a year in advance. Most of the time a few cruises are affected that were posted up to two years in advance.

Posting cruises up to two years in advance in my opinion is far too early, but there are those who wish to book cruises three years in advance....

Far too many things can happen to ships within that time period, and cruise lines. Any business should have the opportunity to make changes for the next quarter...

At least the cruising industry don't make as many changes as the airline industry. Most of the time if you book over a year early with the airlines the flight is cancelled or shifted in time as well....

I guess its better than getting an email saying sorry you missed the boat.

I am a firm believer in "things happen for a reason". You never know - it is frustrating now, but in a year plus from now, you may be posting about how you are so thankful that things worked out the way they did. Maybe I just rationalize things this way to make life easier, but sometimes hindsight has been very eye opening! I am sorry you are dealing with this craziness, but maybe it will all work out in the end!?!?! Good luck either way!!

Or you can always fall back on the tried but true "what doesn't kill us makes us stronger". (or even better, "what doesn't kill us leaves us alive to go after what tried to!")

You might want to rebook for June 2010, that way if they change two more times you'll be back to August.

OP.. I for sure understand how frustraiting it is to have this change even once, let alone twice. I hope things stay as they are now and you can start planning and getting excited again about your vacation. 8-)

You might want to rebook for June 2010, that way if they change two more times you'll be back to August.

That's funny. I agree that the schedules do vary, but I would be frustrated as well. You booked early for the specific itinerary and cabin you wanted, so your pre-planning (which, obviously, you ARE a pre-planner and don't make these decisions lightly) was basically wasted.

Your time and energy in planning should be respected. After the change, you then have to express/discuss the changes with your travel mate(s), rethink the itinerary, perhaps change time off from work, etc. That being said, if every time you are changed you are getting $200 OBC (I don't know if $200 would make me feel any better as it really isn't that much for a lengthy cruise--the OBC should at least be enough to cover your daily service charges for the cabin...on our last cruise we had $1000 OBC and gave that away as tips--and YES, we did leave the normal charges on the account ;) ; perhaps it should be based on the cabin type booked) or perhaps a longer cruise at no added cost, that would seem fair.

Thanks for sharing and whatever you decide to do, hope you have a great time.

We were also on the September sailing of the Sun and got the concellation notice yesterday. We're in a Balcony and only have been offered $100 OBC to change. The original itinerary was interesting but the revised one is a TA with only 2 ports that we have been to before. The best part is it comes to Port Canaveral which is 45 minutes from our home. I find it odd that they still do not have pricing for the "new" cruise so we don't know what we will do. We booked direct with NCL but I had been monitoring VTG which never showed the cruise as available for booking so I was not surprised.

I spoke with ncl yesterday and was told that they would not have all the details for the new cruise until tues or wed. The woman I talked to said she would try to still have a hold on our aft ac cabin that we had before as I explained that this cruise was for our 30th anniversary and that is why I had booked it so far in advance. Also with the jobs my dh and I have we have to make arrangements this far in advance to be able to take off from work. As someone posted earlier, yes, I am a planner and I spent alot of time putting the previous cruise together. Now I get to start all over again. Which is both good and bad.:rolleyes: The bad part is waiting until next week before finding out if we are able to keep our cabin. I will be very dissappointed if we are not able to. Hopefully I still have some hair left by next week when I find out, so if you see a really stressed out, bald-headed woman, mumbling to herself, that is just me, just ignore me. It's probably safer to just keep walking.:D Everyone have a good one,

Sue

Hey, you think you have it bad? We booked the Baltic Capital connecting to TA. They were back to back cruises. First the Jewel and our aft room got cancelled to the Sun. Got moved to an AD room. Okay, not so bad. Bigger room but no longer aft. Now on the bow. And the dates changed. Luckily we are retired so dates don't matter. Then last week the TA portion was cancelled - hence our entire cruise screwed up. Now we are on an April 26th cruise from Miami to Dover to Baltic back to Dover. Same 27 day cruise in reverse. Same class but not same room BOO HISS.

But I guess the TA was just not meant to be and we are going with the flow. I did think of writing to NCL and tell them how disappointed I was with all the changes, ships and dates. My husband has suggested we book 5 years in advance and by the time they get through changing and cancelling and giving us OBC, we will have a free cruise. Also, my husband thinks the Sun is going to sink the day before it picks us up in Miami. Good luck. Binjo6

We were booked on the Sun in an AD room. We know we are on the bow of the ship versus the aft end (which we would both prefer) but we would like to have some comments on the AD Suites. We have been transferred from the Jewel to the Sun and from September to April. So at this point we got what we got for a room. Thanks

Yes it happens... for some reason NCL likes to rearrange the ships in in Europe. Last year they cancelled my Transatlantic. because they decided to leave the ship in Europe for a longer period of time.

I ended up just booking it with a different cruiseline. I was not too happy. It is very difficult to have to change international flights and everything else at NCL's whim.

Very frustrating, I will likely never sail outside of North America with NCL for this very reason.

This is getting so frustrating. :mad: I was first booked on the Jewel in Aug 2010 for a 11 day TA from Dover to NY. NCl changed it to the Sun for Sept 2010 for a 15 day TA from Dover to Orlando. Now I get an email that the Sun is going to be in drydock so the cruise is being changed to a 12 day TA in Oct 2010 starting in Dover and I think it ends in Orlando, but have lost most of the ports it was going to stop at. I'll know for sure when I call them tomorrow. I had booked early so I could get the cabin we wanted but I didn't realize that it meant that I might not have any hair left by the time our cruise happens because of pulling it out.:eek: Does anyone know if this is something that happens on a regular basis or am I just a very lucky (:rolleyes:) person. I'm afraid one of these days I'm going to get an email and find out that my cruise has been postponed until 2011! I guess that is when it will be time to look at different cruise lines, but I liked the itinery of NCL the best, at least originally. Oh well, guess there isn't really anything I can do about it, just needed to get my frustration out of my system and at least here on cc you guys would know what I was talking about. Thanks for letting me b***h.

Sue

Sorry to hear about your frustration with all the changes.

I have a question, how does your cruise end up in Orlando? Orlando is not a Port city in Florida, it is smacked in the middle part of the state, about 1 to 1.5 hours away from Port Canaveral, 3 hours away from Ft. Lauderdale and 3.5 hours away from Miami. Could it be that you are heading to Port Canaveral instead?

Floridacruiser, I meant Port Canaveral, not Orlando:p. Tho with my luck lately, I could see them kicking me overboard along Orlando and saying , there you go:D. Have a good one,

Sue

Sorry to hear about your frustration with all the changes.

 

I have a question, how does your cruise end up in Orlando? Orlando is not a Port city in Florida, it is smacked in the middle part of the state, about 1 to 1.5 hours away from Port Canaveral, 3 hours away from Ft. Lauderdale and 3.5 hours away from Miami. Could it be that you are heading to Port Canaveral instead?

Some cruise lines websites list Orlando as the port of embarkation/disembarkation instead of Port Canaveral, but obviously Port Canaveral is the actual port.

I spoke with ncl yesterday and was told that they would not have all the details for the new cruise until tues or wed. The woman I talked to said she would try to still have a hold on our aft ac cabin that we had before as I explained that this cruise was for our 30th anniversary and that is why I had booked it so far in advance. Also with the jobs my dh and I have we have to make arrangements this far in advance to be able to take off from work. As someone posted earlier, yes, I am a planner and I spent alot of time putting the previous cruise together. Now I get to start all over again. Which is both good and bad.:rolleyes: The bad part is waiting until next week before finding out if we are able to keep our cabin. I will be very dissappointed if we are not able to. Hopefully I still have some hair left by next week when I find out, so if you see a really stressed out, bald-headed woman, mumbling to herself, that is just me, just ignore me. It's probably safer to just keep walking.:D Everyone have a good one,

Sue

:DFunny post. I had a bit of a chuckle picturing you just then.:D

Have you had an update from NCL yet? Did you get the cabin you wanted?

Goodml, I heard from ncl this morning. All they can confirm so far is that the cruise is going to be starting Oct 4, 2010. They don't know how much, what itinery, or if we can keep our cabins for sure yet. She said she will call me as soon as she gets more info which will probably be next week.:eek: I'm beginning to think they just want to see if they can drive me bonkers or not. And they are doing a fine job of it. You have a good one,

Sue

I'm beginning to think they just want to see if they can drive me bonkers or not. And they are doing a fine job of it. You have a good one,

Sue

It's just another way of nickel and dimeing you. They want to make you see the doctor when you board. ;)

It's just another way of nickel and dimeing you. They want to make you see the doctor when you board. ;)

:Dlol, Thanks for the laugh for the day,

Sue

oh my goodness. I have never heard of cruiselines doing such thing.

Should I have known this before I booked mine, I'm not too sure what I would've done - definitely slept on it longer, that's for sure.

My cruise is booked for April and we are coming from Australia so I should hope nothing gets knocked about because we are running tight schedules :(

Sorry to hear about your frustration with all the changes.

 

I have a question, how does your cruise end up in Orlando? Orlando is not a Port city in Florida, it is smacked in the middle part of the state, about 1 to 1.5 hours away from Port Canaveral, 3 hours away from Ft. Lauderdale and 3.5 hours away from Miami. Could it be that you are heading to Port Canaveral instead?

It end in Port Canaveral which is often referred to as Orlando because the air port is there.

Nita