Could You Be Bumped from Your Next Cruise?

[LauraS]

Check out this brand-new feature article from Cruise Critic:

Could You Be Bumped from Your Next Cruise?

[jdough]

In 1999, we were booked for a New England / Canada cruise with NCL. It was the first of their large ships .. on their first cruise into Montreal, the pilot ran the ship aground and bent the propeller.. and being the first ship of it kind, there was no spare part. NCL had to cancel the next 4 cruises, including one we had booked. Picture flying everyone out of Montreal, reassigning most of the crew and trying to get a drydock in Montreal as well as the new part.. NCL offered us a full refund and 25% off another cruise... which we booked for 6 weeks later... the same ship repositioning from Boston to Bermuda and then the Caribbean.. so we put away the sweaters and started packing the shorts and sunscreen... well.... 3 days before the cruise was to depart... another phone call from NCL advising us that we were cancelled AGAIN.... repairs were not done and the repositioning cruise had been cancelled... BUT they offered us 50% off of any cruise within the next year... so we chose a 16 day Panama Canal cruise from San Diego to Miami... until we saw the boat at the pier in San Diego, we didn't believe we were really going to get on any NCL ship... it ending up being a great experience, but a long time coming...

[jocap]

We weren't bumped from the cruise- just downstairs! We were travelling on Aurora, and had ended up having the balcony cabin immediately behind the bridge, because that's what our TA was offering- the TA hires his own coach to take 50 pax to Southampton, and presumably is given a block of cabins to sell.
We were offered the same style cabin 2 decks down, and given an enormous OBC....enough to have wine with every dinner, and pay for several excursions. There was also a cheque each for £75 to our TA when we returned.
We discovered that the Captain, returning from a world cruise on Aurora, still had 3 weeks to go before his leave. As it was the Easter Holidays from school, his wife and children came on board for the 17 night cruise to Venice.
Keep hoping it'll happen again.............
Jo.

[Dan Askin]

Originally Posted by jdough

In 1999, we were booked for a New England / Canada cruise with NCL. It was the first of their large ships .. on their first cruise into Montreal, the pilot ran the ship aground and bent the propeller.. and being the first ship of it kind, there was no spare part. NCL had to cancel the next 4 cruises, including one we had booked. Picture flying everyone out of Montreal, reassigning most of the crew and trying to get a drydock in Montreal as well as the new part.. NCL offered us a full refund and 25% off another cruise... which we booked for 6 weeks later... the same ship repositioning from Boston to Bermuda and then the Caribbean.. so we put away the sweaters and started packing the shorts and sunscreen... well.... 3 days before the cruise was to depart... another phone call from NCL advising us that we were cancelled AGAIN.... repairs were not done and the repositioning cruise had been cancelled... BUT they offered us 50% off of any cruise within the next year... so we chose a 16 day Panama Canal cruise from San Diego to Miami... until we saw the boat at the pier in San Diego, we didn't believe we were really going to get on any NCL ship... it ending up being a great experience, but a long time coming...

Thanks for the story. The bump is rare ... but the double bump?

[leekel619]

This isn't really a bump??
We have a cruise booked on the Dawn in May 2011. The second we found out it was the new ship coming to Boston for the season's Bermuda cruise, we booked immediately and got our very first Aft Balcony in the wake.
So we had it 'confirmed' for 5 months. One Sunday night last month I was checking "MY NCL" getting my eDocs for my August 27 cruise (two more days!!!) and just generally stalking myself. Well as soon as I logged on, I noticed I only had ONE CRUISE booked.

I kept typing in my reservation number and everything and it kept saying no such reservation. I panicked. I called my TA in the morning and she looked into it. Sure enough, they had cancelled our cruise!!! Two days before. Said we were double booked or something stupid. Never notified me or my TA or even asked or said oh there seems to be a problem and you're double booked??? What's that supposed to mean anyhow?? I booked the cabin twice??

I think someone else wanted our aft balcony, since there aren't that many available per week. She got our original booking back for us and all is well.

But my thing is, say I didn't bother checking again until December or January?? It would have been WAY too late. Oh, and the weekend I noticed it missing, we had a strange debit return in our checking account for $250. From a mystery thing. Didn't say NCL. And as soon as the TA fixed the problem, the $250 was gone again. How are they allowed to get in and out of our account like that?

When they took it back, it said NCL. I seriously don't think they wanted us to find out the room was taken away from us.

Has this happened to anyone else?

[Krazy Kruizers]

Not really a bump -- but quite a few years ago we had booked the new ship Volendam to do a round trip Canada/New England cruise out of New York -- October. In June we got a call from our TA that the Volendam would not be ready for our cruise. So HAL offered us 50% off a future cruise and waitlisted us an Ocotber cruise on a yet-to-be-named ship as they did not know which ship they would change itineraries to have a ship do these cruises. Well -- the Maasdam was in the Med and not completely booked. So they cancelled her Med cruises and brought her over to New York. Next problem -- smaller ship. We had no idea until 2 weeks before the cruise if we would even be on the ship. We were among the lucky ones -- others were no so lucky.

[kdsback]

Two of us were booked on 7 day Celebrity Cruise in May 2010. Four days before leaving, we were given the option to be bumped. The deal was a complete refund, include $150 credit each for rebooking airfare, a free cruise of our choice (I dont know how far we could have pushed this) and a credit equal to the amount of the cruise we were bumped from. For our free cruse we choose a 13 night Holy Land cruise. We do have to use the credit by June 2011. Poor us we have to take another free cruise in the spring..We say we won the cruise lottery!!

[richstowe]

Originally Posted by kdsback

Two of us were booked on 7 day Celebrity Cruise in May 2010. Four days before leaving, we were given the option to be bumped. The deal was a complete refund, include $150 credit each for rebooking airfare, a free cruise of our choice (I dont know how far we could have pushed this) and a credit equal to the amount of the cruise we were bumped from. For our free cruse we choose a 13 night Holy Land cruise. We do have to use the credit by June 2011. Poor us we have to take another free cruise in the spring..We say we won the cruise lottery!!

WOW! Have you found out why you were bumped?

[swscruiser]

We were bumped from Princess several years ago. Bumped from Eastern to Western 1 day later. Credited for the entire cruise except for port taxes. Upgraded from isnide to extended Balcony dead middle of the ship. And $200.00 pp credit for Airline changes, plus free hotel room pre-cruise and post cruise for Flight changes. Only problem was there was a family on either side of us (parents on left, kids on the right.
When we get to the airport for our flight to Ft Lauderdale it is also overbooked so they ask for volunteers to be bumped. Took AA up on it. Bumped to Miami 30 minutes later, Upgraded to 1st class plus $600.00 in future flight credit. The whole week cost us $135.00.

[Cruisin Suzin]

Originally Posted by swscruiser

We were bumped from Princess several years ago. Bumped from Eastern to Western 1 day later. Credited for the entire cruise except for port taxes. Upgraded from isnide to extended Balcony dead middle of the ship. And $200.00 pp credit for Airline changes, plus free hotel room pre-cruise and post cruise for Flight changes. Only problem was there was a family on either side of us (parents on left, kids on the right.
When we get to the airport for our flight to Ft Lauderdale it is also overbooked so they ask for volunteers to be bumped. Took AA up on it. Bumped to Miami 30 minutes later, Upgraded to 1st class plus $600.00 in future flight credit. The whole week cost us $135.00.

Sounds like a pretty sweet deal

[richstowe]

Originally Posted by Cruisin Suzin

Sounds like a pretty sweet deal

Yes I am jealous of both swscruiser and kdsback posts.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Not bumped -- but dumped!!

Just last week HAL notified people on some cruise for the Maasdam in the fall of 2011 that their cruises were cancelled. We were among them. The Maasdam is having a big Itinerary change. She will be doing a 45 day Ft Lauderdale to Rome and back to Ft Lauderdale from Oct 28 through Dec 12. All the "Saints" cruises (St Vincent, St Croix, etc.) have been cancelled during that time. The offer we got was not very good -- $75 per person shipboard credit -- and a choice of 4 other dates to sail on the Maasdam -- none of which suit us. So we lost out all together.

[richstowe]

Not to minimize your pain but this is 14 months away although the credit amount is kinda skimpy.
What would you consider fair?

[Dan Askin]

Keep the stories coming ... especially interested to hear what sort of compensation or "buy out" packages were offered for the voluntary bumps.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Originally Posted by richstowe

Not to minimize your pain but this is 14 months away although the credit amount is kinda skimpy.
What would you consider fair?

A choice of dates other than the ones HAL offered!!

And a choice of ships!!

[Krazy Kruizers]

I'll try to make myself a little clearer.

HAL indicated that we could book one of 4 cruises for the same price that we were paying for the cancelled cruises. Unfortunately the dates do not suit us. We are having our TA talk to HAL about letting us book a different date and a different ship for the price that we would have been paying for that cruise.

It is not about the shipboard credit.

Hope I made myself clear.

[Widespreadpanic]

but depending on the reason, I would be anything from patient but assertive to livid. Imagine being the poor couple in the story who were planning their wedding cruise but were bumped and had to redo. Again, depending on the reason for the bump and the credit/rebook/upgrade made available , I might consider never cruising that particular line again. It's unfortunate that there is no guarantee this could happen to any of us, and that is one reason why I always buy insurance.

[greatam]

Celebrity Infinity broke down in the Panama Canal and barely made it to Acapulco. We were schedule to leave out of San Diego to Hawaii. X notified everyone immediately, refunded our money immediately and gave everyone a free cruise of their choosing. They also kicked in air fare rebooking amount. We flew to Hawaii and essentially duplicated the cruise.

Cunard-transatlantic crossing, January 2007-oversold-took the buyout offer which was refund of all fees IMMEDIATELY plus airline change fees (actually we used the money to redeposit miles in AA FF program) plus a free cruise

And NOW-Diamond Princess-Alaska to Beijing, September 18, 2010. Ship is oversold-some have gotten buy out offers. I really want to go on the cruise but DH is afraid something will go awry (we have been fighting with Princess for 3 months about our Russian visas). We are actually getting off this cruise in Vladivostak, Russia to ride the Trans Siberian RR across Russia. There are 6 more days of the cruise after we disembark.

So do we volunteer to give up our cabin??? I don't particularly care for Princess, so a free cruise may not be in my best interest. AND I really wanted to just do NOTHING for 9 days-wasn't even planning on getting off the ship in Sapporo Japan other than to ship all our stuff home (which I have pre-arranged). We will only need a few clothes for the Russian trip. Sure don't need the tux and gowns. Only time will tell whether the offer comes to us. It would not surprise me to be bumped-we are their "problem" passengers.

[slcutahcruisers]

Three days after reading the article, we received an email from Royal Caribbean that our much anticipated 12 day San Diego to Vancouver Alaska repositioning cruise had been reduced to 5 days to send the ship to dry dock. It was a shock since we had never heard of cruise problems before reading the article. We have cruised many times since 1997. Luckily, one of the four options worked and we are now on the Panama Canal repositioning cruise.

[richstowe]

Originally Posted by Krazy Kruizers

I'll try to make myself a little clearer.

HAL indicated that we could book one of 4 cruises for the same price that we were paying for the cancelled cruises. Unfortunately the dates do not suit us. We are having our TA talk to HAL about letting us book a different date and a different ship for the price that we would have been paying for that cruise.

It is not about the shipboard credit.

Hope I made myself clear.

Best of luck. Please update if you get info. Also i'm interested in whether you think that dealing through a TA
instead of direct with HAL changes things for you.