Loota

[quote name='bmwman']What I would find frustrating is the Spirit is a COMPLETELY different product to the Epic and do not be under any illusion you are getting a whole lot less.. The other point is the Seas can be rougher at winter and the Spirit will be bumpier than the Epic

i do not understand why you do not try MSC.[/QUOTE]

We looked at MSC and they did not have the itineraries we were interested in. Anyway its a moot point now. My son has booked the Eastern Caribbean out of Galveston.

The Vatican doesn't close every Sunday does it? (I remember doing it on a Sunday)

 

The Vatican is open one day a month only until 2:00. The admission is free and therefore has extrememly long line ups and wait times. They do not allow pre arranged tours. We were planning on doing a front of the line tour so we could fit it as much sight seeing as possible in the limited amount of time we have in port.

That is very frustrating, especially when others did get price and perk protection. I guess if you don't get price protection and still plan to keep sailing you can hopefully have your pick of largest staterooms. And then if price drops you can get adjusted later on if they end up doing a ksf down the road. I'm sorry about your situation.

 

I finally cancelled the cruise altogether. With the new itinerary we were no longer going to Pompeii, which I really wanted to see, but I found out on Monday that the ship docks in Rome on a Sunday. Thie Vatican is closed for tours on Sundays, and seeing the Sistine Chapel is a huge part of why I wanted to go.

Not sure what we are going to do, but for now our trip to Europe is cancelled completely. I am very sad.

What? I'm simply saying the good ol USA needs all the new ships but more specifically leave them in Florida

 

So those of us who have already sailed from Florida and want to see different parts of the world should be content to sail on the old rickety ones? As if there arent enough ships that sail the Caribbean.

Do we know exactly when? We need something at Easter. Summer 2017 is still unknown for us. I thought maybe Bliss then if it's in Europe.

 

The new itineraries are going to be released to the public on Monday the 24th. It will include spring of 2017 but not sure about the summer.

I was sailing on the Epic 2016 cancelled cruise - b2b and just heard back with my options. A supervisor sent it to revenue dept for me to see if anything could be done. I'm upset that several people have their price And perks honored and the best I could do is lose perks and pay an extra $1900 (due to having 4 in cabin). So we would have a balcony and inside for the cruise. No perks - although it would apply to today's rates with free UBP for first 2 and I lose the UDP for all 4 passengers.

 

Not overly impressed at all.

 

I know I think it is so unfair that they are not honoring that friends and family offer. Everyone in my office is sure that once these itineraries are open to the public that they will be adding promos to them. My advise would be to sign up for offers from Norwegian so that you will receive notices of the latest promotions. That is what I plan to do.

I understand and giving up the on the wonderful vacation plans you made isn't easy :( In this case I would agree with your husband but that is just me.

 

I admit that I do not know what your original itinerary or how many are in the family group but maybe a rental property with a car/van to make day trips or utilizing the wonderful train service isn't any more expensive? Certainly more work to coordinate though.....

 

Good luck!

 

Thanks! We have lots of time to decide what to do. Final payment on the cruise is not until Jan/17 so we can cancel for a full refund until then. We are still looking at other options.

I'm so sorry you're having no luck. Are you calling the displacement department? I think it's the number that was in your email. I can tell you that I was price protected and got to keep perks when I switched from Epic 11 nt to Spirit. But we were only two in a stateroom.

 

I assume you are booked through NCL? I was booked with a ta so I called ta, told them what I wanted and they called NCL displacement department. First day it didn't work, and was given a big no but the second day I tried again and it worked like a charm and I was given everything I asked for but I made sure I knew what to ask, like what sailing and what stateroom.

 

I think part of the problem with your party is the stateroom configuration. The couple who only paid $70 more sounds like they got price protection because they were only two in a room. $70 extra was probably for the increase of port fees, which is what I paid because Spirit has more ports.

 

Was the room with four a balcony on the Epic? The spirit balconies only accommodate 3 so they would have to take an ocean view or inside to get four in a room. I wonder if they ended up splitting that room into two thus increasing the cost? And then there's your room with going from studio to inside.

 

I'm thinking the problem is that the spirit room configuration is so much different than epic's. What about putting two kids with you and one kid with the son/daughter in law? Perhaps balcony connecting, balcony with inside across or even inside and inside?

 

I would decide if that's something you can do and then call the displacement department number and work from there re price protection and the switching. Good luck and don't give up. I'm not sur a lengthy letter to Andy Stewart is going to help. There are people at NCL displacement department who are able to make changes that your pcc can't . I would try and get it done today while that department is still up and staffed. Good luck.

 

Yes it was the displacement department that I spoke to at first. They are the ones who rebooked it for me. My cabin of course was a different category so I understand that going from a studio to and double would increase the price. I was more upset that they wouldnt honour the friends and family rate for my son. They were 4 people in a family inside cabin. On the Epic this kids sailed free except for taxes etc. on the Spirit they had to pay half price. Which including the extra taxes and port fees was an increase of $1800.

What we eventually ended up doing was putting one of the kids in with me, which I was paying for anyway, so my son only had to pay the one fare increase of close to $900. Unfortunately In doing that I had to pay and extra $444 deposit on my cabin since I put another person in there.

I am a travel agent, so it made no difference. I have emailed our NCL rep from the west coast, but he is on holidays until the 25th. I am hoping he will be able to suggest something. Bottom line is that NCL should have honored the original booking promotion in my opinion.

Are you still sailing? Why not cancel given the fact that nothing from your original sailing is being honored?

 

I have discussed it all with my family, and the bottom line is that we still want to go to Europe in March in 2017. A land tour would be even more expensive and it is the only time of year that we can travel. If Norwegian wasnt the only viable game in town, we would cancel in a minute. I am hoping as I watch the promotions that come out, that we will be able to get as good a rate and possibly even better. My husband definitely thinks I should just tell them to stick it and walk away.

I was booked on the Epic for March/17 RT from Barcelona. There are 7 of us travelling in 3 cabins. So when it came time to rebook on the Spirit for the same time frame, between the 3 cabins our fare went up over $3000. I was booked into a studio cabin and of course had to switch to an inside cabin and pay double occupancy so my fare went up $1300.

My son and his wife and 2 kids were booked into a family cabin on the Friends and family sail free promo. Switching to the Spirit, Norwegian would not honor the promo so their fare went up $1800.

The other couple's balcony cabin only went up $70 and they honored their drink package.

So we are on a smaller ship, with less activities for the kids, on a less desirable itinerary which is one day less and yet paying $3000 more.

If the other cruise lines sailed in Europe in March we would tell Norwegian to take a hike, but the only other option is to cancel our European trip altogether.

I am waiting for a supervisor in the Accomodation Department to call me back. Hopefully they will do the right thing.

 

The supervisor from the accomodation department never did call me back as I was told. So I called again and it turns out that she was not even a supervisor. An agent gave me the extension for another agent who could do nothing for me. I did finally talk to a supervisor and FYI they did not do the right thing. They will not honour the friends and family promo we had before, nor will they give me any sort of discount from having to change from a studio to a double occupancy cabin. But gee they did give us $50 to spend.

Suggest looking at the road less travelled, for non Europeans at least. Don't know where in the world you are from but many non US cruise companies sail the med all year long. Look at MSC out of Venice, Genoa or Barcelona, Costa also. You could spend a few days pre or post in any of these cities, lots to see.

 

good luck

 

Mark

 

Yes I know that Costa and MSC do sail in Europe but I am leery to sail on either of those lines. I have read quite a few reviews and they are not real favourable. Thank you for the suggestion though. I work in a travel agency and asked the people I work with, and they all nixed the idea. Maybe it's a Canadian thing ;)

Oh that totally sucks. Let us know if you have any better luck.

 

I have emailed our PCC to see what our options are but she has not even emailed back. There is no way I can ring NCL from NZ and sit on hold for hours as that would cost a fortune in phone fees. So, as we were a family of four booked into a Mini Suite on the Epic and it sounds like Spirit has not similar cabins, I guess our cruise booking is just going to auto-cancel.

 

Yes I will keep everyone posted. I have just written a rather lengthy letter to Andy Stewart the President of NCL. I am curious to see if I receive a response.

I doubt it, but you never know. Norwegian has really handled this badly. It must be a customer service nightmare for those poor agents.

April 13th 2017 Canaries 10 day definately cancelled. Will try to post email we recieved from TA. Spirit from Venice looks good but we will lose our OBC and 3rd passenger travels free which anoys me. Don't mind a slight increase in cruise fare as it is a slightly longer cruise but I do think as it is them cancelling that promotions should be honoured.

 

I agree that the original booking promotions should be honoured. They were not honoured for us either. I have spoken to a few different departments at Norwegian, and told 3 different times that a supervisor will contact me and they never did. For the 2 cabins that I booked it is costing us an extra $3000 because they wont honour the rate. Not happy at all.

I was booked on the Epic for March/17 RT from Barcelona. There are 7 of us travelling in 3 cabins. So when it came time to rebook on the Spirit for the same time frame, between the 3 cabins our fare went up over $3000. I was booked into a studio cabin and of course had to switch to an inside cabin and pay double occupancy so my fare went up $1300.

My son and his wife and 2 kids were booked into a family cabin on the Friends and family sail free promo. Switching to the Spirit, Norwegian would not honor the promo so their fare went up $1800.

The other couple's balcony cabin only went up $70 and they honored their drink package.

So we are on a smaller ship, with less activities for the kids, on a less desirable itinerary which is one day less and yet paying $3000 more.

If the other cruise lines sailed in Europe in March we would tell Norwegian to take a hike, but the only other option is to cancel our European trip altogether.

I am waiting for a supervisor in the Accomodation Department to call me back. Hopefully they will do the right thing.