njkate

45 minutes ago, beastlet said:

This was years ago, before the Ukraine invasion. 

Even then Russia is not a place to be stranded 

On 3/30/2024 at 1:24 PM, beastlet said:

 

Yes, I suppose. But you are not stranded, and any expenses will be on Norwegian's dime.

They do wait a while though. My parents were on a tour in St. Petersburg that got stuck in traffic and was hours late. When they got to the ship, the captain was standing there waiting and people were on the deck and clapped while they all got on the ship. 

St Petersburg Russia? That’s a horse of a different color, last place someone needs to be stranded 

On 3/27/2024 at 7:19 PM, yoolykeme said:

So here is a definitive answer:

 

Katty Byrd's office called me to say that they approved the downline, and that it's in the system.  I just need to confirm once I get on the ship.  Also, once I leave the ship at my early port, I can't get back on, so make sure that I have everything.  Also, I have to carry my own bags off.  I can also cancel the downline and finish the cruise, should I reconsider before my downline port.
 

Now, I need to read threads on how to get to Paris city from the port lol.

Train

It’s to the point if I just want some R&R, float around the sea I’ll book a cruise from one of the Florida ports I can drive to. Seen most of the Caribbean so a port change wouldn’t bother me.

That said on the more expensive European cruises ports are important to me and I truly hesitate to book NCL. I either need to research other cruise lines, read their forums to see how often this happens or book a land based vacation on what I want to see!

Port changes for weather, unrest etc things out of the control of NCL I don’t have a problem with but these Willy nilly changes and cancellations of late give me pause

17 minutes ago, MMackey348 said:

I was really looking forward to the Jade.  We always enjoyed the Gem and were looking forward to trying the Jade.  I think I'm going to wait and see where she is redeployed.  But I am eyeing the 2/9-2/20/25 Panama Canal on the Jade.....decisions, decisions.  

Depending on where she will be deployed I might be booking that one too 

20 minutes ago, complawyer said:

mmackey. Once again, i'm not a cheerleader for NCL, but i understand that Panama is restricting use of the canal. apparently they dont have enough water flowing through the canal at this time.

I’ve read that and also read cargo ships take priority and rightly so. I was looking at Jade for Panama in January but think I’ll wait to see where they are redeploying her to. She’s my favorite NCL ship

21 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Yeah, I have heard of that from Royal. Ironically, NCL is currently offering a Triple Up deal where you can apply up to 3 CruiseNext certificates, but the offer expires on April 2. According to the letter we received, they won't be crediting us back until April 4, and we don't have 3 CN's left to use right now. It's not a big deal, though. My wife is saying maybe we should visit Alaska, since we've never been there. We'll get over it.

Did Alaska twice once on Bliss and once on Jewel. I would jump on the 10% off coupon for the latitudes cruise but it’s late September and last August/ early September it was quite windy and cold so I can only imagine very late September 

3 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Yeah, could  be. (Although the Viva is probably too new to need a dry dock already). I noticed that they offer alternative sailings, but the one for ours omits the one port that was the basis for our entire sailing (Longyearbyen in Norway). Of course, we all know that ports can and do get skipped for various reasons, but the itinerary is always an important aspect of cruising for us.

For sure a bummer for many! People are also complaining even with the 10% fcc trying to switch is costing more out of pocket money. At one time, not sure if they still do it, when Royal cancelled they had what was called a shift & lift where you could book a comparable cruise with your original price locked in

17 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Yeah, this is a bummer for us, we were booked on the Star for June 9-25, 2025. Time to find another cruise to replace it with! The letter I got said it was due to charters, I wonder if that applies to all of those cancellations.

Redeployments? Dry dock? I doubt all of those sailings are charters

6 minutes ago, Menocchio said:

How is the alternative to the May 18th 2025 sailing of the Viva the May 18th 2025 sailing of the Viva?

From what I read it’s redeployed to another area

42 minutes ago, conniehar said:

Traveling on the Jade next month and trying to find out where the boat docks.  Is it a tender stop?  Thanks!

 

I’m on this cruise in June. I know GSC is tender, the reason why this port is skipped many times due to wind! Grand Cayman as well

4 hours ago, mo&fran said:

I was surprised that the tugs didn't continue to accompany the ship, at least to get the ship past the bridge.

It’s not a requirement under the Key Bridge

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

And, slightly of a lower priority (sarcasm), is the fact that Baltimore is the 9th largest port in the US, and the largest port for importation of cars on the East Coast.  Then there is the container traffic, which is going to affect the US economy for a few months.

Hopefully container ships loaded with cars can be diverted to Brunswick GA and the ports of NY&NJ, Port of Savannah can handle some until Port of Baltimore is cleared of debris

3 hours ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

 

Port options and alternatives are getting pretty slim pickings if Norfolk is out of play.

 

Philadelphia is out of play.

 

Baltimore is obviously out of play with no idea when it will be available again.

 

Bayonne looks like the lone possibility if the scheduling allows it.

Farther away but Jacksonville or Orlando if NY port is congested 

4 hours ago, mo&fran said:

I just realized, this must be the I95 bypass around Baltimore we all use when driving back and forth from Florida to the north.

It’s a heavily traveled hazmat route as hazmat even propane tanks on RV’s can’t use the tunnels

2 hours ago, ready2cruzagain said:

I know NCL only has one cruise out of Baltimore that I see this year but it was one that I was looking at. 

 

 

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/03/26/key-bridge-collapses-into-patapsco/

 

From what I have seen on the news, massive casualties. Very sad

Absolutely horrible! Thank goodness it was at 1AM and not 6 or 7 AM when that bridge would of been bumper to bumper commuter traffic. There were construction workers on bridge too. 

At this point I have to assume it was pilot error,

With ships sailing at or near capacity anymore upgrades are few and far between!

I put in a bid for a club balcony from a balcony on Jade sailing in June, I sincerely doubt I’ll win it

9 hours ago, MSUjohn said:

the jewel class is my favorite class of cruise ship, with the jade being my favorite.

 

Ditto

Thanks for review! Jade has been my favorite ship since doing a trans Atlantic on her in 2019

will be on her in June so happy she’s still a great ship

I never pick a cruise on what entertainment is offered, I book based on price, length and ports. I have enjoyed some of the Broadway like productions on the ships but not having them is not a deal breaker.

Imo this was a cut for cost savings, the big shows between props, production crews, cast salaries, cabins used not to mention the licensing fees comes out to lots and lots of money! 
 

Unfortunately for those cruisers that really enjoy the shows I don’t see them coming back anytime soon

It’s a guess as to what flight they will put you on! I will say this last August I did the reverse, got the quote for Bogo air and was able to find flights on Delta a few hundred dollars less then the Bogo, it also gave me control over times and connections, I was flying Savannah/Anchorage, Vancouver/Savannah 

So it’s worth it to check

2 hours ago, Barb Nahoumi said:

Making cuts then raising the DSC does bother me.  I don't feel that the raise was necessary, but the crew does work hard to provide us with a great cruise experience.

It bothers me as well and I’m weary of NCL cheerleaders with how the cruise industry suffered because of covid and didn’t get bailouts! Well they didn’t get bailouts because they are all registered in Bahamas of which they avoided US wage laws and rode  that gravy train for decades, paying serf wages that were only supplemented for the crew by tips from passengers. 
 

I’ve said before the only way NCL or any of the other main stream cruise lines to sit up and take notice is if bookings dropped significantly and doesn’t look like that is going to happen anytime soon. So it’s the consumers choice to either put up and shut up or find another vacation sadly 

@Seas2mountains Thank you so much for the photos! It looks beautiful, I’m so happy I booked it! It’s a long day that I don’t think I could have done in the main area, I’d be dragging the kids back to the ship! This will be perfect

37 minutes ago, Greenpea2 said:

Book it and splurge! I have done it twice--love it. 

I did book it