AHubs95

4 hours ago, Meggysmum said:

I have sailed with RC and Princess a total of 16 times and only ever had a couple of minor tweaks to itinerary ( a reduction if 1 hour in port). I am sailing for the first time with NCL in 2 weeks, I have lost count of the number of changes. We have lost 2 ports and significant time differences at others. This is in Asia where a lot of ports are tender and a long way from where we would like to visit. I am not even getting refunds on an 8.5hr excursion I booked which is now at a port where we are tendering and now only have 7 hours in total so obviously I will be missing quite a chunk of my excursion. They have also switched some ports to alternative days so we actually seem to be sailing further. The latest changes which are quite major affecting 4 of the stops were only communicated last night. My daughter booked a similar cruise ( several if the same ports) with Celebrity at the same time as we booked our NCL one ( over a year ago), she has just returned from her cruise which was exactly the same as she originally booked so I don’t understand why we are being to subjected to so many changes. It feels like Bait and switch as this cruise no longer resembles what we booked.

Oh no, I’m so sorry!!! I have an Asia cruised booked with NCL next January that I’m worried about with all the changes that has already happened with my upcoming one this January. I booked mostly because of the itinerary…

4 minutes ago, Catchum said:

Just had a bunch of changes for our 12 day round trip from Cape Town in February. No biggies but the overnight in Richards Bay is cancelled to be replaced with a 5am arrival, I suspect because no-one bought their overpriced safari excursions. All the other changes are 30 minutes or so different. 

 

If you want itinerary changes, book flights with virgin Atlantic. But the food is good and they are very generous with the wine so we cope😉

I’m also sailing on Dawn from Mauritius to Cape Town. They removed Mozambique citing port congestion but removed it from all itineraries this season. Then adjustments like you mentioned, removing the overnight in Richard’s Bay and a few hours here and there - I presume just cost cutting. 

15 minutes ago, Laszlo said:

Stuff happens, we have had whole itineraries change because I storms. Missed Bermuda entirely a few years ago and we headed to Florida and the Bahamas. We made it to Port Canaveral and then missed GSC AND Nassau, Lots of angry people on that one. It was a very slow trip back to NYC. On our last cruise which was 12 days we missed Puerto Plata, no explanation why. Three of our other ports had time changes due to fuel economy or some BS like that

Of course, storms and emergencies happen. I’m talking about itinerary changes months/weeks in advance, most of which are after final payment. 

7 minutes ago, mugtech said:

Get ready for more of the same, happens with other cruise lines also.

I’ve cruised extensively and it seems that NCL changes way more than anything I’ve experienced with RCL, Carnival or Celebrity. Seems to happen right after final payment too. 

I’m newer to NCL and really love the unique itineraries offered. But I’ve sailed on 4 cruises with NCL recently and there have been constant itinerary updates before the ship sets sail!
 

For example, Viva was set to dock in Key West but replaced with Nassau a few weeks before. I am sailing on NCL Dawn to Africa in a few weeks, and the itinerary was changed to remove Madagascar and add more sea days. Just saw another post about Dawn removing more ports on a repositioning cruise a few months after… My recent cruise on NCL Star had an updated itinerary to cut short a few hours in Edinburgh…

Is this common for NCL? I have never had so many itinerary updates and I’ve cruised 40+ times, mostly with RCL.