RD64

3 hours ago, RD64 said:

But why should they give you a credit for those ancillary items if you choose - yes you are choosing to forego the cruise. Sometimes it pays to book refundable air and hotels.

Who did you pay for the items? If it was the airline, then it is the unfeeling airline you should be arguing with. The cruel hotel won’t let you cancel? Take it up with them. Why should the cruise line ( which still has a cruise run running) be obligated for extra things you did not purchase through the cruise line?

3 hours ago, smelltheroses said:

You must be a rep for NCL. Most cruise lines have cancelled. Why would NCL put their passengers at any risk. Should we toast the war ships as we pass in the Suez Canal. 

Most cruise lines? Other than RCL with its roundtrip cruises from Haifa (targeted to the local Israeli market),who are the “Most Cruise Lines” to whom you refer?

15 minutes ago, smelltheroses said:

I am appalled by Oceania’s attitude about this cruise. I have already been to the Greek isles and I live in Florida so I have no desire to sit by a pool for 9 days. I also don’t feel safe being in the Red Sea while a US naval destroyer is shooting down missiles and our state department has issued a “caution”. 
Oceana is willing to give us a future credit but not a credit for our business air, hotel which totals $12,000 out of our pockets!!!!

But why should they give you a credit for those ancillary items if you choose - yes you are choosing to forego the cruise. Sometimes it pays to book refundable air and hotels.

As others have stated - NCL is a business - not a charitable institution. Just like every other cruise line and business, their goal is to maximize profits. You always have the option to patronize other cruise lines which you may find operate on a more charitable basis.

5 minutes ago, hallux said:

They could, but if the cruise is closed-loop from a US port the US government might have something to say unless there are extreme extenuating circumstances...

 Very true - they need that foreign port requirement.

29 minutes ago, Vitrbt1103 said:

I'm so frustrated with NCL. Our flight to Istanbul is 9 days away and yet they won't release any information or decision for the cruise of Nov 1st. I have to cancel airline, hotel, & transportation reservations if the cruise is cancelled. A very short notice if any is very bad for NCL, won't use this cruise line ever again.

Please confirm -your cruise leaves from Istanbul and returns to????

If you do not like the process - that is a fair statement. There are others that do like the process - everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, at the end of the day, nobody is forcing you to use the process. You are always free to purchase your desired stateroom at the outset, and not engage in bidding wars.

After one bad experience, I will only book the exact cabin I want after doing the appropriate research. To each his own however,

5 hours ago, SilvertoGold said:

Did look at the TA, our  air would be $1700 pp. Some nice pricing on several cruises, would be great if the air didn't push it into the stratosphere.

Airfare from YYZ to anywhere in Italy has been horrendous this year. Prices for next spring / summer / fall not much better.

Although I have not sailed on Disney - from people that I know that have - the food and service are over the top for what is in essence a niche cruise line. If you want the food / service of a mass market cruise line because the price is right - then you get what you pay for.

2 hours ago, voljeep said:

who will blink first? - and if Princess doesn't reduce to drop and go - will those cruisers just not go - but remember for their next cruise no longer drop and go pricing, so they book earlier.

 

And as others, we book when the cruises open up - so no change for us.

 

When does "STAR Princess" sail in the caribbean - we will book it, depending on the price and how our cruise on the SUN P goes in fall 2024 we will decide if the refundable deposit - nevermind

True - who will blink first? Perhaps Princess wants to maintain some pricing integrity - but if it works for Princess, others will be sure to follow.

As long as deposits are refundable, this could be a win / win for those who are able to plan accordingly.

If it goes legal it will have to be filed in Florida I believe.

4 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

True. But why people would do it? Check how many cruises to Israel have been cancelled/modified in the last 10-15 years. I bet it less than 1%. While every operation/war is tragic and takes innocent lives, statistically those are events that not that common and don't last more than couple weeks.

 

Of course the current one is probably different.

Without a doubt cruise lines are already looking at adjusting itineraries for 2024. Although to many on here it is ancient history, but in October 1985 the Achille Lauro was hijacked off the coast of Egypt and an American passenger killed. Bookings for the 1986 Mediterranean season evaporated and did not return to normal until the 1987 season.

Granted the cruise industry was at a different point in its evolution forty years ago. Most cruise companies high tailed it out of the Med and brought their ships to North America. The now defunct Sun Line - a Greek cruise line - offered some interesting itineraries on this side of the ocean - as opposed to the Greek islands.

The 2024 season will be starting shortly - five or six months. While I doubt the situation will  be a repeat of 1985/1986 - surely the cruise lines are watching bookings. I do anticipate that Israeli ports will disappear from next year’s schedules. At the very least they will promote these cruises as “Magical Mediterranean” as opposed to Israel and the Holy Land - that way passengers can’t complain that they were promised a cruise to Israel and the Holy Land.

2 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

Are you suggesting that cruise lines stop selling cruises to Israel? Wouldn't this be a prize and surrender to terrorists? Not to mention that 99% of those cruises sail as planned.

But if people stop booking these cruises to potentially dicey areas, the cruise lines will have no option but to look for alternate itineraries.

12 minutes ago, sailingships said:

Is that the one where the terrorists threw that poor American man in a wheelchair into the sea because he was a Jew? I remember hearing about that horror.

Yes Leon Klinghoffer - off the coast of Egypt I believe.

37 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

I'm supposed to go to Italy and Greece in 2 weeks and I'm worried THAT will be cancelled or changed, too. 😟

I truly hope things do not escalate to make that a reality. However, all passengers have to realize that these changes are possible, not just now, but into the 2024 Med season as well. You can be guaranteed that itinerary planning is working overtime these days for next Spring / Summer / Fall. If sales start to decrease on existing itineraries, changes will have to be made.

For those of you old enough to remember the Achille Lauro hijacking back in 1985 (ironically also in October), this destroyed the Med cruise season for 1986, with many cruise lines resorting to North American itineraries. Again may be ancient history to most, but Sun Line - a very popular Greek line at the time - offered some very unique North American itineraries that summer.

NCL isn’t working within a war zone, but their ships were scheduled to operate in a war zone - and now they must make logistical decisions based on this constantly developing geopolitical event. A decision made today may have to be changed several times by this evening.

Now, please correct me if I am wrong, but to my knowledge the only Israeli cruises that were cancelled (and totally refunded) were those by RCL that sailed roundtrip from Haifa and catered to the local Israeli market. 

10 hours ago, 8920 said:

And here we are, speculating about what those factors could possibly be.  Do you have any insight to add?

Provisioning, distance to be travelled, fuel costs, bunkering, shore excursion availability,  port scheduling and facilities,  limited ports without repeating, many ships from other cruise lines also scrambling to adjust their itineraries at very short notice, airlift where necessary, safety concerns, 

It is not just a simple fix of taking out an eraser and writing in a new port - one has to take the logistics into account. Unless the cruise is outright cancelled, NCL must still “create” an adjusted cruise of XX number of days. There are only so many ports available in this geographic area. 
 

And truly as we can see from some of these posts, the entitled (those who have paid their $$) feel that the schedule should be changed to accommodate their wishes. There are probably 2000 other people on board that have their own different ideas about what an appropriate revised itinerary would be. It is impossible to please everyone.

9 hours ago, PhilRSchultz said:

I didn’t realize my posts were subject to the self-appointed cruise message board police, but, foolish me, this is an internet message board so what did I expect?  Thanks for the advice……. but I think I’ll be a far better judge as the paying customer in this matter in regards to whether I’ll feel I received what I paid for.

And what recourse do you have at this point in deciding what ports NCL will eventually assign?

If you play the guarantee game, you have to go in with the expectation that you may be assigned a cabin you wouldn’t knowingly pay for.

4 minutes ago, 8920 said:

No need to get snarky about it.  I was just saying that nothing in the first 10 days of the cruise needed to be changed.  The slot reservations at the ports were already booked and all logistics already planned.  So why mess with the rest of the ports?  The only changes that needed to be made were the Israeli ports on days 11 and 12.  Why create all of the extra work?

You are looking at in terms of the isolation of one or two ports.  NCL has to look at it in terms of the entire itinerary and the logistics that are involved. According to you nothing needs to be changed - NCL may have an entirely different view based on factors which we may know nothing about. 

On 10/16/2023 at 7:21 PM, Coral said:

I probably paid $340 US for Pan Pacific in May booking directly.

$340. In what year?

On 10/16/2023 at 5:34 PM, georgetheblue said:

My TA just presented me with the precruise hotels choices for two nights(with transfers) next August.  My choices -  both Fairmonts run $850 to $900 USD.  I guess i will just have to add it to my overall Alaska cruise tour experience.  But-YIKES, it’s just a hotel.

Agreed - the prices for Vancouver are ridiculously expensive in the summer (I assume other times of the year as well). Given the option, I would choose the Fairmont on the corner of Burrard and Granville (or Georgia). A great location and hotel.

12 minutes ago, 8920 said:

Yeah, that's true.  I don't know, I can't think of any other reason why they did it that way.  

 

Exactly, so why cancel ports that had already been booked nearly two years in advance?  All they had to do was skip Ashdod and Haifa and reroute to Athens.  Why change up everything else?  The return cruise has Patmos and Rhodes still on the schedule.  

Perhaps you should work for NCL in itinerary planning since you seem to think that everything can be changed at the drop of a hat.

4 hours ago, PhilRSchultz said:

Why cancel non-Israeli ports that were already scheduled?  That seems odd.  Hope that doesn’t happen on my Nov. 14th departure with Viking.  I would not be happy.  My expectations are (3) ports excursions that were supposed to be scheduled in Israel now change to (3) port excursions elsewhere at landings as close as possible in quality compared to what we’re losing in Jerusalem and The Holy Land.  To me, that means adding Ephesus, Santorini, and something else

What it may mean to you may be far different than what the cruise lines are able to provide. You signed up for a cruise of XX days, and that is what you will receive - regardless of what you deem to be comparable quality.