Norwegian just cut short the March 3 PoA Cruise!!

As I said on the other thread:

 

 

 

You get 25% of your basic cruise fare to go toward your next cruise.

 

You get one day's worth of port fees back to your OBA.

 

You don't get charged one day's DSC.

 

NCL pays for your one night's stay at a Hilton hotel on Waikiki which may be worth more that your one day on cruise (if you are in an Ocean View cabin).

 

It happened to us when our cruise was shortened by one day. We came out fine and happy, and we still cruise with NCL.

Hmm, if that's the case, that's the bare minimum and I wouldn't say they're really screwing passengers. There's a lot of people claiming they're paying still having to pay port fees, etc, but I'm not sure if they really are.

It's not a great offer so I can see why some are complaining as well.

Losing one day, but putting you up in a decent hotel (I've heard the Hilton and Hyatt, which I know both to be pretty nice for Honolulu) means you're just out meals. That can actually cost a decent amount due to Hawaii prices so it's more important in terms of compensation that people are making it out to be. Even airlines give you meal vouchers in addition to a hotel room for big delays. There's also the harder to quantify amount of "entertainment" lost. Plus the day's worth of tax. Add it all up though, and we're not talking huge dollar amounts here. As long as no gratuity is being charged, that likely would have been the most "cost" aside from the base cruise fare for the day.

Still, they offered a coupon off a future cruise so that's something. It's not 1 day, but 25%, so a little better than a 1 day off coupon.

I've had itinerary changes where all I got was port fees refunded. No coupon off future cruise or anything. It's Norwegian. They're a budget line. It's an annoyance, but I don't think they did anything out of line or out of expectation. I laughed when some other poster said they're equivalent to RCI. Yes, if we're comparing to Viking like she was, but in the mass market group, no, I'd say NCL is at the bottom with Carnival. So, you should keep expectations at that level.

We are booked on the March 10th......now 11th cruise. I had no real complaints with the way NCL handled the problem, until I was notified of our "one day lost" credit amount. The letter we received indicated we would receive a "refund for one day cruise fare" if that was the option we chose. NOT cruise fair PLUS fees and taxes or even prepaid gratuities. Just one day cruise fair. OK. I'm not happy about it and it doesn't seem perfectly fair (especially the gratuities) but that's what the letter said. So one day's cruise fair is 1/7th....right? That's 14.286%. Our credit is more like 1/8th or 1/9th. 11.629%. In our case it's not a lot of money since we're not in a suite, but what's promised in the letter is what's promised in the letter. THAT is what my complaint is about.

I'm curious if this happened to anyone else.

Eat twice as much in the buffet to get back at them! :-)

What discount? A refund of a day already paid for is no discount!

A 25% discount on a future cruise can certainly be a substantial savings. I would gladly take that.

Has anyone else been unable to access their online account? We cannot view any of our trip info for the March 10 (or 11th now) cruise and the page says it's on "permanent vacation". I plan to call later today, but wanted to hear if anyone else is having this experience.

I am on the March 3rd sailing and can't download my E-Docs. It says "reservation is not ready to be retrieved." Of course I procrastinated printing them. ;p Hopefully they load before we fly out for the cruise in a couple days.

So as an alternative would the people who were affected have preferred that NCL cancelled one of the sailings entirely rather than cut one day off of each end of two consecutive sailings? Or cut their sailing by two days and left the other one intact?

Of course not.

If this was indeed an unexpected technical issue that needed to be addressed then I think this was the best possible outcome.

I’ve had cruises cut short by technical problems. I’ve also had cruises with missed ports and replaced with extra sea days. I’ve had flight cancellations occur on our way out to cruise embarkations. These things do happen I don’t blame the cruise line or airline for unexpected circumstances outside of their control.

If your excursions were through NCL I’m sure they have already been rescheduled. And I’m sure that most of the large third party tour operators that cater to POA passengers will be rescheduling as well. So the only other thing would be rental cars right?

But if this was the result of a mandatory inspection that NCL should have been aware of as one of the contributors to this thread had suggested, they should have notified the passengers much earlier.

Just read POA going into drydock this Fri thru Sunday. Taking place at the Pearl Navy Shipyard, together with another ship repair company. Sounded like in the article this was the date the drydock was available or otherwise the ship would have had to sail to a west coast yard. Sounds like either a minor repair to take place or do for regulatory inspection.

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Not upset at all with the fact that they had to repair or recertify.....Really pissed at NCL for not telling you anything. Poor poor poor.

And I stand corrected, in that they actually did get the ship into drydock late Friday, and at least got it wet again Sunday. Marinetraffic shows her still in dock (but 13 hours ago) and the bow cam shows water in front, and no sign of the dock, so I'm not sure where she is. That was a very, very fast docking and inspection, I'm impressed.

Sounds like they had to pull this whole drydocking together really quick. Maybe since this is NCL only ship, and doesn’t fit there other ship rotation schedule for dry dockings, it slipped though the cracks, costly mistake. And with the only West Coast state yards up north, as BAE shipyard in San Francisco closed awaiting new operators doesn’t help.

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The cruise is changing from a 7 day to a 6 day voyage, and the ship will now call on Kahului, Maui on March 4th from 8am - 6pm instead of staying overnight as originally scheduled. ..

So, you're not actually missing a port of call, just missing an overnight in Kahului? I have to say this doesn't look all that bad to me. Annoying having to shuffle excursions, but not really bad. You get a night in a hotel, not sure where. You get 25% off a future cruise.

If this was the worst thing that ever happened to me, I'd count myself lucky.

So, you're not actually missing a port of call, just missing an overnight in Kahului? I have to say this doesn't look all that bad to me. Annoying having to shuffle excursions, but not really bad. You get a night in a hotel, not sure where. You get 25% off a future cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

If this was the worst thing that ever happened to me, I'd count myself lucky.

True, at least it wasn’t skipped all together.

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While I sympathize with the inconvenience and shortening of your cruise - stuff happens to ships and sometimes last minute repairs are required. This happened to us on a Windstar cruise and it delayed our sailing by about 1.5 days. Windstar did the best they could, providing free ferry tickets to the island that was missed and ample on-board credit and free booze for 24 hours . We were not transported to a luxury hotel. We stayed on the ship in port while repairs were done. We did not receive a future cruise credit. We were satisfied with the compensation.

NCL i seem to remember many posts about the star ? Years ago ! Felt sorry for all involved with that ! Felt really lucky when why didnt experince the star stay at dock voyages

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NCL i seem to remember many posts about the star ? Years ago ! Felt sorry for all involved with that ! Felt really lucky when why didnt experince the star stay at dock voyages

 

 

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I was a passenger on one of the Star sailings that encountered a technical issue. The captain announced during the cruise that we would have to return to Tampa early because it required an unexpected mechanical repair.

The cruise was cut short by one day but we still had a great time and have many fond memories of it.

I was a passenger on one of the Star sailings that encountered a technical issue. The captain announced during the cruise that we would have to return to Tampa early because it required an unexpected mechanical repair.

 

 

 

The cruise was cut short by one day but we still had a great time and have many fond memories of it.

I have to agree with you. If everyone was to read and understand the passenger carriage act, they might realize that cruise companies often go beyond what they are required to do beyond the contract. Theses are floating cities and things happen. Do we demand a auto company pay us when your radiator fails NO. The money refunded to whiny passengers is funds not available to reinvest in there ships. Cruise lines do not want to miss a day of sailing.

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Yes, reading the contract is important. They did more than they had to.

We were once on a cruise that had to start a day late. They paid for the hotel. I believe it was a similar situation.

Also we were on a cruise where a passenger was seriously ill and we had to cancel a port and make a run for it to get the passenger to a port that had a hospital to care for him and his condition.

Things happen. If you are on a ship, you should be prepared to roll with the punches.

Yes, reading the contract is important. They did more than they had to.

 

We were once on a cruise that had to start a day late. They paid for the hotel. I believe it was a similar situation.

 

Also we were on a cruise where a passenger was seriously ill and we had to cancel a port and make a run for it to get the passenger to a port that had a hospital to care for him and his condition.

 

Things happen. If you are on a ship, you should be prepared to roll with the punches.

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Just got off that March 3rd cruise. Funny, if the dry dock was unscheduled they were able to buy out the entire Luau on Kauai, that normally is reserved for the general public with such short notice. Further, the exiting from the ship was the most disorganized I have ever seen. Simply put you on busses by the hundred or so and drop you off with no instructions what to do or where to go from there. I, am a Hilton Honors member and was able to use their special line to check in. Hilton took very good care of me giving me an ocean front suite. Yes, they did put us in a nice hotel, but it simply lacked any organization. Because of this I have already booked our next cruise with another cruise line. Don't get me wrong, I do like NCL, but because of the way this cruise was organized by management, I will try others for a while. Beware 12th hours changes by NCL's managers. We were lucky to get a free hotel and a one day refund. Technically, they didn't have to do anything.

Just got off that March 3rd cruise. Funny, if the dry dock was unscheduled they were able to buy out the entire Luau on Kauai, that normally is reserved for the general public with such short notice. Further, the exiting from the ship was the most disorganized I have ever seen. Simply put you on busses by the hundred or so and drop you off with no instructions what to do or where to go from there. I, am a Hilton Honors member and was able to use their special line to check in. Hilton took very good care of me giving me an ocean front suite. Yes, they did put us in a nice hotel, but it simply lacked any organization. Because of this I have already booked our next cruise with another cruise line. Don't get me wrong, I do like NCL, but because of the way this cruise was organized by management, I will try others for a while. Beware 12th hours changes by NCL's managers. We were lucky to get a free hotel and a one day refund. Technically, they didn't have to do anything.

Are you referring to the Luau Kalamaku dinner excursion at the Kilohana Plantation on Kauai? Which day did you go? They only offer the Luau to the general public twice a week so I'm sure that NCL was able to have their reservation adjusted. We visited the Plantation in a rental car on our own for the Koloa Rum Factory tasting and the train ride but didn't sign up for the luau because we had just been to the one at the Polynesian Cultural Center on Oahu.

Also the port in Honolulu is not like a "normal" cruise port because there is no customs check since the POA cruise is entirely domestic. So basically you just walk off the ship and you are out!

Hopefully the rest of the cruise went well and you were able to enjoy your day at the Hilton.

As myself and others have already replied on this thread changes to cruise itineraries do occur on occasion and often with very short notice. I've experienced it personally but it didn't overshadow my overall enjoyment of the vacations.

In this instance I think for the minimal disturbance it created (shortening two cruises by one day each) they did the best that they could given the circumstances. Reports are that it was a true dry dock and not just an underwater inspection. They could have easily just cancelled one entire sailing altogether.