Encore Major Itinerary Change

We have booked a 32 day cruise on the Encore for February/March. The original itinerary left Sydney, went up the east side of the New Zealand South Island to Auckland and then on to New Caledonia and Fiji before ending in Auckland. Yesterday we were notified of an itinerary "change" that totally dropped the New Caledonia/Fiji segment and replaced it with a return down the South Island stopping at most of the same ports as the outbound leg prior to again returning to Auckland. Seabourn offered a $300 onboard credit for our inconvenience or a 10% future cruise discount should we decide to cancel. Unfortunately, cancellation is not really an option as we would lose $12,000 in prepaid airfare. Does anyone have an idea why there would be such a drastic change in the itinerary. I have travelled many times with Seabourn and experienced minor changes in routing but never something as significant as this.

I wrote to customer service advising them of my concern and dissatisfaction with the $300 accommodation but have not heard back from them.

Insurance might be able to help you with the air.

Wow. I looked at your itinerary and that certainly is a significant change. A 32-nite sailing is much less appealing when the back-end of the itinerary is a repeat of the first. Like you, I wouldn't be happy with a paltry $300 OBC, especially if I had nonrefundable air already booked. I hope SB comes back to you with a more reasonable offer. Please let us know! We're on the Encore 32-nite cruise that immediately follows yours and I'm hoping we won't be faced with such changes.

I don't know the reason for the itinerary change but that is cyclone season in Fiji so not the best time of year to be cruising. However Seabourn would have known that when they developed the first itinerary so there must be another explanation.

Mighty Quinn - are you on the Auckland-Bali cruise starting in March? So are we...

We were booked on this cruise as well. We also did the cruise this year and were looking forward to going back to the missed ports of Norfolk Island and Dravuni Island. Seems very strange, wonder if there is a large group charter.?

We were booked on this cruise as well. We also did the cruise this year and were looking forward to going back to the missed ports of Norfolk Island and Dravuni Island. Seems very strange, wonder if there is a large group charter.?

We have just come back last Saturday from a week at Norfolk Island, flying, and The Cascades Pier is now finished unlike when we were there. Cascades Pier is on the opposite side of the island where Kingston Wharf is where we looked at tendering but missed. Still weather/wave related but one side could be shelted

Not a happy camper here either. Airline change fees much higher than very meager offer. Have booked now from Dubai to Auckland but if deal not sweetened will seriously consider making this my last Seabourn cruise. :mad:

For those affected, have your TA go to bat for you! They most likely can get you an upgrade, a better SBC or both! This is what they are there for!

Thinking a little outside the box here ... another alternative would be to request Seabourn allow you to disembark at the first Auckland stop (since you have no interest in repeating the NZ cruise) with a prorated refund of your cruise fare plus compensation for whatever the change fees are on your non-refundable airfare. The disembark/prorated refund request is IMO entirely reasonable. Any change fee compensation will likely be OBC, which doesn't make you entirely whole but gets you close. Have no idea whether SB would go for this - the worst they can do is say no.