NCL cancels pearl sailing oct 1

Received email yesterday cancelling 5 day repositioning cruise from Vancouver to LA. NCL reservation Dept was no help.They offered alternative cruise with a10 day itinerary but couldn't confim where the cruise would port even which ship it would be. Not impressed. I would have expected those details to be available prior to sending the cancellation email. Anyone else effected by this or other cancellations?

We have a thread over on the Pearl Roll Call. Quite a few of us are impacted by this. One of the folks on this cruise just posted that the 9 day itinerary doesn't exist now according to NCL.

hi

I am in the same situation and nobody answers the phone. Some of you know if the 9-day cruise depart from vancouver?

hi

I am in the same situation and nobody answers the phone. Some of you know if the 9-day cruise depart from vancouver?

The 9 day is no longer an option. Corporate alerted their agents of this early AM. Holland America has some 4 and 5 night cruises going out of Vancouver between September 25th and October 17th.

The "mystery of the Jewel ships daily changing itinerary". The magic 9-day is gone, the hotel is now canceled and waiting to find out just how the air change fee will work. Will NCL not pay it if I do not rebook? Will I ever see the money after I cancel my flight? If I rebook and the flight schedule is not available for the date I choose will NCL do nothing and not pay me at all?

Personally, I would like NCL to step-up and just tell the truth in one story not many tales or a new one story each hour depending on who you reach by phone. We have been longtime customers of NCL and yes, they can change the itinerary, and yes they can give notice whenever they choose to let you know but the shell game is causing my trust in their product to dwindle. Don't get me going on the sorry 10% or onboard credit offering.

I am disappointed that I brand I have been with for 15 years feels it is ok not to be upfront with their customers.

I’m really sorry this is happening. I was caught up in a major redeployment a couple years ago. I remember being quite furious and thought I’d never sail with Ncl again. But... they did make it right in the end.

It would really be nice if they had the alternative game plans set up and people avail to actually help the displaced customers when they cancel sailings. I certainly can see confusion when emergencies arise but for planned cancellations they have a pretty bad reputation.

If you’re trying to avoid cancellations or potentially having a major portion of the sailing be charter groups (which can negatively affect your vacation) I think you can cut chances by canceling if you see availability going way down too far in advance. Certain times of year with Jewel class are also subject to charters and partial charters and Ncl is big on both.

I did some research when my sailing was canceled and basically if you booked through the USA site, NCL can cancel for any reason at any time and all they owe you is a refund of the $ you gave them. It’s not like booking an airfare and knowing that once you purchased it they are obligated to get you from point a to point b.

The people who seemed to fare the best in these cancellations were customers who had really good ta’s and or NCL cruise consultants. It certainly helps to know what you want if their offer of $25 obc to switch sailings doesn’t work for you. Knowing what you want and communicating in a clear, concise, direct and friendly manner will get you the most help.

Further; if you get a bunch of nasty comments from other posters just ignore them. NCL provides a great product but they are a company in it for the bottom line. It’s certainly ok to bring up frustrations and the fact that sometimes all doesn’t go well.

I’ve taken the HAL Pacific coast trips in the past and really enjoyed them. Many of the ships have the covered pool area that is like the Haven area. They run ships similar to Jewel class and the food is a good notch higher quality. That may work better with the airfare issue. Good luck.

Personally, I would like NCL to step-up and just tell the truth in one story not many tales or a new one story each hour depending on who you reach by phone. We have been longtime customers of NCL and yes, they can change the itinerary, and yes they can give notice whenever they choose to let you know but the shell game is causing my trust in their product to dwindle. Don't get me going on the sorry 10% or onboard credit offering.

If you are a long time customer of any cruise line, you KNOW that the people you "reach by phone" are minimum wage call center personnel who can only tell you what they read on their customer service computers. If you start badgering them, they WILL just make stuff up to get you off the phone.

If you start with "I demand this" and "I demand that", you will get exactly what they have offered you in way of compensation.

If you treat people with respect, they will treat you with respect. We have been on many changed/cancelled cruises. And each time, if our out-of-pocket expenses exceed what they have to offer, we have always respectfully requested additional compensation. And we have ALWAYS got compensated for those expenses. Airline change fees/additional fares, hotels, etc.

The minute your reservation is flagged with "nasty person", your hopes of getting extra compensation diminish or go to nil.

A company has booked the Pearl for a trip to Cabo. My TA found that out. So the 9 night cruise they were offering as an option is gone!

So far I have not been given a fair option of a cruise. They are trying to push people to going on the Bliss at over double the price and no Free at Sea offers.

I have flights home booked already and they are not refundable. So I'm out $230. I would not book a trip to LA for 2 weeks. I would do a cruise and a trip to LA to make a 2 week vacation.

Not sure what to do. Such a waste of time. I have spent well over 8 hours planning this vacation. Now I'll probably be spending another 8 or more trying to plan another trip.

Has this one been taken for a charter or a change of ship deployment? I feel your pain as we are getting ready to go on a cruise that is costing thousands more than our original cruise which was taken by Celebrity for a charter.

The original one was one of a kind so the so called replacements were not that at all and only $200 OBC was offered to take a totally different cruise. We had to take one not listed as a "replacement" to match our land tour so we got nothing.

Hope this works out for all affected.

 

If you’re trying to avoid cancellations or potentially having a major portion of the sailing be charter groups (which can negatively affect your vacation) I think you can cut chances by canceling if you see availability going way down too far in advance. Certain times of year with Jewel class are also subject to charters and partial charters and Ncl is big on both.

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Could you explain a little bit more about what you mean in the above paragraph. What do you mean by seeing availability go down, and how do I find that? I really like the Jewel class but I would like to cut the likelihood of cruise cancellation. I've been cancelled twice by NCL which caused both inconvenience and a lot of extra expense.

Could you explain a little bit more about what you mean in the above paragraph. What do you mean by seeing availability go down, and how do I find that? I really like the Jewel class but I would like to cut the likelihood of cruise cancellation. I've been cancelled twice by NCL which caused both inconvenience and a lot of extra expense.

If they show at least 15 cabins available per category then there’s likely more than this actually available. Aft balconies usually sell out quickly regardless so I don’t count them. When several types of balconies, insides and ov are sold out, showing less than 15 or only available as a gt booking and pricing has gone up, I assume that they are getting close to selling out. When this happens on a sailing way out or the ship actually sells out a year in advance there is a good chance they have some fairly large charter groups on board. Seems even more likely when the roll call is really quiet.

I was looking at a couple of these sailings and had one booked on the Pearl but my gut told me the pricing was going to high, stateroom availability had gone way down and so I canceled. It just didn’t fit the regular pattern of similar sailings.

Last year our Jade sailing sold out a year in advance. I highly suspected a large portion charter because the earlier season exact same itineraries were still wide open. Sure enough over half the ship on our sailing was chartered. It didn’t ruin our vacation but if I had been told in advance I’d have switched to a different date.

Re the Pearl there was a poster a while back, I think a couple months ago saying he had booked a charter on the Pearl departure from San Diego. He was certain and it was conflicting with the Pearl arriving in Los Angeles. I think this is a link and in hindsight this guy was probably right. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2556596

Edit- that was from October, 2017.

If you are a long time customer of any cruise line, you KNOW that the people you "reach by phone" are minimum wage call center personnel who can only tell you what they read on their customer service computers. If you start badgering them, they WILL just make stuff up to get you off the phone.

 

If you start with "I demand this" and "I demand that", you will get exactly what they have offered you in way of compensation.

 

If you treat people with respect, they will treat you with respect. We have been on many changed/cancelled cruises. And each time, if our out-of-pocket expenses exceed what they have to offer, we have always respectfully requested additional compensation. And we have ALWAYS got compensated for those expenses. Airline change fees/additional fares, hotels, etc.

 

The minute your reservation is flagged with "nasty person", your hopes of getting extra compensation diminish or go to nil.

I only called the one time to ask about the Pearl status when I noticed it was no longer showing on the site and was told the ship was full. I then telephoned my TA and she verified the information and reported back to me. My TA who is wonderful by the way, has been handling everything. She passed on the 9-day which is the story some also received. This cruise is now also non-existent. No badgering as she is professional and been in the business forever with an excellent reputation. I personally never demanded anything but I am sure this is just general information you are sharing letting everyone know that polite discourse is the way to go.

Thanks, littlelulu01 for sharing. Your information on watching how ships fill is informative and something to take into consideration for the future. Yesterday, our TA suggested giving it a few days for the dust to settle and see what happens. Meanwhile, the four of us are casually looking and deciding what would be an alternative. We live states away from each other so our vacations together are our special face-to-face visiting time.

The biggest issue for many that booked on the Pearl is we had locked into a good price point by booking way in advance. This cruise was just a 5 night repo from Vancouver to Los Angeles that was leaving on October 1. They have another one on the Bliss that leaves one day earlier on September 1 also a 5 night. They have lots of space available on that cruise but will not let us exchange for that one unless we pay the new higher rates, which in some cases are double or even triple what the Pearl cost was for us. They are screwing the passengers who had booked the Pearl months ago. All I can say is they have lost my business for good and I am sure many other people feel the exact same. Not the end of the world because there are so many other cruise lines to pick. I will say this. I have had this happen before with Celebrity cruise line and they always took good care of me when something like this happened. Bye bye NCL forever.

The biggest issue for many that booked on the Pearl is we had locked into a good price point by booking way in advance. This cruise was just a 5 night repo from Vancouver to Los Angeles that was leaving on October 1. They have another one on the Bliss that leaves one day earlier on September 1 also a 5 night. They have lots of space available on that cruise but will not let us exchange for that one unless we pay the new higher rates, which in some cases are double or even triple what the Pearl cost was for us. They are screwing the passengers who had booked the Pearl months ago. All I can say is they have lost my business for good and I am sure many other people feel the exact same. Not the end of the world because there are so many other cruise lines to pick. I will say this. I have had this happen before with Celebrity cruise line and they always took good care of me when something like this happened. Bye bye NCL forever.

I'm not loyal to NCL. I have never even sailed with them. They will be loosing customers if they don't come up with a better deal. The option they left us with is not really an option. I'm waiting and going to try next week and see what can be done.

They say they are willing to pay change fees but my airline fees are the same to cancel and I feel they shouldn't be that picky when it's only $50 CAN for two passengers. It's not my fault they decided to cancel our cruise and that I'm a person who likes to plan and get my trip organised as early and on budget as I can. I don't know what I'm doing for my holidays now and trying to figure it out in two weeks isn't very fair to me when I work full time and now have extra work with trying to keep my driveway clear of all the snow we have been getting. Maybe I'm now sticking with my Free Dining at WDW, which my mom won't do as it's booked for August and she doesn't want to deal with the heat in Florida. The airline that I booked to go to LA isn't that great to book a flight for Orlando.

I'm not loyal to NCL. I have never even sailed with them. They will be loosing customers if they don't come up with a better deal. The option they left us with is not really an option. I'm waiting and going to try next week and see what can be done.

 

They say they are willing to pay change fees but my airline fees are the same to cancel and I feel they shouldn't be that picky when it's only $50 CAN for two passengers. It's not my fault they decided to cancel our cruise and that I'm a person who likes to plan and get my trip organised as early and on budget as I can. I don't know what I'm doing for my holidays now and trying to figure it out in two weeks isn't very fair to me when I work full time and now have extra work with trying to keep my driveway clear of all the snow we have been getting. Maybe I'm now sticking with my Free Dining at WDW, which my mom won't do as it's booked for August and she doesn't want to deal with the heat in Florida. The airline that I booked to go to LA isn't that great to book a flight for Orlando.

I am sure things will work out for you, but in the meanwhile remember, you are the one that says you like to take care of everything far in advance. This is your way of doing things and it can end up costing you in the long run. Air fare wise, as long as a person doesn't take the air/cruse package, I do not think they should expect to be re-embursed for any costs the cruiser has to endure.

You can be assured NCL knows what they are doing, if they are going to lose a lot of business they would not be doing this. They must have their reasons. Things like this do happen, that is why we rarely considering booking hotel and or air until a bit closer to sailing date. We are sailing out of Boston the first week of May. We have been watching prices but do not intend on booking our air or hotel until the first of next months. $ months in advance still gives us plenty of time to make all plans we need to make.

Received email yesterday cancelling 5 day repositioning cruise from Vancouver to LA. NCL reservation Dept was no help.They offered alternative cruise with a10 day itinerary but couldn't confim where the cruise would port even which ship it would be. Not impressed. I would have expected those details to be available prior to sending the cancellation email. Anyone else effected by this or other cancellations?

I would love to know why NCL cancelled. I would be as upset as the rest of you. The cancelling maybe can be explained but not having a plan down pat before the cancellation is the part that sucks. :o:rolleyes:

I would love to know why NCL cancelled. I would be as upset as the rest of you. The cancelling maybe can be explained but not having a plan down pat before the cancellation is the part that sucks. :o:rolleyes:

I was interested in the 9 night replacement as was the friend traveling with me but then that option never materialized. No information on it - nothing. So I have had to cancel completely. Poor planning on the part of NCL in listing something that doesn't exist as Option 1.

Since the initial email from NCL there has been no further communication. That is hard for folks to absorb. The call center folks don't have answers and that makes it hard on them because they then have to deal with angry customers.

My TA confirmed with a NCL TA that it's been chartered by a company to Cabo.

I'm booking a Pacific Coast on Celebrity as my replacement. It ends in San Diego and prices for hotels are more than half the ones in LA so even with the extra cost of the cruise and loosing some of the perks it's evening out a bit. SeaWorld and San Diego Zoo tickets aren't that expensive either so we have things we can do after the cruise.

I did not have a TA when I booked the NCL cruise. Mine had moved up in the company and the replacement agent I was given wasn't very good. I booked this cruise as I found a great deal on Black Friday weekend. I called the new agent on the Monday before and told her what I was thinking and never heard back from her again. I'm still using the same travel agency but just a new agent. She seems great so far as she has been helping me out even though the only thing I booked with her was the air.

I've had two cruises on the Pearl booked that ended up getting cancelled for a Charter. Now I no longer even consider that ship when looking at cruises. I know it can happen with any ship, but the Pearl has done me in on booking and then cancelling. It won't stop me from cruising though :D

I was interested in the 9 night replacement as was the friend traveling with me but then that option never materialized. No information on it - nothing. So I have had to cancel completely. Poor planning on the part of NCL in listing something that doesn't exist as Option 1.

 

 

Since the initial email from NCL there has been no further communication. That is hard for folks to absorb. The call center folks don't have answers and that makes it hard on them because they then have to deal with angry customers.

Oh, I am agreeing with you. Of course there should have been plans by NCL to deal with this. It happens from time to time. My response was in regards to buying air and hotel reservations so far in advance, not booking a cruise in advance. They are 2 different things and yes, I feel sorry for the reservation agents. They are stuck trying to deal with upset passengers that sometimes can be very rude.

Oh, I am agreeing with you. Of course there should have been plans by NCL to deal with this. It happens from time to time. My response was in regards to buying air and hotel reservations so far in advance, not booking a cruise in advance. They are 2 different things and yes, I feel sorry for the reservation agents. They are stuck trying to deal with upset passengers that sometimes can be very rude.

I knew you were. I had booked my hotel since it had already gone up by $100 from the time I first started checking but that was a quick hit the cancel button. I never opt of those non-refundable rates or booking with an online service that requires full payment. Was so close to booking air the week before because a great deal came up and then poof - right in the middle of selecting flights my PC died. So decided to wait.

Oh, I am agreeing with you. Of course there should have been plans by NCL to deal with this. It happens from time to time. My response was in regards to buying air and hotel reservations so far in advance, not booking a cruise in advance. They are 2 different things and yes, I feel sorry for the reservation agents. They are stuck trying to deal with upset passengers that sometimes can be very rude.

I knew you were. I had booked my hotel since it had already gone up by $100 from the time I first started checking but that was a quick hit the cancel button. I never opt of those non-refundable rates or booking with an online service that requires full payment. Was so close to booking air the week before because a great deal came up and then poof - right in the middle of selecting flights my PC died. So decided to wait.

It is hard to know when to book what. We are doing the Dawn in May, early May, I am just starting now to look for flights and hotels. I think we will book as soon as we make final payment which is the first week of Feb. I remember booking a non refundable hotel a few years ago. I don't remember what happened, but we did cancel. Even though we are frequent guests at the hotel and even know I am retired from the hotel company we could not get our money back. I was upset the say the least but did understand.

This is what travel insurance is good for coverage of these non-refundable charges to deposits.

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