Altered Itinerary by NCL

[Battlebots]

There are other islands in the eastern Carrebean I would have been happy 😄 to visit that were unaffected by the hurricanes what do they do send us to port canaveral just saying

[beerman2]

Hi all I did some leg work and I found the RC and other cruise lines are not docking the same time as our original intinerary. NCL should revert back to our original intinerary that is what we booked and paid for. There is no excuse sorry.

There is an excuse ( hurricanes) and all cruiselines are doing what Corporate thinks is best.

 

Now whether we agree , which most booked pax don't, it's the way it's going to be.

 

Cruiselines are in a Damned if we do, damned if we don't situation.

 

When the affected ports are ready for passengers again cruiselines will then and only then start returning.

[ColinIllinois]

There are other islands in the eastern Carrebean I would have been happy 😄 to visit that were unaffected by the hurricanes what do they do send us to port canaveral just saying

 

Altering itineraries after two major hurricanes or going back to original itineraries isn't as simple as you may think. It's not like you just pick up a phone and make a reservation.

 

Like a wise man once said to me: "Life isn't fair, act accordingly".

 

Oh, and think twice about cruising during hurricane season.

[deeko]

Hi Colin.

March 23rd out of Miami ......hurricane season.....I don't think so.

Maybe think twice about the Caribbean!!

Good idea????

Best wishes

Deeko

[ColinIllinois]

Hi Colin.

March 23rd out of Miami ......hurricane season.....I don't think so.

Maybe think twice about the Caribbean!!

Good idea????

Best wishes

Deeko

 

 

It wasn't you that I was responding to. :confused:

[Battlebots]

They already returned if you haven't noticed

[Smong]

They already returned if you haven't noticed

 

But what have they returned to?! A devastated island! The port is open but the beaches are a mess! Why would you want to go there? Ncl in my opinion has changed to some beautiful functioning islands! I am going to St. Thomas on my cruise but know it is not nearly ready for a large amount of tourists or maybe any for that matter! I’m so confused why anyone would want to go somewhere that is not fully up and running!

[Battlebots]

_Royal Caribbean leadership recently returned from visits to St. Thomas, San Juan, and St. Maarten. We continue to be impressed with the progress the islands are making to rebuild, and are excited to announce our return to St. Thomas with Adventure of the Seas on November 10, as well as our return to San Juan with Freedom of the Seas on November 30. While it was our desire to also return to St. Maarten in November, the island needs a little more time to recover, and we will be returning to this beautiful destination on December 17 with Grandeur of the Seas.

We anticipate no further changes to our scheduled calls in St. Thomas and San Juan, December 1 onward, and to our calls in St. Maarten post December 17 for all vessels with the exception of Oasis class. Oasis class vessels will return to St. Maarten after the first of the year as more time is needed to repair the gangways that are specifically designed for these ships.

[Smong]

_Royal Caribbean leadership recently returned from visits to St. Thomas, San Juan, and St. Maarten. We continue to be impressed with the progress the islands are making to rebuild, and are excited to announce our return to St. Thomas withAdventure of the Season November 10, as well as our return to San Juan withFreedom of the Season November 30. While it was our desire to also return to St. Maarten in November, the island needs a little more time to recover, and we will be returning to this beautiful destination on December 17 withGrandeur of the Seas.

We anticipate no further changes to our scheduled calls in St. Thomas and San Juan, December 1 onward, and to our calls in St. Maarten post December 17 for all vessels with the exception of Oasis class. Oasis class vessels will return to St. Maarten after the first of the year as more time is needed to repair the gangways that are specifically designed for these ships.

 

Have you been there to see for yourself? They can say whatever they want but I have a friend who just returned from St. Thomas and said it is a mess! I saw videos! She said there are no working traffic lights! I saw pictures of beaches that look like forests. Boats at the bottom of the water. Nothing green just brown trees! So believe what you want. I have the account of a real person who just returned from there!

[bryans42]

Altering itineraries after two major hurricanes or going back to original itineraries isn't as simple as you may think. It's not like you just pick up a phone and make a reservation.

 

 

 

Like a wise man once said to me: "Life isn't fair, act accordingly".

 

 

 

Oh, and think twice about cruising during hurricane season.

 

 

I think at a minimum they could at least let us cancel and give us credit to use on another NCL sailing

 

 

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[oncruisecontrol]

I tend to agree with the OP that changes to cruises months away may have been jumping the gun. Then again, Im not an avid planner. I'm cruising the last week of February so I would have expected them to wait until early Jan to make changes. I'm not at all happy with the ports but I'm still very excited to be on the Escape from and will make the best of it.

 

 

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I am only commenting on the sentence of your post that I highlighted in red. I agree NCL may have jumped the gun. But the early predictions of how long it might take for eastern Caribbean ports to be ready to accept tourists were bleak at best. It was probably best to err on the side of caution. One of my managers grew up in St. Thomas, and his entire family still lives there. The port area may be operational but that may be all that is. Resort facilities and other tourist requirements may not be up and running. My manager's family is still without power and basic necessities. So, it is not necessarily a stretch that that cruise lines be extra cautious so as not to "promise" a port destination when it likely may not be feasible given the circumstances. That said, some ports have opened but they may not have the capacity or logistics to host the normal ship complement. I was on one of first voyages of an NCL ship after Hurricane Irma, and I live in South Florida. I still got my cruise, but instead of going to St. Thomas, Tortola, and Nassau, we went to Belize, Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumal: the exact same ports as last year on the Getaway. Oh well. At least I still went; others had their cruises canceled. I missed 10 days of work and 'endured' 5 days without power (a 'picnic' compared to what our countrymen in St. Thomas and Puerto Rico are experiencing). I cannot imagine what more than a month without electricity and sewer services is like (and we endured 3 weeks with no electricity after Hurricane Wilma back in 2005 and 2 days without sewer so I know something about this sort of thing).

 

Again, I am only responding to the sentence of your post that I highlighted in red. But, I have expanded on it with my personal experiences of having lived through major hurricanes, as I believed it was relevant to the topic. Natural disasters never offer "ideal" options.

[HokiePoq]

There are other islands in the eastern Carrebean I would have been happy to visit that were unaffected by the hurricanes what do they do send us to port canaveral just saying

 

This is the point for a lot of us. As someone else suggested, transferring a booking to another NCL cruise would have been a welcome option. It is a fact that some ships made out better than others in the altered itineraries. My gripe is that our Jade itinerary (what was left of it) was given to other ships and we were given a totally different cruise than what we paid for. Dawn and Sun ended up with cruises very much like what we booked....great islands and OUR islands. A transfered booking would have made me happy and those who like the new itinerary could keep it. But....at least we didn't get sent to Disney World like you!

[Battlebots]

Thats a very good suggestion. I actually said that myself to an NCL agent in the escalation dept. I said I want to switch to the Gem which is leaving 12/02 that intinerary is auesome. I am not happy with our new intinerary at all never mind Port Canaveral or Nassau but heard Mexico is not a very good place to go to right now. They should have at least given us some options and or some kind of ccmpensation a perk or credit that's want I am mostly upset about is the way NCL handled this whole situation suck it give me your money attitude and a I'm sorry. I said I already went eastern 2x let me switch ships or I'll be happy to postpone my trip nope nothing I said helped.