Foreign home ports

[RaftingJeremy]

Sssoooo with RCCL canceling their Bermuda home port, does anyone think NCL will follow suit one or both of their Caribbean ships this summer/fall?   Just wondering what the opinions were , obviously no one knows anything for sure yet. 

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, RaftingJeremy said:

Sssoooo with RCCL canceling their Bermuda home port, does anyone think NCL will follow suit one or both of their Caribbean ships this summer/fall?   Just wondering what the opinions were , obviously no one knows anything for sure yet. 

 

I am now worried about the same thing. We are booked on a B2B on the Joy from Montego Bay beginning September 4. I have been watching inventory on the two sailings closely and they have barely moved since the initial bookings began. I am now deeply worried that NCL will see the writing on the wall about US sailings resuming by August and decide to reposition the Joy to a US port. If they do so, I hope they allow us to keep our booking, as we were very happy with our cabin and our pricing. I will be incredibly disappointed if they cancel and force us to rebook. The whole appeal of these sailings is that we were FINALLY booked on a cruise we could be certain would sail after having had 4 cruises canceled over the past 14 months.

[CroozFanatic]

Yes

[RaftingJeremy]

31 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I am now worried about the same thing. We are booked on a B2B on the Joy from Montego Bay beginning September 4. I have been watching inventory on the two sailings closely and they have barely moved since the initial bookings began. I am now deeply worried that NCL will see the writing on the wall about US sailings resuming by August and decide to reposition the Joy to a US port. If they do so, I hope they allow us to keep our booking, as we were very happy with our cabin and our pricing. I will be incredibly disappointed if they cancel and force us to rebook. The whole appeal of these sailings is that we were FINALLY booked on a cruise we could be certain would sail after having had 4 cruises canceled over the past 14 months.

I’m booked on the Gem in October and I’ve been thinking the same the last couple days.  I’m good with keeping everything the same and I’ll go wherever they live it. Miami would be best for me but whatever. 

[BirdTravels]

NCL is slowly adding US cruises in August. Alaska and Hawaii are being sold.  These can be all-US cruises without dependencies on foreign countries. And without the expense of provisioning and establishing the infrastructure to embark in foreign countries. 

[CroozFanatic]

The math should be similar for RCCL in Bermuda and NCL in Jamaica or DR.

 

That said, if I were NCL I would do something above and beyond if they cancel - these are your best customers!! No, I'm not booked.

[JamieLogical]

6 minutes ago, CroozFanatic said:

The math should be similar for RCCL in Bermuda and NCL in Jamaica or DR.

 

That said, if I were NCL I would do something above and beyond if they cancel - these are your best customers!! No, I'm not booked.

 

I would just be happy if the let us keep our booking on the Joy, whatever the new itinerary might be.

[bluesea777]

Looks like it’s unappealing to fly to Bermuda to cruise to Coco Cay and back. Also, flights to and hotels in Bermuda aren’t cheap at all. 
 

 

[Seany527]

1 minute ago, bluesea777 said:

Looks like it’s unappealing to fly to Bermuda to cruise to Coco Cay and back. Also, flights to and hotels in Bermuda aren’t cheap at all. 
 

 

I agree. Weak itinerary and Vision of the Seas is a very old ship.  Adventure of the Seas is essentially doing the same itinerary.
Adventure is newer and it’s much cheaper and easier to fly into Nassau. 
 

Joy on the other hand is the 3rd youngest and doing a traditional western Caribbean route.  Joy also isn’t competing with other NCL ships with the Gem doing eastern Caribbean and Jade in Europe. 

[sid_9169]

I'm placing my bet on the Joy cruises out of Jamaica happening as planned... I'm booked on the very first one out of Montego Bay, and already have flights and hotel paid for. If NCL backed out, there would be quite an uproar from their biggest supporters who are booked on these initial sailings...

[JamieLogical]

17 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

I'm placing my bet on the Joy cruises out of Jamaica happening as planned... I'm booked on the very first one out of Montego Bay, and already have flights and hotel paid for. If NCL backed out, there would be quite an uproar from their biggest supporters who are booked on these initial sailings...

 

The same could have been said for the RCCL sailings out of Bermuda...

[BermudaBound2014]

Things are so fluid. Based on cabin availability, Bookings for the DR and Montego Bay have been low even with reduced capacity. I’m at a point where I believe it is nearly impossible to forecast what the next year will bring for cruising, let alone the start up season.

 

I will keep one prediction that I have made since last May. Cruise prices are going to be greatly slashed after final payment as cruise lines struggle to fill ships (whatever the capacity is). We are surrounded  by very loyal customers on this forum, but Johnny public isn’t booking cruises in the starting line up. Public  perception has been severely damaged.

 

[Yinster]

12 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I would just be happy if the let us keep our booking on the Joy, whatever the new itinerary might be.

If NCL do start from another port then I reckon that's a new cruise/itinerary and so will cancel all original bookings. 

 

It is frustrating. I had three cruises cancelled. All were awesome prices and probably would never get at the same price. Not in the near future.

[Royals Carol]

12 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I would just be happy if the let us keep our booking on the Joy, whatever the new itinerary might be.

My husband and I are booked on the Joy in November. This will be our first time on the Joy and can't wait!!!!

[CroozFanatic]

I predict it's over for Montego Bay and Punta Cana.

 

60 day Peace of Mind policy allows everyone booked to get a full refund

RCCL decision to throw loyal customers under the bus to maximize revenue

Options available, both NCL and non-NCL from established home ports

They weren't selling that well regardless

It was a nightmare waiting to happen and a lot of executives probably want it to go away

 

 

[Cruising Lynne]

I am trying to be optimistic.

 

We had Gem Boston to Bermuda for October cancelled, and booked Gem out of Dominican Republic for September to replace the cancelled trip. I don't think NCL will cancel the DR sailings. They only have so many set up. I think they will run the trips, and worry about cruising out of the US later, when the CDC lightens up some more.

 

NCL does not always do things just because the other cruise lines doing it. 

 

If we do get cancelled I will get a refund back that may allow me to do two cruises instead of one. Since we have never been to DR before, I paid the big bucks to use NCL air, transfers, and hotel. This really added up. I am also sitting on a casino voucher from a local casino. I am waiting for things to start up before I use it. I hope to do a cruise that doesn't involve flying.

[JamieLogical]

The big selling feature of the Jamaica and DR cruises was that these were cruises that were certain to sale. The first, official "post-COVID" cruises for NCL. It will certainly be a huge letdown if NCL pulls the rug out from under us after we have already had 5 other cruises canceled in the past 14 months. I really hope that doesn't happen.

[DCGuy64]

3 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

The big selling feature of the Jamaica and DR cruises was that these were cruises that were certain to sale. The first, official "post-COVID" cruises for NCL. It will certainly be a huge letdown if NCL pulls the rug out from under us after we have already had 5 other cruises canceled in the past 14 months. I really hope that doesn't happen.

I hope this doesn't happen, either. We just found out our August MSC cruise has been changed and so the Norwegian Gem we'd booked for September as a backup was our only chance at cruising this year. I already got permission from my boss (who has since retired) to take the time off. In addition, a good friend of mine has just booked a cabin on the same sailing, so if NCL decides to nix the DR sailing, we'll have to start over from scratch. I will be very disappointed if that happens. I have a new supervisor at work and I dread the prospect of having to juggle my schedule around later. We aren't allowed to have more than one employee out at a time, so if NCL cancels and the substitution doesn't work for me, it's bye-bye to cruising in 2021. 😥

[DCGuy64]

40 minutes ago, CroozFanatic said:

I predict it's over for Montego Bay and Punta Cana.

 

60 day Peace of Mind policy allows everyone booked to get a full refund

RCCL decision to throw loyal customers under the bus to maximize revenue

Options available, both NCL and non-NCL from established home ports

They weren't selling that well regardless

It was a nightmare waiting to happen and a lot of executives probably want it to go away

 

 

😭 Guess I'd better prepare to email my TA and tell him to forget the whole thing. What a week, first the Alaska thing seems like good news, and now apparently NCL is going to cancel our cruise. Easy come, easy go....

[sid_9169]

I believe that the Royal cruises were likely cancelled due to weak demand to go on an old, outdated ship. Whereas, NCL has placed one of their newest in the fleet in Jamaica... I'm still placing my money on the Joy cruises happening...

[DCGuy64]

5 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

I believe that the Royal cruises were likely cancelled due to weak demand to go on an old, outdated ship. Whereas, NCL has placed one of their newest in the fleet in Jamaica... I'm still placing my money on the Joy cruises happening...

I saw that the price for our sailing had dropped and got money back, now I'm worried about the reason for the lower prices. 😏

[Trimone]

Look what they did with Greece cruise, sold it out to a charter after advertising it to death over the website, I will say there wasn’t much sympathy towards the OP that posted it.

Karma 

[Trimone]

#1   

Posted May 12 (edited)

WARNING!!!! today on 5/11/21 NCL canceled my 8/15/21 Greek Island cruise because they chartered the whole ship to a CORPORATION. It has zero to do with Covid. I had my flights and other arrangements made to visit others in Europe. They only offered 10% future cruise credit, a ridiculous $50 future shipboard credit and up to $300 if lose money on flight reservations. Why would anyone want to book with NCL when they pulled this out from regular customers? You could be next.

[graphicguy]

47 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

I believe that the Royal cruises were likely cancelled due to weak demand to go on an old, outdated ship. Whereas, NCL has placed one of their newest in the fleet in Jamaica... I'm still placing my money on the Joy cruises happening...

I agree.  

 

Just based on the hotel bookings at Montego Bay in August and the weekend dates being sold out, I would have to think the limited passenger capacity on the Joy makes it a good bet to sail, as is, particularly given Del Rio’s recent comments!

Edited May 21, 2021 by graphicguy

[teacherman]

I like to cruise.  I have been on many cruises.  I have had 3 cruises canceled because of Covid.  I have an Africa cruise scheduled for January.  I hope it goes.  BUT, with all of the uncertainty in the entire world right now, there is no way I would have booked any of these early cruises.  Too many logistics in a time of uncertainty.

 

If I am not fairly certain by final payment date that the cruise will go, and that I can fly to S Africa in January without having to present a negative Covid test, there is no way I am going to commit a very large sum of money with so much uncertainty.  There are always enough things that can go wrong on any trip that requires international flights and a cruise that I see no reason to add more potential problems.   That's just my view of this whole situation.