Norwegian Gem's itinerary change for summer 2022 does not make sense.

[SummmerInKefalonia]

February 16, 2022
Dear Valued Guests and Travel Partners:
IMPORTANT INFORMATION Itinerary Change
On behalf of Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), we thank you for your loyalty and for making us your vacation of choice. We have important information regarding Norwegian Gem’s 7-day sailings from July 24, 2022 sailings through and including October 16, 2022. Travel partners should share the below information with guests who may be affected.
Due to port availability, the above-mentioned itinerary has been changed.

 

[SummmerInKefalonia]

Argostoli port was always available for them and they also got priority because they had 24 calls scheduled by Norwegian Gem (compared to 12 from Brilliance ots) on Fridays and this means they would get the dock around 20/24 times. So saying the port wasn't available does not make sense at all.

 

NCL seems that is keeping more crowded destinations and is removing the less visited ones...

Argostoli is also the cheapest port compairing to all the other ports in the itinerary.

In addition, in Dubrovnik arrival time is listed as 6:00 but the port regulations say that no excursions can start until 7:00.

It was a unique itinerary before with a visit everyday in a different port, and now they made it just a regular one as the other itineraries companies are offering. For some companies Greece there is only Santorini, Mykonos, Corfu, Piraeus & Rhodes. If you see the future itineraries of NCL you can see they will follow this patern.

There is already a concern in Greece regarding those ports because habitants of these islands are complaining about overcrowding. Santorini recently imposed a restriction for only 4 ships at a day in the port. From what I hear other islands and cities will follow.

[Sixtytwo]

53 minutes ago, SummmerInKefalonia said:

"Santorini recently imposed a restriction for only 4 ships at a day in the port. From what I hear other islands and cities will follow."

And the cruise lines just keep on building bigger and bigger ships...One day there may only a few ports that will allow these behemoths to port. Do we enjoy sea days???

[kochleffel]

My itinerary on the Jade includes many of the same ports, and the Gem and the Jade would have been at Argostoli on the same day.

 

Celebrity Edge, Norwegian Gem, Norwegian Jade, MSC Armonia, and Star Pride will all be at Mykonos on the same day. One of the best things about the Jade's itinerary is that no other cruise ship will be at Santorini then.

[SummmerInKefalonia]

50 minutes ago, kochleffel said:

My itinerary on the Jade includes many of the same ports, and the Gem and the Jade would have been at Argostoli on the same day.

 

Celebrity Edge, Norwegian Gem, Norwegian Jade, MSC Armonia, and Star Pride will all be at Mykonos on the same day. One of the best things about the Jade's itinerary is that no other cruise ship will be at Santorini then.

I'm scared about Jade too. Last year it cancelled and went to Olympia instead... Let's hope at least keep Jade's itinerary untouched this year. From next year if you see this itinerary on Jade is not offered. 😞

P.S. From what I see on my system (I have access to the greek ports schedules) on 28/5 2022 when you are in Santorini with Jade there will also be Mein Schiff 5 & Astoria Grande (former AIDAcara).

Edited February 17, 2022 by SummmerInKefalonia

[kochleffel]

20 minutes ago, SummmerInKefalonia said:

From what I see on my system (I have access to the greek ports schedules) on 28/5 2022 when you are in Santorini with Jade there will also be Mein Schiff 5 & Astoria Grande (former AIDAcara).

 

It was a long time ago when I checked. Maybe they have been added since then. I hope that there will be no more, because crowds are a problem there, especially when everyone needs to take the cable car down from Fira at the same time.

 

[SummmerInKefalonia]

5 minutes ago, kochleffel said:

 

It was a long time ago when I checked. Maybe they have been added since then. I hope that there will be no more, because crowds are a problem there, especially when everyone needs to take the cable car down from Fira at the same time.

 

Trust me I know very well since I'm from Greece. And the overcrowding issue is being discussed lately with the minister of Tourism. But cruise lines keep insisting of putting the same and the same destinations all over again. (Example NCL has 4-5 ships in Eastern Med and all go into Mykonos, Santorini, Corfu, Kotor, Dubrovnik). It won't suprise me if these ports who face this issue act like Dubrovnik and only allow 2 ships per day.

It would have if also passengers made this remark on the review form they are asked to fill in at the end of each port's call.

Edited February 18, 2022 by SummmerInKefalonia

[kochleffel]

The Jade itinerary that I'm booked for doesn't include Kotor or Dubrovnik; instead it has Kusadasi and Patmos in the same day. There was some discussion about this in the Greece subforum, because the call at Patmos is in the evening and NCL is offering excursions that would take place partly in the dark. One starts at 19:00 and lasts four hours. All the excursions at other ports start earlier in the morning than I can be enthusiastic about - I'm more of a night owl and wouldn't plan on my own to be ashore at 7:15 a.m.

 

 

[SummmerInKefalonia]

I found the real issue behind the removal of Argostoli's port.

It was Dubrovnik's request as it requires the ships calling to stay at least 8 hours on the port.

Gem was staying for 6 hours in the previous itinerary and in the new one it stays for 8 hours.

So it couldn't be on time if it made the call in Argostoli. So it was either Dubrovnik or Argostoli and they chose the first one sadly.

But who is gonna get up at 6 in the morning? 6:00-14:00 is not a convenient time. And I think another rule has that disembarkation cannot happen earlier than 7.

They could have changed with Split in Croatia and there wouldn't be a issue.

The arrival should be around 11 and not so early as in Dubrovnik and they would have kept the each day a port visit element that made unique this itinerary...

 

[Cowboy296]

It doesn't start July 24, 2022. My cruise is June 19, 2022, I did not receive a letter, but Argostoli's port has been removed when I received my final payment invoice.

[SummmerInKefalonia]

7 hours ago, Cowboy296 said:

It doesn't start July 24, 2022. My cruise is June 19, 2022, I did not receive a letter, but Argostoli's port has been removed when I received my final payment invoice.

Yes they cancelled more sadly. Only 5 cruises remained as it were. 3 9-night cruises and 2 off season 7-day ones 😞

[kimandtim]

I was upset by the itinerary change as well. Have done Dubrovnik before and while its a nice port, there isn't much to do beyond the walking the city walls, etc.- feel like its a one and done port.  Was really looking forward to Argostoli and the Cave/Lake excursions.

[SummmerInKefalonia]

2 hours ago, kimandtim said:

I was upset by the itinerary change as well. Have done Dubrovnik before and while its a nice port, there isn't much to do beyond the walking the city walls, etc.- feel like its a one and done port.  Was really looking forward to Argostoli and the Cave/Lake excursions.

Thank you for your support! 🙂

Also 7 am to 2 pm is short time to stay in Dubrovnik. Very early arrival and midday departure.

It would be better to add Split as an alternative, which has not the restrictions of Dubrovnik and you would get both Argostoli & Split ports.

It is ridiculous that still NCL advertise the cruise as ''everyday a new port visit''.

At least they should update their website! 😛