Itinerary change without notice

[bundtkate]

We are preparing for our first NCL cruise which also happens to be our (much belated) wedding cruise -- a 14-day Panama Canal transit in early December. Today, my mom mentioned that both my aunt and I had brought up a port that wasn't on the online itinerary. I looked later and wouldn't you know, that port and another I remembered from when I first made the booking were gone. I was so convinced they were a thing I dug up the original confirmation from our travel agent and, sure enough, it lists San Juan Del Sur and an extra "Panama Canal" stop after the transit, which I presume is the stop in Panama I remembered. So evidence seems to show at least one port (maybe 2?) was part of the original itinerary we booked and has been removed. It does rub me the wrong way that this happened without at least an email saying, "Hey, sorry y'all, but we had to make some changes." I'm also not likely to visit Nicaragua in the future so missing San Juan del Sur is a bummer. But, I wanted to check myself before making a thing out of nothing. Is this sort of thing more common when you book farther ahead? Normally 3 months is planning ahead for me so this whole booking a year in advance is not my normal. Would you have expected a heads up? I don't want to let something slide that I shouldn't, but I've rescheduled this thing three times now and kinda just want to go so I'm trying to find the right balance.

[Oldgoat61]

Ports do get removed/changed.  I wouldn't say it's common, but it does happen, it has happened to us a couple of times.  Chances are there are issues with the port in question.  I am surprised you didn't get an email telling you of the changes.

Edited July 27, 2022 by Oldgoat61

[Zippeedee]

If you used a travel agent they may have received the email and not forwarded it. Some travel insurance will pay you for port changes. I’ve had changes on two of my last three cruises and was paid the amount listed in the policy by my insurance.

[complawyer]

we're booked on the star from southampton sailing sept 16th. one of the ports was berlin (somewhere on my bucket list)when looking for shore excursions, i noticed it was no longer there,instead there was some raggedy a** city in denmark i'd never heard of, nor did a care to visit.

 

no notice, from ncl, no email, and absolutely no explanation. if theyre not docking in berlin, i'd rather have a sea day.  when we do arrive in denmark, i  probably wont even bother to get off the ship.

 

some swap huh?

[LGW59]

2 minutes ago, complawyer said:

we're booked on the star from southampton sailing sept 16th. one of the ports was berlin (somewhere on my bucket list)when looking for shore excursions, i noticed it was no longer there,instead there was some raggedy a** city in denmark i'd never heard of, nor did a care to visit.

 

no notice, from ncl, no email, and absolutely no explanation. if theyre not docking in berlin, i'd rather have a sea day.  when we do arrive in denmark, i  probably wont even bother to get off the ship.

 

some swap huh?

ship happens

[complawyer]

truer words were never spoken!

[Trevor Fountain]

Aarhus is a great place. One of the largest cargo ports in Northern Europe.

Some of the many attractions, which are a short walk from your ship, include, thousands of shipping containers, huge cranes, and lots of seagulls, which frequently dump white stuff , which can almost make you believe it's snowing.

What's not to like?

[KeithJenner]

Itinerary changes are not unusual. We have had quite a few over the years, mainly minor but occasionally there have been bigger changes.

 

I have always received an email notification, even if it is just a minor change to port times. My guess is that your TA didn’t pass the information on. I’ve seen a few posts here and on Facebook where people didn’t even know that their cruises have been cancelled and they are almost all TA bookings.

[MoCruiseFan]

You obviously failed to read section 6c of the cruise contract that you agreed to...

Contract -> https://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/Guest-Ticket-Contract-11-2015.pdf

 

[pdmlynek]

4 hours ago, complawyer said:

...

no notice, from ncl, no email, and absolutely no explanation. if theyre not docking in berlin, i'd rather have a sea day.  when we do arrive in denmark, i  probably wont even bother to get off the ship.

...

Uh, just what NCL ship are you taking that you'd expect it to dock in Berlin?  Do you really expect an ocean-going vessel to go up Spree?  😲

[KeithJenner]

3 minutes ago, pdmlynek said:

Uh, just what NCL ship are you taking that you'd expect it to dock in Berlin?  Do you really expect an ocean-going vessel to go up Spree?  😲

It would have been Warnemunde/Rostock.

[pdmlynek]

2 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

It would have been Warnemunde/Rostock.

OK, thanks.  I thought that it is something like that.  🙂 

[terry&mike]

My sailing in March 2023 on NCL Jewel still includes San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. Of course, a change could still be coming our way, and if it does, we'll roll with it. 

 

[phillygwm]

5 hours ago, complawyer said:

no notice, from ncl, no email, and absolutely no explanation. if theyre not docking in berlin, i'd rather have a sea day.  when we do arrive in denmark, i  probably wont even bother to get off the ship.

 

some swap huh?

Actually, a decent trade-off.  I went to Berlin a few months ago and thought I'd love it but found it "meh".  Of course, our tastes may be different.  The real reason "Berlin" isn't a great cruise port is because, as noted above, it really isn't Berlin.  It's a port ~3 hours away.  So sure, if you want to spend 6 hours on a train, it's fine.  For me, I'd rather come back and do Berlin as part of a land trip.  We added Prague and made a week out of the trip.

 

So sure, stay on the ship.  Maybe get a discounted spa treatment on the port day.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

48 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

It would have been Warnemunde/Rostock.

We’ve been to Warnemund twice.  Took the train to Rostock and saw some beautiful sites.  It was one of our favorite stops.  Our friends all spent the day on a train for a very short tour of Berlin, while we had a beautiful relaxing day.

likewise, I’d never have thought a little place like Tallin, Estonia was a place to see, but it was fabulous.

 

To the OP, these things are not uncommon so take a deep breath and begin researching your new spot.  We are booked on a cruise out of Southampton and it was shortened by a full day 😳 but that is part of cruising.   We were notified months ago.   I would suggest you find a good PCC at NCL and begin building a relationship with him/her.  I’ve had the same lady for 14 years and she has been invaluable.

 

congratulations on you marriage, I wish you any years of marital bliss.

Edited July 27, 2022 by MagnoliaBlossom

[complawyer]

i, am totally aware that a cruise line can cancel/change a port at any time for any reason at their discretion.

the disappointment is never the less the same. read all the posts about the change from greenland to norway due to inclement weather.

 

by the way smarta**, i am not geographically challenged. we're on the star leaving southampton on sept 16th and i am aware of the following (1) the brochure says london and southampton is about an hr away. (2) 1st port was paris but the ship docks in le harve 3hrs away. (3) if youve sailed to rome or florence the ports are all about an hr plus away from where the ship docks. 

 

 i was well aware that we werent docking anywhere near "berlin" but there were a bunch of shore excursions offered for that day, including the train ride.

 

so thank you for your valuable insight (sarcasm intended)

[cruiseny4life]

33 minutes ago, complawyer said:

i, am totally aware that a cruise line can cancel/change a port at any time for any reason at their discretion.

the disappointment is never the less the same. read all the posts about the change from greenland to norway due to inclement weather.

 

by the way smarta**, i am not geographically challenged. we're on the star leaving southampton on sept 16th and i am aware of the following (1) the brochure says london and southampton is about an hr away. (2) 1st port was paris but the ship docks in le harve 3hrs away. (3) if youve sailed to rome or florence the ports are all about an hr plus away from where the ship docks. 

 

 i was well aware that we werent docking anywhere near "berlin" but there were a bunch of shore excursions offered for that day, including the train ride.

 

so thank you for your valuable insight (sarcasm intended)

You make me laugh complawyer! I knew you knew that you weren't docking literally in Berlin as I read about your disappointment previously. Again, sorry your train ride to Berlin and excursion were canceled when the port was! It sounded like a great way to get to know the countryside. 

[CruiseMH]

13 hours ago, complawyer said:

we're booked on the star from southampton sailing sept 16th. one of the ports was berlin (somewhere on my bucket list)when looking for shore excursions, i noticed it was no longer there,instead there was some raggedy a** city in denmark i'd never heard of, nor did a care to visit.

 

no notice, from ncl, no email, and absolutely no explanation. if theyre not docking in berlin, i'd rather have a sea day.  when we do arrive in denmark, i  probably wont even bother to get off the ship.

 

some swap huh?

It is absolutely unacceptable that you did not get notified about this port change.No matter what the reasons were but at least they should notify their clients.

 

BUT Aarhus is clearly as attractive as Berlin. Maybe not that big but that doesn`t matter.

 

 

[complawyer]

well aarhus may be as attractive as berlin, but berlin is one of the world's major cities.

 

i might add this cruise included stops at brussels, amsterdam, oslo and ended in copenhagen.

 

i thought it was a great way to see the some of the worlds major sites and cities. 

 

while i admit i was disappointed in ncl excluding berlin, my primary objective was seeing paris (and yes, i know it's a 3 hour drive from the port le harve)

 

an added bonus was that the ship left from southampton, so we're spending 3 days prior in  london. (another city on my bucket list, and 2 days post cruise in copenhagen)

 

all in all, ive gotten over the pain (lol) of not seeing berlin!

[FLAHAM]

My Alaska cruise next month just had a half hour deviation in our visit to Victoria.  Yesterday I received an email from NCL with the complete original schedule, the complete new schedule, and yellow highlighter drawing attention to the half hour change.  The email also noted that our shore excursions would be automatically adjusted.  In my experience, this is the norm for NCL.

[complawyer]

we're on t he same cruise (i think) i dont believe a half hour deviation on arrival in port is earth shattering enough to get upset over.

 

as a practical matter, i wasnt even planning to get off the ship in vicctoria, so the change doesnt bother me at all.

[FLAHAM]

5 minutes ago, complawyer said:

we're on t he same cruise (i think) i dont believe a half hour deviation on arrival in port is earth shattering enough to get upset over.

 

as a practical matter, i wasnt even planning to get off the ship in vicctoria, so the change doesnt bother me at all.

I wouldn’t miss dinner in Victoria, but was just pointing out that in my experience NCL has been scrupulous in timely advising passengers of port changes.

[complawyer]

well they were unscrupulos in letting me know they cancelled the berlin stop on my set 16th cruise.

 

by the way were you referring to the bliss sailing aug 6th?

[FLAHAM]

1 hour ago, complawyer said:

well they were unscrupulos in letting me know they cancelled the berlin stop on my set 16th cruise.

 

by the way were you referring to the bliss sailing aug 6th?

No, Aug 20.

[bundtkate]

13 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

My guess is that your TA didn’t pass the information on.

This is certainly possible, though in the past I've still received emails directly from both MSC and Royal despite using an agent. I also got an email direct from NCL talking about health and safety protocols for my sailing so I guess I kind of assumed they did things the same way. Guess there may be categories they send and others that only go to agents? We humans do love over- complicating things for ourselves, after all. 😅

 

11 hours ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

take a deep breath and begin researching your new spot.

There actually isn't a new stop, but as I mentioned in the OP I'm not terribly fussed about that bit. Bummer, sure, but we've had port changes on our past two cruises as well as at least one a few years back. It happens. The thing that makes me a bit twitchy is the lack of notice because I might have booked an excursion before I realized the port was gone. Thankfully I didn't this time, but it would stink if that happened down the line.

Anyway, what's done is done this round and it seems NCL may rely more on TAs to provide these updates than other lines I've sailed with. So I'll have a brief moment of mourning for San Juan del Sur and maybe drop my TA a line to see if he heard anything. Poor guy went from no work to tons and it dealing with my entire family which I know from experience is a trip it itself so I'd not blame him for the oversight, but I'd still rather know the drill for next time so I can be properly attentive.
 

 

16 hours ago, complawyer said:

one of the ports was berlin (somewhere on my bucket list)when looking for shore excursions, i noticed it was no longer there

I know it probably doesn't help, complawyer, but I think you may have been saved a fuss given the state of transit in Germany right now. Berlin is hard to cover in a day to begin with, but it was made all the worse by the state of the trains when we visited last month. Between construction, maintenance issues, and the impact of the 9 euro ticket, I'd not have trusted the train to get me anywhere on time, let alone back to the ship. Actually, thinking on it, I wonder if that's why they're giving it a skip? With a long trip to Berlin, it may be they couldn't guarantee a timely return to the ship as they promise for excursions booked through then. Regardless, though, I'm sorry you're missing it and hope you get to visit soon. 🙂

 
Thanks, y'all, for your thoughts  and commiseration (and the well-wishes, MagnoliaBlossom! 💜). We all know this can happen and that it's part of the deal, but it's still unfortunate. I hope everyone with cruises coming up has a great one and if anyone makes it to San Juan del Sur, grab a cup of Nicaraguan coffee and think of me.