NCL changing itineraries for non-emergency reasons after final payment

[Sugar Magnolia]

5 hours ago, luv2kroooz said:

We agree as it relates to the Caribbean ports, too. Been there, done that lots of times. We couldn't care less where we end up and rarely even get off the ship. However, we acknowledge that cruises are big ticket vacations for many and the specific itinerary is a big part of the vacation. I remember our first trip to Ocho Rios and wanting to go to Dunns River Falls, Stingray City in the Caymans, you get the idea.

 

Absent conditions that impact the safety of human life, such as medevac, wind and hurricanes, strikes or unrest in a port (Russia) etc, the itinerary should be adhered to. Better said, we don't support last minute changes made to previously published itineraries in the name of convenience items, like green initiatives, port congestion caused by other NCL operated ships or sister ships. 

 

 

 

I concur. Even more disturbing to me are the situations that the OP cited where NCL knows a port is likely to be canceled but does not advise the passengers until after final payment. If this is true, then it is unethical. 

 

[chengkp75]

On 1/18/2023 at 5:28 PM, DaCruiseBug said:

 Or maybe the Government of the country they have their largest operations in and the country where Americans buy their tickets. Did you not learn anything with Covid? Ship registration didn't impede the US government from halting their operations in the US.

That was a public health situation (i.e. quarantine requirements), dealing with entry into the country, not an issue that deals with the ship's or cruise line's business practices.  If it was that easy to require foreign ships to meet a US federal law regarding their business practices, then the foreign flag ships would have been paying US taxes decades ago.  This is the basis of international law, and contrary to what a lot of folks think, US law does not apply outside of the US.  If you want the price of a foreign flag cruise, you have to realize that you need to put up without many of the legal protections that a US flag vessel (the only ones that US law applies fully to) would provide.

[alwalaska]

On 1/17/2023 at 8:12 PM, BirdTravels said:

This post seem to be really stuck on trying to define a "non-emergency" reason for changing port. From what I gather in the post, I think that the definition of "non-emergency" is "something that the OP doesn't like".  No cruise line makes itinerary changes "just for the heck of it". Every cruise line wants to operate on their published schedule. Every change is done with careful consideration,,, which includes a risk assessment.

 

"Things" happen. Sometimes you don't get clearance from the host country. Sometimes conditions at the port changes. For example, many port calls at Nassau were cancelled over the past year because of construction at the port. In the photo below, port personnel scaped concrete rubble and dirt off the dock to make a narrow path for us to walk down while jack hammers and heavy equipment kicked up dirt and rocks onto passengers as they walked. Would it have been an "emergency" if the captain decided that the port should be cancelled seeing the conditions for passengers. 

 

The second photo was from last month. We had waves breaking over our gangway. A junior security officer (who was soaking wet) yelled to disembarking passengers when it was "safe" to run down the wet, slippery gangway (some didn't make it and were hit up side the head with sea water).  Would it have been an "emergency" if the captain decided that the port should be cancelled seeing the conditions for passengers. 

 

I gather you believe that a decision to not call at Taino Bay is not an "emergency" and not a "valid reason to change itinerary". We called at Taino Bay on the Encore after the Escape beached herself. In a stiff breeze, I watched our captain run our bow thrusters at near full speed to keep us from being pushed into the reef as we left. The Escape's hull breach required them to evacuate the ship in the DR, spend several weeks at Port Canaveral patching the hull, then several weeks in dry dock in Europe to permanently fix the hull. Is changing itineraries to not call at Taino Bay an "emergency". I fully support that decision and I will not be mad if we have to skip the DR on our upcoming cruise versus endangering passengers, crew, and ship. I never want to hear seven short blasts followed by a long blast on the ship's whistle. 

 

 

 

 

Usually, your posts make a lot of sense and helpful, but now you are just sounding like an NCL cheerleader.  The problem isn't with NCL moving cruises, like ours to Amber Cove, or changing ports all together, or changing it to a sea day because there was a problem with the Escape a year ago.  The problem is, they are still selling these cruises as Taino Bay and waiting to tell people about the change until after final payment.  We were notified of our change about 10 days out. We had booked a private tour because of the lack of transparency from NCL since we originally wanted to walk into and around town, which is not possible from Amber Cove.  Others were left scrambling.  For people who travel for the ships or the bars close to the port, it isn't a problem.  For those with enough money to take multiple cruises a year, rather than saving for years to take one cruise, it isn't a problem.  But for people who cruise for the itineraries and who make a significant sacrifice to pay for the cruise, these types of changes cause distress.

Also, on the "what is an emergency", it isn't defined by what people like, but I'm sorry - the sustainability goals BS is not an emergency.  I can't see how anyone can say it is.  If the cruise was going to burn too much fuel, they knew that before final payments, no reason to wait until after.

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, alwalaska said:

The problem is, they are still selling these cruises as Taino Bay and waiting to tell people about the change until after final payment. 

And the Escape and Encore are docking in Taino Bay every week. 

[tbjl24]

Just got word our 3/11 western Caribbean on Joy will no longer be stopping at Roatan. The excuse given…port congestion. We were scheduled to be the only ship at Coxen Hole. Cozumel had 8 ships on our original itinerary and now the new itinerary is stopping at Cozumel on a day with 4 ships and replacing Roatan for Bimini. Total cost cutting move if you ask me. 

[dcgrumpy]

2 minutes ago, tbjl24 said:

Just got word our 3/11 western Caribbean on Joy will no longer be stopping at Roatan. The excuse given…port congestion. We were scheduled to be the only ship at Coxen Hole. Cozumel had 8 ships on our original itinerary and now the new itinerary is stopping at Cozumel on a day with 4 ships and replacing Roatan for Bimini. Total cost cutting move if you ask me. 

 

 

I'm on Joy the week after you.  Are you still going to Costa Maya? We lost Costa Maya awhile ago, they also said that it was due to port congestion. 

[mking8288]

Norwegian Spirit (freshly out of dry docked & modernized in 2022) - this May, will skip cruising Alaska Inside Passage - instead, just a "sea day" ... probably another due to "unforeseen" factors & reasons - great deals with last minute pricing.  Folks in the Pacific Northwest and West Coast might find this an interesting B2B, 14 days at sea & whatever ports.  

 

 

 

Edited March 1, 2023 by mking8288

[tbjl24]

1 hour ago, dcgrumpy said:

 

 

I'm on Joy the week after you.  Are you still going to Costa Maya? We lost Costa Maya awhile ago, they also said that it was due to port congestion. 

As it stands today, yes, we are still going to Costa Maya. They swapped Bimini in place of Roatan and moved Cozumel from Thursday to Monday. 

[cassie55]

In early 2021 we booked the Jade for May 2023, Black Sea itinerary. Leaving from Athens to Ukraine, 2 stops in Romania, Bulgaria, Istanbul and Kusadasi.

 

 

 

After the invasion of Ukraine we expected that port to be dropped and were disappointed but obviously no fault of NCL. It was replaced with an overnight and 2 days in Istanbul. 

 

 

 

2 days after final payment we received an email.  

 

 

 

Bulgaria cancelled, Romania cancelled. Kusadasi cancelled. Instead we were going to several Greek islands and Izmir.   

 

 

 

We've been to Istanbul and Izmir several times. We've been to Crete numerous times.

 

 

 

We booked a Black Sea cruise and have ended up with a Greek Island cruise. I don't think the timings were a coincidence either. They waited until just after final payment to advise us. We'll make the best of it but it's not an itinerary we would have booked.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 1, 2023 by cassie55

[aimee0715]

On 2/28/2023 at 8:06 PM, tbjl24 said:

Just got word our 3/11 western Caribbean on Joy will no longer be stopping at Roatan. The excuse given…port congestion. We were scheduled to be the only ship at Coxen Hole. Cozumel had 8 ships on our original itinerary and now the new itinerary is stopping at Cozumel on a day with 4 ships and replacing Roatan for Bimini. Total cost cutting move if you ask me. 

 

We were on NCL Bliss the week of Valentine's Day.  We received a notice the day of embarkation that Cozumel was being cancelled due to "port congestion" and replaced with Bimini.  I thought that was weird but I checked a marine traffic site and there were going to be a lot (6 or 7 ships) in Cozumel the day we would have been there.  I didn't think that was all that unusual for Cozumel though.  We also missed Costa Maya.  The captain said that was due to wind. Each cabin received $100 nonrefundable OBC.  I thought it was odd but I took their word for it until I heard about them cancelling Roatan for "port congestion" when the only other ship in Roatan that day was a small Carnival ship (Paradise, I think?).  We were in Roatan in February with one of those ginormous Royal ships plus a Carnival ship (Dream or Breeze, I believe) at Mahogany Bay.  My guess is Bimini is a more profitable to them somehow. 

[MoCruiseFan]

On 1/17/2023 at 4:06 PM, kitkat343 said:

There has been a lot of discussion on these boards about NCL changing itineraries after final payment for the Dominican Republic (for those of you who are not familiar please note that NCL ran a ship aground there last March, and is now not docking any mega ships into Taino Bay port.  There is a second port available, Amber Cove, but it is owned by carnival and can hold 2 ships.  If 2 carnival ships are already scheduled on your day in port, you will not be docking there.  On the 1/8 getaway cruise, they cancelled the DR and the morning in Antigua for environmental reasons and replaced the Dr with a sea day.  They did not update their website, and continued to market the cruise as going to the DR and passengers who bought the cruise directly from NCL after 12/20 were not notified of the loss of the DR or morning in Antigua nor were they allowed to cancel the cruise.)

 

I've recently learned that for the Bliss 1/27 sailing to the Panama Canal, the port stops in Nicaragua and Costa Rica were cancelled for safety reasons after final payment (which makes sense in Nicaragua but not for Costa Rica) , and replaced with Acapulco and Jamaica.  The port stop in Panama was changed from a full day and overnight and replaced with 4 pm - 11 pm, knocking out shore excursions.

 

Are there other NCL itineraries that have lost ports for non-emergency reasons?  Was I just lucky in my previous 8 cruises that I'd never heard of this happening unless there was an emergency that forced the cruise line to not follow its schedule?  On the Baltic board we usually advise new cruisers to sail for itinerary, not cruise line.  But if NCL will change the itinerary for reasons other than emergencies (weather, port strikes, actual danger in countries other than Costa Rica) then this advice may need to be changed.

 

 

The thread describing the 1/27 sailing changes:  

 

 

 

 

 

OK and what's the issue.  WE all agree o this being a possibility when we book.  Non-issue here...

[njkate]

6 hours ago, MoCruiseFan said:

OK and what's the issue.  WE all agree o this being a possibility when we book.  Non-issue here...

The issue is this seems to be coming the norm instead of the exception and they with hold an announcement until after final payment, a little shady imo.

 

Sustainability is a catch all BS excuse. 
Maybe I’m not searching hard enough as I don’t find this happening on other lines like it is on NCL.

[Sherilly]

We are scheduled to leave on January 27th from Port Canaveral. We received an email today, January 16th that our itinerary has changed. It seems that NCL flipped the itinerary, plus changed our port in Jamaica from Ocho Rios to Falmouth. My husband and I are both Jamaican, so we know the port cities well. There's no comparing Ocho Rios to Falmouth. There's nothing to do in Falmouth! Such a disappointment! 
 

We've travelled more than a handful of times on Royal Caribbean with absolutely no issues. I'm wondering if this is a NCL thing? If so, this will be our first and last NCL cruise. 

[galesie]

Yes this happens all the time with them. Last 5 cruises they have cancelled ports on us. Sometimes without a replacement. They of course keep the port charges. This needs to be regulated more often since they are making money off of these changes. 

[luv2kroooz]

56 minutes ago, Sherilly said:

I'm wondering if this is a NCL thing?

Yes, NCL changes itineraries after final payment date has passed. It is usually disguised by cryptic reasons, like port congestion, environmental initiatives, operational reasons. And they set you up by telling you how much they are looking forward to welcoming you onboard, they work hard to deliver vacation experiences, and other word salad. Your experience mirrors ours....we have experienced emergency itinerary changes for weather or medical reasons on other lines. Yet, over and above, NCL seems to have an above average of last minute itinerary changes. Celebrity has also been recently in the news in a negative way regarding itinerary changes.

Edited January 16 by luv2kroooz

[PATRLR]

1 hour ago, Sherilly said:

I'm wondering if this is a NCL thing? If so, this will be our first and last NCL cruise. 

Yes, it's an NCL thing.  In my experience and observations, NCL really doesn't care how it's actions may impact the guests.  Some things they recognize won't be well received - those things they will almost always wait as long as they can, long after final payment, to notify you about.

If you are happy on Royal, I suspect this will indeed be your last cruise on NCL.

[zqvol]

If you don’t like how NCL operates there are lots of other cruise lines that will take your business

[luv2kroooz]

Here is another example for a March 2024. What an appropriate time to resurrect this thread with the ongoing, recurring issue. In fairness, this itinerary looks to gain a port.

 

We support green initiatives. However, the time for changing this itinerary for green initiatives came and went many many months ago. It is disruptive and inconveniences passengers who are trying to plan for their cruise vacation.

 

 

 

Edited January 16 by luv2kroooz

[luv2kroooz]

1 hour ago, zqvol said:

If you don’t like how NCL operates there are lots of other cruise lines that will take your business

Profound.

[cruiseny4life]

3 minutes ago, luv2kroooz said:

Here is another example for a March 2024. What an appropriate time to resurrect this thread with the ongoing, recurring issue.

 

We support green initiatives. However, the time for changing this itinerary for green initiatives came and went many many months ago. It is disruptive and inconveniences passengers who are trying to plan for their cruise vacation.

 

 

Let me guess...you received this after final payment. 

[luv2kroooz]

2 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

Let me guess...you received this after final payment. 

Full disclosure..I copied this from a different thread about the same topic. Thankfully, we are not impacted. However, yes, this change was made after final payment.

 

Our last cruise had four adjustments after final payment. Mostly minor, but still.

Edited January 16 by luv2kroooz

[ontheweb]

19 minutes ago, luv2kroooz said:

Full disclosure..I copied this from a different thread about the same topic. Thankfully, we are not impacted. However, yes, this change was made after final payment.

 

Our last cruise had four adjustments after final payment. Mostly minor, but still.

Our last cruise had 2 adjustments after final payment. One I expected as the Prima never made it to Isafjordur last summer. The other, not going to Zeebrugges for Brugge, was very unexpected and disappointing. The reason they gave was an extremely low tide of only 1 foot.

 

Actually, there was one other that happened on the ship. Since we were not doing that stop in Belgium, we were supposed to port in Amsterdam in the late afternoon that day in addition to its scheduled day the next day. Then that too was missed due to sea conditions. (I did wonder whether the passengers on our roll call who were saving money by booking online for that afternoon ever got their money back when the ship did not port.)

[Panhandle Couple]

3 hours ago, Sherilly said:

We are scheduled to leave on January 27th from Port Canaveral. We received an email today, January 16th that our itinerary has changed. It seems that NCL flipped the itinerary, plus changed our port in Jamaica from Ocho Rios to Falmouth. My husband and I are both Jamaican, so we know the port cities well. There's no comparing Ocho Rios to Falmouth. There's nothing to do in Falmouth! Such a disappointment! 
 

We've travelled more than a handful of times on Royal Caribbean with absolutely no issues. I'm wondering if this is a NCL thing? If so, this will be our first and last NCL cruise. 

Why did you resurrect a year old thread instead of starting a new one?

 

Most of KitKat complaints from last year were shown to be either exaggerated, or had good reasons behind them.  Maybe read the 4 pages involved.

 

Since you have just joined CC, be aware that KitKat complains about this ALL the time, even when she is not affected. 

 

 

[Sherilly]

Sorry. I couldn't figure out how to start a new thread. I just wanted to check to see if other people were having the same issue. 

[luv2kroooz]

9 minutes ago, Panhandle Couple said:

Why did you resurrect a year old thread instead of starting a new one?

Same topic, different year.