Jade 4/9: Grenada cancelled

[kitkat343]

On 3/29/2024 at 10:17 PM, IAcruising said:

 

This is true for any cruise line. If you use a cruise ship simply as a hotel and restaurant, you're doing it wrong.

 

I cruise to be on the sea.

 

While it is a fair point that people who sail primarily for itinerary are taking a risk on any cruise line because there can be weather or safety emergencies that can cancel  ports, the fact remains that for many elderly travelers, travelers with disabilities or parents with small children, cruising is one of the few affordable ways they can still be able to travel.  

 

My family uses cruise ships simply as a hotel and restaurant, and as a result, we were able to take my son on a Baltic cruise when he was 3.  He was able to see all the major museums of St. Petersburg, Copenhagen and Stockholm on that trip, which isn't an experience we could have replicated through any other means of travel.  The second we reboarded the ship we put our son in the kids club and rested because it was a really exhausting (but wonderful) trip.  And if we hadn't done this when he was 3 (that was the first year Russia threatened the Ukraine) I have no idea if we could have ever experienced the beauty of St. Petersburg.  

 

On my Alaskan cruise, there was a woman who was flying alone on my helicopter to play with puppies on a glacier.  I asked her if her husband had been put on a different helicopter, and she explained that she had cancer and they couldn't afford to both go but flying to a glacier was her lifelong dream.  I asked her how the cruise was going, and she told me it was exhausting but she rested whenever she was back on the ship and on sea days.  I know the advice is given to only travel to places by land if you really want to see them, but that isn't feasible for all travelers.  Those travelers need to be aware that there's no guarantee of seeing every port (on other lines there could be mechanical problems with the ship, weather issues or problems with safety) which travelers should understand.  But I don't think anyone should have to understand NCL making changes after final payment unless there was an emergency they couldn't have anticipated.  

[floridafish]

Is there really a dime's worth of difference with any of these Caribbean ports?  

[Distinctive-Destinations]

5 minutes ago, floridafish said:

Is there really a dime's worth of difference with any of these Caribbean ports?  

Grenada has unique history that interests me, yes.

[Menocchio]

On 3/28/2024 at 6:17 PM, Distinctive-Destinations said:

As part of our commitment to deliver exceptional vacation experiences at every step of the cruise journey, listening to our guests is instrumental. Given recent guest feedback, and to accommodate certain circumstances including but not limited to enhanced port and shore excursion availability for the ultimate vacation experience, fuel optimization as a part of our commitment to the environment and sustainability efforts, as well as global maritime regulations, we have adjusted the original itinerary as shown below. We apologize for any inconvenience these slight adjustments may cause.

Interesting that they're putting this exact paragraphs on all itinerary changes. I just got an itinerary change on an upcoming Alaska cruise. Now, in my case it was a very minor and completely unobjectionable tweak (unless someone wanted to experience that famous Juneau nightlife for as long as possible) and we're still well before final payment. So I'm not at all mad about it. But they stuck that exact same bit of nonsense on it.

 

In contrast, I also have a HAL cruise booked. It also changed the itinerary. (They changed the order we're visiting ports. Again, it's hard to imagine anyone getting upset.) But they actually told me directly why (port congestion). I prefer that approach. 

[CruiseMH]

On 3/30/2024 at 1:59 PM, njkate said:

That said on the more expensive European cruises ports are important to me and I truly hesitate to book NCL.

From my personal experience and what i read here in the forums i would say that Europe is the area where NCL makes the least amount of itinerary changes that have nothing to do with weather or safety. At least the mediterranean sea.