ITINERARY CHANGE NCL VIVA AUG 31... NO MORE KUSADASI TURKEY ANYONE KNOW WHY?

[Lolomazz]

GRRRR is it me or are people at Norwegian Cruise Line extremely rude...i was hung up on 3 times... apparently they canceled the kusadasi turkeys port..for AUG 31 2024.  and nobody even emailed me does anybody know anything about this! why was it canceled? I find that I can get better advice posting on here versus calling the cruise line

[Distinctive-Destinations]

12 hours ago, Lolomazz said:

GRRRR is it me or are people at Norwegian Cruise Line extremely rude...i was hung up on 3 times... apparently they canceled the kusadasi turkeys port..for AUG 31 2024.  and nobody even emailed me does anybody know anything about this! why was it canceled? I find that I can get better advice posting on here versus calling the cruise line

Could be citing the same nonsensical reason they told me that Grenada was cancelled on our current cruise: safety.

 

Or the other version I’ve heard onboard that the slip was $250k/day so they cancelled it for that reason.

 

Or the other other version I’ve heard: to save fuel/help the environment.

[sheshe01]

How did you find out the port was cancelled? I am on a NCL cruise that is scheduled for Kusadasi 09-02. 

[www3traveler]

How many ships are docking or tendering that particular day?  Many ports of call seem to be limiting the number of cruise ships and their passengers on a day by day basis.

[zqvol]

Kusadasi is a small port with room for only two ships. No docking space is likely the reason. 

[BirdTravels]

13 hours ago, Lolomazz said:

GRRRR is it me or are people at Norwegian Cruise Line extremely rude...i was hung up on 3 times... apparently they canceled the kusadasi turkeys port..for AUG 31 2024.  and nobody even emailed me does anybody know anything about this! why was it canceled? I find that I can get better advice posting on here versus calling the cruise line

So,,, when and if the port call is cancelled, you will get notified by the cruise line. How can you expect the call center to "know" something that hasn't been formally communicated to anyone. 

 

Now, if you took the same tone to the call center rep as you do in this post, the call center should just say "no information available" and hang up. They are there to help, not get a lot of abuse. 

[kitkat343]

On my sailing, some passengers received the email notifying them of the cancellation of a port.  Others did not receive it.  People tried to post the notice on the roll call, but some passengers called NCL and since NCL kept the dropped port on their website for the cruise, the NCL call reps incorrectly told them that the DR port had not been dropped.  Your best bet to find out why NCL is stating this stop has been cancelled is by posting on your roll call - someone who received the cancellation email can cut and past the language and you can see what reason NCL is stating for the change.  Now as Distinctive-Destinations has noted, NCL may claim that they are doing this for safety or the environment.  The safety issue is a bit muddled, since there have been ports they have dropped in the past - like Costa Rica and claimed it was for safety, which was difficult to understand since they replaced it with Alcupulco.  But ultimately irregardless of why they are claiming they dropped the port, their contract clearly states they have the right to make changes.  There have been people posting that European laws may provide some consumer protection (I don't know anything about that) but in the US, you are stuck when this happens after final payment and your only option if they notify you before final payment is to cancel and rebook.  The posts on this issue pop up periodically ( 

 ). and someone posted on one of the previous forums after experiencing several cancellations that they only book NCL cruises at the last minute now, since they don't mind ports being dropped from last minute discount cruises.  Depending on how significant itinerary is to you (on our cruise, there were some people who were just happy to be out of the cold in NY and didn't care at all about the dropped port) this might be something to consider.

[Huntingdon1701]

On 4/19/2024 at 4:37 PM, zqvol said:

Kusadasi is a small port with room for only two ships. No docking space is likely the reason. 

 

Probably this. If Viva is the same as the Prima, then she doesn't carry tenders so her only choice is docking. If she can't, and there are no local tenders, the Prima Class have to go elsewhere. 

 

Although I have to say NCL is very poor at communicating changes, for whatever reason they happen. I had one trip where the shore excursion company notified me of changes a week before boarding, while NCL only admitted the change two days before docking in a note to cabins. That's deliberate deception.

[Distinctive-Destinations]

On 4/19/2024 at 11:37 AM, zqvol said:

Kusadasi is a small port with room for only two ships. No docking space is likely the reason. 

I think this reason is ridiculous, if it is the case. They should not be offering ports that aren’t already in place. 
 

Don’t sell me on a port if the spot (or tender) isn’t already arranged.

[www3traveler]

A large number of cruise ship itineraries are set several years in advance of your specific cruise.  Lots of things can occur in between.  Right now a number of ports, communities and countries are setting limits as to the number of cruise ships and passengers can be in a particular port at a particular time.  No way to know in advance.  With some of the newer NCL ships, the lifeboats can not be used as tenders either.  Just a current fact of life. 

[GALSews]

As to being notified of changes, I believe if you book directly with NCL they notify you of changes.

If you book with a travel agent, then NCL notifies the travel agent who then should notify you.

 

[Turtles06]

On 4/19/2024 at 11:04 AM, sheshe01 said:

How did you find out the port was cancelled? I am on a NCL cruise that is scheduled for Kusadasi 09-02. 

 

The following is a (generally reliable but not always up to date) third party web site, not the official port site, but it shows the Getaway in Kusadasi on Sept. 2, 2024.  (You didn't say what ship you are on.)

 

https://www.cruisetimetables.com/kusadasi-ephesus-turkey-cruise-ship-schedule.html

 

The site shows no NCL ship there on August 31, 2024, the date the OP said the VIVA was supposed to be there.

 

 

[edspec]

I wouldn’t count on any port when booking with Norwegian. 

[Oxo]

8 hours ago, Huntingdon1701 said:

 

Probably this. If Viva is the same as the Prima, then she doesn't carry tenders so her only choice is docking. If she can't, and there are no local tenders, the Prima Class have to go elsewhere. 

 

Although I have to say NCL is very poor at communicating changes, for whatever reason they happen. I had one trip where the shore excursion company notified me of changes a week before boarding, while NCL only admitted the change two days before docking in a note to cabins. That's deliberate deception.

I thought all should are required to have.lifeboats that are also used as tenders. This Viva pic shows lifeboats.

[Huntingdon1701]

3 minutes ago, Oxo said:

I thought all should are required to have.lifeboats that are also used as tenders. This Viva pic shows lifeboats.

 

 

Yes, I did too, but the Prima captain has stated otherwise. I assume the sister ships are similarly deficient. 

[Oxo]

Just now, Huntingdon1701 said:

 

Yes, I did too, but the Prima captain has stated otherwise. I assume the sister ships are similarly deficient. 

When we were on the Prima in Oct & Nov 2022 we saw lifeboats. Did they remove them.

[yakcruiser]

I do believe there are extra safety requirements to use lifeboats as tenders? Maybe our resident expert @chengkp75 can explain the differences between a regular lifeboat and one that can be used as a tender.

[Huntingdon1701]

5 minutes ago, Oxo said:

When we were on the Prima in Oct & Nov 2022 we saw lifeboats. Did they remove them.

 

 

They have lifeboats - that is apparently not the same as a tender. Most ships have some that double up, but it's by no means the case that all of them can do it. 

[The Traveling Man]

5 minutes ago, Oxo said:

When we were on the Prima in Oct & Nov 2022 we saw lifeboats. Did they remove them.

No, the ship does have the required number of lifeboats, but they are not rated for service as tenders.

[Oxo]

2 minutes ago, Huntingdon1701 said:

 

They have lifeboats - that is apparently not the same as a tender. Most ships have some that double up, but it's by no means the case that all of them can do it. 

I cannot recall a ship that I have been on that did not use a lifeboat as a tender.

Are you trying to say that on ships they have two different boats? Lifeboat & tenders?

 

[Oxo]

2 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

No, the ship does have the required number of lifeboats, but they are not rated for service as tenders.

Would you please provide a source for your statement.

TIA

[Huntingdon1701]

2 minutes ago, Oxo said:

I cannot recall a ship that I have been on that did not use a lifeboat as a tender.

Are you trying to say that on ships they have two different boats? Lifeboat & tenders?

 

I'm not trying to say it. I have said it, several times. I'm sorry you can't grasp things outside of your experience, but we have discussed this enough now.

[The Traveling Man]

1 minute ago, Oxo said:

Would you please provide a source for your statement.

TIA

Sure, @chengkp75.  He retired a few years ago after a career as a Chief Engineer for NCL.  He has mentioned it a couple of times on Cruise Critic boards.

[The Traveling Man]

4 minutes ago, Oxo said:

I cannot recall a ship that I have been on that did not use a lifeboat as a tender.

Are you trying to say that on ships they have two different boats? Lifeboat & tenders?

 

As I understand it, all the tenders aboard NCL ships are also rated for use as lifeboats, but not all lifeboats are rated for use as tenders.  If you take a look at photos of most NCL ships you may notice that there appear to be two different sizes and/or shapes of boats hanging from davits on the side of the ship.  On the Pr1ma and V!va, all of the boats seem to be of the same size.  They are rated as lifeboats but not as tenders.

[Oxo]

1 minute ago, The Traveling Man said:

As I understand it, all the tenders aboard NCL ships are also rated for use as lifeboats, but not all lifeboats are rated for use as tenders.  If you take a look at photos of most NCL ships you may notice that there appear to be two different sizes and/or shapes of boats hanging from davits on the side of the ship.  On the Pr1ma and V!va, all of the boats seem to be of the same size.  They are rated as lifeboats but not as tenders.

News to me. Thank you! I never paid attention to the size of boat being used for tendering. Seen boats from other ships being used as.tenders in various ports.

I guess you learn something every day.