NCL Getaway 6th June

[Matahari47]

Just had an email to inform us that two ports have been removed from our itinerary (Porto and Gibraltar) and replaced with a different port (Vigo) another at sea day. The two ports that have been removed are the main reason we booked this cruise….

NCL have given us $100 OBC as compensation.

 

We are kinda disappointed. Just wondered what we can do/are entitled to? It’s a first world problem, I know, but it’s annoying nonetheless. 

[JGmf]

Can't do nada.  Grudgingly accept that the contract you agreed to when buying the cruise allows them to adjust/eliminate ports.

 

Sorry.  That suck, I know.

[TPS123]

I have just received the same email and I am equally annoyed. Also, no shore visits are listed for Vigo.

 

Unfortunately there is nothing we can do.

 

My last three cruises with NCL have had itinerary changes so for me it’s time to look for another cruise line.

 

 

[Matahari47]

3 minutes ago, TPS123 said:

I have just received the same email and I am equally annoyed. Also, no shore visits are listed for Vigo.

 

Unfortunately there is nothing we can do.

 

My last three cruises with NCL have had itinerary changes so for me it’s time to look for another cruise line.

 

 

It’s our 8th NCL cruise. It happened the first time we cruised with them and they removed Santorini. But we’ve not had any itinerary changes on any of our other cruises. We most definitely choose our cruises on the basis of the ports and also we prefer to have no at sea days, or one at a push, as we don’t particularly enjoy them. We’ve now got two at sea days….🙄 

 

The email states that changes have been made ‘due to recent customer feedback and sustainability issues’…. The cynic in me smells copious volumes of BS. It’s money saving badged as customer service and saving the planet. 

 

Like I said, it’s not a huge issue in the big scheme of things, but it’s definitely quite annoying. Cruising isn’t a cheap holiday and it feels like we’re not getting what we’ve paid for, while NCL are scaling back their offer, now that we’ve all paid! 

[Country Seeker]

We also received the same email. Booked this cruise because of the two stops in Portugal. Now only one stop in Portugal and a total of 5 stops in Spain. That’s way too many.  If I wanted that many stops in Spain, I would of picked a land trip that just went to Spain.

 

So they changed the itinerary drastically,  how about Norwegian changing the online itinerary to match what was just sent in the email?  So again, all the passengers are still waiting for Norwegian to catch up.  This is so frustrating and discouraging.

 

At this point everyone has paid, so what’s the hurry?(just being sarcastic)

Edited May 24 by Country Seeker

[14ersco]

What NCL has done with only two weeks until sailing is change the original cruise into an entirely different cruise.  Only the start and end ports, plus the now first sea day, are the only parts of the original cruise left standing.  All ports that we were supposed to visit have either been eliminated, shuffled to another day, and/or had their times in port changed drastically.  The time in Cadiz is now so short the chances of going to Seville are slim and there are now no tickets for the Alhambra on the new port date.  Besides that, NCL has removed the productions show and is only offering 3 show times (over 10 days) for Million Dollar Quartet.  I expect NCL will for our enjoyment and privilege now charge us tax for our drinks in all of these Spain ports.

 

I'm glad our next cruise is on Celebrity!

[cruiseny4life]

This is NCL's standard operating procedure. I'm sorry you won't be able to visit the ports you were looking forward to. As @JGmf said, you're out of luck for compensation. 

 

I do have a suggestion for you, though. Don't book future cruises with NCL. Once people stop booking, NCL might change their ways. But, at least you won't be impacted by their BS.

 

I cruised last in November. We planned an October road trip out west and are holding off on cruising in 2024. Currently, I am staying up to date on what NCL does, but also investigating MSC and trying (desperately) to convince my husband an Uncruise is where we need to be spending our cruising dollars.

 

Five cruises on NCL in two years. I'm done for now, and until I know the product (not just itinerary changes) will be what I paid for when I board. 

[Auntie Rox]

We only booked two weeks ago on the strength of the visits to Portugal and Gibraltar. We did wonder why it was going to Gibraltar before Cadiz but figured they must have a reason. After receiving yesterday’s email I cannot help thinking they never intended to follow the original itinerary. 
this will be our first and last time on Norwegian 😔

[Asawi]

Consider yourself lucky that you got the $100!

Unfotunately, as nice as cruising is, it's not the way to travel to any "bucket list" locations. Always expect itinerary changes. Having said that, it does seem like there's a lot of them on NCL. 

[schmoopie17]

4 minutes ago, Asawi said:

Consider yourself lucky that you got the $100!

 

You took the words right out of my mouth. (Sorry for the saliva).

 

We have had ports dropped after final payment with ZERO compensation. 

 

While I feel your disappointment, at least you got something. More than most people get.

[KeithJenner]

20 minutes ago, Auntie Rox said:

We only booked two weeks ago on the strength of the visits to Portugal and Gibraltar. We did wonder why it was going to Gibraltar before Cadiz but figured they must have a reason. After receiving yesterday’s email I cannot help thinking they never intended to follow the original itinerary. 
this will be our first and last time on Norwegian 😔

Going to Gibraltar before Cádiz is not unusual. The Viva is doing exactly the same thing (and I think other itineraries did so last year too, although I haven’t checked that). We got all ports on the Viva recently.

 

My guess is that it is more to do with potential issues with going Spain-Gibraltar-Spain (although I’ve no idea what those issues would be). I’m fairly sure it isn’t a sign that they never intended to go there.

[roddy good boy]

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

This is NCL's standard operating procedure. I'm sorry you won't be able to visit the ports you were looking forward to. As @JGmf said, you're out of luck for compensation. 

 

I do have a suggestion for you, though. Don't book future cruises with NCL. Once people stop booking, NCL might change their ways. But, at least you won't be impacted by their BS.

 

I cruised last in November. We planned an October road trip out west and are holding off on cruising in 2024. Currently, I am staying up to date on what NCL does, but also investigating MSC and trying (desperately) to convince my husband an Uncruise is where we need to be spending our cruising dollars.

 

Five cruises on NCL in two years. I'm done for now, and until I know the product (not just itinerary changes) will be what I paid for when I board. 

Yeah, we’re doing NCL’s Greece/Turkey itinerary this fall, but I won’t book another European cruise with them until this issue is resolved. I may book something out of New Orleans (just because we haven’t been there since the week before Katrina). Also, we have a 1k FCC that we need to use.
 

I’ll stick to land trips to Europe for now.

[cruiseny4life]

27 minutes ago, roddy good boy said:

Yeah, we’re doing NCL’s Greece/Turkey itinerary this fall, but I won’t book another European cruise with them until this issue is resolved. I may book something out of New Orleans (just because we haven’t been there since the week before Katrina). Also, we have a 1k FCC that we need to use.
 

I’ll stick to land trips to Europe for now.

We have two Cruise Next certificates. They're not burning a hole in my jeans, since the expiration date is no longer a thing, but I'd like to use them to be rid of them. Not in a hurry to book an ever changing choose NCL's adventure cruise voyage. Those itineraries don't seem to change too often.

 

I am quite smitten with a possible cruise up/down the Mississippi, so have been looking at that seven day western Caribbean. If the price is ever right, that may be where we land.

 

When we go back to Europe, it's going to be a land trip also. I want to go to the destinations I want, not the ones NCL decides (or extra sea days). 

 

 

[MarkieMarkNYC]

This has happened on two of the last 4 NCL cruises I have taken. As someone mentioned, this does seem to be SOP with NCL.

I recognize that it can happen on any cruise line, but it hasn't in my experience (over 30 cruises on everything from Carnival to Cunard).

I have one last cruise with them this summer (also had a big itinerary change within final payment time). I doubt that I will book with NCL again.

[realnice46]

So sorry about your changes. We are on cruise after you and 3 weeks ago they dropped Corfu replaced with Katakolon. Not happy. Now hearing of you changes I guess would could expect further changes. From what I have read this seems to be a regular thing with NCL.  We too book a cruise because of itinerary. They only seem to do this after final payment which leaves one with no options. I know cruise contract says they can do this, but I think they are abusing it.

[Country Seeker]

So now it’s been over 24 hrs since everyone received the itinerary change. It’s just not one port that has changed, it’s the entire itinerary.

So if you are going to make a drastic change, should the online schedule/itinerary also change? How much longer is NCL going to frustrate their passengers?  
 

An idea, shut the site down for maintenance, and give it a time when it will be up. Instead of people checking constantly on the site waiting for the itinerary to change, waiting for their accounts to be updated. At the moment you can’t book what excursions are left, because they haven’t even changed the dates on them.  The NCL is controlling your lives because if you are waiting for excursions to show up, you are constantly and constantly checking in, so you don’t miss them and they become full.12 days till we sail and nothing is finalized.  I will never sail with NCL again.

[TPS123]

23 hours ago, Auntie Rox said:

We only booked two weeks ago on the strength of the visits to Portugal and Gibraltar. We did wonder why it was going to Gibraltar before Cadiz but figured they must have a reason. After receiving yesterday’s email I cannot help thinking they never intended to follow the original itinerary. 
this will be our first and last time on Norwegian 😔

I agree with you on this. I think it also explains why there have been so few shore excursions listed as they had no intention of visiting certain ports. This is the third cruise that has been changed just prior to sailing out of the nine cruises I’ve had with NCL. Time to move on after this one. 

[Turtles06]

On 5/23/2024 at 5:06 PM, Matahari47 said:

Just had an email to inform us that two ports have been removed from our itinerary (Porto and Gibraltar) and replaced with a different port (Vigo) another at sea day.

I’m very sorry this has happened to you and everyone else booked on this cruise.  Vigo and Gibraltar are just not in the same league. 
 

It’s probably hard right now to think about making lemonade out of lemons, but from Vigo I would suggest a shore excursion or private tour to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Santiago de Compostela.  The Cathedral is historically and architecturally very interesting (whatever one’s religious beliefs). 

[graphicguy]

So, just saw the change in itinerary for this sailing.  It is practically the entire sailing that has changed.

 

The reasons given is filled with double talk and gobble-de-gook.  

 

I think cancelling for a full refund, regardless of what excuses given, is totally justified.

 

I understand weather issues.  This ain't that.  NCL materially and dramatically changed this cruise for no good reason that I can ascertain.  And, for all intents and purposes, it's a different cruise.  The only commonality is it's sailing in Europe.  That's it!

 

It's just around the corner.  I'm just wondering if there's a way to get this to a small claims court that quickly?  There's not a judge or magistrate that would consider this acceptable, even with the contract wording.  IF not, I would certainly talk to my charge card company to step in for me.

 

This is just taking advantage of the guests because they can, all for the sake of squeezing more $$$$$ out of this cruise.  No other reason! 

Edited May 25 by graphicguy

[14ersco]

There is still a chance that the Getaway will not get out of dry dock in time and that there will be further changes to the itinerary.  I'm down to treating this cruise as a European version of a Caribbean cruise.  All of the major highlight destinations are now gone, not enough time in port to get to Santiago de Compostela, not enough time in port to get to Seville, Gibraltar a float by in the night, and Alhambra tickets sold out. So just dock in each port and do the ABC's (Another Bloody Church/Cathedral/Castle).

[realnice46]

Was May 25 the original scheduled date for Getaway to enter dry dock?

 

[AlmiranteChurruca]

59 minutes ago, realnice46 said:

Was May 25 the original scheduled date for Getaway to enter dry dock?

 

 

Correct! Was and has been indeed! Check the vessel's webcam on the NCL website. 😉

[AlmiranteChurruca]

2 hours ago, realnice46 said:

Was May 25 the original scheduled date for Getaway to enter dry dock?

 

 

 

[craig01020]

On 5/23/2024 at 5:17 PM, TPS123 said:

My last three cruises with NCL have had itinerary changes so for me it’s time to look for another cruise line.

Unfortunately, it's the new normal with NCL. I have grown weary of this nonsense. I cancelled both of my 2025 NCL cruises and re-booked on other cruise lines. 😡

[14ersco]

As of Monday evening you can still book a Haven cabin with the old itinerary.