blulou

Now that I have read all of the responses to my original post and have had time to process the situation, I have learned a lot about cruising and NCL.

First, I did not realize that my destination changed from 2 days in Nyansham to 1 day in Stockholm and 1 day in Visby.  Docking in Stockholm is a plus for us, even though we lost some time touring there.  Visby may be a little gem of a town, we won’t know until we get there.

Next, even though a number of responses said that we don’t deserve any compensation for the change and NCL has all legal rights to do so (which they do), I still think it is wrong for the cruise line to have all the power in this arrangement.  It’s just not good customer service to make changes to the itinerary for anything other than mechanical or weather related reasons, especially after the full refund date for the fare has passed.  There are plenty of cruise lines to choose from and now I am leaning toward a river cruise for our next vacation.  We did purchase travel insurance for the cruise, but we needed insurance that would pay if my vacation plans were cancelled for work reasons, which is a possibility due to the timing of the cruise for me.  This insurance had all the usual travel and medical coverages, but change in itinerary is not one of them.

Also, NCL seems to do this more often than other cruise lines, but this observation is based on what I have seen here and not based on actual data.  We chose NCL on this cruise primarily because of the spa features of a couple of cruises we did with them previously.  This time we got a good deal on a suite in The Haven and this itinerary change will give us more time to spend there and enjoy those accommodations.  

In conclusion, thank all of you for your responses, some of which were useful and some of which were not.  I learned a lot and now I am a much more informed consumer that knows what to expect with cruises.  I am now looking forward to this cruise even more now.

There are 2 things I learned from my original post.  NCL changing itineraries is not uncommon and I do have trip insurance, so I need to see if this is covered.  In my situation, it effectively made anything other than a very high level tour of Stockholm out of the question given our new itinerary.  It just comes out to personal preference.  My guess is that there was a financial reason for NCL changing the itinerary and not from additional money from passengers.

I just received an email from my travel agent that NCL changed the itinerary for the Norwegian Getaway cruise of the Baltics that departs on July 31st, 2019.  Originally, we were supposed to dock in Stockholm (Nynashamn) at 8:00AM, stay there overnight and then depart at 5:00PM the next day.  This was a compelling feature for us since we would be able to experience the nightlife in Stockholm, have enough time to explore the city adequately, and get together with some friends that live in Goteburg. 

Now, in their words...To enhance the guest experience, Norwegian Getaway will now call on Stockholm, Sweden from 8:15 a.m. to 4:40 p.m. on August 6, 2019 and Visby, Sweden from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on August 7, 2019.  What does "enhance the guest experience" even mean?  It is just flowery language that means nothing.  I called my travel agency and they sat on hold with NCL for over 30 to ask for the real reason and to also request compensation of some sort.  NCL had no answer and would not offer any compensation.  I then called NCL directly and got the same response from them.

I understand that my ticket says that they can change the itinerary for any reason, so they are within their legal rights, but what about customer service?  If I cancel now, there would be a $4,600 penalty, plus the $700 I paid for trip insurance and fees to the travel site.  I refuse to take this sitting down.

NCL - I hope you have someone reading these boards.  I have choices how I spend my cruise dollars.  Do you want me to be unhappy and never cruise with you again?  Do you want me to post bad reviews here and elsewhere?  Do you not want me enjoy my cruise because I feel that I have been baited and switched?  This is some of the worst customer service that I have experienced.  I hope that somebody at NCL cares about me and all of the other passengers on this cruise.  You can keep a customer for life with superior customer service, but you can also lose a customer for life (and get bad mouthed by everyone they talk to) with inferior customer service.

Yes, a CPAP is exactly what I have. Thanks for the suggestion.

But if the staterooms have US plugs, why would I need to use the European ones?

Thanks so much!

We're from the US and are taking the British Isles cruise on the Royal Princess in May. I have a medical device and need to know if I need an adapter for the plug, and if so, which type of adapter do I need (UK/European)?

It probably makes sense to use a power strip for the other electrical stuff. Can we get one that has US plugs in the strip, but the strip itself has whatever type of plug the ship uses?

Thanks for your help!