CB_Jackson

Bird, you didn’t answer my question. You just reworded your first comment and called me “1000% wrong” again. The Bahamian government paying cruise lines more than $12 million a year in incentives to bring tourist to Nassau is unsubstantiated? https://www.travelweekly.com/Caribbean-Travel/Bahamas-goes-private This is only the tip of the iceberg. Cruise lines get a cut of all the money flowing into Nassau. A substantiated fact, not conjecture. Are you saying NCL makes more money at GSC with zip lines, jet skis, and air conditioned villas than they do in Nassau? I’m respectfully asking again, as I previously asked you twice, can you please EXPLAIN how they’re profiting more in GSC than they are in Nassau? I’m trying to understand your opinion and I would appreciate more information. Thanks for your comments.

I agree, we have always stayed on the ship in PP/DR. GSC by far the best stop in my opinion. “Surprise cruising” I don’t think that would sell very well! 😆

Interesting hypothesis. I don’t think anybody booked just for 1 single reason - GSC or kinky boots. I do know several of the people in my party were really looking forward to seeing it. When is enough for even the most patient/tolerant/easy going cruiser to say enough!? I paid for an advertised cruise experience and I’m not getting what I paid for! Think of your favorite thing and imagine it canceled for no reason. Close Cagneys, Starbucks no longer on ship, close the spa, The Local’s menu cut in half, pools drained, main entertainment cancelled (actually happened), raised service fees (actually happened), cancelled private island experience (actually happened). When’s enough, enough? Hey, that’s cruising’! When can I book my next cruise? Seriously?

Thanks for your comment Lazlo. If you read the comments above this has already been said by me and many others. We are at their mercy. Various reasons are understandable. The issue here is that NCL has sold cruises to thousands with GSC on the trip, only to cancel GSC for no reason. Again, we all know they can do this according to the fine print. The best guess as to why they’re doing it is to prioritized for their newer ship booked on GSC for the same day. I don’t know how true this is, it’s just something others have brought up? I raised the question, couldn’t they reschedule the date for GSC so we weren’t there on the same day? Of course it is more complex than it seems, as there are other ships from other cruise lines moving throughout the various ports and logistically it doesn’t always work out. The think I find interesting is it seems like all sailings have had GSC simply cancelled for no reason and none of them have been rescheduled to a different day.

Can you explain please explain Bird?

How is it “off base” I would like to know how I’m “1000% wrong”….

They wouldn’t cancel GSC for the Prima or the Diva, they both trump Encore. 1 ship is less than 2 ships.

I was told by NCL customer service that there were taxes on alcohol when in Nassau. Thank you for the clarification, and thank you for the suggestion on Junkanoo Beach. We have been before several times and prefer beaches and loungers around pools at Atlantis. Unfortunately As “cruisemommie87” pointed out it will cost about $200 per person to get in. As I mentioned in my post, the liquor tax while in port is a minor issue compared to cancelling GSC for no reason. My wife and I have been cruising since the 80’s and this is unacceptable in our humble opinions. As far as calling us crazy to book a cruise based on its’ ports, go ahead and call me crazy as I thought most of planet earth selects their cruise based on ship and ports! Apparently this is a bigger issue than I realized and we are all fools for thinking NCL actually sailed to Great Stirrup Cay?! Minimizing the issue and calling me crazy….do you work for NCL? Your comment about NCL wanting people on GSC to spend money. Ponder the amount of money it costs them to tender all guest to the island, pay bohemian workers and ferry them to the island for the day, pay for all food and drink for guests, waste and sanitation, water desalination, etc, etc. Several people in this thread have asked you, what what are people spending money on at GSC?? Zip lines and cabanas? Still doesn’t offset their other costs. The reality of the situation is it saves them money to cancel and that’s the bottom line! Now think of all the ways a cruise line such as NCL makes money in Nassau. They make at least 75% on all excursions. They’re making money if someone buys jewelry at DI, they’re making money and getting a cut of EVERYTHING sold in port. If you don’t realize that, you don’t know the cruise industry. As another person commented, “Prima trumped Encore.” The way I look at it is, if they wanted to get the Encore to GSC that week or any other week, they would make it work!! Case in point, they’re not.

My wife and I will be on the Feb 19th Encore sailing with 4 other couples from our neighborhood. After seeing your post I just had to comment! We had very similar thoughts and feelings in our conversations with our friends/neighbors. Frankly, what they did should be against the law! This is classic bait and switch, no doubt about it. What do you see on all of the NCL advertisements on TV, online, and in the mail?? You see images of Great Stirrup Cay!! What was the biggest selling point of this particular sailing? Great Stirrup Cay! Everyone in our group is EXTREMELY disappointed and we are all trying to cancel without penalties. It’s such a dirty rotten trick Norwegian made this change only a couple days after the cancellation deadline!! Like you said, if it was a weather related issue or mechanical issue etc., it would be understandable. This change devalues the cruise and all 10 of us have the drink package so it devalues the money we are spending on the drink package as well. When in port at Nassau we will all be required to pay taxes on each and every alcoholic beverage we order that day. To be clear, this is only an insult to the injury that is not having the private island experience for the day. Needless to say this has left a very sour taste in our mouths going into the cruise and unless they change it back or offer some compensation I’m certain there will be a ship full of miserable people. The sad irony is everyone is just trying to have a good time and relieve some stress on their vacations! Norwegian cruise line is actually causing stress!! So what can we do? Contact the attorney general’s office? Call the 1-800 number? Both a waste of time. The bottom line is the fine print allows them to do whatever they want to us little people. The #1 reason why I felt so compelled to comment on your post is this: The only thing we as consumers CAN do is communicate with one another as well as future cruise consumers, we have to document these shenanigans and hold them accountable. If you’re reading this and this and you’ve been taken advantage of by NCL like us - sound off!! When speaking with a supervisor on the 1-800 number, the representative had the gall to say “nobody else seems to be complaining about the GSC change to Nassau.” If Norwegian keeps doing this to people, eventually it WILL catch up to them and people will choose another cruise line. Right now they’re profiting off these tricks and getting away with it. If NCL gets a reputation for doing this they won’t be profiting in the future. My wife and I will never book with Norwegian ever again. Some of our neighbors have said the same. NCL - Norwegian Cancels Leisure!