Menocchio

Actually, if you have at least main cabin fare (the kind with free changes and cancellation) airlines will grant you e-credits for the difference if you call and ask. (Which is the same as cancelling and rebooking with that kind of ticket).

Was Guiness day something NCL was promoting, or is it a fake holiday Guiness made up that NCL was supposed to know about? I mean, still bad form to run out of anything that early. But really bad form to run out of the star attraction of your own party.

They say that for every itinerary change, no matter what. Here's from an email I got about a cruise I'm taking in October: 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. Now, in my case I'm getting plenty of advance notice, the change involves leaving Juneau at 10PM instead of 11PM, and arriving at Skagway at 6AM instead of 7AM. Not a big deal, IMHO (though I guess if you're really into that Alaskan nightlife it could be a little bit of a bummer, and expecting people to enjoy their 6AM arrival is a bit of a joke). But why are they doing this? Probably not fuel, as we're getting to our next destination in exactly the same amount of time. Probably something to do with either the tides or the port. Why not just tell us? Coincidentally, around the same time HAL also shifted the itinerary of a booked cruise for the following year. Please be advised that due to port congestion, Nieuw Statendam's overnight call to Istanbul, Turkey has been moved forward a day to Tuesday, October 14 and Wednesday, October 15, 2025. Additionally, we will now call to Mykonos, Greece on Friday, October 17, rather than Monday, October 13, and we will conduct scenic cruising of the Dardanelles on Monday, October 13 and Thursday, October 16. Also not a big deal, as they just changed the order we're going places (originally it was Mykonos, then the Dardanelles and Istanbul). But look! They told me why! Port Congestion! An actual reason, communicated to me like I'm a person worthy of being told why the vacation I paid for is being altered. Maybe they even made my vacation better! I appreciate that.

But it’s pretty standard in open bar situations. Or maybe it’s just what I do. I get those confused sometimes.

I'm getting the very vague impression that Juneau isn't aiming for as restrictive a ban as Bar Harbor did. These days, every port should probably draw a line somewhere lest they end up with multiple Icons of the Seas showing up at the same time.

When a corporation’s statements about their rules are contradictory, in the worst case the lawyers come out. Courts tend to look poorly on parties that try to weasel out of what they promised, since customers have no way of knowing which version is right. Recently, a court in Canada said an airline needed to honor the promises its AI chat function made to a customer, despite the published terms saying other things. But as stated it rarely comes to that.

The prevailing belief as I understand it is that onboard spending is king, and fares are less important. Full capacity is the goal, all the time.

Lots of very conspiratorial thinking for what's a pretty basic marketing tactic. A limited time $1 deposit gets people to make a decision to book *NOW*. If they waited, they may decide instead not to book at all, or to go with another cruise line. Even if a fair number of people cancel and get their dollar back, a larger number will have end up sailing that may not have without the promotion (Or at least, that's the theory). As for why cruise lines keep doing bonkers promotions when cruising is supposedly doing so well, it's because they want to do *even better*. A publicly traded business needs to continually expand. Not just have a sustainable revenue:expenses ratio. Not just make more money ahead of inflation. They need to make more money than they made last year. Which actually becomes somewhat more difficult if last year was a very good year. Nobody's allowed to rest on their laurels.

At the same time though, this does make an argument against booking your flight with any cruise line. If you book direct, you'll know immediately who screwed up and who you need to yell at.

I think that is in fact the plan. That, and arranging Guaranteed bookings. Bumping passengers is something that would only happen when all else fails. And even then, I think they may end up finding a space the displaced passengers find acceptable more often than not. I'm not saying someone getting bumped from a cabin that meets their very specific needs and desires couldn't happen. But it feels like people are assuming that's the usual course of events when it would be a rare exception.

The Viva will be in Piraeus on August 31st, that's a dis/embarkation day. According to the advertised itinerary on NCL.com, it should be in Kusadasi on August 28th and then again September 1st, and Cruisetimetables says the same. If this has changed, the news hasn't gotten to them yet. If this is in fact what happened, the problem might not be Kusadasi but another port. This cruise also hits Mykonos and Santorini which are both notoriously crowded ports. They might have shifted around the itineraries to reduce congestion in those places. I'm booked on a HAL cruise which is doing that. That could mean Kusadasi has just been moved to another day. I could already be looking at the updated itineraries, for all I know.

Fantastic. I've got my Starbucks account linked to my Delta Skymiles account so let's see if I can drink my airfare home. (Though with that much caffeine, I could just flap my arms and fly home by myself)

Do I need the actual card, or can I use the Starbucks app? I ask because I can get e-gift cards through a perk at my job, but I'd actually need to go out and buy a card.

Yeah. I've been tracking prices on my own booking for the Nieuw Statendam in 2025. I'm in one of the solo OVs. There's only 12 of them and they're all in the same place so it's very easy to see how many are still available. About two weeks ago the price went up $39 and another of the cabins was booked. (We're down to 9! Act now!) No more cabins have been sold. It's still at that price.

There are times when chat isn't available, so I assume they have actual employees on there. Frankly, even with the problems what the OP did would be pretty dang impressive for an AI. Just to drop in another anecdote, I've used the NCL chat to modify my reservation several times without issue. I think it's pretty handy if what you want is simple and direct (ie "cancel my vibe pass") but isn't something that a user can do simply by themselves. If I had a more complicated question, request, or problem, I think I'd make a phone call.