Paula_MacFan

Ugh -- not to be Debbie Downer but I've read several reports of people in suites, celebrating 50th anniversary trips, large groups, some on the pre-cruise land tour, etc all getting cancelled! I hope for your sake you're not one of the unlucky. We are sailing in January so I've been following POA cancellation stories. The only rhyme or reason I've read/heard is people with NCL air and those who booked later than others are primarily getting cancelled. Good luck! 🙂

In my case the booking window had just opened up, so there's no way that every Deluxe and Premium Deluxe Balcony was booked. Which the PVP confirmed when he said it was a glitch in the Princess booking system.

Just telling you what the PVP told me. I'm no Princess rep. 🙂

I had the same problem on Friday and contacted my PVP. He told me there is currently a glitch in Princess' system for people trying to book 2 passengers in a room that will accommodate 3 or 4 passengers, such as a Deluxe Balcony or Premium Deluxe Balcony. He said they are aware and are working on correcting it, and he's supposed to call me back tomorrow (Monday) to finalize my booking.

Not arguing that point at all. I know there some way more knowledgeable CCers here who have posted about the entire process since hiring Americans and meeting all the strict requirements takes a much longer time.

I've seen online ads for NCL hiring fairs in Kansas City, Alabama, and North Carolina. I'm sure there are a multitude of others that didn't pop up in my feed. It appears they are trying to hire from all over the country.

We're treating the POA as a floating hotel and nothing else -- just a means to enjoy multiple islands in a short time. Not worried about night life, casino, etc. I think going in with realistic expectations is the key for that ship 🙂 All of my comments were about NCL and I was simply chiming in that other lines are also having staffing, capacity, and cancellation issues, not just Princess -- per the OP's original question.

Maybe this is what you're looking for

We're longtime Princess cruisers who are trying NCL's Pride of America Hawaiian cruise in January 2023 for the unique itinerary. They have been sailing at 40% capacity since the restart and have been regularly cancelling passengers around 60 days out due to ongoing staffing issues. Right now only 2 of the many specialty dining options are open, despite pushing the specialty dining package when booking. NCL has done hiring fairs all over the country -- in fact here in middle America I saw one recently in KCMO. That shows you they are looking all over the place for help! I keep reading report after report of people getting cancellation notices. Yesterday I read one where the cruisers who had been waiting months for air assignments, finally got that email, only to get the cruise cancellation email within 24 hours. Many people are frustrated. So yeah, other lines seem to be having issues too! 🙂

We're booked for January 2023 so it hasn't impacted us (yet), but I've read many reports where people with NCL-booked airfare were predominantly the cancelled group. Also anecdotal reports from TAs that those booked last were first cancelled. Who knows.....we've already booked independent air arrangements and have 'plan B' hotels booked, so we're going to Hawaii one way or another 🙂

The whole cruise isn't cancelled, NCL continues to selectively cancel bookings to remain under the 40% capacity threshold, which they've been doing since resumption of POA itinerary.

I usually pack a few cheap disposable plate covers from the dollar store (much like the shower cap posted above) in case we need to walk a long way back to our cabin from the buffet. We are big fans of 'sail away time' on our balcony, and like to enjoy the scenery with some cheese and crackers, or chips/salsa/guacamole, etc which we bring back from the buffet. Usually in the late afternoon they will have a nice selection of snack food at the buffet that hits the spot with some cold beverages as we leave that day's port. We also have brought back hot breakfast items from the buffet many times too. Never had a problem 🙂

You didn't mention which ship, but if it's POA it sounds like they are cancelling reservations for Cagney's and the Bistro due to the reduced ship capacity and reduced staff. I've read several posts of people thinking they have secured reservations which were subsequently cancelled by NCL.

https://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship/pride-of-america/whats-on-board See: "Note -- this venue is temporarily closed" -- from NCL website.

My response is off-topic from Roll Calls, but I've noticed on other social media sites there are more trip reports. For instance I am interested in POA reports of which there have been very few here on CC, and the ones I've seen have been primarily negative. However, on other sites I've seen MANY trip reports, some 'live from' reports, and lots of positive comments.

Their profile says they've been a member since 2014, about the same as you.......

Discussed on a similar recent thread as well.

There are private FB groups you can join so the whole 'world' doesn't have to know you're gone X amount of days. Meanwhile I've seen many roll calls with spreadsheets so people can put their full names, cities, and other information for participation -- none of which is secure and is open to anyone to view. Any unscrupulous person could easily do a Google search for addresses, etc that are all readily available online.

There was just a somewhat lengthy thread about this same topic a few weeks ago, but it was deleted, presumably because there were too many references to social media overtaking CC. I'll make the same comments here that I did in that thread -- there are so many more active social media sites to get information these days and people are using them. I've been a member here for 18+ years and the activity seems to be declining, especially on things like roll calls.

One of the reasons we started sailing with Princess many years ago was they limited the number of kids onboard. I can recall many threads here on CC where people tried to book a family cruise on Princess and were told they had already met the number allowed for that specific sailing and could not book with kids. We're not 'anti-kid' by any means, but did appreciate the limited number of kids. I am going to research Virgin Cruises options due to the adults-only atmosphere -- it might be something we'd enjoy down the road.

You just added another incentive for me to try Virgin! LOL 🙂

Isn't Virgin adults-only too? That alone is enough to entice me 🙂

We've never had a problem getting a table for 2 at meals, so if you want to dine by yourselves you can! You don't have to eat with strangers if you'd rather not. Have a great trip 🙂

I noticed this too on some recent cruises I was researching. I wondered why it wasn't showing the Premiere option too, but chalked it up to the unstable website 🙂 That was several days ago, so now it makes me really wonder what is going on.