Granny DI

4 minutes ago, katesmarma said:

It is not just Carnival. Right now there are over 60 different companies involved. I'm sure this is just the start. It will be awhile before anyone can say if this will affect any travel.

We cancelled our Jan 2020 Cuba cruise before I read this article.  A lot can happen between now and Jan.  None of us know if Cuba is profitable for all the companies involved. Money talks and if they are losing money they may walk. Who knows! 

We lived in Venezuela for many years and things changed from hour to hour! Fun times!

1 minute ago, katesmarma said:

If you mean the start of law suits this most probably not affect cruises to Cuba for a while. There are over 60 companies now involved. I don't see any quick action by any side since they will be dragging this thru the courts probably for years. Any one think this will stop up coming cruises I really expect to sail on Sun May 27th

Do you think Carnival wants to put up with the aggravation of numerous lawsuits over using the Cuban docks? Personally I have no idea. Only the bean counters know if Cuba is profitable.

11 hours ago, rallydave said:

Unless or until the US Government comes up with new rules regarding Cuba cruise schedules remain the same.  No telling how long until the issuance of new regulations or what they will say and require.

2 hours ago, finny2 said:

Exactly. Who knows when or what will happen.

For me, I'm booking a cruise to Cuba. I recognize the risk, but if I do not and it turns out I could have gone, I will be kicking myself. My husband and I really want to make this trip and we are not getting any younger. We may end up taking a cruise to other Caribbean ports - not what we want but I've had far worse things happen to me.  Life is full of risk. Take the ones that offer the most reward. And think positive thoughts.

Please go to the Cuba section to read about the Carnival-Cuba lawsuit filed on May 2, 2019. This creates a whole new can of worms for cruises to Cuba. Carnival may decide they don’t need the aggravation of probably many lawsuits over using the docks in Cuba.

You might want to go to the Cuba section on CC. You will find a link to a newspaper article about the Carnival-Cuba lawsuit filed on May 2, 2019. May 2 was the first day Cuban Americans could sue for property stolen by Fidel Castro. 

The lawsuit could go on for years or Carnival may decide  they don’t need the aggravation.

Just read something interesting on the Cuba section.  You will find a link there about an article on the Carnival - Cuba lawsuit.  The lawsuit was filed on May 2, 2019 the first day Cuban Americans could sue for property seized by Fidel Castro. Puts a new wrinkle on cruises to Cuba.

How many of you posting have actually been to Venezuela? Lived in Venezuela? Worked in Venezuela? Have friends in Venezuela? Have Cuban Exile friends?

We lived and worked in Venezuela for many years. I had a bodyguard, our friends were kidnapped at the airport.......We also have friends who escaped Castro through Mexico. I know a little of what is happening.

Venezuela was once like the Garden of Eden not long ago.....full of natural resources and the best weather on the planet.  There was a thriving middle class.  Then the Castro brothers started meddling. Chavez instigated a coup and should have been executed but Caldero released him from  prison. Fidel became his mentor and Cuban mercenaries became his private army. Chavez went to Havana for medical care even though most  Venezuelan  doctors were trained in the US.

It has been downhill since the day Chavez was released from prison. Maduro was hand picked by Chavez when Chavez realized his time was up. Maduro was a bus driver picked off the streets of Caracas.

Venezuela is now Paradise Lost thanks to the thugs in Havana.

The Russians and Chinese are there for the oil but the government thugs have destroyed the oil infrastructure by stealing everything not bolted down. "

We bailed on our Cuba cruise on Monday. We were able to find an Eastern Caribbean cruise within our time frame.

On 4/17/2019 at 10:05 PM, cloudninecat said:

There is a difference between an itinerary and a destination. I booked a cruise that was listed as a "Cuba" cruise. It will be like booking one for Alaska and going to Canada instead. It's not what you booked. Now if I booked a Caribbean cruise that goes to St Thomas and they change it to St Maarten instead that's an itinerary change. I may have really wanted to go to St Thomas but it wasn't booked as a St Thomas cruise.  If they have to change the destination they should offer you the chance to cancel without penalty. 

On 4/18/2019 at 8:53 PM, JPR said:

So would anyone here want to go to Venezuela today? The regime is murdering its citizens, with the protection of Cuban troops. 

How many of &n

42 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said:

We actually do not need oil from the Saudi's  We produce more than they  today..   We are a exporter of oil today.    We buy from the Saudi s to give stability to the region.   In the region they are the lesser of 4 evils .

Russia is in Venezuela  for both economic, political and military expansion reason.  So yes the US relation is somewhat different   

If  in fact Cuban soldiers are in Venezuela.... then I think that there is a very strong chance of a total embargo as  I read prior.     

We just booked another cruise to replace the Cuba Cruise. Haven’t cancelled the Cuba cruise yet but most likely will. We found another cruise with some of our favorite ports that will work in our timeline. 

We will give Cuba another try when things calm down in Venezuela.

Our Cuba cruise already has two ports we don’t like so if Cuba is replaced for the Bahamas after final payment then it would be an awful plus expensive cruise.

We are bailing.

My sister and brother-in-law love TA cruises but even they have their limit. Several years ago they sailed from Sydney to Dubai. By Hong Kong they were done with the ship  so they checked into a hotel while the shipped was docked there. They wanted real food, a real shower and a change of scenery. They went on to finish their cruise after their mini vacation in Hong Kong. This cruise scuttled any plans they had for an around the world cruise. Right now 14 days is their limit on a TA.

We did 24 days on the QM2, then he would only do 17, then 14 and now it’s ten even though he prefers 7.  I’m lucky he will do 7.....my neighbor’s husband won’t cruise at all.  I’m not going to cruise without him....life is too short.

3 minutes ago, mainelycruising said:

Here is the schedule for the drydock, in Brest. The Getaway had a refurbishment there in 2018 as well.  Azipod/thruster issues again?

 

http://crew-center.com/brest-france-cruise-ship-schedule-2019

I said on Friday there was more to the story and perhaps there was a problem with the ship that needed to be addressed ASAP.

The worst case option for all passengers would have been to cancel the cruise.....then everyone is out lots of money at this point. That was my biggest fear when I booked a post dry dock cruise.

1 hour ago, dexddd said:

SFO had gobs of rain during that drydock so I do cut them slack and feel they took good care of us even though the refund check took 16 weeks to arrive for some of us.  The CEO may have visited but wasn't on the ship although Klaus was there and is probably the best person I've meet from NCL who could take charge and improve things.

 

The outside work lasted the whole trip which seems long compared to the rain delays plus the spa was out of action for weeks after our sailing.

 

Bottom line, NCL recent drydocks have not gone well.

Totally agree.

Our experience with NCL disasters goes back to the original ship built for Hawaii. We booked a year in advance of it’s completion at the shipyard in Germany. . Shortly before the ship was to start sea trials in the North Sea it sunk. Everything below deck 5 was damaged. At this point NCL had a major problem. They took an older ship and revamped it for the Hawaiian market. They offered us a deal we couldn’t refuse to keep us from cancelling. Hated the ship but loved the cruise! We sailed the rebuilt ship years later.

41 minutes ago, amf508 said:

Thanks for the insight on the dry dock thing.  How would a common man know that it's a pre or post dry dock cruise; this was never disclosed?  I wouldn't even know where to look. The transatlantic cruises tend to value priced as well due to the limited ports (we've done two with NCL in the past).  This makes somewhere around 15 cruises with NCL for me and I was not aware of any such warning.  I've had ports cancelled but never for an operations issue like this, and especially not dropping days.  Having just spent nearly five hours re-booking and making new arrangements based on their issue, I can tell you that $300 per person is not going to cover my additional expenses.  I hope I'm still able to relax and have a good time but I bet the mood of everyone aboard won't be the best...  

I learned about dry dock problems here on cc. The posters here are a wealth of information.

when I booked the POA post dry dock in SF. I knew the risks. My hope was that the cruise wasn’t cancelled.

The  cruise was delayed and shortened, plus ongoing renovations on the ship.

Lots of unhappy campers on the cruise. We knew the risk, loved the price so just enjoyed the cruise.

17 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

While I’m not on this cruise, the offered compensation seems fair to me...

 

That said, any cruise on any line right before or after a dry dock is a crap shoot....good insurance is a must. 

Pre and Post dry dock cruises are all high risk. That’s why the prices are usually amazing. 

Did the ship offer tours to Normandy and Brugge? 

We have had so many port changes over the years that we now only book ship’s tours unless a private tour doesn’t require payment in advance.

We have missed ports in New Zealand, Hawaii, Canada,Caribbean, Sweden and Ireland.  Some decisions were made by the cruise line and others by Mother Nature. 

There is nothing a cruise passenger can do can do other than make alternate plans. Sometimes things work out great and other times it’s a totall bust.

3 minutes ago, EDLOS said:

I am sure the CEO of NCL will be at the pier apologizing for this fiasco when people board. !

3 minutes ago, EDLOS said:

I am sure the CEO of NCL will be at the pier apologizing for this fiasco when people board. !

Don’t think you will see anyone other than worker bees. You should receive a letter though......but I was wrong in SF .......so who knows.

Where does the crew sail from? 

1 minute ago, EDLOS said:

Can you imagine how surly passengers will be boarding this cruise !  The poor crew will need bullet proof vests for the slings and arrows from passengers while the NCL exec's sit snugly in their Ivory Towers. You say why beat up on the crew, they did not make this decision, but, who else ? I would submit that it is unlikely that the President of NCL will be on this cruise and the Captain and Senior Officers will confine themselves to their respective cabins. The crew probably will suffer as well as any additional tips will be minimal.   By the way, ***** Travel agency shows this cruise as "SOLD OUT"

The CEO of NCL actually showed up to the POA when it had its dry dock problems which resulted in a shortened and delayed cruise. As I recall he went ballistic when he toured the ship and saw the mess. I guess the ship was going to sail until he took a look at things. It was a few years ago so some of the stuff is foggy. None of us really know what’s going on behind the scene.

2 minutes ago, mainelycruising said:

I asked them that question today. The question was bumped to a higher authority - the answer was vague. It seems to imply that some adjustment would be made (or could be made, if a passenger requested it).  No mention at all whether TA's commission will be protected at 100% of the cruise fair. A very poor way of dealing with a problem.  Seems as though they are making it up as they go along.

It is my understanding that the TA receives the commission once you make final payment.

We received added compensation once we boarded the POA after our delayed departure due to dry dock. There should  be a letter in your cabin explaining what you will receive.

3 minutes ago, d1k said:

If we had that option I would be bailing too.  We are 50 days away so we have already paid in full.

Hopefully we will all get to see Cuba!

36 minutes ago, scpirate said:

Unfortunately that's true for us too.we only booked for Cuba.i prepaid my tour so I may be out that money if it all goes south.the tour company doesn't respond to my emails.i can do a charge back maybe.honestly I don't like carnival enough to do a cruise that goes to ports we have already done twice.final payment is due in October.we will see.

Just emailed our TA. Told her if Cuba is removed from the Veendam we are out.

Final payment isn’t until October so have time for things to play out.

1 hour ago, dexddd said:

Sorry for you or family impacted by this and having to adjust so late.  We were on trip with grannidi and were already enroute when we saw notice 18 hours before boarding from CC that we were delayed one day.  So for excitement of going on trip becomes logistics mode.

 

From past experience, NCL will refund the two days and up credit to 50% of base fare to be used on future cruise in 12 months with some leeway.

 

That will make about 85% of the folks happy and quiet down.  The cheerleaders will say they didn't have to do anything.  And the insurance people will say you should have insurance.  

 

Bottom line, not right.  Something must indicate they need the extra time and they had to cut this trip or one after.

 

ETA - our trip I could see some of it being due to weather and cut some slack but they were actively working on outside areas for most of the 10 days we were on. Even the spa wasn't open for weeks after our sailing.

I’m assuming we were on the same cruise. I thought it was handled well due to the weather delay causing a schedule problem with the dry dock. Or maybe It didn’t bother us because I had a Plan B. I travel with a notebook with plans A,B and C. 

1 hour ago, dexddd said:

And wasn't that also on a friday later in the day?

I can’t remember the day of the week, but I think our TA called about 3pm as we were literally boarding the plane. No time to panic. TA had it all taken care of by the time we landed three hours later. We thought NCL handled the situation very well.

i must add I knew booking a cruise after a dry dock was RISKY, so I had a plan b&c. We went to plan B and had a wonderful time in SF on NCL’s dime. We don’t like sea days so we were very pleased the number of sea days was shortened.

We were able to take a 14 day British Isle Cruise in a suite with our 50% off savings. 

Stay in Southampton instead of London. We are doing that in July. The hotels are very reasonable. Lots to see in the Southampton area. Trains from Southampton to major sites are very reasonable. We are staying extra days after cruise because the airfare was cheaper if we flew out on Tuesday instead of Saturday. 

5 minutes ago, smileforever said:

In total disbelief that they would change the itinerary at this late notice. We have been on the computer all day working on our travel plans as obviously running out of time to make plans and we leave for NY on Thursday. Already costing us more money as had to cancel a ferry we booked--non refundable.

  We have already booked a car service to the train station and booked 2 nights hotel and train rides. So now spending more money that was not planned. The amount of stress that this causes for everyone is unacceptable and extremely unprofessional. 

   I agree with everyone that 25% refund is ridiculous! We received an email early this afternoon and I immediately called and the agent was not even aware of these changes. I asked for more compensation, she put me on hold and when she returned said the 25% is all NCL is doing for their guests.

Many of us cruise often and have lots of choices available to us, I am sure that we will be reconsidering booking NCL in the future.  

 

 

I can’t remember the compensation we got but remember the cruise ended up being dirt cheap and we were in a suite. The compensation was enough that we were satisfied and continued to sail NCL. They cut out sea days instead of port days. Cost them more in fuel but they did it. 

Wonder what else is going on here. NCL needs to up the ante. Perhaps the drydock facility changed the dates and the Getaway has a problem that needs the facility ASAP. 

Does anyone have cancel for any reason insurance? 

We had something similar happen several years ago but our outcome was much better. The POA was coming out of drydock in San Francisco sailing to HNL via the Hawaiian Islands.  I received a phone call from our TA as we were boarding our plane to SF. She said the cruise is delayed because the drydock is not completed. We were at the point of no return as we were in the boarding process. I called my TA upon landing in SF. This was the deal.....NCL would pick up our hotel and meals until we boarded. The problem was our hotel had no reservations past our original reservation. TA found a hotel across the street from our hotel. We proceeded to have a wonderful mini vacation in SF. When we boarded the ship the spa etc were closed to finish the renovations. I was disappointed but knew I had just saved a bunch of money. The ship was kind of a mess but we were going to Hawaii. Our cruise was cut short, but didn’t miss a single port and we got 50% off our next cruise.   We also got some other monetary goodies. The check arrived within 60 days.

This is the pits.....try to make some lemonade out of these lemons.

10 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

You're right of course, when your itinerary already includes Grand Cayman, Ocho Rios, Key West, etc. Having said that, I would speculate that most folks who booked a "Cuban cruise", did so to see Cuban ports. Any cancellation of those two ports, substituted by "routine" western Carib ports, incl. Grand Turk, Nassau, Freeport (yes, I know, technically not western Carib ports), Cozumel, Costa Maya, Progresso, Belize, Falmouth, Roatan, etc, will result in cancellations

Our booked cruise has “overnight “ in Havana plus Cienfuegos, in addition to the Caymans and Ocho Rios. I almost didn’t book because of the Caymans and Ocho Rios but we have favorite excursions in both places so it was OK to see Cuba. Not going to sail from Florida to Western Caribbean because we can sail out of Galveston or New Orleans for the Western Caribbean.